Ling200-0401

Phonology 2-Handout

# Chapter 7 #

10 / 2 / 01

WHAT IS PHONOLOGY?

WHAT IS PHONOLOGY?

-What is the difference between phonemes and allophones?

-Can an allophone change the meaning of a word?

And a phoneme?

Consider the words:

top stop little

-How do you pronounce the /t/ sound in each of the words?

-Would you consider these sounds to be different phonemes or allophones of the same phoneme?

English

/t/ --------> PHONEMES

[t] [t^h] [г] --------> ALLOPHONES

Also, remember that the patterns of phonemes and allophones are language-specific. This is shown in that in Hindi, for example, /t/ and /t^h/ are considered to be two different phonemes and not allophones of the same phoneme as in English.

Look at the following data in Hindi. Do the sounds [t] and [t^h] make a difference in meaning in Hindi?

Hindi

[t^hal] “plate” ¹ [tal] “beat”

Hindi

/t/ /t^h/ -----> PHONEMES

[t] [t^h] ------> ALLOPHONES

For a Hindi speaker /t/ and /t^h/ contrast because the difference between them conveys meaning.

Minimal-pairs

If two sounds are separate phonemes, then the two speech sounds are contrastive. If the two phones are allophones of the same phoneme, then they are noncontrastive. Essentially, a pair of phones are contrastive if interchanging the two can change the meaning of a word. Conversely, two sounds are noncontrastive if the alternation of the phones does not result in a change of meaning.

One way to determine whether two sounds in a language are distinctive is to identify a minimal pair.

A minimal pair is defined as a pair of words with different meanings which are pronounced exactly the same way except for one sound that differs. When you find a minimal pair, you know that the sound that varies from one word to the other is contrastive.

Minimal pairs in English:

[kIl] kill

[gIl] gill----> /k/ and /g/ are different phonemes in English

[sIp] sip

[šIp] ship -----> /s/ and /š/ are different phonemes in English.

-Could you think of other minimal pairs in English?

-Can we predict when is each of the sounds going to appear?

Overlapping ¹ Complementary Distribution

In a minimal pair two sounds appear in the same phonological environment. This means that we cannot predict when each sound will appear and the sounds are unpredictable.

When two sounds are unpredictable and we are not able to tell where they may appear, they are two different phonemes. Moreover, we consider these sounds to be in overlapping distribution.

Now, think of the following examples from English words that have the occurrences of [p] and [p^h] sounds:

spat [spæt] pat [p^hæt]

spool [spul] pool [p^hul]

speak [spik] peek [p^hik]

-How is the distribution of these two sounds like?

-Are they predictable from the environment?

Two sounds are in complementary distribution when they don’t occur in the same phonetic environment. This means that they are predictable from the environment, where you see one you never see the other (like Clark Kent and Superman).

When two sounds are predictable and we are able to tell where they appear, they are allophones of the same phoneme.

NEXT DAY:

-Read Chapter 7 -> p.253-262 and p.279-292.

-Think of Key Words for today’s lecture.

-Practice doing exercise 1 (p.306) in your textbook.

-Bring LAB FEE.