TOPIC 2: PHONEMES AND ALLOPHONES

Question: Why would most (all?) English speakers say that lips, slip, spill, Pils, and lisp
comprise the “same sounds” in different orders?

Answer: Although the physical SOUNDS differ from word to word, the words do
comprise the same set of PHONEMES.

phoneme: (first try at a definition) “a basic sound unit of a language”

allophone(s): the phonetic variant(s) of a phoneme

phonological rules: generalized statements defining the conditions for the appearance of
the particular phonetic realizations (allophones) of an “underlying” phonemic form

Some formal conventions

/ /: Slant brackets enclose phonemic (“underlying”) forms, e.g. /pls/ ‘Pils’

[ ]: Square brackets enclose phonetic forms, e.g. [p
s] ‘Pils’ ([] =“dark” l)

X  Y / __Z: “X is realized as Y in the environment before Z”

X  Y / Z___: “X is realized as Y in the environment after Z”

Recipe for phonemic analysis

ASSEMBLE A FULLY REPRESENTATIVE DATA SET, ACCURATELY TRANSCRIBED.

a. Do phonetic charts for consonants and vowels.

b. Collect local environments for the sounds being investigated.
c. Look for patterns in environments—do particular sounds appear exclusively in certain
environments?
d. If the answer to (c) is “yes”, state the environment in the most general way possible.
Often one allophone will most easily be stated as “elsewhere”.
e. Set up an underlying form for the phoneme (usually the “elsewhere” allophone), and
write phonological rules (A  B / P ___ Q) deriving the other allophones. Write the
rules in as general a form as possible, leaving out unnecessary material.
f. See whether the pattern worked out in (e) can be generalized to other sets of sounds.
For example, a rule that aspirates all the voiceless stops is more general than a rule
that just aspirates /t/.

12
Linguistics 120A 2. Phonemes and Allophones 13

Example 1: English velars

The English phoneme /k/ can be described as having (at least) three allophones: a
“neutral” velar allophone, which we can symbolize as [k], a backed allophone, which be
can symbolize as [k] and a raised or fronted allophone, which we can symbolize as [k].
Submit the following words to the “recipe” above

keen [ ] cool [ ] creep [ ]

kin [ ] could [ ] clean [ ]
Kate [ ] coal [ ] crone [ ]
kettle [ ] cut [ ] clone [ ]
catch [ ] cod [ ] crop [ ]
clod [ ]

Thinking like a phonologist: What additional questions does our analysis raise?
- Can the analysis be extended to a larger class of segments than just /k/?
- We have only looked at /k/ in / [word ___ (C) V. What happens in
/ C___V
/ V___ ]word
/ V___V (in particular, if the vowels “conflict”, which one wins?)

Some other issues of phonology that this data set illustrates:

- HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THERE IS ANYTHING TO LOOK FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE ?!
- The messiness of dealing with real life data.
- The idealized nature of phonological rules vs. precise phonetic descriptions.
- The usually “local” nature of phonological rules.
- The phonetic naturalness of phonological processes.
- A tendency for “anticipation” of following environments to be stronger than
“perseverance” of preceding environments.

Example 2: Papago (Focus: [t, t  , d, d  )

1. [
bidim] ‘turn around’ 12. [
hwgid] ‘smell’
2. [
ta pan] ‘split’ 13. [
tiha] ‘hire’
3. [
hido
] ‘cook’ 14. [
toi] ‘become hot’
4. [
tkid] ‘vaccinate’ 15. [
wi
ut] ‘swing’
5. [
gatwid] ‘shoot’ 16. [
ta ta
] ‘feet’
6. [
tuku] ‘become black’ 17. [
ki tud] ‘build a house for’
7. [
dagp] ‘press with hand’ 18. [
do dom] ‘copulate’
8. [
toha] ‘become white’ 19. [
ta tam] ‘touch’
9. [
du ki] ‘rain (noun)’ 20. [
dwd] ‘soil, earth’
10. [
w mt] ‘help, marry’ 21. [
tgig] ‘name, reputation’
11. [
d k] ‘taste’ 22. [
ti wia] ‘settle, establish residence’
Linguistics 120A 2. Phonemes and Allophones 14

The Vowel System of Papago

front central back

unrounded rounded
high i, i
, 
u, u

mid o, o

low a, a

The Consonants1

labial alveolar palato-alveolar retroflex palatal velar glottal

voiceless stops p t k
voiced stops b d
g
voiceless affricates t
voiced affricates d
voiceless fricatives s  h
nasals m n  
liquids 
glides w j

The Data Sorted by Immediate Context (Letters index the word used, from data set above.)

t t  d d 
2,16,19 [word ___a
13 [word ___i 3 i___o 1 i___i
8,14 [word ___o 4 [word ___ 4,5,12 i___ ]word 9 [word ___u

15 u___ ]word 6 [word ___u 17 u___ ]word 11 [word ___

5 a___w 17 i
___u 7 [word ___a 20 [word ___
16,19 a
___a 21 [word ___
18 [word ___o

10 m ___ ]word 22 [word ___i 18 o

___o
16,19 [word ___a
20 ___ ]word

1
Data and analysis assembled by Bruce Hayes, based on Saxton, Dean, Lucille Saxton, and Susie Enos
(1983) Dictionary: Papago/Pima-English, English-Papago/Pima, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Linguistics 120A 2. Phonemes and Allophones 15

Left Contexts Only: No Pattern

t t  d d 
2,8,14,16,20
[word ___ 4,6,13,21,22
[word ___ 3,4,5,12 i___ 1 i___
15 u___ 17 i___ 15 u___ 9 [word ___
5 a___ 7,11,18 [word ___ 20 [word ___
16,19 a___ 18 o___
10 m___ 20
___

Right Contexts Only

t t  d d 
2,16,19 ___a 13 ___i 3,18 ___ o 1 ___i
8,14 ___o 4 ___
4,5,12, ___ ]word 9 ___u
15, 20
10,15 ___ ]word 6,17 ___u 7 ___ a 20 ___

5 ___w u ___
 18 ___ o
11 ___

16,19 ___a v ___i

There is a simple and coherent generalization (the kind that phonologies tend to favor).

“The palato-alveolar affricates occur before high vowels, and the alveolar stops
occur elsewhere.”

Few Data

Especially for [d]. But among the values of a precisely formulated phonological
analysis are (1) that it suggests areas where you should look for further data and (2) that it
makes predictions that can be tested by such data.

Formalizing to Achieve Generality

• Assume underlying /t,d/: these are what you get if no rule perturbs the basic
pattern.
• State rule as simply as possible, leaving out whatever is not needed
A heuristic: look at every single feature and ask whether the rule works without
it?
• It’s good to give rules names, for easy reference
Linguistics 120A 2. Phonemes and Allophones 16

Features in Rules

• Segments are actually clusters of features, i.e. a segment is the sum of its
phonological properties.
• Rules change only the features explicitly mentioned, and all features not
mentioned by a rule remain unaltered.
Unaltered features in Papago: voicing, nonnasality, others...

Alveolar Palatalization

stop  affricate  vowel

 
   
alveolar palato-alveolar / ___ high 

Illustrative Derivations

• Choice of forms: Enough to make the operation of the system clear.

• Underlying forms: This will be the “base” form whose features have not been
changed by rules.
• Put altered sounds in the appropriate place when a rule applies, and long hyphen
to show that a rule is inapplicable.
• Slant brackets surround underlying forms, square brackets surround surface
forms. Omit brackets in intermediate forms.

‘split’ ‘vaccinate’ ‘press’ ‘turn around’

Underlying forms: /tapan/ /t
kid/ /dagp/ /bidim/
Alveolar Palatalization: ---------- t
kid ---------- bidim
Surface forms: [tapam] [t
kid] [dagp] [bidim]

The “Why” of Alveolar Palatalization (from Bruce Hayes’s lecture notes)

• I know two other languages that affricate before high vowels. Examples:
Japanese, Quebec French.
• High vowels have a narrow air channel, and when a /t/ is released into a high
vowel, the burst is noisy (say [ti], [ta] to yourself to check). Affrication is
conjectured to be an exaggeration of this natural effect, perhaps for the purpose of
rendering the /t/ more audibly distinct from “quieter” stops like /p,k/.
• I don’t know why affrication in Papago changes the place of articulation—
conceivably this is an influence from Spanish and English, since virtually all
Papago speakers are bilingual in one of these languages.2

2
Data from http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/, which lists most of the world’s languages with their locations
and number of speakers.
Linguistics 120A 2. Phonemes and Allophones 17

RETURN TO A DEFINITION OF THE “PHONEME”

Definition #1: Phonemes as sounds (from above)

phoneme: “a basic sound unit of a language”

Conveys the idea that a phoneme is an abstraction away from a particular pronunciation,
but it the definition is rather vague and doesn't really tell us anything about the
phonological system, the “grammar of sound”.

Definition #2: Phonemes defined as sets of sounds

phoneme: “a unit of phonological contrast”

contrast: Sounds are in contrast if they can distinguish words. The clearest way to
demonstrate that sounds are in contrast is to locate a minimal pair of words; the clearest
way to demonstrate that sounds are not in contrast is to demonstrate that they are in
complementary distribution.

minimal pair (or minimal set): words differing from each other by only a single sound
(or, more correctly, by only a single phonological contrast—pairs may differ minimally
in features such as stress or tone)

A minimal 20-tuplet for English consonants (19-tuplet if you pronounce ‘wail’ and
‘whale’ identically)
[p] pail [t] tail [t ]— [k] kale
[b] bail [d] dale [d ] jail [g] gale
[f] fail [] — [s] sale [] shale [h] hail
[v] veil [
] they’ll [z] Zale [] —
[m] male [n] nail [] —
[l] —
[] rail
[w] wail [j] Yale
[] whale

complementary distribution: two sounds, X and Y, are in complementary distribution

if X could never appear in an environment where Y could occur and vice versa
Examples that we have seen: • English “light” vs. “dark” l’s
• English aspirated vs. unaspirated stops
• English velars (three kinds of “k”)
• Papago alveolar stops vs. alveopalatal fricatives
• (in Hayes course reader) Maasai voiceless stops vs.
voiced stops vs. voiced fricatives

free variation, for example, English aspirated vs. unreleased stops in final position
Linguistics 120A 2. Phonemes and Allophones 18

The language specific nature of contrast and complementary distribution (and, as a

consequence, of phonological systems)

“One language’s allophonic variants may be another language’s phonemes.” Likewise,

languages may differ in allophonic variants of comparable phonemes. Examples:

• “light” vs. “dark” l: cf. Russian [vona] ‘fleece’ vs. [volnaja] ‘license’
• aspirated vs. unaspirated stops: cf. Thai pa a ‘jungle’, p
a a ‘operate’, ba a ‘shoulder’
• alveolar stops vs. alveopalatal affricates: cf. English top vs. chop
• Spanish has no aspirated stops and only one kind of l
• Wolof has no alveopalatal sounds at all, either in contrast or in complementary
distribution with alveolars

Question: English [p] and [t
] are in complementary distribution. Are they therefore
allophones of the same phoneme?

Definition #3: Phonemes defined by derivational relations

phoneme: “a member of the set of basic phonological units that are put into
correspondence with a set of phonetic realizations by rule”

Allophones in a theory with derivations

• Allophones are the set of sounds that are put into correspondence with a single
phoneme.
• The elsewhere allophone, if there is one, is the one that emerges after environment-
specific rules have applied.

Advantages over the “sets of sounds” definition:

• Defining phonemes in terms of contrast between phonemes and the relationship of

complementary distribution does not directly capture the systematic nature of
sound relations, e.g. it seems almost an accident that voiceless stops, as a group, all
have an aspirated allophone in word initial position
• This definition avoids methodological problems that rely on establishing contrast
through minimal pairs and complementary distribution: (1) some languages
have few if any true minimal pairs, and (2) many sounds are in complementary
distribution that we would not want to say are allophones of one phoneme (English

/h, or even English [th] vs. [p])
Linguistics 120A 2. Phonemes and Allophones 19

Discussion Problems

CANTONESE3

Transcription is IPA. Like all Chinese languages, Cantonese is a tone language. Tones
are shown by “tone letters” following the words. The vertical stroke represents the pitch
range of the speaker’s normal speaking voice. The horizontal line represents the tone as a
relative pitch or pitch change within that range. For example, [] = a tone with level pitch
at the top of the speaking range, [] = a tone rising from a mid-level pitch to the highest
pitch, etc.

1. kok  accurate 37. tin  mad

2. t
n allow 38. si market
3. p  apple 39. si matter
4. tsa  bad 40. tsan  meal
5. tsk  bamboo 41. kun  observe
6. túk  bird 42. tsa orange
7. y  book 43. k  pass
8. tse  car 44. tut  pay for train w. debit card
9. kat  card 45. h
permanent
10. pin  change, become different 46. lk  pick up
11. l
t  chestnut 47. ty  pig
12. tú  Cheung (proper name) 48. ty place
13. ti  Chinese characters 49. si  poem
14. ts  clear 50. k  poor
15. so comb 51. sa  sand
16. kt  cough 52. tyn  short
17. jim dye 53. tin  sky
18. tsa  elbow 54. pin  slice
19. t
n  enter 55. yt  snow
20. kok  feel 56. yn  sour
21. p
flat 57. tit  stanza of poem
22. ts  flush 58. t
n  stupid
23. s  food for cooking a meal 59. sam  three
24. t
t  go out 60. tap  take (bus, etc.)
25. tsa  grab 61. si
time, period of time
26. lk green 62. ti  time, occasion
27. pun  half 63. tap  tower
28. kin healthy 64. fu  trousers

3
The starting point of the data was a 120A paper by Marissa Tse. Additional data come from Stephen
Matthews and Virginia Yip, Cantonese; A Comprehensive Grammar, Routledge, 1994, Virginia Yip and
Stephen Matthews, Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook, Routledge, 2000, Keith S.T. Tong and
Gregory James, Colloquial Cantonese, Routledge, 1994, and Kwan Choi Wah et al., English-Cantonese
Dictionary, The Chinese University Press, 1991. A very useful online dictionary is at
http://humanum. arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can.
Linguistics 120A 2. Phonemes and Allophones 20

29. sm  heart 65. si  try

30. si  history 66. sk  uncle
31. hú
 Hong (proper name) 67. ha
 walk
32. t sk  quick 68. t úk  wear
33. t san  real 69. t s
k  weave
34. wut  live 70. se
 finished
35. t ú
 long 71. t so  wrong
36. m
k  look for 72. jú
 yield

Analyzing the data:

1. Aspiration: Is aspiration vs. non-aspiration of stops and affricates distinctive?

One approach to answering this would be to set up a complete distribution table for each
of the aspirated and unaspirated consonants. However, a short cut would be to simply
scan the data for MINIMAL PAIRS, which would immediately demonstrate CONTRAST.
2. Vowels: What are the vowel phonemes?

Step 1: Scan through the data and make a list of all the vowels that you find. Then
arrange them in a standard vowel chart this will help identify sets of vowels which look
suspicious in terms of whether or not they contrast.

Step 2: Make a distribution table to see whether distributional patterns show

COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION, i.e whether certain vowels can be grouped as allophones
of a single phoneme. SUGGESTION: There are three kinds of environments: preceding,
following, and tone. Just to get an idea before painstakingly filling out all these
environments for all the vowels, take a pair of “suspicious” vowels, e.g. [i,
] and quickly
scan through the data for preceding environment, following environment, and tone. If
one of these looks more promising than the others, concentrate on that one.

3. Coronal obstruent phonemes: What are the coronal obstruent phonemes? (coronal
sounds = dentals, alveolars, alveopalatals; obstruents = stops, affricates, fricatives)

Step 1: List all the coronal obstruents in the data.

Step 2: Make a distributional table for each of the coronals.

4. Tones: How many contrastive tones does Cantonese have?

By far the easiest way to determine this is to find minimal pairs distinguished only by
tone. Even if you could not find a full set of words distinguished only by tone, you could
probably find enough pairs that, when added up, would show all the contrasts. Try find
one set of words that are distinguished only by the tones that appear in the data.

Lango: The Hayes textbook has a dataset for phonemic analysis on page 44. A start
toward analysis of this data is posted on the 120A website.