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 segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances". 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 are called minimal pairs.
Within linguistics there are differing views as to exactly what phonemes are and how a given language should be analyzed in phonemic terms. However a phoneme is generally regarded as an abstraction of a set (or equivalence class) of speech sounds (phones) which are perceived as equivalent to each other in a given language. For example, in English, the "k" sounds in the words kit and skill are not identical (as described below), but they are distributional variants of a single phoneme, /k/. Different speech sounds representing the same phoneme are known as allophones, such variation may be conditioned, in which case a certain phoneme is realized as a certain allophone in particular phonological environments, or it may be free in which case it may vary randomly. In this way, phonemes are often considered to constitute an abstract underlying representation for words, while speech sounds make up the corresponding phonetic realization, or surface form.
Objectives
An allophone is a phonetic variant of a phoneme in a particular language.
This list of allophonic rules of English, based on Ladefoged's A course in phonetics,makes
clear how to write a consistent narrow transcription, because the output of these rules must be
transcribed. Also, in discussions of English phonology, the list provides many examples for
practicing rule formulation. Note, however, that some of these rules are not suitable for a
categorical phonological description and are likely phonetic rules of a gradient nature.
Rules affecting consonants
(1) Consonants are longer when at the end of a phrase.
(2) Voiceless stops (i.e., / p, t, k / are aspirated when they are syllable initial, as in words such as
“pip, test, kick” [ pʰɪp, tʰɛst, kʰɪk].
(3) Obstruents – stops and fricatives – classified as voiced (that is, / b, d, g, v, ð, z, ʒ /) are
voiced through only a small part of the articulation when they occur at the end of an utterance or
before a voiceless sound. Listen to the /v / when you say try to improve, and the / d / when you
say add two.
(4) So-called voiced stops and affricates /b, d, g, dʒ / are voiceless when syllable initial, except
when immediately preceded by a voiced sound (as in a dayas compared with this day).
(5) Voiceless stops / p, t, k / are unaspirated after / s / in words such as spew, stew, skew.
(6) Voiceless obstruents / p, t, k, ʧ, f, θ, s, ʃ / are longer than their corresponding voiced
obstruents / b, d, g, ʤ, v, ð, z, ʒ/ when at the end of a syllable.
(7) The approximants / w, r, j, l / are at least partially voiceless when they occur after initial / p,
t, k/, as in play, twin, cue[ pleɪ, twɪn, kju].
(8)The gestures for consecutive stops overlap, so that stops are unexploded when they occur
before another stop in words such as apt[æp)t ] and rubbed[rʌb)d].
(9) In many accents of English, syllable final /p, t, k/ are accompanied by a glottal stop, as in
pronunciations of tip, pit, kickas [tɪˀp, pɪˀt, kɪˀk]. (This is another case where transcription
cannot fully describe what is going on.)
(10) In many accents of English, / t / is replaced by a glottal stop when it occurs before an
alveolar nasal in the same word, as in beaten ['bi?n2 ]
(11) Nasals are syllabic at the end of a word when immediately after an obstruent as in leaden,
chasm ['lɛdn2, 'kæzm2 ]
(12) The lateral /l / is syllabic at the end of a word when immediately after a consonant.
(12a) The liquids / l, r / are syllabic at the end of a word when immediately after a consonant.
(13) Alveolar stops become voiced taps when they occur between two vowels, the second of
which is unstressed.
(13a) Alveolar stops and alveolar nasal plus stop sequences become voiced taps when they
occur between two vowels, the second of which is unstressed.
(14) Alveolar consonants become dentals before dental consonants, as in eighth, tenth, wealth
[eɪt t θ, tɛn n θ, wɛl l θ]. Note that this statement applies to all alveolar consonants, not just stops,
and it often applies across word boundaries, as in at this[ æt t9 ðɪs ]. This is a statement that in
English the gestures for these two consonant overlap so much that the place of articulation for
the first consonant is changed.
(15) Alveolar stops are reduced or omitted when between two consonants.
(16) A homorganic voiceless stop may occur (i.e., be inserted) after a nasal before a voiceless
fricative followed by an unstressed vowel in the same word.
(17) A consonant is shortened when it is before an identical consonant.
(18) Velar stops become more front before more front vowels.
(19) The lateral / l / is velarized when after a vowel or before a consonant at the end of a word.
Rules affecting vowels
(1) Other things being equal, a given vowel is longest in an open syllable, next longest in a
syllable closed by a voiced consonant, and shortest in a syllable closed by a voiceless
consonant.
(2) Other things being equal, vowels are longer in stressed syllables.
(3) Other things being equal, vowels are longest in monosyllabic words, next longest in words
with two syllables, and shortest in words with more than two syllables.
(4) A reduced vowel may be voiceless when it occurs after a voiceless stop (and before a
voiceless stop). The parenthesized phrase may be omitted for many people.
(5) Vowels are nasalized in syllables closed by a nasal consonant.
(6) Vowels are retracted before syllable final dark [ɫ].
Three aspects of the phoneme
1. The material aspect
It is reflected in the following part of the definition: “realized in speech in the form of speech sounds”. In other words, each phoneme is realized in a set of predictable speech sounds which are called allophones.
Allophones of the phoneme [t]:
in the combination “not there” – dental;
in the word “try” – post-alveolar;
in the word “stay” – not aspirated etc.
All these sounds are allophones of the same phoneme. They generally meet the following requirements:
They possess similar articulatory features, but at the same time they may show considerable phonetic differences.
They never occur in the same phonetic context.
They can’t be opposed to one another, they are not able to differentiate their meaning.
It is obvious that the difference between allophones is the result of surrounding sounds, the phonetic context. So we distinguish two types of allophones:
Principle allophones – don’t undergo any changes in the chains of speech. It is close to the sound pronounced in isolation.
Subsidiary allophones – in them we observe predictable changes under the influence of the phonetic context.
How do we approach the problem of teaching pronunciation? Our main concern is the principle allophone, because it is important in the terms of meaning. Subsidiary allophones are important as well, because your accent may suffer.
What do we actually pronounce?
phoneme —> allophone (phonetic context) —> phone
phone = allophone + individual, regional and phonostylictic difference
2. The abstract aspect
This aspect is reflected in the following part of the definition: “language unit”. The phoneme belongs to the language while the allophone belongs to the speech. Language is an abstract category, it is an abstraction from speech. Thus the phoneme as a language unit is materialized in the form of speech sounds.
Distinctive features of the phoneme (relevant): these are features that can’t be changed without the change of meaning.
[t] – 1) occlusive, 2) forelingual, 3) fortis.
forelingual —> backlingual —> [k](tom – com)
occlusive —> constructive —> [s](tin – sin)
fortis —> lenis —> [d] —> (ton – don)
A bundle of distinctive features is called invariant.
3. The functional aspect
This aspect is reflected in the following part of the definition: “opposable”. This is the main aspect of the phoneme. Phonemes are capable of differentiating the meaning of morphemes (“seems” – “seemed”), of words (“spot” – “sport”), of sentences (“He was heard badly” – “He was hurt badly”, “There is no room for you in my hut” – “There is no room for you in my heart”).
How can the phoneme perform this function? We have already mentioned that the change of the invariant results in the change of meaning. The phoneme can perform the distinctive function when it is opposed to another phoneme in the same phonetic context ([kɑːt] – [pɑːt]). In this case the phonemes differ in one articulatory feature: backlingual – forelingual. The articulatory features that don’t affect the meaning are called “non-distinctive (inrelevant)”. A good example of such feature is aspiration. That brings us to the problem that is important in terms of pronunciation teaching: the problem of phonetic and phonological mistakes.
The mistake is called phonological if an allophone of the same phoneme is replaced by an allophone of a different phoneme (“sit” [ɪ] – seat [iː]).
The mistake is called phonetic if an allophone of some phoneme is replaced by the allophone of the same phoneme (“Pit” without aspiration).
Phoneme has 3 functions 1. constitutive (phonemes exist in their material form speech sounds constitute morphemes words sentences all of each are meaningful)2. distinctive (it distinguishes one word from another even whole sentences) 3. recognitive (it manifescts in the process of identificacionnative speakers can identify combination of phonemes as meaningful units.)