Lecture 2 Phonology 1 Phonology as a linguistic

Lecture 2. Phonology 1. Phonology as a linguistic branch of phonetics. Basic methods of phonological analysis. 2. Phonological systems. The hierarchy of discrete and non-discrete units. 3. From the history of phoneme theory. Schools of phonology. 4. Phoneme and its functions. 5. Word as a basis of phonemic analysis.

Phonology as a linguistic branch of phonetics • Phonology or functional phonetics studies sounds as units, which serve people for communicative purposes, the way they function in speech continuum. • Phonology discovers those segmental and prosodic features that have a differential value as well as establishes the system of phonemes and prosodemes.

• N. Trubetzkoy viewpoints on Phonology and Phonetics • Phonology – an independent linguistic science concerned with the social functions of different phonetic phenomena. • Phonetics - a biological science dealing only with the physiological aspect of speech sounds. • Thus, phonology was separated from phonetics.

Methods of phonological analysis • The distributional method is based on the phonological rule that different phonemes can freely occur in one and the same position, while allophones of one and the same phoneme occur in different positions and, therefore, cannot be phonologically opposed to each other. • Semantic method is used in establishing the set of phonemes of a language which is based on the phonological rule that a phoneme can distinguish words when opposed to another phoneme in identical phonetic context.

Minimal pair test and commutation test • Minimal pairs - the pairs of words, which differ in one sound only. • The procedure of finding minimal pairs consists in the application of the so-called commutation test, i. e. replacing of one speech sound by another in the same position in order to see whether that substitution will produce a minimal pair or not. • E. g. • Pen – ben • Ten – den • Ken – gen (not a member of minimal pair – no meaning). • Commutation test is part of a mere general method of distributional analysis.

Phonetics and Phonology • In the first of these areas, when we study the production of speech sounds we can observe what speakers do (articulatory observation) and we can try to feel what is going on inside our vocal tract (kinaesthetic observation). • The second area is where phonetics overlaps with phonology: usually in phonetics we are interested in sounds that are used in meaningful speech. … This is known as linguistic phonetics. • Thirdly, there is a need for using phonetic symbols that represent speech sounds; the International Phonetic Association has played a very important role in this.

The phonetic system of a language: the phonemic component • the system of segmental phonemes (vowels and consonants); • combinations of their systemic in character allophones of a phoneme, the occurrence of which in different positions in a word is called their distribution; • the methods of joining sounds together within words and at their junction.

Syllabic structure of words • syllable formation and syllable division (syllabification, syllabication); • differences in syllable formation involve differences in the capacity of speech sounds to form syllables, i. e. to be syllabic, e. g. English sonorants may be syllabic; • differences in syllable division involve differences in the position of the point of syllable division, or the syllabic boundary. In English, differences in syllable division may perform a distinctive function.

Accentual structure of words • the physical (acoustic) nature of word accent, which involves the use of the component of the sound matter of the language, to effect word accent in a definite language; • the position of the accent in disyllabic and polysyllabic words, which is very important especially in languages with the free word accent; • the degrees of word accent, or word stress.

The intonation structure of utterances • • pitch stress tempo pauses timbre rhythm The four components of the language phonetic system (phonemic, syllabic, accentual and intonational) constitute its pronunciation.

The hierarchy of discrete and non-discrete units • Phoneme, a discrete isolated unit constituting in speech other larger linguistic units is the minimum unit in phonology; • Syllable, made up of phonemes in certain arrangement; • Rhythmic group consisting of a sequence of syllables; • Intonation group, intonation pattern consisting of a sequence of rhythmic groups and unified by the intonation pattern it carries; • Utterance, consisting of a sequence of intonation groups; • Text. • The hierarchical relationship of phonological units may be represented in the following way: feature phoneme mora syllable rhythmic group (or foot, or phonetic word) intonation group intonation pattern utterance text. • The hierarchy from the mora downwards is also called the prosodic hierarchy.

The phoneme theory • Its founder - Prof. Ivan Olexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay (1845 -1929), an eminent scholar of Polish background from the Kazan linguistic school. • The morphological approach to the phoneme theory: the phonemes analysis according to their functions in morphemes; • the psychological or mentalistic approach: the phoneme as an ideal psychical or mental image or model of a sound the speaker seeks to reproduce.

St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Phonological school • Prof. L. V. Scherba (1880 -1944) • the phoneme is a real, independent, distinctive unit, which manifests itself in the form of its actual realisations – allophones (variants). • The principal points of L. V. Scherba’s phoneme theory • theory of phonemic variants, which represent phonemes in actual speech. • theory of phonemic independence, under which he meant the capability of phonemes to express meaning of their own or to express different emotions.

• L. V. Scherba: groups of phonemic variants give rise to the same “perception”. • “we perceive as identical all that which is more or less alike acoustically and is associated with the same meaning, e. g. we consider the first vowel in the words |дети – де|тей as the different variants of the same phoneme, since we cannot find a single example in the Russian language where the meaning is distinguished by these two variants only; • on the other hand, we differentiate everything that may be associated with a new meaning, e. g. we assume that /t// and /t/ in the words дети and детки are two different phonemes, for they distinguish the difference in meaning between other words: лук – люк, знати – зняти, саду – сяду, (Ukr. ) одет – одеть, разут – разуть, тук – тюк (Russ. ).

Moscow Phonological School • G. P. Torsuyev, V. A. Vassilyev developed L. V. Scherba’s theory: the phoneme is represented by a whole number of its alternating features; the phoneme is: a) material, real, and objective; b) abstractional and generalised; c) functional. • R. I. Avanesov, A. A. Reformatsky, P. S. Kuznetsov, V. N. Sidorov, N. F. Yakovlev have adopted and developed Baudouin’s morphological phoneme theory of the early period, adding the notion of the phonemic variations i. e. the concrete representations of phonemes in “weak” position which are distinguished from phonemes in “strong” position.

Swiss Linguistic School • Ferdinand de Saussure • used the term “phoneme” in the meaning of speech sound: “the phoneme is the sum of acoustic impressions and of articulatory movements. . . both mutually independent”.

London Phonological School • The physical view on the phoneme was originated by Prof. D. Jones (1881 -1967). He defined the phoneme as a family or set of similar sounds, i. e. a sum of its actual realisation. e. g. : /t/ • Take [ ] • Steak [ ] • Shut the door [ d ] • Twice [ ] • D. Jones doesn’t mention the distinctive function of the phoneme in his definition. However, he emphasises the fact that different members of the same phoneme are mutually exclusive, for instance, the /k/ that is used in keep cannot be used in call where we use a labialized /k/.

The American Phonological School • Edward Sapir and Leonard Bloomfield, American structuralism. • The phoneme is defined as a minimum unit of distinctive sound-features. • Their treatment of phonetics is synchronic and descriptive; • all the phenomena of language are analysed in their present condition without any connection with the history of the language in question.

The Copenhagen Linguistic Circle • Prof. L. Hjelmslev, H. J. Uldall • The abstract view on a phoneme • the phoneme is essentially independent of the acoustic and physioligical properties of speech sounds.

The Prague Phonological School • The functional view on the phoneme was introduced by N. S. Trubetzkoy (1890 -1938) and R. Jakobson (1896 -1982) • The main points of N. S. Trubetzkoy’s theory are: (1) the separation of phonology from phonetics; (2) theory of phonological oppositions; (3) theory of arch-phoneme, which is defined as a unity of relevant features common to two phonemes. • N. Trubetzkoy developed de Saussure’s principle of the separation of speech from language by proclaiming a new science – phonology, as distinct from phonetics. • N. S. Trubetzkoy defines the phoneme as a unity or bundle of the phonologically relevant features of a sound. These phonologically relevant features involved in the differentiation of the words are called distinctive features. In its turn, a speech sound is defined as a unity of all the features, both relevant and irrelevant, of a sound representing the phoneme in connected speech.

The phoneme • The phoneme is the smallest indivisible language unit which is capable of distinguishing one word from another word of the same language or one grammatical form of the same word, and which exists in the speech of all the members of a definite language community. • Phonemes are the ultimate constituents of language, the smallest elements that it could be broken down into. • Phoneme is the fundamental unit of phonology, which has been defined in many different ways during this century. • Each language has a certain, relatively fixed set of phonemes. • Every phoneme is represented in speech by its several variants or allophones.

Allophones • Allophones (variants) of a certain phoneme are speech sounds which are realizations of one and the same phoneme and, therefore, cannot distinguish words. • Each variant of a phoneme is a part, an aspect or the essence of that phoneme. • Allophones of a phoneme never occur in identical positions and are said to be in complementary distribution. • Allophones can be classified into: • 1) principal, or typical, i. e. , the ones that are free from the influence of neighbouring speech sounds and other purely phonetic factors like absence of stress etc. ; • 2) subsidiary which can be subdivided into combinatory (the ones which appear as a result of assimilation, accommodation, reduction etc. ) and positional (those which appear in definite positions, e. g. /l/ and positional variants of vowels).

Contrastive pairs or oppositions • An important question in phoneme theory is to establish the inventory of a language. • Phonemes form contrastive pairs or oppositions and one must find cases where the difference between two words is dependent on the difference between two phonemes: for example, “sit” and “sat” we can prove that the difference between the meanings of the words depends on the vowel, and that / / and /æ/ are different phonemes.

Functions of Phonemes • constitutive for they constitute morphemes, words; • distinctive, because they distinguish one word from another; • identificatory, or recognitive since they identify the right use of the allophone of a certain phoneme. • For example, in English it is the aspiration of /p/ rather than its voicelessness and the non-aspirated character of /b/ that make clear the opposition of /p/ and /'p/ in words like pie and buy. (When a foreigner uses a nonaspirated /p/ an Englishman will often hear bride for pride).

phonetic analysis / phonological analysis • phonetic analysis - we describe the articulatory and acoustic properties of a definite sound; • phonological analysis - we determine the role of those sounds in communication. • Both phonemes and sounds are two sides of one and the same phenomenon – the sound substance of language, which can be analysed on either the phonemic (i. e. functional) level or the allophonic (variational) level.

Feature theory • Every sound is characterised by a number of phonologically relevant distinctive features. • Distinctive features make up a small set of important differences (or contrasting components, or archi-units or archi-segments according to Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle) between certain phonemes: vowels and some consonants, plosives and affricates, nasal and oral consonants, and so on. • These differences are identified by phonologists, and are known as distinctive features.

Phonological oppositions in the system of English consonants • Work of the vocal cords: voiceless – voiced, which is also based on fortis – lenis opposition; • active organ of speech and the place of articulation: labial – lingual (bit – tip; lingual – pharyngal (tim – him), etc. ; • manner of noise production: occlusive – constrictive (pine – fine); constrictive – occlusive– constrictive (fare – chair); occlusive: noise – nasal sonorant (tale – nail), etc. ; • position of the soft palate: oral – nasal (pit – pin).

The word as the basis for phonemic analysis • The word is treated as a complex phonetic and phonemic entity, special consideration being given to word boundaries in the utterance. • It a phonemic analysis is based on a unit larger than the word it makes the analysis a great deal more complicated. • The two phrases plum pie and plump eye exemplify the complication, which will arise (D. Jones). These phrases differ principally in the aspiration which accompanies the /p/ of the pie but which is absent from the final /p/ of plump. • A phonemic analysis which is based on such an extensive sound sequence would require the establishment of two /p/ phonemes, one without aspiration.