phonology, phoneme vs allophone, phonetic vs. phonemic transcription

phoneme

• abstract linguistic unit

• smallest, distinctive, contrastive unit in the sound system of a language

• abstract, related to phonology & language

• phonemes aren’t pronounced → notion of describing knowledge of the sound system of a certain language

allophone

• concrete realisation of a phoneme

• positional variant of a phoneme

• concrete related to phonetics & speech

→ alveolar & dental allophone of the phoneme /n/ → ten vs /tenth/ (dental realisation before <th> )

phoneme vs allophone analogy

We cannot take a piece of paper and draw ‘furniture’ on it – every time we want to bring ‘furniture’ down to paper, we will deal with one of its concrete realisations, such as ‘chair’, ‘bed’, ‘table’

minimal pair

pair of words that differ by only one sound (phoneme) in the same position → results in change of meaning

→ pat vs bat

allophone criteria

1. absence of a minimal pair

2. articulatory / phonetic similarity

distribution

set of phonetic environment in which particular phone (phoneme, allophone) can appear

types of distribution

• free variation (for allophones)

• complementary distribution (for allophones)

• constastive distribution (for phonemes)

free variation

allophones can replace one another

→ implies that speakers are free to chooe one of the possible allophones

choice of certain allophones depends on

• communicative situation

• social class

• language variety

• idiolect (= particular person’s language use)

complementary distribution

allophones cannot replace each other because they do not occur in same position

use of certain allophone is determined by its environment (→ its position in relation to neighboring sounds)

ten vs tenth

ten: alveolar allophone [n]

tenth: dental allophone [n̪] → used before dental / interdental consonant (<th>)

allophonic variation: devoicing [b̥]

• Partial devoicing in word-initial position

reason: the vocal cords/folds do not begin to vibrate immediately at the onset of speaking

• Partial/full devoicing in word-final position: lenis plosives, lenis fricatives & lenis affricate /b, d, g, dʒ, v, ð, z, ʒ/

→ lid [lɪd̥]

allophonic variation: voicing [h̬]

<h> in intervocalic position: <anyhow> [ˈenih̬aʊ]

allophonic variation: fronting due to surrounding sounds [k]̟

• Dentalisation (type of fronting) of /t, d, n/ before /θ, ð/: <width> [wɪd̪θ]

• Fronting of /k, g/ before front vowels: <key> [ki̟ :]

allophonic variation: retraction due to surrounding soudns: [k]̠

• retraction of /t, d, n/ before the post-alveolar approximant /r/: <try> [t̠raɪ]

• Retraction of /k, g/ before back vowels: <cord> [kɔ̠ :d]

phonetic transcription proper → narrow (impressionistic) transcription

• represents actual speech sounds → (individual speakers & particular occasions are taken into account)

• high degree of accuracy

• rule: write actually what you hear

phonemic transcription

• represents abstract speech sounds (→ reflecting knowledge of sound system of certain language)

• moderate degree of accuracy

• reflects only distinctive transcription

• rule: write what you expect you would hear, ignore allophonic variation

broad phonetic transcription

• most pedagogically relevant & useful

• mostly phonemic + reflecting some additional articulatory details: linking r, stress, syllabic consonants

• ignores allophonic variation due to devoicing, voicing, retraction, fronting

broad phonetic transcription: unstressed [i] & [u]

[i]:

• word-finally (not part of a diphthong; most commonly represented by the letter → <y>): <easy> [ˈi:zi]

[u]:

• before a vowel within a word: <actual> [ˈæktʃuəl]

• in the words you, to, into, do before a vowel or a pause