Introduction to Phonology

Practice flashcards covering essential topics in phonology including phonemes, allophones, natural classes, minimal pairs, phonotactics, syllables, consonant clusters, and co-articulation effects.

How does phonology differ from phonetics?

Phonetics deals with physical sound production, whereas phonology deals with sound functions that change meaning.

What is a phoneme?

The smallest unit of sound that distinguishes meaning (e.g., $/f/$ vs. $/v/$).

What notation is used for abstract phonemes versus physical phones?

Abstract phonemes are written with slash notation ($/ \ \ /$), whereas physical phones are written with square bracket notation ($[ \ \ ]$).

How many phonemes are in the English phoneme inventory?

Approximately $44$ phonemes, consisting of $24$ consonants and $20$ vowels.

What is a natural class in phonology?

A group of sounds sharing phonetic features that behave similarly phonologically.

Which features are shared by $/p/$ and $/k/$ in a natural class, and what are examples of non-members?

$/p/$ and $/k/$ share $-Voiced$ and $+\text{Stop}$; non-members include $/v/$ ($+\text{fricative}$) and $/n/$ ($+\text{nasal}$).

By what features are natural classes classified?

Features like voicing ($+\text{V} / -\text{V}$), place of articulation (e.g., bilabial, velar), and manner of articulation (e.g., stop, fricative).

What are phones and allophones?

Phones are physical speech sounds such as $[t]$, while allophones are variations of a single phoneme (e.g., $[t]$, $[t^h]$, $[ʔ]$, and $[ɾ]$ for $/t/$).

What are five realization examples of allophones for $/t/$ provided in the notes?

Aspirated ($[t^h]$ in tar), Unaspirated ($[t]$ in star), Flap ($[ɾ]$ in writer), Glottal Stop ($[ʔ]$ in butter), and Dental ([t̪] in eighth).

What is complementary distribution?

Two allophones of the same phoneme occurring in mutually exclusive environments.

What is an example of complementary distribution for allophones of $/t/$?

$[t^h]$ occurs at the start of a stressed syllable (top), whereas $[t]$ occurs after $/s/$ (stop).

What is a minimal pair?

Two words that vary by only a single sound, usually meaning sounds that may confuse English learners.

What is a minimal set?

A group of words that can be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme (always in the same position in the word).

What is phonotactics and what examples illustrate it?

Language rules governing permitted sound sequences; for example, lig/vig are possible accidental gaps, but $[fsɪg]$ violates English rules.

What is a syllable and what is the most common syllable pattern in English?

A basic unit of speech organization consisting of one vowel or vowel-like sound (including diphthongs); the most common pattern in English is a consonant followed by a vowel ($\text{CV}$).

What is a consonant cluster, and what are examples of two-consonant and three-consonant clusters?

A cluster where there is more than one consonant; examples include two-consonant clusters like black ($/\text{blæk}/$ = ccvc) and three-consonant clusters like street ($/\text{stri:t}/$ = cccvc).

What are co-articulation effects?

The overlapping of speech sounds during natural speech.

What is assimilation in co-articulation?

A process where a sound changes to match a neighboring sound (e.g., have to $\rightarrow$ $/\text{hæftə}/$).

What is nasalization in co-articulation?

A process where vowels gain nasal quality before nasals (e.g., pin $[p\tilde{ɪ}n]$).

What is elision in co-articulation?

The deletion of a sound segment (e.g., you and me $\rightarrow$ $[ju \ æn \ mi]$, camera $\rightarrow$ $[kæmrə]$).