phonology session1

Phonology

PartI:Introduc1on,theore1calfounda1onsandconcepts

[email protected]

MakerereSummerSchool,August2011

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CourseOutline PartI:Introduc*on,theore*calfounda*onsandconcepts basicprinciplesofphonologyanditsrela*ontophone*cs;

structureandcomplexityofphonemeinventories;syllablestructureandcomplexity

Theories:structuralism,genera*vephonology,complexitytheory

PartII:Phonologicalprocessesinsynchronyanddiachrony Content:synchronicapproachestophonological

processes;changeofsoundpa?erns

Theories:deriva*onalphonologyandOp*malityTheory;Evolu*onaryPhonology

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CourseOutline(contd) PartIII:Nonlinearphonology(withafocusontone) Content:principlesofnonlinearphonology,natureand

analysisoftonesystems

Theorytobeillustrated:autosegmentalphonologyPartIV:Interac*vediscussionsession

Youareinvitedtobringyourownphonologicaldatafordiscussionandanalysis

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Whyphonology? Ontologicalreasons Phonologyisanessen*alpartofanygivenlanguage FundamentofthestructureofanygrammarTheore1calandprac1calreasonsforuslinguists Phonologyisagoodstarttounderstandhowthegrammar

ofalanguageworks Ifwedontunderstandthephonologicalstructureofa

language,itislikelythatwedontunderstandotherpartsofthegrammareitherorthatwemisunderstandthem

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Whatisphonology? Defini1onbyNathan(2008:1):Phonologyisthestudyoftheorganiza4onandstructureofthesoundsoflanguage.Likemostareasofgrammaritdealsbothwithuniversalandlanguagespecificprinciples.Allspokenhumanlanguagesmakeall(orvirtuallyall)theirwordswithcombina4onsofconsonantsandvowels,andall(orvirtuallyall)languagesgroupthosesoundsintounitscalledsyllables,andgenerally,groupthesyllablesintolargergroupscalledfeet.

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Excursus:Whatisphone1cs? Defini1onbyLadefoged(2005:1):

Phone4csisconcernedwithdescribingspeech.Therearemanydifferentreasonsforwan4ngtodescribespeech,whichmeansthattherearemanydifferentkindsofphone4cians.Someareconcernedwiththesoundsthatoccurinthelanguagesoftheworld.Othersaremoreconcernedwithhelpingpeoplespeakapar4cularformofEnglish.Yetothersarelookingforwaystomakecomputerstalkmoreintelligibly,ortorecognizewhateverissaidtothem.Forallthesepurposesphone4ciansneedtofindoutwhatpeoplearedoingwhentheyaretalkingandhowthesoundsofspeechcanbedescribed.

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Subdisciplinesofphone1cs Ar1culatoryphone1cs:Humansoundproduc1on

Brainofthespeaker:controlsthetransmissionofanideaofspeechandini*atesspeechproduc*on

Speechapparatus:containsthetoolsnecessaryforspeechproduc*on

Acous1cphone1cs:PhysicalaspectsofhumansoundsSoundistransferredasacous*cenergyfromthespeakerthehearer

Auditoryphone1cs:Percep1onofhumansoundsEar: receives the sound and tranfers the information to the brain Brain: decodes and interpretes the information it received from the ear.

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Ourspeechproduc1ontools taken from Odden (2005)

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TheInterna1onalPhone1cAlphabet(IPA)

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Listen to the sounds of the worlds languages! UCLA phonetics lab data: http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/

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Electronictoolsforphone1cs/phonology

Praat Transcriber Audacity pictures: above: spectrogram below: waveform

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Rela1onphone1cs/phonology

Phone1cs

physicalaspectsofhumanspeech concrete,materialperspec*ve unit:phone:humanspeechsound

Phonology

systemacityandorganiza*onofhumansoundpa?erns abstract,func*onalperspec*ve unit:phoneme:smallestunitdifferen*a*ngmeaning

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Rela1onphone1cs/phonology

Conven1ons

[..] phone*crepresenta*on// phonologicalrepresenta*on

orthographicrepresenta*on

1phonemecanberepresentedby1ormoreallophones

1(allo)phonecanrepresent1ormorephonemes

Typesofallophony

Complementarydistribu*on:choicedeterminedbythephonologicalenvironment

Freevaria*on:choiceoftheallophonesisfree

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Fieldwork:Howtofindthephonemes

1ststep:writedownallthesoundsandorganizetheminatable

2ndstep:determinesoundsthatmightcons*tutephonemestogether

1phonemecanberepresentedby1ormoreallophones

1(allo)phonecanrepresent1ormorephonemes

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3rdstep:establishlistsforthosesounds

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4thstep:determinethedistribu*onoftheexaminedsounds:

theycanbeincontrastiniden*calenvironment(e.g.English[led]vs.[red])

theycanbeincontrastinanalogicalenvironment(e.g.bothsoundsoccurwordini*allybeforeavowel)

separatephonemes theycanbeincomplementarydistribu*on theycanbeinfreevaria*on allophonesofonesinglephoneme5thstep:establishthephonemeinventoryandphonologicalrules

e.g./r/ vs. /l/>[]/_#

[l]elsewhere

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Historyofphonology:structuralism

Structuralism

founda*ons:sign,rela*onofelementstoeachother origin:deSaussure(1916) notonlyinlinguis*cs,butalsoinotherdisciplines

(anthropology,sociology,literarytheory)

replacedbyGenera*veGrammarintheficiesRelevanceforphonology

Inventoryofsoundscanbeanalyzedintermsofaseriesofcontrasts

NikolaiTrubetzkoy(1939):PrinciplesofPhonology:defini*onofthephoneme;phonologyseparatedfromphone*cs

manyaspectss*llstandardtoday

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Historyofphonology:genera1vephonology

Genera1vegrammar

asofChomsky(1957) influencedbystructuralism underlyingvssurfacestructure variousversions,veryinfluen*alintheseven*esandeigh*es decreasingpopularitysincethenine*esGenera1vephonology influen*alwork:ChomskyandHalle(1968):TheSoundPaLern

ofEnglish

phonologicalrepresenta*onsaresequencesofsegmentswhichcanbecharacterizedbydis*nc*vefeatures

s*llinfluen*altodaytosomedegree

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Dis1nc1vefeaturesofsomeAEconsonants

Takenfrom

Odden(2005)

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Phonemesystems:complexity Numberofconsonants

Rotokas(WestBougainville,PapuaNewGuinea):6 English:24(average) !X(SouthKhoisan,Botswana):122(debated)Numberofvowels

Yimas(LowerSepik;PapuaNewGuinea):2 Swahili:5(average) !X(NorthKhoisan;Namibia):24Total

Rotokas:11phonemes !X(NorthKhoisan;Namibia):141phonemes(debated) average:ca.30phonemes

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Complexityofconsonantsystems

Smallsystems

fewplacesofar*cula*on usually(bi)labial,dental/alveolar,velar,(glo?al),(palatal) fewtypesofconsonants: voicelessobstruents(plosives,frica*ves) voicednasals,approximants,liquids(l,r)Frequencyofconsonantalphonemes plosives:t>p,k> frica*ves:s>,f,z,x,v,>... nasals:n,m>>>... liquids:l>r

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Consonantsystemsworldwide:WALS

WALS(TheWorldAtlasofLanguageStructures)

largetypologicaldatabaseofstructuralproper*esoflanguages

editedbyM.Haspelmath,D.Gil,M.S.Dryer,B.Comrie 55contributors >140maps first(printed)edi*on2005(OxfordUniversityPress) secondedi*on2008,thirdedi*on2011:wals.info

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Consonantinventories

WALSmap1:Maddieson(2005)

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Voicinginplosivesandfrica1ves


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Gapsinplosivesystems


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Presenceofuncommonconsonants


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Paralinguis1cusagesofclicks

WALSmap142:Gil(2005)

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Vowelqualityinventories

Thecomplexityofvowelinventories

2vowels:onlycentral(e.g./a/ 3vowels:ocen/aiu/,some*mescentralvowelsonly 5vowels:verycommon,ocen/ieaou/ >5vowels:furthervowelquali*es,e.g.

nasalizedvowels frontroundedvowels(/y/,commoninnorthernEurasia) +/ATR(advancedtongueroot)(commoninAfrica)

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Vowelqualityinventories


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Vowelnasaliza1on

WALSmap10:Hajek(2005)

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Frontroundedvowels


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Combiningthesounds:phonotac1cs

Phonotac1cs:orderofsounds >AncientGreekphonvoice+tksisorder phonotac*cconstraints:findingphonotac*c

regulari*es,e.g.English/#pl/OK,but/#lp/notOK

systema*cgap:soundsequencenotpermi?edduetophonotac*cconstraints,e.g.English/zbktl/

accidentalgap:soundsequencepermi?edbutnota?ested,e.g.English/olk/

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Syllables

phonologicalunit,needsalanguagespecificdefini*on

presentinvirtuallyalllanguages relevantunitformanyphonologicalrules consonant+vowel(CV):leastmarkedsyllabletype,

occursin(virtually)alllanguage(possibleexcep*on:ArrernteinAustralia)

syllablestructure:onset+nucleus+coda

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Syllables

onset Callowedin(virtually)alllanguages noCallowedinsomelanguages record:8CallowedinGeorgian,e.g./gvbrdvnis/heispluckingus

nucleus consistsofonlyonesegment,usuallyavowel otherpermi?edsoundsalsotendtobehighonthesonorityhierarchy sonorityhierarchy:vowels>approximants>liquids>nasals>frica*ves>

plosives/affricates

coda noC:permi?edin(virtually)alllanguages(=opensyllables) record:5CinGerman,e.g./hrpsts/autumn(GEN)

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Syllablestructure


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Prosodiccons1tuents

syllable foot:relevantforstresspa?erns phonologicalword:notnecessarilythesameasagramma*cal

wordoranorthographicword

phonologicalphrase:containsoneormorephonologicalwords

intona*onphrase:delimitedbyspeechpauses,notnecessarilythesameasagramma*calsentence

phonologicalu?erance

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Foot,rhythmtypes

dis*nc*ons stressaccentvspitchaccent primaryvssecondaryaccent

foot:strongvsweak foottypes

trochee:strongsyllable+weaksyllable iamb:weaksyllable+strongsyllable

stressassignment:fromrighttolecvs.fromlectoright unitforthesyllableweight:mora:(C)V:1mora;(C)V:,(C)VC:2

moras

weightsensi*vestressvsstressnotsensi*vetoweight fixedvs.notfixedstress

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Phonologicalword

Defini1on(Dixon&Aikhenvald2002:13)

Aphonologicalunitlargerthanthesyllable(insomelanguagesitmayminimallybejustonesyllable)whichhasatleastone(andgenerallymorethanone)phonologicaldefiningpropertychosenfromthefollowingareas:

Segmentalfeaturesinternalsyllabicandsegmentalstructure;phone*crealisa*onsintermsofthis;wordboundaryphenomena;pausephenomena.

Prosodicfeaturesstress(oraccentand/ortoneassignment;prosodicfeaturessuchasnasalisa*on,retroflexion,vowelharmony.

Phonologicalrulessomerulesapplyonlywithinaphonologicalword;others(externalsandhirules)applyspecificallyacrossaphonologicalwordboundary.

Thankyou!

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phonology session1

Documents

brain brain

csstructureandcom theories

complexitytheorypartii

control acous1cphone1cs

itislikely whatisphonology