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Phonology

Phonology. Definition Processes affecting sounds Syllables , Syllable structure Mandarin syllable structure Suprasegmentals Phonemes , Allophones Phonetic difference vs. phonemic difference Transcription Phonological rules , Morphophonemic rules Allowable sequences of phonemes

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Phonology

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  1. Phonology • Definition • Processes affecting sounds • Syllables, Syllable structure • Mandarin syllable structure • Suprasegmentals • Phonemes, Allophones • Phonetic difference vs. phonemic difference • Transcription • Phonological rules, Morphophonemic rules • Allowable sequences of phonemes • Interaction between phonology and other aspects of language Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  2. Phonology • Describes and explains sound patterns (systems); the abstract (or mental) aspect of sounds • Sound patterns: • Sets of sounds • List of sounds that belong to one lang.; sets of phonemes; possible speech sounds in all languages • Arrangements of sounds • Order: e.g, CV, CVC, V • Processes affecting sounds Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  3. Processes Affecting Sounds • Addition • Adding a sound which wasn’t there before • e.g., gamle  gamble • Deletion • contraction in fast speech, e.g., “I’ll” • friendship • Substitution (or changing) • Assimilation • Rearrangement • E.g, comfortable  comftorble Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  4. Syllables (1) • Definition: a unit more “natural” (i.e., psychologically real) for most people than individual sounds • When dividing words into smaller units  usually syllables; e.g., “im-por-tant” • The importance of syllables in poetry/song: • Meter • Rhyme • Recite alphabet in syllables • Many forms of writing (began or) based on the syllable Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  5. Syllables (2) • Alphabet vs. Letter • The alphabets: the set of letters • How many alphabets are there in Eng.? In Japanese? • 26 letters of the alphabet • Syllabic alphabet: one symbol represents one syllable. Ex: Japanese • Syllable structure:a syllable always contains a vowel or a vowel-like sound. Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  6. Syllable Structure(1) Syllable (onset) rime nucleus (coda) F F (consonant(s)) vowel (consonant(s)) (or syllabic consonant) (A structure basically fit into any language.) Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  7. Syllable Structure (2) • Examples: V: “I” /aI/ CV: “do” /du/ VC:/æm/ CVC:/nAt/ /laIk/ VCC: “eggs”/Egs/ CCV: “glee” /gli/ CCVC: “green” /grin/ CCCVCCC(C): strengths /strENQs/ / strENkQs / Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  8. Mandarin Syllable Structure Tone 聲調 (Initial) Final 聲母 韻母 (Medial) Rime 介音 韻 Nucleus (Ending) 主要元音 韻尾 Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  9. Suprasegmentals (1) • Definition: elements of sound which interact with syllables and longer units. • Why called “suprasegmentals”? • “supra” = “above” or “over” • “segment” = piece; individual sound • Not only individual sounds and their combinations in syllables are important, but also other sound elements that go with them. Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  10. Suprasegmentals (2) • Pitch: high/low of the voice • High/low of the voice, controlled by vocal cords • Stress: the combination of pitch, length/clarity of vowel, volume • For emphasis • N/V pairs • Tone: pitch variation • Intonation: pitch over a phrase, clause or sentence Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  11. Phonemes (1) • Phonemes are sounds which make a difference to meaning • A speech sound which speakers of a language can recognize as a distinctive sound (in their language) which affects meaning • A psychological real speech sound, recognized as different from other speech sounds • An abstract mental representation of a set of sounds Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  12. Phonemes (2) • pot and spot: /ph/ vs. /p/ • Physically different but psychologically the same to speakers • So /p/ is a phoneme • /p/ = {p, ph} or /p/ = [p], [ph] • Notation: • / / = phoneme • [ ] = allophone • { } = set of allophones Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  13. Allophones • Different actual (physical) pronunciation of a phoneme • It makes no difference to meaning. • It is phonemically/mentally the same, but physically different. • /l/, /r/ are phonemes in Eng., but /l/ = {l,ł} allophones • [l]: “late” (regular alveolar l) • Occurs before + high V or + mid, front V • [ł]: “law,“ “real” (velarized l) • Occurs before + backk V, + low V, or at the end of syllable • Nasality on vowels: /i/ = {i, ĩ } • tea vs. team Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  14. Phonemic & Phonetic Difference • Phonemic difference in one language may be phonetic difference in another, and vice versa (i.e., allophones in one lang. may be phonemes in another). • Nasality on vowels • Eng. • /i/ = {i, ĩ } • Twi (Ghana) • /ka/ = “bite”; /kã/ = “speak” • Taiwanese • “pig” vs. “sweet”; “west” vs. “give birth” (Nash 50) Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  15. Phonemic & Phonetic Difference • Compare English and Taiwanese vowels • pig (in Taiwanese) [di] –nasal make phonemic sweet (in Taiwanese) [dĩ] +nasal difference in Taiwanese • west (in Taiwanese) [se] give birth (in Taiwanese ) [se] Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  16. Phonemic & Phonetic Difference • Aspiration • English: /p/ = {p, ph} • Hindi, Thai, Taiwanese: /p/, / ph / • Hindi: /p∧l/ = “moment”; / ph ∧l/ = “fruit”(Nash 49) • Mandarin consonants distinguished by +aspirated or –aspirated • p’, p t’, t k’, k ts’, ts tE’, tE tC’, tC (Nash 45) Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  17. Phonemic and Phonetic Difference Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  18. Transcription • Transcription = the use of phonetic symbols to show sounds in written form • Phonemic transcription shows phonemes in slashes: / / • In dictionaries • pin /pIn/ • Phonetic transcription shows allophones in square brackeets: [ ]; it gives more details of the physical pronunciation • For speech therapy; for phonological study of sound processes;; for linguistic description, etc. • little /lItl/ vs. [lIDl], [lItl], [lI l] Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  19. Phonological Rules • General principles determining the occurrence of allophones (i.e., determining how a phoneme is actually pronounced under specific conditions). • State (three things about) what is required for a certain process to operate: • The type of sound involved (with distinctive feature) • The environment (the linguistic context; the surrounding sounds, syllable structure) • What happens to this type of sound Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  20. Phonological Rule 1 • Voiceless stops (when they’re at beginning of a syllable) before a stressed vowel  + aspirated • Pit [phIt], cool, top Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  21. Phonological Rule 2 • Vowels (when before nasal consonants)  + nasal • Team [tĩm] • Tune [tũn] • The nasalization of vowels is a case of assimilation (under the pressure of “be quick and easy”). Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  22. Assimilation • When two phonemes occur in sequence and some aspect of one phoneme is taken or “copied” by the other, the process is known as assimilation. (Yule 59) Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  23. Phonological Rule 3 • Velarization of /l/: • /l/ (before + back or + low vowel, or at the end of syllable)  velarized • Law [ O], real [rił] Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  24. Morphophonemic Rules • A morpheme, with different pronunciations determined by phonology • Morphophonemic = morphology + phoneme • Example: negative prefix • Even though written in 2 ways: in-, im-, actually with 3 different pronunciations: [In], [Iŋ], [Im] • “In words a nasal consonant is formed at the same place as a consonant that comes after it.” Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  25. Negative Prefix • A velar nasal [ŋ ] is formed, if followed by a velar consonant • E.g.,incomplete, ingratitude  [Iŋ] • An alveolar nasal [n] is formed, when followed by an alveolar consonant • E.g., indefinite, insecure  [In] • A bilabial nasal [m] is formed, when followed by a bilabial consonant • E.g., impossible, immature  [Im] Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  26. Formal Versions of Rules • [+ stop, - voice]  [+ aspiration]/# --- [- consonantal, + vocalic, + stress] • “voiceless stops are/become aspirated [in the environment of ][at] the beginning of a syllable before a stressed vowel” • [-consonantal, + vocalic]  [+ nasal] --- [ + consonantal, - vocalic, + nasal] Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  27. Allowable Sequences of Phonemes • “Tlaloc” • Syllable structure • CV: the most preferred syllable in all languages • V, VC, CV, CVC all possible in Eng.? In Mandarin? • C • CCCVCCCC “strengths” • Probably the longest syllable in English • But the beginning CCC cannot be just any C • [s/p, t, or k/l, r, y, or w/], plus limits on combos of the three groups Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  28. Interaction Between Phonology and Other Aspects of Language • Phonology with morphology • Stress placement is predictable (in some cases) given knowledge of the word class • The pronunciation of a morpheme determined by phonology • Phonology with syntax • Phonology with semantics Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  29. Interaction Between Phonology & Morphology (1) • Word class  stress • N/V pair: • conflict, conflict • convert, convert • conscript, conscript • pervert, pervert • record, record Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  30. Interaction Between Phonology & Syntax • Noun compounds vs. adj. + noun phrase • blackboard, black board • blue bird, blue bird • hot dog, hot dog • the White House, a white house Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  31. Interaction Between Phonology & Morphology (2) • Negative prefix: /In/ (see slide 25) • Regular plural: /z/ • teachers, books, churches • Regular past tense: /d/ • begged, tripped, needed Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

  32. Interaction Between Phonology & Semantics • Intonation: change meaning of a phrase, clause, sentence • You like this class. (statement) • You like this class. (question). • Tone: change meaning of a (morpheme or) word • 媽 • 麻 • 馬 • 罵 Yun-Pi YuanYun-Pi Yuan

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