Chapter 4

The sound patterns of
language
Phonology
Chapter 4
What is the difference between
phonetics and phonology?
◼ Phonetics deals with the physical properties of
sounds, e.g. how the sound is physically
produced.
◼ Phonology deals with the sound systems of

languages.
◼ How speech sounds are organized into systems in
different languages
◼ How sounds are combined
◼ The relation between them and how they affect
each other.
Definition of Phonology
◼ Phonology is the description of the patterns of
sounds in a language.
◼ Phonology is based on what a speaker of a language

unconsciously knows about the sound patterns of
that language.
◼ Phonology is concerned with abstract or mental

aspects of speech sounds rather than with the actual
physical articulation of speech sounds.
The phoneme
◼ The smallest unit of sound that makes a difference
meaning.
big vs. fig /b/ and /f/ are two phonemes
mate vs. made /t/ and /d/ are two phonemes
◼ If we substitute one sound for another in a word and

there is a change in meaning, then the two sounds
represent different phonemes.
Phonemes and Allophones
◼ A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that makes a
difference in meaning. It is an abstract unit (“in the mind”).
◼ An allophone is one of two or more variants

(pronunciations) of the same phoneme.
◼ The [i] sound in ‘seen’ is not nasalized [i].
◼ The [i] sound in ‘seen’ is nasalized [ ı ̃ ]
➢ [i] and [ ı ̃ ] are allophones of the phoneme /i/.

◼ The [t] sound in ‘stop’ is not aspirated [t].
◼ The [t] sound in ‘top’ is aspirated [th].
◼ The [t] sound in ‘writer’ is flapped [ɾ]
❖ An aspirated sound is one pronounced with a stronger puff

of air.
❖ English voiceless stops [p, t, k] are normally aspirated when
they are word-initial.
❖ The [t] sound between vowels becomes a flap.
◼ The [t] sound in ‘stop’ is not aspirated [t].
◼ The [t] sound in ‘top’ is aspirated [th].
◼ The [t] sound in ‘writer’ is flapped [ɾ]
➢ [t], [th] and [ɾ] are allophones of the phoneme /t/.

Notational Conventions
◼ Note that slash marks as in /t/ are conventionally used to
indicate a phoneme, an abstract segment, as opposed to
the square brackets, as in [t], which are used for each
produced segment.
The difference between a
phoneme and an allophone
◼ Substituting one phoneme for another will result in a word with
a different meaning.
big vs. fig /b/ and /f/ are two phonemes
◼ Substituting allophones only results in a different pronunciation

of the same word.
[sin] seen vs. [sın]

̃ seen [i] and [ ı ̃ ] are allophones of /i/
[kɪl] kill vs. [khɪl] kill [k] and [kh] are allophones of /k/
Finding Phonemes
◼ Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested via

pairs of words.
Fan vs. van bet vs. bat
• They must have the same number of sounds.

• They must be identical in every sound except for one.
• The sound that is different must be in the same
position in each word.
• The words must have different meanings.
Minimal pairs
◼ Four golden rules for minimal pairs:

• They must have the same number of sounds.
• They must be identical in every sound except for
one.
• The sound that is different must be in the same
position in each word.
• The words must have different meanings.
big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig minimal set

feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot minimal set
Phonotactics
◼ Constraints on the sequence of phonemes.
◼ Permitted arrangements of sounds.
◼ Phonological knowledge of the pattern of sounds in
English will allow you to find some combination of
sounds as acceptable and some as not.
lig or vig could be viewed as possible English words,

but not fslg or nglsb.
Phonotactics
◼ No English word can start with [mb].
◼ No English word can start with [ts].
◼ No English word can start with [nd].
Syllables
◼ Syllable: a phonological unit that contains more than one phoneme.
◼ Syllable: must contain a vowel.
bag basket fantastic

Syllables and clusters
◼ When there are more than one consonant, these are
called consonant clusters (i.e. sequences of
consonants).
2-consonant cluster
◼ CC
◼ /st/ as in stop, steep, store
◼ /bl/ as in black, bleed, blow
◼ /fl/ as in flat, fly, flee
◼ /br/ as in bread, break, brown
◼ /tr/ as in trick, trouble, true
◼ /tw/ as in twin, twin, twig
◼ /ɵr/ as in throw, three, through
3-consonant cluster
◼ CCC
◼ /spr/ as in spring
◼ /str/ as in strong
◼ /skr/ as in scream
◼ /skw/ as in square
Co-articulation
◼ Our talk is often fast and spontaneous;
◼ The fast talk requires our articulators to move from
one sound to the next without stopping.
◼ The process of making one sound almost at the
same time as the next sound is called co- articulation.
◼ There are two well-known co-articulation effects,

described as assimilation and elision.
Assimilation
◼ When two sounds occur in sequence and some
aspect of one sound is taken or “copied” by the
other, the process is known as assimilation.
◼ This regular process happens simply for ease of

articulation.
Assimilation
Example
pin [pın]
̃ vs. pig [pɪg]
man [mæ̃n] vs. map [mæp]
◼ The vowel becomes nasal when it comes before a

nasal.
Assimilation
Example
I can go [aɪkəŋgoʊ]
◼ The velar sound [g] will make the preceding

alveolar nasal sound [n] come out as a velar
nasal sound [ŋ].
Assimilation
Example
I have to [aɪhæftə]
◼ The voiceless [t] in to makes the preceding voiced

[v] comes out as voiceless [f].
Elision
Note the [d] in “you and me”
◼ The [d] between two nasals [n] and [m] is usually
omitted in spoken English.
government postman pumpkin sandwich
◼ This process of not pronouncing a sound that might be

present in the careful pronunciation of a word in
isolation is described as elision.
Key terms
◼ Phonology
◼ Phonemes & allophones
◼ Minimal pairs and sets
◼ Phonotactics
◼ Syllables
◼ Co-articulation effects
Study questions
◼ 1 What is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?

◼ 2 What is an aspirated sound and which of the following words would normally
◼ be pronounced with one: kill, pool, skill, spool, stop, top?
◼ 3 Which of the following words would be treated as minimal pairs?
◼ ban, fat, pit, bell, tape, heat, meal, more, pat, tap, pen, chain, vote, bet, far, bun,
◼ goat, heel, sane, tale, vet
◼ 4 What is meant by the phonotactics of a language?
◼ 5 What is the difference between an open and a closed syllable?
◼ 6 Which segments in the pronunciation of the following words are most likely to
◼ be affected by elision?
◼ (i) government (ii) postman (iii) pumpkin (iv) sandwich (v) victory

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The sound patterns of

◼ Phonology deals with the sound systems of

◼ The relation between them and how they affect

◼ Phonology is based on what a speaker of a language

◼ Phonology is concerned with abstract or mental

big vs. fig /b/ and /f/ are two phonemes

mate vs. made /t/ and /d/ are two phonemes

◼ If we substitute one sound for another in a word and

◼ An allophone is one of two or more variants

➢ [i] and [ ı ̃ ] are allophones of the phoneme /i/.

❖ An aspirated sound is one pronounced with a stronger puff

➢ [t], [th] and [ɾ] are allophones of the phoneme /t/.

big vs. fig /b/ and /f/ are two phonemes

◼ Substituting allophones only results in a different pronunciation

[sin] seen vs. [sın]

◼ Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested via

Fan vs. van bet vs. bat

• They must have the same number of sounds.

◼ Four golden rules for minimal pairs:

big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig minimal set

lig or vig could be viewed as possible English words,

◼ Syllable: must contain a vowel.

bag basket fantastic

◼ There are two well-known co-articulation effects,

◼ This regular process happens simply for ease of

◼ The vowel becomes nasal when it comes before a

◼ The velar sound [g] will make the preceding

◼ The voiceless [t] in to makes the preceding voiced

government postman pumpkin sandwich

◼ This process of not pronouncing a sound that might be

◼ 1 What is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?

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