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Phonology, part 3: Natural Classes and Features

Phonology, part 3: Natural Classes and Features. March 8, 2012. The Last Quick Write. Solving Phonology Problems. Here’s a step-by-step way to walk through the process. Given two sounds in a language: Determine their distribution.

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Phonology, part 3: Natural Classes and Features

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  1. Phonology, part 3: Natural Classes and Features March 8, 2012

  2. The Last Quick Write

  3. Solving Phonology Problems • Here’s a step-by-step way to walk through the process. • Given two sounds in a language: • Determine their distribution. • For every word in which you find the sound, write down the sounds that both precede and follow it. • Q: Are the two sounds ever found in the same phonetic environment? • A: Yes • In that environment, do the two sounds form a minimal pair? • If yes  they are contrastive phonemes. • If no  they are in free variation.

  4. Solving Phonology Problems • If No--the sounds are never found in the same phonetic environment--then: • The two sounds are in complementary distribution. •  The sounds are allophones of the same phoneme. 5. Determine which allophone is basic, and which allophone is restricted. • Basic allophone: found in the widest variety of phonetic environments. • Restricted allophone: found in only a specific phonetic environment. 6. Write a rule that accounts for when you get one allophone vs. the other.

  5. Solving Phonology Problems • Phonological rules look like this: • /basic allophone/  [restricted allophone] / Environment • Oftentimes, the hardest part of a phonology problem can be figuring out what the phonetic environment is that conditions the phonological change!

  6. Mokilese! • What rule determines where the voiceless vowels appear? • Which vowels can become voiceless?

  7. Generalities • Sometimes, the rules for one phoneme’s distribution are identical to the rules for another phoneme’s distribution. • /t/  [t] / after [s] • /t/  [th] / at the beginning of stressed syllables • [thap] ‘top’ [stap] ‘stop’ • /p/  [p] / after [s] • /p/  [ph] / at the beginning of stressed syllables • [phæt] ‘pat’ [spæt] ‘spat’ • /k/  [k] / after [s] • /k/  [kh] / at the beginning of stressed syllables • [khar] ‘car’ [skar] ‘scar’

  8. Natural Classes • The same rules apply to /p/, /t/ and /k/. Why? • /p/, /t/ and /k/ form a natural class of sounds in English. • They are all voiceless stops • No other sound in English is a voiceless stop • A natural class is set of sounds in a language that: • share one or more (phonetic) features • to the exclusion of all other sounds in that language. • …and function together in phonological rules. • The phonetic “features” primarily include the phonetic labels we’ve already learned. • …although we’ll need to make some additions.

  9. Natural Class Examples • For instance, in English: • [k], [g], form the natural class of velar stops 2. [u] and [o] form the natural class of rounded, tense vowels. • What natural classes are formed by the following groups of sounds? • [t], [s] • [v], , [z], • , ,

  10. This is actually useful. • Phonological patterns are often formed by natural classes of sounds. • Ex: the (regular) English past tense exhibits allomorphy. • Allomorph 1: [d] • study  studied fear  feared • mail  mailed loan  loaned • Allomorph 2: • collect  collected mate  mated • wade  waded need  needed • What’s the natural class of segments that induces the change?

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