The Phoneme

- Phoneme vs. Allophone

- Minimal pair

- Contrastive Distribution

- Complementary Distribution

- Free Variation

Prepared by Dr Sabariah Md Rashid

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, students are able to:

state the difference between a phoneme

and an allophone

describe the different procedures used to

identify and group phonemes

provide appropriate examples for the different

procedures used to establish phonemes

Phonology (A review)

Deals with the organisation of speech sounds

(phones – at a more abstract level) in a

particular language

- Which sounds are predictable/unpredictable?

- What context allows us to predict the

occurrence of certain sounds?

- Which sounds affect the meaning of words?

Phoneme: the basic unit of contrast in phonology.

It was originally defined shortly before 1900,

but was prominent in phonology from the 1930’s to

the 1950’s (generally called the American Structuralist

period, whereby a great deal of attention was given to

the development of explicit principles & procedures for

identifying the phonemes of a language).

Further developments in the 1960’s challenged the

traditional definition of the phoneme.

A bit of history

Aim of Phonologists

To establish

patterns of organization

within the indefinitely large

range of sounds

heard in languages

Phonological Analysis

A Phonological Analysis consists of the following

elements:

◦ List of the phonemes of a language

◦ Classification system for categorizing the

phonemes

◦ Distribution of speech sounds (phones)

◦ Phonotactics - positional and sequential

occurrences of phonemes within a language

◦ List of the allophonic variation for each of the

phonemes

Traditional phonological theories described it as the

minimal unit in the sound system

An abstract underlying unit of speech sounds; stored

in the memory (a mental entity)

Example: /p/ & /t/ are phonemes; phonemes are

indicated within slashes: / p /

The phoneme / p / can be pronounced in different

ways (can have different realisations);

- in English, the /p/ sounds in pit, spin, lip

correspond to one phoneme

Phoneme

Allophone

Realizations of a phoneme that are predictable

from context; predictable surface elements of speech sounds, e.g., [p] [p] [p ] - 3 allophones of

the phoneme /p/ which have specific distributions

Corresponds to something ‘physical’ produced by a

speaker

Allophones are indicated within square brackets: [p] [p ]

[p] [p ] [p] are, e.g. [p] occurs in the initial position

of English words, e.g., in pool [pu:]

A phoneme and its allophones can be illustrated as:

[p] [p ] [ p ] pit spin lip

/p/

Phoneme (cont’d)

e.g. [ _ u:]

In the above example, one can guess the

allophone of /p/ that goes in the blank if we are

told that the blank must be filled with a p-sound.

Why are allophones predictable?

Consider the following:

We can predict which p-sound will be pronounced

in which context;

In English, the phoneme /p/ is realized as

three allophones:

- [p ] occurs in the word initial position (word initially),

e.g. [pt] pat,

- [ p ] occurs in an initial cluster following [s],

e.g. [spin] spin,

- [p ] occurs at the end of a word, e.g. [lip ] lip

To help understand the difference between a

phoneme & an allophone, remember the following:

A phoneme is stored in the memory. It is

represented in slanting brackets / p /.

An allophone is the realization of a phoneme

(something uttered). It is represented in square

brackets [ p ].

To identify a phoneme:

Several procedures were developed by phonologists for the purpose of identifying the phonemes of a language or establishing the phonemic status of a sound. Terms/concepts established are:

Contrastive distribution

Complementary distribution

Minimal pairs

Free variation

Distribution of Speech Sounds

Distribution of a speech sound: the set of

phonetic environments in which a sound

occurs/the range of places within a word which

a given sound may occur

- e.g., in English, aspirated consonants occur

syllable-initially

Distribution of Speech Sounds (cont’d)

Types of distribution:

- Complementary distribution

- Contrastive distribution

- Parallel distribution

Complementary Distribution

Two sounds not occurring in the same

phonetic environment (the distribution of the pair of

sounds is mutually exclusive)

Complementary distribution explains the number of

allophones grouped within a phoneme; they are

allophones of the same phoneme

- e.g., [p ] & [p] are in complementary distribution

in English

Sounds in complementary distribution occur in non-

overlapping environments

Complementary Distribution (cont’d)

The allophones of the phoneme /p/ has the following

non-overlapping distribution:

- [p ] is realized at the beginning of words, but not in

clusters following [s], e.g. pan

- [p] is realized in clusters following [s], e.g. spin, &

- [p ] is realized at the end of words but not in initial

position, e.g., tap

CONSIDER:

Aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops in English below:

(to show complementary distribution)

(a) [pu:]

‘pool’ (b) [p] ‘appear’

(c) [sp:t] ‘spurt’

(d) [dspat] ‘despite’

(e) [tp] ‘top’

(f) [tk] ‘attack’

(g) [stp]

‘stop’ (h) [dst] ‘destroy’

(i) [kl] ‘killing’

(j) [ku:] ‘accrue’

(k) [skod] ‘scold’ (l) [dsv] ‘discover’

NB: The diacritic above represents stress at the beginning of a syllable.

• Voiceless stops are

aspirated when they

are at the beginning

of a stressed

syllable, e.g. in pool

& appear.

• Voiceless stops are

unaspirated when

preceded by a

voiceless alveolar

fricative

Complementary Distribution (cont’d)

Sounds which are in complementary distribution

are phonetically similar, i.e. they share the same

characteristics.

For example, [p] & [p] in the English data are both

stops, voiceless & bilabials.

The sounds [p] & [p] belong to a single mental

category, i.e. the phoneme /p/

/p/

[p] [p]

/t/

[t] [t]

/k/

[k] [k]

English voiceless stop phonemes and their

allophones (realizations):

(a) [pul]

‘grass’ (b) [pul] ‘fire’

(c) [tal]

‘mask’ (d) [tal] ‘moon’

(e) [kda]

‘dig’ (f) [kda] ‘fold’

Compare the distribution of English aspirated and

unaspirated voiceless stops with the Korean data below:

The distribution of the aspirated & unaspirated

voiceless stops in Korean is overlapping.

This kind of distribution is called parallel distribution.

Parallel Distribution

In Korean, the distinction between aspirated &

unaspirated voiceless stops is semantically

contrastive, i.e. it makes a difference to the meaning

of 2 words which have the same form

To Koreans:

[p] in grass & [p ] in fire are NOT the same

[p] & [p ] in Korean are in contrastive distribution

[pul] [ pul]

Semantically contrastive sounds

Contrastive Distribution

A pair of speech sounds (phones) is in

contrastive distribution if interchanging the

two can result in a change in meaning

- e.g., [s] and [ ] are in contrastive

distribution in English as in:

sue - shoe

Are [k] and [b] in contrastive

distribution in English?

To answer this question, find a minimal pair in

English showing contrast in the 2 sounds:

e.g., bat [] & cat [] - (Minimal pair)

What difference do you notice in this pair of

words?

- it shows a contrast that can help establish

phonemes

- [b] & [k] are allophones of different phonemes

of /b/ & /k/, respectively.

Minimal pair

Two words which differ only by just one sound (in

the same position) & have different meanings

e.g.: ‘cat’ // & 'bat’// (difference in ONE sound in initial position),

A procedure in phonology to determine which sounds

belong to the same phoneme),

that vs. chat // vs. // shame vs. shave // vs. //

had vs. head /hd/ vs. /hed/

feel vs. fill /f i:l/ vs. /fl/

vowel difference

Other examples of minimal pairs:

consonant difference

Minimal pairs

More examples:

bad // vs. mad // - a minimal pair

foot // vs boot // - NOT a minimal pair

judge [] & charge [:] - near minimal pairs

Pairs such as judge [] & charge [:]

are NOT minimal pairs, as there are differences

in 2 sounds, i.e. [] & [] and [] & [:]

/p/

[p]

/p/

[p]

/t/

[t]

/t/

[t]

/k/

[k]

/k/

[k]

Some Korean voiceless stop phonemes

CONSIDER: [] and [] in Scottish English and Korean

Scottish English

Korean

(a) [lm] lamb

(b) [mul] ‘water’

(c) [m] ram

(d) [mulkama] ‘place of water’

(e) [lp] lip

(f) [mue] ‘at the water’

(g) [ip] rip

(h) [ mal] ‘horse’

(i) [bi] berry

(j) [malkama] ‘place for horse’

(k) [bli] belly

(l) [mae] ‘at the horse’

The phonemic status of [] and [] in Scottish English

and Korean

Scottish English

speakers

Korean speakers

Phonemic units (perceptual)

Allophonic units (articulatory)

/l/ //

[l] []

/l/

[l] []

• In Scottish English: a phonemic contrast between /l/ & // - 2 distinct mental categories

• In Korean: no such phonemic contrast, only 1 phoneme /l/ - an allophonic contrast between [l] & [] - a single mental category

Consider: English ‘clear ’ and ‘dark ’

(a) [k] clever

(b) [z] bells

(c) [pn] plain

(d) [] trail

(e) [lk] look

(f) [p] pull

‘Clear l’

occurs immediately before vowels

‘Dark l’ [] occurs immediately after vowels

English

Korean

/l/ realization in English

• /l/ is realized as [] immediately

after a vowel

/l/ realization in Korean

• /l/ is realized as [] between

vowels

/l/

[l] []

/l/

[ l ] []

// realization in English and Korean

The Phonemic Principle (Distribution of sounds)

Look for minimal pairs.

Make the list of the environments where the sound

occurs

Do the sounds occur in the same environment?

NO

a) The sounds are in

complementary

distribution

b) The sounds are

phonetically similar

The sounds are allophones

(realizations) of the same

phoneme

YES

The sounds are in parallel

distribution (overlapping) &

showing semantic contrast or

they are in contrastive

distribution

The sounds are allophones

of different phonemes

Free Variation

A term used to refer to two sounds that occur in

overlapping environments but not changing word

meaning

Example:

1.Different pronunciations of the word neither

/ni: / or /na /

2. Different articulation of a sound in a word like ‘lip’

& pot:

- an unreleased or an aspirated plosive: [ ] or [ ] : [] & [] are free variants

- released/unreleased word-final stops/plosives: [] or [] : [] & [] are free variants

Free Variation (cont’d)

‘Free variants’ - different phonetic realizations of a

phoneme; other examples:

- [i:] & [a] are free variants in /ni: / or /na /

- [] or [] - [] or []

When several phones are in complementary

distribution & in free variation, they are allophones

of a single/the same phoneme. In English, free

variation is a very limited phenomenon.

Exercise

1. Give 2 examples of minimal pairs which show contrast

in vowels and consonants.

2. Establish at least TWO minimal pairs in English showing

contrast in the following pairs of sounds in two different

positions:

i ) the initial position of a word &

ii) the final position of a word

a. [k] & [g] b. [m] & [n] c. [p] & [f]

d. [s] & [] e. [v] & [b]

Read up!

See you again.