The sound patterns of language

The sound patterns of language ( Chapter 6)

?Phonetics & phonology : which is which

While phonetics deals with how speech sounds are actually produced, transmitted, and received in actual spoken language, phonology deals specifically with the ways those sounds are organized into the individual languages, hence dealing with abstractions on
.a virtual basis

Here see two useful defninitions for phonetics and
:phonology
Phonetics first of all divides, or segments, concrete utterances " into individual speech sounds. It is therefore exclusively concernded with parole or performance. Phonetics can then be divided into three distinct phases : (1) articulatory phonetics, (2) acoustic phonetics, and (3) auditory phonetics" (Skandera &
.Burleigh, 2005:3)
Phonology deals with the speakers' knowledge of the sound " system of a language. It is therefore exclusively concerned with langue or competence. [...] Phonology can be divided into two branches: (1) segmental phonology and (2) suprasegmental
.phonology" (Skandera & Burleigh, 2005:5)

phonemes
A phoneme is a basic unit of a language's phonology, which is combined with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words or morphemes. The phoneme can be described as "The smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of meaning". In this way the difference in meaning between the English words kill and kiss is a result of the exchange of the phoneme /l/ for the phoneme /s/. Two words that differ in meaning through a
.contrast of a single phoneme form a minimal pair
Phonemes are conventionally placed between slashes in transcription, whereas speech sounds (phones) are placed between square brackets. Thus /pʊʃ/ represents a sequence of three phonemes /p/, /ʊ/, /ʃ/, while [pʰʊʃ] represents the phonetic sequence of sounds [pʰ] (aspirated "p"), [ʊ], [ʃ] (the usual pronunciation of push)

Features can be used not only to describe singular sounds, but also to arrange them in groups or classes. Take, for example, [t] and [d] in English. These phonemes can be
:described using two features alveolar (place of articulation) of articulation)

stop/ plosive (manner

Since there are no other phonemes which can be included in this category, we can say we’ve formed a natural class of
. sounds
Using the features voiced and stop/plosive forms a class composed of [d], [b], [g] to which no other phonemes in
. English can be added

Minimal pairs and sets
When a pair of words, as pin and bin, or bet and bed, differing only by one sound in the same position in each word, the two words are described as minimal pairs

When a group of words can be differentiated, each one from others , by changing one phoneme (always in the same position), then we have minimal sets
Thus, a minimal sets is based on the vowel phonemes of
English would include feat, fit,fatfought, and one based on consonants could have big,pig,rig,fig, dig,wig

Phones and alophones
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, [pʰ] (as in pin) and [p] (as in spin) are allophones for the phoneme /p/ in the English language.
Although a phoneme's allophones are all alternative pronunciations for a phoneme, the specific allophone selected in a given situation is often predictable. Changing the allophone used by native speakers for a given phoneme in a specific context usually will not change the meaning of a word but the result may sound non-native or unintelligible.
Native speakers of a given language usually perceive one phoneme in their language as a single distinctive sound in that language and are "both unaware of and even shocked by" the allophone variations used to
.pronounce single phonemes
For example, [pʰ] as in pin and [p] as in spin are allophones for the phoneme /p/ in the English language because they cannot distinguish words (in fact, they occur in

assimilation

In linguistics, assimilation is a common phonological process by which one sound becomes more like a
. nearby sound
Assimilation is the influence of a sound on a " neighboring sound so that the two become similar or
.the same
This can occur either within a word or between words. In rapid speech, for example, "handbag" is
. often pronounced [ˈhæmbæɡ]
A related process is coarticulation where one segment influences another to produce an allophonic variation, such as vowels acquiring the feature nasal before nasal consonants when the velum opens prematurely or /b/ becoming labialized

Elision
Elision is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce ..
Example
I don't know' /I duno/ , /kamra/ for camera, and 'fish 'n' '
.chips' are all examples of elision

:Notes