Lecture 3

Phoneme vs Allophone
• Phoneme = abstract unit of sound
(stored in your mind - lexicon)

• Allophone = different phonetic realizations

of a phoneme
(don’t store this in memory
but generate it by rule)
 Which of these do we hear/pay attention to?

Phoneme or the allophone ?

How do we know?

1. Insentivity to allophones: both in production and

perception ( this is good thing ☺. Otherwise we
can’t pay attention to what we are saying if we
have to attention to every detail of how we say it)
2. Speech errors and misperceptions in FLL
 Child Data 1 (4 years 3 months)

Irish [ajrIs] leash [lis]

fasten [fæsən] show [šo]
shell [šεl] sip [sIp]
clash [kæs] shoe [šu]
fashion [fæšən]

What can you say about the phonological

processes observed in this child’s speech?
• Identify the variation in this child’s speech
from what’s expected in the adult target
(What’s different?)
1. The child pronounces [s] instead of [š]
in some cases.
2. The child does not pronounce consonant
clusters.

• Is the difference systematic?

Yes. The substitution of [s] for [š] occurs in
word final positions only.
• What is the status of [s] and [š] in the
phonology of this child? How can we tell?
They are independent phonemes because
the child makes the distinction between
fasten [fæsən] and fashion [fæšən]. These
are minimal pairs.
 Child Data 2

key [ti] go [do]

big [bIk] stick [tIk]
guy [daj] coat [tot]
egg [ek] Mike [majk]
broken [bwodIn]
digger [dIdər]

What can you say about the phonological

processes observed in this child’s speech?
• Identify the variation in this child’s speech from
what’s expected in the adult target (What’s
different?)
Production of velar stops vary for this child

• Is the difference systematic?

Yes. The child can pronounce velar stops in final
positions. But note voicing differences in egg [ek].

In word initial and medial positions, velar stops

are pronounced as alveolar stops.