English Phonology The Sound System of American English.

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English Phonology English Phonology The Sound System of American English

Transcript of English Phonology The Sound System of American English.

Page 1: English Phonology The Sound System of American English.

English PhonologyEnglish Phonology

The Sound System of American English

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Key TermsKey Terms

• Phoneme - a unit of sound significant in a specific language (E.g., /s/ is a phoneme in English while the German ch sound /x/ is not)

• Grapheme - The symbols (letters) used in a writing system such as our alphabet

• Digraph - A single sound represented by two letters (e.g., th, sh, ea)

• Phonetic Alphabet - a collection of symbols used for writing words phonetically

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More TermsMore Terms

• Allophone - a variant of a phoneme; often not noticed by native speakers (e.g, spin, pin)

• Minimal Pair - Two words that are pronounced the same except for one sound (e.g., Sue, zoo)

• Voiced Sound - A sound produced with the vocal folds (cords) vibrating (e.g. voiced /z/ as opposed to voiceless /s/)

• Diphthong - “a double vowel sound” - two vowels appearing together as the nucleus of a syllable

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The Vocal Tract

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The Vocal Folds (or Cords)

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The Consonants of English

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The Vowels of English

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Phonetic TranscriptionPhonetic Transcription

Horseshoes [hors‡uz]

Matches [mæc‡\z]

Bookend [b¨k´nd]

Is [ˆz]

Pain medicine [pen m´d\sˆn]

Thorns [†ornz]

Breathe [bri∂]

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Allomorphs Based on PhonologyAllomorphs Based on Phonology

• The plural morpheme – – [s] after a voiceless consonant– [z] after a voiced consonant– [\z] after a sibilant (s, z, sh [s‡], [z‡], ch [c‡], or j

[j])• The past tense morpheme

– [d] after a voiced sound, – [t] after a voiceless sound– [\d] after a [t] or [d]

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Allomorphs Based on PhonologyAllomorphs Based on Phonology• The negative prefix /in-/n

– [m] before a labial (e.g., impossible, immovable, imbalance)

– [˜] before a velar (e.g., incorrect, ingratitude)– [r] before /r/ (e.g., irreversible)– [l] before /l/ (e.g., illogical)

• Other examples of assimilation– Conduct, compel, colleague, corrode – Synergy, symmetry, syllogism– Admit, abbreviate, account, annul, appeal, arrive, assign,

attend, alleviate– Submit, succeed, sufficient, suggest, support, surreptitious

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Vowel DeletionDelete the last vowel of a morpheme if the following morpheme begins with a vowel

Anti- ‘against, opposite’ Anti + pathy Ant + agonizeApo- ‘away, from, off’ Apo + logy Ap + androusCata- ‘back, down, away’ Cata + log Cat + egoryDia- ‘through, between’ Dia + meter Di + ureticMeta- ‘beyond, after’ Meta + morphic Met + onymy

Works with some roots and suffixes:auto- ‘self auto + graph aut + ismmiso- ‘hate’ miso + gyny mis + anthrope-ate adjective suffix cre + ate cre + at + ion

Not if prefix is only one syllable: re + act; bi + ennial

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E/O DeletionE/O DeletionDelete the e or o of a morpheme ending in er or or of a morpheme if the following morpheme begins with a vowel

Mater ‘mother’ Mater + nal Matr + ilinealMember Dis + member Membr + aneMeter Dia + meter Metr + icAct Act + or Actr + essEnter Entr + ance

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S DeletionS DeletionDelete an s after the prefix ex-

Spir In + spire Ex + pireSer In + sert Ex + ertSecu Con + secu + tive Ex + ecu tiveSist Re + sist Ex + ist

Delete the n of the prefix an- before a consonant:

Examples: a + theist, a + pathy, a + symmetry, a + trophy

But not: an + emic, an + archy, an + orexic, an + hydrous

N DeletionN Deletion

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Vowel AlternationsVowel Alternations

• /a/ changes to /e/ in other than first syllable– E.,g, ann-ual/bi-enn-ial; apt/in-ept; damn-ation/con-demn

• /e/ changes to /i/ in other than first syllable– E.g., reg-ular; incor-rig-ible; spec-ulate/con-spic-uous