Phonology: Crash Course Linguistics #10

Summary

This Crash Course Linguistics episode explores phonology, the study of how sounds vary and pattern within languages. It explains the difference between phones, which are non-language-specific sound distinctions, and phonemes, language-specific sound differences. The episode uses examples like the pronunciation of 'water' and 't' sounds to illustrate allophonic variations within phonemes. It also touches on phonological processes such as assimilation, dissimilation, insertion, deletion, and metathesis, which shape language over time. The importance of understanding phonology for language learning and technology like Siri is highlighted.

Takeaways

• 🗣️ The human brain can interpret different pronunciations of the same word as equivalent, such as 'wadder', 'waTer', or 'wa-a' for 'water'.
• 🎵 The study of the patterns of sounds in language is called phonology, which includes understanding how sounds can vary depending on context and accent.
• 👶 Infants are capable of distinguishing between subtle pronunciation differences across languages, but this ability diminishes as they grow older and become accustomed to the phonology of the languages they are exposed to.
• 🌐 Phonological distinctions that are clear to some may be imperceptible to others, affecting how people learn and pronounce words in different languages.
• 📚 Linguists differentiate between 'phone', a non-language-specific sound distinction, and 'phoneme', a language-specific distinction that can change word meanings.
• 🌬️ Aspiration, like the puff of air when pronouncing 'team' versus 'steam', is an example of a phonetic detail that can be part of the same phoneme in one language but distinct phonemes in another.
• 📏 Signed languages also have phonological rules, including variations in handshapes, movements, and sign locations that are meaningful within specific signed languages.
• 🐰 The concept of allophones, sounds that are technically different but considered the same by speakers of a language, can be likened to the snowshoe hare changing colors with the seasons but remaining the same species.
• 📝 Phonological rules can be systematically notated to describe how and when sounds change within a language, aiding in the understanding of language patterns.
• 🔠 Common phonological processes across languages include assimilation, dissimilation, insertion, deletion, and metathesis, which can simplify pronunciation or clarify meaning.
• 🛠️ Understanding phonological rules is important for developing natural-sounding synthesized speech technology and for being more empathetic language learners and speakers.

Q & A

What is phonology and why is it important in linguistics?

Phonology is the study of the patterns and variations of sounds in a language. It is important because it helps us understand how different sounds can be produced and perceived differently depending on the context, language, and accent, which is crucial for language learning, speech synthesis, and communication.

How do our brains treat different pronunciations of the same word?

Our brains treat different pronunciations of the same word as equivalent, recognizing the underlying meaning despite variations in sound production.

Why do we lose the ability to hear all the subtle differences in pronunciation as we age?

We lose this ability because as we grow older, we start focusing only on the phonological patterns of the languages we are exposed to, and our brains become less flexible in recognizing the subtle differences that might matter in other languages.

What is the difference between a phone and a phoneme?

A phone is a non-language-specific distinction that can be relevant in any language, while a phoneme is a language-specific distinction that is meaningful for forming different words in a particular language.

What is aspiration and how does it relate to the English language?

Aspiration is the puff of air that comes out when pronouncing certain sounds, like the 't' in 'team'. In English, the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds is not meaningful for word formation, and they are considered allophones of the same phoneme.

How can the concept of allophones help us understand language phonology?

Allophones are different sounds that are considered the same phoneme in a language because they do not change the meaning of words. Understanding allophones helps us recognize the predictable environments in which sounds appear and the phonological rules that govern them.

What is the significance of the snowshoe hare analogy in explaining allophones and phonemes?

The snowshoe hare analogy illustrates how two different forms (brown and white) can be the same entity depending on the environment (season). This helps us understand that allophones are different forms of the same phoneme that appear in predictable environments, unlike distinct phonemes that would be like two different rabbits.

What are some common phonological processes that occur in languages?

Common phonological processes include assimilation, dissimilation, insertion (epenthesis), deletion (elision), and metathesis. These processes make speech easier to produce and understand, and they drive changes in languages over time.

How does the phonological process of assimilation affect speech?

Assimilation is a process where adjacent sounds become more similar, making it easier to produce words and phrases. For example, the 'nd' in 'handbag' may be pronounced as 'm' to facilitate easier speech.

What is the role of phonological rules in language learning and technology?

Phonological rules help in language learning by providing insights into the sound patterns of a language. In technology, they help improve the naturalness of synthesized speech and assist in developing more effective language learning tools.

How does the script relate the study of phonology to the understanding of signed languages?

The script explains that signed languages also have their own phonologies, with relevant handshapes, movements, and orientations. It highlights that while phonological processes in spoken languages are well-studied, those in signed languages are less understood and may not fit the same categories.

Outlines

00:00

💧 Understanding Phonological Variation

The introduction to Crash Course Linguistics explores how different pronunciations of the word 'water' demonstrate phonological variation. It discusses how our brains treat different sounds as equivalent, even though they may vary in pronunciation depending on language or accent. This variation, which is the focus of phonology, reflects the differences in how sounds are produced and perceived in various linguistic contexts.

05:04

🐇 Phonemes and Allophones: A Linguistic Comparison

This paragraph uses the analogy of a snowshoe hare's changing fur color to explain the concept of phonemes and allophones in linguistics. It explains that while a snowshoe hare can be the same animal despite its fur color changing with the seasons, different phonological environments can lead to different sounds (allophones) being perceived as the same phoneme within a language. The distinction between different phonemes and allophones is crucial in understanding how languages treat similar sounds differently.

10:08

🔄 Phonological Processes Across Languages

This section delves into various phonological processes such as assimilation, dissimilation, insertion, deletion, and metathesis. These processes illustrate how sounds in a language can change in certain contexts to make pronunciation easier or more distinct. The paragraph provides examples from English and signed languages, demonstrating how these processes contribute to the evolution of language over time and impact both spoken and signed communication.

Keywords

💡Phonology

Phonology is the study of the sound patterns of a language, including the rules governing the organization and sequence of sounds. In the video's theme, phonology is central to understanding how different pronunciations of the same word, such as 'wadder', 'waTer', or 'wa-a', are treated as equivalent by our brains, despite their physical differences. The script uses the concept of phonology to explore how sounds can vary within and across languages, and how these variations are perceived and processed.

💡Phone

A phone is the smallest unit of sound in language that can be identified as distinct from other sounds. The script introduces the term to differentiate between sounds that are relevant across all languages (phones) and those that are significant only within a specific language (phonemes). For example, the difference between 'wadder' and 'waTer' is not phonetic in English, but it is in Spanish, where it creates new words with different meanings.

💡Phoneme

A phoneme is a linguistic unit that consists of all the phones that count as the 'same' sound in a particular language. The script explains that phonemes are the distinct sounds that can change the meaning of a word in a language, such as the difference between 'rabbit' and 'rabid' in English. The concept is used to illustrate how certain variations in pronunciation, like the aspirated and unaspirated 't' sounds, are considered the same phoneme in English but different phonemes in Nepali.

💡Allophone

An allophone is a variant of a phoneme that does not result in a change of meaning. In the script, the aspirated [tʰ] and unaspirated [t] sounds in English are given as examples of allophones of the same phoneme, as they are physically different but not distinct in meaning to English speakers. The concept helps to explain the predictability of sound variations in different environments within a language.

💡Assimilation

Assimilation is a phonological process where a sound becomes more similar to a nearby sound, often to facilitate easier pronunciation. The script cites the example of 'handbag' being pronounced as 'hambag', where the /nd/ sound shifts to /m/, making it a bilabial sound like /b/. This process is relevant to the video's theme as it demonstrates how languages adapt sounds for ease of speech.

💡Dissimilation

Dissimilation is the opposite of assimilation, where a sound becomes more distinct from a neighboring sound to avoid confusion. The script mentions the historical change from 'venin' to 'venom' in English, where the two /n/ sounds were separated by introducing an /m/. Dissimilation is part of the broader discussion on how languages evolve and adapt to be more comprehensible.

💡Epenthesis

Epenthesis is the insertion of a sound or sounds into a word to break up a difficult string of sounds. The script provides the example of adding a /p/ sound in 'hamster' or the extra syllable in 'umbrella' pronounced by Rhianna. This phonological process is discussed in the context of making speech easier and more natural.

💡Deletion

Deletion, also known as elision, is the removal of a sound from a word, often in casual speech. The script points out the /i/ sound in 'family' as an example of a deleted sound. Deletion is part of the video's exploration of how languages streamline pronunciation for efficiency.

💡Metathesis

Metathesis is a phonological process where the order of sounds is switched. The script uses the historical change from 'thrid' to 'third' in English as an example of metathesis. This concept is integral to the video's theme, showing how sound patterns can shift over time within a language.

💡Signed Languages

Signed languages are visual-manual languages used by deaf communities, which have their own phonological systems involving handshapes, movements, and orientations. The script mentions that while signed languages have phonologies, they have not been studied as extensively as spoken languages, and their phonological processes may not always fit the categories established for spoken languages.

💡Optical Illusion

The concept of an optical illusion is used metaphorically in the script to describe the challenge of recognizing phonological patterns. Just as one must learn to see past an illusion to understand the trick, one must learn to perceive the underlying phonological rules of a language. The script uses this analogy to illustrate the process of learning to 'see' the patterns in language, like a linguist.

Highlights

Introduction to the concept of phonology and its study of the patterns of sounds in language.

The brain's ability to treat different pronunciations of the same word as equivalent, such as 'wadder', 'waTer', or 'wa-a'.

The impact of context on the production of sounds in language, leading to variations across different languages and accents.

The process of learning phonology, which involves a shift in attention similar to seeing an optical illusion.

The loss of ability to hear subtle pronunciation differences as we age and become accustomed to specific languages.

The influence of phonological systems on language learning and the tendency to use familiar sounds.

Explanation of the terms 'phone' and 'phoneme' and their significance in linguistics.

The concept of aspiration in English pronunciation and its lack of phonemic significance.

Illustration of allophones as variations of a single phoneme, using the example of aspirated and unaspirated 't' sounds.

The importance of distinguishing between phonemes in languages like Nepali, where it affects word meaning.

Introduction to the phonological processes in signed languages, highlighting their unique handshapes and movements.

The analogy of a snowshoe hare's color change to explain the concept of allophones in phonology.

The role of phonological rules in determining the environment for the appearance of allophones.

Generalization of phonological processes like assimilation, dissimilation, insertion, deletion, and metathesis across languages.

The practical applications of phonological understanding in improving synthesized speech technology and language learning.

Promotion of the PBS show 'Self-Evident' as part of the American Portrait project, offering insights into perseverance in challenging times.

Transcripts

Hi, I'm Taylor and welcome to Crash Course Linguistics!

Could you get me a glass of water?

What if I asked for waTer, like some people, but certainly not me, pronounce it?

For other people, that /t/ in the middle of the word can become ‘wa-a’.

Our brains treat these different sounds as equivalent.

It's still liquid H2O whether you pronounce it wadder, waTer, or wa-a.

This isn’t just true for /t/ — all of the sounds or handshapes of a language can be produced differently depending on the context.

Different languages and accents have their own variation.

These patterns, and the study of them, is known as phonology.

[THEME MUSIC]

When we first start to pay attention to phonology, it's like trying to see the trick in an optical illusion.

We need to learn a different way of paying attention, which can involve looking closely at what our bodies are physically doing or using external tools to measure it.

It’s like when you cross your eyes or drag an optical illusion into a photo editor to prove that two grays are really the same color.

But unlike optical illusions, phonology is different for each of us depending on which languages we were exposed to at a young age.

As babies, we’re not attached to any one phonological system.

So a baby that's been hearing only English for a few months can still hear all the subtle differences in pronunciation that might matter in a different language context.

But we lose this ability as we get older and start only paying attention to certain languages.

So phonological distinctions that may be obvious for some people might seem minute or impossible to distinguish for others.

We can see how ingrained a phonology is when people learn another language, because they’ll use the sounds they already recognize.

An American English speaker like me learning Hindi might use /t/ when learning to say "chutney” instead of a retroflex /ʈ/ “chutney”.

It might still be recognizable to a Hindi speaker, but it won't sound the same.

Before we get further along in this discussion, we need to talk about sound.

Linguists use the word sound to refer to two different concepts, and have come up with distinct terms for each of them.

On the one hand, linguists use the word sound to refer to any difference that's relevant for any language.

For example, “wadder” and “waTer” mean the same thing in English, so the distinction between these sounds isn't relevant for English speakers.

But for Spanish speakers there's an important difference between the same two sounds:

it creates new words, like paro, which means, "I stop" and pato, which means "duck."

Linguists call this non-language-specific distinction a phone and write these symbols in square brackets.

On the other hand, linguists also use “sound” to refer to any difference that is relevant or meaningful for forming different words in only a specific language.

In English, that would include the sounds /t/ and /d/, since they’re the difference between “rabbit” and “rabid.”

But it wouldn’t include the different ways you could pronounce the "t" in the middle of "water".

Linguists call this language-specific distinction a phoneme and write these symbols in slashes.

Let’s play this out with another English example.

Try putting your hand up in front of your mouth as you say "team" or "tall".

Now try saying "steam" and "stall".

You may not be able to hear the difference, but you can feel it on your hand — there’s an extra burst of air when you say “team,” but not when you say “steam.”

That puff of air is called aspiration.

In English, there’s no meaningful difference between the aspirated [tʰ] as in "team" and unaspirated [t] as in "steam."

They both sound like “t” to English speakers, even though, as you just felt, they aren’t exactly the same.

In linguistic terms, we say that these two phones are part of the same phoneme in English.

Specifically, we say that aspirated [tʰ] and unaspirated [t] are allophones of the same phoneme in English.

They're technically different, but English speakers think of them as the same sound.

But in some languages, there is a meaningful difference between these two sounds.

In Nepali, unaspirated [tal] means ‘lake’ while aspirated [tʰal] means plate.

You need to be able to tell the difference so your lunch doesn’t get soggy.

Because the distinction between [t] and [tʰ] is meaningful to Nepali speakers, we say that these two sounds are different phonemes in Nepali.

So, in Nepali, aspirated [tʰ] and unaspirated [t] are both different phones AND different phonemes.

In English, these same sounds are different phones, but they're NOT different phonemes.

Now, despite the etymology of ‘phone’ as sound, signed languages also have their own phonologies,

with some handshapes, movements, locations, and orientations for signs that are relevant in some signed languages and not others.

For example, an extended ring finger is a meaningful handshape in Taiwainese Sign Language but not in BSL or ASL.

Let's go into the Thought Bubble to observe some phonemes in their natural environment.

To think about how two different sounds can be allophones of the same phoneme, let's compare them to a rabbit.

The snowshoe hare specifically.

It looks like a regular cute brown rabbit most of the year, and then in the winter its brown fur changes to white.

Even across different seasons, a snowshoe hare is the same rabbit —

it lives in the same hole, it's still recognized by its baby rabbits, and it still munches on all the veggies it can find.

But sometimes it shows up as a brown rabbit, and it sometimes shows up as a white rabbit.

If we were wildlife observers, we'd want to pay very close attention to when these versions appear before we conclude that they're the same animal.

After all, in other places, there are rabbits that are brown or white all year round.

So if we see both a white and a brown rabbit in summer and in winter, we actually have two different rabbits.

We can write out our observation of the snowshoe hare in three parts.

The first is what we're starting with: one rabbit, of no specified color.

The second is what changes: the rabbit's fur color.

And the third is the environment where that change happens: whether it’s winter.

From this, we have two rules:

the first one describes how the rabbit changes to white when it’s winter

and the second one describes how the rabbit changes to brown when it’s not winter.

We can make observations like this about sounds in a language, to determine whether we're dealing with a phoneme with two allophones,

like a color-changing rabbit, or two different phonemes, like two differently colored rabbits.

Thanks, Thought Bubble!

The difference in meaning between unaspirated [tal] and aspirated [thal] in Nepali is like seeing a brown and a white rabbit at the same time —

we know that they have to be distinct species, or phonemes.

In English, we know there isn’t a difference in meaning between words that have the aspirated /th/ and the unaspirated [t].

Also, when looking at single-syllable words, we hear these two sounds in the same places each time.

The unaspirated [t] always occurs after an s or at the end of a word, while the aspirated /th/ always occurs at the beginning of a word.

That's like seeing the white rabbit in the winter and the brown rabbit in the summer — the different versions of /t/ appear in predictable environments.

That’s how we prove that these two sounds are allophones of one phoneme.

Based on these observations, we can write a rule for English that says a /t/ is pronounced without an aspiration after an /s/

and with aspiration at the beginning of a word.

Linguists write them out with this notation, using an arrow from the underlying form /t/ to what's changed about it, like aspiration,

and a slash mark between the sound change and the environment, like being at the beginning of the word.

By the way, this hash mark represents a word boundary — you can think of it as like a visible version of the space between words.

We can use the hash mark to indicate whether a sound is at the beginning or end of a word.

The notation is a short form that lets us keep track of the many phonological rules in each language.

It’s like training our brains to see the optical illusion--to see pattern in language like a linguist.

/t/ isn’t the only English consonant that follows this rule.

Other consonants, like /p/ and /k/, also have no aspiration after an /s/.

Linguists call this category of consonants voiceless stops, and can create a general rule:

voiceless stops become aspirated at the beginning of a word.

We could keep going with more rules in English and other languages, like the /t/ in English water, but let's zoom out and take a look at the big picture instead.

There are some common phonological processes that we see happening across different languages.

While all languages have phonologies, the processes in signed languages have not been studied in as much detail.

So sometimes the categories for spoken language don’t quite fit for signed languages.

Phones that are produced one after the other can sometimes become more similar, which makes it easier to produce a word or phrase.

When speaking quickly, many English speakers will say ‘handbag’ as ‘hambag.’

Changing /nd/ to /m/ shifts the sound to the lips so it’s now a bilabial like /b/, which makes them easier to say together.

This phonological process is known as assimilation.

Assimilation in signed languages can affect the handshape or sign location.

The Auslan sign for ‘name’ is typically made at the head.

When it’s used in the phrase ‘my name’ it’s often performed lower, perhaps near the cheek, because it’s following the ‘my’ sign at the chest.

Phones can also become more distinct when we produce them.

The English word ‘venom’ used to be ‘venin.’

But the two /n/ sounds so close together didn’t sit well with medieval English speakers, who changed the second one to /m/.

Many English speakers do the same with cardamom, or maybe cardamon, today.

Linguists call this phonological process dissimilation.

Phones can sometimes be added in to break up a difficult string of sounds or signs.

You might hear people adding a /p/ in ‘hamster’, or notice the extra vowel Rhianna uses to make ‘umbrella’ into 4 syllables.

This phonological process is known as insertion or epenthesis.

We can sometimes see a movement insertion between signs.

When counting in Auslan people often add a little movement of the hand between each number.

Phones can also be removed.

We have even made this part of the English writing system with contractions like ‘I’ve’, ‘it’s’ and ‘can’t’.

Sometimes sounds are removed from the middle of words too, like /i/ in ‘family’.

This phonological process is known as deletion or elision.

In Auslan, the sign for ‘girl’ includes a repetition of the movement, but in conversation the repetition can be deleted.

And finally, phones can switch around.

The Old English word for third’ was thrid, but English speakers switched the ‘i’ and ‘r’ around--although they didn’t in ‘three’.

This process is also why we have ‘aks’ as well as ‘ask’.

In fact, at various points in history ‘aks’ has been the more common pronunciation.

This phonological process is known as metathesis.

In ASL, the sign for ‘deaf’ shows metathesis.

The standard form is ear to mouth, but it can also be performed going from mouth to ear.

These processes either make it easier for us to produce words and phrases or help our audience understand them.

Over time, they’re part of what drives changes in a language.

It can be challenging to retrain your brain from the phonological patterns it's used to, but phonological rules are important.

They help synthesised speech technology like Siri sound more natural, and help us be more sympathetic language speakers and learners.

An appreciation for phonology is useful whatever your environment.

Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Linguistics, which is produced by Complexly and PBS.

So 2020 has been... bad.

PBS has a new show called Self-Evident that explores how we've been persevering in this supremely weird year.

It's hosted by historian Danielle Bainbridge from Origin of Everything and therapist Ali Mattu, who you might know from The Psych Show.

Because who better than a historian and a therapist to help guide us through ALL of this.

Self-Evident is part of PBS American Portrait, a massive storytelling project involving thousands of people around the country.

Subscribe to PBS Voices for Self-Evident and other great shows, and tell them Crash Course sent you!