Phonemes/ Allophones/ Complimentary Distribution/ Free VariationsDistribution and Realization of English ConsonantsThe Syllable Structure

Prepared by: Zhian Fadhil Asaad

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What's Phoneme?

A phoneme is a basic unit of a language's phonology, which is combined with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words . The phoneme can be described as "The smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of meaning". In this way the difference in meaning between the English words kill and kiss is a result of the exchange of the phoneme /l/ for the phoneme /s/. Two words that differ in meaning through a contrast of a single phoneme are called minimal pairs. Gimson, ed. Cruttenden (2008). pp. 41

Phonemes are meaning distinguishing sounds ,they contrastively and they are abstract .they are in the mind. Fromkin &Rodman(2003).p283

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Phone and Allophone

Phone: is a term in phonetics to refer to the smallest perceptible discrete segment of sound in stream of speech. From the viewpoint of segmental Phonology , phones are the physical realization ofphonemes.Crystal(2003),p347

Allophones: A set of phones all of which are version of one phoneme ,An Allophone is therefore a predictable phonetic variant of Phoneme. Fromkin &Rodman(2003).p285

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Distinguish between Phoneme and Allophone

1.Phoneme: Substituting one phoneme for another will result in a word with a different meaning as well as a different pronunciation.Recognized by speakers as separate soundsWe use slash // to enclose phonemes .

2. Allophone: Substituting one allophone for another would result in a different pronunciation of the same word no change in the meaning.Speakers hear them as the same sound.We use square brackets [] for Allophones or Phones.Yule (2006),p45

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Complimentary Distribution

Complementary distribution is commonly applied to phonology, where similar phones in complementary distribution are usually allophones of the same phoneme. For instance, in English, [p] and [pʰ] are allophones of the phoneme /p/ because they occur in complementary distribution. [pʰ] always occurs when it is the syllable onset and followed by a stressed vowel (as in the word pin). [p] occurs in all other situations (as in the word spin).There are cases where elements are in complementary distribution, but are not considered allophones. For example in English [h] and [ŋ] are in complementary distribution, since [h] only occurs at the beginning of a syllable and [ŋ] only at the end. But because they have so little in common in phonetic terms they are still considered separate phonemes.When two or more sounds occur in the same phonemic context or environment, they are said to be in Complimentary Distribution. ex:When oral vowel occur, nasal vowels don’t occur and vice versa. In this sense the phones are said to complement each other. Fromkin &Rodman(2003).p287,290

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Free Variation

Free variation in linguistics is the phenomenon of two (or more) sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native speakers. When phonemes are in free variation, speakers are sometimes strongly aware of the fact especially where such variation is only visible across a dialectal , and will note, for example, that tomato is pronounced differently in British and American English, or that either has two pronunciations which are fairly randomly distributed. However, only a very small proportion of English words show such variations. In the case of allophones, however, free variation is exceedingly common, and, along with differing intonation patterns, variation in allophone is the most important single feature in the characterization of regional accentsClark, John Ellery; Yallop, Colin; Fletcher, Janet (2007).Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology.

Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 110, 116–18.

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Distribution and Realization of English consonants

Distribution: Distributional ideas were originally developed in phonology, but were later extended to other linguistic units. In some approaches, the notion of distribution became a major explanatory principle, being seen as a possible way of grouping sounds into phonemes without reference to the meaning or grammatical properties of the words in which they appear – or even to the phonetic similarities existing between them. On this basis, for instance, [h] and [o] in English might be considered members of the same phoneme, because they never share the same set of environments. In phonemic phonology, the most important continuing use of the term is in the phrase.

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complementary distribution, which refers to the status of related sounds (or allophones) when they are found in mutually exclusive environments, as in the use of a dental v. an alveolar allophone of /t/ in English, e.g. eight v. eighth. (In generative phonology, on the other hand, distributional statements of this kind are handled by a formulation in terms of phonological rules.) Crystal(2003)p147

Realization: The physical expression of an abstract linguistic unit example ,phonemes are realized in phonic substance as phones .as a technical term this word is used to refer to the act of pronouncing a phoneme. Since phonemes are said to be abstract units ,they are not physically real. when we speak we produce sounds ,and these are the physical realisation of the phonemes. Each realisation is different from the other since you can never do the same thing twice, but also some realizations are noticeably different in quality from others, example: the English phoneme /l/is sometimes realised as a clear l and sometime as a dark l.

Crystal(2003)p387,Peter Roach(2002)p63

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The Syllable StructureThe structure of English spoken syllable can be summarized as follows:Minimally , a syllable consists of a vowel , or a vowel like sound which acts as a nucleus ,center or pick of the syllable.Many syllables have one or more consonants preceding the nucleus. These make up the syllable onset :me ,so, play. Traditionally they are known as open syllables.Many syllables have one or more consonants following the nucleus. These make up syllables coda :am, ants, eel. They are traditionally known as closed syllables.Man syllables have both an onset and a coda :cat, jump.

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•The combination of nucleus and coda has a special significance, making up the rhyming property of syllable: cat sat, jump, clump .

In analysing syllable structure its important to look for the pronunciation behind a word spelling. although ooze ends in a written vowel , it ends in a spoken consonant and its structure is VC. Similarly all is VC not VCC, jumped is CVCCC not CVCCVC and fox is CVCC not CVC.

Crystal(2003)p246

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Syllabic Consonants

There is one exception to the rule that a syllable must have a vowel as its nucleus. This occur when certain vowel like consonants-/l/,/r/, or a nasal –act as the center of the syllable , as in bottle /bDtl/,button /bʌtn/, and in those accents which pronounce /r/ perhaps /prhaps/.

syllable

onset rhyme

nucleus coda

Crystal(2003)p246

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References

Cruttenden, Alan, 2008, Gimson's Pronunciation of English, 7th ed., London.

Clark, John Ellery; Yallop, Colin; Fletcher, Janet (2007).Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell.

David Crystal,2003,The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language,2nd ed.

Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman,2003,An Introduction to Language,7th ed.

George Yule,2006,The Study of Language, 3rd ed. Peter Roach(2002),A Little Encyclopedia of Phonetics