LESSON 5: PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

LESSON 5: PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Glossary:

acoustic : thuộc thính âm actual realization : sự hiện thực air pressure : áp lực hơi allophone : biến thái âm vị,  âm tố anterior : (âm) phía trước articulatory characteristics : đặc tính cấu  âm aspirated : (âm) bật hơi complementary distribution : sự phân bố bổ sung concret : cụ thể consonantal : thuộc phụ âm constricted glottis : thanh môn co khít constriction : sự co khít continuants : âm liên tục, liên  âm contrastive : đối chiếu contrastive distribution : sự phân bố  đối chiếu coronal : (âm) vành lưỡi demonstrate : biểu thị designate : định rõ distinctive features : nét khu biệt distinguish : phân biệt distribution : sự phân bố dorsal features : đặc điểm âm lưng lưỡi environment : môi trường evidence : bằng chứng fairly randomly distributed : được phân bố  một cách khá ngẫu nhiên fairly randomly distributed : biến thái tự do glide : (âm) lướt, trượt glottal configuration : sự bố trí/sắp xếp âm hầu identical : giống nhau, giống y hệt independent : độc lập infinite : vô hạn laryngeal features : đặc điểm về  âm thanh hầu liquid : (âm) lỏng minimal pair : cặp tối thiểu nasal : (âm) mũi notation : ký hiệu obstruent : (phụ âm) cản organizable : có thể tổ  chức, sắp xếp được organizable : cảm nhận phone : âm phoneme : âm vị phonemic (or broad) transcription : phiên âm (về  mặt) âm vị (rộng) phonetic (or narrow) transcription : phiên âm (về  mặt) ngữ âm (hẹp) phonetic variants : biến thể ngữ  âm phonological analysis : phân tích (về mặt) âm vị học predictable : có thể đoán trước được predictable : đại diện cho, tiêu biểu cho represent : đại diện, tiêu biểu rule-governed : do quy luật chi phối schwa : nguyên âm giảm segment : âm đoạn sequence : sự liên tiếp simplified : đơn giản hoá slash brackets : ngoặc sổ sonorant : âm vang spread glottis : thanh môn giãn square brackets : ngoặc vuông stressed vowel : nguyên âm nhấn, nguyên âm có trọng âm strident : lanh lảnh (âm thanh) substitutability : tính có thể  thay thế được substitution : sự thay thế syllabic liquid : âm lỏng có tính âm tiết unbroken stream of phonetic speech : chuổi âm liên tục (không bị đứt đoạn) utterly : một cách hoàn toàn vocalic : thuộc âm thanh vowel : nguyên âm

Phone/Phoneme/Allophone     
A great deal of evidence indicates that humans perceive speech sounds in a way that is vastly simplified from how they actually sound. Specifically, an unbroken stream of phonetic speech is perceived as a sequence of abstract psychological units called phonemes. The science of phonology, or the study of how speech sounds are perceived by and organized in the brain, usually assumes that phonemes exist.    
Some sounds that are phonetically different nevertheless sound the same to English speakers, e.g. [t] and [t^h], [l] and [|], [p] and [p^h]. Similar groups of sounds can be found for any human language. Such a group of phones that sound alike to a speaker of a language represent a phoneme: a purely psychological entity that a speaker considers to be a single sound, even though it may have various phonetic shapes, or allophones.
Definitions
a. phone: a physical language sound, measurable by acoustic instruments.
b. phoneme: a language sound as it is perceived by a speaker.
c. allophone: a phone in complementary distribution with other allophones that are related to the same phoneme.
Allophones have three important characteristics:
(i) they are perceived as the same sound,
(ii) they are in complementary distribution, and
(iii) they are usually phonetically similar.    
We distinguish phones from phonemes in our notation by writing them in square brackets and slash brackets, respectively: e.g. [t] and [t^h] are allophones of the English phoneme /t/, [l] and [|] are allophones of English /l/, and [p] and [p^h] are allophones of English /p/. We must therefore distinguish at least two ways of transcribing speech.    
A phonemic (or broad) transcription shows the sequence of phonemes that a native speaker perceives in the speech stream, while a phonetic (or narrow) transcription shows (in greater or lesser detail) the actual phones that occur in the speech stream.

Phonemic and phonetic transcriptions of some /t/ words

Phonemic Phonetic a. table /tewbl/ [thewb|] b. batter /bæt∂/ [bæ∂] c. stop /st]p/ [st]p]

Phoneme vs. Phones vs. Allophones

Phonemes Phones Allophones o Abstract sounds stored in our memory o Mental representation of the sounds o Finite number of phonemes o Organizable (labial, interdental, alveolar.. etc.) o Contrastive phonological segments, distinctive sounds o The substitution of one for the other makes a different word. o Phonemes vary from language to language. o Designated in slashes / / o Concrete phonetic segments o Actual realization of the phonemes o Infinite number of phones o Hard to organize o Non-contrastive o You never hear same phone twice. o Designated in brackets [ ] o The different phones that are the realizations of one phoneme o Predictable o Phonetic variants of a phoneme o Rule-governed o No difference in meaning, no minimal pairs o Designated in brackets [ ]

Distribution
Complementary distribution     
Complementary distribution is commonly applied to phonology, where similar phones in complementary distribution are usually allophones of the same phoneme. For instance, in English, [p] and [ph] are allophones of the phoneme /p/ because they occur in complementary distribution. [ph] always occurs when it is the syllable onset and followed by a stressed vowel (as in the word pin). [p] occurs in all other situations (as in the word spin).     
Complementary distribution is an indication that the sounds in question are allophones of the same phoneme.     
There are cases where elements are in complementary distribution, but are not considered allophones. For example in English [h] and [[ŋ] (engma, written as "ng" in English) are in complementary distribution, since [h] only occurs at the beginning of a syllable and [ŋ] only at the end. But because they have so little in common they are still considered separate phonemes.

Contrastive distribution    
Contrastive distribution means that the sounds are distributed in the data in a way that distinguishes one word from another. For example the sounds /p/ and /k/ are in contrastive distribution in English in such words as skill and spill.  
 Contrastive distribution is an indication that the two sounds in question are different phonemes.

Free Variation     
The substitutability of one sound for another in a given environment, with no change in the word’s meaning. For example, the word economics may be pronounced with /w/ or /e/ in the first syllable; tomato is pronounced differently in British and American English; or either has two pronunciations which are fairly randomly distributed.

Minimal pair     
In establishing the set of phonemes of a language, it is usual to demonstrate the independent, contrastive nature of a phoneme by citing pairs of words which differ in one sound only and have different meanings. Thus in English 'fairy' /'fε∂‹w/ and 'fairly' /fε∂lw/ make a minimal pair and prove that /‹/ and /l/ are separate, contrasting phonemes.    
Sometimes an exact minimal pair contrasting two phonemes does not exist in a language. Linguists then look for near minimal pairs.    
In a near minimal pair only the sounds surrounding the phonemes are identical. Could you come up with a minimal pair for /∫, ¥/? A near minimal pair for these phonemes is mission, vision: /'mw∫∂n/ /'vi¥∂n'/

Distinctive Features     
In any language it seems that the sounds used will only differ from each other in a small number of ways. If for example a language had 40 phonemes, then in theory each of those 40 could be utterly different from the other 39. However, in practice there will usually be just a small set of important differences: some of the sounds will be vowels and some consonants; some of the consonants will be plosives and affricates, and the rest will be continuants; some of the continuants will be nasal and some not, and so on. These differences are identified by phonologists, and are known as distinctive features. There is disagreement about how to define the features (e.g. whether they should be labelled according to articulatory characteristics or acoustic ones), and about how many features are needed in order to be able to classify the sounds of all the languages in the world.

Major class features     
These features represent the classes: consonant, obstruent, nasal, liquid, glide, and vowel.
[±  consonantal]    
Sounds which are [+ consonantal] are those which have some kind of constriction along the center of the vocal tract. This constriction must be at least as narrow as that required for a fricative. Examples: [p] [b] [s] [z] [t∫] [¥]
[±  sonorant]    
Sounds which are [+sonorant] are those which are produced with a constriction in the vocal tract that allows the air pressure both behind and in front of the constriction to be relatively equal. This feature generally divides the sound system into sonorants ([+sonorant] sounds), which are nasals, approximants, glides, and vowels, and obstruents ([-sonorant] sounds), which are oral stops, fricatives, and affricates.
[±  vocalic]
Vowels and syllabic liquids.

Use of major class features

Obstruents Vowels Glides Liquids Nasals [consonantal] +    - - + + [vocalic] - + - - - [sonorant] - + + + + Examples      p b z θ i æ j w l r m n

Laryngeal features     
These features represent laryngeal states.
[±  voice]    
Sounds which are [+voice] are those which are produced with vibration of the vocal folds.
[±  spread glottis]    
Sounds which are [+spread glottis] are those produced with a glottal configuration that produces audible glottal friction. For example, the aspirated stops in English are [+spread glottis]
[±  constricted glottis]    
Sounds which are [+constricted glottis] are those which are produced with the vocal folds drawn together and tense.

Place features     
These features represent place of articulation.
[±  labial]
Any sound articulated with one or both lips is [+ labial. Examples [p] [b] [f] [v] [w].
[±  round]
Sounds that are [+ round] are made by protruding the lips. Examples [w]
[±  coronal]
Any sound articulated with the tongue tip or blade raised is [+ coronal]. Examples [t] [d] [θ] [ð] [s] [z] [t∫] [d¥] [∫] [¥] [n] [l] [‹]
[±  anterior]
Any sound articulated in front of the alveopalatal region is considered to be [+ anterior]. Examples [p] [b] [t] [d] [s] [z] [θ] [ð]
[±  strident]
The 'noisy' fricatives and affricates only. Examples [s] [z] [∫] [¥] [t∫] [d¥]

Dorsal features     
These features represent the placement of the body of the tongue.
[±  high]
Sounds produced with the tongue body raised are considered [+ high] (both vowels and consonants). Examples: [i:] [u:] [k] [g]
[±  low]
Vowels made with the tongue body distinctly lowered from a central position in the oral cavity are   [+ low]. Examples: [æ] [Y:]
[±  back]
Any sound articulated behind the palatal region in the oral cavity. Examples: [u:] []:] [k] [g]
[±  tense]
Expresses the tense - lax distinctions among vowels.
[±  reduced]
Only the schwa ([∂]) is [+ reduced]

Manner features     
These features represent manner of articulation.
[±continuant]
Sounds which are [+ continuant] are those which are produced without a central blockage in the vocal tract. For example, fricatives have a central constriction, but there is no complete blockage of the air, and they are therefore, [+ continuant].
[±nasal]
Sounds which are [+nasal] are produced with nasal airflow.
[±lateral]
Sounds which are [+lateral] are produced with airflow passing through one or both sides of the tongue, which is in contact with the central part of the oral cavity.