phoneme theory-120204024303-phpapp01.pptx

phoneme theory

1. Difference? k it s k ill sac k We pronounce them differently but we know they are the same sound. How do we know two sounds are the same or different? [ k h ] Initial /k/ [ k o ] after s [ k] elsewhere

2. phonology Phonology is how speech sounds are organized and affect one another in pronunciation. Key terms: Phone Phoneme allophone This organization is explained in phonological rules

3. Conceptuality Articulatory phonetics Real sounds = phones [p], [t], [k] [ i ], [æ] Phonology system and rules of sound patterns Abstractions = phoneme / p/, /t/, /k/ / i /, /æ/ Inventory of sounds and how they are realized.

4. Phoneme a PHONEME is the minimal distinctive (contrastive ) linguistic sound Phoneme Mental unit Meaningful Not realized Phone Physical/environmental unit Meaningless Realized Allophone Phonetic unit Variation of phoneme variations

5. phoneme (from the Greek : φώνημα , phōnēma , "a sound uttered") is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances. (Wikipedia) Segment: "any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically or auditorily , in the stream of speech ." 1. separate and individual, such as consonants and vowels , 2. occur in a distinct temporal order multiple segments vowels, consonants supra-segmental tone,stress , length,intonation secondary articulations nasalization vowel harmony Marginal segments onomatopoeic words, interjections, loan words Source: Wikipedia

6. Phoneme A unit of speech that can be used to differentiate words( e.g.“cat ”/ kaet / vs.“bat ”/ baet /). Phonemes identify minimal pairs in a language. The set of phonemes in a language subject to interpretation; most languages have 20 to 40 phonemes. The phoneme cannot therefore be acoustically defined. The phoneme is instead a feature of language structure.

7. Issues

8. 1. What sort of entity is the phoneme? Twaddell (1935) 1) phoneme is a physical reality “count for practical purposes as if they were one and the same.” JONES (1967: 258) 2) it is a psychological notion a mental or psychological reality the phoneme is a constant acoustic and auditory image ( Sommerfelt ); a thought sound ( Beni ); a sound idea ( Trubetzkoy ); a psychological equivalent of an empirical sound ( UÓaszyn ); In modern terms: phoneme is some sort of mental representation TWADDELL criticized this mental phenomenon

9. 2. what is the content of the phoneme What are phonemes made of? How are they represented? what position specific phoneme takes in the given phonemic system. Which phoneme is in the opposition to a specific phoneme Sapir (1925, 1933) Sapir’s “point in the pattern.” phoneme as a set of contrastively underspecified features underspecified , in the sense that it consists only of contrastive properties and other features are omitted This notion further corresponded to the theory of Distinctive feature ⇒ this underspecification theory has been proposed under generative phonology under the name Modified Contrastive Specification

10. Continue… Prague School: Phonemic make-up or content phonemic make-up( Jakobson ) phonemic content of the phoneme ( Trubetzkoy ) those properties which are common to all variants of a phoneme Each phoneme has a definable phonemic content only because the system of distinctive oppositions shows a definite order or structure.

11. 3. how does one identify phonemes Practical aspect of phoneme: phonemic analysis whether a sound is a single phoneme (/ ts /,/ nd /, or / oe /) a sequence of phonemes (/t-s/, /n-d/, or /s-j/). Minimal pair Differ in one phonological element (phone, phoneme, toneme or chroneme ) complementary distribution Contrastive distribution Free variation Mutation methods

12. views of what the phoneme is Empiricist notion: Twaddell the phoneme is a collection of sounds ( a fictitious unit ) Mentalist: Chomsky ( realistic view) the phoneme is the mental category that corresponds to a coherent set of sounds in a language American structuralist tradition: a phoneme is defined according to its allophones and environments generative tradition: a phoneme is defined as a set of distinctive features.

13. BLOOMFIELD’s Phoneme “The smallest units which make a difference in meaning” “A minimum unit of distinctive sound feature” (p. 77). non- mentalistic unit He identifies “ primary ” (segmental sounds) and “secondary ” (stress and tone) phonemes according to their function in language (primary: syllable forming; secondary: structuring larger units). Phonemes are defined by their participation in structural sets. ( syllabic , open- syllable , closed syllable , non- syllabic , initial, medial, final, initial cluster, final cluster, etc.)

14. Common Phonemic Rules Aspiration [ h ] Unreleased Stop [ ̚ ] Flap [ ɾ ] Dental Consonants [ ⊓ ] Velarization [ ɫ ] Voicelessness [ ˚ ] Vowel lengthening [ ׃ ] Vowel nasalization [~]

15. Phonemic Awareness is a subset of  phonological awareness  in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate  phonemes , the smallest units of  sound  that can differentiate meaning. Separating the spoken word "cat" into three distinct phonemes, /k/, /æ/, and /t/, requires phonemic awareness skill.  Phonemic Awareness

16. Isolating Hear and isolate sounds in initial, medial or final positions in word (e.g. bat, ball, bell, pal) Segmenting Pronounce each phoneme in order as it occurs in word (bat >> b-a-t) Blending Combine phonemes to make a word (hear sh-ip and say ship) Manipulating Add or delete sounds in word to make new word (add a “t” to an” and say ant; replace the sound “d” in sad with a “t” and say sat) Common Types of Phonemic Awareness

17. Theoretical timeline of phoneme Ancient forerunners of modern descriptive linguistics ( P¯ANINI, PATAÑJALI (India), the Greeks & “Anon” (Iceland, 12th C.)) clearly recognized the systematic nature between distinctive sound properties and the identity of words in their languages DE SAUSSURE (1857-1913) used “ phonème ”, first as a term for speech sounds, later as a purely functional entity. A. Dufriche-Desgenettes 1873 French word phonème as a speech sound Source: B. Elan Dresher

18. Timeline… Structuralism (Ferdinand de Saussure(1879), E. Sapir, and L. Bloomfield) Tried to eliminate cognitive and psycholinguistic function of phoneme Used to refer to a hypothesized sound in a proto-language together with its reflexes in the daughter languages Polish Kazan school (Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay and MikoÓaj Kruszewski 1875–1895) As an abstract set of alternating invariant psycho phonetic elements : fonema , Prague School 1926–1935 the first group to formulate an explicit phonological theory Generative linguistics (Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle) modern phonology

19. De Saussure’s emphasized on the differential function of linguistic elements . Jakobson and Trubetzkoy attached great importance to the oppositions among phonemes rather than to the phonemes themselves The notion of component features is already implicit in the idea of opposition. The notion was made explicit by Jakobson’s and Trubetzkoy’s recognition of such features as ‘differential qualities’ or ‘relevant properties’. (binary features + - )

20. Jakobson’s greatest insight, distinctive feature, (after the phoneme) belongs to the (Functional) Structuralist Phonology. Jakobson (1939, 1949) drawing on earlier phonological concepts of de Saussure and Hjelmslev , pointed to the limited number of “differential qualities” or “distinctive features” that appeared to be available to languages.

21. Original set appeared in Jakobson , Fant and Halle: 12 features Chomsky and Halle : 45 features Most modern phonologists : A binary system of indexing features: a segment either possesses or does not any one particular features. English (with around 45 phonemes) would be six, giving us 2 6 or 64 segments

22. Jakobson and Halle: 12 features All of the features are polar oppositions, allowing relative values Each feature is binary , with only two opposed values along a single dimension. They employed features listed with articulatory correlates as well as acoustic cues. The vocalic portion The presence of release burst Duration of the closure interval rise-time of the fricative time Duration of the fricative noise

23. Protensity S onority

24. Tonality S onority

25. If the word high-handed falls out of use, then synonyms like arrogant and presumptuous will extend their uses. If we drop the final f or v the results in English are not momentous (we might still recognize belie as belief from the context), but not if the final s is dropped (we should then have to find some new way of indicating plurals).

26. Distinctive feature theory

27. three principles surrounding the distinctive feature set It should be able to characterize all contrasting segments in human languages It should be able to capture natural classes in a clear fashion It should be transparent with regard to phonetic correlates

28. Distinctive features … Are minimal linguistic units Are limited Only binary oppositions are accepted The universal set of cognitive properties Are associated with speech sound Determine the contrast between speech sounds Describe the ways in which these sounds change Define the natural classes ( set of sounds)

29. Natural classes A natural class of sounds in a language consists on those sounds which share certain distinctive feature to the exclusion of all other sounds in a language. They often pattern together in similar ways. The labio -velar sound [w] as in ‘wit’ can not follow a specific group of sounds in English; [w] may follow [d] or [k] sounds as in ‘ dwell’,’quell ’ But can not follow natural class of ‘labials’ and ‘ labio -dentals’ [ f,v,b,p ]

30. Feature value The distinctive feature values for the sounds of a language are arranged as a matrix with + or – or 0 (non-relevant values obstruents vowels glides liquids nasals [consonental] + - - + + [Vocalic] - + - - - [ sonarant ] - + + + + examples [p b z θ ] [ i : a] [j w] [l r] [m n]

31. Features and markedness of speech sound Implicational law Most common sound: unmarked Progressively rarer sounds: marked The relationship that holds between them is called implicational law