ASSIGNMENT

Assignment

Assignment

Question 1

ð?; 'd?kt?(r) ?'p??(r) æt ð?; 'w?nd?? ?v Iz 's?'(r)d??ri.

'l??gwIst dI'sple? s?m 'veri stre?nd? 'hæb?t.

l?'st naIt 'a? 'w?z s?? b?I(r)d ðæt 'a? '??p?n 'end?d ?p 'b?'(r)d 'w?t??? r?'pi't ?n ð?; 'teli.

'a? 'hæd 'no? 'tr?b?l k?n'v?ns?? 'ma? 'dæd 'ðæt 'du'?? f?'net?ks '?z 'f?n

'f??st?? '??st?rz '?n [unsuspecting] 'da?n?rz k?n 'li'd t? [significant] 'k?st?m?r d?(s)'sæt?s'fæk??n .

Question 2

Phoneme

A phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language. Phonologists have differing views of the phoneme. Following are the two major views considered here:

In the American structuralist tradition, a phoneme is defined according to its allophones and environments.

In the generative tradition, a phoneme is defined as a set of distinctive features. (Wells 2000 512)

Here is a chart that compares phones and phonemes:

A phone is …

A phoneme is …

One of many possible sounds in the languages of the world.

A contrastive unit in the sound system of a particular language.

The smallest identifiable unit found in a stream of speech.

A minimal unit that serves to distinguish between meanings of words.

Pronounced in a defined way.

Pronounced in one or more ways, depending on the number of allophones.

Represented between brackets by convention.

Example:

[b], [j], [o]

Represented between slashes by convention.

Example:

/b/, /j/, /o/

Here are examples of the phonemes /r/ and /l/ occurring in a minimal pair:

rip

lip

The phones [r] and [l] contrast in identical environments and are considered to be separate phonemes. The phonemes /r/ and /l/ serve to distinguish the word rip from the word lip. Here are examples of the English phonemes /p/ and /i/ specified as sets of distinctive features:

/p/ /i/

-syllabic +consonantal -sonorant +anterior -coronal -voice -continuant -nasal+syllabic -consonantal +sonorant +high -low -back -round +ATR -nasal

Allphones

Allophones are the linguistically non-significant variants of each phoneme. In other words a phoneme may be realised by more than one speech sound and the selection of each variant is usually conditioned by the phonetic environment of the phoneme. Occasionally allophone selection is not conditioned but may vary form person to person and occasion to occasion (ie. free variation). (Roach 2006 52)

A phoneme is a set of allophones or individual non-contrastive speech segments. Allophones are sounds, whilst a phoneme is a set of such sounds.

Allophones are usually relatively similar sounds which are in mutually exclusive or complementary distribution (C.D.). The C.D. of two phonemes means that the two phonemes can never be found in the same environment (ie. the same environment in the senses of position in the word and the identity of adjacent phonemes). If two sounds are phonetically similar and they are in C.D. then they can be assumed to be allophones of the same phoneme.

For example, many languages voiced and voiceless stops with the same place of articulation do not contrast linguistically but are rather two phonetic realisations of a single phoneme (ie. /p/=[p,b],/t/=[t,d], and /k/=[k,g]). In other words, voicing is not contrastive (at least for stops) and the selection of the appropriate allophone is in some contexts fully conditioned by phonetic context (eg. word medially and depending upon the voicing of adjacent consonants), and ...