LESSON 5: PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Glossary

acoustic thuộc thính âm

actual realization sự hiện thực
air pressure áp lực hơi
allophone biến thái âm vị, âm tố
anterior (âm) phía trước
articulatory characteristics đặc tính cấu âm
aspirated (âm) bật hơi
complementary distribution sự phân bố bổ sung
concret cụ thể
consonantal thuộc phụ âm
constricted glottis thanh môn co khít
constriction sự co khít
continuants âm liên tục, liên âm
contrastive đối chiếu
contrastive distribution sự phân bố đối chiếu
coronal (âm) vành lưỡi
demonstrate biểu thị
designate định rõ
distinctive features nét khu biệt
distinguish phân biệt
distribution sự phân bố
dorsal features đặc điểm âm lưng lưỡi
environment môi trường
evidence bằng chứng
fairly randomly distributed được phân bố một cách khá ngẫu nhiên
free variation biến thái tự do
glide (âm) lướt, trượt
glottal configuration sự bố trí/sắp xếp âm hầu
identical giống nhau, giống y hệt
independent độc lập
infinite vô hạn
laryngeal features đặc điểm về âm thanh hầu
liquid (âm) lỏng
minimal pair cặp tối thiểu
nasal (âm) mũi
notation ký hiệu
obstruent (phụ âm) cản
organizable có thể tổ chức, sắp xếp được
perceive cảm nhận
phone âm
phoneme âm vị
phonemic (or broad) phiên âm (về mặt) âm vị (rộng)
transcription phiên âm (về mặt) ngữ âm (hẹp)
phonetic (or narrow) biến thể ngữ âm
transcription
phân tích (về mặt) âm vị học
phonetic variants
có thể đoán trước được
phonological analysis
đại diện cho, tiêu biểu cho
predictable
đại diện, tiêu biểu
purely psychological entity
do quy luật chi phối
represent
nguyên âm giảm
rule-governed
âm đoạn
schwa
sự liên tiếp
segment
đơn giản hoá
sequence
ngoặc sổ
simplified
âm vang
slash brackets
thanh môn giãn
sonorant
ngoặc vuông
spread glottis
nguyên âm nhấn, nguyên âm có trọng âm
square brackets
lanh lảnh (âm thanh)
stressed vowel
tính có thể thay thế được
strident
 substitutability sự thay thế
substitution âm lỏng có tính âm tiết
syllabic liquid chuổi âm liên tục (không bị đứt đoạn)
unbroken stream of phonetic một cách hoàn toàn
speech thuộc âm thanh
utterly nguyên âm
vocalic
vowel

Phone/Phoneme/Allophone

A great deal of evidence indicates that humans perceive speech sounds in

a way that is vastly simplified from how they actually sound. Specifically, an
unbroken stream of phonetic speech is perceived as a sequence of abstract
psychological units called phonemes. The science of phonology, or the study of
how speech sounds are perceived by and organized in the brain, usually assumes
that phonemes exist.

Some sounds that are phonetically different nevertheless sound the same
to English speakers, e.g. [t] and [th], [l] and [L], [p] and [ph]. Similar groups of
sounds can be found for any human language. Such a group of phones that
sound alike to a speaker of a language represent a phoneme: a purely
psychological entity that a speaker considers to be a single sound, even though it
may have various phonetic shapes, or allophones.

Definitions
a. phone: a physical language sound, measurable by acoustic instruments.
b. phoneme: a language sound as it is perceived by a speaker.
c. allophone: a phone in complementary distribution with other allophones that
are related to the same phoneme.

Allophones have three important characteristics:

(i) they are perceived as the same sound,
(ii) they are in complementary distribution, and
(iii) they are usually phonetically similar.

We distinguish phones from phonemes in our notation by writing them in

square brackets and slash brackets, respectively: e.g. [t] and [th] are allophones
of the English phoneme /t/, [l] and [L] are allophones of English /l/, and [p] and
[ph] are allophones of English /p/. We must therefore distinguish at least two
ways of transcribing speech.

A phonemic (or broad) transcription shows the sequence of phonemes

that a native speaker perceives in the speech stream, while a phonetic (or
narrow) transcription shows (in greater or lesser detail) the actual phones that
occur in the speech stream.

Phonemic and phonetic transcriptions of some /t/ words

Phonemic Phonetic
a. table /teIbl/ [theIbL]
b. batter /b&t@/ [b&@]
c. stop /stOp/ [stOp]

Phoneme vs. Phones vs. Allophones

Phonemes Phones Allophones

Abstract sounds stored in Concrete phonetic The different phones
our memory segments that are the
Mental representation of the Actual realization of realizations of one
sounds the phonemes phoneme
Finite number of phonemes Infinite number of Predictable

Organizable (labial, phones Phonetic variants of

interdental, alveolar.. etc.) Hard to organize a phoneme

Contrastive phonological Non-contrastive Rule-governed

segments, distinctive You never hear same No difference in
sounds phone twice. meaning, no
The substitution of one for minimal pairs
Designated in
the other makes a brackets [ ] Designated in
different word. brackets [ ]
Phonemes vary from
language to language.
Designated in slashes / /
Distribution

Complementary distribution

Complementary distribution is commonly applied to phonology, where

similar phones in complementary distribution are usually allophones of the same
phoneme. For instance, in English, [p] and [ph] are allophones of the phoneme
/p/ because they occur in complementary distribution. [ph] always occurs when it
is the syllable onset and followed by a stressed vowel (as in the word pin). [p]
occurs in all other situations (as in the word spin).
Complementary distribution is an indication that the sounds in question
are allophones of the same phoneme.

There are cases where elements are in complementary distribution, but are
not considered allophones. For example in English [h] and [N] (engma, written
as "ng" in English) are in complementary distribution, since [h] only occurs at
the beginning of a syllable and [N] only at the end. But because they have so
little in common they are still considered separate phonemes.

Contrastive distribution

Contrastive distribution means that the sounds are distributed in the data
in a way that distinguishes one word from another. For example the sounds /p/
and /k/ are in contrastive distribution in English in such words as skill and spill.
Contrastive distribution is an indication that the two sounds in question
are different phonemes.

Free Variation

The substitutability of one sound for another in a given environment, with

no change in the word’s meaning. For example, the word economics may be
pronounced with /I/ or /e/ in the first syllable; tomato is pronounced differently
in British and American English; or either has two pronunciations which are
fairly randomly distributed.

Minimal pair

In establishing the set of phonemes of a language, it is usual to

demonstrate the independent, contrastive nature of a phoneme by citing pairs of

words which differ in one sound only and have different meanings. Thus in

English 'fairy' /'fE@RI/ and 'fairly' /'fE@lI/ make a minimal pair and prove that /R/

and /l/ are separate, contrasting phonemes.

Sometimes an exact minimal pair contrasting two phonemes does not

exist in a language. Linguists then look for near minimal pairs.

In a near minimal pair only the sounds surrounding the phonemes are
identical. Could you come up with a minimal pair for /S, Z/?

A near minimal pair for these phonemes is mission, vision: /”mIS@n/

/”vIZ@n/

Distinctive Features

In any language it seems that the sounds used will only differ from each
other in a small number of ways. If for example a language had 40 phonemes,
then in theory each of those 40 could be utterly different from the other 39.
However, in practice there will usually be just a small set of important
differences: some of the sounds will be vowels and some consonants; some of
the consonants will be plosives and affricates, and the rest will be continuants;
some of the continuants will be nasal and some not, and so on. These differences
are identified by phonologists, and are known as distinctive features. There is
disagreement about how to define the features (e.g. whether they should be
labelled according to articulatory characteristics or acoustic ones), and about
how many features are needed in order to be able to classify the sounds of all the
languages in the world.

Major class features

These features represent the classes: consonant, obstruent, nasal, liquid,

glide, and vowel.

[± consonantal]
Sounds which are [+ consonantal] are those which have some kind of
constriction along the center of the vocal tract. This constriction must be at least
as narrow as that required for a fricative. Examples: [p] [b] [s] [z] [tS] [Z]

[± sonorant]
Sounds which are [+sonorant] are those which are produced with a
constriction in the vocal tract that allows the air pressure both behind and in
front of the constriction to be relatively equal. This feature generally divides the
sound system into sonorants ([+sonorant] sounds), which are nasals,
approximants, glides, and vowels, and obstruents ([-sonorant] sounds), which
are oral stops, fricatives, and affricates.

[± vocalic]
Vowels and syllabic liquids.

Use of major class features

Obstruents Vowels Glides Liquids Nasals
[consonantal] + - - + +
[vocalic] - + - - -
[sonorant] - + + + +
Examples p b z T i & j w l r m n

Laryngeal features

These features represent laryngeal states

[± voice]
Sounds which are [+voice] are those which are produced with vibration of the
vocal folds.

[± spread glottis]
Sounds which are [+spread glottis] are those produced with a glottal
configuration that produces audible glottal friction. For example, the aspirated
stops in English are [+spread glottis]

[± constricted glottis]
Sounds which are [+constricted glottis] are those which are produced with the
vocal folds drawn together and tense.

Place features

These features represent place of articulation.

[± labial]
Any sound articulated with one or both lips is [+ labial. Examples [p] [b] [f]
[v] [w].

[± round]
Sounds that are [+ round] are made by protruding the lips. Examples [w]
[± coronal]
Any sound articulated with the tongue tip or blade raised is [+ coronal].
Examples [t] [d] [T] [D] [s] [z] [tS] [dZ] [S] [Z] [n] [l] [R]

[± anterior]
Any sound articulated in front of the alveopalatal region is considered to be [+
anterior]. Examples: [p] [b] [t] [d] [s] [z] [T] [D]

[± strident]
The 'noisy' fricatives and affricates only. Examples: [s] [z] [S] [Z] [tS]
[dZ]
Dorsal features

These features represent the placement of the body of the tongue

[± high]
Sounds produced with the tongue body raised are considered [+ high] (both
vowels and consonants). Examples: [i:] [u:] [k] [g]

[± low]
Vowels made with the tongue body distinctly lowered from a central position in
the oral cavity are [+ low]. Examples: [&] [A:].

[± back]
Any sound articulated behind the palatal region in the oral cavity. Examples: [u:]
[O:] [k] [g].

[± tense]
Expresses the tense - lax distinctions among vowels.

[± reduced]
Only the schwa ([@]) is [+ reduced]

Manner features

These features represent manner of articulation.

[±continuant]
Sounds which are [+ continuant] are those which are produced without a central
blockage in the vocal tract. For example, fricatives have a central constriction,
but there is no complete blockage of the air, and they are therefore, [+
continuant].

[±nasal]
Sounds which are [+nasal] are produced with nasal airflow.

[±lateral]
Sounds which are [+lateral] are produced with airflow passing through one or
both sides of the tongue, which is in contact with the central part of the oral
cavity.