Phonological Theory

1. Phonological Theory

2. 1. Development of phonology • The phoneme theory • Distinctive Features • SPE (Chomsky & Halle 1968) • Division of phonetics and phonology • Integrated phonology • Laboratory phonology

3. Modules of study • Phonemes and allophones • Syllables • Stress • Intonational and tonal phonology • Prosody (metrical phonology) • Phonological acquisition and cognition • Language impairment

4. Phonology in Generative Grammar Syntax Phonetic Form Semantic Form • Generative Phonology

5. Three stages of Generative Phonology • Linear theories • SPE (standard theory): Chomsky, N. & Halle, M. 1968. The Sound Pattern of English. Harper & Row/MIT. • Natural Generative Phonology • Natural Phonology

6. Non-linear theories • Lexical Phonology • Autosegmental Phonology • Metrical Phonology • Dependency Phonology • Government Phonology • CV/VC Phonology • Declarative Phonology

7. Constraint-based theory • Optimality Theory (OT): Prince, A. & Smolensky, P. 1993/2002. Optimality theory: constraint interaction in generative grammar. ms. Rutgers University.2004.Published by Blackwell.

8. SPE • Rule-based. • Derivational: derivation from underlying to surface form. A  B / X__Y

9. OT • Constraint-based. • Development of generative phonology. • Very different way of representation. • Can be used for syntax and acquisition studies. • Aims at cognitive explanations.

10. Constraints are universal. • Languages differ in the ranking of constraints. • Constraints can be contradictory and can be violated.

11. Examples of derivational rules • DEVOICING:A voiced obstruent becomes voiceless after a voiceless obstruent. • ə-INSERTION:Insert [ə] between two adjacent sibilants in the same word.

12. Examples of constraints • *SIBSIB:sibilants cannot occur cnosecutively within a word. • *VOICEVOICE:consecutive obstruents must be identical in voicing within a syllable. • MAX-IO:deletion of segment is prohibited. • DEP-IO:insertion of segment is prohibited. • IDENT-IO:input segment and the corresponding output must be identical.

13. 2. Linear Phonology • Make the rules as general as possible. • Use “Distinctive Features” instead of individual sound segments when writing the rules.

14. Distinctive Features • The idea of Distinctive Features was first developed by Roman Jacobson (1896-1982) in the 1940s as a means of working out a set of phonological contrasts or oppositions to capture particular aspects of language sounds. Since then several versions have been suggested.

15. Major class features • consonantal (con): sounds produced with a major obstruction in the oral cavity. • approximant (approx): sounds made with an oral tract constriction which is less than that required to produce friction. • Vowels, glides and liquids are [+approx], other sounds are [-approx]. • Also known as syllabic (syl) to indicate that they can form a syllable peak.

16. Major class features • sonorant (son): sounds produced with a vocal tract configuration in which spontaneous voicing is possible. • Obstruents (plosives, affricates and fricatives) are [-son], other sounds are [+son].

17. Vowel place features • high: the body of the tongue is raised from the neutral position. • low: the body of the tongue is lowered from the neutral position. • back: the body of the tongue is retracted from the neutral position. • round: the lips are protruded. • tense: sounds requiring deliberate, accurate, maximally distinct gestures that involve considerable muscular effort.

18. Vowel place features • advanced tongue root (ATR):vowels made by drawing the root of the tongue forward, thus enlarging the pharyngeal cavity, tending to raise the tongue body, and tending to give the sound a more tense articulation, e.g. [i e o u]. • [-ATR] sounds lack this gesture, e.g. [I E ç U a A].

19. Consonant place features • labial (lab): Sounds that involve a constriction of the lips to give either a labial (labiodental) consonant or a rounded vowel/glide. • coronal (cor): produced with the blade or tip of the tongue raised from the neutral position. • anterior (ant): defined only for coronal sounds. An anterior ([+ant]) sound is made with a constriction at or forward of, the alveolar ridge. Posterior ([-ant]) sounds are produced behind the alveolar ridge. • The anteriors are the dentals and alveolars, the posterior sounds are the retroflex, palato-alveolar and palatal sounds.

20. Consonant place features • dorsal (dor): Sounds made by raising the dorsum (tongue body) towards the hard palate, the soft palate (velum) or the uvula. • The dorsal consonants are the velars and uvulars. • radical (rad): Sounds produced in the pharyngeal or laryngeal (glottal) region, e.g.

21. Consonant place features • strident (strid): produced with a construction with greater noisiness. • Stridency is only defined for fricatives and affricates. • Labiodentals, sibilants and uvular fricatives/ affricates are [+strid]; all other fricatives/affricates are [-strid].

22. Manner features • continuant (cont): the primary constriction is not narrowed so much that airflow through the oral cavity is blocked. • Plosives and nasal stops are [-cont], other sounds (including laterals) are [+cont]. • nasal (nas): the velum is lowered which allows air to escape through the nose. • lateral (lat): the mid section of the tongue is lowered at the side.

23. Laryngeal features • voice: the vocal folds vibrate. • spread glottis (spread, or s.g.): the vocal folds are spread far apart. • Aspirated (voiceless) consonants, breathy or murmured voiced consonants and voiceless vowels/glides are [+spread]; other sounds are [-spread]. • Also known as aspirated.

24. Distinctive feature matrix for English consonants

25. Now we can represent the rule that governs the unaspiration of /p/ after [s] in terms of features: