语言学Chapter 3 Phonology

语言学Chapter 3 Phonology

Chapter3PhonologyAims:1)Tohaveanunderstandingofthedifferencesbetweenphonologyandphonetics;2)Toletthestudentsknowsometermsinphonology,suchasphoneme,allophone,phonemiccontrast,complementarydistributionandsoon;3)Tobefamiliarwiththedistinctivefeaturesandsomephonologicalrules;4)Tounderstandwhatsuprasegmentalfeaturesare.1.PhonologyandphoneticsPhonologyisthestudyofsoundsystems—theinventoryofdistinctivesoundsthatoccurinalanguageandthepatternsintowhichtheyfall,howthesoundsystemofalanguagefunctions.Bothphonologyandphoneticsarestudiesofspeechsounds．Thetwowordscontainthesamerootphono-，meaningsounds．Butwhilebotharerelatedtothestudyofsounds，theydifferintheirapproachandfocus.Aswehaveseeninthelastchapter，phoneticsisofageneralnature；itisinterestedinallthespeechsoundsusedinallhumanlanguages：howtheyareproduced，howtheydifferfromeachother，whatphoneticfeaturestheypossess，howtheycanbeclassified，etc.Phonology，ontheotherhand，isinterestedinthesystemofsoundsofaparticularlanguage；itaimstodiscoverhowspeechsoundsinalanguageformpatternsandhowthesesoundsareusedtoconveymeaninginlinguisticcommunication．Thusthesetwoareatoncerelatedanddistinctbranchesoflinguisticstudies.Phonology,therefore,differentfromphonetics,islanguagespecific.Itdealswithspeechsoundswithinthecontextofaparticularlanguage.2.PhonemeandallophonePhonologyisconcernedwiththespeechsoundswhichdistinguishmeaning.Sothesubtledifferencebetweenclear[l]anddark[l]andthatbetweenalveolar[n]anddental[n]arenotreallytheconcernofphonology,butthedifferencebetween[p]and[b]andthatbetween[l]and[m]arebecause[pi:](pea)and[bi:](bee),and[leik]and[meik]areentirelydifferentinmeaning.Thebasicunitinphonologyiscalledphoneme;itisaunitthatisofdistinctivevalue.Butisanabstractunit.Tobeexact,aphonemeisnotasound;itisacollectionofdistinctivephoneticfeatures.Inactualspeech,aphonemeisrealizedphoneticallyasacertainphone.Thedifferentphoneswhichcanrepresentaphonemeindifferentphoneticenvironmentsarecalledtheallophonesofthatphoneme.3.Phonemiccontrast,complementarydistributionandminimalpairPhoneticallysimilarsoundsmightberelatedintwoways.Theymightformacontrastiftheyare\ntwodistinctivephonemes，ortheydonotformacontrastinmeaningiftheyareallophonesofthesamephoneme.Studythepronunciationofthefollowingwords: Rope[r[Up]，robe［r[Ub］，pin［phin］，bin[bin]，pot［phCt］spot［spCt］Wecanseethat[ph]and［b］contraseachotherininitialposition，asinpinandbin.Thenwefindthattheyalsocontrastinfinalposition，asinropeandrobe.Sowecometotheconclusionthat/p/and/b/canoccurinthesameenvironmentsandtheydistinguishmeaning：thereforetheyareinphonemiccontrast.Ontheotherhand，［p］and[ph]nevercontrasteachother.Theyaretwoallophonesofthesamephoneme/p/.TheyoccurindifferentenvironmentsThesetwoallophonesofthesamephonemearesaidtobeincomplementarydistribution.Whenconfrontedwithanunfamiliarlanguage，alinguisthas，firstofall，tofindoutwhatarethesoundsthatconveymeaninginthatlanguage，namely，thephonemesthatformthesoundsystemofthatparticularlanguage．Abasicwaytodeterminethephonemesoflanguageistoseeifsubstitutingonesoundforanotherresultsinachangeofmeaning.Ifitdoes,thetwosoundsthenrepresentdifferentphonemes.Aneasywaytodothisistofindtheminimalpairs.Whentwodifferentformsareidenticalineverywayexceptforonesoundsegmentwhichoccursinthesameplaceinthestrings,thetwowordsaresaidtoformaminimalpair.4.Phonologicalrules4.1SequentialrulesTherearerulesthatgovernthecombinationofsoundsinaparticularlanguage.Theserulesarecalledsequentialrules.TherearemanysuchsequentialrulesinEnglish.Forexample,ifawordbeginswitha[l]ora[r],thenthenextsoundmustbeavowel.Thatiswhy[ibik]and[ikbi]areimpossiblecombinationsinEnglish.Ifthreeconsonantsshouldclustertogetheratthebeginningofaword,thecombinationshouldobeythefollowingthreerules:1)thefirstphonememustbe/s/;2)thesecondphonememustbe/p/or/t/or/k/;3)thethirdphonememustbe/l/or/r/or/w/.ThisiswhyallwordsbeginningwithacombinationofthreeconsonantsinEnglisharewordslikespring,strict,square,splendid,scream.4.2Assimilationrules\nTheassimilationruleassimilatesonesoundtoanotherby“copying”afeatureofasequentialphoneme,thusmakingthetwophonessimilar.Forexample,[i:]soundisnon-nasalizedinsuchwordsastea,peep,flee,itisnasalizedinwordslikebean,green,teamandscream.Thisisbecauseinalthesesoundcombinationthe[i:]soundisfollowedbyanasal[n]or[m].Whilewearepronouncingthe[i:]sound,wearealreadygettingreadytopronouncethesubsequentnasalsound.Nasalizeavowelwhenitisfollowedbyanasalsound.4.3DeletionruleIttellsuswhenasoundistobedeletedalthoughitisorthographicallyrepresented.4.4DistinctivefeaturesAswehaveseenfromthediscussionofIPAsymbolsinthelastchapter;speechsoundsaredividedupintoclassesaccordingtoanumberofproperties.Oneimportantpropertyis“voicing”,whichplaysanimportantpartindistinguishobstruents（阻塞音）inEnglish.Becausevoicingcandistinguishonephonemefromanother,itisadistinctivefeatureforEnglishobstruents.Thereareotherfeaturestooandmanyofthemarebinaryfeatures.eg,[+voiced][+nasal][+round].5.Suprasegmentalfeatures(refertoPoole,2000:66)5.1SyllableSyllableisaunitinspeechwhichisoftenlongerthanonesoundandsmallerthanawholeword.Thesyllableconsistsofthreeparts:onset,thepeak,coda.Everysyllablehasanucleus,itspowersource.Thisisusuallyavowelbutitcanalsobealiquidornasalconsonantasinthesecondsyllableoftheword“people”[5pi:pl].Asyllablemayconsistofnothingbutthenucleus,asintheword“owe”,butthenucleusisusuallyaccompaniedbyatleastoneconsonant.Aprecedingconsonantorconsonantclusteriscalledanonsetandafollowing.5.2StressThepronunciationofawordorsyllablewithmoreforcethanthesurroundingwordsorsyllables.Astressedwordorsyllableisproducedbyusingmoreairfromthelungs.Stresshastwomainsemanticfunctions:a.Itmaydistinguishbetweentwowordsb.Thespeakerwishestoemphasizethesyllableorword.Pitch:differentratesofvibrationofvocalcordcauseddifferentpitch.Pitchvariationsmaybe\ndistinctivelikephonemes.5.3IntonationWhenpitch,stressandlengthvariationsaretiedtothesentenceratherthantotheword,theyarecollectivelyknownasIntonation.Intonationhasfourgrammaticalfunctions:First,itmayindicatedifferentsentencetypesbypitchdirection.Second,sometimesthedifferentpitchdirectionmayindicateconnotativemeanings.Third,itmayimposedifferentstructureonthesentencebydividingitintodifferentintonationunits.Fourth,intonationmaybringpartofasentenceintoprominencebyplacingthenucleus(themajorpitchchange)onthesyllableconcerned.Stress,intonationandlengthcanallmakeawordmoreprominentthanthequalityofitscomponentsoundsallows.Butofthethree,intonationisthemosteffectivemeanswhilestressistheleast,inspiteoftheerroneousassumptionthatthesolefunctionofstressistogiveemphasistoaword.Intonationalsohasattitudinalfunctions.Itmayindicatetheemotionalstateofthespeaker---whetherheiscalmorexited,happyorsad.Exercise:1.WhatcriteriaareusedtoclassifytheEnglishconsonantsandvowels?2.Givethephoneticsymbolforeachofthefollowingsounddescription:1)voicedpalatalaffricate2)voicelesslabiodentalfricative3)voicedalveolarstop4)front,close,short5)back,semi-open,long6)voicelessbilabialstop3.Givethephoneticfeaturesofeachofthefollowingsounds:[d][l][tF][w][U][A]4.Howdophoneticsphonologydifferintheirfocusofstudy?Whodoyouthinkwillbemoreinterestedinthedifferencebetween,say[l]and[l],[]and[ph],aphoneticianoraphonologist?Why?5.Explainwithexamplesthesequentialrule,theassimilationruleandthedeletionrule.6.Whatisthetestusedfordeterminingphonemesinalanguage?