PHONOLOGY:

The Sound Patterns of Language

Phoneme, pitch, stress,

Minimal Pairs, , Aspirated intonation
Allophone and juncture.

Phonetics: Nico Harared, M.A. 2019

 PHONEMES
 Phonetics:
 A study of the speech sounds in any human language.
 In phonetics, we analyze the sound stream into segments in
various ways.

 Phonology:
 A study of the speech sounds as they occur in a particular
language.
 In phonology, we study the speech sounds as a system: how they
contrast with one another and the ways they can combine with
one another in the language.

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 PHONEMES
Phonemics:
 A way of looking at the phonology of a language
(feature analysis)
 In phonemics analysis, we must find out what the
sounds are classified
1. To transcribe as accurately as possible the native speaker’s
utterances in phonetic symbols.
2. To examine what has been transcribed to find a set of
utterances that are different in meaning and differ from each other
in only one respect phonetically.

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 PHONEMES
Phonemes:
 The phonological units of language.
 The smallest unit of sounds which differentiates word meaning.
 A phoneme is always a unit of sound in a particular language.
 A phoneme is not one specific sound but it is like the common
denominators of all realizations of a specific sound.

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 PHONEMES

 Example:
We can say English has a /p/ phoneme and
Malay also has a /p/ phoneme but the two
phonemes may be realized differently in the
two languages.

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 MINIMAL PAIRS

Minimal Pairs:

One method of establishing the phonemes of a

language is by means of minimal pairs.

Pair of words which demonstrate a phonemic

contrast.

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 MINIMAL PAIRS
One method of
establishing the
phonemes of a language
is by means of minimal
pairs.

Pair of words which

demonstrate a phonemic
contrast.
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 MINIMAL PAIRS
Example: Example:
- sue [su] - zoo [zu] => - bat [bæt] - mat [mæt] =>
- the difference is due to the
- the difference is due to the
voicelessness of the [s] in
nasality between [b] and [m].
contrast to the voicing of the
[z]. Phoneme [b] is oral or (-nasal)
Therefore, voicing (+/-voiced) and [m] is nasal (+nasal).
is a distinctive feature of English Therefore, nasality (+/-nasal) is a
consonants.
distinctive feature of English
consonants.
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 Vowel S ounds
desk disk

sit seat so saw

/ɪ/ and /i:/ /əʊ/ and /ɔ:/

desk disk not note

/e/ and /ɪ/ /ɒ/ and /əʊ/

wet wait bad bed

/e/ and /eɪ/ /æ/ and /e/

bat but fast first

/æ/ and /ʌ/ /ɑ:/ and /ɜ:/
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 Consonant Sounds
berry very
/ b/ and / v/
page pays
buy pie
/ b/ and / p/
/ ʤ/ and / z/

thin thing
/ n/ and / ŋ/
bad badge
/ d/ and / ʤ/
alive arrive
/ l/ and / r/

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Consonant Sounds

catch cat
/ ʧ/ and / t/

sea she
/ s/ and / ʃ/

fan van
/ f/ and / v/

fat hat
/ f/ and / h/
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M inimal Pairs initial
try three
/ t/ and / θ/
sink links
/ s/ and / l/
with path
/ ð/ and / th/

free three
/ f/ and / θ/
sink think
/ s/ and / θ/
with whizz
/ ð/ and / z/
Minimal Pairs initial
Write : Right

Meet : neat
/m/  /n/

Contrastive Sounds
Minimal Pairs initial
Write : Right

Light : knight
Minimal Pairs initial

/bolt/ and ball

fast past
Minimal Pairs initial

cow and chow

came game
Minimal Pairs Initial

res t and leas t

two do
Minimal Pairs Medial
/p/ and /f/
• Copy X Coffe

/s / and /z/
• F ussy X F uzzy

/k/ and /g/

• Mucky X Muggy
Minimal Pairs Final
/k/ and /g/
• back bag

/m/ and /n/

• am an

/t/ and /d/

• hat had
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 ALLOPHONES
 Allophones:
 A predictable phonetic variant of a phoneme.
 Variants of a phoneme, and are in complementary distribution
(i.e., where one variant occurs, the others do not).

• Example:
- Aspirated  [ph] in [pat]
• un-aspirated  [p] in [tap].
- The plosive or stops
• /p/, /t/, and /k/ are aspirated in initial position
• and un-aspirated in other positions.

• Ex: Allo /t/ [th] Teacher

• [t] Star
ASPIRATED ?

• Scale

• Kite
 Aspirated

• Kite

• Sky

Un-aspirated

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 Aspirated
• Keep
• Can
• Cool

• Rap [rǽp]
• Rat [rǽt]
• Rack [rǽk]
Un-aspirated

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 Aspirated

Pace [phes]
Tone [thon]
Can [khǽn]

Space
Stone
Un-aspirated
Scan
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PROSODIC/SUPRASEGMENTAL
PHONEMES

 The segmental phonemes:

 vowels and consonants segments.

 The prosodic/suprasegmental phonemes:

 pitch, stress, intonation and juncture.
•

• *They are called “suprasegmental” because they can occur

only with the segmental phonemes, they are imposed on the
segmental phonemes.
 A) PITCH:

 - The normal rise and fall of the voice in speech.

• - The pitch produced depends upon how fast the vocal
cords vibrate; the faster they vibrate, the higher the pitch.
•

• Example: In English, the word “cat” said in both high or low

pitch, the word still mean “cat”.
• Another case, in Nigeria the word
• “ba” means “to be sour” (high pitch);
• and “to count” (low pitch).
 B) STRESS:
• - The degree of force or loudness with which speaker pronounces a sound or
a syllable.
- There are two (2) kinds of stress: fixed stress and variable stress.
1. Fixed stress => words of more than one syllablee
2. Fixed stress has two degrees => prominent stress and weak stress (or no
stress).
• Example: (LKB p. 33-34)
• The word “person” said in stress position in the beginning could
• have different meaning as it can be in the final position.
Variable stress => monosyllabic words.
• Example: (LKB p. 34)
• In a sentence: Q: “How many times?” A: Four times. The word
• “times” in question is stressed but in the answer it is not.
 C) INTONATION:
• - The pitch of the voice with which a voiced sound is pronounced.
• - There are three (3) kinds of intonation:
• 1. Rising intonation => when the pitch of the voice rises.
• Example:
• “She is a singer?”  interrogative
• 2. Falling intonation => when the pitch of the voice falls.
• Example:
• “She is a singer”.  declarative
• 3. Level intonation => when the pitch of the voice remains on one
note for an appreciable time.
• Example:
• “She is a singer”.  informative
• “She got a dog”
 QUESTIONS
• RISING INTONATION • FALLING INTONATION

• Yes/ No Question • WH- Question

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 QUESTIONS
• Rick has two (brother ↘️) : • Rick has two (brother ↗️) :
ngasih tau Nanya

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are you angry at me? • Did you get there late?

Why are you angry at me? • Why did you get there late?

• Have you been to NY

Is it hot in there?
• How many times have you been to NY
Why is it so hot in there?
• Did it start?

• What time did it start?

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INTONATION

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INTONATION

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 D) JUNCTURE:
• - The type of connection
or pause we get between
syllables or words.
• - There are two (2) kinds
of juncture:
• 1. Close juncture => 2. Open juncture =>
syllables are connected syllables are connected
together very closely together very loosely
without pause. with pause.
• Example: (LKB p. 36) • Example: (LKB p. 36)
“nitrate”  [naitreit] • - “night rate”  [nait +
reit]
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• A name / an aim • *My teacher said / the
doctor is pregnant.
(Who is pregnant?)
• That stuff / thats (Answer: The doctor)
though *My teacher / said the
doctor / is pregnant.
(Who is pregnant?)
(Answer : My Teacher)

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• -The principal said / the
teacher is incompetent.
(Who is in competent?)
(Ans. The teacher)
-The principal / said the
teacher / is
incompetent.
(Who is in competent?)
( Ans. The principal)
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• *My teacher said / the
doctor is pregnant.
(Who is pregnant?)
(Answer: The doctor)
*My teacher / said the
doctor / is pregnant.
(Who is pregnant?)
(Answer : My Teacher)
• Close Juncture; • Open Juncture;

A NAME -- AN AIM
TRAIN NIGHT
NIGHT RATE -- NITRATE

BLAME BRIGHT SHORE TRAIN -- SHORT RAIN

new Deal -- nude eel

MERRY BLOOM
four met -- form ate

it swings -- its wings

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• A name / an aim
• Car track / Cart rack
• That stuff / thats
though
• Peace Talks" vs. "Pea
stalks“
• it's snail / it's nail
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• it swings / its wings
a nation / an asian
• grey day/grade A
• silver ring / silvering
• Keep sticking /
keeps ticking
• keeps leaping / keep
sleeping
• ke + meja (ia melempar • Belibis = membeli bis
uang ke meja itu) Belibis = binatang
• kemeja (pakaian
• guru / baru datang #
• Beruang → memiliki # guru baru / datang #
uang
Beruang → nama
binatang

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THANK YOU
Why we must learn phonetics?

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