17 Phonology1 PDF

Overview of Phonology — Phonology: how speech sounds are organized in different languages. Phonology is the linguistic knowledge a speaker has of the sound patterns that are possible in a language: — [pæn] ‘pan’ — [pæŋkek] ‘pancake’ — How about ‘panflute’? The nasal seems to become labiodental 2...

Overview of Phonology — Phonology: how speech sounds are organized in different languages. Phonology is the linguistic knowledge a speaker has of the sound patterns that are possible in a language: — [pæn] ‘pan’ — [pæŋkek] ‘pancake’ — How about ‘panflute’? The nasal seems to become labiodental 2 Questions that phonologists ask — What is the organization of sounds in a given language? — Which sounds are predictable (based on the environment), and which sounds are unpredictable? — What is the phonetic context (environment) which allows us to predict the appearance of one sound versus another? — Which sounds affect the meaning of words? 3 An Example of Predictability: Plural in English ¢ How do we pluralize regular nouns in English? A cabs [kæb__] dogs [dag__] coins [kɔɪn__] loads [lod__] cats backs cuffs scraps B [kæt__] [bæk__] [kʌf__] [skræp__] C rashes [ræʃ___] raises [rez___] ledges [lɛʤ__] patches[pæʧ__] ¢ If the plural -s is realized in 3 different ways, then how do we know which one to use? ¢ Do we memorize every noun, or is there some kind of predictability governing pluralization? 4 Wug Testing (Jean Berko Gleason 1958) — If we rely on memorization, how would we handle unknown nouns? — This is a wug: — Now there are two of them. Now there are two _______. 5 Wug Testing Let’s try some other nonsense words. How would you pluralize the following? — “Two days ago I had only one shola, but yesterday I bought another one. Now I have two ___________.” — “My pet flot just had babies, so now I have a bunch of ____________.” — “I started my collection with just one huz, but now I have shelves of _________.” — “This is my sister’s klup, and I have one, too. Together we have two .” 6