Phonology I Summary
Phonemes and allophones:
Phonotactic constraints give rise to alternations: a word or
morpheme may be pronounced in different ways depending on the
context. (A morpheme is any entry in your mental dictionary; it can
be a word or a part of a word, like a prefix, suffix, or root.) Thus,
while the [p] is not pronounced in “pneumonia,” it is retained in
“apnea,” where the preceding [æ] provides a licit context for the [p]
to be pronounced.
When the reference is to sounds as actually pronounced, square
brackets are used: [t]. When the reference is to a more abstract level
(the underlying representation), slashes are used: /t/.
A phoneme is a label for a set of sounds that all count as basically
the same.
The individual sounds within the set, which can be pronounced, are
the allophones of that phoneme. Crucially, the allophones are
positional (or contextual) variants: which allophone appears (that is,
which version of the sound gets used) depends on the context.
If two sounds are contrastive, they must be members of different
phonemes. If two sounds are in complementary (non-
overlapping) distribution, they are more likely allophones of the
same phoneme.
Pairs of words that differ in only a single sound in the same position
within the word are called minimal pairs. A near-minimal pair:
two words that are almost exactly alike.
The symbol # indicates the edge of a word, so that #__ indicates a
word-initial sound, and __# indicates a word-final sound.
Distributional relationships:
The first is contrast: two sounds may occur in the same
environment, and so create a difference in meaning, as in [fall]
vs. [tall].
The second is complementary distribution: two sounds do
not occur in the same environment, and so never contrast.
A third possible type of distribution is free variation. Sounds
that are in free variation occur in the same context, and thus
are not predictable, but the difference between the two sounds
does not change one word into another.
Positional neutralization: in this case, two sounds are
contrastive in one position, and not contrastive in another. The
two sounds still belong to two different phonemes: if minimal
pairs exist, the sounds are capable of bearing contrast. But
that contrast may be neutralized in certain positions. One
example from English is tapping of intervocalic /t/ and /d/.
Numerous minimal pairs demonstrate that /t/ and /d/ are
contrastive: “time” vs. “dime,” “mate” vs. “made,” “write”
vs. “ride.”
, Phonotactics and Alternations:
Phonotactics: possible sound sequences, the social habits of
speech sounds: what sounds go together, and where can they be
found?
Alternations: positionally-conditioned changes, the mating habits:
when sounds get together, they interact, things happen, and new
sequences come into being.
Constraints on sequences that are allowed or disallowed are termed
phonotactic constraints (phono = sound, tacti = touching). The
sequences ruled out by phonotactic constraints vary from language
to language.
This is a case of positional neutralization: nasals do not contrast in
place of articulation when they occur before a stop. In these
monomorphemic English words, however, the constraint is a
static generalization: we don’t see different forms of the word
“blink,” we just look across the language and notice the absence of
words like “blimk.” Static generalizations are often called
morpheme structure constraints.
Phonotactic constraints also give rise to alternations. Alternations
occur when morphemes are put together in different combinations. If
an illicit sequence is created, a change may occur in the way the
morpheme is pronounced.
Just as an underlying phoneme has different positional variants
termed allophones, a morpheme has different positional variants
termed allomorphs. The different allomorphs (the words that are
actually pronounced) may also be termed surface forms. As with
phonemes, we can usually identify the underlying form of the
morpheme with the elsewhere case and assume that the more
restricted surface forms are derived.
Name Definition Examples
Local assimilation Two sounds that are English past tense:
different become
more alike; the
sound undergoing
the change is
immediately
adjacent to the
trigger of the
change.
Long-distance Two segments that Turkish vowel harmony
assimilation are not immediately
(Harmony) adjacent become
more similar; vowels
affect each other
even though
Phonemes and allophones:
Phonotactic constraints give rise to alternations: a word or
morpheme may be pronounced in different ways depending on the
context. (A morpheme is any entry in your mental dictionary; it can
be a word or a part of a word, like a prefix, suffix, or root.) Thus,
while the [p] is not pronounced in “pneumonia,” it is retained in
“apnea,” where the preceding [æ] provides a licit context for the [p]
to be pronounced.
When the reference is to sounds as actually pronounced, square
brackets are used: [t]. When the reference is to a more abstract level
(the underlying representation), slashes are used: /t/.
A phoneme is a label for a set of sounds that all count as basically
the same.
The individual sounds within the set, which can be pronounced, are
the allophones of that phoneme. Crucially, the allophones are
positional (or contextual) variants: which allophone appears (that is,
which version of the sound gets used) depends on the context.
If two sounds are contrastive, they must be members of different
phonemes. If two sounds are in complementary (non-
overlapping) distribution, they are more likely allophones of the
same phoneme.
Pairs of words that differ in only a single sound in the same position
within the word are called minimal pairs. A near-minimal pair:
two words that are almost exactly alike.
The symbol # indicates the edge of a word, so that #__ indicates a
word-initial sound, and __# indicates a word-final sound.
Distributional relationships:
The first is contrast: two sounds may occur in the same
environment, and so create a difference in meaning, as in [fall]
vs. [tall].
The second is complementary distribution: two sounds do
not occur in the same environment, and so never contrast.
A third possible type of distribution is free variation. Sounds
that are in free variation occur in the same context, and thus
are not predictable, but the difference between the two sounds
does not change one word into another.
Positional neutralization: in this case, two sounds are
contrastive in one position, and not contrastive in another. The
two sounds still belong to two different phonemes: if minimal
pairs exist, the sounds are capable of bearing contrast. But
that contrast may be neutralized in certain positions. One
example from English is tapping of intervocalic /t/ and /d/.
Numerous minimal pairs demonstrate that /t/ and /d/ are
contrastive: “time” vs. “dime,” “mate” vs. “made,” “write”
vs. “ride.”
, Phonotactics and Alternations:
Phonotactics: possible sound sequences, the social habits of
speech sounds: what sounds go together, and where can they be
found?
Alternations: positionally-conditioned changes, the mating habits:
when sounds get together, they interact, things happen, and new
sequences come into being.
Constraints on sequences that are allowed or disallowed are termed
phonotactic constraints (phono = sound, tacti = touching). The
sequences ruled out by phonotactic constraints vary from language
to language.
This is a case of positional neutralization: nasals do not contrast in
place of articulation when they occur before a stop. In these
monomorphemic English words, however, the constraint is a
static generalization: we don’t see different forms of the word
“blink,” we just look across the language and notice the absence of
words like “blimk.” Static generalizations are often called
morpheme structure constraints.
Phonotactic constraints also give rise to alternations. Alternations
occur when morphemes are put together in different combinations. If
an illicit sequence is created, a change may occur in the way the
morpheme is pronounced.
Just as an underlying phoneme has different positional variants
termed allophones, a morpheme has different positional variants
termed allomorphs. The different allomorphs (the words that are
actually pronounced) may also be termed surface forms. As with
phonemes, we can usually identify the underlying form of the
morpheme with the elsewhere case and assume that the more
restricted surface forms are derived.
Name Definition Examples
Local assimilation Two sounds that are English past tense:
different become
more alike; the
sound undergoing
the change is
immediately
adjacent to the
trigger of the
change.
Long-distance Two segments that Turkish vowel harmony
assimilation are not immediately
(Harmony) adjacent become
more similar; vowels
affect each other
even though
