Consider the distribution of [r] and [l] in Korean in the following words:

rupi kiri saram ratio ipalsa

"ruby" "road" "person" "radio" "barber"

mul pal sul ilkop

"water" "big" "Seoul" "seven"

Are [r] and [l] separate phonemes or allophones of the same phoneme? If you conclude that they are allophones of the one phoneme, state the rule that explains their distribution. They are allophones of the same phoneme (because there are no minimal pairs). In this case, their distribution is determined by location. The sound [r] occurs only at the beginnings of syllables, and the sound [l] occurs only at the ends of syllables. So, the rule would be either /r/ [l] when syllable-final or /l/ [r] when syllable-initial. Either response would be acceptable, given the data you have.

Here are some Japanese words in phonetic transcription. Based on these data, are [t], [t], and [ts] in complementary distribution? Which are allophones and which are phonemes? (NOTE: Treat [t] and [ts] as if they were a single sound - which they are as palatal and alveolar affricates, respectively.)

tatami tegami titi ita natsu kata

"mat" "letter" "father" "under" "summer" "person"

tomodati totemo tsukue ato tsutsumu tatemono

"friend" "very" "desk" "later" "wrap" "building"

uti otoko tetsudau matsu tizu te

"house" "male" "help" "wait" "map" "hand"

The sounds are in complementary distribution, and they are all allophones of the same phoneme (because there are no minimal pairs). The sound [t] only occurs before [a], [e], and [o]. The sound [ts] occurs only before [u]. The sound [t]

occurs only before [i]. So, the best rule to describe the distribution of these sounds would be /t/ [ts] before [u] and /t/ [t] before [i]. If you wanted to simplify the rule even more, you could say /t/ an affricate when before a high vowel.

Consider these phonetic forms of Hebrew words. Are [b] and [v] allophones of one phoneme? Can you formulate a rule to explain their distribution? Does the same rule, or lack of a rule, apply to [p] and [f]? If not, why not? (NOTE: [?] represents a glottal stop, and [x] represents a pharyngeal fricative.)

bika mugbal avar avra ?ikev bara

"lamented" "limited" "broke" (masc.) "broke" (fem.) "delayed" "created"

litef sefer sataf para mitpaxat ha?alpim

"stroked" "book" "washed" "cow" "handkerchief" "the Alps"

The sounds [b] and [v] are allophones (because there are no minimal pairs). As in the first example above, the key here is location in the syllable. The sound [b] only occurs at the beginning of a syllable. But unlike the earlier example, [v] does not necessarily always occur syllable-final. In a word like [avar], the [v] isn't exactly syllable-initial or syllable-final. So, in this case, [b] is always syllable-initial, and [v] is never syllable-initial, but [v] occurs everywhere else. The rule would then have to be /v/ [b] when syllable-initial. It couldn't be put the other way around (since [v] isn't only syllable-final). As for [p] and [f], the same rule applies: /f/ [p] when syllable-initial.

Phonemes, Allophones and Phones

Introduction
In the last session on auditory phonetics and speech perception we talked about categorical perception and the fact that what your ear picks up and what your brain makes of it may be two different things - your ear may perceive signals from a continuum and your brain sorts these signals into discrete categories without you noticing. In this session we will explore this issue in more detail. Please consider the table below: Audio Input What Your Brain Makes Of It [aha] /aha/ what comes out of your head what is in your head concrete abstract phones phonemes phonetics phonology

Reading
For background reading try Crystal (1987), pp. 160. You can also have a look at Fromkin/Rodman (1998) and their section on phonology. Their general introduction is easy to read but mind that they don't always use IPA symbols for their transcriptions and that they mainly use examples in American English. In the exam at the end of term you will have to use IPA symbols and stick to either British English/Received Pronunciation or American English/GenAm. In Clark/Yallop (1995) you will find information on

phonemes in section 4.2, pp. 91-94 allophones in section 4.3, pp. 94-99 free variation in section 4.11, pp. 117-119

Terms
Term Phoneme Definition a fundamental unit in phonological structure speech sounds that contrast or distinguish words abstract mental representations of the phonological units of language the smallest meaning-distinguishing unit in speech two words which have the same number and order of sound segments except for one segment and which have a differ in meaning makes a Example For English: /b/, /p/, ...

Minimal pair

beat /bi:t/ vs. feet /fi:t/

Minimal set

Allophone in a wider sense

difference in meaning a number of words which have the same number and order of segments except for one sound segment that occurs in the same place in the string and makes a difference in meaning any realisation of a phoneme synonym to phone

beat /bi:t/ vs. feet /fi:t/ vs. seat /si:t/ vs. meet /mi:t/ etc. the slightly different /k/ and // in the word Kingkong the dark and light /l/ in English

Allophone in a narrow sense

Phone Free variation

predictable phonetic variant of a phoneme the choice of the allophone in a narrow sense is rule-governed phonetically similar to each other, i.e. must share most of the phonetic features any single phonetic segment irrespective of what its phonological status may be when two or more phones or phonemes can occur in the same position in a word without changing the meaning

economics with initial schwa or /e/ or /i:/ butter with medial /t/ or a glottal stop instead dark and light /l/ in English oral and nasal vowels in English

Complementary distribution

allophones which never occur in the same context, i.e. in the one context one allophone occurs and in another the other one occurs (cf. Fromkin/Rodman's example of Superman and Clark Kent)

Phonemic and phonetic transcripts

When you transcribe speech you can have both a phonemic and a phonetic transcript. Phonemic transcripts only take into account those segments which are necessary to distinguish the meaning of the word or utterance you describe. That is, phonemic transcripts work with phonemes. Another term for this kind of transcript is broad transcription. Phonemic transcripts are always given in slashes: /.../. Phonetic transcription includes phonetic information, too, and gives phonetic details which are not included in the phonemic transcript. Phonetic transcriptions uses for example allophones and, depending on how much detail you want, any other phonetic detail of the sound segment. Another term for the phonetic transcript in narrow transcript. Phonetic transcripts are always given in square brackets: [...]. In order to do a phonemic transcript of speech you need the phonemic inventory of the language. For a phonetic transcript, however, you do not need a list of the phonemes, in fact, you don't even have to understand the language you are meant to describe - you "just" note down what you hear (which is hard enough ...).

For precise definitions of phonemic and phonetic transcription see Trask (1996).

Phonological Analysis
In order to set up the phonemic inventory of a language, i.e. a list of all the meaningdistinguishing vowels and consonants, you need to do a phonological analysis of the language. In the structuralist tradition, a phonological analysis consists of two steps: segmentation and classification. As a prerequisite, you ideally want all the words of the language transcribed in as much detail as possible (which is impossible ...). In step 1 you segment your sequences of sounds into minimal units. You just use your ears to establish these phones. You will give all the phones in square brackets []. Step 2 can be summarised in the command "Look for minimal pairs!". This means that you try to find all the words that only differ in one speech sound or phone and have a different meaning. With the help of these minimal pairs you can then you try and classify the phones that you found in step 1 as

seperate phonemes, i.e. one sound is different and the meaning of the word is different

If you cannot find minimal pairs, you will have to look for the distribution of your phones. Phones can be allophones of phonemes and can come as

free variations, i.e. the sounds are different but the meaning stays the same allophones in complementary distribution, o i.e. you can find two different sounds but no minimal pair in which they both occur and o in one context you will always have the one phone and in another you will always have the other and o the phones are similar with respect to their articulation

In a later step you can also find the rules which determine which allphone is used in which context. For more information on phonological rules you can try Fromkin/Rodman (1998) pp. 300. In class, we will get back to phonological rules in two weeks time.

Exercises
1. Decide whether the following pairs of words are minimal pairs or not and give reasons! o Oma : Opa o Rand : Rat o Rad : Rat o bitten : bieten

Rosen (pronounced with an alveolar trill) : Rosen (pronounced with an uvular trill) o Buch : Bcher o dir : Tier o Rasen : rasen o Sache : Sachen o Milch : mild o blau : Bau o Weg : Steg o chunk : hunk 2. Transcribe the word Kingkong phonemically and phonetically, giving as much detail as you can for the phonetic transcript. 3. In English, are [h] and [] phonemes or allophones of one phoneme? Find arguments for and against each classification by using o minimal pairs o contexts in which they occur (complementary distribution?) o phonetic similarity Make a decision and give your reasons! Answer: In English, you will not find a minimal pair for the phonemes /h/ and //. Also, you will find that /h/ never occurs in word-final position and // never in word-initial position. Still, they are phonetically different in terms of their articulation: /h/ is a voiceless glottal fricative and // is a voiced velar nasal. Thus, they do not fulfill the phonetic similarity criterion which is required for allophones and therefore they have to be considered phonemes. 4. When you click on this link, a pdf document with some exercises on complementary distribution of allophones in various languages will open. We will go through the example with Greek together in class. After that please work together in groups of at least three people. Choose one example, discuss it and answer the questions. Click here to get to the answer sheet.

Homework
1. Bring lists giving the phonemic inventories of English (British English/RP or American English/GenAm) and German. In addition, find lists of the respective allophones which occur in complementary distribution. You will need these lists to do phonetic and phonemic transcripts.