Phonology Features and Rules: Consonants and Vowels - Prof. R. P. Malouf, Study notes of Linguistics

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Homework

• Read chapter 5

1

Phonology

• Phones vs. phonemes

• Contrastive distribution vs. complementary distribution

vs. free variation

• Features and natural classes

2

Features

Obstruents Nasals Liquids Glides Vowels [±consonantal] + + + – – [±syllabic] – –/+ –/+ – + [±sonorant] – + + + + Examples: p d v tʃ m n l ɹ j w i a Table 3.22 Use of major class features Transparency File 1 10/28/04 9:40 AM Page 9

10 (Chapter Features

(^) 3, (^) p. (^) 82) Transparency (^) master (^) copyright (^) © 2005 (^) by (^) Bedford/St. (^) Martin’ s Table 3.25 Feature matrix for English consonants Stops Fricatives Affricates Nasals Liquids Glides Glottals p b t d k! f v θ ð s z ʃ % tʃ d% Major class [consonantal] + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + features [sonorant] – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – [syllabic] – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Manner [nasal] – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – features [continuant] – – – – – – + + + + + + + + – – [lateral] – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – [delayed release] – – – – – – – – – – – – – – + + Laryngeal [voice] – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + features [CG] – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – [SG] – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Place of LABIAL o o o o articulation [round] – – – – features (^) CORONAL o o o o o o o o o o [anterior] + + + + + + – – – – [strident] – – – – + + + + + + DORSAL o o [high] + + [back] + + Note: [low], [tense], and [reduced] are not used for English consonants. Aspirated stops [p&, t&, k&] will have the feature [+SG]. Syllabic liquids and nasals will have the feature [+syllabic]. m n ŋ l ɹ j w ) h ʔ

• • • • • – – – – –
• • • • • • • • – –

• – – – – – – – – –

• • • – – – – – – –

• – – + + + + + + –
• – – + – – – – – –
• – – – – – – – – –

• • • • • • • – – –

• – – – – – – – – +
• – – – – – – – + – o o o
• • o o o
    • – – o o o o
      • – + + Transparency File (^1) 10/28/ (^) 9: (^) AM (^) Page (^10)

Features

11 (Chapter 3, p. 83) Transparency master copyright © 2005 by Bedford/St. Martin’s i  e ε # ə % u υ o ɔ ɑ/a Major class [consonantal] – – – – – – – – – – – – features [sonorant] + + + + + + + + + + + + [syllabic] + + + + + + + + + + + + Manner feature [continuant] + + + + + + + + + + + + Laryngeal [voice] + + + + + + + + + + + + feature Place of LABIAL o o o o articulation [round] + + + + features DORSAL o o o o o o o o o o o o [high] + + − − − − − + + − – − [low] − − − − + − − − − − – + [back] − − − − − + + + + + + + [tense] + − + − − − − + − + – + [reduced] − − − − − + − − − − – − Table 3.26 Feature matrix for English vowels 5

Syllables

• Syllable structure

Onset (O) Rhyme (R) s p! Nucleus (N) Coda (Co) " n t

!

6

Syllables

• Syllable patterns vary across languages

• Some universal tendencies

• Syllable nuclei usually consist of one vowel

• Syllables usually begin with onsets

• Syllables often end with codas

• Onsets and codas usually consist of one consonant

• CV and CVC are the most common types of syllables

Syllables

• We start with an^ underlying^ representation , which gives

the non-predictable features of a word

• Syllabification algorithm

• Nucleus formation: create syllables for sonority

peaks

• Onset formation: group less sonorant segments into

onsets

• Coda formation: anything that’s left goes into the

coda

• Word-level formation: syllables are grouped into

words

Rules

• Once the syllable structure is determined, we can fill in

predictable features using rules

• Defaults

• Allophones

• Variation

• Phonological rules take the form

A! B / X __ Y

which can be read “ A becomes B when it occurs between X and Y 9

Rules

• Some features are entirely predictable (e.g., [+voice] is

redundant for sonorants in English)

• If the UR only includes non-predictable information,

then we can use rules to fill additional features [+sonorant]! [+voice] / ___

• Cf. English:^ bogs^ [b"#z]^ balls^ [b"lz]

vs. Russian: gorodok ‘town (nom. sg.)’ gorotka (gen. sg.). iz - lagat! ‘to state; set forth’ is - kl!ut"at! ‘to exclude; dismiss’ 10

Rules

• Some rules produce allophones of a phoneme

• Liquids have voiceless allophones after voiceless stops

and voiced allophones elsewhere.

• Devoicing rule:

[—syllabic! [—voice] /" [—syllabic __ +sonorant +consonantal —nasal] —sonorant —continuant —voice —delayed release]

Rules

• Epenthesis^ and^ deletion^ rules add or remove segments

• Schwa deletion ( police, parade )

[!]! / (C) __ " (C) V[+stress]

• Schwa epenthesis ( milk, film )

! [!] / [+lateral] ___ [—syllabic " +cons]

Rules

• Assimilation rules adapt sounds to their environments

• Glide devoicing

• Nasal place assimilation

indirect [&nd!'(kt] indignity [&nd&gn&ti] important [&mp)'t!nt] immature [&mm!t*ur] inconclusive [&+k!+klus&v] ingratitude [&+#ræt&tud] 13

Rules

• Maltese

fellus ilfellus ‘chicken’ natura innatura ‘nature’ aria laria ‘air’ mara ilmara ‘woman’ ti#n itti#n ‘fig’ omm lomm ‘mother’ kelb ilkelb ‘dog’ $attus il$attus ‘cat’ s%ab iss%ab ‘clouds’ %itan il%itan ‘walls’ abt labt ‘armpit’ ispaniol lispaniol ‘Spanish’ dawl iddawl ‘light’ 14

Rules

• Neutralization rules eliminate contrasts

• /e&/, /(/, /æ/^ are contrastive in English, but for some

speakers, all are pronounced /(/ in front of /'/ Mary, merry, marry

• /ow/, /(/, /)/, /æ/^ are reduced to^ /!/ in unstressed

syllables. telegraph [t(l!#ræf] photograph [fowt!#ræf] telegraphy [t!l(#r!fi] photography [f!t)#r!fi]

Rules

• Several rules may apply to one underlying

representation UR /slæp/ /tæp/ /pæd/ Asp – t$æp p$æd V-length – – p$æ%d PR [slæp] [t$æp] [p$æ%d]

Rules

• Rules apply, in order, to the output of the preceding

rule UR /p!'ed/ Stress p!'éd Schwa del. p'éd Devoicing p',éd Diphth. p',éjd V-length p',é%jd PR [p',é%jd] 17

Interfaces

• Which comes first, morphology or phonology?

• It’s natural to assume morphology comes first, but:

• blacken, whiten, toughen

• *dryen, *dimmen, *greenen, *laxen

• soften, fasten, moisten

18

Interfaces

• German nominalizations:

• -erei^ is added to verb stems with final stressed

syllables

• -ei^ is added to to other verb stems

• For example:

síng-en Sing-eréi ‘singing’ lackíer-en Lackier-eréi ‘lacquering’ spion-íer-en Spion-ier-eréi ‘spying’ árbèit-en Arbeit-eréi ‘working’ ségel-n Segel-éi ‘sailing’ trö& del-n Trödel-éi ‘loitering’ bü&gel-n Bügel-éi ‘ironing’

Interfaces

• Stress in German is assigned by a phonological rule, so

it’s not in the underlying representation

• After adding the suffix, stress may shift, so the rule

can’t refer to the surface representation either: UR lackier lackíer Stress lackíer-erei Suffix SR lackier-eréi Stress

• This implies that phonology is both before and after

morphology!

Cyclicity

• The solution:^ Cyclic rule application^ (Mascaró 1970)

• Catalan

‘grind ‘sell’ mol b(n 3sg mol-s b(n-s 2sg mol-k b(+ 1sg

• Two ordered rules:

• Assimilate nasal to following stop

n! + / __ k

• Delete word-final stop after nasal

[ —cont! / [+nasal] __ # —nasal ] 21

Cyclicity

• But:

bin ‘twenty’ bint-'& ‘twentieth’ bim pans ‘twenty breads’ bi( kaps ‘twenty heads’

• Here,^ k^ deletion must come before assimilation

• The solution:

[ b'n+k ] [ bint ][ kap+s ] first cycle [ b'(k ] [ bint ][ kaps ] nasal assimilation [ b'( ] [ bin ][ kaps ] cluster simplification [ bin kaps ] second cycle [ bi( kaps ] nasal assimilation 22

Rules

• This picture of phonological derivations goes back to

Panini, and dominated through the 20th century

• More recent models of phonology (e.g., Optimality

Theory) drop rules in favor of constraints

• Rules are the^ effects , constraints are the^ causes

• Many rules reproduce historical developments (e.g.,

nasal assimilation)

• Problems with rule ordering (loops, cycles,

paradoxes)

• Psychological implausibility of procedural metaphors