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Phonology - The Hidden Rules of Sound

Phonology is defined as the study of the sound system of language and the rules that govern pronunciation. It differs from phonetics because, while phonetics studies sound in general, phonology focuses on sounds that are meaningful and allow us to produce distinct words. The following key concepts describe how the sources view Phonology: 1. The Phoneme as the Central Unit Similar to how the morpheme is the core of morphology, the phoneme is the most important concept in phonology. It is defined as the smallest meaningful sound unit in a language. • Minimal Pairs: Researchers identify phonemes using "minimal pairs"—words like fat and pat that differ by only one sound. Because this single difference changes the word's meaning, /f/ and /p/ are recognized as distinct phonemes in English. • Mental vs. Physical: Phonology treats phonemes as abstract mental units, while the actual physical pronunciations of these units in different environments are called allophones. For example, the English /t/ phoneme can be pronounced with aspiration (a burst of air) or as a "flap" (like in little), depending on its position. 2. Language-Specific Systems The sources emphasize that phonemic systems vary across languages; what is meaningful in one language may not be in another. • Aspiration: In Thai and Hindi, the presence or absence of a burst of air (aspiration) can change a word's meaning, making aspirated and unaspirated sounds separate phonemes. In English, these are merely different ways of saying the same phoneme. • Phonemic Boundaries: Native Japanese speakers may struggle to distinguish between /l/ and /r/ because Japanese does not treat them as separate phonemes. • Tones: In languages like Mandarin, tone acts as a phonemic feature, where changing the pitch changes the meaning of the word (e.g., the "māma mà mǎ" example). 3. The Mechanics of Sound Production Phonology involves understanding the vocal tract and the anatomy involved in creating sounds, such as the lips, tongue, alveolar ridge, palate, velum, and larynx. Sounds are categorized by distinctive features, which usually include: • Place of Articulation: Where the vocal tract is constricted (e.g., Bilabial, Alveolar, Velar). • Manner of Articulation: How the air is affected (e.g., Stops, Fricatives, Nasals). • Voicing: Whether the vocal cords vibrate during production. 4. Phonological Rules and Processes Phonology is also the study of rules that apply to phonemes to produce variants in different environments. Common processes include: • Assimilation: Neighboring sounds become more similar (e.g., tenpura becoming tempura). • Deletion: Sounds are removed in certain contexts, such as in English contractions. • Metathesis: The transposition or moving of segments in a string (e.g., pronouncing ask as aks). • Epenthesis/Insertion: Adding a segment that is not present in the original mental string. 5. Unreliability of Spelling The English spelling cannot be trusted for phonological study because the same sound can be represented by different letters (e.g., pea and key). Consequently, phonologists use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to ensure there is one specific symbol for each distinctive sound. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To understand phonology, imagine it is the "software" of language sounds. While phonetics describes the "hardware" (the physical vibrations and anatomy), phonology is the set of internal programming rules that tells the brain which sound differences actually "count" to change a meaning and how those sounds should change depending on the other sounds around them.