The sound patterns of language

Done by : Sondoss Ifranji

PHONOLOGY

PHONOLOGY VS. PHONETICS

PHONETICSPHONOLOGY

Specifically the study of how

speech sounds are produced,

what their physical

properties are, and how

they’re produced.

The description of the

systems and patterns of

speech sounds; based on a

theory of what every speaker

of a language unconsciously

knows about the sound

patterns of that language.

Both can be generally described as the study of speech sounds

PHONEMES AND ALLOPHONES

A phoneme : meaning-distinguishing units in a language or

The psychological (abstract) representations of a speech

sound.

Note : when we talk about a phoneme, we always put the

phoneme itself between slashes.

An allophone : is the phonetic realization of a phoneme.

Note : each phoneme can be realized as one or more different

allophones.

PHONEMES AND ALLOPHONES

Let’s examine the [t] sound in the following :

Top Stop Tar star

PHONEMES AND ALLOPHONES

[ph] and [p] are the allophones of the same phoneme /p/ in

English:

/p/ phoneme

[ph] [p] allophones

‘paper’ ‘spill’

The ‘p’ in ‘paper’ is normally pronounced with aspiration.

That is, there is a release of a puff of air. The ‘p’ in ‘spill’ is

normally not aspirated.

PHONEMES AND ALLOPHONES

An essential property of phonemes : function contrastively.

e.g. In English /r/ and /m/ are phonemes because they are

the only basis for contrast in words such as ‘rowing’

and ‘mowing’

Whereas allophones don’t produce any changes in

meaning.

THE MINIMAL PAIRS TEST

A minimal pair in a language : are two forms that they are

exactly the same other than one sound

A minimal pair is a pair of words that :

• have different meanings.

• are pronounced the same except for one sound.

Examples :

[teɪk] vs. [teɪp] "take" vs. "tape"

[tim] vs. [dim] "team" vs. "deem"