Phonology: contrast, complementary distribution

1. Phonology:contrast, complementary distribution LING 200 Spring 2003 Reading: Files 4.1-4.3

2. Some acoustic phonetics b A y energy waveform frequency spectrogram time

3. F3 b A y frequency F2 voicing time F1 dark bands in spectrogram are ‘formants’ (F1, F2, etc.), characteristic frequencies of resonator (vocal tract shape)

4. English vowels—an acoustic plot F2 F1

5. English vowels—an acoustic plot F2 F1

6. Aspiration in English p h A y aspiration

7. Aspiration in English • The sequence of events in [phA]:

8. Broad vs. narrow transcription • When should aspiration be included in a transcription of English? • How much detail should a transcription contain? • Relatively a lot of detail: narrow • e.g. [khAt] ‘cot’ [gAt] ‘got’ • Relatively less detail: broad • e.g. [kAt] ‘cot’ [gAt] ‘got’

9. Predictable vs. unpredictable information • List-like information • unpredictable • e.g. In English, [kæt]  • represented in dictionary • Rule-like information • predictable • e.g. In English, voiceless stops are aspirated (in one context) • represented in grammar • e.g. phonological rule of Aspiration

10. Broadest transcription • Represents only unpredictable information • Phonemic representation: /kæt/ phonological rules e.g. assign aspiration kh phonetic representation [khæt] • Phonemes: the elements of a phonemic representation

11. When to use broad vs. narrow transcription? • Typically, transcription is as broad as possible • Symbols in consonant, vowel charts are phonemes • In English, transcribe aspiration only in a phonetic study of aspiration

12. Phonemic vs. phonetic representations • Phonetic representation • directly observable • contains measurable properties • Phonemic representation • inferred, not observed • abstract, streamlined representation of sound

13. Inferring the phonemic representation • Evidence from: • Minimal pairs/sets (‘contrast’) • Distributional properties of sounds • When aspects of pronunciation are predictable, due to influence of • Neighboring sound • Position of sound

14. Minimal pairs • Two words which differ in meaning and along only one phonetic parameter • A minimal pair for voicing • [kræbi] vs. [kræpi] • therefore, /p b/ in English • A minimal pair for labio-dental vs. interdental place • [TIn] vs. [fIn] • therefore, /T f/ in English • Minimal pairs • contain phonemes • are a guide to the phoneme inventory

15. Minimal sets • A minimal set for vowel height • [hid] • [hId] • [hed] • [hEd] • [hæd]

16. A near-minimal set • [tyd] • [hAyd] • [hAwd]

17. /p/ /t/ /k/ aspirated [pHt] [tHt] [kHt] [yupHIk] [yutH] [yukHn] unaspirated [spy] [sty] [sky] [sp] [rt] [sk] [sps] [rts] [sks] Distributional properties of sounds • Aspiration in more detail ( [ ] = primary stress; [ ] = secondary stress )

18. Distribution of [ph], [p] • [bAy] • [phAy] • [spAy] • ? • =[pAy]

19. Distribution of [ph], [p] Observation: [ph] occurs at the beginning of a syllable; [p] occurs everywhere else voiceless stops can occur in English Syllable: grouping of consonants and vowels. 1 syllable words: [rIk], [brIk], [brIks]; 2 syllable word: [TIkn]. [.] = syllable boundary

20. Distribution of [ph], [p] [phe] [phle] [ræpt] [phre] [ræsp] [spe] [ræps] [sple] [ræp] [spre] All the places /p/ can occur in English 

21. Distribution of aspiration In English, • [pH tH kH] and [p t k] do not contrast • there are no minimal pairs for aspiration • [pH tH kH] and [p t k] are in complementary distribution; i.e. • the distribution of [ph] complements that of [p] • i.e. [ph] and [p] don’t occur in the same place • the distribution of aspiration is predictable and can be stated in a rule: • Voiceless stops are aspirated when syllable initial

22. phonemic phonetic (aspiration transcribed) /pt/ [pHt] /yupIk/ [yupHIk] /spt/ [spt] /sp/ [sp] /sps/ [sps] Allophones • The pronunciations of phonemes which contain predictable properties • E.g., [ph] and [p] are allophones of /p/ in English. • Phonemic vs. phonetic transcription

23. Cross-linguistic similarities and differences • Spoken languages differ • in phoneme inventories • in rules for the pronunciation of phonemes • Phonological rules usually apply to, are conditioned by • natural classes of sounds • e.g. Aspiration applies to /p t k/ (all voiceless stops) • not /p r /

24. Aspiration in Hindi • State of glottis in Hindi • [] = voiced aspirated palatal affricate • [ch] = voiceless aspirated palatal affricate • [] = voiced palatal affricate • [c] = voiceless palatal affricate

25. Aspiration in Hindi • [cAl] ‘turn’ • [chAl] ‘bark’ • [Al] ‘net’ • [Al] ‘cymbals’ • [cAl] ‘turn’, [Al] ‘net’ are a minimal pair for voicing • [cAl] ‘turn’, [chAl] ‘bark’ are a minimal pair for aspiration • /   c ch/ are all phonemes in Hindi

26. Voicing in Mohawk • Iroquoian family; spoken in Quebec, Ontario, New York • Suspicion: [p t k b d g] are all sounds of Mohawk, but there are no minimal or near-minimal pairs for voicing • Is stop voicing phonemic or predictable?

27. Mohawk phonetic data [V:] = long vowel, [C] = voiceless consonant

28. Stop distribution # = word edge

29. Summarized contexts • [p t k] and [b d g] are in complementary distribution in Mohawk.

30. Writing the phonological rule • Which rule? • Mohawk has /p t k/. Voicing: Stops are voiced before vowels. or? • Mohawk has /b d g/. Devoicing: Stops are voiceless word finally or before a consonant.

31. Writing the phonological rule • Choose Voicing. Why? • Voicing is simpler than Devoicing • Voicing: “...before vowels.” • Devoicing: “...word finally or before a consonant.” • If Voicing, then Mohawk consonant inventory contains /p t k/. If Devoicing, then /b d g/. But there are no languages with /b d g/ which lack /p t k/. • i.e. voiced stops  voiceless stops (an implicational universal)

32. Mohawk consonant inventory Voicing applies to all of the voiceless stops in Mohawk.

33. Writing the rule • In Mohawk, • Stops are voiced before vowels. • (sentence formulation) • /p t k/  [b d g] / ___ V • (‘arrow’ notation)