LECTURE 6

METHODS OF PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

OUTLINE:
1. Introduction
2. Distributional method
3. Semantic method
 1. INTRODUCTION
 The techniques used in analyzing any phenomenon are determined by the
division of the language into a phonological and phonetic level, and the
distinction between the speech sounds and phonemes.

 In the phonetic analysis SOUNDS are analysed on the basis of the organs
of speech used in their production or their physical characteristics.
Phonetics, whether articulatory or acoustic, deals with spontaneous
speech and its smallest segmental units – sounds or phones.

 To study the language units from the phonological or functional viewpoint

means to study the way they function → to find out how sounds are
grouped into functionally similar units. The final aim of the phonological
analysis is to identify THE PHONEMES and to find out the patterns of their
relationship.

 If the articulatory description concentrates on the difference and similarity

of producing sounds, in the phonological approach phoneme is the target
of investigation - how phonemes perform linguistic functions.
Different languages have a different number of
phonemes and different allophones
representing them. The social value of sounds of
the language as means of communication is
different in different languages:
Ex., palatalized and non-palatalized variations of
/l/ are perceived as the same phoneme in
English, whereas /л/ and / л’/ - are different in
Russian.

To determine the phonemic system of a

language some principles were set:
to establish the phonetic inventory (the
 2. DISTRIBUTIONAL METHOD
 The theory of contrasts / the method of binary opposition of linguistic
elements, represented in the method of minimal pairs / the
substitution method (when phonemes/sounds are opposed in the
identical or similar phonetic environment) was developed within 1940-
1950s by the proponents of the American descriptivist school.
This method forms the basis of the DISTRIBUTIONAL ANALYSIS . In the
process of classifying the sounds the scholars apply the criterion of
phonetic distribution. The term distribution means the positions in
which the various allophones/sounds occur in the phonetic
environment.
Thus, the distributional method is founded on phonetic oppositions of
similar sounds which are in the same distribution (phonetic context).
Phonemic opposability depends on the way the phonemes (sound
types) are distributed in speech sequence.
The phonemes of a language are determined only on their
distribution. The distributional method groups the sounds into
phonemes according to 2 LAWS of phonemic and allophonic
distribution:
 allophones of different phonemes occur in the same phonetic
context (pit-kit)
 allop-s of the same phoneme NEVER occur in the same phonetic
context (p(h)it-spit)

The laws are further developed into:

 If different sounds occur in the same phonetic context they are
allophones of different phonemes and their distribution is
contrastive (pike-bike-like-hike).
 If different sounds occur in different phonetic contexts they are the
allophones of the same phoneme and their distribution is
complementary. Lark-light – dark /l/ and clear /l/ are used only in
different environment.
 PROBLEMS OF THE DISTRIBUTIONAL METHOD:
Sometimes the distributional method is not enough to relate a
sound to a phoneme. Additional criteria are used:
1.Free alternation and free variants of the same phoneme.
o There are sounds, which belong to different phonemes, when
used regularly, but in some words may be used as variants of
one phoneme (калоши-галоши)
o or there are sounds which are used in the same phonetic
context (should belong to different phonemes) but the
meaning of the word remains the same (богатый-боγатый).
So, the sounds alternate freely with each other. Cases of free
alternation are explained in dialect and social linguistics.
 2. Sometimes the distributional criterion is ambiguous. In any language certain
sounds do not occur in certain positions. Ex., In English, the sound /h/ never
occurs finally while the sound /η/ never occurs initially. Thus, according to the
distributional method, these two sounds are the variants of the same phone
but actually they belong to different phonemes. So, the rigid distributional
method fails.
Such cases are explained in the method through the criterion of phonetic
similarity to decide whether the sounds are phonetically similar enough to be
allophones of the same phoneme. In this case acoustic and articulatory factors
are taken unto consideration and the method again shows its inconsistence.
3. The rigidness of the minimal pair opposition does not explain homonyms in
the language.
4. The distributional methods bases its final decision about the phonemic status
on the native speakers’ experience, but their opinion can be inconsistant.

 The method developers concentrated rather rather on the method itself. Its
weak points result from mixing linguistic and non-linguistic approaches and
from excluding the criteria of meaning and linguistic function from the analysis.
 3.THE SEMANTIC METHOD

 The Semantic method is based on the technique of the

distributional method, plus involves such linguistic factors as the
meaning of units and the identity of function. Thus, in classifying
sound into phonemes several criteria are: (1)distribution,
(2)phonetic similarity, (3)meaning and (4)identity of function.

The semantic method is the systematic (1)substitution of one

sound for another sound in order to see if it leads to the change
in the (2)meaning of words which in all other sounds are the
same (pin-bin,kin..) The change of meaning is stated by native
speakers. The requirement of (4)the identity of function
prevents grouping together incompatible sounds into the
phoneme on the basis of distribution, sound similarity or
meaning alone.
 To understand whether two sounds belong to the same phoneme, the
Semantic method uses the Commutation Test – finding minimal pairs of
words and their forms. The phonemes, changing the meaning of the
opposed words, are singled out and further analyzed according to their
distinctive features that make these two phonemes different. To
establish the phonemic structure of language it’s necessary to establish
the system of oppositions.

 Depending on how many features of the opposed phoneme differ

there are 3 kinds of oppositions:
1) Single oppositions-2 phonemes differ in only 1 distinctive feature
(pin-bin are both occlusive, labial; 1 difference: voiced - voiceless
2) Double opposition- 2 phonemes differ in 2 distinctive features
(pen-den are both occlusive; 2 differences: voiced-voiceless, labial-lingual
3) Triple opposition -2 phonemes differ in 3 distinctive features
(pen-then – 3 differences: voiced-voiceless, labial-lingual, occlusive-
constrictive)
 The features involved in differentiating meaning are
distinctive/relevant features
The features that don’t take part in differentiating the
meaning are non-distinctive or irrelevant which can be
of 2 kinds:
a) incidental or redundant depend on state, mood..: vowel
length, aspiration of voiceless conson
b) indispensable or concomitant belong to the system-like
tenseness of English long monophthongs

 The Commutation test is not without problems either. It is based on

the assumption that sounds in any sequence are replaceable discrete
units. But phonemes aren’t isolated unrelated phenomena in the
same environment, in reality they are modified by the context in
which they are used by the adjacent phonemes.