Phonemics

LIN 3201
 Phonemics, or
Why Phonetic is so hard…
You do not hear physical sound directly.

If you did, phonetics would be easy.

Instead, you perceive all speech sounds

through the sound system of your native
language(s) and the languages you have
studied.
What does
that mean?
You perceive speech sounds through
structure.

When you deal with sound outside of

the structure you are used to, it can
become confusing and difficult to even
perceive a sound.
When you hear human speech sounds,
these sounds automatically “trigger”
perceptual units in your brain/mind.

These units are abstractions and are

used to organize and structure the
“sounds” of your native language.
The phoneme is the basic unit of
organization of sounds in
language.

The phoneme is an abstract,

structural and perceptual unit of
speech.
To put another way, when someone
utters a physical speech sound to you,
that speech sound triggers a phoneme
in your mind – you do not “hear” the
phonetic distinctions directly.

Instead, the sound triggers a perceptual

unit and you perceive the sound as
that unit.
When native speakers (without formal
linguistics training) say they “hear no
difference” between two sounds, it is
probably because in their language
those two sounds trigger the same
perceptual unit.

Those two sounds belong to the same

phoneme.
You will generally not “hear” a
difference between two sounds that
belong to the same phoneme.

You will generally “hear” a difference

between two sounds who belong to
different phonemes.
Phonemes are used to build words
and contrast “sound unit” from
“sound unit.”
Classic English Phoneme Example
Key Vocabulary in Phonemics

Phoneme – abstract structural and

perceptual unit / /
Phone – phonetic speech sound,
unanalyzed according to phonemic status
[]
Allophone – after analyzing data, the
phonetic speech sound that belongs to,
and thus triggers, a phoneme
[ ] under / /
Key Vocabulary in Phonemics
Writing phonemes and the allophones that realize
them:
/ / phoneme (choose one allophone as symbol)
[ ] Allophone 1
[ ] Allophone 2 etc.

Generally, when there is more than one allophone,

each will occur in its own environment – if that is
the case, list environment, too
 Analyzing Data to Determine
Phonemes
You analyze phonetic data to determine phonemic status.

Phonemic status means how native speakers perceive these

sounds, and thus, how these sounds are organized in this
language.

 Do native speakers “hear” a difference and use them

contrastively? (allophones of different phonemes – these
sounds belong to different phonemes)

 Do native speakers not “hear” a difference and thus do not

use them contrastively? (allophones of the same phoneme –
these sounds belong to the same phoneme)
So remember, 2 languages might make use of the same sounds [e] and
[i], but organize and perceive those sounds differently.

Language A: /e/ /i/ language B: /i/

[e] [i] [e]
[i]

A: 2 sounds belong to different phonemes, native speakers

perceive them as different and they can be used to build
differences in words, [e] and [i] belong to different
phonemes, /e/ and /i/, respectively

B: 2 sounds belong to the same phoneme, native speakers do

NOT perceive them as different, they may not be used to
build differences in words, [e] and [i] belong to the same
phoneme, /i/
That is your goal in phonemic
analysis –
to determine the perception
and organization of sound
by a native speaker.
 Hardman’s
Definition of the
Phoneme
 1. Negative Definition
/Contrastive Definition
Phonemes act to keep words
separate.
Phonemes make words contrast.
A Phoneme is what it is because
it is not something else.
Perceptional Aspect of Phonemes
 2. Positive Definition/
Realization Definition
Phonemes are built up of a range of
phones that trigger our perception.
This definition accounts for physical
realization of phonemes.
Speech organs builds sounds which
trigger phonemes.
Physical Realization Aspect of Phonemes
 3. Structural Definition
Phonemes build the structure of language and
are part of the whole phonological structure
of a language.

Humans have propensity for symmetry in

language.

There is a linguistic tendency to make use of

some phonetic possibilities to make
contrasts and to use them consistently.
Structural Aspect of Phonemes
 Analyzing Data to Determine
Phonemes

There are four general patterns

you will find in your data that
help you to determine phonemic
status.
With extensive data sets, there is
a fifth pattern that also appears.
These patterns are built around
the definitions of the
phoneme itself.
Data Pattern #1 – Minimal Pairs
Based on definition: Phomemes are contrastive.
When you have two or more sounds, found in identical
environments, (transcribed identically except for one sound)
that mean different things.
Example:
[bij] ‘bee’ [phij] ‘pea’/‘pee’
The sounds [b] and [ph] contrast in minimal pairs and thus
belong to separate phonemes.

[suw] ‘sue’ [zuw] ‘zoo’

The sounds [s] and [z] contrast in minimal pairs and thus
belong to separate phonemes.
 Data Pattern #2 –
Complementary Distribution
Based on definition: Phomemes are realized by allophones.

This pattern is when you have two or more sounds,

phonetically similar in some way, that are found in
completely unique and distinct environments;
sound A never occurs in the environment of
sounds B and C, and vice versa. It appears that
these “alternations” are triggered by specific sound
environments.

AKA: Spiderman/Peter Parker; Superman/Clark

Kent phenomenon
 Data Pattern #2 –
Complementary Distribution, cont.
Some General Enviornments
& Notations:
1. Word boundaries
 word initial #_____
 word final ______#

2. Before certain sounds; before sound classes

 ___i, ____s, ____ N, ___ palatals, ___C, ___V

3. After certain sounds; after sound classes

 i ___, s ____, N ____, palatals ___, C___, V___

4. Between certain sounds; sound classes

 i____i, s____s, N___N, pal.___pal., C__C, V__V
Data Pattern #2 –
Complementary Distribution, cont.
Example: Spanish [d] occurs in: elsewhere
#___e
[deo] ‘finger’ #___o
[donde] ‘where’ n___e
e___#
[naa] ‘nothing’
[] e___o V___V
[pie] ‘3p sing. asks’ a___a
[pwee] ‘3p sing. can’ i___e
[pared] ‘wall’ e__e

[r]= flap (symbol won’t show)
Also, [d] = dental
Note that phones are phonetically
similar
 Both dental (dental vs.
interdental)
 Both voiced
The phones [d] and [] are found in
complementary distribution and
thus belong to the same phoneme.
[d] and [] are allophones of the
same phoneme /d/.
/d/
[] V_V
[d] elsewhere
 Data Pattern #3 –
Analogous Environments
Based on definition: Phomemes are contrastive.

This pattern is when you find two sounds in

nearly the same environments, but do not
have data for a minimal pair. The
appearance of these two sounds does not
seem to be conditioned by any specific
phonetic environments, because they both
occur in analogous environments.
 Data Pattern #3 –
Analagous Environments, cont.
 Example:

Environment of [s] Environment of

#___a #____a
i___a i_____a
i_____a
These phones are found in analogous environments and thus belong to
different phonemes. These sounds are allophones of different phonemes.
 Data Pattern #4 –
Free Variation
Based on definition: Phomemes are realized by allophones

This pattern is when you find two sounds in the same

environments, and there does not seem to be a
change in meaning. In other words, it appears
that the phones can interchange with one another
with no effect in meaning. This is usually a result
of phonetic distinction that you perceive that is not
contrastive in this language.
 Data Pattern #4 –
Free Variation, cont.
Example: English

Both of these phones are found in identical environments, and yet, unlike the
analogous environments examples, alternation of these phones does NOT create
differences in meaning.

Thus, both the [p] and the [p] (unreleased) are allophones of, and thus belong
to, the same phoneme.
 To summarize…
To show you have allophones of the
same phoneme:
1. Complementary Distribution
 phones occur in unique,
separate, individual
environments
 environment of sounds
conditions allophone
2. Free Variation
 Phones occur in the exact
same environments or near-
identical environments but
don’t change meaning
 Seem to be used
interchangeably, or
substitute for one another,
Phonemes are realized as allophones.
To show you have allophones of
different phonemes:
1. Minimal Pairs –
 sounds occur in exactly the
same environments – in an
IDENTICAL set - AND
changes meaning of words
2. Analogous Environments
 Phones occur in overlapping
environments, and in near-
identical environments, but
word meanings are different
Phonemes are contrastive.