Phonology Lecture Notes

Phonology Notes

Definitions and Key Concepts

  • Phonology: The study of the structure and systematic patterns of speech sounds.

  • SPE (Sound Pattern of English): A distinctive feature classification system proposed by Halle & Chomsky.

Terms

  • Epenthesis: Insertion of a sound in a word, often used to emphasize an ending sound. Example: /hætǝ/.

  • Natural Class: A set of phonemes that express a phonological rule, defined uniquely by distinctive features like Voicing, Affricate, and Bilabial.

Characteristics of Sounds

  • Acoustic Stability: Sounds remain relatively stable even with minor shifts in tongue position. Categories: Labial, coronal, high, back.

  • Phonological Rules: Conditions that govern pronunciation of phonemes in morphological application, such as syllable and word construction.

Universal Characteristics of Sounds

  • Universal Features: Sound features available to all languages but not necessarily used in each language.

  • Syllable: A phonological structural unit with properties that vary across languages, including features of onset, nucleus, coda, and foot.

Elements of Syllables

  • Syllable Onset: The beginning of the syllable, usually a consonant, differentiating it from the word.

  • Syllable Nucleus: The part of the syllable that carries the most stress, typically a vowel.

  • Syllable Coda: The final part of a CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) syllable.

  • Syllable Foot: The external organization of syllables that determines stress.

SPE Classification of Distinctive Features

  • Syllabic

  • Consonantal

  • Sonorant

  • Voiced

  • Continuant

  • Nasal

  • Strident

  • Lateral

  • Distributed

  • Affricate

  • Labial

  • Round

  • Coronal

  • Anterior

  • High

  • Back

  • Low

Phonetic Classes Description of Consonants

Classification by Features Consistent with Phonetic Classes

  • Voiced: Voice on.

  • Nasal: Velum is lowered, enabling sound to pass through the nasal cavity.

  • Affricate: A stop followed by fricative release.

  • Labial: Involves closure or approximation of lips, includes bilabial and labiodental.

  • High: Tongue body is positioned close to or touching the palate.

  • Back: Tongue body is slightly behind its resting position.

  • Low: Tongue body is moved downward.

Classification by Features Different from Phonetic Classes

  • Syllabic: A phoneme that forms the nucleus (loudest part) of a syllable, usually vowels.

  • Consonantal: Significant obstruction of the vocal tract (as seen in stops and fricatives).

  • Sonorant: Sounds are spontaneously voiced; includes vowels, glides, nasals.

  • Continuant: Characterized by incomplete obstruction of the vocal tract.

  • Strident: Produces high-frequency turbulence.

  • Lateral: Tongue tip raised to the palate, directing airflow along the sides of the tongue.

Further Classification by Distinctive Features

  • Distributed: Relatively long area of contact or approximation between the tongue and palate.

  • Round: Involves pursing and projecting the lips.

  • Anterior: Tongue contact or approximation at or in front of the incisive foramen.

  • Coronal: Constriction occurs between the tongue and palatal areas in the coronal plane.

Phonological Classification

Consonants

  • Total possible features: 16 (binary description: + or -)

Vowels

  • Total possible features: 12 (binary description: + or -)

Example Descriptions - Consonants

  • Bilabial phonemes:

    • /p/: labial anterior consonantal voiceless bilabial plosive.

    • /b/: voiced labial anterior consonantal voiced bilabial plosive.

    • /m/: voiced labial anterior nasal syllabic sonorant consonantal voiced bilabial nasal.

    • /w/: voiced labial round high back sonorant continuant.

  • Fricative phonemes: (f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ)

    • /f/: labial anterior consonantal strident continuant voiceless labiodental fricative.

    • /v/: voiced labial anterior consonantal strident continuant voiced labiodental fricative.

    • /θ/: anterior coronal continuant consonantal as in "thumb", voiceless interdental fricative.

    • /ð/: voiced anterior coronal continuant consonantal as in "this", voiced interdental fricative.

    • /s/: anterior coronal consonantal strident continuant voiceless alveolar fricative.

    • /z/: voiced anterior coronal consonantal strident continuant voiced alveolar fricative.

    • /ʃ/: high coronal consonantal distributed strident continuant as in "shut", voiceless palatal fricative.

    • /ʒ/: voiced high coronal consonantal distributed strident continuant as in "azure", voiced palatal fricative.

  • Alveolar phonemes: (t, d, n)

    • /t/: anterior coronal consonantal voiceless alveolar plosive.

    • /d/: voiced anterior coronal consonantal voiced alveolar plosive.

    • /n/: voiced nasal anterior coronal syllabic sonorant consonantal voiced alveolar nasal.

  • Velar phonemes: (k, g, ŋ)

    • /k/: high back consonantal voiceless velar plosive.

    • /g/: voiced high back consonantal voiced velar plosive.

    • /ŋ/: voiced nasal sonorant high back consonantal (as in "bang").

  • Liquid phoneme (l): /l/: voice syllabic anterior coronal sonorant lateral continuant.

  • Affricate phonemes: (tʃ, dʒ)

    • /tʃ/: anterior coronal consonantal as in "chuckle", voiceless alveolar affricate.

    • /dʒ/: voice anterior coronal consonantal as in "jungle", voiced alveolar affricate.

  • Glide phonemes: (ɹ, j)

    • /ɹ/: voice syllabic anterior round low coronal sonorant continuant as in "ride".

    • /j/: voice high coronal sonorant continuant voiced alveolar glide.

  • Glottal phoneme (h): /h/: low sonorant continuant voiceless glottal fricative.

Example Descriptions - Vowels

  • All vowels are syllabic.

  • Tense vowels: (i, e, u, o)

    • /i/: high tense vowel as in "meet", high front stressed.

    • /e/: tense vowel as in "make", mid front stressed.

    • /u/: high back round tense vowel as in "boom", high back stressed.

    • /o/: back round tense vowel as in "coat", mid back stressed.

  • Back vowels: (ʊ, ʌ, a, ɔ, ə)

    • /ʊ/: high back round vowel as in "push", high back lax.

    • /ʌ/: back vowel as in "bug", mid central stressed.

    • /a/: low back vowel as in "box", low back stressed.

    • /ɔ/: low back round vowel as in "caught", low central lax.

    • /ə/: back vowel as in "bubba", mid central reduced.

  • Other vowels: (ɪ, ɛ, æ)

    • /ɪ/: high vowel as in "pit", high front lax.

    • /ɛ/: syllabic vowel as in "beg", mid front lax.

    • /æ/: low vowel as in "shack", low front stressed.

  • Diphthongs: /aɪ/, /aʊ/, /oɪ/ are considered clusters and not included in the phonological vowel table.

Vowel Conditions

  • Tense: Full vowel that is stressed (e.g., long vowels /i/ as in "beet", /e/ as in "mane").

  • Lax: Full vowel that is relatively unstressed.

  • Reduced: Vowels that are "less than full" and always unstressed (e.g., /ə/ as in "alpha").

Syllable Structure

  • Syllables are formed according to the language's system for combining phonemes.

  • Basic English structure: CV (Consonant-Vowel), CVC.

  • Vowels typically form the nucleus (core) of the syllable, while consonants form the onset and coda.

  • Exceptions: /n/, /m/, /l/ - e.g., in words like "button", "captain", "little".

  • Vowel Stress: Can be “tense,” “lax,” or “reduced.”

English-specific Syllable Rules

  • Aspiration Rule: Plosive or affricate phonemes occur in the onset position.

  • Maximal Onset Principle: Onset consonant clusters can contain no more than 3 consonants (e.g., "constructs", "constellation").

  • Vowel Sequence Condition: When 2 vowels are adjacent, the first must be tense (e.g., "hiatus", "radio", "reaction").

  • Word-final Vowel Condition: Only certain vowels can occur in the word-final position:

    • Reduced: /ə/ as in "alpha", ɚ as in "father", /ɫ/ as in "city".

    • Tense: Long vowels - /i/ as in "bee", /e/ as in "may", /aɪ/ as in "lie", /o/ as in "hoe", /u/ as in "boo".

    • Low lax: /ɔ/ as in "paw".

Final Thoughts

  • The sound system of a language can be analyzed from two perspectives:

    • Physiological: Examines structural and physiologic principles of sound production and combination.

    • Linguistic: Concerns rules for producing, combining, and using sounds within a language.

  • Both perspectives are vital for sound perception and production, affecting how sounds can be described, analyzed, and worked with.