LIGN 111 - Will Styler

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# Phonemic Analysis

### Will Styler - LIGN 111

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### Today's Plan

- Phonemic Analysis from three different perspectives

- How to tell if your instructor is actually Batman

- How to actually DO phonemic analysis

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## You've just jumped out of a plane

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### Now, you collect data, write a grammar, and write a dictionary

- What are the morphemes in this language?

- What are the words in this language?

- How should this language be written?

- Decisions will need to be made

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### One of the key questions you'll face is 'which sounds matter to speakers'

- Which sounds carry a *contrast*

- Which sounds *define words*

- Which sounds *cannot be changed without changing meanings*

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### Phonemic Analysis

- Determining which sound changes *affect the meaning* of a word in a language

- Phonemic Sounds

- ... which sound changes are *predictable*, and don't change word meanings

- Allophonic Sounds

- ... and which sound variations are completely unpredictable and meaningless

- Free variation
    
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### A note on notation

- Phonemes go in // slashes

- /t/ means 'the /t/ phoneme'
    
    - /t/ exists in the speaker's mind*
    
- Allophones go in [] brackets

- [t] means 'a [t] on the surface', from the speaker's mouth

- This [t] may be an allophone of /t/ or some other phoneme

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### We're going to look at this process using three different perspectives

- 1) Based on looking at data

- 2) Based on looking at perception

- 3) Based on looking at distributions

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### This is a "threshold concept"

- That's why I'm covering it from three directions

- If you're struggling here, come to office hours

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### Phonemic Analysis I: Let's use some data!

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### "Oh no. There are sounds everywhere!"

- "People use a huge set of sounds, and I don't know which differences matter!"

- "What changes in sounds are *random*, and don't affect the meanings?"

- "What changes in sounds are *meaningful*, and change the meaning of a word?"

- "What changes in sounds can be *predicted* based on the other elements of the word, and don't change the meaning?"

- "What should I write down in my grammar or dictionary?"

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### Does the difference between [t] and [t̪] change the meaning?

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### No!  It doesn't change the meaning!

- In English, it doesn't matter whether a /t/ is made as a dental sound [t̪] or an alveolar sound [t]

- Speakers can do two things and nobody particularly cares

- There's no pattern, no standard, just maddening chaos

- This is **free variation**.

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### Does the difference between [k] and [p] change the meaning?

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### Yes! The meaning is changed

- When you change from /k/ to /p/, the meaning of the word changes

- We see 'minimal pairs' (e.g. [ki] and [pi]) where that segment is the only thing that's changed.

- /k/ and /p/ are in a **contrastive** distribution

- They are **two different phonemes**

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### Does the difference between [ej] and [ej:] change the meaning?

<center>
<style type="text/css">
.tg  {border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}
.tg td{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;border-color:black;}
.tg th{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-weight:normal;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;border-color:black;}
.tg .tg-1wig{font-weight:bold;text-align:left;vertical-align:top}
.tg .tg-0lax{text-align:left;vertical-align:top}
.tg .tg-xldj{border-color:inherit;text-align:left}
.tg .tg-0pky{border-color:inherit;text-align:left;vertical-align:top}
</style>
<table class="tg">
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[sejf]</td>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[sej:v]</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[ejp]</td>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[ej:b]</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[mejt]</td>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[mej:d]</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[ejtʃ]</td>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[ej:dʒ]</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[ejk]</td>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[ej:g]</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-0pky">[mejs]</td>
    <td class="tg-0pky">[mej:z]</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</center>

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### No!

- Changing from a short to long [ej] doesn't change the meaning for speakers

- Vowel length is *predictable* based on the voicing of the next consonant

- Short and long vowels are in a **complementary** distribution

- They are **allophones of the same phoneme**

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### How are you feeling about this material?

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### Phonemic Analysis II: Let's think about perception

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### Spanish speakers hear...

- # "Cabo"

- When somebody says either

- # [kabo] or [kaβo]
    
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### Spanish speakers hear...

- # /b/

- When somebody says either

- # [b] or [β]

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### English has two /l/ sounds

- Light l ([l] as in 'lip')

- 'Dark' or Velarized l ([ɫ] as in 'pill')

- The 'Dark' L happens at the end of a syllable

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### English speakers hear...

- # "Pill"

- When somebody says either...

- # [pɪl] or [pɪɫ]
    
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### English speakers hear...

- # /l/

- When somebody says either...

- # [l] or [ɫ]
    
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### Speakers of language hear...

- # The phoneme

- When somebody says...

- # Any of the allophones of that phoneme

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### Phonemes are groups of sounds which trade places predictably!

- ... and that trading is opaque to speakers

- The /l/ phoneme has two allophones in English: [l] and [ɫ]

- As in 'lip' and 'pill'

- The /t/ phoneme has many allophones in English: [t], [tʰ], [ʔ], [t˺], [ɾ], [ɾ̃]

- As in 'stop', 'top', 'button', 'cat', 'later', 'winter'

- Every sound produced is an allophone of some phoneme

- ... but not every phoneme has multiple allophones

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### How are you feeling about this material?

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### Phonemic Analysis III: Looking at distributions

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### Allophones are *predictable*

- They always show up in specific environments, and don't affect the meaning of the word

- [ɱ] shows up in English *only* when there's an /m/ before an /f/

- 'Same' [sejm] but 'Symphony' [sɪɱfəni]

- [n̪] shows up in English *only* when there's an /n/ before an Interdental sound

- 'Pine' [pajn] but 'Pine thug' [pajn̪ θʌɡ]

- [ɫ] shows up in MUSE *only* at the end of a syllable

- 'lip' [lɪp] but 'pill' [pɪɫ]

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### Allophones show up according to rules
    
- If a sound is *variant* that only shows up according to a *rule*, it's an allophone of another phoneme

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### Phonemes are *unpredictable*

- There is no pattern which dictates where they show up

- They can occur in the same environments

- They form 'minimal pairs', different words which differ only in that sound

- (or sometimes near minimal pairs e.g., te[ð]er vs. mea[ʒ]ure)

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### If a sound has its own identity in the language’s structure, it’s a phoneme.

- If it’s just another 'persona', it’s an allophone

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### To determine this, consider a simple question...

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## Is Will Batman?

- <p>(Audiovisual content has been removed for compliance with recent federal accessibility guidelines. <a href="https://accessibility.ucsd.edu/policies-standards/ucsd-accessibility-guidelines.html">Please see this site for details.</a>)</p>

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### How do you find out if your instructor is secretly Batman?

- You look at the distributions!

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### If you see Batman and Will in the same context, they’re two different people.

- Finding two people talking to each other in the same place is a good indication that they're independent entities

- Two different personas can't be in the same place at the same time!

- They're in **contrastive** distribution

- They happen in the same contexts

- If two sounds show up in an identical context, *they're independent phonemes*

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### If you only see Will when there's no crime, and only see Batman where there's crime...

- This is a potential sign that Will *could be* the same being as Batman

- If Will runs into the bathroom when crime happens and Batman emerges, that's pretty good evidence

- We call this an "alternation"

- They're in **complementary** distribution

- One shows up in one context, the other in another context

- *If two sounds only show up in different contexts, or a sound suddenly changes, they're probably allophones of one phoneme*

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### Complementary Distributions

(Batman and his alter-ego, Bruce Wayne)

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### Contrastive Distribution

(Batman and Superman, two different heroes)
<img class="r-stretch" src="img/batmansuperman.jpg" alt="batmansuperman.jpg This image shows a medium shot of two superheroes standing side-by-side against a cloudy sky. The lighting suggests it is daytime, possibly late afternoon given the soft, warm glow filtering through the clouds behind them. There appear to be small particles or dust motes floating in the air around them. On the left stands Batman. He is wearing a dark, matte black armored suit that covers his entire body. The armor on his chest and abdomen consists of segmented plates designed for protection. His shoulders are bulky with additional plating. He wears a cowl that covers his head and ears, featuring two pointed bat-like ears at the top. A dark cape flows down from his shoulders behind him. His expression is serious and stoic, and he is looking slightly off to the left of the camera. On the right stands Superman. He is wearing his classic costume: a textured blue bodysuit that highlights his muscular physique. Over the chest is a large, diamond-shaped emblem featuring a red S on a yellow background with a red border. A bright red cape is draped over his shoulders and flows down his back. His hair is dark and short. He is looking slightly upward and to the right of the camera with a hopeful or determined expression. The two characters are standing close together, facing forward but looking in slightly different directions. The background consists of a sky filled with soft, white and grey clouds, illuminated by sunlight breaking through from behind them. This description was generated automatically. Please feel free to ask questions if you have further questions about the nature of the image or its meaning within the presentation.">

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### So, to sum up the pop culture references...

- Superman is an Allophone of Clark Kent

- Batman is an Allophone of Bruce Wayne

- Batman, Superman, and Will Styler are Phonemes

- ... or so Will wants you to think!
    
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### So, that's three different perspectives on phonemic analysis

- You can look at the data and see when the meaning changes

- You can look at perception, and see what changes listeners "hear"

- You can look at the distribution, and see what sounds occur when.

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### How are you feeling about this material?

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## Cool.  So... how do we do it?

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### Step 0: Check for minimal pairs

If you have a minimal pair where the meaning changes, the sounds are different phonemes and your work is done.  Always.

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### If you have a minimal pair, the sounds are different phonemes and your work is done.

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### Remember, the vault might be unlocked

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### Phonemic Analysis in four easy steps!

- 0: Check for Minimal Pairs, if none...

- 1: Collect all the environments the sound you’re interested in can occur in

- 2: State the distribution of the sounds.

- 3: Decide which allophone is the basic *underlying* form
    
- 4: Write rules to derive the other allophone(s) from it based on environment

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### 0: Check for Minimal Pairs, if none...

- Please.  PLEASE.

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### 1: Collect all the environments the sound you’re interested in can occur in

- Write down what follows and precedes them

- Use __ to help focus your brain on the context

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### 2: State the distribution of the sounds.

- "This one occurs before/after/around/near __"
    
- Sometimes you can only describe where one happens

- Test hypotheses!

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### 3: Decide which allophone is the basic *underlying* form

- Choose the one you can't predict

- Often it's the “everywhere else” allophone

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### 4: Write rules to derive the other allophone(s) from it based on environment

- We'll talk about writing rules more next week

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### All sorts of environments trigger changes

- Adjacent sound or sounds

- Adjacent *types* of sound

- Word boundaries

- Syllable boundaries

- Sounds or later earlier in the word

- This is a bit more rare, but really neat!

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# Let's check out some data!

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### Are [l] and [n] allophones in Russian?

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<table class="tg">
  <tr>
    <th class="tg-fymr">[l]</th>
    <th class="tg-0lax">Gloss</th>
    <th class="tg-fymr">[n]</th>
    <th class="tg-fymr">Gloss</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[lʲet]</td>
    <td class="tg-0lax">'year'</td>
    <td class="tg-0pky">[sin]</td>
    <td class="tg-xldj">'son'</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[lʲublʲu]</td>
    <td class="tg-0lax">'I love'</td>
    <td class="tg-0pky">[nʲet]</td>
    <td class="tg-xldj">'no'</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[slon]</td>
    <td class="tg-0lax">'elephant'</td>
    <td class="tg-0pky">[maʃina]</td>
    <td class="tg-xldj">'car'</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-xldj">[dʲelal]</td>
    <td class="tg-0lax">'did'</td>
    <td class="tg-0pky">[novʲi]</td>
    <td class="tg-xldj">'new'</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-0pky">[bʲeli]</td>
    <td class="tg-0lax">'white'</td>
    <td class="tg-0pky">[rajon]</td>
    <td class="tg-0pky">'district'</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</center>

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### Nyet! There's a minimal pair!

- If 'lʲet' and 'nʲet' differ in meaning and differ only by that segment, they can't be allophones of the same phoneme!

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### What about vowel length in this language?

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### Whoa, English vowels are longer before voiced sounds!

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### You're doing Phonemic Analysis!

- Amazing!

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### Wrapping up

- Phonemic analysis is how we determine which sounds have an identity in the language

- ... and which are just personas of other sounds
    
- Will *may* be Batman

- Check for minimal pairs first, damnit.

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### Next time

- We'll jump out of a plane!

- Not really.

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<huge>Thank you!</huge>

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