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Phonology Notes – cont’d
- Phonological Rules Part of Competence (knowledge of language): express a generalization or pattern of specific sounds in a language. 4.1. Illustration - English Recall from the phonetics chapter – In English, /t/ is pronounced as [t h]: a) at beginning of a word and b) at beginning of stressed syllable; /t/ is pronounced as [t] elsewhere. Remember: this is true of all voiceless stops of English: /p, t, k/.
State the generalization to cover all the cases = Phonological Rule:
Voiceless stops are pronounced as aspirated a) at the beginning of a word; b) at the beginning of a stressed syllable They are pronounced as unaspirated in all other contexts = elsewhere.
phonemes allophones [ph, th, kh] – beginning of word; beginning of stressed syllable /p, t, k/ [p, t, k] – elsewhere
Competence vs. Performance in
Phonology
C O M P E T E N C E = L i n g u i s t i c k n o w l e d g e U n d e r l y i n g ( p h o n o l o g i c a l ) r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s & r u l e s / p I n / / s p I n / / t o n / / s t o n / / k I n / / s k I n /
P E R F O R M A N C E ( o u t p u t ) = S p e e c h
[ p[ t hh I n ]o n ] [ s p I n ][ s t o n ] [ k h I n ] [ s k I n ]
p h o n o l o g i c a lr u l e a p p l i c a t i o n
4.3. More on Phonological Rules P- Rules should be as general as possible Refer to Natural Classes = general categories / groupings of sounds Examples: stops, voiceless stops, vowels, nasals, fricatives, etc Also Sonorants = sounds made with spontaneous voicing (nasals, liquids, glides, vowels) Obstruents = sounds in which voicing contrasts (stops, fricatives, affricates)
Choosing underlying representation / phoneme
Underlying Representation = abstract representation of sound in the brain (=
phoneme)
a) look for “simpler” sound = unmarked sound
e.g. [p] is “simpler” than [ph]
b) look for most “general” sound = sound in “elsewhere” environment
e.g. [ph] is found at the beginning of a word, or at the beginning of a stressed syllable
There are no minimal pairs, so we cannot immediately claim that these sounds are contrastive distribution. Step 2: Identify the contexts of the sounds [n] and []. Left context [n] Right context u ___ t
___ u
a ___ # o ___ # i ___ u i ___ t
- Repeat the same procedure for the other sound: Left context [] Right context u ___ k i ___ k u ___ g i ___ g a ___ k Step 3: Compare the contexts of the sounds [n] and []. We observe that [n] may occur in many different contexts, but that [] always occurs in two very specific contexts: before [k] and [g], regardless of the vowel that precedes it. We also observe that even though [n] occurs in a variety of contexts, it NEVER occurs before [k] or [g]. Thus, we can say that [n] and [] occupy different contexts: i.e. [] occurs only before [k] or [g] [n] occurs elsewhere (i.e. in any context as long as it is NOT before [k] or [g])
Step 4: Identify type of distribution. Since [n] and [] are in different contexts, they are in complementary distribution.
Step 5: Are the sounds separate phonemes or allophones of one phoneme? Since [n] and [] are in complementary distribution , they are allophones of the same phoneme. We will choose /n/ to be this phoneme (underlying representation), since it is more general – found in more varied contexts. Step 6: Formulate the generalization: We see that the velar nasal (i.e. []) is found
precisely before the two velar stops (i.e. [k] and [g]) in the data.
Step 7: Write the phonological rule: /n/ [] / __ Cvelar /n/ [n] / elsewhere
PRACTICE – Analysis of Phonological Data (Try these on your own; answers are given at the end so you can see if you have understood the problem.) Consider the following (somewhat simplified) data from Tagalog, a language of the Philippines).
Focus on [h] and [].
a) [kahon] ‘box’ d) [ari] ‘property’ b) [hari] ‘king’ e) [kaon] ‘to fetch’ c) [umagos] ‘to flow’ f) [humagos] ‘to paint’
- Are [h] and [] in contrastive distribution , complementary distribution or free variation? Explain
why.
- Are [h] and [] allophones of the same phoneme or different phonemes? Explain why.
Now consider some additional (hypothetical) data from Tagalog. Focus on [d] and [r]. a) [dati] ‘to arrive’ d) [marumi] ‘dirty’ b) [dami] ‘amount’ e) [darati] ‘will arrive’ c) [dumi] ‘dirt’ f) [datir] ‘often’
- Are [d] and [r] in contrastive distribution , complementary distribution or free variation? Explain why.
- Are [d] and [r] allophones of the same phoneme or different phonemes? Explain why.
- If [d] and [r] are allophones of the same phoneme, which is the underlying representation (phoneme form)? Explain why.
- Write a phonological rule that accounts for the distribution of the different allophones.
Now consider some additional (hypothetical) data from Tagalog. Focus on [s] and [z]. a) [dasi] ‘to ask’ d) [marusi] ‘far away’ b) [dami] ‘amount’ e) [daruzi] ‘far away’ c) [dazi] ‘to ask’ f) [marami] ‘many’
- Are [s] and [z] in contrastive distribution , complementary distribution or free variation?
Ans: They are allophones of the same phoneme, since they are in complementary distribution.
- If [d] and [r] are allophones of the same phoneme, which is the underlying representation (phoneme form)? Explain why.
Ans: We would choose /r/ for the underlying representation/ phoneme, since it occurs in the “elsewhere context”. (This is if we use the first answer to question 3.)
(Alternatively, if we use the alternative answer to question 3, we would say that /d/ is the underlying representation/ phoneme since we indicated that it occurs in the “elsewhere context”.
- Write a phonological rule that accounts for the distribution of the different allophones. Ans: Using first option - /r/ is underlying representation /r/ [d] / # __ (i.e. /r/ is pronounced as [d] at the beginning of a word) /r/ [r] / elsewhere (i.e. /r/ is pronounced as [r] elsewhere)
Using second option - /d/ is underlying representation /d/ [r] / a __ (i.e. /d is pronounced as [r] after [a]) /d/ [d] / elsewhere (i.e. /d is pronounced as [d] elsewhere)
Now consider some additional (hypothetical) data from Tagalog. Focus on [s] and [z]. a) [dasi] ‘to ask’ d) [marusi] ‘far away’ b) [dami] ‘amount’ e) [maruzi] ‘far away’ c) [dazi] ‘to ask’ f) [marami] ‘many’
- Are [s] and [z] in contrastive distribution , complementary distribution or free variation? Explain why. Ans: [s] and [z] are in free variation since they both occur in the same contexts, and do not give rise to meaning differences between the words (i.e. [dasi] and [dazi] both mean ‘to ask’; [maruzi] and [marusi] both mean ‘far away’).
