Task to Unit 5

Unit 5

Methods of phonological analysis.

1. The aim of the phonological analysis.

2. The distributional method.

3. The semantic method.

I. It should be noted that phoneticians study the spoken form of the language. To study the sounds of a language from the functional (or phonological) point of view means to study the way they function: to find out which sounds made up the pronunciation system of the language; how sounds are grouped into functionally similar units (termed phonemes).

Each sound may be analyzed from the phonological point of view and from the articulatory one.

E.g.	[s]	phonologically speaking is constrictive, forelingual, fortis.
[s]	for the articulatory description more information is needed: what sort of narrowing is formed by the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge, what is the shape of the tongue when the obstruction is made and so on.

So, from the articulatory point of view, the differences and similfrities of the production of speech sounds are the focus of attention. Phonological approach studies the sound system as a set of relationships and oppositions which have functional value.

So, the aim of the phonological analysis is

1) firstly, to determine which differences of sounds are phonemic and which are non – phonemic, and

2) secondly, to find the inventory of the phonemes of the language.

A numbers of principles have been established to find out the phonemic structure of the language.

The procedure of identifying the phonemes of a language as the smallest language units has several stages.

a) The 1^st step is to determine the minimum recurrent segments and to record them graphically by means of allophonic transcription (segmentation of speech continuum).

To do this, an analept gathers a number of sound sequences with different meanings and cowfares them.

E.g. stik – stæk: reveals the segments (sounds) i-æ

stik – spik: reveals st – sp

tik – tæk sik - sæk

splits st – sp segments into s-t-p

There is no comparison to split s-t-p into 2, so we have arrived at the minimal segments.

So, it’s possible to single out the minimal segments, opposing them to one another in the same phonetic context.

b) The next step is arranging the sounds into functionally similar groups, i.e. what sounds are contrastive in the language and which are allophones of one and the same phoneme.

To find it out, scholars use 2 methods: the distributional and the semantic methods.

II. The distributional method is mainly used by “structuralists”. The structuralist model of languages flourished from the 1930s to the 1950s. The phoneticians of structuralist persuations (the most outstanding is Z.Harris) underestimated the distinctive function of the phoneme. They consider it possible to discover the phonemes of a language by the rigid application of distributional method, i.e. to group all the sounds, pronounced by the native speakers, into phonemes according to the 2 laws of phonemic and allophonic distribution. These laws were discovered long ago and are as follows:

1. Allophones of different phonemes occur in the same phonetic context

tin – pin – bin – θin etc

2. Allophones of the same phoneme never occur in the same phonetic context

pie – p aspirated is in the word imtial position

p unaspirated is never found in the word initial position; if is found in sp i:k and so on.

Thus, the phoneticians come to the conclusion:

1. If more or less different sounds occur in the same phonetic context they are allophones of different phonemes. In this case their distribution id contrastive.

2. If more or less similar sounds occur in different positions and never occur in the same phonetic context, they are allophones of one and the same phoneme. In this case their distribution is complementary.

But there is a 3^rd possibility besides contrastive and complementary distribution. The sounds both occur in the language but the speakers are inconsistent in the way they use them.

Compare the Russian words: шкаф – шкап; галоши – калоши; булочная – булошная, etc. They should be taken as free variants of a single phoneme.

III. The semantic method is widely used in Russian linguistics. The method is based on the phonemic rule that phonemes can distinguish words and morphemes when opposed to one another. This method attaches great significance to meaning. It consists in systematic substitution of the sound for another to see in which cases such substitution leads to a change of meaning while the phonetic context remains the same. It is with the keep of an informant that the change of meaning is stated. This procedure is called the commutation test. It consist in finding minimal pairs of words and their grammatical forms. By a minimal pair scholars mean a pair f words or morphemes which are different in only one phoneme in the same position.

For example, an analyst arrives at the sequence pin. He substitutes the sound p for b. The substitution leads to the change of meaning. This is a strong evidence that p and b are allophones of different phonemes.

Minimal pairs are useful for establishing quickly and simply the phonemes of the language.

As was mentioned earlier, the phonemes of a language form a system of oppositions. So, to establish the phonemic structure of a language it’s necessary to establish the whole system of oppositions. All the sounds should be opposed in word-initial, word-medial and word-final positions.

There are 3 kinds of oppositions: single, double and triple.

a) If members of the opposition differ in one feature, the opposition is called single. (pen – ben): common features: occlusive – occlusive; labial – labial; differentiating feature: fortis – lenis.

b) The opposition is called double when 2 distinctive features are marked.

E.g.	pen – den: common features: occlusive – occlusive; differentiating ones: labial – lingual; forbis voiceless – lenis voiced.

c) The opposition is called triple when 3 distinctive features are marked.

E.g.	pen – then: differentiating features: occlusive – constrictive; labial – dental; fortis voiceless – lenis voiced.

Concluding we may say that the phonemic system of a language is patterned, and the aim of phonological analysis is to group them into functionally similar classes. It is of primary importance for learning and teaching a foreign language.

1. Learn the following terms and word combinations.

- the spoken form of the language

- the written form of the language

- the pronunciation system of the language

- form the phonological point of view

- from the articulatory point of view

- phonemic differences

- the inventory of the phonemes

- the procedure of identifying the phonemes

- to determine the minimum recurrent segments

- to record the segments graphically

- sound sequences

- the distributional method

- the phoneticians of structuralist persuations

- the laws of phonemic and allophonic distribution

- contrastive distribution

- complementary distribution

- free variants of a phoneme

- the semantic method

- systematic substitution

- the commutation test

- minimal pairs of words

- a system of oppositions

- word-initial position

- word-medial position

- word-final position

- single opposition

- double opposition

- triple opposition

- common and differentiating features

2. Answer the following questions:

1) How does the functional (or phonological) approach study the sounds of a language?

2) What is the aim of phonological analysis?

3) What are the stages of identifying the phonemes of the language?

4) What methods do scholars use to differentiate between phonemes and allophones?

5) What does the distributional method consist in?

6) What are the laws of phonemic and allophonic distribution?

7) What do scholars mean by contrastive distribution?

8) What do phoneticians imply by complementary distribution?

9) What do scholars mean by “free variants” of a phoneme?

10) What does the semantic methods consist in? What is it based on?

11) What do phoneticians mean by a minimal pair of words?

12) What kinds of opposition do scholars single out?

3. Try and give exhaustive information on the following issues:

1) The aim of phonological analysis.

2) The distributional method.

3) The semantic method.

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