Linguistics For Everyone - Chapter 4 - Phonology

Front 1

Phonology

Back 1

System of rules underlying the sound patterns in a language

Front 2

Phonological rules

Back 2

Description of when a predicatable variation of a particular sound occurs

Front 3

Phonemes

Back 3

The "psychologically real" sounds of a language.

Front 4

Allophones

Back 4

Contrasted with phonemes, the "actual" sounds of a language.

Front 5

Flap

Back 5

Sound occurring between vowels when the 2nd sound is unstressed OR manner of consonant articualtion similar to a stop, but with no air pressure build-up and therefore no air release

Front 6

Assimilation rules

Back 6

Vowel Nasalization
Alveolar Nasal Assimilation
Alveolar Stop Assimilation
Palatalization
Voicing Assimilation

Front 7

Assimilation

Back 7

The process of making one sound more like a neighbouring one with respect to some feature.

Front 8

Vowel nasalization

Back 8

A vowel becomes nasalized when it precedes a nasal consonant (/n/, /m/ or /ng/. Example: pan, man

Front 9

Alveolar nasal assimilation

Back 9

The alveolar nasal /n/ assimilates to the bilabial /w/ by changing the alveolar to a bilabial /m/. Example: sandwich, which many speakers pronounce samwich through alveolar nasal assimilation

Front 10

Alveolar stop assimilation

Back 10

The alveolar nasal /n/ changes its place of articulation to that of the following consonant when that consonant is a stop. /n/ will become either /m/ or /ᵑ/. Example: I can be ready becomes I cam be ready (p. 107)

Front 11

Dissimilation rules

Back 11

Dissimilation of Liquids and Nasal Sounds
Dissimilation of Fricative Sounds

Front 12

Dissimilation of liquids and nasal sounds

Back 12

Process causing two neighbouring sounds to becomes less alike with respect to some feature. Example: When /l/ precedes the ending -al anywhere in the room, the ending is changed from -al to -ar.

Front 13

Dissimilation of fricative sounds

Back 13

Neighbouring fricatives are avoided by changin one to a different place of articulation. Example: Months becomes monts

Front 14

Insertion rules (also called epenthesis)

Back 14

Process causing a segment not present at the phonemic level to be added to the phonetic form of a word.
Rules include: insertion of vowels, insertion of consonants, insertion of voiceless stop, insertion of /y/

Front 15

Insertion of vowels

Back 15

Example: Insertion of schwa between the /p/ and the /l/ in paraplegic or quadriplegic

Front 16

Insertion of consonants

Back 16

Example from Old Engish resulting in current 'thunder'. Alveolar stop /d/ with the same place of articulation as the nasal /n/ was inserted to ease the transition to the vowel.

Front 17

Insertion of voiceless stop

Back 17

Common. Insertion takes place between a nasal and a voiceless fricative when a voiceless stop with the same place of articulation as the nasal is inserted. Examples: hamster becomes hampster, something becomes sumpthing, strength becomes strenkth. This rule aslo led to the two common spellings of the surname Thomson/Thompson.

Front 18

Insertion of /y/

Back 18

In some dialects, a /y/ is inserted after initial alveolar consonants and preceding high vowels. Examples: news becomes nyews, Tuesday becomes Tyuesday, duke becomes dyuke. Appears to be on its way out of the language - retained in few and puny.

Front 19

Deletion of /r/ after vowels

Back 19

In many dialects, /r/ is deleted when it follows a vowel. Examples: car to /ka/, yard to /yad/.

Front 20

Deletion of fricative next to fricative

Back 20

Example: fifths and sixths, where three fricatives occur in a row. One or two of them are frequently deleted.

Front 21

Deletion of like sounds or syllables

Back 21

Example: Probably becomes /prabli/, mirror becomes /mir/.

Front 22

Deletion of consonant clusters

Back 22

Historical deletion of /k/ and /g/ before /n/ (knight, knob, gnat). Not considered a deletion now as they are not there phonologically for any modern-day speaker of English.

Front 23

Deletion of syllable-final consonant clusters

Back 23

Example: friend becomes 'fren', grandma becomes 'gramma'

Front 24

Fronting

Back 24

Process causing a segment produced in the back of the mouth to change to a segment produced at the front of the mouth.

Front 25

Fronting of velar nasal to alveolar nasal

Back 25

Example: words ending in -ing are pronounced -in (running becomes runnin). The velar nasal has fronted to become an alveolar nasal.

Front 26

Fronting in child language

Back 26

Many children front most velar sounds during the first few years. Goat becomes 'doat', OK becomes OTay.

Front 27

Fronting of /x/

Back 27

Historically, the velar fricative /x/ became a labiodental fricative /f/ in words such as tough and enough (the letters h and later gh were used to represent the velar fricative /x/ in Old English

Front 28

Exchange rules (also known as metathesis)

Back 28

Exchange rules reorder sounds or syllables.

Front 29

Exchanging /s/ and a consonant

Back 29

Example: Exchanging /s/ and /k/ in words like 'ask' which becomes 'aks', 'asterisk' which comes 'asteriks'.

Front 30

Exchanging /r/ and a vowel

Back 30

Example: 'pretty' becomes 'purty', 'children' becomes 'childern'.

Front 31

Exchanging syllable onsets

Back 31

The onsets (beginning consonants or consonant clusters) of syllables commonly metathesize. Particularly common in child language. 'animal' becomes 'aminal', 'cinnamon' becomes 'cimanon'.

Front 32

Multiple rule processes can occur.

Back 32

Examples include'pumpkin' where for some speakers the 2nd /p/ deletes as a result of dissimilation, then the /m/ assimilates to the same place of articulation as the following /k/ producing 'pungkin'

Front 33

Ease of articulation

Back 33

Making something easier to say.

Front 34

Suprasegmentals

Back 34

Phonological phenomena that are larger than a single sound; includes syllables, stress, and intonation.

Front 35

Syllable

Back 35

Basic unit of speech generally containing only one vowel sound (the nucleus), and also possible an onset and a coda (called the rime).

Front 36

Onset (of a syllable)

Back 36

Consonant(s) at the beginning of the syllable

Front 37

Exchanging /s/ and a consonant

Back 37

Example: Exchanging /s/ and /k/ in words like 'ask' which becomes 'aks', 'asterisk' which comes 'asteriks'.

Front 38

Rime (of a syllable)

Back 38

Vowel and any consonants following it at the end of the syllable.

Front 39

Exchanging /r/ and a vowel

Back 39

Example: 'pretty' becomes 'purty', 'children' becomes 'childern'.

Front 40

Nucleus (of a rime)

Back 40

The vowel that is the heart of the rime. Vowels are almost always the nucleus of a syllable. However, if the syllable lacks a vowel, certain consonants are able to take over as the nucleus: /r/, /l/, /m/, /n/

Front 41

Exchanging syllable onsets

Back 41

The onsets (beginning consonants or consonant clusters) of syllables commonly metathesize. Particularly common in child language. 'animal' becomes 'aminal', 'cinnamon' becomes 'cimanon'.

Front 42

Multiple rule processes can occur.

Back 42

Examples include'pumpkin' where for some speakers the 2nd /p/ deletes as a result of dissimilation, then the /m/ assimilates to the same place of articulation as the following /k/ producing 'pungkin'

Front 43

Ease of articulation

Back 43

Making something easier to say.

Front 44

Suprasegmentals

Back 44

Phonological phenomena that are larger than a single sound; includes syllables, stress, and intonation.

Front 45

Syllable

Back 45

Basic unit of speech generally containing only one vowel sound (the nucleus), and also possible an onset and a coda (called the rime).

Front 46

Onset (of a syllable)

Back 46

Consonant(s) at the beginning of the syllable. Can consist of a cluster of consonants. Examples: /fl/, /sp/, /tr/, /spl/, /spr/, /skr/

Front 47

Rime (of a syllable)

Back 47

Vowel and any consonants following it at the end of the syllable. Can consist of a vowel followed by a consonant, or a cluster of 2-4 consonants (Examples: bat, toast, wasps, prompts). Speakers often reduce these: 'first grade' becomes 'firs grade'.

Front 48

Nucleus (of a rime)

Back 48

The vowel that is the heart of the rime

Front 49

Phonotactics

Back 49

Branch of phonology dealing with natural and unconscious restrictions on the permissible combinations of phonemes in a language.

Front 50

Graphotactic

Back 50

Related to the spelling and writing system.

Front 51

Reduplication

Back 51

Doubling of a syllable, a common syllable structure in chidlren's language. Typically, the initial Consonant-Vowel syllable is reduplicated, so water becomes wawa

Front 52

Exchange error (spoonerism)

Back 52

Common type of slip of the tongue involving the exchange of one part of a syllable for another in two different words.

Front 53

Stress

Back 53

Relative emphasis given to the syllables of a word, usually produced by an increase in articulatory force. Words can have primary stress and secondary stress). Stress patterns vary across dialects.

Front 54

Reduplication

Back 54

Doubling of a syllable, a common syllable structure in chidlren's language. Typically, the initial Consonant-Vowel syllable is reduplicated, so water becomes wawa

Front 55

Homophones

Back 55

Words that are pronounced identically (made/maid). Record (n) and record (v) are not homophones, because the stress is on different syllables.

Front 56

Exchange error (spoonerism)

Back 56

Common type of slip of the tongue involving the exchange of one part of a syllable for another in two different words.

Front 57

Stress-timed languages

Back 57

The stressed syllables occur at a fairly constant rate. English, Russian, Arabic are stress-timed languages.

Front 58

Intonation

Back 58

Variation in pitch across an utterance. In English, intonation is used to convey surprise, irony, questioning.

Front 59

Intonation nucleus

Back 59

Most prominently stressed syllable in an utterance. The intonation nucleus can be moved and result in meaning changes.

Front 60

Stress

Back 60

Relative emphasis given to the syllables of a word, usually produced by an increase in articulatory force. Words can have primary stress and secondary stress). Stress patterns vary across dialects.

Front 61

Homophones

Back 61

Words that are pronounced identically (made/maid). Record (n) and record (v) are not homophones, because the stress is on different syllables.

Front 62

Ludlings

Back 62

Language games invented by children. Example: pig latin. Demonstrate children's awareness of/ability to manipulate syllables, stress and meter (prosody)

Front 63

Prosody

Back 63

Syllables, stress and meter

Front 64

Stress-timed languages

Back 64

The stressed syllables occur at a fairly constant rate. English, Russian, Arabic are stress-timed languages.

Front 65

Intonation

Back 65

Variation in pitch across an utterance. In English, intonation is used to convey surprise, irony, questioning.

Front 66

Intonation nucleus

Back 66

Most prominently stressed syllable in an utterance. The intonation nucleus can be moved and result in meaning changes.

Front 67

Ludlings

Back 67

Language games invented by children. Example: pig latin. Demonstrate children's awareness of/ability to manipulate syllables, stress and meter (prosody)

Front 68

Prosody

Back 68

Syllables, stress and meter