Chapter 2 Phonology + strong and weak forms quaderno

PHONOLOGY: science that studies the linguistic function that each sound (phone) have in the sound system of a particular language.
• concerns with PHONEMES: phones that distinguish one word from another in a particular language
(DEFINITION2: significant meaning-changing speech sounds of a language)
phonemes are enclosed in SILENT BRACKETS ex /u/

in many cases graphemes and phonemes share the same symbol ex <t> and /t/ but this correspondence is not always given for ex “c” represents the
phoneme /k/ in cut an the phoneme /s/ in nice. (graphemes enclosed in ANGLE BRACKETS)

MINIMAL PAIR: is a set of words that differ phonetically only by a single sound in place of another.
Minimal pairs help us to understand if a phone is also a phoneme in a particular language.
example [fan] and [van] are a minimal pair and they identify the phonemes /f/ and /v/

ALLOPHONE: the variant of a phoneme, the different realisation of the same phoneme
ex the aspirated \p\ of “pin” and the unaspirated \p\ of “spin” are allophones of the phoneme \p\

A phonological transcription uses the same symbols of the phonetic one but the latter doesn’t consider ALLOPHONES so the different realisations of
the same phoneme. Phonology takes in consideration the varieties of a language, the physical realisation of the sound as influenced by the vocal
apparatus of every speaker, so its dialects.

PROCESSES that take place in connected speech

One consequence of putting phonemes together is that they sometimes become more like each other that they would be in isolation, that happens
because we articulate quickly sounds that are similar in manner of articulation.
1)ASSIMILATION takes place when a sound is replaced with another because of a sound nearby
• anticipatory (or regressive): when a sound becomes more like the following i.e. “Good night”
• retrospective (or progressive): when a sound becomes more like the previous one
i.e guarda quaderno stella
“in that case”
plural of nouns
3rd person present tense of verbs
possessive suffix -s (pronunciation depends on the preceding consonant)

2)ELISION consists in the loss of a sound that would be articulated in a careful pronunciation
this sounds are missed out in connected speech to make it flow more smoothly and quickly
i.e 1 vowels: interest; similar; library; different
i.e 2 the most frequently elided consonants in English are /t/ and /d/ in particular when they occur between other consonants (sandwich; Christmas)

 COARTICULATION: process of making one sound almost at the same time as the following one (responsible for sound change in connected speech)

LINKING: if a word ending with a silent /r/ is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, the /r/ is pronounced to link the 2 words (british English
feature) i.e there’s a bear under the rock

RHYTM: produced by the alternating stressed-unstressed syllables

• ITALIAN: syllable-timed rhytm it means that all syllables take about the same length of time to be used
• ENGLISH: stress-timed rhytm it means that stressed syllables tend to occur at regular intervals.
In this case the sense of rhytm arises out of a feeling of alternation between strong-weak beats.
i.e Do you mind if I smoke?

UTTERANCE STRESS: layer of stress that operates at a suprasegmental level that allows speakers to give particular emphasis to certain words

in order to keep the time between stressed syllables constant english native speakers tend to reduce the duration of unstressed syllables as a result,
vowels in unstressed syllables are reduced to SCHWA

ISOCHRONUS: time interval between a beat and the next

INTONATION consists in the pitch patterns of a language, it adds a further dimension of meaning to the spoken language
• concerns the way in which pitch rises and falls in speech (high/low pitches)
• it helps (along with other verbal/non verbal signals=gestures, facial expressions) the listener to understand what the speaker says
INTONATION PATTERNS
 BASIC PATTERN (tone refers to the way pitches are modulated in a language)
• LEVEL TONE (no change in pitch)
both help to convey different messages
• FALLING TONE: convey a sense of finality, generally associated with statements
• RISING TONE: convey a sense of non finality, generally associated with questions/ incomplete clauses
- a FALL-RISE TONE convey uncertainty/doubt
- a RISE-FALL TONE convey surprise/admiration/strong feelings (disgust, contempt)