Some Cases of Predictable

Sound Variation in English

English Phonology
Ricardo de Souza
 A Few Interesting Cases…
•  Night
•  Might
•  Hang

How many distinct nasal sounds?

•  These 3 different nasals are perceived as

3 different sound entities by English
speakers.
 A Few Interesting Cases…
•  Ten
•  Tenth
•  On fire
Are these nasal sounds articulated exactly
the same way?
•  Although there are 3 different ways of
articulating the nasal sound, they are perceived
as one single entity by English speakers.
 A Few Interesting Cases…
•  Pool
•  Tool
•  Cool

•  How do these stops differ in place of

articulation?
 A Few Interesting Cases…
•  Cool
•  Keen

•  Are these stops articulated exactly the

same way?
 Introducing the Phoneme
•  Speech sounds main function is to
express the different meaning units of a
language.
•  This is done by the creation of contrasts,
or by the contrastive function of speech
sounds.
•  Speech sounds vary significantly.
 Introducing the Phoneme
•  No two speakers pronounce a given word
exactly the same way.
•  Single speakers may vary in the way the
pronounce a given word from instance to
instance of pronunciation.
•  Not every phonetic difference will have
equally contrastive value across languages.
•  Speech sounds will differ in different
phonetic contexts.
 The Phoneme and Phonetic
Contexts
•  The distribution of phonemes with respect to
other phonemes (phoneme neighborhoods)
may entail phonetic changes in their
realization.
•  Qualitative differences in stress of syllables
where phonemes occur often interacts with
phoneme neighborhoods
•  In other words, the choice for a given
allophone may be the output of phonological
factors. 8
 A Definition of the Phoneme
•  When phonetic differences do have
contrastive value within a given language,
there is a phonemic difference for the
distinguishable sounds in that language.
•  Phonemic differences separate two kinds
of speech sounds. We will call each of
these sounds a different phoneme.
•  A phoneme is an abstract entity reflecting
categorical perception of speech sounds.
Phonemic and Non-phonemic
Contrasts
•  /seɪv/
A minimal pair
•  /seɪf/
•  /meɪd/
A minimal pair
•  /meɪt/
•  /meɪz/
A minimal pair
•  /meɪs/
 Phonemic Contrasts
•  The pairs save x safe; made x mate; and mace x
maze are minimal pairs.
•  This means that the members of the pair are
different because of only one segment.
•  In the case of these three pairs, the contrasting
segments are /v/ x /f/; /d/ x/ /t/; and /s/ x /z/.
•  If a single segment is capable of differentiating
between lexical items, then this segment is
contrastive, and the contrast is referred to as a
phonemic contrast. The segment is a phoneme.
 Non-phonemic Contrasts
•  /seɪv/
•  /seɪf/
Non-phonemic Contrasts
Non-phonemic Contrasts
 Non-Phonemic Contrasts
•  The difference in diphthong length we observed
in the pair save x safe is also found in the pairs
made x mate and mace x maze.
•  The lengthening is a result of the [+voice]
consonants.
•  Although this is a phonetic contrast, it is not
typically analyzed as a phonemic contrast.
•  This means that speakers of English recognize
the diphthong as being the same category
across these six words.
 Flowchart for Sound Analysis
Are there minimal pairs
YES
or near-minimal pairs?

NO

The sounds are in

The sounds are in contrastive distribution
complementary
distribution

The sounds are The sounds are

allophones of the different phonemes
same phoneme
 Phones and Allophones
•  Ten
•  Tenth
•  On fire Phonetically different realizations
of a class of common articulatory
features
•  [n]

•  [n]

•  [ɱ]
 Phones and Allophones
•  Ten
•  Tenth
•  On fire
Different phones
Allophones of the phoneme /n/
•  [n]

•  [n]

•  [ɱ]
 Phones and Allophones

1.  Complementary
2.  Contrastive

v  Contrastive because there is a minimal pair: [fæʃəәn] and

[fæsəәn].
v  This shows that for this child, /ʃ/ and /s/ exist as distinct
phonemes, not allophones of the same phoneme.
 Aspiration
Pen, toy, cat
/pɛn/, /tɔɪ/, /kæt/
[phɛn], [thɔɪ], [khæt]

Spin, story, skate

/spɪn/, /ˈstɔri/, /skeɪt/
[spɪn], [ˈstɔri], [skeɪt]

20
 Aspiration
Bin, day, get
/bɪn/, /deɪ/, /gɛt/
[bɪn], [deɪ], [gɛt]

Bitter, distaste
/ˈbɪtəәr/, /dɪsˈteɪst/
[ˈbɪtəәr], [dɪsˈtheɪst]

21
 Aspiration

•  Voiceless stops can be aspirated.

•  They will only be aspirated when they are the onset
of a stressed syllable.
•  They are not usually aspirated in clusters.
•  In clusters, they are only aspirated when the cluster
is heteromorphemic, and they belong to a free
morpheme. 22
 Flapping

•  From point of view of articulation, the flap

is an alveolar/postalveolar apical
consonant.
•  Symbolized by
•  An allophone of /t/, and sometimes /d/.

23
 Flapping
•  data
•  /ˈdeɪtəә/
•  [ˈdeɪɾəә]
•  automatic
•  /ˌɔtəәˈmætɪk/
•  [ˌɔɾəәˈmæɾɪk]

24
 Flapping
•  Attend
•  /əәˈtɛnd/
•  [əәˈthɛnd]
•  *[əәˈɾɛnd]
[əәˈɾɛnd]
•  Guilty
•  /ˈɡɪlti/
•  [ˈɡɪlti]
•  *[ˈɡɪlɾi]
[ˈɡɪlɾi]
25
 Flapping
•  Flapping depends both on phonological
context and stress.
•  Flapped /t/ and /d/ will occur between
vowels.
•  Within phonological words, flapped /t/
or /d/ will depend on the vowel occurring
prior to them being also stressed with
respect to the one that follows.
26
 Glottalization

•  Glottalization mostly affects the voiceless

stops /p/, /t/, and /k/.
•  Glottalization is produced when the vocal
cords come together just before, or
simultaneously with, the closure that
occurs in the oral cavity.

27
 Glottalization
•  When the vocal cords close during
articulation of a segmental sequence, the
effect is known as a glottal stop.
•  Glottal stops are phonologically relevant.
The phonetic symbol for them is [ʔ].
•  The voiceless stop /t/ tends to be
glottalized when it occurs prior to
unstressed syllables ending with the
nasal /n/.
28
 Glottalization
•  Mountain (without glottalization):
•  /ˈmaʊntəәn/
•  [ˈmaʊntəәn]

•  Mountain (with glottalization):

•  /ˈmaʊntəәn/
•  [ˈmaʊnʔn]

29
 /t/-Deletion
•  /t/ may be deleted when it follows /n/ and
when it is the onset of an unstressed
syllable.
•  Twenty
Ø [twɛnti] or [twɛni]
•  Planter – planner
Ø [plænɚ]
•  Winter – winner
Ø [wɪnɚ]
 Assimilation
•  Adjacent sounds tend to become
similar to each other with respect to a
given articulatory dimension. This
process is called assimilation.

/tɛn pəәrˈsɛnt/

[tɛm pəәrˈsɛnt]

31
 Assimilation of Labials

•  Compass
•  Sympathy
•  Comfort
•  Obvious
Bilabial à Labiodental

labial labiodental/ ____ labiodental

32
 Assimilation of Apicals
•  Esteem
•  Ten
•  Esthetic
•  Tenth
Apical à Apicodental

apical apicodental/ ____ apicodental

33
 Assimilation of Apicals
•  Hut
•  Moss
•  Hurt
•  Horse
Apical à postalveolar

apical postalveolar/ r ____

34
 Assimilation of Nasals
In which of the following words is the vowel
most likely to be nasalized?
•  Boot •  Hand
•  Boom •  Late
•  Cap •  Laid
•  Camp •  Lump
•  Can’t •  Sick
•  Find •  Sing
 Assimilation of Nasals
In which of the following words is the vowel
most likely to be nasalized?
•  Boom
•  Camp
•  Can’t
•  Friend
•  Hand
•  Lump
•  Sing
 Assimilation of Nasals
Nasal Deletion

•  Camp •  [kæ̃p]
•  Can’t •  [kæ̃t]
•  Lump •  [lʌ̃p]

Nasal consonants are deleted before

voiceless obstruents.
 Mutual Assimilation of Liquids
and Alveolar Stops
•  Top
•  Deep
•  Rain
•  Crane
•  Brain
•  Alveolar stops are [-fricative].
•  Liquids are frictionless.

38
 Mutual Assimilation of Liquids
and Alveolar Stops
•  Train
•  Strain
•  Drop
•  Trip
•  Track
•  Liquids gain friction.
•  Alveolar stops sound [+fricative].
•  /d/ and /t/ are palatized: [dʒ] and [tʃ].
39
 Palatazation of /t/ and /d/
•  /d/ and /t/ may also be implemented as [tʃ]
and [dʒ] at word final position, when it is
followed by the palatal glide /j/.
•  Did you…?
Ø [dɪd juː]
Ø [dɪdʒ juː]
•  …ate your dinner…
Ø [eɪt jɚ dɪnɚ]
Ø [eɪtʃ jɚ dɪnɚ]