3. Principles of phonology

1.Definition and comparison with phonetics

much phonetic variation in prodcution of sounds
but speakers of language able to recognise and identify individual sounds as such
every language has sound system → selects distinct small set of sounds out of which it builds words

2.Phonemes and minimal pairs

Phonemes = smallest meaning-distinguishing unit in sound system of individual language
make difference between words → are meaning-distinguishing
replacing one phoneme by another can cause misunderstanding

→ Minimal pairs: two words which differ in meaning when only one sound is changed

3. Allophones

→ Choice between different allophones canbe systematic (assimilation)

/k/ in key (advanced) and car (retracted) → place of articulation of vowel impacts consonants
/t/ in tip (aspirated), stick (non-aspirated) and pet (unreleased) → position and context determine allophone
/l/ in leave (clear) and feel (dark) → Clear l before vowels, dark l word-finally

→ Complementary distribution

each allophone has unique context/distribution, none interferes with position of others