Introduction to Linguistics: Phonology 3

Summary

This lecture delves into phonology, focusing on common phonological rules found across languages. It revisits core concepts like phonemes and allophones, and introduces six rule types: assimilation, insertion, deletion, strengthening, weakening, and metathesis. Examples from English illustrate how these rules affect pronunciation, such as nasalization in 'man' and 'mad', voicing assimilation in 'plays', and insertion in 'strength'. The lecture also discusses neutralization, where rules make different phonemes sound the same, and the impact of these rules on language sounds.

Takeaways

• 😀 Phonology studies the systematic organization of sounds in languages, focusing on the contrastive and distributional aspects of phonemes.
• 🔤 Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that can distinguish meaning in a language, while allophones are the variant pronunciations of a phoneme.
• 📚 Phonological rules describe how underlying phonemes are realized as surface phonetic forms, often influenced by the phonetic environment.
• 🌐 Assimilation is a common phonological process where a sound changes to become more similar to a neighboring sound, such as nasalization before nasal consonants.
• 🗣️ Palatalization is a specific type of assimilation where a consonant becomes more palatal when it precedes a palatal consonant or front vowel.
• 🔊 Insertion rules add a sound that wasn't present in the underlying form, such as the insertion of a stop consonant after nasals in English.
• ⏹ Deletion rules remove a sound present in the underlying form, like the dropping of initial 'h' in English when it precedes an unstressed vowel.
• 💪 Strengthening (fortition) rules make a sound more distinct, such as the aspiration of voiceless stops in English before stressed vowels.
• 🔕 Weakening (lenition) rules make a sound less distinct, like the flapping of 't' and 'd' in American English between stressed and unstressed vowels.
• 🔄 Metathesis is a phonological rule that reverses the order of two sounds, as seen in casual speech when 'comfortable' is pronounced as 'comfertible'.

Q & A

What is phonology and what are its core concepts?

Phonology is the study of the sound system of a language. Its core concepts include the distinction between phonemes (underlying sounds) and phonetic variants called allophones, which are different pronunciations of the same phoneme that do not change the meaning of a word.

How do we know if two sounds are contrastive in a language?

Two sounds are contrastive in a language if they can change the meaning of a word when interchanged, indicating that they come from different phonemes. This is often demonstrated by the existence of minimal pairs.

What is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?

A phoneme is a single underlying sound that can be expressed as multiple phonetic variants, which are called allophones. Phonemes are distinct for the purpose of distinguishing words, while allophones are variants of the same phoneme that do not create new words.

Can you provide an example of a phonological rule in English?

An example of a phonological rule in English is the distribution of the alveolar nasal [n] and the oral [a] in words. The rule states that the phoneme /a/ is expressed as a nasalized [æ] when it appears before nasal consonants and as [a] elsewhere.

What is assimilation in phonology?

Assimilation is a phonological rule that changes a sound to make it more similar to a neighboring sound. It's a common process where sounds next to each other become more similar to each other.

What is meant by 'nasal assimilation' in English?

Nasal assimilation in English refers to the process where a vowel becomes nasalized when it appears before a nasal consonant, essentially picking up the nasal feature from the following consonant.

What is 'voicing assimilation' and how does it occur in English?

Voicing assimilation is a type of assimilation where a sound becomes voiced or unvoiced to match the voicing of a neighboring sound. In English, this can be observed in words like 'plays' and 'clue', where the /l/ sound is unvoiced due to the preceding voiceless consonants.

What is 'palatalization' and how does it manifest in English?

Palatalization is a special kind of assimilation where a consonant becomes palatal or postalveolar when it appears before a palatal consonant or a front vowel. In English, this can be seen in the pronunciation of 'did you' as 'didju', where the /d/ becomes a /j/ sound.

What is 'place assimilation' and how does it work?

Place assimilation is a type of assimilation where the place of articulation of a sound changes to match the place of articulation of a following consonant. For example, in words like 'unstable', 'unbelievable', and 'unclear', the alveolar nasal /n/ may assimilate to the place of the following consonant, becoming bilabial [m] or velar [ŋ].

What is insertion in phonology and can you provide an example?

Insertion is a phonological rule that introduces a sound that was not present in the underlying form. An example in English is the insertion of a [t] sound in 'strength', where the underlying form has /s/ and /θ/, but the [t] sound is inserted between them.

What is deletion in phonology and how does it differ from insertion?

Deletion is a phonological rule that removes a segment present in the underlying form. It is the opposite of insertion. An example is 'H-deletion' in English, where initial /h/ sounds are often dropped in fast speech, as in 'he handed her his hat' becoming 'he handed her his hat'.

What is strengthening in phonology and provide an example?

Strengthening is a phonological rule that makes a sound more phonetically distinct. An example is the aspiration rule in English, where the phoneme /t/ is pronounced as an aspirated [th] when it appears before a stressed vowel, making it louder and more distinct.

What is weakening in phonology and how does it affect the sounds?

Weakening is a phonological rule that makes a sound less phonetically distinct, often making it easier to pronounce. An example is 'flapping' in English, where /t/ or /d/ are pronounced as a voiced alveolar flap [ɾ] between a stressed and an unstressed vowel.

What is neutralization and how does it relate to phonological rules?

Neutralization occurs when a phonological rule creates a context where it's not possible to tell what the underlying phoneme is from the sound produced. This happens when different phonemes are realized as the same sound due to a rule, such as 'flapping' in English, where both /t/ and /d/ can be realized as a flap.

What is metathesis and how does it affect the order of sounds in a word?

Metathesis is a phonological rule that reverses the order of two sounds in a word. An example in English is the pronunciation of 'comfortable' as 'comfortable', where the order of the /r/ and /t/ sounds is swapped.