MAKALAH PHONEMIC ANALYSIS
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
The instructions to
each problem are somewhat different in each case. So read them carefully before
processing. However, each problem requires that you follow the step by step
procedure for doing a phonemic analysis outline. The problems are designed to introduce you to
problems involving minimal pairs. Complementary distribution, and free
variation. (A linguist making a phonemic analysis of an unknown language would
of course examine hundreds of words in order to be sure to have enough data to
find the relevant minimal pairs. Complementary distributions, etc. But to save
you time, the data in the problems below has been very carefully selected to
give you all the relevant information you will need to answer the questions
asked in a very small set of words. The same applies to all the phonology
problems you will).[1]
B. Problem Formulation
1. What is problems in phonemic analysis ?
2. Problems of analysis ?
3. Problems of assignment ?
C. Purpose
1.
Know problems in
phonemic analysis
2.
Know problems of
analysis
3.
Know problems of
assignmet
CHAPTER 11
DISCUSSION
A.
Problems in
Phonemic Analysis
There
are two main areas of difficulty of learning about the phonology of English.
The first will be called the problem of analysis. Different writers produce
different analysis of the phonemic system of English, it is clear that phonemic
analysis is not as clear and simple as studying the letters of alphabet. The
second area of difficulty will be called the problem of assignment. We can find
many cases where it is difficult to assign a particular speech sound to a
particular phoneme.
B.
Problem
of Analysis
The affricates t∫ and dʒ are phonetically composed of a plossive followed
by a fricative. It is possible to threat each of pair t∫ and dʒ as a single consonant phoneme and it is also possible
to say they are composed of two phonemes each either already established as
independent phonemes of English, we called the two phonemes analysis
of t∫ and dʒ. There are several arguments and no
single one of them is conclusive, but added together to make the phoneme
analysis seem preferable. These some arguments are:
a. One argument could be called “ phonetic” or “allophonic”. In
fact there is some allophonic evidence that support the two phoneme analysis,
we can find this is in the occurence of glottalisation. If we at
glottalilsation of p, t, k and t∫ in RP we find the
pattern occurence.
1. One consonant phoneme occurring
medially, there is no glottalisation is found.
2. Two consonat phonemes accurring
medially, the glottalisation is normal.
3. t∫ occuring medially, the
glottalisation is normal after a stressed syllable
b. It could be argued that the proposed phonemes t∫ and dʒ have distribution similar to other consonant and the
other consonant of plossive plus fricative do not. However, several consonant
are accepted as phonemes of RP despite not being free to occur in all position,
so this argument supporting the one phoneme analysis.
c. If t∫ and dʒ were able to combine quite freely with other consonants
to form consonant clusters, this would support the one phoneme analysis.
Initial t∫ and dʒ would have to be interpreted as initial t, dplus
pos-initial ∫, ʒ, with the result that the post-initial set of consonants
would have to contain l, r, w, j and also ∫, ʒ. There are consonant which are rather different from the
other four and which could only combine with t and d.
d. Finally, it has been
suggested that if native speakers of English who have not been taught phonetics
feel that t∫ and dʒ are each “ one sound”. The problem with this is that
discovering what untrained or native speaker feel about their own language is
not as easy as it might sound. But the result would be distorted by the fact
that two consonant letters are used in the spelling.
The analysis of the English vowel contains a large number of
phonemes and it is not surprising that 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. There 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 :
ɪɪ (i:) æ
æ (ɑ:) ɒɒ (ɔ:) ʊʊ(u:) əə(ɜ:)
This can made to
look less unusual by choosing different symbols for the basic vowels.
Diphthongs are made from a simple vowel phoneme followed by one of ɪ, ʊ, ə. Triphthongs are made from a basic vowel plus one ofɪ,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,
but it was for many years the choice of most. 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). Our usual transcription is :
ej (eI) əw (əʊ) Ih (Iə)
æ (aI) æw
(aʊ) eh
(e ə)
ɒj (ɔI) ʊh (ʊə)
Long
vowels :
ɪj (i:) æh
(ɑ:) ɒh (ə:) əh (ɜ:) ʊw (u:)
Diphthongs and long vowels are now of exactly the same
phonological composition. An important point about this analysis is that j, w,
h do not otherwise occur finally in the syllable. There are many other ways of
analysing the very complex vowel system of English, some of which are extremely
ingenious. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
The syllabic consonant are a problem, they are phonologically
diffferent different from their non-syllabic counterparts. One possibility is
to add new consonant phonemes in our list. We could invent the phonemes l, r, n
etc. The distribution of these consonants would be rather limited, but the main
problem would be fitting them into the pattern of syllable structure. For a
word like ‘button’ b ʌtn or ‘bottle’ bɒtl, it would be necessary to add n and l to the firs
post-final set. Another possibility is to set up a phoneme that we might name
syllabicity, symbolised with the mark,.
Some phonologists maintain that a syllabic consonant is
really a case of a vowel and a consonant that have become combined. Let us
suppose that the vowel is ə. We could then say that, for example, ‘Hungary’is
phonemically hʌng əri while ‘hungry’ is hʌŋgri, it would then be necessary to say that the vowel
phoneme in the phonemic representation is not pronounced as a vowel, but
instead causes the following consonant to become syllabic. This is an example
of the abstract view of phonology where the way a word is represented
phonemically may be significantly different from the actual sequence of sound
heard, so that the phonetic and the phonemic level are quite widely separated.[2]
C.
Problems
of assignment
One problem of assignment has already been encountered in
chapter 9, we saw how althought ɪ and i:are clearly distinct in most contexts, there are
other contexts where we find a sound which can not clearly be said to belong to
one or other of these two phonemes. The suggested solution to this problem was
to use the symbol i, which does not represent any single phoneme.we use the
term neutralisation for cases where contrast between phonemes which exist in
other places in the language disappear in particular contexts.words like
‘spill’, ‘still’, ‘skill’ are usually represented with the phonemes p, t, k
following the s. But, as many writers have pointed out, it would be quite
reasonable to transcribe them with b, d, g instead. For example b, d, g are
unaspirated while p, t, k in syllable initial position are usually aspirated,
but in sp,st, sk we find an unaspirated plosive. There could be a strong
argument for transcribing them as sb, sd, sg. We do not do this, perhaps
because of the spelling, but it is important to remember that the contrast
between p and b, between t and d and between k and g are neutralised in this
context.
There are some othercases which are not so clear. It has been
suggested that there is not really a contrast between ə and ʌ, since ə only occurs in weak syllables and minimal pairs can be
found to show a clear contrast between ə and ʌ is unstressed syllable. Other phonologists have
suggested that ə is an allophone of several other vowels. For example,
compare the middle two syllables iin the words ‘economy’ ‘ɪ’kɒnəmi and ‘economic’ i:kə’nɒmɪk. It appears that when the stress moves away from the
syllable containingɒ the vowel becomes ə. The conclusion that could be drawn from this argument is
that ə is not a phoneme of English, but is an allophone of
several different vowel phonemes when those phonemes an attractive one, but
since it leads to a rather complex and abstract phonemic analysis it is not
adopted for this course.
The practical goal of teaching or learning about English
pronunciation, and for this purpose a very abstract analysis would be
unsuitable. This is one criterion for judging the value of an analysis; unless
one believes in carrying out phonological analysis for purely aesthetic
reasons, the only other important criterion is whether the analysis corresponds
to the representation of sounds in the human brain. We do not yet know much
about this but the brain is so powerful and complex that it is very unlikely
that any of the analysis proposed so far bear much resemblance to this reality,
they are too heavily influenced by the theoretician’s preoccupation with
economy, elegance, and simplicity.[3]
CHAPTER III
CLOSING
A. CONCLUTION
There are two main areas of
difficulty of learning about the phonology of English. The first will be called
the problem of analysis. Different writers produce different analysis of the
phonemic system of English. The second area of difficulty will be called the
problem of assignment.The analysis of the English
vowel contains a large number of phonemes and it is not surprising that 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.
REFRENCE
Kolibri. problem in phonemic analysis. http://kolibrimerah.blogspot.co.id/2011/12/problems
in-phonemic-analysis.html. Accessed 18 mei 2018 15.29 am.
Memanis, Caroly dkk.
1988. Language Files Fourth Edition. Ohio
State University.
Roach, Peter. 1991. English Phonetics and Phonology A practic
course second editio. New
York
: Cambridge University Press.
[1] Caroly Memanis dkk, Language Files Fourth Edition, Ohio
State University: 1988. Page.99
[2]Kolibri, problem in phonemic analysis, http://kolibrimerah.blogspot.co.id/2011/12/problems-in-phonemic-analysis.html, accessed 18 mei 2018 15.29 am.
[3] Peter roach, English Phonetics and Phonology A
practic course second editio,new york : cambridge university press, 1991.
Page.115
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