Download Phonological Processes and Alternations - Introduction to Phonetics - Lecture Notes and more Study notes Literature and Development in PDF only on Docsity!
Phonological processes and alternations:
I. Greek letter variables
A. Regressive devoicing (French)
“absent” “abstrait” “médecin”
/a b sant/ /a b strEt/ /mE d ´sEn/ [a p sA)] [a p strE] [me t sE‚]
Underlying form: /absant/ /abstrEt/ /mEdsEn/
Rule1: [+cons, - son] Æ [-voi] / ___ $ [+cons, -son, -voi]
(Rule2etc:) …
Phonetic form: [apsA)] [apstrE] [metsE‚]
B. Regressive voicing (French):
“anecdote” “svelte” /anE k dçt´/ / s vElt´/ [anE g dçt] [ z vElt]
Underlying form: /anEkdçt´/ /svElt´/
Rule: [+cons, -son] Æ [+voi] / ___$[+cons, -son, +voi]
Rule 2, etc: …
Phonetic form: [anEgdçt] [zvElt]
In what way are these rules similar? What differentiates them? Could they be combined in one rule?
Generalization :
Reformulate the two rules in one:
An obstruent at the end of a syllable assimilates in voicing to the following obstruent
[+cons, -son] Æ [α voi] / ___ $ [+cons, -son, α voi]
Exercise:
State the rule for the following assimilations:
i[N]comprehensible
i[m]precise i[n]tractable
A nasal consonant of the prefix “iN-“ assimilates to place of articulation of the following consonant
Note: place of articulation corresponds to two binary features [+/- cor] and [+/- ant].
Phonetically and morphologically conditioned alternations
English plurals
[s] [z] [Iz] cats dogs busses tapes mobs buzzes packs eyes bushes bees garages matches dodges
Contexts of appearance of every variant: ALL consonants [-voi]
ALL consonants [+voi], ALL vowels & glides
s, z, S, Z, tS, dZ
Underlying form:
A. UR = /z/
Voicing assimilation /z/ > [s] / [-voi]+____#
I-epenthesis Ø > [I] / {s, z, S, Z, tS, dZ} +_____z #
B. UR = alveolar fricative unspecified for voicing [+stri, +cor, +ant]
Voicing assimilation:
[+stri, +cor, +ant] > [+voi] / [+voi] + ____ #
[+stri, +cor, +ant] > [-voi] / [-voi] + ____ #
Or
[+stri, +cor, +ant] > [α voi] / [α voi] ____ #
Rule ordering: a) Assimilation before epenthesis
cats dogs busses buzzes pies Underlying form kQt+Z dAg+Z b√s+Z b√z+Z pAj+Z
I -epenthesis - - b√s+IZ b√z+IZ -
V. Assimilation kQt+s dAg+z b√s+Iz b√z+Iz pAj+z
Phonetic form kQts dAgz b√sIz b√zIz pajz
b) Epenthesis before assimilation
cats dogs busses buzzes pies Underlying form kQt+Z dAg+Z b√s+Z b√z+Z pAj+Z
V. Assimilation kQt+s dAg+z b√s+s b√z+z paj+z
I -epenthesis - - b√s+Is b√z+Iz -
Phonetic form kQts dAgz b√sIs b√zIz pajz
(= extrinsic rule ordering )
Intrinsic rule orderning
Can’t [k Q) t] : a deletion rule is needed to delete the nasal consonant, and nasalization rule
is needed to account for the nasalized vowel:
Rule of deletion: [+cons, +nas] > Ø / [+voc] __ [+cons]
Nasalization: [+voc] > [+nas] / ___ [+cons, +nas](C 1 )$
Rule ordering:
Order A: Order B:
/kQnt/ /kQnt/
Nasalization Q) Nasal deletion Ø
Nasal deletion Ø Nasalization - [kQ)t] [kQt]
