Chapter-3--Phonology

Chapter3PhonologyAims:1)Tohaveanunderstandingofthedifferencesbetweenphonologyandphonetics;2)Toletthestudentsknowsometermsinphonology,suchasphoneme,allophone,phonemiccontrast,complementarydistributionandsoon;3)Tobefamiliarwiththedistinctivefeaturesandsomephonologicalrules;4)Tounderstandwhatsuprasegmentalfeaturesare.1.PhonologyandphoneticsPhonologyisthestudyofsoundsystems—theinventoryofdistinctivesoundsthatoccurinalanguageandthepatternsintowhichtheyfall,howthesoundsystemofalanguagefunctions.Bothphonologyandphoneticsarestudiesofspeechsounds．Thetwowordscontainthesamerootphono-，meaningsounds．Butwhilebotharerelatedtothestudyofsounds，theydifferintheirapproachandfocus.Aswehaveseeninthelastchapter，phoneticsisofageneralnature；itisinterestedinallthespeechsoundsusedinallhumanlanguages：howtheyareproduced，howtheydifferfromeachother，whatphoneticfeaturestheypossess，howtheycanbeclassified，etc.Phonology，ontheotherhand，isinterestedinthesystemofsoundsofaparticularlanguage；itaimstodiscoverhowspeechsoundsinalanguageformpatternsandhowthesesoundsareusedtoconveymeaninginlinguisticcommunication．Thusthesetwoareatoncerelatedanddistinctbranchesoflinguisticstudies.Phonology,therefore,differentfromphonetics,islanguagespecific.Itdealswithspeechsoundswithinthecontextofaparticularlanguage.2.PhonemeandallophonePhonologyisconcernedwiththespeechsoundswhichdistinguishmeaning.Sothesubtledifferencebetweenclear[l]anddark[l]andthatbetweenalveolar[n]anddental[n]arenotreallytheconcernofphonology,butthedifferencebetween[p]and[b]andthatbetween[l]and[m]arebecause[pi:](pea)and[bi:](bee),and[leik]and[meik]areentirelydifferentinmeaning.Thebasicunitinphonologyiscalledphoneme;itisaunitthatisofdistinctivevalue.Butisanabstractunit.Tobeexact,aphonemeisnotasound;itisacollectionofdistinctivephoneticfeatures.Inactualspeech,aphonemeisrealizedphoneticallyasacertainphone.Thedifferentphoneswhichcanrepresentaphonemeindifferentphoneticenvironmentsarecalledtheallophonesofthatphoneme.3.Phonemiccontrast,complementarydistributionandminimalpairPhoneticallysimilarsoundsmightberelatedintwoways.Theymightformacontrastiftheyaretwodistinctivephonemes，ortheydonotformacontrastinmeaningiftheyareallophonesofthesamephoneme.Studythepronunciationofthefollowingwords:Rope[r[Up]，robe［r[Ub］，pin［phin］，bin[bin]，pot［phCt］spot［spCt］Wecanseethat[ph]and［b］contraseachotherininitialposition，asinpinandbin.Thenwefindthattheyalsocontrastinfinalposition，asinropeandrobe.Sowecometotheconclusionthat/p/and/b/canoccurinthesameenvironmentsandtheydistinguishmeaning：thereforetheyareinphonemiccontrast.Ontheotherhand，［p］and[ph]nevercontrasteachother.Theyaretwoallophonesofthesamephoneme/p/.TheyoccurindifferentenvironmentsThesetwoallophonesofthesamephonemearesaidtobeincomplementarydistribution.Whenconfrontedwithanunfamiliarlanguage，alinguisthas，firstofall，tofindoutwhatarethesoundsthatconveymeaninginthatlanguage，namely，thephonemesthatformthesoundsystemofthatparticularlanguage．Abasicwaytodeterminethephonemesoflanguageistoseeifsubstitutingonesoundforanotherresultsinachangeofmeaning.Ifitdoes,thetwosoundsthenrepresentdifferentphonemes.Aneasywaytodothisistofindtheminimalpairs.Whentwodifferentformsareidenticalineverywayexceptforonesoundsegmentwhichoccursinthesameplaceinthestrings,thetwowordsaresaidtoformaminimalpair.4.Phonologicalrules4.1SequentialrulesTherearerulesthatgovernthecombinationofsoundsinaparticularlanguage.Theserulesarecalledsequentialrules.TherearemanysuchsequentialrulesinEnglish.Forexample,ifawordbeginswitha[l]ora[r],thenthenextsoundmustbeavowel.Thatiswhy[ibik]and[ikbi]areimpossiblecombinationsinEnglish.Ifthreeconsonantsshouldclustertogetheratthebeginningofaword,thecombinationshouldobeythefollowingthreerules:1)thefirstphonememustbe/s/;2)thesecondphonememustbe/p/or/t/or/k/;3)thethirdphonememustbe/l/or/r/or/w/.ThisiswhyallwordsbeginningwithacombinationofthreeconsonantsinEnglisharewordslikespring,strict,square,splendid,scream.4.2AssimilationrulesTheassimilationruleassimilatesonesoundtoanotherby“copying”afeatureofasequentialphoneme,thusmakingthetwophonessimilar.Forexample,[i:]soundisnon-nasalizedinsuchwordsastea,peep,flee,itisnasalizedinwordslikebean,green,teamandscream.Thisisbecauseinalthesesoundcombinationthe[i:]soundisfollowedbyanasal[n]or[m].Whilewearepronouncingthe[i:]sound,wearealreadygettingreadytopronouncethesubsequentnasalsound.Nasalizeavowelwhenitisfollowedbyanasalsound.4.3DeletionruleIttellsuswhenasoundistobedeletedalthoughitisorthographicallyrepresented.4.4DistinctivefeaturesAswehaveseenfromthediscussionofIPAsymbolsinthelastchapter;speechsoundsaredividedupintoclassesaccordingtoanumberofproperties.Oneimportantpropertyis“voicing”,whichplaysanimportantpartindistinguishobstruents（阻塞音）inEnglish.Becausevoicingcandistinguishonephonemefromanother,itisadistinctivefeatureforEnglishobstruents.Thereareotherfeaturestooandmanyofthemarebinaryfeatures.eg,[+voiced][+nasal][+round].5.Suprasegmentalfeatures(refertoPoole,2000:66)5.1SyllableSyllableisaunitinspeechwhichisoftenlongerthanonesoundandsmallerthanawholeword.Th