Phonology, part 2

Here we’ll talk about phonology, discussing sound patterns and changes in English and beyond.

If you’d like to dig deeper into these concepts, check out Chapter 3 of How English Works.

 

 

Natural Classes

Natural classes are sets of sounds that can be described by their shared features.

Sound changes (aka phonological phenomena) generally happen to whole sets of sounds – natural classes – not just individual sounds.

The IPA chart points to some obvious ones (look at the manner of articulation and place of articulation).

Examples of natural classes:

Stops – /p, b, t, d, g, k/
Fricatives – /f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h/
Affricates – /ʧ, ʤ/
Nasals – /m, n, ŋ/
Approximates – /w, l, r, j/
Bilabial sounds – /p, b, m, w/
Labiodental sounds – /f, v/
Interdental sounds – /θ, ð/
Alveolar sounds – /t, d, s, z, n, l, r/
Palatal sounds – /ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ/
Velar sounds – /k, g, ŋ/
Glottal sounds – /h/

Voicing can also create a natural class:
Unvoiced consonants – /p, t, k, f, s, ʃ, h, ʧ/
Voiced consonants – /b, d, g, v, ð, z, ʒ, ʤ, m, n, ŋ, w, l, r, j/

They can also be more specific:
Bilabial stops – /p, b/
Alveolar fricatives – /s, z/
Voiced stops – /b, d, g/

Any way to “name” part of the IPA chart is a natural class.

 

Same goes for vowels:

Examples:
High vowels – /i, ɪ, ʊ, u/
Back vowels – /ʊ, u, ɔ, o, ɑ/

 

 

Phonemes & Allophones

Phonemes and allophones are important concepts in phonology, but can be tricky to understand. Each are ways of describing a sound’s relationships to other sounds.

When two sounds are different phonemes, that means they’re considered separate sounds, different enough to change the meaning of a word

When two sounds are allophones of each other, that means that they’re variations of the same sound.

Try watching this video for an explanation:

 

In the kite versus sky example, both words seem to contain /k/, but the /k/ is slightly different:

• In kite, the /k/ has a little puff of air (/kʰ/), while the /k/ in sky doesn’t (try saying each word with your hand in front of your mouth)

These sounds are allophones of each other in most varieties/dialects of English.

Native speakers think of them as the “same” sound, and vary the pronunciation according to the surrounding environment (what sounds come before or after it) without even thinking about it.

The sounds never occur in the same environment – they’re in complementary distribution.

/kʰ/ comes after s, while /k/ comes at the beginning of the syllable. You can hear/feel the same difference in ‘car’ vs ‘scar’. It is very difficult to override this allophonic variation – try pronouncing ‘kite’ or ‘car’ without the puff of air.

 

I think of allophones as like the different states of H20.

Depending on the environment, it can be solid (ice), liquid (water), or gas (vapor), but it’s all the same ‘thing’ (H20).

 

/m/ and /n/, on the other hand, are generally separate phonemes in English.

We know this because we can come up with a minimal pair – a pair of words that differs only in those sounds: ‘meet’ /mit/ versus ‘neat’ /nit/

Changing /m/ for /n/ changes the meaning of the word, so it’s not just a variation.

 

Another example:

/l/ versus /r/ are separate phonemes in most varieties/dialects of English.

A minimal pair like ‘lead’ /lɛd/ versus ‘red’ /rɛd/ shows that they can occur in the same environment (before /ɛ/) and change the meaning of the word.

In languages like Japanese, however, /l/ and /r/ are allophones, which can make learning how to pronounce it in English very difficult.

 

What are some other examples of minimal pairs?

(remember, minimal pairs prove that those two sounds are separate phonemes!)

 

 

Phonological Rules

The variation of allophones are controlled by phonological rules

One example of a phonological rule is assimilation, where a sound becomes more similar to surrounding sounds.

Think back to the example in the video, where ‘input’ is sometimes pronounced with /m/ rather than /n/ (/ɪmpʊt/). This is happening because the /n/ is becoming “more similar” to the following /p/. The /p/ is bilabial, and the /n/ stays a nasal, but becomes bilabial too → /m/

 

In this situation, /m/ and /n/ are in allophonic variation. While they are generally separate phonemes in English, here, they can vary without changing the meaning of the word.

Another example of assimilation:

The /ɪn/ in ‘incredible’ becomes /ɪŋ/ → /ɪŋkrɛdɪbəl/. The /n/ stays nasal but becomes velar, like the following /k/.

Can you think of other examples of assimilation? Feel free to use the internet or the optional reading to help you.

 

Other rules don’t involve allophonic variations, but other kinds of changes. These changes might happen in real time (maybe when you’re speaking quickly) or might have happened historically (leading to a dialect change).

 

For instance, deletion – when sounds are deleted from words.

Examples:

• Laboratory (the second vowel – written as ‘o’ – is deleted → /læbrɘtori/)
• Handbag, or sandwich (the ‘d’ is deleted → /hænbæɡ/ or /sænwɪʧ/
• Sometimes, this is followed by assimilation → samwich /sæmwɪʧ/ and then maybe even another deletion → sammich /sæmɪʧ/

What are other examples of deletion?

 

Another rule: insertion – when sounds are added/inserted into words.

Examples:

• ‘Something’ with an inserted /p/ → /sʌmpθɪŋ/
• ‘Length’ with an inserted /k/ → /leŋkθ/
• R insertion: idea → ‘idear’

What are other examples of insertion?

 

And the last rule we’ll talk about: metathesis – when sounds are switched in order.

Examples:

• ‘Ask’ → ‘aks’
• ‘Thrid’ (an earlier form, similar to ‘three’) → third
• ‘Prescription’ → ‘perscription’

What are other examples of metathesis?

 

Our rules:

• Assimilation – a sound becomes more similar to surrounding sounds
• Deletion – sounds are deleted from words
• Insertion – sounds are added/inserted into words
• Metathesis – sounds are switched in order

(There are other kinds of phonological change – sounds being swapped for other sounds, etc. – but we’ll just focus on these.)

 

 

Syllables & Syllable Structure

Languages also have rules about how their syllables are structured.

For example, in English, some sounds can come at the end of a syllable, but not at the beginning, or vice versa:

• /keŋ/ (‘kang’?) and /ŋek/ (‘ngek’?) are both nonsense words, but one seems more English-y than the other
• Same with /hɑr/ versus /rɑh/

That’s true for sound combinations too:

• /tɪnd/ (‘tind’?) versus /dnɪt/ (‘dnit’?)

 

 

Comparing Languages

Languages can differ in terms of…

* The sounds they have

Example: Vowels in English versus vowels in Arabic

* The phonemic contrasts they make

* The phonological rules they follow

In English, unstressed vowels are often pronounced as ‘schwa’ /ə/, so you say /bənænə/ not /bænænæ/. Many other languages don’t have this rule!

* Their syllable structure

Spanish does not allow /sk/ (or other /s/ + consonant combinations) at the beginning of a syllable

The application of this rule in “English” can lead to pronunciations like ‘eschool’ or ‘estop’

These differences can influence second language learning!

 

 

History of English Spelling

Why is English spelling so confusing?

1. English has lots of loanwords, which means it contains a mix of spelling conventions

2.Revived interest in Greek and Latin during the Renaissance caused some spellings to be changed to be more Greek-like or Latin-like

3.The Great Vowel Shift!

 

The Great Vowel Shift – over time, the pronunciation of vowels shifted, but the spelling stayed the same.

This chart gives an idea of the shift: words that were pronounced with /ɑ/ began to be pronounced with /æ/, words that were pronounced with /æ/ began to be pronounced with /ɛ/, and so on.

 

Together, these led to a spelling system that is a good historical record, but inconsistent and un-intuitive.

 

 

Writing systems

And, finally, we’ll talk about writing systems:

 

Alphabets use symbols to represent sounds or groups of sounds. This kind of writing system can be ‘sounded out’.

Some are fairly phonemic, with a consistent phoneme to symbol match (Spanish, Arabic, etc.) where others are messier (like English).

Others use a symbol to represent a whole syllable, like Japanese.

 

Morphemic writing systems use symbols to represent morphemes (meaningful components of words) or words.

Example: Chinese languages

The pronunciation of these symbols must be memorized separately.

 

Iconic writing systems use picture-like symbols to represent ideas.

Unlike alphabets or morphemic writing systems, these symbols are not arbitrary – their appearance corresponds with their meaning.

Examples: Adinkra, Mixtec

 

What writing systems do you know? Your students?

 

 

Next week

We’ll talk about morphology!