Phonology

Dr.Bara’ah AlAbabneh
Phonology is essentially the description of the systems and patterns of
speech sounds in a language. It is, in effect, based on a theory of what
every speaker of a languageunconsciously knows about the sound
patterns of that language.
What is a Phone?
This is the actual sound of a word that you can hear and is represented in phonology with square
brackets surrounding it. This is represented in the symbol that is written in the square brackets, and it
is written as it sounds, like
this: [pʌf]

Phoneme
Phonemes are usually written in slashes to distinguish them from phones. It is the mental
representation of a specific word. This means it is the mental image we store in our brains of the specific
word and is associated with the sound of the word.
A phoneme is defined as: “the smallest unit that discerns meaning between sounds in any given language,
like in the example, puff, /pʌf/, is a broad transcription of the word puff.
Phonemes vs. Phones

In the mind In the mouth

In actual speech,
The phoneme is the
many different versions of /t/
abstract unit (sound
e.g. tar, star, writer, eighth each
type)
version = phone
e.g. / t /

Phones
• Phones are phonetic units• They appear in [ ]
phoneme The smallest distinctive unit in the structure of a given language
The phoneme
• The smallest speech sound that distinguishes meaning.
• It serves to create meaning differences,
e.g. /t/  /d/.

An essential property of a phoneme is that it functions contrastively.

• In English, 2 phonemes / f / &/v/
• Contrast:
•fat  vat
•fine  vine

Rule: If we substitute one sound for another in a word and there is a change of meaning,
then the two sounds represent different phonemes.
Phonemes
• Consonant chart lists phonemes in English
• The technical terms used in creating the chart are called features
• Features are marked with sign + & –
• + feature is present
•– feature is not present
e.g.
• /p/ [– voice, +bilabial, +stop]
• /k/ [– voice, +velar, +stop]
Phones and Allophones
•A group of several phones (versions of one phoneme) = allophones (of the
phoneme)
Allophones of / t /
word transcription context

1 stop [stɒp] After [s]

2 time [thajm] Syllable initial

3 butter [bʌɾər] Between vowels

Phones and Allophones
•Each phoneme may have different versions depending on the context
in which it is found

e.g.
consider the different articulations of /s/ (seen  soon)
•seen the phoneme /s/ is produced with spread lips, as /i/ follows.
•soon the phoneme /s/ is produced with rounded lips, to prepare for the
following rounded vowel, /u/
In English, there is a subtle difference in the pronunciation of /i/ in the
words seed and seen.

In the second word, the effect of the nasal consonant [n] makes the [i]
sound nasalized. We can represent this nasalization with a small mark
(˜), called “tilde,” over the symbol [ ı̃] in a narrow phonetic
transcription.

So, there are at least two phones, [i] and [ ı̃], used to
realize the single phoneme. They are both allophones of /i/ in English.
Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested via pairs and sets
of words. When two words such as pat and bat are identical in form
except for a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same
position, the two words are described as a minimal pair.
fan–van, site–side.

When a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the others, by
changing one phoneme (always in the same position in the word), then we
have a minimal set.
feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot
big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig.
Minimal pairs
• A minimal pair is a pair of words that have different meanings and which

differ in only one phoneme.

e.g. (English):

• pat [pæt] / bat [bæt]

•• Other examples: bet/bat – site/ side

read ~ lead rice ~ lice room ~ loom
mow ~ know mice ~ nice seen ~ seem
buck ~ bug cot ~ got card ~ guard
 Phonotactics
permitted arrangements of sounds in a language and are obviously part of every speaker’s phonological
knowledge.

lig or vig.
According to the dictionary, these are not English words, but they could be viewed as possible English
words. They might, for example, begin as invented abbreviations (I think Bubba is one very ignorant
guy. ~ Yeah, he’s a big vig!). Until then, they represent
“accidental” gaps in the vocabulary of English.

It is, however, no accident that forms such as [fsɪɡ] or [rnɪɡ] do not exist or are
unlikely ever to exist. They have been formed without obeying some constraints on the
sequence or position of English phonemes.
 Syllables

A syllable must contain a vowel or vowel-like sound, including diphthongs.

The most common type of syllable in language also has a consonant (C) before
the vowel (V) and is typically represented as CV.
The basic elements of the syllable are the onset (one or more consonants) followed by

the rhyme. The rhyme (sometimes written as “rime”) consists of a vowel, which is
treated as the nucleus, plus any following consonant(s), described as the coda.
Syllables like me, to or no have an onset and a nucleus, but no coda.
They are known as open syllables.
When a coda is present, as in the syllables up, cup, at or hat, they are called closed
syllables.
The basic structure of the kind of syllable found in English
words like
green (CCVC)
eggs (VCC)
and (VCC)
I (V)
am (VC)
do (CV)
not(CVC)
like (CVC)
them (CVC)
Sam (CVC)
 Consonant clusters

Both the onset and the coda can consist of more than one consonant, also
known as a consonant cluster.

The combination /st/ is a consonant cluster (CC) used as onset in

the word stop, and as coda in the word post. There are many CC onset
combinations permitted in English phonotactics, as in black, bread, trick,
twin, flat and throw.

Note that liquids (/l/, /r/) and a glide (/w/) are being used in second
position.
English can actually have larger onset clusters, as in the words stress and splat,
consisting of three initial consonants (CCC).

The phonotactics of these larger onset consonant clusters is not too difficult to describe.

The first consonant must always be /s/, followed by one of the voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/)
and a liquid or glide (/l/, /r/, /w/).

You can check if this description is adequate for the combinations in splash, spring, strong,
scream and square.
Co-articulation effects

The process of making one sound almost at the same time as the next sound is
called coarticulation.

There are two well-known coarticulation effects, described as assimilation and

elision.
Assimilation

When two sound segments occur in sequence and some aspect of one segment is
taken or “copied” by the other.

have /hæv/.
I have to go

In this phrase, as we start to say the /t/ sound in to, which is voiceless, we tend to
produce a voiceless version of the preceding sound, resulting in what sounds more
like /f/ than /v/.

So, we typically say [hæftə] in this phrase and you may even see it written
informally as “hafta,” showing how the assimilation from a voiced to a voiceless
sound is perceived.
This type of assimilation process occurs in a variety of different contexts.

By itself,the word can may be pronounced as [kæn], but, when we say I can go, the influence of
the following velar [ɡ] will almost certainly make the preceding nasal sound come out
as [ŋ] (the velar nasal) rather than [n] (the alveolar nasal). The most commonly
observed conversational version of the phrase is [aɪkəŋɡoʊ].
n ŋ/ before g

the vowel in can has also changed to schwa [ə] from the isolated-word version [æ]. In many
words spoken carefully, the vowel receives stress, but in the course of ordinary everyday talk, that vowel
may no longer receive any stress and naturally reduce to schwa. We may, for example, pronounce and as
[ænd] by itself, but in the normal use of the phrase you and me, we usually say [ən], as in [juənmi].
Assimilation : when a sound becomes more similar to a neighboring sound.

1- place assimilation : when a sound takes on the place of articulation of a neighboring sound.
I live in brighton [imbraɪtən]
2- manner assimilation : when a sound takes on the manner of articulation of a neighboring sound.
Good morning [ɡʊmmɔːnɪŋ (place and manner)
3- voice assimilation : e.g English plural suffix –s and past tense –ed
When each suffix is added to a stem that ends in a voiced sound, the suffix is voiced, when it is
attached to a stem that ends in a voiceless sound, it is voiceless. [kæts], [dɒɡz]
Worked [wɜrkt]
loved [lʌvd ]
we often palatalize our sentences in casual conversations, especially words that
end with /d/, /t/, /s/, and /z/ sounds when the following word starts with a /j/

For example, when we say, ‘Did you eat?’, we automatically add a /dʒ/ sound
between ‘did’ and ‘you’ since ‘did’ ends with a /d/ and ‘you’ starts with a ‘y’=
/j/.

Similarly, we add a /ʃ/ sound between /s/ and /j/ when saying ‘I miss you.’
s ʃ / before j
Target post- palatal
Velar alveolar
 Vowels assimilation.

In isolation, we would typically pronounce [ɪ] and [æ] without any nasal quality at all. However,
when we say words like pin and pan in everyday speech, the anticipation of forming the final nasal
consonant will make it easier to go into the nasalized articulation in advance and consequently the
vowel sounds in these words will be, in more precise transcription, [ı˜] and [æ˜ ]

This is a very regular feature of English speakers’ pronunciation. It is so regular, in fact, that a
phonological rule can be stated in the following way:
“Any vowel becomes nasal whenever it immediately precedes a nasal.”
 Elision (deletion)

In the environment of a preceding nasal [n] and a following

nasal [m], we simply don’t devote speech energy to including the stop sound [d]. This
isn’t laziness, it’s efficiency.

There is also typically no [d] sound included in the everyday pronunciation of a word
like friendship [frɛnʃɪp]

This process of not pronouncing a sound segment that might be present in the
deliberately careful pronunciation of a word in isolation is described as elision.
In consonant clusters, especially in coda position, /t/ is a common casualty in this
process, as in the typical pronunciation
[æspɛks] for aspects
[himəsbi] for the phrase he must be.

We can, of course, slowly and deliberately pronounce each part of the phrase we
asked him, but the process of elision (of /k/) in casual conversation is likely to
produce
[wiæstəm]. we asked him

Vowels also disappear, as in [ɛvri] for every, [ɪntrɪst] for interest, [kæbnət] for
cabinet, [kæmrə] for camera, [prɪznər] for prisoner and [spoʊz] for suppose.