Page 158 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes [kapi] “copy”
[kap i] “ample”
h
• Aspiration is “contrastive” in Hindi.
h
• [pal] for “knife edge” instead of [p al] is like saying “shave” instead of “save”.
• Hindi speakers cannot “overlook” the difference between aspirated and unaspirated stops
because they distinguish meaning based it.
• [s] and [ ∫ ] are contrastive and the occurrence of the two is unpredictable in English.
• In Japanese, we can predict their distribution.
• In Japanese, [s] and [ ∫ ] are considered to be the “same” sound even though they may be
phonetically distinct.
Phonology deals with the following questions:
1. Of all the sounds in a language, which are predictable?
2. What is the phonetic context that allows us to predict the occurrence of these sounds?
3. Which sounds affect the meaning of words?
c. English lateral liquid (/I/):
lean
let
lace
kneel
tell
sail
Articulatory Facts about/I/: An alveolar consonant

Alveolar
d, t, s, z, n

But, when saying the first three words (i.e., lean, let, lace):
[l1: clear ‘l’ / alveolar lateral
Tip of the tongue: high, touches the alveolar ridge
Back of the tongue: down
Sides of the tongue: drawn in so that the air escapes around the tongue
But, When saying the last three words (i.e., kneal, tell, sail):
[ ]: dark ‘l’ / velarized lateral
Tip of the tongue: may be raised
Back of the tongue: high
Center of the tongue: low
Sides of the tongue: curled in
• /I/ may be pronounced several different ways. And, we overlook this difference when
we learn words that contain this sound.

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