Lecture 3 Phonological Analysis of English Speech Sounds

Lecture 3 Phonological Analysis of English Speech Sounds

Plan 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The Phoneme: Essence, Aspects and Functions Modifications of Phonemes in Speech The Phonemic Inventory of English The System of Phonological Oppositions in English The Interrelationship among the Phonemes of a Language Types of Transcription*

List of Terms phoneme n constitutive / distinctive / identificatory function of a phoneme n allophone n idiolectal / allophonic / diaphonic / individual variation n assimilation n accommodation n reduction n the distributional / semantic method of phonological analysis n minimal pair n phonological opposition n phonologically relevant / irrelevant feature n transcription n

In connected speech a sound is generally modified by: (1) (2) (3) its phonetic environment the position it occupies in a word or an utterance prosodic features

tap (1) stern (2) slant (3) t (1) – t (2) – t (3) = t tap lap /t/ /l/

Features of Phonemes and Allophones in Comparison Phonemes Allophones abstract sound types real speech sounds, realizations of phonemes in speech the number in a language is limited the number is unlimited may occur in one and the same position occur only in a certain position can differentiate lexical and can not differentiate meanings grammatical meanings of words when opposed to another phoneme phonological units phonetic units objects of phonological analysis

Phoneme is the smallest further indivisible linguistically relevant unit of the sound structure of a given language which serves to distinguish one word from another Allophones (variants) are realizations of one and the same phoneme in speech which occur only in a certain position and can not differentiate meanings of words

Phoneme is a dialectical unity of its three aspects that are inseparably connected: n material, real and objective (it exists in the form of a number of definite speech sounds, is a linguistic reality, exists independently of will of individual persons) n abstractional and generalized (is an abstraction from and a generalization of actual utterances) n functional (is capable to differentiate words and their grammatical forms)

The linguistic role of a phoneme is clearly seen from its main functions: Сonstitutive function of a phoneme (phonemes constitute morphemes and words) n Distinctive function of a phoneme (phonemes distinguish one word from another) n Identificatory function of a phoneme (native speakers identify definite combinations of phonemes as meaningful linguistic units) n

Variation is looked upon as 1) the term that reflects the way a language unit and a language system in general exist and function 2) the idea about different ways of expressing one and the same language essence

The reasons for phonetic variation are: 1. 2. 3. 4. organic or genetic structural and systemic stylistic dialectal

Types of Sound Variation Idiolectal variation (e. g. if a speaker lisps he says “thish ish” for “this is”) n Diaphonic variation (e. g. /æ/ ranges from a front open [æ] in the southern part of England to [a] in Northern England map [æ] – map [a]) n

n Allophonic variation • Reduction (e. g. so [səu], so late [so `leit], not so late [`not sə , leit]) Accommodation (e. g. the shortening of /i: / in “cease” in comparison with “see”) • Assimilation (e. g. consonant may lose its plosion – “that time” • n Individual variation

Problems of Phonological Analysis 1. to establish the phonemes in a definite language There are two methods to do this: § the distributional method (is based on the phonological rule that different phonemes can freely occur in one and the same position rope [p] – robe [b]) the semantic method (is based on the phonological rule that a phoneme can distinguish words when opposed to another phoneme or zero in an identical phonetic position) §

If two speech sounds distinguish words with different meanings they form a phonological opposition (e. g. pack – tack) The opposition of a phoneme versus zero phoneme is called a zero (phonological) opposition (e. g. tray [t] – ray [-]) The pairs of words which differ only in one speech sound are called minimal pairs (e. g. ship [i]- sheep [i: ])

It is not always a simple thing to identify all the phonemes of a language. The question is § whether sound [ə] is a separate phoneme or an allophone § whether [j] and [w] in English are allophones of [i] and [u] or they are separate phonemes

There are cases when the establishment of phonological oppositions is not sufficient to determine the phonemic status of a sound, especially when the sound is of a complex nature. N. Trubetskoy worked out a number of rules which help to determine whether a sound of a complex nature is monophonemic: n a phoneme is indivisible, as no syllabic division can occur within a phoneme is produced by one articulatory effort n the duration of a phoneme should not exceed that of other phonemes in a language

According to this rules § /tʃ/, /dȝ/ are monophonemic combinations /ts/, /tz/, /tr/, /dr/ are obviously biphonemic combinations § § triphthongs are biphonemic combinations

In such a way it has been established that in the English language there are 12 vowel phonemes / i: , i, e, æ, o, o: , u, u: , a, ʌ, ɜ: , ə / 8 diphthongs: 3 glides to /i/ – / ei, ai, oi / 2 glides to /u/ – /ou, au / 3 glides to /ǝ/ – / iǝ, ɛǝ, uǝ/ 24 consonant phonemes / n , t, d, s, l, ð, v, m, k, w, z, r, b, f, p, h, η, g, ʃ, j, dȝ, tʃ, θ, ȝ /

The second problem of the phonological analysis is the identification of the inventory of distinctive features on which all the phonological oppositions in a language are based. Each phoneme is characterized by a certain number of phonologically relevant features, which are its constant distinctive features. Each allophone of a certain phoneme is characterized by definite phonologically relevant features (which are common to all its allophones) plus a number of irrelevant features.

The substitution of one phonologically relevant feature (e. g. bilabial) for any other relevant feature (e. g. forelingual) results in a different phoneme (in this case [p] is replaced by [t]). The substitution of one irrelevant feature for another (e. g. aspirated for non-aspirated) results in a different allophone of one and the same phoneme ([p] aspirated and [p] non aspirated) and such a substitution does not affect communication.

The phonologically relevant features are normally identified by opposing one phoneme to every other phoneme in a language. But there difficulties often occur, which can be overcome with the aid of physiological and acoustic analyses. e. g. until recently it was considered that the oppositions /p/ — /b/, /t/ — /d/, /k/ – /g/, /f/ – /v/, /θ/‑ /ð/, /s/ – /z/, /ʃ/ ‑ /ȝ/, /tʃ/ ‑ /dȝ/ were based on the presence and absence of voice. But it has been proved that it is not a constant distinctive feature "Do it" - "I did" e. g. until recently duration was regarded as phonologically relevant feature, but acoustic analysis shows that the length of vowels varies in different phonetic environment and in different positions /si: / – /si: d/ - /si: t/

In the system of English vowel phonemes there are oppositions of monophthongs between themselves (they are based on differences in the movements and positions of the tongue and the lips) and diphthongs between themselves (they are based on both the above mentioned differences and the absence or presence of a glide). In the system of English consonant phonemes there are oppositions based on: (1) the force of articulation (2) the active organ of speech (3) the type of obstruction.

The third problem of the phonological analysis is to describe the interrelationships among the phonemes of a language. There are three views on this problem: § the morphological approach (R. Avanesov, P. Kuznetsov, A. Reformatsky) e. g. луг – [лук] [k 1] is an allophone of a phoneme [г] лук – [лук] [k 2] is an allophone of a phoneme [k] § the phonological approach (L. Shcherba, D. Jones) e. g. [к] in «луг» is an allophone of [к], [t] in “walked” is an allophone of [t) § the third approach (N. Trubetzkoy, R. Jakobson) e. g. both [к] and [г] in «лук» and «луг» are assigned to the archiphoneme [K] which is neither voiced or voiceless

Transcription a visual system of notation of the sound structure of speech a generalization of a great variety of sounds that are uttered by speakers of a given language Types of transcription: § phonemic, or broad transcription § phonetic, or narrow transcription

List of Literature n n Борисова, Л. В. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учеб. пособ. для ин тов и фак. иностр. яз. / Л. В. Борисова, А. А. Метлюк; под ред. Л. В. Борисовой. – Минск: Выш. шк. , 1980. – 144 с. Леонтьева, С. Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учеб. для студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / С. Ф. Соколова. – М. : Издательство «Менеджер» , 2004. – 336 с.

Summing-up Choose among the alternatives 1. The smallest linguistically relevant unit of the sound structure of a language which serves to distinguish one word from another is called. . a) an allophone b) a speech sound c) a phoneme

2. The distributional method of phonological analysis says that. . a) different phonemes never occur in one and the same position, while allophones of one and the same phoneme occur in identical positions b) different phonemes freely occur in one and the same position, while allophones of one and the same phoneme occur only in different positions c) both phonemes and allophones freely occur in one and the same position

3. The semantic method of phonological analysis says that: a) a phoneme can distinguish words when opposed to another phoneme b) an allophone can distinguish words when opposed to another allophone c) both phonemes and allophones can distinguish words

4. In the following words and a word combination (twice, try, beds, that time) we observe. . a) accommodation b) assimilation c) elision

Insert the necessary word 1. The phoneme is a … unit though it is meaningless. 2. … variation is conditioned by phonetic position and phonetic environment of sounds. 3. The process of adapting the articulation of a … to a … is known as accommodation. 4. Constant distinctive featu res that distinguish one phoneme from all the other phonemes in a lan guage are considered to be … … features of phonemes.

Fill in the blanks with suitable terms or definitions: Billions of sounds exist in real communication. Phoneticians have established a limited number of sound types in a language. These abstract sound types are called (1) …, they may be defined as (2) …. Their speech variants or (3) … may be defined as (4) …. The phoneme is a dialectal unity of the following aspects (5) …, (6) …, (7) ….

Living languages exist in constant changing or (8) …, that may be looked upon as (9) … or as (10) … . The reasons for phonetic variation are (11) …, (12) …, (13) …, (14) …. The main types of phonetic variation are (15) …, (16) …, (17) …, (18) … . Allophonic modifications are the following (19)…, (20) …, (21)….

Prove, please, that in the following row of words; tower, state, port [t aspirated], [t less aspirated], [t non aspirated] are allophones of one and the same phoneme [t]. Prove, please, that in the following row of words; car, skate, park [k aspirated], [k less aspirated], [k non aspirated] are allophones of one and the same phoneme [k].