CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
A.
Problem
Background
English phonology is the sound system (phonology) of the
English language, or the study of that system. Phonology is the study of how
sounds are organized and used in natural languages.[1]
Like many languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both
historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional
dialects of English share a largely similar (though not identical) phonological
system.
Our phonological knowledge is not something we can
necessarily access and talk about in detail: we often have intuitions about
language without knowing where they come from, or exactly how to express them. But
the knowledge is certainly there. However, English speakers are not consciously
aware of those rules, and are highly unlikely to tell a linguist asking about
those words that the absence of *fnil reflects the unacceptability of
word-initial consonant sequences, or clusters, with [fn-] in English: the more
likely answer is that snil ‘sounds all right’ (and if you’re lucky, your
informant will produce similar words like sniff or snip to back up her
argument), but that *fnil ‘just sounds wrong’. It is the job of the phonologist
to express generalisations of this sort in precise terms: after all, just
because knowledge is not conscious, this does not mean it is unreal,
unimportant or not worth understanding.[2]
B.
Problem
Formulation
1. What
is the definition of phonology?
2. What are suprasegmental features?
CHAPTER
II
DISCUSSION
A.
PHONOLOGY
1. Definition of Phonology
Phonology is the
branch of linguistics concerned with the study of speech sounds with reference
to their distribution and patterning. Adjective: phonological. A linguist who
specializes in phonology is known as a phonologist. Etymologically, Phonology from
the Greek, means "sound, voice".
The aim of
phonology is to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are
organized in languages and to explain the variations that occur. We begin by
analyzing an individual language to determine which sound units are used and
which patterns they form--the language's sound system. We then compare the
properties of different sound systems, and work out hypotheses about the rules
underlying the use of sounds in particular groups of languages. Ultimately,
phonologists want to make statements that apply to all languages.
Whereas
phonetics is the study of all possible speech sounds, phonology studies the way
in which a language's speakers systematically use a selection of these sounds
in order to express meaning. There is a further way of drawing the distinction.
No two speakers have anatomically identical vocal tracts, and thus no one
produces sounds in exactly the same way as anyone else. Yet when using our
language we are able to discount much of this variation, and focus on only
those sounds, or properties of sound, that are important for the communication
of meaning. We think of our fellow speakers as using the 'same' sounds, even
though acoustically they are not. Phonology is the study of how we find order
within the apparent chaos of speech sounds.[3]
When we talk about the 'sound system' of English, we are referring to the
number of phonemes which are used in a language and to how they are organized.[4]
Phonology is
not only about phonemes and allophones. Phonology also concerns itself with the
principles governing the phoneme systems--that is, with what sounds languages
'like' to have, which sets of sounds are most common (and why) and which are
rare (and also why). It turns out that there are prototype-based explanations
for why the phoneme system of the languages of the world have the sounds that
they do, with physiological/acoustic/perceptual explanations for the preference
for some sounds over others.[5]
The
phonological system of a language includes
·
an inventory
of sounds and their features, and
·
rules which
specify how sounds interact with each other.
Phonology is
just one of several aspects of language. It is related to other aspects such as
phonetics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.
Here is an
illustration that shows the place of phonology in an interacting hierarchy of
levels in linguistics:
2. Models of phonology
·
In classical
phonemics, phonemes and their possible combinations are central.
·
In standard
generative phonology, distinctive features are central. A stream of speech is
portrayed as linear sequence of discrete sound-segments. Each segment is
composed of simultaneously occurring features.
·
In non-linear
models of phonology, a stream of speech is represented as multidimensional, not
simply as a linear sequence of sound segments. These non-linear models grew out
of generative phonology:
v autosegmental phonology
v metrical phonology
v lexical phonology
B.
SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES
Suprasegmental features are faetures of fundamental
frequency, intensity and duration, according to a common defenition. Although
this restriction is tradisional, it is not without problem. First, there is a
problem with defenition, Leshite (1970) defines suprasegmental as features of
‘pitch, stress and quantity. The other problem with a restricting is there are
other phenomena that might otherwise be covered by the definion intonation
purpose here.[6]
Suprasegmental phonology is concerned with other
aspects of phonology, such as tone, stress and intonation. In some periods,
suprasegmental phonology has been rather ignored compared to segmental
phonology. This is presumably because, in most fields of scientific inquiry
with the exception of physics, a linear world view has held sway, and also
because the orthography of languages such as English encourages one to see the
sound system as being a simple linear sequence of segments.[7]
Suprasegmental or prosodic phonology involves phenomena such as stress
(intensity) and tone (pitch). An accentual pattern involves the deployment of
suprasegmentals within a word (for example, the stress differences between the
noun insert--with stress on the first syllable--and the verb insert--with
stress on the second syllable--), whereas an intonational pattern involves
suprasegmentals within the framework of a sentence (for example, all the words
in Mary worries Martin are accentually stressed on the first syllable, but the
stress in Martin is intonationally most prominent). Because the sentence
characteristically constitutes the framework for intonation, and because
sentences are fundamentally syntactic constructs, intonation is one
phonological phenomenon whose domain goes beyond morphology.[8]
Suprasegmental, also called Prosodic Feature, in phonetics, a speech feature such as
stress, tone, or word juncture that accompanies or is added over consonants and
vowels; these features are not limited to single sounds but often extend over
syllables, words, or phrases. In Spanish the stress accent is often used to
distinguish between otherwise identical words: término means “term,” termíno
means “I terminate,” and terminó means “he terminated.” In Mandarin Chinese,
tone is a distinctive suprasegmental: shih pronounced on a high, level note means
“to lose”; on a slight rising note means “ten”; on a falling note means “city,
market”; and on a falling–rising note means “history.” English “beer dripped”
and “beard ripped” are distinguished by word juncture. Suprasegmentals are so
called in contrast to consonants and vowels, which are treated as serially
ordered segments of the spoken utterance.[9]
CHAPTER III
SUMMARY
English phonology is the sound system (phonology) of
the English language, or the study of that system. Phonology is the study of
how sounds are organized and used in natural languages. Suprasegmental, also
called Prosodic Feature, in phonetics, is
a speech feature such as stress, tone, or word juncture that accompanies or is
added over consonants and vowels; these features are not limited to single
sounds but often extend over syllables, words, or phrases.
[1] http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsPhonology.htm Monday, 11th
March, 2013.
[2] April McMahon,
An Intriduction to English Phonology, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
2002), p. 2
[3] David Crystal,
How Language Works. Overlook Press, 2005.
[4] David Crystal,
The Cambridge Encylopedia of the English Language, 2nd edition.
Cambridge University Press, 2003.
[5] Geoffrey S. Nathan, Phonology: A Cognitive Grammar Introduction.
John Benjamins, 2008.
[6] D. Robert
Ladd, International Phonology Second Edition, ( United States of
America: Cambridge University Press,
2008), p. 4-5
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