LINGUIS 101 1st Edition Phonology 1 Lecture 9 Phonology the study of the cognitive organization of sound What sounds are used in various languages to distinguish different words Which sequences of sounds are allowed and which are not allowed What changes do sounds undergo in various environments How are sounds organized into larger constituents syllables words and phrases Contrastive vs non contrastive sounds These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute In language a there is a huge difference in phonology or the organization of the sound not necessarily the sounds themselves Cognitively by speakers of this language they are thought to be two different sounds completely because they change the meaning of the words o Contrastive t and d occur in the same position in the word and are used to signal meaning contrasts o T and d are separate phonemes phoneme is a mental sound that the speaker is aware of used to signal word meaning o Occurrence is not predictable In language b the t and the d never occur in exactly the same position Oral aveolar stop t if it is between two vowels it is a d we can make that prediction o Non contrastive t and d do not occur in the same position of the word and are not used to signal meaning contrast o T and d are allophones two different pronounciations of the same phoneme one phoneme mental sound they don t occur in the same position o Occurrence is predictable Phonemes and allophones Phoneme the basic underlying form of a segment in a speakers mental dictionary Used to signal meaning contrasts Allophone a contextually determined variant pronunciation of a phoneme The actual surface realization of a phoneme Contrastive distribution Contrastive distribution two segments in contrastive distribution in a particular language if there exists a minimal pair involving those segments in that language Minimal pair two forms with distinct meanings that different by only one segment found in the same position in each one Complementary distribution complementary distribution two segments are in complementary distribution in a particular language if they appear in opposite non overlapping environments o complementary where there is a yes there is a no for the other sound o non complementary not a clear pattern overlap Phonology 2 Phonemes the abstract representations of sounds as stored in the mental dictionary Allophones the actual surface pronunciations of sounds Lexicon a speaker s mental dictionary o Each word has a lexical entry which is stored in the brain The lexical entry contains only unpredictable aspects of sound and meaning associated with a word Phonological rules Relate the underlying forms of words to their surface forms They change the pronunciation of certain sounds in specified environments Aspiration rule voiceless stops become aspirated at the beginning of a word o X underlying form becomes Y change in Z environment of change o The phoneme x becomes y in the environment of z Nasalization rule Vowels nasal nasal vowels become nasal before a nasal sound use natural classes and phonetic features whenever possible rather than just listing specific sounds in rules