Phonetics and Phonology Phonemes in different …€¦ · 2017-2018 T. Kamiyama Phonetics and Phonology Lecture 8 5 French /ʁ/ •In French there are various realizations (allophones)

Phonetics and Phonology

Lecture 8: Phonetics and phonology, phonemeand allophone, distinctive features

KAMIYAMA, [email protected]

Phonemes in different languages

2017-2018 T. Kamiyama Phonetics and Phonology Lecture 83

Phonemes in different languages• In a given language, you can make list of the

phonemes that make up a phonological systemof the language.

• In English:• /p b t d k g f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h tʃ dʒ m n ŋ r l j

w/• /iː ɜː ɑː ɔː uː ɪ e æ ʌ ɒ ʊ ɪə eə ʊə eɪ aɪ ɔɪ aʊʊə/

• The choice and the boundary of phonemes maybe different from one language to another: e.g.French does not have the same system.


Nasalized vowels and nasal vowels inEnglish and French

• In English, oral [æ] in /kæt/ and nasal [æ̃] in/kæn/ are allophones of the phoneme /æ/.

• But to French speakers, they sound differently.In French /ɛ/ and /ɛ̃/ are different phonemes:minimal pair /pɛ/ and /pɛ̃/.


French /ʁ/• In French there are various realizations

(allophones) of /ʁ/• [pɔʀ]• [pɔʁ]• [pɔχ]• [pɔr]• [pɔɹ]• [pɔː(ə)]

• -> /pɔʁ/ « port »

• [ʀ ʁ χ r ɹ Vː(ə)]are all allophonesof the phoneme /ʁ/in French.


• 1. « s’est effondré »• 2. « s’est absenté »• 3. « être déçu »

In Moroccan Arabic, however …


In Moroccan Arabic, however …

• 1. /rab/ « s’est effondré »• 2. /ʁab/ « s’est absenté »• 3. /χab/ « être déçu »

-> /r/, /ʁ/, and /!/ are 3 different phonemes2017-2018 T. Kamiyama Phonetics and Phonology Lecture 8

8

In English …

• In the onset of a stressed syllable, you have[p] after /s/ (as in [speɪs]), and [pʰ] in othercontexts (as in [pʰeɪs]): the two allophones ofthe phoneme /p/, namely [p] and [pʰ] are incomplementary distribution.


In Korean …

• [paŋ] “bread”• [pʰaŋ] “bang” (onomatopoeia)

• /p/ and /pʰ/ are two different phonemes inKorean, unlike in English and in French.


Summary

• Two sounds (or “phones”: to betranscribed between [ ] square brackets)may correspond to two allophones of thesame phoneme in one language, and totwo different phonemes in another.

2. Phonetics and phonology


Phonetics and phonology

• Both phoneticians and phonologists studyspeech sounds of human languages.


Phonetics and phonology: in thestructuralist tradition

• Phonetics dealswith concretephysicalrealizations ofspeech sounds(articulatory,acoustic, andperceptualcharacteristics).

• Phonology dealswith the soundsystem oflanguages: howphonemes function,how they are used ina given language.


Some examples of topics treated inphonetics and phonology

• Phonetics deals withconcrete physicalrealizations: word-final /l/ in RP is“dark” (articulatory,acoustic, perceptualcharacteristics). It isnot the case inFrench.

• Phonology dealswith the soundsystem oflanguages: /l m n ŋ r/can be the nucleus(peak) of syllables inEnglish. It is not thecase in French.

3. Some tools of phonology:natural class and distinctive

feature analysis


Natural class

• The consonants of English can be groupedinto some groups according to theirbehaviours in the language.

• - /l m n ŋ r/ can be nucleus (peak) of syllable

• - Others cannot.


Natural class: some otherexamples

• The vowels /i y u/ in Canadian French showcommon behaviours, unlike others.

• They may be devoiced.• They are realized as lax allophones [ɪ ʏ ʊ] in

closed syllables.• - /i y u/ form a natural class of high vowels.


Distinctive features• Theory formalized first by Roman Jakobson.

• Phonemes should be regarded:not as independent and indivisible unitbut instead as combinations of different binaryfeatures (+ or -).

• A distinctive feature makes it possible todistinguish phonemes.


Distinctive features: some examples

• /p b m f v/ are all labial consonants: one orboth lips are involved. -> [+ labial]

• /b d g v ð z ʒ dʒ/ are all voiced. -> [+ voice]

• /f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h/ are fricatives: the airstreamis not blocked completely and flows outcontinuously. -> [+ continuant]


Distinctive features: some examples

• Phonemes are represented in terms ofcombination of features.

• /v/ [+continuant, +voice, +labial]• /p/ [-continuant, -voice, +labial]• /g/ [-continuant, +voice, +velar]• /k/ [-continuant, -voice, +velar]


Distinctive features• With 1 binary feature, we can distinguish 2

phonemes at most (2 = 21).

+-[voice]

dt

• With 2 binary feature, we can distinguish 4phonemes at most (4 = 22: “two squared”).

++--[labial]+-+-[voice]

bpdt


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


Distinctive features• In reality, it is not always perfectly economical

(or efficient).

• To distinguish the 24 consonants and the 20vowels of English, we need more than 5 (cf.32 = 25) features respectively.


A distinctive feature analysis of the English consonantsystem

Spencer (1996)


A distinctive feature analysis ofthe English vowel system

Roach (1991)2017-2018 T. Kamiyama Phonetics and Phonology Lecture 8

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Application of features

• In generative phonology, we explain soundchanges with rules involving features.

• /kæn/ [kæ ̃n]• [-consonantal] -> [+nasal] / _ [+nasal]• Vowels ([-cons]) become nasal ([+nasal]) in

the following context (/): before a nasal.

Documents

Phonetics and Phonology Phonemes in different …€¦ · 2017-2018 T. Kamiyama Phonetics and Phonology Lecture 8 5 French /ʁ/ •In French there are various realizations (allophones)