Phonology is the study of the sound system of a language. A language's sound system is made up of a set of phonemes which are used according to phonological rules.
In this article, we'll look at:
- What phonology is
- Phonological awareness
- Phonology in the English language and
- Examples of phonology in linguistics
- Assimilation, dissimilation, insertion, and deletion
Phonology meaning
Phonology describes sound contrasts which create differences in meaning within a language. Phonological systems are made up of phonemes (we'll come back to phonemes in a bit), and each language has its own phonological system. This means that the study of phonology is language-specific.
- For example, the phoneme /ɛ/ is different from the phoneme /i:/, so if we use the word set [sɛt] instead of seat [si:t], the meaning of the word will change.
Note: slash marks are used to indicate a phoneme /t/ (an abstract segment i.e. the representation of the sound), as opposed to the square brackets [t], used to indicate a phone (a physical segment i.e. the actual sound produced).
Phonological awareness
Phonological awareness is the ability to be aware of, identify and manipulate phonological units (phonemes) in elements of spoken language such as syllables and words.
Phonological awareness comes from the analysis of the following language elements:
- Phonemes
- Dialects and accents
- Phonotactics
Phonemes
A phoneme is the smallest unit of meaningful sound. Phonemes are the basic phonological units and form the building blocks of speech sounds. Phonemes are single sounds represented by a single written symbol.
Symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are used to represent phonemes. The IPA is a system of symbols where each possible speech sound has a representative written symbol.
Minimal pairs
In Phonology, you can use minimal pairs to distinguish phonemes from each other.
A minimal pair is when two words have different meanings but only one sound (or phonemic) difference.
An example of minimal pairs in phonology would be:
- mire /maɪə/ and mile /maɪl/.
- bad /bæd/ and bed /bɛd/.
- crowd /kraʊd/ and cloud /klaʊd/.
- rock /rɒk/ and lock /lɒk/.
As you can see, these words are very similar, but each pair contains one phonemic difference which creates different meanings.
The rules for identifying minimal pairs are:
The words in the pair must have the same number of sounds.
Two or more words in the pairs must be identical in every sound except for one.
In each word, the sounds must be in the same position.
The words must have different meanings.
Dialects and accents of English
People can pronounce sounds in different ways. This can depend on multiple factors, for example:
- Social class
- Ethnic group
- Speech or voice disorders
- Education
- Geographical area
Accent and dialect are a result of all these factors.
Dialects are variations of the same language spoken by people in particular areas or social groups. Dialects differ in pronunciation, grammatical patterns, and vocabulary. It is important to remember that whilst these factors impact speech, people can have different dialects and speak the same language.
For example, Scottish, Irish, Yorkshire, Cockney, Welsh English, may all be said to be dialects of the UK English language.
Regional dialects may differ in their pronunciation or use particular grammatical patterns or vocabulary. For example, the British English dialect does not pronounce the /r/ in words like 'car' [ka:] whereas the American English dialect often pronounces the /r/. This is called rhoticity.
Accents have developed because of regional phonological differences. Sometimes accents are based on the pronunciation of words by non-native speakers. A foreign accent is marked by the phonology of other languages.
Examples of phonological differences are:
- The word potato: - In British English it is pronounced po-tayh-to [pəˈteɪtəʊ].- In American English it is pronounced po-tay-to [pəˈteɪˌtoʊ].
- The word laughter:- In British English it is pronounced la-fte [ˈlɑːftə].- In American English it is pronounced la-fter [ˈlæftər].
- The word banana:- In British English it is pronounced be-na-na [bəˈnɑːnə].- In American English it is pronounced be-nah-na [bəˈnænə].
Phonotactics
One of the branches of phonology is phonotactics.
Phonotactics is the study of the rules governing the possible phoneme sequences in a language.
- Oxford English Dictionary
Within phonotactics, we can look at syllables. A syllable is a phonological unit that involves one or more phonemes. Syllables can show us how phonemes appear in particular sequences.
Each syllable has:
- a nucleus - always a vowel,
- an onset and a coda - usually consonants.
Let's have a look at an example of a syllable study in phonology:
In the word cat /kaet/, /k/ is the onset, /ae/ is the nucleus and /t/ is the coda.
These are the rules concerning phoneme sequences in syllables:
- The nucleus of a syllable is essential for the word and is the vowel in the middle of the syllable.
- The onset is not always present but you can find it before the nucleus if it is.
- The coda is also not always present but you can find it after the nucleus if it is.
These phonotactic rules are specific to the English language as phonology is language-specific. Other languages will have different phonotactic rules.
Phonology in the English language
As we've said, each language has its own phonology. That is, its own set of phonemes. These phoneme sets are often shown through phonemic charts.
A phonemic chart for a language contains all of the phonemes that exist in that language. It is much more specific than the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) chart which includes all possible speech sounds across all languages.
Phonological rules
Each language's phonological system contains rules which govern the pronunciation of phonemes.
Phonological rules are related to the spoken or written principles which control the changes of sounds during speech.
These describe the process of articulation (how a speaker produces speech sounds stored in the brain). Phonological rules help us understand which sounds change, what they change to, and where the change happens.
Examples of phonological rules can be divided into four types: assimilation, dissimilation, insertion, and deletion.
Examples of phonology in linguistics
We'll now look at the phonological rules: assimilation, dissimilation, insertion and deletion. Examples of these phonological rules occurring in the English language are given below. Pay attention to the examples with '/' and '[' that are used in studying phonology.
Assimilation
Assimilation is the process of changing one feature of a sound to make it similar to another.
This rule can be applied to the English plural system:
- The -s can change from voiced to voiceless depending on whether the preceding consonant is voiced or unvoiced.
So, the English plural -s can be pronounced in different ways depending on the word it is part of, for example:
- In the word snakes, the letter 's' is pronounced /s/.
- In the word baths, the letter 's' is pronounced /z/.
- In the word dresses, the letter 's' is pronounced /ɪz/.
Dissimilation
Dissimilation is the process of changing one feature of a sound to make it different.
This type of rule makes two sounds more distinguishable. It can help non-native speakers to pronounce words.
- The pronunciation of the word chimney [ˈʧɪmni] as chimley [ˈʧɪmli], with the change of [n] to an [l].
Insertion
Insertion is the process of adding an extra sound between two others.
For example, we usually insert a voiceless stop between a nasal and a voiceless fricative to make it easier for English speakers to pronounce a word.
In the word strength /strɛŋθ/, we add the sound 'k' and it becomes /strɛŋkθ/.
In the word hamster /hæmstə/, we add the sound 'p' and it becomes /hæmpstə/.
Deletion
Deletion is the process of not pronouncing a sound (consonant, vowel, or whole syllable) present in a word or phrase, to make it easier to say.
For example:
In the phrase “you and me” [ju: ənd mi:] it is possible not to say the sound /d/.
This also occurs in some words:
- /h/ in him [ɪm].
- /f/ in fifth [fɪθ].
Phonology - Key takeaways
Phonology is the study of the “sound system” of language. It refers to the phonemes used in a language and how these are organised.
A phoneme is the smallest meaningful unit of sound.
Dialects are variations of language associated with a geographic area and social class. Accents feature regional phonological or phonetic differences.
Phonotactics studies the constraining rules of phoneme combinations.
Each language has a phonological system (set of phonemes) which can be shown in a phonemic chart.
Phonological rules (assimilation, dissimilation, insertion and deletion) help us understand which sounds change, what they change to, and where the change happens.
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