Phonology: Phonemes, Allophones, and Rules

Phonology

• Phonology is the study of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language.
• It encompasses the linguistic knowledge speakers have about the sound patterns of their language and also the description linguists try to produce.
• It examines the smallest contrastive units in language, known as phonemes.

Phonemes

• Phonemes are the smallest meaning-distinguishing units in a language's sound system.
• They are enclosed within virgules (//).
• Phonemes are different sounds that distinguish one word from another.

Allophones

• Allophones are different versions of a sound type, regularly produced in actual speech.
• They are represented in square brackets ([]).
• Allophones are variations of a phoneme that do not alter the meaning of a word.

Phonological Rules

• Assimilation, dissimilation, elision, insertion, and deletion are various phonological rules.

Assimilation

• Assimilation is the process of making one sound more like a neighboring one regarding certain features.
• Examples include the example of "don't be silly".
• Assimilation rules include vowel nasalization, alveolar nasal assimilation, and palatalization.

Dissimilation

• Dissimilation is a process that causes two neighboring sounds to become less similar with respect to some features.
• This occurs often with unaccented syllables, as in the word "deteriorate."

Elision

• Elision is the omission of a final or initial sound in pronunciation.
• It is often indicated in writing by an apostrophe.
• An example includes the words "comfortable" and "fifth".

Insertion

• Insertion is a process causing a segment absent at the phonemic level to be added to the phonetic form of a word.
• For example, pronouncing "hamster" includes an inserted "p".
• Insertion rules include those for vowels, consonants, voiceless stops, and the inclusion of /y/.

Deletion

• Deletion is a process causing a segment that is part of the phonemic level to be removed from the phonetic level of a word.
• This is often used to make words easier to pronounce.
• Examples for deletion include the word "infrared".

Word Stress

• In many languages, for instance English, one or more syllables in content words are stressed.
• A stressed syllable can be indicated by an acute accent().
• Examples for word stress include "pervert" (noun) and "pervert" (verb.
• Stress can be shown using placements over the primary or secondary syllables.
• There are 5 specific rules for identifying stress:
  • Stress on the first syllable
  • Stress on the last syllable
  • Stress on the penultimate syllable (second-from-last)
  • Stress on the ante-penultimate syllable (third-from-last)
• The stress is important as stressing the wrong syllable can change the meaning of a word.
  • Examples: "desert" and "dessert".
• In English, one word normally has only one primary stress, and secondary stress can only be in longer words or for more complicated pronunciation.

Tone

• Variations in pitch while talking are considered tone.
• Pitch distinctions are used to differentiate words or grammatical categories (the lexical meaning of the word).
• The tones include rising, falling, falling-rising, and also rising-falling.
• Examples include different ways of saying the word "cat".
• Tone types can indicate mood or emotion according to historical usage and cultural contexts.