Linguistics

The seventh week

Revision

The phenomenon of the linking of words in speech, in particular when the second word begins with a vowel, is called______. The loss of a sound or sounds in speech is called ______.

Sounds of one word or syllable can cause changes in the sounds belonging to neighboring words or syllables. This is called ________.

Chapter 2 The Sounds of Language

2.3 Phonology

Key points
the

definition of phonology the definition of phoneme the minimal pairs

Difficult points
the

definition of phonology the difference between phonetics and phonology the definition of phoneme

the definition of phonology

Phonology studies the system of speech sounds of a particular language; it aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication. (source: 199931

Phonology is concerned with the linguistic patterning of sounds in human languages, with its primary aim being to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized in languages, and to explain the variations that occur. (source: 2001 54

Phonology is the scientific study of the sound system and patterns of a language. (source: 200636 This definition is widely accepted.

The study scope of phonology:

1.

2.

Phonology studies: the ways in which the speech sounds of a language form patterns and systems; and how they convey meaning in the system of the language.

Differences between phonetics and phonology

They differ in two aspects: study subject study scope

In study subject:
Phonetics studies all the speech sounds used in all languages. Phonology studies the sound system and patterns of a particular language.

In study scope:
Phonetics describes individual speech sounds and indicates their physical or phonetic properties. Phonology studies the ways in which these sounds form patterns and systems and how they work to convey meaning in the system of language.

Extended exercises
Exemplify the difference between Chinese and English phonology.

a. sip zip b. fine vine c. chunk junk

the definition of phoneme

A phoneme is the minimal distinctive linguistic unit in a language. (source: 200137

Key points of phoneme

Phoneme is the study focus of phonology. A phoneme distinguishes meaning. A phoneme is language-specific.

Minimal pairs
[bn] and [bin] [bet] and [b/\t] [fn] and [vn] [sik] and [zik] [sait] and [said] [t/\k and [d/\k]

the definition of the minimal pairs

Minimal pairs are two words which are identical in every way except for one sound that occurs in the same place in the sound strings.

In order to determine which are distinctive sounds ----- phonemes, the customary practice is to set up minimal pairs. This practice is also called commutation test(/. (source: , 200293

Some of the minimal pairs of English phonemes( source: Crystal, 1997:162) beat---bit bit---bet bet---bat bat---but but---heart

/i:/ --- /i/ /i/ --- /e/ /e/ --- // // --- / /\ / / /\ / --- /a:/

heart---hot pot---port port---put full---fool cool---curl

/a:/ --- / / // --- / : / / : / --- /u/ /u/ --- /u:/ /u:/ --- /:/

girl---gale tale---tile toil---toll tone---town how---here here---hair pair---poor poor---pea

/ :/ --- /ei/ /ei/ --- /ai/ / i / --- / u/ / u /---/au/ /au/ --- /i / /i / ---/ / / / --- /u / /u / ---/i:/

pin---bin bin---tin tin---din din---kin coat---goat got---hot height---might might---night kin---king

/p/ --- /b/ /b/ --- /t/ /t/---/d/ /d/---/k/ /k/---/g/ /g/---/h/ /h/---/m/ /m/---/n/ /n/---//

tin---till led---red lad---wad wet---yet yolk---choke choke---joke jade---fade fail---veil heave---heath

//---/l/ /l/---/r/ /r/---/w/ /w/---/j/ /j/---/t / / t /---/d/ / d /---/f/ /f/---/v/ /v/---//

wreath---wreathe though---sew bus---buzz zoo---shoe Confucian---confusion beige---bait

//---/=/ /=/---/s/ /s/---/z/ /z/---/ / / /---/ / / /---/t/

Exercise of identifying minimal pairs

1. 2. 3. 4.

5.
6. 7. 8. 9.

sun/son tore/door teach/cheat pit/tip fail/gale impotent/important Confucian/confusion recent/decent stop/atop

The function of the minimal pair

The minimal pair test or commutation test is an effective method to determine or identify the phonemes of a language.

Minimal set

A group of words are identical in every way except for one phoneme which occurs in the same place, they are called a minimal set.

Examples
A minimal set based on the vowel phonemes of English: [fi:t], [fit], [feit], [ft], [f:t] The one based on consonants: [big], [pig], [rig], [fig], [dig] and [wig].

The key points of this lecture:

the definition of phonology the difference between phonology and phonetics the definition of phoneme the definition of the minimal pair and set