FROM THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE BY GEORGE

YULE
Phonetic Variations and
Phonology
■ Humans have different sizes, weights and heights and therefore have very
dissimilar vocal tracts. It can be concluded that the sounds they produce for
the same letter or word are also dissimilar.
■ We can assume that there are infinite number of ways of saying the same
word, me, for example—also because of difference in accents.
– Yet despite phonetic variations in the articulation of the same sound we
comprehend it as one particular sound.
■ E.g. three different articulations of the sound T or K.
■ It shows that we signify only those aspects of a sound which are significant for
its meaningfulness and disregard all irrelevant features of that sound such as
strange manner or place of articulation.
■ It is Phonology that aims to gather meaning from a chaos of sound variation.
Phonology

■ Phonology is essentially the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in
a language.
■ The phonologist’s task is to understand how speech sounds are organized in
languages.
– It is the special organization of sounds that makes each language unique.
■ In any language, a relatively small number of contrastive speech units, known as
phonemes, are responsible for distinguishing all real and potential words, and native
speakers quickly learn which distinctions matter for this purpose and which do not.
– Rotokas uses only 11 sounds, whereas Xu has 141. In English these are 44.
■ They are also aware of the rules by which these phonemes may or may not be
combined.
■ Phonetics focuses only on speech sounds, irrespective of the language that is spoken.
But phonology studies only those sounds which are meaningful in a language.
Phonology

■ Phonology is basically concerned with abstract knowledge of sounds in

language rather than with their physical articulation.
■ When we think of the [t] sound in the words tar, star, writer, butter and
eighth as being “the same,” we actually mean that, in the phonology of
English, they would be represented in the same way.
– In actual speech, these [t] sounds are all potentially very different from
each other because they can be pronounced in such different ways in
relation to the other sounds around them.
■ We do not however focus on these differences in articulation of t but on its
difference from other sounds such as k, g, p and so on.
■ Those sounds which can lead to the formation of new words are called
phonemes.
wHI CH ONE IS the R EaL b?
bbbb b b b b b b b bb b b

b bb bbb bbb
Our Phonological Knowledge

■ Our phonological knowledge enables us:

– To recognize the set of individual meaningful sounds in a
language (the set has 11 sounds in Rotokas, 44 in English and
141 in XU)
– To develop a sense of limits within which various articulations of
the same sound are recognized as one kind of sound. (King,
K[h]ing, K[q]ing). Beyond these limits a new sound begins which
produces new words.
– To combine compatible sounds (b, s, g, k, f, p can be put before /l/
but d, h, j, m, n, q, r, t, v cannot be put before /l/. In Urdu you
cannot start a word with two consonants, whereas in English you
can.
The Concept of Phoneme

■ The minimal unit in the sound system of a language is called Phoneme.

■ Phoneme is the meaning distinguishing unit in a language.
– Pin and Bin are different words because of the phonemes P and B.
– Pin and P(h)in are not different words because they are made of merely two forms of the
same phoneme P.
■ Since all forms of a phoneme are different (because of difference of anatomy, age, gender,
nationality etc.) real phoneme is only a mental or abstract phenomenon.
– We all produce merely different forms of ideal phonemes.
■ Each language has its own unique set of phonemes, i.e. meaning making units.
– English does not have a ‫ خ‬sound whereas Urdu does.
– Arabic does not have a T sound, but English does.
– B and V are different sounds in English but one kind of sound in Spanish.
– Rotokas has 11 sounds, Xu 141 and English 44 to build all kinds of texts.
More Properties of Phonemes

■ An essential property of a phoneme is that it functions contrastively.

– We know there are two phonemes /f/ and /v/ in English because they
are the only basis of the contrast in meaning between the words fat
and vat, or fine and vine.
■ This contrastive property is the basic operational test for determining the
phonemes that exist in a language.
– If we substitute one sound for another in a word and there is a change
of meaning, then the two sounds represent different phonemes.
■ Slash marks are used to indicate a phoneme, /t/, an abstract segment, as
opposed to the square brackets, as in [t], used for each phonetic or
physically produced segment.
Natural classes

■ Phonemes that share similar phonetic properties belong to a natural class.

■ If the feature is present, we mark it with a plus sign (+) and if it’s not
present, we use a minus sign (−).
– Thus /p/ can be characterized as [−voice, +bilabial, +stop] and /k/ as
[−voice, +velar, +stop].
■ Phonemes that have certain features in common tend to behave
phonologically in some similar ways Phonemes that do not share those
features tend to behave differently.
■ Analysis of phonetic properties of phonemes helps us predict which
phonemes can coexist and which not.
– Pl and Kl are possible but Vl or Vk are not.
Phones and allophones

■ Different versions of phonemes are generally called phones.

– Different versions of one specific phoneme are called Allophones.
■ Phones appear in square brackets.
■ Phoneme /t/ has allophones: [t] in Star and [tʰ] Tar
– [tʰ] is called Aspirated T because it is produced with a puff of air.
– Other allophones of /t/ are: [ɾ] in Writer, [t̪] in Eighth and [ʔ] in
Butter (glottal stop)
■ Since allophones are merely different forms of one phoneme they
cannot produce new words. The substitution of a new phoneme
however produces a new word.
Minimal Pairs And Sets

■ Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested via pairs and sets

of words.
■ When two words such as pat and bat are identical in form except for
a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same position, the two
words are described as a minimal pair.
■ When a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the
others, by changing one phoneme (always in the same position in the
word), then we have a minimal set.
– feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot
– big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig
Phonotactics

■ Languages can sound quite different from each other even when their phonetic inventories
are very similar.
– This is often due to differences in the rules governing which sound sequences are
possible in a language and which are not. Each language allows only certain patterns
of sounds.
– Vra or Fsig are not possible to form in English because they are formed without
considering the phonological constraints on possible sequences of sounds.
■ Permitted arrangement of sounds in a language are called Phonotactics.
– These constraints are part of phonological knowledge of each language speaker.
■ Words like ‘vig’ or ‘lig’ are permissible in English, but they represent accidental gaps in
English vocabulary. They might be used in future, if there need arises.
■ Since Phonotactic constraints operate on a unit that is larger than phoneme, we have to
move on to a consideration of the basic structure of that larger phonological unit called the
syllable.
Syllable

■ Since phonotactic constraints operate on a unit that is larger than

phoneme, we have to analyze larger phonological units called the syllables
to study how sounds work in a language.
■ A syllable must contain a vowel or vowel-like sound, including diphthongs.
■ The most common type of syllable in language also has a consonant (C)
before the vowel (V) and is typically represented as CV (as in me).
■ The basic elements of the syllable are the onset (one or more consonants)
followed by the rhyme.
■ The rhyme (sometimes written as “rime”) consists of a vowel, which is
treated as the nucleus, plus any following consonant(s), described as the
coda.
Basic Structure of Syllables

■ Syllables like me, to or no have an

onset and a nucleus, but no coda.
■ They are known as open syllables.
■ When a coda is present, as in the
syllables up, cup, at or hat, they are
called closed syllables.
■ Most common syllable structures in
English are: green (CCVC), eggs
(VCC), and (VCC), ham (CVC), I (V),
do (CV), not (CVC), like (CVC), them
(CVC), Sam (CVC), I (V), am (VC)
Consonant clusters

■ More than one consonant in the onset or the coda are called
consonant clusters.
– CC cluster St in Stop and Post
– Bl, br, tr, tw, fl and th etc.
■ The liquids /l/ and /r/ and the glide /w/ are used in second position.
■ English can have even larger CCC clusters in the onset.
– Stress, splash
– Phonotactics: first consonant must be /s/, followed by a stop (p, t,
k) and a liquid or glide (l, r, w)
Coarticulation Effects

■ Large consonant clusters are rare in many languages. In English they

are articulated in a reduced form during quick speech.
– Everyday speech is unlike careful pronunciations.
– We say [aɪkəŋɡoʊ] for I can go.
– [ju ənmi] rather than you and me.
■ The process of making one sound almost at the same time as the next
sound is called coarticulation.
– Two well known coarticulation effects are
1. Assimilation
2. Elision
Assimilation

■ Taking or copying some aspect of one segment by the other is known

as assimilation.
■ It helps make our speech quicker, easier and more efficient.
■ We produce hafta for have to: voiceless /t/ is exchanged with a
voiced /v/
Nasalization

■ In pin and pan the vowels are not nasal. However, in anticipation of
the coming nasal sounds the vowels get nasalized in advance.
– This process is called nasalization.
■ It is represented in with a small mark (~), called “tilde”: [ɪ]̃ and [æ̃ ].
■ The phonological rule is that any vowel becomes nasal whenever it
immediately precedes a nasal.
■ In I can go alveolar nasal /n/ is replaced with velar nasal [ŋ]
■ The stress on vowels is lost in quick speech and they usually become
shwa as a result.
– [ju ənmi] rather than you ænd mi.
Elision

■ The process of not pronouncing a sound segment that might be

present in the deliberately careful pronunciation of a word in isolation
is described as elision.
■ [ju ənmi] does not have /d/ because it is present among two nasals.
■ In friendship d is absent: [frɛnʃɪp]
■ Consonant clusters, especially in coda position, elide /t/
– [æspɛks] for aspects
– [himəsbi] for the phrase he must be.