Feature theory The system of phonological oppositions

The phoneme is functional because it functions to make one word or its grammatical form distinct from the other; it functions because it constitutes words; and because due to the fact that it really functions we recognize words (even though they are not pronounced properly). Phoneme manifests itself in a certain pattern of distribution. The patterns of distribution may be different. The simplest is free variation – the variation of one and the same phoneme pronounced by the same or different speaker. E.g.: phoneme /k/ pronounced with different degrees of aspiration which doesn’t affect the differentiatory properties of this phoneme.

Phonemes are discovered by the method of minimal pairs, or by distinctive oppositions. This method consists in finding as many pairs of words as possible which differ in one phoneme.

Types of opposition

Oppositions can be classified along several simultaneous dimensions:

• isolated (the same combination does not serve to distinguish any other pair) e.g. /d/ and /m/;

• proportional (recurrent) e.g. /p/ and /b/ (cf. /t/ and /d/, /s/ and /z/ etc.);

• bilateral(exactly two phonemes are distinguished minimally on a given dimension), e.g. English voiced and unvoiced, since there is no third value;

• multilateral (the same property distinguishes more than two phonemes along the same dimension) e.g. /p/, /t/, /k/ along place of articulation;

• privative (one phoneme contains a property which is lacking in the other) e.g. phonemes with and without an added nasal resonance, vowels with and without rounding;

• equipollent (when two phonemes differ in that they contain different properties) e.g. front and back vowels;

• gradual(phonemes possess a given property to varying degrees) e.g. mid and high vowels.

Syllable

SYLLABLEis a group of sounds pronounced together (Wells); is one or more speech sounds forming a single uninterrupted unit.

Articulatory – a minimal articulatory unit.

Auditorily– the smallest unit of perception.

Phonologically– constitutive, distinctive (a naim – an aim; my train – might rain) and identificatory functions (peace talks – pea stalks).

Types: covered – uncovered; closed – open;

Structure: peak (vowel or sonorant); coda – following elements; onset – preceding elements.

Theories of syllabification

1. Chest-pulse theory (breath puff) – syllables are formed by breath taking.

2. Sonority theory (prominence theory) – every sound has different carrying power based on its sonority.

3. Muscular tension theory –syllable formation by muscular tension impulses. Three types: a) initially strong (beginning with the syllable); b) finally strong; c) double.

Rules of syllabification in English

1. A syllable boundary is a morphological boundary of the word.

2. Consonants are syllabified with the (strongly) stressed vowel. If they are both unstressed, it goes to the leftward one.

3. The English diphthongs are unisyllabic; triphthongs – disyllabic.

4. The English affricates /ʧ, ʤ/ cannot be split.

5. The English sonorants /m, n, l/ are syllabic when post-tonic and preceded by a consonant.