Chapter 3 Phonology

1. Chapter 3 Phonology

2. Outline • IntroductionPhonology vs. phonetics • 1. Segments and phonemes 1.1 Minimal pairs (p. 9)1.2 Allophones and complementary distribution 1.3 Free variants • 2. Distinctive features 2.1 Hierarchical feature structure 2.2 Natural class2.3 Redundant features2.4 Framework of phonology • 3. Phonological rules3.1 Rule formats3.2 Types of phonological rules • 4. Syllable and stress • 5. Optimality Theory • 6. Summary

3. Introduction Phonology vs. phonetics

4. Phonology vs. Phonetics Phonetics Phonology • is concerned with how to produce a sound or sounds • has a main focus on the place and the manner of articulation • is concerned with sound system or the distribution of a sound in the language system • aims to find or sort our rules for sound derivation

5. Example: /ian/ in Mandarin Phonetics Questions: (a) Why should /ian/ be pronounced [ien]? (b) If it is phonetically [ien], why should it be transcribed /ian/ ? (c) What motivates the difference between /ian/ and [ien]? PHONOLOGY • the production of each sound :/i/: a high front vowel/a/: a low vowel/n/: a nasal consonant • /ian/ is phonetically [ien], in which case the low vowel /a/ becomes [e].

6. /ian/ in Mandarin (a) Why should /ian/ be pronounced [ien]? • Phonology would treat the derivation of /ian/ to [ien] due to the phonological rule: /a/  [e]/ [i]__[n] It reads: The low vowel /a/ becomes [e] if it occurs between [i] and [n] The sound in slashes // refers to the underlying representation or phonemic representation . The sound in brackets [ ] means the phonetic representation or surface representation.

7. /ian/ in Mandarin (b) If it is phonetically [ien], why should it be transcribed /ian/ ? • Every dialect of the Chinese language family shares a certain phonological property. • From the rhyme of Chinese popular songs, we find that /ian/ rhymes with /uan/ and /an/. This strongly implies that /ian/ is the underlying representation of [ien].

8. /ian/ in Mandarin (c) What motivates the difference between /ian/ and [ien]? • There is certain correspondence among each dialect of the Chinese language family. • Take [ien] ‘smoke’ for instance, it is [ian] in Hakka, and it is [en] in Southern Min. The rules in (2) make it transparent for the different phonetic representation of /ian/ in each dialect.

9. 1. Segments and phonemes 1.1 Minimal pairs 1.2 Allophones and complementary distribution1.3 Free variants

10. 1. Segments and phonemes • The basic unit for sound is phone, which is also called segment. • Phones can be phonemic or non-phonemic. • A phoneme or a phonemic phone is distinctive, while not all phones are phonemic.

11. 1.1 Minimal pairs • By distinctive, we mean in the same context different segments would give rise to different semantic meanings. Consider: A case of (3) is called minimal pair. A minimal pair is used to distinguish two phonemes. In (3), both [b] and [ph] occur at the same context, both preceding [t]. However, their presence differentiates the meanings of (3a) and (3b).

12. Minimal pairs • Minimal pairs also occur in coda: (6) a. bed [bd]b. bet [b t] • Vowel difference also results in minimal pairs: (7) a. bed [bd]b. bad [bd] To be brief, a phone that is distinctive is a phoneme. Whether it is a phoneme can be identified by minimal pairs. If two sounds are in minimal pairs, they are phonemes.

13. 1.2 Allophones and complementary distribution • A phoneme might appear as different phones, each of which is in complementary distribution. • By complementary distribution, we mean that when a phone occurs in a certain environment, its allophones never appear there. • English has Rule (9) for voiceless stop consonants. The aspirated and unaspirated stops are in complementary distribution.aspirated : syllable-initial position (O)unaspirated: syllable-initial position (X) VOICED VOICELESS ASPIRATED UNASPIRATED The rule means that /p, t, k/ surface as [ph, th, kh] when they are at syllable-initial position. In other circumstances, /p, t, k/ remain unaspirated [p, t, k]. The aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stop consonants are therefore allophones of the same phonemes.

14. Complementary distribution of [b, l, g] and [m, n, ]in Southern Min • In Southern Min, the voiced stops [b, l, g] only occur before oral vowels (V), while nasals [m, n,  ] only occur before nasal vowels (v)). • Voiced stops [b, l, g] and nasals [m, n, ] are in complementary distribution. They are allophones of the same phonemes. • (11) No such syllables!

15. Complementary distribution of [ts, tsh, s ] and [t, t,  ]in Hakka • In general, [t, th, ] and [ts, ts h, s] are in complementary distribution: [t, t h, ] ] only occur before the high front vowel [i], while [ts, ts h, s] occur elsewhere. Question: Which is the underlying representation?Answer: When in competition, the one occurs in more contexts is the underlying representation. [t, t h, ] only before [i]: limited [ts, ts h, s] occur in more contexts: wider distribution  underlying representation. No such syllables!

16. Complementary distribution of [h] and []in English • Not all phones in complementary distribution are allophones. • For example, in English [h] and [] are in complementary distribution: [h] never occurs at the end of a syllable, while [ ] never occurs at the beginning of a syllable. • Nevertheless, [h] and [ ] are not considered to be allophones, because [h] and [] do not form a natural class (to be discussed in 2.2).

17. 1.3 Free variants • Once in a while, the same words or syllables might be pronounced differently depending on individuals or on settings. For most American native speakers On a few formal occasions

18. Some variations of a certain sounds are subject to regions. These are not free variations. Instead, they are dialectal, or regional dialects. Such variations are predictable because they are due to different accents.

19. 2. Distinctive features 2.1 Hierarchical feature structure 2.2 Natural class2.3 Redundant features2.4 Framework of phonology

20. 2. Distinctive features • The theory of distinctive features: a segment or a phone is composed of a bunch of distinctive features.

21. 2.1 Hierarchical feature structure • Distinctive features are given the basis of place and manner of articulation, each feature marked plus (+) or minus (—). [b, p, ph, m, f, v] are produced with lips in one way or another, so they all share [+labial] feature. In contrast, [b, p, p h , m] are marked [-continuant] because they are stop consonants, which are produced with a closure somewhere so that the airstream cannot continue. [f] and [v] are specified [+continuant] because they are fricatives, without stopping the airstream from coming out.

22. Theoretically, features are organized hierarchically. To begin with, sounds are classified into supralaryngeal and laryngeal categories by larynx. The feature [coronal] is further decomposed into [+anterior] ([t, d, ,, s, z, n, l, r]) and [-anterior] ([, , t, d]). The place feature [labial] is specified for bilabials [b, p, ph, m] and labio-dentals [f, v] in the traditional phonetics. The feature [dorsal] is used for vowels and velar consonants [g, k, kh, ]. Given vowels can be differentiated by [high], [low], and [back], they are put under the feature [dorsal]. The features [voiced] and [aspirated] are put under the larynx node. (larynx = two vocal cords + a glottis) When the vocal cords are close, the airstream from the lungs would vibrate the vocal cords, resulting in voiced sounds. In contrast, when vocal cords are open to such an extent that the airstream would run out without causing vocal cords to vibrate, the results are voiceless consonants. In terms of place, the supralaryngeal dominates [labial], [coronal], and [dorsal].

23. Except for place, some distinctive features are based on manners of articulation. • [sonorant] plays a major role in differentiating sonorants from obstruents. • Within sonorants, the four major categories, namely, vowels, liquids, glides, and nasals, are distinct by the following features. [nasal] is an important feature for differentiating nasals from orals: Nasal consonants [m, n, ] and nasalized vowels are [+nasal], but [b, d, g, o, i,…] are [-nasal]. Vowels are distinct from consonants by the feature [syllabic], vowels being [+syllabic] and consonants [-syllabic].

24. There are two liquids in English, [l] and [r], which differ in the feature [lateral]. The [l] is [+lateral], while [r] is [-lateral]. Given that the feature [lateral] has nothing to do with any other sounds, it is directly associated to the root node. The tree structure in (19) is the hierarchical structure of distinctive features. It implies that a sound change involved with place does not necessarily affect voicing or aspiration, because place features are independentof the laryngeal features. Manner features like [sonorant], [nasal], [continuant], and [lateral] are directly associated to the root node. [nasal] is an important feature for differentiating nasals from orals: Nasal consonants [m, n, ] and nasalized vowels are [+nasal], but [b, d, g, o, i,…] are [-nasal]. [sonorant] plays a major role in differentiating sonorants from obstruents. The feature [continuant] is adopted for the distinction between stop consonants ([-continuant] for [b, d, , p, t, k, ph, th, kh, m, n, ]) and fricatives ([+continuant] for [f, v, , , s, z, , ])

25. English Place Assimilation • (20) The /n/ of each prefix becomes [m] because it is followed by a labial consonant. the place of articulation of /n/ is assimilated to the following [+labial] consonant, resulting in [m], whether the labial is voiceless ([p] (20a)) or it is voiced ([b] and [m] in (20b) and (20c). The change of place of articulation does not affect voicing, suggesting that [place] and [voiced] are independent of each other.

26. 2.2 Natural class Sounds that share a common feature constitute a natural class. • For instance, [p, t, k, b, d, g] all share the [-continuant] feature, and thus form a natural class. • Among them, [p, t, k] constitute another natural class because they are common in the feature [-voiced]. From the perspective of [-voiced], [p, t, k] is a natural class.

27. English past tense suffix -ed • Sounds of a natural class are subject to the same sound change. Question: What makes /t/ and /d/ behave the same? Answer: /t/ and /d/ are of a natural class in terms of [+alveolar, －continuant] The past tense suffix –ed can be pronounced [d], when it is preceded by a voiced sound (21a), [t] if it is preceded by a voiceless consonant (21b), and [d] if it is preceded by /t/ or /d/ (21c).

28. Grimm’s Law in the history of Indo-European languages Questions: (1) Why were only /p, t, k/ engaged in sound change?(2) Why are the target sounds limited to /f, , h/? • (22)*p > f (*p changed to f) *t >  (*t changed to ) *k > h (*k changed to h) Answer: /p, t, k/ constitute a natural class in terms of the features [-voiced, -continuant]. Likewise, /f, , h/ form another class by the features [-voice, +continuant].Feature changed: [-voiced, －continuant]  [-voiced, ＋continuant]

29. English C-cluster in the onset • It is allowed to have consonant cluster in the onset of an English syllable, e.g. blue, tree, spring, stick, etc. • However, there is no syllable with consonant cluster like pm, mp, mv, fm, mf, vm, pv, pf, nor is there any consonant cluster like tl, td, dt, dl, dn, etc in English. HOW SO?? --The explanation for this observation would be very complicated if there were no idea of natural class. --Under the notion of natural class, *[+labial] [+labial] or *[+alveolar] [+alveolar] (in words, no consonant cluster is allowed to have more than one labial or alveolar consonants) would help account for all the problems.

30. 2.3 Redundant features • There are two types of distinctive features: One is predictable, and the other is unpredictable.

31. Q1: Why [kht] for ?? A: This is absolutely ARBITRARY! Q2: Why should the sound [k] get the features [－cont, －voiced, ＋velar]? A: It is entirely UNPREDICTABLE & ARBITRARY! Briefly speaking, features like [+velar, -voiced] for [k] is unpredictable, while the [+asp] of the [kh] in (23a) and (23b) is predictable. This is also true of the feature of [+nasal] for the vowel of [ ] in (23b). All the predictable features are redundant, for they will be specified by rules. Redundant features are not necessary in rule writing or formation. BUTit is predictable to have the voiceless stop at the beginning of a syllable to be aspirated in English, because in the mind or brain there is a rule requiring that [p, t, k] would be pronounced [ph, th, kh]. The rule is part of their language competence, which can be psychologically reflected in second language acquisition. LIKEWISE, the nasality of the vowel of can [khn] is predictable. There is no phonemic nasalized vowel in English. The nasality comes from the nasal consonant following the vowel.

32. 2.4 Framework of phonology • The basic framework of Generative Phonology is : It follows that the tenet of phonological studies is to find out phonological rules to account for the derivation of underlying representation (UR) to surface (phonetic) representation (PR). UR is also called phonemic or phonological representation, because it represents the phonemic form. Phonetic representation is what is heard in our daily conversation. Why should there be two levels (UR and PR) instead of one single level?

33. Why should there be two levels (UR and PR) instead of one single level? Back to /ian/ and [ien] in Mandarin… • If there were no two-level framework, it would be very difficult to account for why /ian/, though phonetically pronounced [ien], rhymes with /an/ and /uan/. • On the phonological level (UR), the rhyme is obvious, because all the rimes are composed of /an/. • However, we need a PR level; otherwise we fail to know how to pronounce it correctly.

34. A two-level framework helps understand why there is a /n/ or /b/ deletion in (25A). It cannot be assumed that there is no /n/ or /b/ at the end of (25a) and (25b). Otherwise, it would be very difficult to explain why the /n/ and /b/ (25B) are still there when there is another syllable following it.

35. 3. Phonological rules 3.1 Rule formats3.2 Types of phonological rules

36. 3.1 Rule formats • Phonological rules are usually written in the following way: a. A B / C____ b. A  B / _____C c. A  B / C____D d. A  B / #____ e. A  B / ____ # A becomes B when it is after C. A becomes B when it is before C. A becomes B when it is between C and D. The # indicates the boundary of a syllable (the beginning or the ending). The underline indicates where the original form occurs. In general, phonological rules are expressed with distinctive features.

37. Example: English aspiration rule • The rule for /p, t, k/ to become [ph, th, kh] at the beginning of a syllable is written in the following way. The two features in (27) are good enough to confine the related segments to [p, t, k]. Beginners to the world of phonology are highly encouraged to use features.

38. 3.2 Types of phonological rules • Roughly speaking, there are merely two types of rules: assimilation and dissimilation. • Assimilation refers to rules that try to make the two adjacent segments be produced in the same place or manner of articulation. • Dissimilation refers to the situation in which the two adjacent segments conflict in one way or another.

39. Assimilation • There are two types of assimilation, in terms of order or position: regressive and progressive. • Regressive assimilation means A  B / _____B, the preceding one becomes the following one. • (28) Both (28a) and (28b) are also called complete assimilation or total assimilation, because the /n/ has become the segment that follows. In (28a), the /n/ of the prefix becomes [l], because it is followed by a /l/. In (28b), the /n/ becomes [r], because it is before /r/. The /n/ in (28c) does not become /p/, but it becomes [m], which has the same place of articulation of /p/, both being [+labial]. In order, it is still regressive, but it is called partial assimilation due to the fact that there is only partial (place, in this case) assimilation.

40. If the order is reversed… • A  B / B___ , then it is called progressive assimilation. • The reading of –s (the plural noun suffix) in English: It reads voiced [z] if it is suffixed to a voiced ending (29a), but it is voiceless [s] if it is preceded by a voiceless ending (29b).

41. Mutual assimilation • When two segments are adjacent, it is also possible that they assimilate to each other, resulting in mutual assimilation. • (30) In (30a), the first segment /n/ becomes [m], sharing the same place of articulation of the following /b/. The interesting one is that the /p/ becomes [m] because it gets the [+nasal] of the preceding segment. This is a typical case of mutual assimilation.

42. Dissimilation • When two adjacent segments conflict, for the ease of articulation, dissimilation emerges. • Three possibilities are employed in dissimilation: deletion, insertion, or metathesis.

43. Deletion • Deletion happens if two segments are of the same manner or place of articulation. In (31a) the/n/ next to /m/ gets deleted because /n/ and /m/ are both nasal consonants. The same is true of /b/ in (31c). Both /m/ and /b/ are labial. The appearance of /n/ and /b/ in (31b) and (31d) justifies that they get deleted in (31a) and (31c).

44. Insertion • For instance, the short vowel [] is inserted between [t] and [d] in the pronunciation of the English past tense suffix –ed:

45. Metathesis • Metathesis: to change the order of the two adjacent segments • For example, in Old English, wasp was [wps]，, but now it is [wsp]. It is obvious that [p] and [s] have switched in order. • Another kind of metathesis can be reflected in the difference between theatre vs. theater, centre vs. center.

46. 4. Syllable and stress

47. 4. Syllable and stress • A syllable is hierarchically structured as follows:

48. The importance of syllable • We can identify the importance of syllable from three perspectives: -phonological domains-internal structure-phonotactics

49. Phonological domains Syllable domains also play a key role in aspiration of voiceless stop consonants. In a syllable like atomic [thamk], the /t/ is at the beginning of the second syllable (a-tom-ic), so it gets aspirated in phonetics [th]. However, in a very similar syllable atom [tm], the /t/ is not aspirated, because it is underlyingly syllabified as at-om. The deletion of [n] after [m] occurs only when [n] and [m] are within the same syllable (31a). If the [n] is of another syllable (31b), then the [n] remains.

50. Internal structure • Syllable structure is closely related to stress placement. • Usually, only a heavy (closed) syllable can be stressed, while a light (open) syllable is unstressed. • Based on this, although Canada and banana look similar in appearance (CVCVCV), but they are syllabified differently due to the different stress patterns: Can-a-da, ba-nan-a Canada:The stress of Can-a-dafalls on the first syllable, so the first syllable must be heavy and hence n is syllabified to the first syllable. banana:In contrast, inba-nan-a, the stress is on the second syllable, so it must be heavy. To make the second syllable of banana heavy, the n cannot be syllabified to the first syllable (otherwise it is heavy, and hence it should be stressed.) From the stress placement, we know the importance of syllable structure. Closed syllable refers to any syllable closed with at least one segment, e.g., CVC, CVV (C= consonant, V=vowel).