linguistic 1010 exam 2 discussion

phonology

The part of the mental grammar that concerns how sounds combine to form words.

Alphabet does not equal sounds

Ideally, we should have a one-to-one correspondence between sounds and letters, so that:

• When we see a symbol, we immediately know how it should be pronounced.

• When we hear a sound, we immediately know what symbol to use for it.

• Even though English uses an alphabetic writing system, the letters do

not faithfully reflect how the words sound.

One spelling, multiple possible sounds

Whether the letter o is pronounced [oʊ] “oh” or [ɑ] “ah” is largely unpredictable from English writing.

polish [ɑ] Polish [oʊ] model [ɑ] modal [oʊ] chronic [ɑ] chromic [oʊ]

column [ɑ] colon [oʊ] foster [ɑ] poster [oʊ] pollen [ɑ] swollen [oʊ]

botany [ɑ] notary [oʊ] job [ɑ] Job [oʊ] (the biblical character)

one spelling, multiple possible sounds example Tyler the creator

Tyler, the Creator mispronounced the word Mykonos in the song Something to Rap About (2020).

Get it quick and slip it on

And I’ll be in My[*ai]konos, lemonade, sippin' slow Jumpin' in the water off that boat I haven’t bought yet

One take Let me hear that meant to say My[ɪ]konos

• Yet it is kind of understandable since the letter y in English can correspond to two

different vowel sounds in this position, making the correct pronunciation largely

unpredictable. Compare:

mystery → /ˈmɪstəri/

Mycenaean → /ˌmaɪsəˈniːən/