6 PHONOLOGY

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6.1 Concept of Phonology
The word phonology is derived from two morphemes, i.e. phone (any
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distinct speech sound) and logos (borrowed from Greek whose meaning
is associated to science or knowledge). Thus, phonology can simply
be defined as a study of speech sound. However, such definition is too
simple since speech sound is not only studied in phonology, but it is
also studied in phonetics (see Chapter 2). While phonetics focuses on
sound production and perception, phonology purely concentrates on
the sound itself. Phonology deals with the structure or the system of
the sound.
When we speak, we sometimes eliminate part of the spoken
words, change or add several sounds of the words, either consciously
or unconsciously. For example, it is quite natural that we say [ʌŋkәl]
instead of [ʌnkәl]. We unconsciously do the same case for every [n]
sound whenever it is preceded by [k] sound. This means that we do it
on a regular basis. In studying language, especially language sounds,
regularity is closely related to a system or systematicity. In such case,
we have unconsciously instilled such system in our brain for saying
[n] sound in such environment. Such sound change is one of the study
objects in phonology.

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 So, what is phonology? Is it enough to simply say that phonology
is the study of sounds? The answer should be specified by adding a key
term that is able to distinguish phonology from other disciplines that
also talk about language sounds. In the case illustrated in the example
in the previous paragraph, the key term of defining phonology is
“regularity” or “system”. Although the two terms are not synonymous,
they contribute each other. System is established due to regularity,
and regularity can be achieved by the help of system. Thus, we can say
that phonology is the study of the system of sounds. Once again, such
definition is not yet comprehensive, particularly in terms of what kind

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of system of sounds is learned in phonology. One of the comprehensive
definitions of phonology is proposed by Crane et al. (1981), who say
that phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and how they
function in language. This definition leads to the understanding that
the system concerned is the way of organizing language sounds in order
that the sounds can be used consistently in human communication.
In a more comprehensive definition of phonology, McMahon (2002)
includes the key term “meaning” in defining phonology. He suggests that
phonology deals with the language-specific selection and organization
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of sounds to signal meanings. The organization or the structure of
the speech sounds helps establish a system in a particular language
(Ogunsiji & Sunday, 2011). Therefore, phonology deals with the
structure of sounds and rules underlying such structure. This statement
leads to two sub-disciplines or approaches in studying phonology, i.e.
structural phonology and generative phonology. The concern of this
chapter is on structural phonology, while generative phonology will be
discussed later in Chapter 8.

6.2 Structural Phonology

The birth of structural phonology is inseparable from the great
contribution of Leonard Bloomfield (1887–1949) through his “Item
and Arrangement” model and Edward Sapir (1884–1942) through his
“Item and Process” model (Al-Hindawi & Al-Aadili, 2018). The “Item
and Arrangement” model which emphasizes on explicit procedure of
analysis is adopted by Bloomfield as a descriptive morphological model
in which words are seen as linear sequences of morphs (Crystal, 2008).
For example, the word “learns” is a linear sequence of “learn + s”.

52 Phonetics and phonology to language learners

Meanwhile, the “Item and Process” model is designed by Sapir as an
alternative to the “Item and Arrangement” model which fails to explain
irregularities in English such as “swam”. His “Item and Process” model
posits an abstract phonological representation that is converted into
a phonetic representation through such processes as deleting, adding,
and changing sounds. In this model, the relations of words are seen
as processes of derivation. Therefore, through this model, the word
“swam” can be described as “the word derived from ‘swim’ by a process
of vowel change [ɪ] à [æ]”.
Structural phonology is also called classical phonology (Ogunsiji

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& Sunday, 2011) because it emphasizes the study of the structures of
language, the dichotomy between ‘substance’ and ‘form’, phonemic and
morphemic status, and analytical or discovery procedure. This in line
with the major goal of structural phonology that tries to investigate the
sound features serving the particular language that is being investigated
or has the ability to serve in natural language in order to distinguish
utterances (Sommerstein, 1977).
Structuralism believe that studying speech sound means studying
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about the structure or the system of sounds, and one of the goals of
studying phonology is to describe the differences among the speech
sounds in order to formulate the general principles which determine
the characteristics of such sound systems. In addition to the study
of sound structure, structural phonology is also concerned with the
processes affecting units of sound and with their organization in larger
structures, such as the syllable (Matthews 1997: 278). The discussion
of syllable is provided in Chapter 9 of this book.
In structural phonology, three major phonological levels of
representation are recognized, i.e. (1) phonetic, (2) phonemic, and (3)
morphophonemic representations (Crane et al., 1981; McCarthy, 2007;
Ogunsiji & Sunday, 2011). At the phonemic level of representation, only
contrasting speech sounds are represented. This is particularly intended
to show that differences between sounds result in different meaning. Its
only uses enough symbols to represent each phoneme of the language in
question with a symbol of its own, such as [pɑː(r)kt] which is different
from [bɑː(r)kt]. At the phonetic level, the representation offers a more
or less accurate transcription of the actual speech event (or providing
a more faithful representation of speech), e.g. [phɑː(r)kt] (parked).

Chapter 6: Phonology 53
 Meanwhile, at the morphophonemic level, every morpheme has a
unique representation //pɑː(r)k-p//, where //p// is a morphophoneme
that abstracts over the plural allomorphs /-d/, /-t/, /-ɪd/. In realizing
such levels of representation, phonology should deal with certain sorts
of mental organization, including certain types of mental category,
mentally stored representations, and generalizations concerning those
categories and representations (Carr, 2013).
The history of structural phonology is largely drawn from the
development of ideas about phonemes, as originally put forward in
the Prague School and Bloomfieldian phonological theory (Crystal,

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2008). Thus, phoneme is the fundamental unit of organization of
sound systems in structural phonology. Structuralists view phoneme as
a phonetic reality and all the sounds belonging to the same phoneme
must share important phonetic properties (Hyman, 1975). Katamba
(1989) even argues that phoneme is a target sound in the minds of
speakers and hearers. Further discussion on phonemes is presented in
Chapter 6 of this book.

6.3 Exercise
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1. How are sounds studied in phonology different from those studied
in phonetics?
2. How do you define phonology?
3. How is the study of sounds in phonology related to the issue of
meaning?
4. How do structuralism view phonology?
5. Explain how Bloomfield’s Item and Arrangement model and Sapir’s
Item and Process model are used in analyzing sounds? Elaborate
your answers by providing examples!

6.4 Suggested Further Readings

(1) Al-Hindawi, F. H. & Al-Aadili, N. M. (2018). The basic tenets of
generative phonology. Journal of Education and Practice, 9(1), 7-16.
(2) Carr, P. (2013). English phonetics and phonology: An introduction (2nd
ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.

54 Phonetics and phonology to language learners

(3) Crystal, D. (2008). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. (6th ed).
Oxford: Blackwell.
(4) Katamba, F. (1989). An introduction to phonology. London: Longman.
(5) McMahon, A. (2002). An introduction to English phonology. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press.
(6) Ogunsiji, A. & Sunday, A. B. (2011). Classical versus generative
phonology. British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 3(2), 156-164.

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Chapter 6: Phonology 55