Phonology

-phonology – investigates the sounds from the point of view of their functions which they fulfil within a certain linguistic system

 

-difference btw Phonetics and Phonology is given by the difference btw the sound (basic unit of phonetic) and phoneme (basic unit of phonology)

 

-phoneme – abstract unit based on generalization and for any given language characteristics qualities of certain types of sound

 

-sound – non-recurrent phenomenon, every new realization of the sound occurs under different condition

 

-phonological opposition – mutual relationship btw two phonemes which established the basic of similarity and difference

 

-features of phonemes:

1. relevant – the presence of these features enables the phonemes to distinguish meaning – distinctive feature

2. irrelevant – they are not capable of distinguish meaning

-traditional conception – articulatory

-binaritic conception – acoustic

Nikolai Trubetzkoy ( 1890 -1938 )

 

-private (binary) oppositions:

-a member of a pair of sounds possesses a feature which the other lacks. They share all other features and that set of features is shared with no other sound

-e.g. - / f, v / are labial obstructions / v / possesses the feature (voice), / f / doesn’t

-in this case / v / is said to be „marked“(it has the feature) and / f / is „unmarked“

 

-gradual oppositions:

-a class of sounds that possesses different degrees or graduations of feature or property

-e.g. - / l, a, æ / the short form vowels with different degrees of height

 

-equipollent oppositions:

-a class of sounds possesses the same features except that they differ according to values of a feature that are logically equivalent

-e.g.  / s, ʃ / have identical features except for place of articulation

 

Roman Jacobson (1896 – 1982)

 

-R. Jacobson and his colleges (over the period 1941 – 1956) contributed extensively to the development of distinctive feature theory; he made some choices about how to describe phonological features that would dominate feature theory for 40 years or more years

 

-all phonological features are binary – that is phoneme either possesses a feature or it doesn’t

-that means that feature easily expressed as gradual oppositions (e.g. – vowel height) or equipollent oppositions (e.g. – consonant place of articulations) needed to be expressed as a set of binary features.  

 

-the reason for choosing binary features was that they made phonological rules easier to express e.g.  X then [+B] else [-B]

 

-Jacobson asserted that a small set of features can differentiate btw the phonemes of any language.

 

1. prosodic features – expressed within syllable

2. inherent features – expressed without any regard to the role they are played within syllable

 

-tone, force, quantity:

-the inherent features are subdivided into two features:

1. sonority features

2. tonality features