1 - phonology

Diachronic study of language

The study of language over time

Synchronic study of language

The study of language at a certain point in time.

Descriptive Phonology

to describe how people speak

("people say/ write ...")

Prescriptive/normative Phonology

to tell people how to speak

("people shouldn't...")

describe what parts are used in producing sounds

what do we call letters in Linguistics

graphemes

what do we call sounds?

Phones

no obstruction of airstream =

vowls

obstruction of airstream=

consonats

places of articulation (8)

− bilabial (lips)
− labio-dental (lips +teeth)
− dental(teeth)
− alveolar (aveolar ridge, behind teeth)
− palato-alveolar
− palatal (hard pallate, upper part of oral cavity)
− velar (velum, opening to nasal cavity)
− glottal (glottis, in vocal cords)

manners of articulation: (5)

• plosive; complete obstruction of airstream, explosion

• fricative; incomplete air obstruction, friction

• affricative: plosive+ fricative, air stop followed by air Release w friction

• nasals: obstruction of oral cavity, velum lowered, air through nose

• approximates; incomplete obstruction- no audible friction

how do we classify vowls?

Vowl classification
• tounge position (hight and frontness)
• lip rounding
• vowl lenght

what are DIPHTHONGS

• 2 tounge positions (complex vowels)
• one sound
• eigther closing or centering
• no centering in AE

eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, əʊ, oʊ, aʊ, ɪə, ʊə, eə

What are the key differences between phonetics and phonology?

• Focus:

  • Phonetics → Concrete phones (physical sound)

  • Phonology → Abstract phonemes (sound categories)

• Nature:

  • Phonetics → Continuous, gradient detail

  • Phonology → Discrete, categorical contrasts

• Transcription:

  • Phonetics → Narrow [brackets], e.g. [pʰ]

  • Phonology → Broad /slashes/, e.g. /p/

• Features Encoded:

  • Phonetics → All articulatory/acoustic properties

  • Phonology → Only functionally relevant ones that change meaning

what is a phoneme?

• Smallest meaning-differentiating unit

• Different sound instances (phones) may belong to same abstract concept (phoneme)

• − Sounds that belong to the same phoneme cannotchange the meaning of a word

minimal pair

only one sound differs --> changes meaning
- rest is identical

Allophones

systematic variatopn that realise one phoneme
- cannot occur in the same enviorment (complemetary distribution)
- superman methaphora

exp. /l/ —> articulated or dark ɫ

What does a Syllable consits of?

Syllable:
- one vowl
- no fixed number of cosonats
- onset:
- nucleus
- coda

what is nucleus, coda and onset?

Syllable:
- onset: preceding nucleus
- nucleus: vowel or diphong, important part
- coda: following the nucleus

open syllable:

no coda

closed syllable:

end in at least one consonat

maximal onset rule

as many consonats in onset as possible

onset: rise in sonority, coda: fall in sonority

sonority

clear audibility/ prominece of a sound

sonority sequencing principle

sonority rises (in onset) towards nucleus (peak) then falls in coda