Professional Documents
Culture Documents
& Phonology
-Vowel chart
-Phoneme & allophones
-Minimal Pairs
-Complementary & contrastive distribution
2 Minute Warmup
It’s Friday! I’m so happy I want you all to tell the world about it!
So… work with a partner to tell the world how happy you are in IPA!
(That’s a lot of exclamation marks!)
Happy Friday
[hæpi fɹaide]
Vowels
Vowel Chart & Descriptions
• All voiced
• No/minimal air
obstruction
• So we don’t use place
& manner of
articulation
A phoneme can have just one allophone or more than one allophonic
realization
/f/ /p/ /t /
|
[f] [p] [ph] [t] [th] [ɾ] [ʔ]
Q: “Phoneme or Allophone?”
A: Ask a Minimal Pair
A minimal pair is a set of two words that differ by only one unit of
sound.
An example of a minimal pair is CAT [khat] and BAT [bat]
◦ [kh] and [b] both appear in the environment:
[#__ at]
◦ This shows that the choice of [kh] or [b] in the environment [#_at] produces
a difference in meaning.
Thus, we know that [s] and [ʃ] are in contrastive distribution, so they are allophones of
different phonemes. That is, these two sounds are psychologically distinct for speakers of
English.
/s/ /ʃ/
| |
[s] [ʃ]
Based on the minimal pairs, what are some other distinct phonemes in English?
Minimal Pairs
[ɪ] vs [ʊ]
[ʃ] vs [s]
[h] vs [θ]
[l] vs [d]
Minimal Pair Brainstorm
1. Work in groups of 5
2. Come up with as many minimal pairs as you can
3. Identify and describe the phonemes that are in contrastive distribution
4. Remember, don’t think spelling, think sound!
Jeff’s Examples
been vs. ban /ɪ/ vs. /æ/
High front tense vowel vs. low front lax vowel
Are there any minimal pairs with [p] and [ph]? No! But… is there a systematic pattern to where
each sound can occur? Yes!
[ph] only occurs at the beginning of words and [p] never occurs at the beginning of words (i.e.
elsewhere). Thus [p] and [ph] are in complementary distribution. [p] and [ph] do NOT produce
a contrast in meaning and thus are allophones of the SAME phoneme.
/p/
[p] [ph]
Natural Classes
A natural class is a group of sounds that share at least one phonetic
feature.
Often phonological processes occur to a natural class of sounds, not just
individual sounds.
◦ For example, in English, /p/, /t/, and /k/ are all aspirated at the beginning of
words : [phɪn] <pin>, [thul] <tool>, [khoʊld] <cold>
◦ Therefore, /p/, /t/, and /k/ form a natural class. What is that class of sounds
(i.e. what features do they share)?
VOICELESS STOPS
Natural Class Practice
What are the shared features of the following groups of sounds?
Step 2: Identify any minimal pairs (If there are some, what are they? If there are none, move to Step 3).
Step 4: Make generalizations (using natural classes) about the environments in which each sound appears.
Try to find a pattern (find one unique characteristic that explains one sound’s distribution that is not present
in the other sound’s distribution)
Step 5: Determine which is the underlying sound (the phoneme) (that is, which has the wider distribution?).