Contextual alternations in English

Consonant Alternations

1. Distinction of irregular verbal forms:

[d – t]: send – sent, lend – lent

2. Distinction of parts of speech in etymologically correlated words:

[s – z]: advice – advise, house – house, use – use

[s – d]: defence – defend

[t – d]: intent – intend

[k – t∫]: speak – speech

[t – s]: important – importance

3) Vowel + Consonant Alternations (often supported by suffixation and the shifting of stress)

[I – ai] + [v – f]: live – life

[a: – ei] + [θ – ð]: bath – bathe

[e – i:] + [θ – ð]: breath – breathe

Sound alternations are also widely spread on the synchronical level in the presentday English and are known as contextual. In connection with contextual sound alternations there arises a problem of phonemic identification of alternated sounds. The functioning of sounds in different grammatical forms and derivatives of words seems very complicated and flexible. The study of the relationship between phonemes and morphemes is called morphophonemics. The interrelation of phonology and morphology in linguistic investigations is also known as morphophonology or morphonology which is actually the phonology of morphemes. Morphonology studies the way in which sounds can alternate as different realizations of one and the same morpheme. A morpheme is a minimal unit of meaning. We would all agree that such words as windy, dusty, sunny consist of two morphemes. Similarly, demonstration, alternation have two component morphemes. The meanings of wind, dust, sun as well as of demonstrate, situate are obvious. But what function do the morphemes -y and - ion perform? On the basis of the examples, it appears that the function of -y is to convert a noun into an adjective. Similarly - ion converts a verb into a noun. These morphemes have a grammatical meaning, their main purpose is to convert one part of speech into another. Each set of data below exemplifies a sound alternation in one and the same morpheme of two different parts of speech.

malice ['mælis] – malicious [mə'li∫əs]

active ['æktiv] – activity [ək'tiviti]

abstract ['æbstrəkt] – abstract [əb'strækt]

conduct ['kQndəkt] – conduct [kən'dVkt]

We are interested now in the sound in its weak position. Vowels are said to be in their strong position when they are in stressed syllables and in the weak position when they are in the unstressed ones. Consonants may well be said to be in their strong position before vowels and in the intervocalic position; they are in weak positions when they are word final or precede other consonants.

There may be different solutions to the problem of phoneme identification in weak positions of alternated words. The so-called morphological (Moscow phonological) school supports the theory of neutralization of phonemes. The concept of neutralization derives originally from the Prague School of phonology. Neutralization occurs when two or more closely related sounds, which are in contrast with each other in most positions, are found to be non-contrastive in certain other positions. When this happens, the opposition between the two sounds is said to be neutralized. The loss of one or more distinctive feature(s) of a phoneme in the weak position is called phonemic neutralization.

Thus, the question arises whether the sound [ə] in the words activity and con'trast is a neutral phoneme or it is an allophone of the [æ] or [Q] phonemes (as in active, 'contrast) which loses some of its distinctive features in the unstressed position. The difference is quite essential as in the first case the neutral sound is identified as an independent neutral phoneme, in the second – it is a neutralized allophone of the [æ] or [Q] phonemes of the corresponding alternated words.

In English, the voicing op position is neutralized after the initial [s]. We are well aware of the fact that the phonemes [t] and [d], for example, contrast in most environments: initially (tick – Dick), finally (bid – bit); after nasals (bend – bent), after [l] (cold – colt). But after [s], no contrast between [t], [d] is possible, nor, similarly, is there a contrast between [p], [b] and [k], [g] in this environment. The voicing contrast is neutralized after initial [s].

To crown it all, the Moscow philologists claim that interchange of sounds manifests close connection between phonetics and morphology. Alternations are observed in one and the same morpheme and actualize the phonemic structure of the morpheme. Thus, phonemic content of the morpheme is constant.

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