Phonemes, allophones, and so on - CSU, Chico

Phonemes, allophones, and so on

Phonemes,
minimal pairs,
contrastive distribution,
complementary distribution,
free variation

Allophones of the same phoneme

If two (or more) phonetically-similar sounds are in complementary distribution,
that is, they occur in different places, they are allophones. In other words, in the language
in question, they count as variants of the same sound.

The difference between allophones can never be the only difference between the
meanings of two words. Thus, one might suspect that two phonetically-similar sounds are
allophones if they frequently occur in free variation with each other.

Separate phonemes

If two (or more) phonetically-similar sounds are in contrastive distribution, that is,
they occur in the same places, then they form separate phonemes. In other words, in the
language in question, they count as separate sounds.

The difference between phonemes can be the only difference between the
meanings of two words.

The easiest and quickest test for separate phonemes is the existence of minimal
pairs. If there are minimal pairs, then we have two separate phonemes. If there aren’t
minimal pairs, then one has to tediously and slowly check to see if the two sounds occur in
the same environments.

1. English
[spIt] ‘spit’
[pæIt]‘pit’

a. Hebrew 66
[bara] ‘created’
[para] ‘cow’

b. Southern Kongo
[«zima] ‘to stetch’
[«cima] ‘to cut’

c. Mandarin
[p˙≥] ‘scatter’
[pæ˙≥] ‘collide’

Graham Thurgood (English121)

d. Hindi 67
[tali] ‘key’
[tæali] ‘dish’

e. Tongan
[tisi] ‘dish’
[sisi] ‘garland’

f. Tongan
[pata] ‘butter’
[fata] ‘shelf’

g. Khmer
[pø:≥] ‘to wish’
[pæø:≥] ‘also’

h. Russian
[kak] ‘how’
[rok] ‘fate’

i. Welsh
[ipen] ‘their head’
[ifen] ‘her head’
[iben] ‘his head’

j. Finnish
[«su:ri] ‘big’
[suÚri] ‘big’

k. Samoan
[nofo] ‘to stay’
[≥ofo] ‘to stay’

l. Samoan
[manu] ‘bird’
[ma≥u] ‘bird’

2. There are three words in each language set
below. Two (or more) in each set can be
grouped together to form a minimal pair.

a. Amharic
[b˙r] ‘name’
[s˙m] ‘silver’
[k˙r] ‘thread’

b. Mandarin
[pæan] ‘plate’

Graham Thurgood (English121)

[pæ˙≥] ‘collide’
[pæa≥] ‘side’

c. Japanese
[te] ‘hand’
[to] ‘door’
[«ci] ‘blood’

d. Cree
[pahki] ‘partly’
[tahki] ‘all the time’
[bahki] ‘partly’

Graham Thurgood (English121) 68