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LLCM40AN English Phonetics
and Phonology
Week 3: Phonetics and phonology, phoneme
and allophone, distinctive features (continued)
T. Kamiyama, Université de Marne-la-Vallée
2007-2008
1. Phoneme and allophone
Phonemes in different languages
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 33
Phonemes in different languages
• In a given language, you can make list of the
phonemes that make up a phonological system of
the language.
• In English:
• /p b t d k ! f v " # s z $ % h t$ d% m n & r l j w/
• /i' (' )' *' u' + e æ , - . +/ e/ ./ e+ a+ *+ a. /. //
• The choice and the boundary of phonemes may be
different from one language to another: e.g.
French does not have the same system.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 34
Nasalized vowels and nasal vowels in
English and French
• In English (here, the case of an American
speaker), oral [æ] in /kæt/ and nasal [01] in /kæn/
are allophones of the phoneme /æ/.
• But to French speakers, they sound differently. In
French /a/ and /01/ are different phonemes:
minimal pair /!a/ and /!01/.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 35
French /R/
• In French there are various realizations
(allophones) of /R/
• [p*2]
• [p*4]
• [p*3]
• [p*r]
• [p*5]
• [p*'(/)]
• -> /p*2/ «!port!»
• [2 4 3 r 5 V'(/)] are
all allophones of the
phoneme /2/ in
French.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 36
• 1. «!s’est effondré!»
• 2. «!s’est absenté!»
• 3. «!être déçu!»
In Moroccan Arabic, however …
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 37
In Moroccan Arabic, however …
• 1. /rab/ «!s’est effondré!»
• 2. /2ab/ «!s’est absenté!»
• 3. /3ab/ «!être déçu!»
-> /r/, /2/, and /3/ are 3 different phonemes11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 3
8
In English …
• In the onset of a stressed syllable, you have [p]
after /s/ (as in [spe+s]), and [p6] in other
contexts (as in [p6e+s]): the two allophones of
the phoneme /p/, namely [p] and [p6] are in
complementary distribution.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 39
In Korean …
• [pa&] “bread”
• [p6a&] “bang” (onomatopoeia)
• /p/ and /p6/ are two different phonemes in
Korean, unlike in English and in French.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 310
Summary
• Two sounds (or “phones”: to be transcribed
between [ ] square brackets) may be two
allophones of the same phoneme in one
language, but two different phonemes in
another.
2. Phonetics and phonology
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 312
Phonetics and phonology
• Both phoneticians and phonologists study
speech sounds of human languages.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 313
Phonetics and phonology: in the
structuralist tradition
• Phonetics deals with
concrete physical
realizations of
speech sounds
(articulatory,
acoustic, and
perceptual
characteristics).
• Phonology deals
with the sound
system of languages:
how phonemes
function, how they
are used in a given
language.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 314
Some examples of topics treated in
phonetics and phonology
• Phonetics deals with
concrete physical
realizations: word-
final /l/ in RP is
“dark” (articulatory,
acoustic, perceptual
characteristics). It is
not the case in
French.
• Phonology deals with
the sound system of
languages: /l m n & r/
can be the nucleus
(peak) of syllables in
English. It is not the
case in French.
3. Some tools of phonology:
natural class and distinctive
feature analysis
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 316
Natural class
• The consonants of English can be grouped into
some groups according to their behaviours in
the language.
• - /l m n & r/ can be nucleus (peak) of syllable
• - Others cannot.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 317
Natural class: some other
examples
• The vowels /i y u/ in Canadian French show
common behaviours, unlike others.
• They may be devoiced.
• They are realized as lax allophones [+ 7 .] in
closed syllables.
• - /i y u/ form a natural class of high vowels.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 318
Distinctive features
• Theory formalized first by Roman Jakobson.
• Phonemes should be regarded:
not as independent and indivisible unit
but instead as combinations of different binary
features (+ or -).
• A distinctive feature makes it possible to
distinguish phonemes.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 319
Distinctive features: some examples
• /p b m f v/ are all labial consonants: one or both
lips are involved. -> [+ labial]
• /b d ! v # z % d%/ are all voiced. -> [+ voice]
• /f v " # s z $ % h/ are fricatives: the airstream
is not blocked completely and flows out
continuously. -> [+ continuant]
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 320
Distinctive features: some examples
• Phonemes are represented in terms of
combination of features.
• /v/ [+continuant, +voice, +labial]
• /p/ [-continuant, -voice, +labial]
• /!/ [-continuant, +voice, +velar]
• /k/ [-continuant, -voice, +velar]
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 321
Distinctive features• With 1 binary feature, we can distinguish 2
phonemes at most (2 = 21).
+-[voice]
dt
• With 2 binary feature, we can distinguish 4
phonemes at most (4 = 22: “two squared”).
++--[labial]
+-+-[voice]
bpdt
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 322
Distinctive features
• With 3 binary features, we can distinguish 8
phonemes at most (8 = 23: “two cubed”, or
“two to the third power”).
++++----[continuant]
++--++--[labial]
+-+-+-+-[voice]
vfzsbpdt
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 323
Distinctive features
• In reality, it is not always perfectly economical
(or efficient).
• To distinguish the 24 consonants and the 20
vowels of English, we need more than 5 (cf. 32
= 25) features respectively.
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 324
A distinctive feature analysis of the English consonant
system
Spencer (1996)
11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 325
A distinctive feature analysis of
the English vowel system
Roach (1991)11/02/2008 T. Kamiyama LLCM40AN English Phonetics and Phonology 2007-2008 Week 3
26
Application of features
• In generative phonology, we explain sound
changes with rules involving features.
• /kæn/ [kæ 1n]
• [-consonantal] -> [+nasal] / _ [+nasal]
• Vowels ([-cons]) become nasal ([+nasal]) in
the following context (/): before a nasal.
End of Class 2
Class 3: Stress, rhythm and weak forms
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