Rules of lexical phonology (word formation):

• Typically leader + less = leaderless; pirate + ing = pirating (A+B=AB)

But: divine + ity = divinity - /aɪ/  /ɪ/ (A+B  AB)

• Compensate-> compensation (e turns into schwa) but condense -> condensation (e stays e)

• Non-homophonous pairs of words, with slight differences in pronunciation:

ruler (for measuring) vs. ruler (person).

1. A) Allophones are different realizations of a given phoneme. They are phonetically similar and
contextually determined.
For example,  kh and  k=  in car khɑ: and scar sk= ɑ: are allophones of the phoneme /k/.
In tick [tʰɪk] and bottle [ˈbɒʔl] [tʰ] and glottal stop [ʔ] are allophones of phoneme /t/.
In milk [ł], and play [l0] (partially devoiced after a voiceless stop), these are allophones of /l/.

B) Minimal pairs are pairs of words that differ in only one phoneme. They are used to show that
two phones are phonemes, according to the definition of phonemes as minimal units of sound capable
of contrasting word meaning. Ex. Sin and sing differ in [ŋ] and [n]. since this difference alters the
meaning of the words, these are phonemes. phonemes are language specific (What are two phonemes
in one lang can be two allophones of one phoneme in another language), so minimal pairs are too.
(While /ŋ/ is a phoneme in English, it is only an allophone in Croatian.) Ex. of a minimal pair in Croatian
language is ‘sit’ and ‘kit’. (č and ć are phonemes in croatian, and allophones of /tʃ/ in english)

+ Phonemes can be defined as 1. a family of sounds; sets of phonetically similar, contextually

determined varieties (allophones), 2. Units of phonological contrast; minimal units of sound capable of
contrasting word meaning (minimal pairs are here used to determine if phones are phonemes by seeing
if they change meaning of words) 3. Bundles of distinctive features/DFs (physical properties which give
phonological identity to segments, ex. un/voiced). – phoneme is here no longer the ultimate unit of
phonological analysis; features are.

2. Allophones of a phoneme are in complementary distribution, meaning one allophone occurs

where the others do not.
(However, there are cases of free variation, e.g. Croatian /r/ - [r] and [ɾ]. They both occur in the
same contexts, and are allophones of /r/. )
However, there are exceptions, where phonemes can also be in complementary distribution due
to historical coincidence. For example, English /h/ and /ŋ/ occur in mutually exclusive contexts
(i.e. they are in complementary distribution) (->/h/ never occurs in Rhyme, /ŋ/ only occurs in
Rhyme, after lax vowels, ex.sing) and yet they aren't allophones, since they have no physical
similarity -they aren’t phonetically similar.

+ the notion of binarism emerged in structuralism. This was the beginning of df theory. The status of
binary oppositions is controversial because 1) some binary oppositions apply only to certain groups of
segments, 2) some pronunciation phenomena are better explained by non-binary features, such as unary
features, ex. labiality (no negative specification) and gradual features, ex. stress.