Phonology:

The sound patterns of language

LCD 101: Introduction to Language

2011 Fall
1
Ryan
 Objectives

• Phonemes, phone and allophones

• Minimal Pairs
• Phonotactics
• Syllables and clusters
• Phonological processes
• To observe how the same phones are
organized differently among languages
• Solve Phonology problems/data sets 2
 What do phonologists ask?

• What is the organization of sounds in a

given language?
• Of all the sounds in a language, which are
predictable and which are unpredictable
in particular contexts or environments?
• Which sounds affect the identities of
words?
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 Introduction

• Phonetics – investigation of the physical

production of speech sounds. We looked at
the articulatory mechanisms of the human
vocal tract
• In physical terms, there are an infinite number
of ways a word like “me” will be produced
• Individuals pronounce a particular word
differently on every occasion
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 Introduction

• Differences in pronouncing a word?

bad cold, tired, angry, regional/dialectal
differences, size of person, etc.
• Phonology  helps us consistently
recognize the different versions of a
word, e.g. “me” as the form [mi], and not
[ni], [si], [ma], [mo]
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 What is Phonology?

• Phonetics and Phonology - both can be generally

described as the study of speech sounds
• Phonetics – specifically the study of how speech
sounds are produced, what their physical
properties are, and how they’re produced
• Phonology – the description of the systems and
patterns of speech sounds; based on a theory of
what every speaker of a language unconsciously
knows about the sound patterns of that language
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 What’s a phoneme?
• The smallest unit by which one can distinguish one
word from another (meaning-distinguishing units in
a language), See Yule pages 30 and 34 for English
phonemes.
• The psychological (abstract) representations or
units of actual physical realizations of phonetic
segments.
• A set of speech sounds that are identified by a
native speaker as the same sound
e.g. tar star eight writer
the [t] sounds in these examples make up a class of
speech sounds that English speakers know as /t/ 7
 Phonemes
Let’s examine the [t] sound in the following:
tar star eight writer
-We might think of these as being the ‘same’, but
actually they are pronounced quite differently.

-However, in the phonology of English, they would be

represented in the same way  /t/

- These articulation differences are important, but the

distinction between [t] and, for example [c], [b], and [f]
are more important because they distinguish meanings
of words such as tar, car, bar, far. 8
 Phonemes
Note: Phonetics - brackets [ ] are conventionally used to
indicate a phonetic/physical segment. Phonology – slashes
/ / are used to indicate an abstract segment

•An essential property of phonemes: function contrastively.

• e.g. In English /r/ and /m/ are phonemes because they
are the only basis for contrast in words such as ‘rowing’
and ‘mowing’.

•Contrastive property test: if substituting one sound for

another will result in a change of meaning, then you have
phonemes. Other examples?
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 Phones and Allophones
PHONES: general term for speech sounds

ALLOPHONES: the different speech sounds of a

phoneme are called allophones

Let’s look at some examples of phonemes and

allophones….

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English Phoneme /t/
Phoneme

 Allophones of /t/

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 English Phoneme /p/

[ph] and [p] are the allophones of the same

phoneme /p/ in English:
/p/  phoneme

[ph] [p]  allophones

‘paper’ ‘spill’
The ‘p’ in ‘paper’ is normally pronounced with aspiration.
That is, there is a release of a puff of air. The ‘p’ in ‘spill’ is
normally not aspirated.
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 Phonemes
English Phoneme
and Allophones
/p/
Compare in English:
[sphɪn] “spin”
[spɪn] “spin”
• Aspiration doesn’t affect the meaning of the word.
• Either [p] or [ph ] gives the same meaning. In English
they are considered to be the ‘same’ sound though
they may be phonetically different.
• Thus, [p] or [ph ] are NOT contrastive in English. They
don’t affect the meaning of words.
• They are allophones of the same phoneme /p/.
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 English Phoneme /p/
Does it work this way in all languages?? Let’s look at
Hindi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern and
central India.

Hindi: [phal] "knife edge“ [pal] "take care of"

[kaphi] "ample“ [kapi] "copy”
• In Hindi, [ph] and [p] ARE contrastive. They create a contrast
in meaning.
• Therefore, they are different phonemes.
• In Chinese languages, Icelandic, Korean, Thai, and Ancient
Greek, [p t k] and [pʰ tʰ kʰ]  are different phonemes.
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 Phonemes and Allophones
Two of more languages might share the same
sound or sounds but this does not mean that those
languages organize these sounds in the same way.

Hindi: /ph/ /p/  phonemes

English: /p/  phoneme

[ph] [p]  allophones

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 Writing Conventions:
Allophone or Phoneme?

1. /p/ 4. [i]

2. /æ/ 5. /z/

3. [p] 6. [th]

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 Detour: Aspiration in English
PHONETIC FACT: There is a burst or puff of air after
the /p/ in pill, till, and kill, that is absent in spill, still,
and skill.

ASPIRATION: The period between the release of the

closure of a consonant and the start of the vocal cord
activity for the vowel that comes after it. This period is
usually felt as a puff of air.
pill [phɪl] spill [spɪl]
till [thɪl] still [stɪl]
kill [khɪl] skill [skɪl]
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 Detour: Aspiration in English
Aspiration Rule in English: Aspiration occurs on all
voiceless stops [p, t, k] occurring as the first sound in a
stressed syllable.

• Although aspirated stops and unaspirated stops are

physically different , we consider both to be the same
sound in English.
• For English, aspiration is not employed to create a
MEANING DIFFERENCE (unlike in Hindi, for example).
• The diacritic (=special mark) for aspiration in the IPA is a
superscript [h] 18
•
 Non-language Examples

Allophones –
The human mind different versions of
also ignores other the same underlying
physical/perceptibl representation
e differences which
are not relevant for
particular purposes
phoneme
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 Non-language Examples
Allophones –
The human mind different versions of
also ignores other the same underlying
physical/perceptibl representation
e differences which
are not relevant for
particular purposes

phoneme

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Phonemes: Looking for Minimal Pairs
Phonemes are the psychological (abstract) representations
or units of actual physical realizations of phonetic
segments.

Review:
• If two sounds are separate phonemes, then they are
contrastive (in terms of meaning).
• If the two phones are allophones of the same
phoneme, then they are non-contrastive.

To determine whether a given pair of sounds is contrastive,

look for minimal pairs
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 Minimal Pairs

A minimal pair is a pair of words that:

• have different meanings
• are pronounced the same except for one sound

Examples:
• [teɪk] vs. [teɪp] "take" vs. "tape“
• [tim] vs. [dim] "team" vs. "deem“
• [kapi] vs. [kaphi] "copy" vs. "ample" (Hindi)

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 Minimal Pairs

Do [l] and [r] belong to the same phoneme in

English? Look for minimal pairs!

[lif] "leaf“ [læk] "lack“

[rif] "reef“ [ræk] "rack“

Since we have minimal pairs that contain [l] and [r], we

can say that [l] and [r] are contrastive. Thus they are
separate phonemes and are are NOT allophones of the
same phoneme. Phonemes  /l/ /r/
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 Minimal Pairs

Are [r] and [l] contrastive in other languages? Let’s

look at Korean, a language spoken in Korea
(some linguists classify it as a language isolate, others consider it an Altaic
language).

Minimal pairs??

[param] "wind“ [pal] "foot“

[ irim] "name“ [mal] "horse“
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 Minimal Pairs:
Korean [r] and [l]

•In Korean, minimal pairs can never be found for [l] and [r];
these sounds do not occur in the same position in words.

•The dataset reveals that [r] occurs between two vowels but [l]
occurs at the end of words.
V___V _____#
occurs between vowels occurs at the end of words

• Thus, [l] and [r] are in complementary distribution in Korean.

They are mutually exclusive. In the same context, you can never
find both.
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 Complementary Distribution
Superman and Clark Kent are different "physical
realizations" of the cartoon character. When Clark Kent is
present, Superman is NOT.

Remember: When sounds are in complementary

distribution, they cannot be contrastive. The replacement of
one sound for the other does not change the meaning of
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the word.
 Minimal Pair Practice
Use the following group of words to build five
minimal pairs.

jeep, yes, tack, chips, they, mice, day, wading, bill,

cheap, pill, tick, than, weight, waiting, do, tail, chess

(a) ______________&_______________
(b) ______________&_______________
(c) ______________&_______________
(d) ______________&_______________
(e) ______________&_______________
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 Dataset: Standard Spanish
Standard Spanish is an Indo-European language of the Romance family.
Examine the phones [d] and [ð]. 1) Are these allophones of one
phoneme, or separate phonemes? 2) Identify the type of distribution.
3) If they are separate phonemes, give minimal pairs that prove this.

Std. Spanish English Std. Spanish English

translation translation
[drama] drama [komiða] food
[dolor] pain [anda] scram
[dime] tell me [sweldo] salary
[kaða] each [durar] to last
[laðo] side [toldo] curtain
[oðio] hatred [falda] skirt
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 Dataset: Standard Spanish
Std. Spanish English Std. Spanish English
translation translation
[drama] drama [komiða] food
[dolor] pain [anda] scram
[dime] tell me [sweldo] salary
[kaða] each [durar] to last
[laðo] side [toldo] curtain
[oðio] hatred [falda] skirt

1) Are these allophones of one phoneme, or separate phonemes? No

minimal pairs found so the phones [d] and [ð] are NOT contrastive.

2) They are found in different environments, and are thus said to be

in complementary distribution. [d] occurs everywhere, while [ð]
occurs intervocalically (V___V, in between vowels)
3) They are allophones of one phoneme so no minimal pairs
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were found.
 Dataset: Sindhi
Sindhi is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan family, spoken in Pakistan and India.

Examine the distribution of the phones [p], [ph], and [b]. 1) Determine if the three
are allophones of separate phonemes, or allophones of the same phoneme. 2)
What is your evidence? 3) Is the relationship between the sounds the same as in
English? Why or why not?
Sindhi gloss Sindhi gloss
[pənu] leaf [təru] bottom

[vəʤu] opportunity [k h əto] sour

[ʃeki] suspicious [bəʤu] run
[gədo] dull [bənu] forest

[dəru] door [bəʧu] be safe

[p h ənu] hood of snake [ʤəʤu] judge

In Sandhi and English, /p/ and /b/ are separate phonemes. In English, [p p h] are
allophones of the same phoneme, but in Sindi they’re phonemes.
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 Review: a comparison
English Hindi Korean Spanish Sindhi
[p p h ] Allophones of Allophones
the same of different
phoneme /p/ phonemes
/p p h /

[r l] Allophones of Allophones of
different the same
phonemes phoneme /l/
/r l/

[d ð] Allophones of Allophones
different of the same
phonemes phoneme
/d ð/ /d/

[p p h b] [p p h ] Allophones
allophones of different
of the same phonemes
phoneme /p p h b/
/p/; /b/
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 Phonotactics
t h e p e r m i tt e d a r r a n g e m e n t o f s o u n d s

big , rig , fi g , dig , wig , lig , vig

How do we know that ‘lig’ and ‘vig’ could

be viewed as possible words in English?
Our phonological knowledge of the pattern of
sounds in English words

What about [tsɪg] or [tnɪg]? These words

have been formed without obeying some
PHONOTACTIC constraints on the sequence or
position of English phonemes. 32
 Phonotactics
Phonotactic constraints: restrictions on possible
combinations of sounds, these constraints operate on a
unit larger than the single segment/phoneme
syllable
Syllable structure:
onset rhyme
Basic elements of the syllable:
• onset – can be empty or have
one or more consonants
• rhyme – consists of the nucleus coda
nucleus (a vowel or vowel-like
sound) and coda (can be empty
or have one or more consonants consonant(s) vowel consonant(s)
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 Syllables and Clusters
What must a syllable contain?
At the minimum, A VOWEL or VOWEL-like sound

e.g. English – ‘a’, ‘I’, ‘a.bove’

Symbol for syllable

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 Syllables and Clusters
syllable
CV.CVC
onset rhyme ‘Ja.nice’

nucleus coda

consonant(s) vowel consonant(s)

open dʒ æ
closed n ɪ s
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 Syllables and Clusters
syllable (open)

onset rhyme

nucleus coda

consonant(s) vowel consonant(s)

V ‘I’ aΙ
V ‘a’ eΙ
CV ‘be’ b i
CV ‘though’ ð oʊ 36
 Syllables and Clusters
syllable (closed)

onset rhyme

nucleus coda

consonant(s) vowel consonant(s)

‘of’ Ʊ v
‘mug’ m Ʌ g
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 Syllables and Clusters
σ (closed)

Onset Rhyme

Co
n Nucleus Coda
Clu son
ste ant
r
C C V C
CCVC ‘step’ s t ɛ p

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 Syllables and Clusters
σ (closed)

Onset Rhyme

Nucleus Coda
a nt
n s on r
Co luste
C V C C C

CVCC ‘tans’ t æ n s

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 Syllables and Clusters
σ (closed)

Onset Rhyme

Nucleus Coda
Co Clus
ns te
on r

ant
on r
an

n s
t

Co luste
C C V C C C

CCVCC ‘plots’ p l a t s

CCVCC ‘smooths’ s m u ð z 40
 Syllables
Additional Detail to Yule

syllable (open)
CVV
‘I’, ‘eye’
onset rhyme

nucleus coda

consonant(s) V V consonant(s)
a I
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 Syllables
Additional Detail to Yule

syllable (open)
CVV
‘go’
onset rhyme

nucleus coda

consonant(s) V V consonant(s)
g o Ʊ
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 Syllables:
when vowel length is contrastive

A. Tagalog
galing /ga: . liŋ/ from /ga . liŋ/ excellence
pito /pi: . toh/ whistle /pi . toh/ seven

B. Japanese
ojisan /ozisan/ uncle ojiisan /oziisan/ grandfather

tsuki /tuki/ moon tsūki /tuuki/ airflow

The diacritic : means vowel lengthening = a  aa

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 Syllables and Clusters
Determine the syllable structure of the words below. The first three are
done for you. Remember that a single consonant or vowel can be spelled
with more than one letter, some letters are not pronounced, etc., so focus
on sound and not spelling.

1. up (VC) 7. map _____

2. hat (CVC) 8. spring _____
3. judge (CVC) 9. slick _____
4. eggs _____ 10. stress _____
5. and ______ 11. can.dy _____
6. beat ______ 12. brea.thy _______
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 Syllables and Clusters
In English, there are a wide variety of syllable types, as
shown in the table below (from Language Files):

Languages generally prefer CV syllables, but some

languages, like English, allow up to 3 consonants to
start a word, as long as the first is /s/, the second
/p/, /t/, or /k/, and the third /l/, /ɹ/, /j/, /w/
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 Syllables and Clusters
Other languages don’t have as many syllable structures
as English, as shown in the table below (from
Language Files):

Single vowel can be a syllable;

No consonant clusters consonant clusters at
beginning and end
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 Co-articulation Effects
•Co-articulation effects: the process of
making one sound almost at the same
time as the next sound

 Assimilation – becoming more like a

neighboring sound

Elision – the deletion of a sound

segment; not pronouncing it
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 Assimilation
Assimilation: the process of making one sound
(or gesture) to become more like a neighboring
sound (or gesture) with respect to some phonetic
property

[ɪ], [æ], [ʌ], etc. – in isolation, no nasal quality.

But in a word in which it’s followed by a nasal, the
vowel becomes nasalized (produced with a
lowering of the velum so that air escapes both
through nose as well as the mouth)
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 Assimilation
[ɪ] [æ] [ʌ]
̃ ]
[bɪ n [bæ̃ n] [bʌ̃ n ]
‘bin’ ‘ban’ ‘bun’

• Phonological rule: Any vowel becomes nasalized in

English whenever it is immediately followed by a
nasal, /m n ŋ/
• The diacritic for nasalization in the IPA is a tilde [ ̃].
• This is another example of narrow transcription.
• What was the other example we looked at?
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 Assimilation

‘I can go’ [aj kæn goʊ] [ajkəŋgoʊ]

The influence of the velar sound /g/ causes

the alveolar nasal /n/ to assimilate, become
like, into a nasal. Thus, in rapid speech, you
hear the velar nasal /ŋ/

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 Elision
Elision (deletion): the process of not
pronouncing a sound segment (consonant,
vowel, or whole syllable) that might be
present in careful pronunciation

‘You and me’ [ju ænd mi]

[juənmi]

‘above his hat’ [əbʌv hɪz hæt]

[əbʌvɪzhæt] 51