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Outline 8

The document introduces the concepts of phonemes and phonemic analysis in phonology. It defines phonemes as the contrastive sounds in a language that serve to distinguish words and morphemes. Phonemic analysis involves determining the phonemes of a language through finding minimal pairs and examining contextual sound variations. The phoneme is defined from phonetic, phonological, and psychological perspectives. Methods for discovering phonemes include looking for minimal pairs and determining if sounds vary in complementary or free variation. Problems with the phoneme concept include boundary effects, neutralization, and defective distribution.

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130 views2 pages

Outline 8

The document introduces the concepts of phonemes and phonemic analysis in phonology. It defines phonemes as the contrastive sounds in a language that serve to distinguish words and morphemes. Phonemic analysis involves determining the phonemes of a language through finding minimal pairs and examining contextual sound variations. The phoneme is defined from phonetic, phonological, and psychological perspectives. Methods for discovering phonemes include looking for minimal pairs and determining if sounds vary in complementary or free variation. Problems with the phoneme concept include boundary effects, neutralization, and defective distribution.

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Thekra Altweejry
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Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology

J. Strssler
(Outline 8)

VIII. The Phoneme and Phonemic Analysis


0. Phonology

Description of the systems and pattern of sounds that occur in a language. It involves: - studying the language to determine its distinctive sounds - establishing a set of rules that describe the changes that take place in these sounds 1. 1.1 1.2 Level of sound representation phonetic - level of auditorily distinct sounds (phones), described with a minimum of reference to function within a particular language. Phones are represented between square brackets. phonemic - level of contrasting sounds (phonemes) in a particular language. The phonemes serve to distinguish the meaningful units, words or morphemes, one from another. Phonemes are represented between slants. Definitions of the phoneme The phoneme is defined as a phonetic reality, "a family of sounds in a given language, consisting of an important sound of the language together with other related sounds, which take its place in a particular sound-sequence." (Daniel Jones 1931:74) The phoneme is defined as a phonological reality, "the sum of the phonologically relevant properties of a sound." (Trubetzkoy 1939:36) distinctive features - sub-segmental 'atomic' components, articulatory and/or acoustic in nature, utilized by languages in the construction of oppositions. The phoneme is defined as a psychological reality, "a mental reality, (...) the intention of a speaker or the impression of the hearer, or both" (Baudouin de Courtenay (1895), cit. in Twaddell 1935:56) How to discover phonemes (commution test) Look for minimal pairs or near-minimal pairs (sounds occuring in identical phonetic environment) minimal pair - two words which differ in only one sound in a given position If there are no minimal pairs, look for possible contextual influence allophones - variant phonetic realizations of one and the same phoneme complementary distribution - two sounds or phones found in mutually exclusive environment If there is no contextual influence free variation - two phones which may appear in the same context without causing a change in meaning Choosing the underlying form phonetically natural, i.e. it tells us something about the nature of the set, of its physical instantiations = phonetic similarity the form with the widest distribution pattern congruity, i.e. the systematic organisation of the set of phonemes and their distribution if no criterion can be applied, we choose an archiphoneme (cf. 6.3).

2. 2.1 2.2

2.3

3. 3.1 3.2 3.3

4. 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4

(Outline 8a) 5. 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 6. 6.1 Assumptions behind the phoneme Phonemes are central to the phonological description of a language Phonemes are the lowest level of linguistic patterning One morpheme one phonemic string Phonemic rules can be expressed without reference to other linguistic units e.g. syllable, morpheme, etc. Phonemic representation should be phonetically 'real' Problems with the phoneme Juncture ('boundary phonemes'): Phonemic rules should be expressed without reference to other lingusitic units. However, morpheme boundaries (+) and word boundaries (#) can be part of such rules: Ex.: pea stalks peace talks / oh9rsN9jr / / oh9rsN9jr / [ oh9"rsN9jr ] [ oh9r"sN9jr ]

6.2

Neutralization ('suspension of contrast'): The opposition of two phonemes is neutralized. Two phonemes do not contrast in certain suroundings, though the normally do. Archiphonemes If the opposition of two phonemes is neutralized, it is difficult to decide which one to use in phonemic transcription. The archiphoneme is the abstract phoneme which just has the relevant features. Ex.: /P/ as archiphoneme of / b / and / p /, i.e. bilabial plosive

6.3

6.4

Biuniqueness ('once a phoneme. always that phoneme'): Any phone in a given environment must be an allophone of one and only one phoneme to prevent ambiguity and secure unique read-off. Defective distribution: It is e.g. impossible to find minimal pairs for the phonemes / M / and / g /. However, we still want to consider them separate phonemes. This is due to the fact, that / M/ can only occur word-finally, whereas / h / never does so. Co-articulation The realisation of every phoneme is influenced by the following phoneme. Therefore the / k / in cow and the one in kye are realised quite differently. However, we still want to consider them one phoneme.

6.5

6.6

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