LINGUIST 101: Allomorphs, Distinctive Features,

and Minimal Pairs

Rajesh Bhatt

October 4, 2023
Overview

I Knowledge: you know a great deal about the sounds and the
sound system of your language. We have already seen that
languages vary in what sounds they have.

I We also know what sounds are ‘distinctive’ in our language.

I We know how these sounds combine with other sounds.

A little more IPA
I Diphthongs: a sequence of two vowel sounds
eı face, pace
oU goat, boat
aı fight, flight
aU flout, bout, pout
Oı point, appoint, anoint

I Affricates: a combination of a stop and a fricative

tS check, choose
dZ jog, jot

I Sibilants: the hissing sounds

s, S, z, Z, tS, dZ
IPA Transcriptions

The correct IPA transcription for a word will depend upon the
pronunciation of the speaker. Since different people can pronounce
a word differently, the IPA transcriptions will also vary.

I mentioned Prof. Kevin Ryan’s website:

https://ling.meluhha.com/ipaify/
This is a very useful tool but it is important to note that its IPA
transcription is not the definitive one for a word. So if your own
speech suggests a different transcription, go with it!

My vowels:
i, ı, u, U, E, æ, aı, aU, Oı, @, 2: same as Mainstream American.
But no dipthong eı or oU – just fes, bot
6 instead of A – hot is [h6t] (rounded) for me, not [hAt]
English Plurals: an example of a Phonological Rule

A B C D

cab cap bus child

cad cat bush ox
bag back buzz mouse
love cuff garage criterion
lathe faith match sheep
English Plurals: an example of a Phonological Rule

A B C D

cabs caps buses children

cads cats bushes oxen
bags backs buzzes mice
loves cuffs garages criteria
lathes faiths matches sheep

But we are interested in the actual pronunciation and not the

orthography!

The -s in cab is not pronounced the same as the -s in caps.

English Plurals: an example of a Phonological Rule

z s ız irregular

kh æbz kh æps b2sız tSıëdôn

kh ædz kh æts bUSız PAksn"
bægz bæks b2zız maıs "
l2vz k2fs g@ôAZız kôaıth ıôi@
leıDz feıTs mætSiz Sip
English Plurals: an example of a Phonological Rule

I z
after
kh æb, kh æd, bæg, l2v, leıDz

I s
after
kh æp, kh æt, bæk, k2f, feıT

I ız
after
b2s, bUS, b2z, g@ôAZ, mætS
English Plurals: an example of a Phonological Rule

I z
after
b, d, g, v, D, m, n, N, l, r, a, Oı

I s
after
p, t, k, f, T

I ız
after
s, S, z, Z, tS, dZ
English Plurals: an example of a Phonological Rule

I ız
after sibilants:
s, S, z, Z, tS, dZ

I s
after voiceless nonsibilants:
p, t, k, f, T

I z
after voiced nonsibilants:
b, d, g, v, D, m, n, N, l, r, a, Oı

(Note: z is a voiced sibilant.)

English Plurals: an example of a Phonological Rule
We know this rule!
English Plural Morphology: an example of Allomorphy
We have the intuition that there is a sense in which z, s and ız are
the same thing – the realization of Plural Marking.

Allomorph: is a variant phonological form of an object

same object, same meaning, different form

Allomorphs of the English plural:

I ız
after sibilants
I s
after voiceless nonsibilants
I z
after voiced nonsibilants

Complementary Distribution: because s, z and ız are the

*same* thing, they cannot co-occur – hence cat-s-ız is no good!
English Past Tense Morphology: an example of Allomorphy

I Set A:
gloat [gloUt], gloated [gloURıd]
raid [ôeıd], raided [ôeıRıd]

I Set B:
grab [gôæb], grabbed [gôæbd]
faze [feız], fazed [feızd]
roam [ôoUm], roamed [ôoUmd]

I Set C:
reap [ôip], reaped [ôipt]
poke [ph oUk], poked [ph oUkt]
kiss [kh ıs], kissed [kh ıst]
patch [ph ætS], patched [ph ætSt]
English Past Tense Morphology: an example of Allomorphy
I Set A: ıd
after: alveolar stops (i.e. t/d)
gloat [gloUt], gloated [gloURıd], raid [ôeıd], raided [ôeıRıd]

I Set B: d
after: things are that are voiced (b, g, z, m etc.)
grab [gôæb], grabbed [gôæbd]; faze [feız], fazed [feızd];
roam [ôoUm], roamed [ôoUmd]

I Set C: t
after: other things that are unvoiced
reap [ôip], reaped [ôipt]; poke [ph oUk], poked [ph oUkt]
kiss [kh ıs], kissed [kh ıst]; patch [ph ætS], patched [ph ætSt]

Note: d is a voiced alveolar stop.

English Past Tense Morphology: an example of Allomorphy

Allomorphs of the English past tense:

I Set A: ıd
after: alveolar stops (i.e. t/d)

I Set B: d
after: things are that are voiced (b, g, z, m etc.)

I Set C: t
after: other things that are unvoiced

Complementary Distribution: you can’t have the same thing

twice - so gôæb-d-ıd is no good!
Two More English Allomorphs?

I ız
after sibilants
possessive: the judge’s [dZ2dZız] cat
Third person: He wishes [wıSız] you well
I s
after voiceless nonsibilants
possessive: the cat’s [kh æts] tail
Third person: He bats [bæts] well
I z
after voiced nonsibilants
possessive: the dog’s [dAgz] tail
Third person: He bids [bıdz] you farewell

Same form as Plural! But different meaning

Allomorphic Aspiration in English
Aspiration: strong burst of air that follows certain consonants.
Indicated by a superscript h.

Voiceless stops (p, t, k) in English are aspirated or not depending

upon whether they are initial or not:
I in initial position: aspirated
pill [ph ıë], par [ph Aô], till [th ıë], tar [th Aô]
kill [kh ıë], car [kh Aô]

I not in initial position: no aspiration

spill [spıë], spar [spAô], still [stıë], star [stAô]
skill [skıë], scar [skAô]
But aspiration in English is completely predictable from the
position of the voiceless stop.
Allomorphic Aspiration in English

Two English words cannot differ in meaning if they only thing they
differ on is aspiration because aspiration is completely predictable.
I Not English:
[pıë], [tıë], [kıë] [pAô], [tAô], [kAô]

I Not English:
[sph ıë], [sth ıë], [skh ıë], [sph Aô], [sth Aô], [skh Aô]

So we don’t have pairs like ([ph ıë], [pıë]) or ([spıë], [sph ıë]) where
each part of the pair is a distinct word of English.

In other words, aspiration is not a distinctive feature of English.

Distinctive Features and Minimal Pairs

In contrast to aspiration, voicing is distinctive in English:

tip versus dip

bit versus bid

A minimal pair is two words with different meanings that are

identical except for one sound segment that occurs in the same
place in each word.

A minimal pair will be separated by at least one distinctive feature.

Distinctive Features and Minimal Pairs
I Difference in only one location:
Minimal pair: (cat [kh æt], bat [bæt])
Not Minimal pair: (cat [kh æt], bad [bæd])
(differences in two locations!)

I Both must be words of the language:

Minimal pair: (map [mæp], cap [kh æp])
Not Minimal pair: (pin [ph ın], ??? [pın])

I Pronunciation, not spelling!

Not Minimal Pair: (put [ph Ut], but [b2t])

Minimal Pair: (mole [moUë], knoll [noUë])

Distinctive Features and Minimal Pairs

We cannot determine that something forms a minimal pair just by

looking at the IPA. We need to check whether both members of
the pair are actual words of the language.

(pin [ph ın], ??? [pın]) is not a minimal pair in English because [pın]
is not a word of English.

Aspiration is not distinctive in English. But it is in Hindi-Urdu.

Minimal pairs based on Aspiration in Hindi-Urdu

[p2l] ‘moment’ vs. [ph 2l] ‘fruit’
[p2úna] ‘Patna (a city)’ vs. [ph 2úna] ‘to tear’
[tali] ‘clap’ vs. [th ali] ‘plate’
[ka] ‘of’ vs. [kh a] ‘eat’ (also: [bu] ‘smell’/[bh u] ‘earth’)
Distinctive Features and Minimal Pairs

In Hindi-Urdu, voicing, retroflex and aspiration are all distinctive

leading to an 8-way distinction that you can visualize as a cube:

I [t]: [-voice, -retroflex, -aspiration]: [tali] ‘clap’

I [th ]: [-voice, -retroflex, +aspiration]: [th ali] ‘plate’
I [ú]: [-voice, +retroflex, -aspiration]: [úal] ‘to delay’
I [úh ]: [-voice, +retroflex, -aspiration]: [úh an] ‘to resolve’
I [d]: [+voice, -retroflex, -aspiration]: [dal] ‘lentils’
I [dh ]: [+voice, -retroflex, +aspiration]: [dh aga] ‘thread’
I [ã]: [+voice, +retroflex, -aspiration]: [ãal] ‘to insert’
I [ãh ]: [+voice, +retroflex, +aspiration]: [ãh al] ‘shield, to
mould’
Distinctive Features and Minimal Pairs
We have seen that Aspiration is distinctive in Hindi-Urdu but not
in English. Tone - the using of pitch variation to convey meaning
differences - is another feature that is distinctive in some languages
(e.g. Chinese, Thai, Edo etc.) but not others.
I mā ‘mother’
I má ‘hemp’
I mǎ ‘horse’
I mà ‘scold’ (Mandarin)

So (mā, mǎ) is a minimal pair in Mandarin but not in English or

Hindi-Urdu.

Speakers of non-tone languages have a hard time detecting and

reproducing the differences between these distinct words of
Mandarin.
Distinctive Features and Minimal Pairs

l and ô differ in that the former is a lateral approximant while the

latter is a plain approximant.

This distinction is distinctive in English:

(lip [lıp], rip [ôıp]) is a minimal pair in English

But not in Japanese where there are no pairs of words that differ
only on the [l/r] distinction. So (lip [lıp], rip [ôıp]) is not a minimal
pair in Japanese.

Like the case of tone for speakers of non-tone languages, the [l/r]
distinction is difficult in production and perception for monolingual
speakers of Japanese.
Syllable Structure

Words are composed of one or more syllables. A syllable is a unit

composed of one or more sounds organized as shown below.

Every syllable has a nucleus, which is usually a vowel (but which

may be a syllabic liquid or nasal).

The nucleus may be preceded and/or followed by one or more

phonemes called the syllable onset and coda.
Syllable Structure

Children are aware of syllable structure - they are aware that

certain words rhyme. In rhyming words, the nucleus and the coda
of the final syllable of both words are the same:

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat [bæt]!

How I wonder what you’re at [Pæt]!
Up above the world you fly [flaı],
Like a teatray in the sky [skaı].

(parody by Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland)

Therefore the nucleus + coda are together called rime.

Syllable Structure

Context Free Rules for Syllable Structure:

this week’s homework :-)

Both the onset and coda can go missing. But there must be a
nucleus!
Syllable Structure

Some examples:
I cat
[[Onset kh ] [Rime [Nucleus æ] [Coda t]]]
I glue
[[Onset gl] [Rime [Nucleus u] ]]
I it
[[Rime [Nucleus ı] [Coda t]]]
I colon
[[Onset kh ] [Rime [Nucleus oU] ]] [[Onset l] [Rime [Nucleus n] ]]
"
I cycle
[[Onset s] [Rime [Nucleus aı] ]] [[Onset k] [Rime [Nucleus ë] ]]
"
I twelfths
[[Onset tw] [Rime [Nucleus E] [Coda ëfTs]]]
Restrictions on Syllable Structure

Languages vary in what kinds of syllables they permit.

English onsets can maximally have three consonants:

{s,S} + {p, t, k} + {l,r,w}

English codas can be a bit longer:

maybe 5, angsts [æNksts]

definitely 4, sixths [sıksTs], twelfths [twEëfTs]

Restrictions on Syllable Structure

Polish consonant clusters can get really complex.

I Szcze˛ ście ‘happiness’

I Pszczyna (name of a town)
I Naste˛ pstw ‘consequence’
I Źdźblo ‘grass-stalk’
I Szymankowszczyzna (village name)
Restrictions on Syllable Structure

Polish consonant clusters can get really complex.

I Szcze˛ ście ‘happiness’

I Pszczyna (name of a town)
I Naste˛ pstw ‘consequence’
I Źdźblo ‘grass-stalk’
I Szymankowszczyzna (village name)

Some of the complexity is illusory – an artifact of the writing

system. Polish uses a number of digraphs i.e. two letters that
map to a single sound.

sz = S, cz = tS, rz = Z
So let’s look at the IPA.
Restrictions on Syllable Structure
Polish consonant clusters can get really complex.

I Szcze˛ ście ‘happiness’

IPA: [StSẼwCtCE]

I Pszczyna (name of a town)

IPA: [pStS1na]

I Naste˛ pstw ‘consequence’

IPA: [nastEmpstf]

I Źdźblo ‘grass-stalk’
IPA: [ýdýbwO]

I Szymankowszczyzna (village name)

IPA: [S1mankOvStS1zna]
Restrictions on Syllable Structure

Languages vary in the shapes of their syllables.

Two kinds of syllables:

I Open: there is no coda e.g. ma [ma]
I Closed: there is a coda e.g. meet [mit]

All languages allow open syllables.

Some languages only allow open syllables: Hawaiian

Other languages impose strong restrictions on the coda: in

Mandarin, only nasals [n, N] and [ô] can appear in a coda.
Applying Phonological Rules

We start with the words:

A B C D

cab cap bus child

cad cat bush ox
bag back buzz mouse
love cuff garage criterion
lathe faith match sheep
Applying Phonological Rules

Convert to IPA and add the plural marker [z].

A B C

kh æb kh æp b2s
kh æd kh æt bUS
bæg bæk b2z
l2v k2f g@ôAZ
leıD feıT mætS
Applying Phonological Rules

English does not like sibilant-sibilant sequences but by adding [z],

we have just created such undesirable sequences in Column C. We
need to do something about this. What English does is break up
such sequences by adding ı between the sibilants.

A B C

kh æbz kh æpz b2sz

kh ædz kh ætz bUSz
bægz bækz b2zz
l2vz k2fz g@ôAZz
leıDz feıTz mætSz
Applying Phonological Rules

Adding ı between the sibilants in Column C fixes the

sibilant-sibilant problem.

English also does not like to create mismatches in voicing, which

is what we have done by adding [z] to the words in Column B! To
fix this, English devoices the [z] i.e. turns it into an [s].

A B C

kh æbz kh æpz b2sız

kh ædz kh ætz bUSız
bægz bækz b2zız
l2vz k2fz g@ôAZız
leıDz feıTz mætSız
Applying Phonological Rules

And we are done!

A B C

kh æbz kh æps b2sız

kh ædz kh æts bUSız
bægz bæks b2zız
l2vz k2fs g@ôAZız
leıDz feıTs mætSız
Applying Phonological Rules

So we know the following phonological rules:

1. English does not like sibilant-sibilant sequences. It can fix this

problem by inserting an ı between the two sibilants.

2. English does not like to create mismatches in voicing. It can

fix this problem by changing the voicing of the added element.

We also know that Rule 1 needs to be applied before Rule 2 (as we

did before). To see this let’s apply Rule 2 before Rule 1!
Applying Phonological Rules

Apply Rule 2, which wants to avoid creating mismatches in voicing

and does so by devoicing z to s.

All of Column B has this problem, but so do some of the words in

Column C!

A B C

kh æbz kh æpz b2sz

kh ædz kh ætz bUSz
bægz bækz b2zz
l2vz k2fz g@ôAZz
leıDz feıTz mætSz
Applying Phonological Rules

Now apply Rule 1, which gets rid of adjacent sibilants by inserting

ı between them. Rule 1 applies to all of Column C.

A B C

kh æbz kh æps b2ss

kh ædz kh æts bUSs
bægz bæks b2zz
l2vz k2fs g@ôAZz
leıDz feıTs mætSs
Applying Phonological Rules

And we are done. But we are not where we want to be – the

following forms are wrong: b2sıs, bUSıs, mætSıs

A B C

kh æbz kh æps b2sıs

kh ædz kh æts bUSıs
bægz bæks b2zız
l2vz k2fs g@ôAZız
leıDz feıTs mætSıs

We know phonological rules and we know how they are

interact.