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Linguistics

Notes 11.2 Phonemes and Allophones; Describing English Sounds

What is language? → What is it that we know when we know a language? → What is it that we
know when we know English?
I. Phonological Knowledge (roughly):
(a) Sounds
(b) Sound Patterns
Thus, phonologists are concerned with:
a. Sound Inventory
What sounds does the language make use of?
Exercise 1: Which ones of the followings are possible sounds of English?
a. [!]: as in tut-tut! / tsk-tsk!
b. [y]
c [3]
d. [ð]
e. [ŋ]
What relationship do these sounds have to each other?
Which are used contrastively and which are the variant pronunciations of contrastive sounds?
Can we predict the different realizations of a contrastive sound?
b. Sound patterns
Which sound combinations are allowed?
Exercise 1: Which of the followings can be a possible word of English?
a. hled
b. θ ok
c. tlnaz
d. ŋala
e. pkar
f. plask
g. talg
II. The concept of phoneme and allophony: “Same but different”:
Aspirated vs. unaspirated stops in English
pill spill
till still
kill skill
PHONETIC FACT: There is a burst or puff of air after the /p/ in pill, till, and kill, that is absent
in spill, still, and skill.
Aspiration: The period between the release of the closure of a consonant and the start of the
vocal cord activity for the vowel that comes after it. This period is usually felt as a puff of air.
h
pill [p Il]
till [t Il]
h
kill [k Il]
h

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