1. Phonology Introduction to Linguistics (Ling 101.02) Duke University Gareth Price

2. Phonetics vs. Phonology physical objects and categories Acoustic properties Biological bases of sounds Phones meaning Relations between objects and categories Permissible sound patterns Meaning-marking Inter-changeability Phonemes SOUND

3. Which of the following could be classed as ‘words’ in English? ftrɒmp strɒmp ʃtrɒmp sɪftr sɪʃt strɪst sistr siʃtr knixt mistreit sɪʃtr wɪʃtreɪ wɪstrei wɪftrei wiːʃtrei skel sbel Sdeb bisd fəsdəd mbeld beld mdelb melbd kzmet

4. Phonotactics and Phonotactic Constraints In any given language, some combinations are permissible, whereas others aren’t So, in English: fəsdəd  /sd/= permissible consonant cluster kzmet  /kzm/ = not permissible Ftrɒmp  /ftr/ = not permissible

5. Phonotactic Constraints /sd/ – only permissible in word-medial position, not word-initial or word-final position So: /fəsdəd/ but not /sdeb/ or /bisd/ /ʃtr/  ? /wɪʃtreɪ/ but not /ʃtrɒmp/ or /sɪʃtr/ (and, arguably, only permissible in compound words, eg. ash + tray = ashtray)

6. Consonant Clusters in Other Languages /ftr/  permissible in word-initial position in Russian /ʃtr/  permissible in word-initial position in German /kn/ permissible in German and Dutch. Not permissible in word initial position in Modern English... But was in Old and Middle English hence /knixt/  ‘knight’  Languages change over time  Speech changes faster than writing Japanese, Mandarin and Hawaiian  don’t permit consonant clusters So – consonants must be followed by a vowel

7. Syllables Other types of constraints: Syllables consist of: Onset [consonant or consonant cluster] (optional) + Rime (obligatory) Nucleus Coda [[usually]vowel mono/diphthong] [consonant or consonant cluster] (obligatory) (optional)

8. Some languages only have a vocalic (vowel) nucleus e.g. Mandarin: pjaʊ, mən, zhæŋ English has consonantal nuclei or syllabic consonants, but only generally with nasal or lateral liquid consonants [ŋ], [n], [m], [l] (so sədn or bred n bə? ə or kæʃ n kæri:) and are often identifiable by the lack of audible vocalic release in the preceding stop. Mandarin is limited in the possible consonants that are allowed as coda ([ŋ] or [n] or [w]).

9. Languages can be classified then in terms of syllable structure, so: oʃi:moʃi:  V CV CV CV kætækænæ  CV CV CV CV  Japanese does not permit coda and that all words must end with a CV syllable Walmatjari (Australian Aboriginal language): ngapa (‘water’)[ŋa pa] CV CV kurrupa (‘hand’) [ku ra pa] CV CV CV ngarpu (‘father’) [ŋar pu] CVC CV  Syllable realised as either CV or CV, but all words must end with a CV syllable.

10. Phonological Environment and Phonological Conditioning One sound segment or two? Chips, cheese, judge In word initial position in English, we don’t perceive affricates as stop + fricative However, consider: He cheats vs. heat-sheets What can each add? Vs. What can eat shad? Lychee vs. light-ship Ketchup vs. pet shop Urchin vs hurt shin

11. Similarly, diphthongs can be tricky. In English, we treat them as one sound segment and one syllable: haʊ, baʊ, kaʊ ɑɪ, hɑɪ, pɑɪ heɪ, meɪ, leɪ, peɪ However: in Komering (Southern Sumatra) Mait (‘corpse’) tuot (‘knee’) and kuah (‘sauce’) Perceived (and articulated) as two syllable words.