CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
Certainly, there is a relationship between the
English sound system and the English spelling system. However, the relationship between sound and
spelling is neither straightforward nor obvious. If it were,
many of us would spell more accurately than we do. What is obvious is that the sounds of English
are not the same as the letters of English.
Although it is obvious in an intellectual sense that
sounds and letters are not the same thing,
most students working through this appendix will on occasion make errors
through mistaking sounds for letters.
The patterning found in the sound system of English
is a reflection of the physiology of the
vocal tract. The patterns of the English
sound system make sense in terms of how
sounds are made (and, particularly, for vowels, how sounds are perceived).
The basic principle
involved is modification of the air flow.
When making a sound air moves through the vocal cords in larynx, through
the throat, and on out through the mouth or nose. As it moves,
the air flow is modified through vibrating the vocal cords, by opening
(or not opening) the velum to let part of the flow go out through the nose, and
by constricting the air flow partially or completely in the mouth.
Once the English sound
system is understood, it becomes easier
to make sense out of the spelling system of English and it becomes possible to
make some sense out of the problems all students have learning to spell and out
of the problems speakers of other languages have in learning to pronounce
English. [1]
CHAPTER
II
DISCUSSION
A.
SOUND
SYSTEM
English
phonology is the sound system (phonology) of the English language, or the study
of that system. 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.
B.
PHONOLOGICAL
RULES
A
phonological rule is a formal way of expressing a systematic phonological or
morphophonological process or diachronic sound change in language. Phonological
rules are commonly used in generative phonology as a notation to capture
sound-related operations and computations the human brain performs when
producing or comprehending spoken language. They may use phonetic notation or
distinctive features or both.
John
Goldsmith (1995) defines phonological rules as mappings between two different
levels of sound representation[2] in
this case, the abstract or underlying level and the surface level—and Bruce
Hayes (2009) describes them as "generalizations" about the different
ways a sound can be pronounced in different environments.[3] That
is to say, phonological rules describe how a speaker goes from the abstract
representation stored in their brain, to the actual sound they articulate when
they speak. In general, phonological rules start with the underlying
representation of a sound (the phoneme that is stored in the speaker's mind)
and yield the final surface form, or what the speaker actually pronounces.[4] For
example, the English plural -s may be pronounced as [s](in "cats"),
[z] (in "cabs"), or as [əz] (in "buses"); these forms are
all stored mentally as the same -s, but the surface pronunciations are derived
through a phonological rule.[5]
Hayes
(2009) lists the following characteristics that all phonological rules have in
common:[6]
v Language
specificity: A phonological rule that is present in one language may not be
present in other languages, or even in all dialects of a given language.
v Productivity:
Phonological rules apply even to new words. For example, if an English speaker
is asked to pronounce the plural of the nonsense word "wug" (i.e.
"wugs"), they pronounce the final s as [z], not [s], even though they
have never used the word before. (This kind of test is called the wug test.)
v Untaught
and unconscious: Speakers apply these rules without being aware of it, and they
acquire the rules early in life without any explicit teaching.
v Intuitive:
The rules give speakers intuitions about what words are "well-formed"
or "acceptable"; if a speaker hears a word that does not conform to
the language's phonological rules, the word will sound foreign or ill-formed.
Phonological
rules can be roughly divided into four types:[7]
·
Assimilation: When a sound changes one
of its features to be more similar to an adjacent sound. This is the kind of
rule that occurs in the English plural rule described above—the -s becomes
voiced or voiceless depending on whether or not the preceding consonant is voiced.
·
Dissimilation: When a sound changes one
of its features to become less similar to an adjacent sound, usually to make
the two sounds more distinguishable. This type of rule is often seen among
people speaking a language that is not their native language, where the sound
contrasts may be difficult.[8]
·
Insertion: When an extra sound is added
between two others. This also occurs in the English plural rule: when the
plural morpheme -s is added to "bus," "bus-s" would be
unpronouncable, so a short vowel (the schwa, [ə]) is inserted between the two
[s]s.
·
Deletion: When a sound, such as a
stressless syllable or a weak consonant, is not pronounced; for example, most
American English speakers do not pronounce the [d] in "handbag".
CHAPTER
II
CONCLUSION
English phonology
is the sound system (phonology) of the English language, or the study of that
system. 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.
A phonological
rule is a formal way of expressing a systematic phonological or
morphophonological process or diachronic sound change in language. Phonological
rules are commonly used in generative phonology as a notation to capture
sound-related operations and computations the human brain performs when
producing or comprehending spoken language. They may use phonetic notation or
distinctive features or both.
REFERENCES
Goldsmith,
John A (1995). "Phonological Theory". In John A. Goldsmith. The
Handbook of Phonological Theory. Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics. Blackwell
Publishers. P. 2.
Hayes, Bruce (2009). Introductory
Phonology. Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics. Wiley-Blackwell. P. 26.
Hayes, Bruce (2009). Introductory
Phonology. Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics. Wiley-Blackwell.
http://www.csuchico.edu/~gthurgood/English%20sound%20system/Sounds0Overview.html Thursday, 14th March, 2013.
Idsardi,
William James (2 September 2003). "LING 101: Phonology". University
of Delaware. pp. A Rule of English. Retrieved 7 March 2009
Idsardi,
William James (2 September 2003). "LING 101: Phonology". University
of Delaware. pp. The pronunciation of the English plural. Retrieved 7 March
2009
Schramm, Andreas (17 March 2001).
"Lesson 9.2: Phonological Rules". Hamline University. Retrieved 7
March 2009.
[1]http://www.csuchico.edu/~gthurgood/English%20sound%20system/Sounds0Overview.html Thursday, 14th
March, 2013.
[2] Goldsmith,
John A (1995). "Phonological Theory". In John A. Goldsmith. The
Handbook of Phonological Theory. Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics. Blackwell
Publishers. P. 2.
[3] Hayes, Bruce
(2009). Introductory Phonology. Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics.
Wiley-Blackwell. P. 26.
[4] Idsardi,
William James (2 September 2003). "LING 101: Phonology". University
of Delaware. pp. A Rule of English. Retrieved 7 March 2009
[5] Idsardi,
William James (2 September 2003). "LING 101: Phonology". University
of Delaware. pp. The pronunciation of the English plural. Retrieved 7 March
2009
[6] Hayes, Bruce
(2009). Introductory Phonology. Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics.
Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8411-3
[7] Schramm,
Andreas (17 March 2001). "Lesson 9.2: Phonological Rules". Hamline
University. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
[8] Ibid.
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