[bnik]

Knowledge of Sounds

Phonology: The study of sound

patterns in language
Part 1: Phonemes and Allophones
2000, Andrew Carnie

Phonology

The study of the mental organization of

a languages sound system.
Units of organization:
Biggest: syllables,
syllables metrical feet, words
Middle: segments (phonemes and
allophones)
Smallest: features

Segmental Phonology

There are hundreds of possible speech

sounds
Each language only uses a few of these.
What is of interest to phonologists is which
sounds contrast.
contrast
Sounds contrast when their presence alone
distinguishes forms with different meanings

The Minimal Pair Test

Two sounds contrast (or are distinctive) if

you can find a pair of words that differ in
only that sound, that mean different things.
[pd]

[bd]

minimal pair

Mean different things: /p/ and /b/ contrast

[pt]

[pth]

not minimal pair

Mean the same thing: [t] and [th] do not contrast

Crucial concept 1: Phoneme

When two sounds contrast they are part of

different phonemes.
phonemes
/p/ and /b/ are different phonemes

Phonemes are abstract mental units that

represent sounds.
Be careful! Phonemes are not sounds
themselves, they are mental units
representing sounds!!!

Crucial Concept 2: Allophones

Phonetic forms that dont contrast (make a

difference in meaning) are called allophones
[t] and [th] are allophones of the phoneme /t/

Allophones are the various pronunciations of

a phoneme.

Phonemes & Allophones

Phonemes are written between / / brackets

Allophones are written between [ ] brackets
/t/

phonemic (abstract/mental) category

inyourmind

[t]

[th] allophonic (phonetic) realizations

whatyouactuallysay

Language Specificity

In English, [ph] and [p] are allophones of

the same phoneme (/p/), meaning that
a word doesnt change its meaning if
you substitute one sound for the other.
For example: [phaj] vs. [paj] pie

Language Specificity

But in Thai, [ph] and [p] are not allophones of a

single phoneme; each is an allophone of a
separate phoneme.
For example: [pAA] aunt vs. [phAA] cloth
This is a minimal pair: two words that differ only
in the pronunciation of a single sound.
A minimal pairs existence tells you that the
sounds in question are separate phonemes in
that language.

Language Specificity

The status as a phoneme is a language

specific matter
English
/p/

/p/

/ph/

[p]

[p]

[ph]

[ph]

Thai

File4.4,Exercise1.1Sindhi
[pnu] leaf

[bdZu] run

[bnu] forest

[btSu] be safe

[phnu] snake hood

Thereisaminimalpair(trio)betweenleaf,
forestandsnakehood.Therefore/p/,/b/and
/ph/arealldifferentphonemesinSindhi.
Thereisaminimalpairbetweenrunandbe
safe.Therefore/dZ/,/tS/aredifferentphonemes
inSindhi.

Sounds in context

The pronunciation of a phoneme is often

determined by the other sounds around
it.
The nearby sounds around a phoneme
are called the environment of that
phoneme.
E.g. in the word [pt], [p__t] is the
environment for the [].

Crucial concept 3:
Complementary Distribution

When two phones are mutually exclusive, i.e.,

they appear in different environments
[spt] [pht] *[spht]
[spul] [phul] *[sphul]

*[pt]
*[pul]

[ph] and [p] are in complementary distribution

(which means they are allophones of the same
phoneme).
When sounds are in complementary distribution,
you can predict where you get each sound.

Complementary Distribution

Another example:
[blu]
[glim]
[slIp]
[flAg]

blue
gleam
sleep
flog

[pl6aw]
[kl6Qp]
[pl6ej]

After voiceless stops

Elsewhere

plow
clap
play

[l]
[l6
]
no yes
yes no

Themental
conceptof
supermanhood
(phoneme)

Incomplementarydistribution:neverseeninthe

sameplaceatthesametime.Allophones!

NOTincomplementarydistribution:canbothbepresentatthe

sametime:allophonesofdifferentphonemes

Crucial Concept 4:
Free Variation

When two sounds appear in the same

environment, but dont make a difference in
meaning:

[lip] leap
[lip|] leap
[sowp] soap
[sowp|] soap
Perceived as the same sound: another kind of
allophony. This is called free variation.

How can I tell if two sounds are

phonemes or allophones? Method
1 Check for minimal pairs. If there is a pair then

the sounds are separate phonemes

Check for complementary distribution. Are the

sounds found in the same phonetic
environment? If not, they are allophones of
the same phoneme.

How can I tell if two sounds are

phonemes or allophones? Method
1 If two sounds are in complementary

distribution then (a) figure out which one is

predictable and which one is the elsewhere
variant. The elsewhere variant is the symbol
that we use for the phoneme
/X/
[X]

Phoneme(inyourmind)
[Y]

elsewhere

predictable

Allophones(whatyousay)

samesymbol

How can I tell if two sounds are

phonemes or allophones? Method
1 and (b) write a rule that spells out where the

predictable variant is found.

/X/ [Y] / environment ____ environment

A fairly rare situation: If the two sounds are in

the same phonetic environment (and there
were no minimal pairs!) Then they are
possibly in free variation.

Method2

data
Listthe
environments
ofthesounds

sameenvironment?

No

Thesoundsarein
complementarydistribution
andareallophonesofthe
samephoneme

Yes
Yes

samemeaning?

No

Thesoundsare
infreevariation
andareallophones
ofthesamephoneme

MinimalPair:
MinimalPair
Thesoundsare
differentphonemes

Sampleproblem:Englishlongvowels
Question:arelongandshortvowelsinEnglishallophonesof
singlephonemes,oraretheyseparatephonemes?
(avowelfollowedbythesymbol [:] is a long vowel)

[ph:d] pad

[pht] pat

[hu:d] whod

[hut] hoot

[mi:d] mead

[mit] meet

[row:m]roam

[rowp] rope

[ti:D]

[tiT] teeth

V:
_d
_m
_D

teethe

[flu] flew
V

Isthereany
overlap
betweenthe
columns?

_t
_p
_T
_#

Are there any minimal pairs? NO!

(There are no examples that differ in ONLY one
sound!)

Do long and short vowels occur in

the same phonological
environment? NO!
Therefore, these are in
complementary distribution and
each long/short vowel pair
represent allophones of same
phoneme.

English long and short vowels, continued...

What is the rule for vowel lengthening in

English, based on the data we just saw?
To answer this question, we must make
a generalization about the environment
in which we find long vowels.
The generalization is
English vowels are long before a voiced
consonant.

Phonological Rules

When the distribution is predictable, we

can write a rule that represents this
distribution.

These rules are part of your knowledge

of language.

Phonological Rules

The rules take the form:

elsewhere predictable / environment

English long vowels:

/V/ [V ] / ___ Cvoiced
This rule expresses a generalization
about what the speaker of English
knows about their language.

Sample Problem:Classical Arabic

1.kalb
2.qari:b
3.kubba
4.kuds
5.qalb
6.quds
7.kari:m
8.qubba

dog
near
meatloaf
heat
heart
sanctity
noble
dome

Nearminimalpair
Minimalpairs

are[k]and[q]allophonesofthesamephoneme?

Sample Problem: Tojolabal

1.kisim
mybeard
2.k'iSin
warm
3.sak
white
4.?ak'
read
are[k]and[k']allophonesofthesame
phoneme?
No,wehave2nearminimalpairshere.(Same
environmentforsound)

File4.4,exercise0.0Mokilese
[pi6san] full of leaves [uduk] flesh
[dupu8kda] bought
[kaskas] to throw
[pu8ko] basket
[poki] to strike something
[ki6sa] we two
[pil] water
[su8pwo] firewood
[apid] outrigger
support
[kamwki6ti]
to move
[ludZuk] to tackle
[i6]
p_s

[i]
t__#

k_s

p_l

k_t

p_d
k_#

[u8
]

[u]

p_k

l_dZ

s_p

d_k

#_d

d_p

dZ_k

samedistribution?
NO!
thereforecomplementary
distributionandallophones
ofsamephoneme

/i/,/u/[i6],[u8]/C8
_____C8

File4.4,Exercise1.4Russian

morepredictable

(Datacorrected)

[atm] atom
gave

[dAl] he

#_t

p_

[dva] two

[pA:k] stick

v_#

[dar] gift
stole

[ukrA] she

d_r

[mazj] ointment

[brA] he took

m_zj

[mjat] mint
sameenvironment?
no
thereforeincomplementary
distributionandallophonesofthe
samephoneme

mj_t

d_

r_

lesspredictable:
elsewhere
/a/
[a] [A]

/a/[A]/___

Summary

Phonemes, abstract mental unit of sound

Distinctive/contrastive: minimal pairs

Allophones: variant forms of a phoneme

Complementary distribution: different
environments
Free variation: same environment but no diff in
meaning

Forms in complementary distribution are

predictable by rules.