Phoneme alternations

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 1133.

Usage patterns

English voiceless stop consonants are aspirated for most native speakers when they are word-initial or begin a stressed syllable, as in "pen", "ten", "Ken". They are unaspirated for almost all speakers when immediately following word-initial s, as in "spun", "stun", "skunk". After s elsewhere in a word they are normally unaspirated as well, except when the cluster is heteromorphemic and the stop belongs to an unbound morpheme; compare dis [t] end vs. dis [tʰ] aste. Word-final voiceless stops optionally aspirate

In linguistics, an alternation is the phenomenon of a phoneme or morpheme exhibiting variation in its phonological realization. Each of the various realizations is called an alternant. The variation may be conditioned by the phonological, morphological, and/or syntactic environment in which the morpheme finds itself.

Alternations provide linguists with data that allow them to determine the allophones and allomorphs of a language's phonemes and morphemes and to develop analyses determining the distribution of those allophones and allomorphs.

Phonologically conditioned alternation

An example of a phonologically conditioned alternation is the English plural marker commonly spelled s or es.^[1] This morpheme is pronounced /s/, /z/, or /ɨz/, depending on the nature of the preceding sound.

1. If the preceding sound is a sibilant consonant (one of /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, or /dʒ/), the plural marker takes the form /ɨz/. Examples:

· mass /ˈmæs/, plural masses /ˈmæsɨz/

· fez /ˈfɛz/, plural fezzes /ˈfɛzɨz/

· mesh /ˈmɛʃ/, plural meshes /ˈmɛʃɨz/

· mirage /mɨˈrɑːʒ/, plural mirages /mɨˈrɑːʒɨz/

· church /ˈtʃɜrtʃ/, plural churches /ˈtʃɜrtʃɨz/

· bridge /ˈbrɪdʒ/, plural bridges /ˈbrɪdʒɨz/

2. Otherwise, if the preceding sound is voiceless, the plural marker takes the likewise voiceless form /s/. Examples:

· mop /ˈmɒp/, plural mops /ˈmɒps/

· mat /ˈmæt/, plural mats /ˈmæts/

· pack /ˈpæk/, plural packs /ˈpæks/

· cough /ˈkɒf/, plural coughs /ˈkɒfs/

· myth /ˈmɪθ/, plural myths /ˈmɪθs/

3. Otherwise, the preceding sound is voiced, and the plural marker takes the likewise voiced form /z/.

· dog /ˈdɒɡ/, plural dogs /ˈdɒɡz/

· glove /ˈɡlʌv/, plural gloves /ˈɡlʌvz/

· ram /ˈræm/, plural rams /ˈræmz/

· doll /ˈdɒl/, plural dolls /ˈdɒlz/

· toe /ˈtoʊ/, plural toes /ˈtoʊz/

27. Segmental and suprasegmental levels in phonetics

Segmental phonemes exist in the material form of speech (allophones).

1. The Level of System → the Phoneme → Distinctive Features
2. the Level of Norm → the Allophone → Distinctive Features + Non-Distinctive + Stylistic ‘Register Features.
3. the Level of Speech → the Sound → Distinctive Features + Non-Distinctive + Stylistic ‘Register Features + Individual Vocal features.

Suprasegmental level of Phonetics is represented by Suprasegmental phonemes. Suprasegmental phonemes are formed by such components of the sound matter of the language as the time, force, pitch. They are also distinctive functional units. The class of Suprasegmental phonemes is subdivided into accentual, intonational, junctual.

Accentual phonemes (word stress)

The word-stress fulfills the following functions:

constitutive (helps to organize sound continuum into words)

recognitive (helps to identify syllables as an accentual pattern of a word)

distinctive (helps to distinguish the meanings of words: a present – to present)