English Phonetics
Problems of Phonemic Analysis
Definition of Problems in Phonemic Analysis
Problems in
Phonemic Analysis Speech is composed of phonemes. Whenever a speech sound is
produced, it is possible to identify which phoneme the sound in question
belongs to. There are two main ideas of difficulty of learning about the
phonology of English. The first is called the problem of analysis, the second
area of difficulty is called the problem of assignment.
The problem of analysis is shown in
the following diagram:
1. Affricates
The affricates
/tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are, phonetically, composed of a plosive followed by a fricative.
It is possible to treat each affricate as a single consonant phoneme
(one-phoneme analysis) of /tʃ/, /dʒ/ as a single consonant phoneme. As a
twophoneme analysis, it is possible to say that they are composed of two
phonemes each -/t/ plus /ʃ/ and /d/ plus /ʒ/ respectively. If we adopted the
twophoneme analysis, the words „church‟ and „judge‟ would be composed of five
phonemes each, like this: /t-ʃ-ə-r-t-ʃ/ , /d-ʒ-ə-d-ʒ/ instead of the three
phoneme that result from the one-phoneme analysis: /tʃ-ɜ:-tʃ/ , /dʒ- ʌ -dʒ/.
In the second phoneme analysis, the total number of phonemes is
smaller and should be preferred as more economical. Moreover, the native
speakers may suggest that /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are each "one sound".
•The affricates t∫ and dʒ are phonetically composed of
a plosive followed by a fricative.
•It is possible
to threat each of pair t∫ and dʒ as a single consonant phoneme.
•We call this as one phoneme analysis.
It is also
possible to say they are composed of two phonemes each , t plus ∫ and d plus ʒ. This is called two phoneme analysis.
•If we use
two phoneme analysis, the wordchurch and judge would be composed as :
t
-ʃ-ɜ:-t-ʃ d
-ʒ-ʌ-d-ʒ
•But
if we use one phoneme analysis , it wouldbe like the usual.
tʃɜːtʃ dʒʌdʒ
2. The
English vowel system
The analysis of
the English vowel contains a large number of phonemes, some phonologist
proposed different analysis which contain less than ten vowel phonemes and
treat all long vowels and dipthongs as composed of two phonemes each. The
different ways of doing this: one way is to treat long vowels and diphthongs as
composed of two vowel phonemes. If we start with a set of basic vowel phonemes ɪ,
e, æ, ʌ, ɒ, ʊ, ə it would then be possible to make up long vowels by using
vowels twice. Our usual transcription is given in brackets :
(i:) = ɪɪ (ɑ:) = æ æ (o:) = oo (u:) = ʊʊ (ɜ:)
= əə
Another way of doing this kind of analysis is to treat long vowels
and diphthongs as composed of a vowel plus a consonant. Long vowels and
diphthongs are composed of a basic vowel phoneme followed by one of j, w, h;
e.g. ej (eɪ) /aj/ (aɪ) /ɒj (aɔɪ) /əw/ (əu) /æw/ (aʊ) /ɪh/ (ɪə) /eh/ (eə) /ʊh/ (ʊə)
; ɪj (i:) æh (ɑ:) ɒh (ɔ:) əh (ɜ:) ʊw (u:). An important point about this
analysis is that j, w, h do not otherwise occur finally in the syllable. In
this analysis, the inequality of distribution is corrected.
Neutralisation: refers to cases where contrasts between phonemes
which exist in other places in the language disappear in particular contexts.
For example, although /ɪ/ and /i:/ are clearly distinct in most contexts, there
are Dr. Nidaa Hussain Fahmi Al Khazraji other contexts where we find a sound
which cannot clearly be said to belong to one or other of these two phonemes.
The suggested solution to this is to use the symbol /i/.
Diphthongs are
made from a simple vowel phoneme followed by one of ɪ, ʊ, ə.
Triphthongs are
made from a basic vowel plus one of ɪ,ʊ followed by ə and are therefore
composed of three phonemes.
Another way of doing this
kind of analysis is to treat long vowels and diphthongs as composed of a vowel
plus a consonant, this may seem a less obvious way of procceding. The idea is
that long vowels and diphthongs are composed of a basic vowel phoneme followed
by one of j, w, h (in the case of RP), so, the transcription will be :
ej (eɪ) ɒj (ɔɪ)
æw (aʊ) əw (əʊ)
ɪh (ɪə) ʊh (ʊə) eh (e ə)
3. Syllabic
consonants
/p/, /t/, /k/
in syllable initial position are aspirated, but when preceded by /s/ they
become unasprated and could perhaps be transcribed as /b/, /d/, /g/ because
contrast between these two groups of consonants become nutralised.
Words like
spill', 'still', 'skill' are usually represented with the phonemes /p, t, k/
following the /s/. Generally, /b, d, g/ are un-aspirated while /p, t, k/ in
syllable initial position are usually aspirated. However, in (sp, st, sk) we
find an unaspirated plosive, and there could be a strong argument for
transcribing them as (sb, sd, sg). The contrasts between /p/ and /b/, between
/t/ and /d/and between /k/ and /g/ are neutralized.
Allophone: is
one of two or more variants of the same phoneme e.g. the aspirated \p\ of “pin”
and the unaspirated \p\ of “spin” are allophones of the phoneme \p\.
4. Schwa
(ə).
It has been suggested that there is not really a contrast between /ə/
and /ʌ/, since /ə/ only occurs in weak syllables and no minimal pairs can be
found to show a contrast between both in unstressed syllables. So, there is a
proposal that one Dr. Nidaa Hussain Fahmi Al Khazraji phoneme symbol (e.g. ə)
be used for both (e.g. "upper" /əpə/). This new phoneme would have
two allophones: one being [ə] and the other [ʌ]; the stress mark would indicate
[ʌ] allophone, and with no stress [ə] would be used.
Other phonologists have suggested that /ə/ is an allophone of
several other vowels; for example, compare the middle two syllables in the
words „economy‟ /I'kɒnəmi/ and „economic‟ /i:kə'nɒmɪk/. The conclusion is that
/ə/ is not a phoneme of English, but is an allophone of several different vowel
phonemes when occur in an unstressed syllable. Since this leads to a rather
complex and abstract phonemic analysis, it is not adopted.
5. Distinctive
features
Distinctive
feature analysis is one of many different ways of treating the notion of
phoneme. The phonemes are combinations of different features, the presence (+)
and absence (-) of features could be treated as different phoneme.
For example, the English /d/ phoneme differs from the plosives /b/
and /g/ in its place of articulation (alveolar), from /t/ being voiced, from
/s/ and /z/ in not being fricative, from /n/ in not being nasal, and so on. In
distinctive feature analysis, the feature themselves thus become important
components of the phonology.[1]
a. Tips on solving phonemic analysis problems
If your task is to determine whether [b] and [p] are allophones of the same phoneme
ordifferent.phonemes.
1. Look for a minimal pair which differs on the presence of [p] vs. [b]. You only need one such minimal pair. This is sufficient to tell you that [b] and [p] are different phonemes.
2. Assuming there are no minimal pairs, start on stating the environments in which each is found. You can use the following notation or any other one that works for you.
1. Look for a minimal pair which differs on the presence of [p] vs. [b]. You only need one such minimal pair. This is sufficient to tell you that [b] and [p] are different phonemes.
2. Assuming there are no minimal pairs, start on stating the environments in which each is found. You can use the following notation or any other one that works for you.
[b] [p]
#_i
#_o
a_i
i_i
s_o
s_#
e_#
a_l
"#"=word.boundary
3. Once you have your phonetic contexts (or environments) listed, study them. Can you make any generalizations about the classes of sounds which come before and/or after the sounds in question?
4. If the two sounds appear to occur in the same environments, their distributions are overlapping.
3. Once you have your phonetic contexts (or environments) listed, study them. Can you make any generalizations about the classes of sounds which come before and/or after the sounds in question?
4. If the two sounds appear to occur in the same environments, their distributions are overlapping.
Unless you have evidence for free
variation*, you should conclude that these sounds are
differentphonemes.
*What's evidence for free variation: what looks like a minimal pair- two words which differ phonetically on only one sound, but whose meaning remains the same.
5. If you can find a conditioning environment, that is, an environment in which one sound is found and the other is not, than you can conclude that the two sounds are in complementary distribution and they are thus allophones of the same phoneme.
6. The final step is to select a basic allophone and a derived allophone. The basic allophone will be the one which has the broader distribution, i.e. is found in the most environments. The derived allophone is the one which is most restricted in the phonetic contexts in which it appears. Once you have identified which is the basic (or underlying) sound, and which the derived one, you can state a rule which captures the conditioning environment.
An example of a rule: /p/ becomes [ph] in stressed-syllable initial position.
Another example: /s/ becomes [z] before a voiced sound.
Note: be careful when you state the conditioning environment. Try to capture it with the most general class as possible (e.g. high vowels, rather than [i] and [u]), making sure, however, that there are no other data in your set which contradict that statement.
*What's evidence for free variation: what looks like a minimal pair- two words which differ phonetically on only one sound, but whose meaning remains the same.
5. If you can find a conditioning environment, that is, an environment in which one sound is found and the other is not, than you can conclude that the two sounds are in complementary distribution and they are thus allophones of the same phoneme.
6. The final step is to select a basic allophone and a derived allophone. The basic allophone will be the one which has the broader distribution, i.e. is found in the most environments. The derived allophone is the one which is most restricted in the phonetic contexts in which it appears. Once you have identified which is the basic (or underlying) sound, and which the derived one, you can state a rule which captures the conditioning environment.
An example of a rule: /p/ becomes [ph] in stressed-syllable initial position.
Another example: /s/ becomes [z] before a voiced sound.
Note: be careful when you state the conditioning environment. Try to capture it with the most general class as possible (e.g. high vowels, rather than [i] and [u]), making sure, however, that there are no other data in your set which contradict that statement.
b.
How to do phonemic analysis
Check for a minimal pair
1. That is a pair of words, with distinct meaning, identical except for the
phonetic difference in question.
2. If you find a
minimal pair , then the phonetic difference in question is contrastive. The 2
sounds are separate phonemes. No rule needed, you're done.
3. If no minimal
pair, continue.
Check for complementary distribution
1.
What does it mean? Sound Y never occurs in contexts where sound X
occurs, and X never occurs in contexts where Y occurs.
2. Procedure: make
an environment chart listing all the phonetic environments (= contexts) where
each allophone occurs. Then look over the result: do the sounds occur in overlapping
contexts, or is there a pattern – a particular context where one of the sounds
occurs, and the other doesn't?
3. If two
phonetically similar sounds are in complementary distribution, we assume they
are allophones of the same phoneme.
4. If there is a
pattern, decide which sound is the phoneme, and posit a rule to account for the
allophone(s).
How to decide on the phoneme:
1.
pick the sound with the broadest distribution, i.e. occurring in
the broadest range of contexts.
2. Then you can
write a rule converting it to allophone in narrow contexts.
Observe that if you find a minimal pair , obviously the 2 sounds
can't be in complementary distribution, because the 2 sounds are occurring in
exactly the same context.
'Phoneme' can be thought of in two ways: as a set of sounds (hence
we talk about allophones 'belonging' to a phoneme); but the set typically has
one dominant, i.e. most prototypical, member, and we also refer to this member
as the phoneme.[2]
c.
Methods of the phonemic analysis
The aim of the phonological analysis is, firstly, to determine which
differences of sounds are phonemic and which are non-phonemic and, secondly,
to find the inventory of phonemes of the language.
As it was mentioned above, phonology has its own methods of investigation.
Semantic method is applied for phonological analysis of both unknown languages
and languages already described. The method is based on a phonemic rule that
phonemes can distinguish words and morphemes when opposed to one another. It
consists in systematic substitution of one sound for another in order to find
out in which cases where the phonetic context remains the same such replacing
leads to a change of meaning. This procedure is called the commutation test. It
consists in finding minimal pairs of words and their grammatical forms. For
example:
pen [pen] ben [ben]
gain [gain] cane [kain]
ten [ten] den[den]
Minimal pairs are
useful for establishing the phonemes of the language. Thus, a phoneme can only
perform its distinctive function if it is opposed to another phoneme in the
same position. Such an opposition is called phonological. Let us consider the
classification of phonological oppositions worked out by N.S. Trubetzkoy. It is
based on the number of distinctive articulatory features underlying the
opposition.
1.
If the opposition is based on a single difference in the articulation of
two speech sounds, it is a single phonological opposition, e.g. [p]-[t], as in
[pen]-[ten]; bilabial vs. forelingual, all the other features are the same.
2. If the sounds in
distinctive opposition have two differences in their articulation, the
opposition is double one, or a sum of two single oppositions, e.g. [p]-[d], as
in [pen]-[den], 1) bilabial vs. forelingual 2) voiceless-fortis vs.
voiced-lenis.
3. If there are three
articulatory differences, the opposition is triple one, or a sum of three
single oppositions, e.g. [p]- [ð], as in [pei]-[ ðei]: 1) bilabial vs.
forelingual, 2) occlusive vs. constrictive, 3) voiceless-fortis vs.
voiced-lenis.
American descriptivists, whose most zealous representative is, perhaps,
Zellig Harris, declare the distributional method to be the only scientific one.
At the same time they declare the semantic method unscientific because they
consider recourse to meaning external to linguistics. Descriptivists consider
the phonemic analysis in terms of distribution. They consider it possible to
discover the phonemes of a language by the rigid application of a
distributional method. It means to group all the sounds pronounced by native
speakers into phoneme according to the laws of phonemic and allophonic
distribution:
1. Allophones of different phonemes occur in the same phonetic context. In
this case their distribution is contrastive.
2. Allophones of the same phoneme(s) never occur in the same phonetic
context. In this case their distribution is complementary.
There is, however, a third possibility, namely, that the sounds both occur
in a language but the speakers are inconsistent in the way they use them, for
example, калоши-галоши, and [‘ei∫э - ‘егжэ]. In such cases we
must take them as free variants of a single phoneme. We could explain the case
on the basis of sociolinguistics. Thus, there are three types of distribution:
contrastive, complementary and free variation.[3]
CONCLUSION
Problems in
Phonemic Analysis Speech is composed of phonemes. The
problem of analysis are affricates, The
English vowel system, syllabic
consonants, schwa (ə). Distinctive features. The
affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are, phonetically, composed of a plosive followed by a
fricative. 'Phoneme' can
be thought of in two ways: as a set of sounds (hence we talk about allophones
'belonging' to a phoneme); but the set typically has one dominant, i.e. most
prototypical, member, and we also refer to this member as the phoneme.
[3] Contemporary Research
in Phonetics and Phonology: Methods, Aspects and Problems.2nd International Scientific Conference. Latvian
Language Institute of the University of Latvia.
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