Linguistics 110 Zhang/Öztürk/Quinn

Class 8 (10/16/02)

Phonemic Analysis

(1) Review of last class: phonological knowledge is rule-governed.

• English plural morpheme realization.
• Chukchee incorporation.
• Idiosyncratic properties vs. systematic regularities.
• Idiosyncratic properties and systematic regularities correspond to two kinds of
sound differences—phonemic (or contrastive) vs. allophonic.
• Two sounds are in phonemic distinction (or two sounds contrast) if they can be
used to distinguish words. Contrasts can be established through minimal pairs.

(2) Minimal 17-tuplet for English consonants

[p] pail [t] tail [tÉS] — [k] kale
[b] bail [d] dale [dÉZ] jail [g] gale
[f] fail [T] — [s] sale [S] shale [h] hail
[v] veil [D] — [z] — [Z] —
[m] male [n] nail [N] —
[l] —
[®] rail
[w] wail [j] Yale

In general, the missing words in the chart (shown with —) are potential, if
nonexistent, English words. (How would you spell them?) Are there any missing
forms that are not potential English words?

(3) Phonemes vary—systematic regularities

• Variants of phonemes are called allophones.
• The variation is predictable, and can be analyzed by means of phonological rules.

• [t] and [tÓ] in English:

stop [stAp] took [tÓUk]
stool [stu:] tool [tÓu:]
step [stEp] tame [tÓem]
steep [stip] tone [tÓon]

• Zoque (American Indian, Mexico)

pata ‘mat’ ngjunu ‘you fell’
tatah ‘father’ liNba ‘he slashes’
kunu ‘he fell’ kenba ‘he sees’
kaN ‘jaguar’ mjaNdamu ‘you came’
kama ‘cornfield’

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 What positions can the voiced stops [b, d, g] occur in?

Can voiceless stops [p, t, k] occur in these positions?

Why?

(4) Complementary distribution

• Phones X and Y are in complementary distribution if no X’s occur in any of the
environments in which Y’s occur.
• Complementary distribution implies there could be no minimal pair to
differentiate these phones.
• Thus, if there’s complementary distribution, there cannot be contrast.

(5) Languages have different phonemic systems

• They may have different sets of phonemes.
• They may have different allophones for phonemes.
• Two sounds can be allophones in one language, distinct phonemes in another.
➥ Methods are needed to figure out the phonemic system of a particular language.

(6) [t,tÉS,d,dÉZ] in Papago (or Tohono O’odham, Uto-Aztecan, Arizona)

• What is the status of these four sounds in Papago?
• Hint: make a vowel chart first.

a. [»bidÉZim] ‘turn around’ l. [»hˆwgid] ‘smell’

b. [»ta˘pan] ‘split’ m.[»tÉSihaN] ‘hire’
c. [»hidoÍ] ‘cook’ n. [»to¯i] ‘become hot’
d. [»tÉSˆkid] ‘vaccinate’ o. [»wiÍut] ‘swing’
e. [»gatwid] ‘shoot’ p. [»ta˘taÍ] ‘feet’
f. [»tÉSuku] ‘become black’ q. [»ki˘tÉSud] ‘build a house for’
g. [»dagßp] ‘press with hand’ r. [»do˘dom] ‘copulate’
h. [»toha] ‘become white’ s. [»ta˘tam] ‘touch’
i. [»dÉZu˘ki] ‘rain (noun)’ t. [»dÉZˆwˆd] ‘soil, earth’
j. [¥wˆ˘mt] ‘help, marry’ u. [¥td5ˆ˘gig] ‘name, reputation’
k. [¥ddZˆ˘k] ‘taste’ v. [¥td5i˘wia] ‘settle, establish residence’

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(7) The vowel system of Papago
front central back
unrounded rounded
high i, i˘ ˆ, ˆ˘ u, u˘
mid o, o˘
low a, a˘

(8) The consonants

labial alveolar palato-alveolar retroflex palatal velar glottal
voiceless stops p t k
voiced stops b d Í g
voiceless affricates tÉS
voiced affricates dÉZ
voiceless fricatives s ß h
nasals m n ¯ N
liquids R
glides w j

(9) The data sorted by immediate context

t tÉ S d dÉZ
b,p,s [word ___a˘ m [word ___ i c i ___ o a i ___ i
h,n [word ___ o d [word ___ ˆ d,e,l i ___ ]word i [word ___ u˘
o u ___ ]word f [word ___ u o u ___ ]word k [word ___ ˆ˘
e a ___ w q i˘ ___ u g [word ___ a t [word ___ ˆ
p,s a˘ ___ a u,v [word ___ ˆ˘ r [word ___ o˘
j m ___ ]word r o˘ ___ o
t ˆ ___ ]word

(10) Some points that emerge

• Parallel behavior of phonetically similar sounds.
• Appearance of allophones that occur as separate phonemes in other languages (for
example, English).

(11) Formalizing to achieve generality

• Assume underlying /t,d/: these are what you get if no rule perturbs the basic
pattern. In general: the elsewhere allophone is set up as underlying form.
• State the rule as simply as possible, leaving out whatever is not needed (always do
a post-check on this point).

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 • It’s good to give rules names, for easy reference. Improvise a name if you are not
sure of standard terminology.

Alveolar Palatalization

stop     
  → affricate  / ___ vowel
alveolar palato-alveolar high 

(12) Notation
X
 
a. C = consonant b. Y = “segment having the phonetic features X, Y and Z”
Z 
V = vowel

c. / = “in the environment”

/ ___ X = “in the environment before X”
/ X ___ = “in the environment after X”

(13) Phonemic representations

• These show the underlying representation of the phoneme, which is what you
have before rules apply.

• They are traditionally written in slant brackets: / /

[»bidÉZim] = /»bidim/ [»ta˘pan] = /»ta˘pan/

(14) Illustrative derivations

‘split’ ‘vaccinate’ ‘press’ ‘turn around’
Underlying forms: /»ta˘pan/ /»tˆkid/ /»dagßp/ /»bidim/
Alveolar Palatalization: — »tSˆkid — »bidZim
Surface forms: [»ta˘pan] [»tSˆkid] [»dagßp] [»bidZim]

(15) The “why” of alveolar palatalization

• It is common for alveolars to affricate before high vowels. Examples: Japanese,
Quebec French, Cockney English.
• High vowels have a narrow air channel, and when a /t/ is released into a high
vowel, the burst is noisy (say [ti], [ta] to yourself to check). Affrication is
possibly an exaggeration of this natural effect, for the purpose of rendering the /t/
more audibly distinct from “quieter” stops like /p,k/.
• Sometimes affrication can change the point of articulation.