grundkurs what is phonology? the contrasts, phonotactics and … · minimal pairs can show us which...

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GrundkursWhat is phonology?

The contrasts, phonotactics and alternations of alanguage

Ruben van de Vijver

November 30, 2017

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Practical information

Practical information

Course Grundkurs; What is phonology?Teacher Ruben van de VijverOffice hours Wednesday 14:30 - 15:30Where 24.53.00.98E-mail Ruben.Vijver@uni-duesseldorf.deTelephone 0211-81-11822

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IntroductionThis class

Explain what phonology is

• by learning about knowledge of systematic aspects of speechsounds as evidenced by

• contrasts (what sounds does a language use to distinguishwords),

• phonotactics (how can sounds be combined) and• alternations (how do sounds change depending on their

context).

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Difference with phonetics

Phonetics

• How are speech soundspronounced?

• What are the physicalproperties of speech sounds?

• What aspects of sounds areused to identify a speechsound?

Phonology

• What sounds does alanguage use?

• How can speech sounds becombined into words?

• How does the pronunciationof sounds systematicallyvary with context?

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Phonology

We will work through each of these questions:

• What sounds does a language use?

• How can speech sounds be combined into words?

• How does the pronunciation of sounds systematically varywith context?

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Sounds are meaningless

Sounds without meaning

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Sounds are meaninglessHowever, sounds can be combined and such combination can bemeaningful.

[mo:l@] molen ‘Muhle’

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Sounds are meaninglessHowever, sounds can be combined and such combination can bemeaningful.[mo:l@] molen ‘Muhle’

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Which sounds?

The sounds, though, are not easily segmentable:molen

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Which sounds

Even though it may be difficult to see where one sound starts andanother one stops, it is relatively easy to create contrasts betweenwords that differ in only one sound.

[ta:l] Tal and [ka:l] kahl

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Which sounds

[ta:l] Tal and [ka:l] kahl

This is a minimal pair. These words differ in one sound only. Thesounds [t] and [k] can be used to distinguish words (theycontrast).

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Which sounds

The method of creating minimal pairs can be used to find all thecontrasts in a language.

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Which sounds

A few minimal tuples (pairs, triplets, quadruplets,...)

• [ta:l] (Tal), [ka:l] (kahl), [ma:l] (mal), [va:l] (Wahl)

• [Sta:l] (Stahl), [Stu:l] (Stuhl), [Sti:l] (Stiel), [Ste:l] (stehl)

• [ram] (Ram), [ran], (ran), [raN] (Rang)

• [maS@] (Masche), [mas@] (Masse)

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Which soundsKiel and kahl

The sounds [t] and [k] are pronounced differently. But not allsounds that are pronounced differently contrast.

There are sounds that are pronounced differently, but are not usedto distinguish words. Here is an example. The [k] in Kiel [ki:l] ispronounced differently from the [k] in kahl [ka:l]. You can observethis when you try and feel where the back of your tongue touchesthe palate in both words: Try and pronounce the words, but stopbefore you arrive at the vowel.

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Which soundsKiel and kahl

The sounds [t] and [k] are pronounced differently. But not allsounds that are pronounced differently contrast.There are sounds that are pronounced differently, but are not usedto distinguish words. Here is an example. The [k] in Kiel [ki:l] ispronounced differently from the [k] in kahl [ka:l]. You can observethis when you try and feel where the back of your tongue touchesthe palate in both words: Try and pronounce the words, but stopbefore you arrive at the vowel.

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Kiel and kahl

[ka:l] Kahl [kffi:l] Kiel[ko:l] Kohl [kffy:l] kuhl

The [k] in [kffi:l] is fronted, which is what the + under the [kff]indicates. The [k] in [ka:l] is not. These two sounds, however, donot contrast. They are called allophones. There is no minimalpair [ka:l] and [kffa:l].

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Which soundsContrast and allophony

When two sounds can be used to distinguish words the sounds arecalled phonemes. The minimal pair [ka:l] (kahl) and [ki:l] (Kiel)shows that [a:] and [i:] are phonemes of German.

The fact that the different [k]’s in [ka:l] and [kffi:l] are never used todistinguish words shows that [k] and [kff] are allophones.

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Which soundsContrast and allophony

When two sounds can be used to distinguish words the sounds arecalled phonemes. The minimal pair [ka:l] (kahl) and [ki:l] (Kiel)shows that [a:] and [i:] are phonemes of German.The fact that the different [k]’s in [ka:l] and [kffi:l] are never used todistinguish words shows that [k] and [kff] are allophones.

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Combinations of sounds

Minimal pairs can show us which sounds a language uses. Theyway in which these sounds can be combined into a word is notfree. For example, no German word starts with a [s]: The word Seeis pronounced [zee] not [see].Phonotactics is the part of phonology that deals with whichsounds can occur where and what combinations of sounds areallowed.

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Phonotactics

Haribo has a new candy: they are wondering whether to call thempnickies or rather ptickies?

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Phonotactics

Both pnickies and ptickies sound rather bad (to my ears). Do theysound equally bad?

Speech sounds have an inherent loudness: tryyell an [a] and try yell a [p].Vowels are most loudest; stops, such as [p, t, k] are least quietest.If a word begins with two consonants, the second one is louderthan the first one, for example [pra:l] (”prahl!”). After a vowel, atthe end of a word, the order of these consonants must be reversedto [rp]: [herp] (herb).Loudness increases from the first stop until the vowel is reachedand then falls.

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Phonotactics

Both pnickies and ptickies sound rather bad (to my ears). Do theysound equally bad? Speech sounds have an inherent loudness: tryyell an [a] and try yell a [p].

Vowels are most loudest; stops, such as [p, t, k] are least quietest.If a word begins with two consonants, the second one is louderthan the first one, for example [pra:l] (”prahl!”). After a vowel, atthe end of a word, the order of these consonants must be reversedto [rp]: [herp] (herb).Loudness increases from the first stop until the vowel is reachedand then falls.

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Phonotactics

Both pnickies and ptickies sound rather bad (to my ears). Do theysound equally bad? Speech sounds have an inherent loudness: tryyell an [a] and try yell a [p].Vowels are most loudest; stops, such as [p, t, k] are least quietest.

If a word begins with two consonants, the second one is louderthan the first one, for example [pra:l] (”prahl!”). After a vowel, atthe end of a word, the order of these consonants must be reversedto [rp]: [herp] (herb).Loudness increases from the first stop until the vowel is reachedand then falls.

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Phonotactics

Both pnickies and ptickies sound rather bad (to my ears). Do theysound equally bad? Speech sounds have an inherent loudness: tryyell an [a] and try yell a [p].Vowels are most loudest; stops, such as [p, t, k] are least quietest.If a word begins with two consonants, the second one is louderthan the first one, for example [pra:l] (”prahl!”).

After a vowel, atthe end of a word, the order of these consonants must be reversedto [rp]: [herp] (herb).Loudness increases from the first stop until the vowel is reachedand then falls.

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Phonotactics

Both pnickies and ptickies sound rather bad (to my ears). Do theysound equally bad? Speech sounds have an inherent loudness: tryyell an [a] and try yell a [p].Vowels are most loudest; stops, such as [p, t, k] are least quietest.If a word begins with two consonants, the second one is louderthan the first one, for example [pra:l] (”prahl!”). After a vowel, atthe end of a word, the order of these consonants must be reversedto [rp]: [herp] (herb).

Loudness increases from the first stop until the vowel is reachedand then falls.

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Phonotactics

Both pnickies and ptickies sound rather bad (to my ears). Do theysound equally bad? Speech sounds have an inherent loudness: tryyell an [a] and try yell a [p].Vowels are most loudest; stops, such as [p, t, k] are least quietest.If a word begins with two consonants, the second one is louderthan the first one, for example [pra:l] (”prahl!”). After a vowel, atthe end of a word, the order of these consonants must be reversedto [rp]: [herp] (herb).Loudness increases from the first stop until the vowel is reachedand then falls.

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Phonotactics

This rising and falling of loudness shows up in a universalpreference for such rising (before a vowel) and falling (after avowel) sequences. Such a sequence is called a syllable.

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Phonotactics

Are these possible German words? [ktIf] and [lkIf]?

Are they both equally bad? If not, which one is better? (Berentet al., 2007; Daland et al., 2011; van de Vijver & Baer-Henney, 2012)

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Phonotactics

Are these possible German words? [ktIf] and [lkIf]?Are they both equally bad? If not, which one is better? (Berentet al., 2007; Daland et al., 2011; van de Vijver & Baer-Henney, 2012)

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PhonotacticsGerman vowels

German has two sets of vowels. One set are called long or tense: [i,e, a, o, ø, u, y]; the other set is called short or lax: [I, Y, E, œ, A, O,U].

These vowels are subjects to different phonotactic restrictions.One of these restrictions is this one: Tense vowels may appear atthe end of a syllable, lax vowels must be followed by at least oneconsonant.

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PhonotacticsGerman vowels

German has two sets of vowels. One set are called long or tense: [i,e, a, o, ø, u, y]; the other set is called short or lax: [I, Y, E, œ, A, O,U]. These vowels are subjects to different phonotactic restrictions.One of these restrictions is this one: Tense vowels may appear atthe end of a syllable, lax vowels must be followed by at least oneconsonant.

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Phonotactics

[tAksi] *[tAksI][te.Pat@5] *[tE.Pat@r]

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Did you know that you knew?

It may surprize you to know that you knew this:[kI5S] (Kirsch) and [banan@] (Banane) → [ki.ba] (Kiba) *[kI.ba][to.mas] (Thomas) nickname → [tOm] (Tom) *[to:m].

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PhonotacticsChild language

Dutch children’s like to start a word with a sound made with thelips (Fikkert & Levelt, 2008).

Adult child gloss[bro:t] [bop] bread[snu:p] [fup] candy[su:p] [fu:p] soup

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Phonotactics

There are restrictions on the combinations of sounds in a word.We know about these restrictions, even if we didn’t know we knew.

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Alternations

Sounds may be pronounced differently depending on which contextthey appear.

This is called an alternation.

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Alternations

Sounds may be pronounced differently depending on which contextthey appear.This is called an alternation.

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Alternations

Sometimes sounds are pronounced differently in differentmorphosyntactic environments. The singular [bE5k] (Berg) ends ina [k], but this [k] is pronounced as a [g] in the plural [bE5g@].Here phonology (the study of speech sounds) and morphology (thestudy of the structure of words (Haspelmath & Sims, 2010))interact.

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Alternations

I have investigated (together with Dinah Baer-Henney) whetherGerman children know about the interplay of German phonologyand morphology. The method we have used is called a wug test(Berko-Gleason, 1958).

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Alternations

Wug-time! (Berko-Gleason, 1958)

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Alternations

The words wug and to zib do not exist in English. To studywhether children or adults have learned a rule (one of these rulesthey didn’t know they knew) it is important to use nonsense words:If you ask a child to say the plural of book, you have only learnedwhether the child happens to know this plural, but you can notdraw any conclusions about a rule they may have used.

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AlternationsAlternations–here’s what we did

First we showed them one

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AlternationsAlternations–here’s what we did

Then another one appeared. Now there are two...

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AlternationsAlternations–The child answers...

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Alternations

Sounds may alternate depending on their morphologicalenvironment. Native speakers have knowledge about thesealternations and they make use of this knowledge.

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Questions

1. Show that the following sound are phonemes [y, Y] by findinga minimal pair. These sounds are written ‘u’ as in Tur (=[y])and Gulle (= [Y]). You have to find minimal pairs for eachsound.

2. The company Haribo was founded by Hans Riegel from Bonn.The name derives from the first syllable of the first and lastname of the founder and the city it was founded in. To formthe name certain sounds had to be changed. Which ones andwhy?

3. Do a wug-test yourself! Add the suffix chen to these words:Baum, Haus, Laus and Pfau and Stau. Is there a change inthe words if you do? Ask a friend who is not in theGrundkurs. Are the results the same? Do you and your friendfind all words equally easy?

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References

Berent, I., Steriade, D., Lennertz, T., & Vaknin, V. (2007). What we know about what we havenever heard: Evidence from perceptual illusions. Cognition, 104(3), 591–630.

Berko-Gleason, J. (1958). The child’s learning of english morphology. Word, 14, 150–177.

Daland, R., Hayes, B., Garellek, M., White, J., Davis, A., & Norrmann, I. (2011). Explainingsonority projection effects. Phonology, 28(2), 197–234.

Fikkert, P. & Levelt, C. (2008). How does place fall into place: The lexicon and emergentconstraints in the developing phonological grammar. In P. Avery, B. E. Dresher, & K. Rice(Eds.), Contrast in Phonology: Theory, Perception and Acquisition (pp. 231–270). Berlin:Mouton de Gruyter.

Haspelmath, M. & Sims, A. D. (2010). Understanding Morphology (2nd ed.). UnderstandingLanguage Series. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

van de Vijver, R. & Baer-Henney, D. (2012). Sonority intuitions are provided by the lexicon. InS. Parker (Ed.), The Sonority Controversy, number 18 in Phonology & Phonetics (pp.193–213). Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.