Introduction to linguistics – The sounds of German R21118

1. Introduction to linguistics – The sounds of German R21118 Dr Nicola McLelland

2. Lecture 3 (week 4) I. Fricatives and affricates II. Phonological features in generative phonology

3. I. Fricatives and Affricates • We have already met the fricatives in German: • labiodental [f, v] • alveolar [s, z] • palatal-alveolar [∫, Ʒ] • [Ʒ] in German in borrowings only, such as Journalist, Mirage – it is a fairly peripheral phoneme] • In English: • Vision /Ʒ/ • German /dƷ/ (i.e as part of the affricate)

4. Fricatives … • labiodental [f, v] • alveolar [s, z] • palatal-alveolar [∫, Ʒ] • palatal [ç] as in ich (the voiced variant does not occur in German or English, but it is written like a j with a looped tail: [ʝ]) • velar [x] as in Buch • Now … Introducing the voiced velar fricative [ɣ]

5. Fricatives … • Introducing the voiced velar fricative [ɣ] • Occurs in northern parts of German after a back vowel in words like Tag , Burg(where standard German would expect …/k/)

6. Fricatives … • Introducing the voiceduvular fricative, which many people use for their /r/. Its phonetic sybmol is [ʁ]. • (listen for the difference between [ʁ] and a uvular trill [R]) • rot, Rathaus, ringen, irren

7. The palatal semi-vowel /j/ • Chris Hall’s book (p.48) talks about this sound under the fricatives, but it is really usually a semi-vowel or approximant – we’ll come back to it. • It occurs in words like Januar, Jubel, jot, Jahr • Also a regional allophone for /g/ in some contexts, eg. gut [ju:t], gemacht [jǝmaxt] (Berlin, Rhineland)

8. The glottal fricative /h/ • nothing much to say about this – same as in English! • remember that the glottis is the gap between the vocal cords • a glottal fricative is caused by a narrowing of the constriction between the vocal cords (but not enough to cause vibration > voicing)

9. Affricates • An affricate consists of a stop followed by a fricative produced at the same (or nearly same) place of articulation (at same place = homoorganic, Dt. homorgan) • e.g. /pf/ = labial (bilabial) stop /p/ + labial (labiodental) fricative /f/ • /ts/ = alveolar stop + alveolar fricative • /t∫/ = alveolar stop + palatal-alveolar fricative (Deutsch, Tschechisch, otherwise not v. frequent)

10. Affricates – one phoneme or two? • Should we treat the affricates as single phonemes, or as combinations of two? • In favour of seeing them as one phoneme: • At the start of the syllable we can normally only have two consonants, as in Kraft, Draht, or only 2 at the end in reverse order, Stark, Bürde • (exceptions where the first consonant is ∫ : e.g. Splitter, Stroh) • In this regard, the affricate /pf/ seems to behave as a single phoneme, for it can be added to another consonant: pfropfen, Karpfen

11. Affricates – one phoneme or two? • Should we treat the affricates as single phonemes, or as combinations of two? • Against seeing them as one phoneme: • Before /pf/ you can only have short vowels as in Tropfen (as well as liquids and nasals as in Karpfen, Dampf). • But before any normal single consonant, short or long vowels are possible, e.g. before /s/ in Bus vs. Fuß • This would suggest /pf/ needs to be treated as two phonemes

12. Affricates – one phoneme or two? • For /ts/ and /t∫/, the evidence is even more confusing … • In short, the jury is still out

13. II. Phonological features in generative phonology

14. Generative grammar … a revolutionary approach to linguistics which began with Noam Chomsky in the late 1950s / early 1960s

15. Generative grammar … first applied to syntax

16. Cf. very brief encounter in Lecture 1 … e.g. Der Junge spielte mit dem Ball. S NP VP D N V PP P NP D N Der Junge spielte mit dem Ball

17. 3. Generative grammar … S = Sentence NP = Noun phrase VP = Verb phrase PP = Prepositional phrase D = Determiner N = Noun, V = Verb, D = Determiner P = Prepostion

18. Generative grammar … Syntactic trees like this make the internal structure of the sentence clearer – e.g. they reflect our sense that mit dem Ball is more closely tied to spielte than it is to der Junge

19. Generative grammar … … tries to generate tree structures like this using rules that reflect what native speakers just “know” intuitively … rules that produce all possible grammatical sentences, no ungrammatical ones … easier said than done!

20. Generative grammar … Principle of parsimony Maximally simple theory to account for the data; no unnecessary (redundant) theoretical concepts Applied not just to syntax, but also to phonology: generative phonology

21. Generative phonology: Using features to specify phonemes economically • We’ve already seen that we can describe individual sounds by listing particular characteristics or features • e.g. a labiodental, • oral • voiceless • fricative is ….?

22. Using articulatory features to specify phonemes economically • We’ve already seen that we can describe individual sounds by listing particular characteristics or features • e.g. a labiodental, , oral voiceless fricative is …. /f/

23. Using articulatory features to specify phonemes economically • We’ve already seen that we can describe individual sounds by listing particular characteristics or features • e.g. a labiodental, oral voiceless fricative is …. /f/ • e.g. 2: a voiced, nasal velar stop is ....

24. Using features to specify phonemes economically • We’ve already seen that we can describe individual sounds by listing particular characteristics or features • e.g. a labiodental, oral voiceless fricative is …. /f/ • e.g. 2: a voiced, nasal velar stop is .... /ŋ/

25. Features Generative phonology tries to reduce the number of features we need to describe any sound uniquely to the absolute minimum. By …

26. Features • Generative phonology tries to reduce the number of features we need to describe any sound uniquely to the absolute minimum. • By … • using some of the same features for vowels and for consonants • e.g. [back], which we have seen used for vowels like /α/ and /u/ • It can also be used to describe consonants such as the velars /k g x/ where the tongue is also quite far back

27. Features …. • AND by specifying + or – for each feature • e.g. [consonantal ]: we specify all consonantals as “[+ consonantal[” and all vowels as “[ – consonantal]” • (i.e we don’t need an additional feature for “vowels”)

28. An overview of the features …. • [+ / - consonantal] • (konsonantisch), [+kons] • refers to narrow constriction in the oral cavity – either total occlusion (closing off) or friction • everything except vowels and semi-vowels ([w, j] etc) are [+cons]

29. An overview of the features …. Sonorant [+son] (sonorantisch) • refers to resonance of a sound • vowels, nasals, liquids [l and r] are [+son] • stops, fricatives and affricates [pf, ts] are [-son]

30. An overview of the features …. Sonorant [+son] (sonorantisch) • refers to resonance of a sound • vowels, nasals, liquids [l and r] are [+son] • stops, fricatives and affricates [pf, ts] are [-son] • NB The [-son] group are called obstruents (sounds that occur in both voiced and voiceless forms). So, all obstruents are • [-son]

31. An overview of the features …. Continuant [+cont] (dauernd [+kont], [+dnd] refers to obstruents with continuous friction throughout: i.e. fricatives [f, v, s, z], etc. are [+cont] The other obstruents – the stops and the affricates (like [pf, ts]) begin with an occlusion (complete closure). They are [-kont]

32. An overview of the features …. Lateral [+lat] When the middle part of the tongue is pressed down so that air can escape around the sides For our purposes, there is just one lateral, [l]

33. An overview of the features …. Anterior [+ant] • An obstruction in the mouth is formed further forward than palatal-alveolar • i.e. it is at the: • lips, • teeth, or • alveolar ridge

34. An overview of the features …. Coronal [+cor] (koronal [+kor] Tongue tip is raised straight up from its neutral position to hit either teeth or alveolar ridge, or palatal-alveolar i.e. t, d, n, ∫, s, z …

35. An overview of the features …. High [+high] [+hoch] Body (blade) of the tongue is raised from neutral position, as in ∫, k, g

36. An overview of the features …. Low [+low] [+tief] • Body (blade) of the tongue is lowered from neutral position • (applies only to vowels) • NB [-low] is not the same as [+high] • ([-low could include tongue in neutral position, but [+high] = “raised above the neutral position”)

37. An overview of the features …. Back [+back] [+hinten] • Body (blade) of the tongue is drawn back from neutral position: • some vowels • And velar consonants like [k, g, x, ŋ] • NB [-back] is not the same as [+ant]: • Palatal consonants are [-ant, -hint], e.g. /ç/ as in ich • velar consontants are [-ant, +hint], e.g. /x/ as in ach

38. An overview of the features …. Round [+round] [+rund] Lips are rounded, not spread (Applies to some vowels only)

39. An overview of the features …. Tense [+tense] [+gespannt, gesp.] • We saw last week that some vowels are tenser than others, e.g. /i/ compared to /I/ • In some languages (but not European languages) tenseness may also be a distinguishing feature for some consonants, e.g. voiceless stops in Korean

40. An overview of the features …. Voice [+voice] (stimmhaft, [+sth]) Voiced = when the vocal cords vibrate

41. Comments on the features • Annoyingly, the definition of the features is sometimes quite arbitrary – e.g. that [+ant] refers to a sound where the obstruction is in front of palatal-alveolar, which is not a natural boundary in any way

42. Comments on the features • Annoyingly, the definition of the features is sometimes quite arbitrary – e.g. that [+ant] refers to a sound where the obstruction is in front of palatal-alveolar, which is not a natural boundary in any way • Sometimes it is clumsier to express traditional descriptions using the limited number of features, e.g. • labial = [+ant, -kor] • Velar = [-ant, -kor, +hint]

43. Describing the consonants in terms of phonological features • see handout (from Ramers & Vater1995: 74) • NB Ramers & Vater introduce [labial] (which covers both bilabial and labiodental consonants), and do not use [anterior] • exercise in your booklet, A.2.2 (p.43) and A2.3, A2.4: (try not to look at the answers!)

44. Using features to describe phonological rules • Focussing on features makes it easy to spot regular patterns, or phonological rules, and to describe them …. • what rule does the following describe? • [+obstruent]  [ - stimmhaft] / __ ] σ • / = “in the environment of”, and σ = “syllable boundary”

45. Using features to describe phonological rules • A fricative or stop becomes voiceless when it is followed by a syllable boundary • [+obstruent]  [ - stimmhaft] / __ ] σ • i.e. Auslautverh:artung • rewrite the rule using the individual feature(s) necessary to specify the group of obstruents

46. Using features to describe phonological rules • A fricative or stop becomes voiceless when it is followed by a syllable boundary • [+obstruent]  [-stimmhaft] / __ ] σ • Re-writing the rule to define the obstruents: • [+kons, -nasal, -son]  [-stimmhaft] / __ ] σ • or even just: [-son]  [-stimmhaft] / __ ] σ

47. Let’s try and decode another rule • [-son, -kont, +sth]  Ø / [+nas, +hint] _____

48. Let’s try and decode another rule • [-son, -kont, +sth]  Ø / [+nas, +hint] _____ • This says that when an “obstruent which is a fricative and voiced” follows a velar nasal /ŋ/, it is deleted.

49. Let’s try and decode another rule • [-son, -kont, +sth]  Ø / [+nas, +hint] _____ • This says that when an “obstruent which is not a fricative and is voiced”, i.e a voiced stop, follows a velar nasal /ŋ/, it is deleted. • In practice the only voiced stop that can ever follow a /ŋ/ is /g/, so the rule says, “delete /g/ after /ŋ/” , and it deals with cases like Hunger, /hʊŋɐ/ as opposed to hungrig, where the /g/ is pronounced after the /ŋ/.