The Phoneme

- Phoneme vs. Allophone

- Minimal pair
- Contrastive Distribution
- Complementary Distribution
- Free Variation

Prepared by Dr Sabariah Md Rashid

Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, students are able to:

state the difference between a phoneme

and an allophone

describe the different procedures used to

identify and group phonemes

provide appropriate examples for the different

procedures used to establish phonemes
Phonology (A review)
Deals with the organisation of speech sounds
(phones at a more abstract level) in a
particular language
- Which sounds are predictable/unpredictable?
- What context allows us to predict the
occurrence of certain sounds?
- Which sounds affect the meaning of words?
A bit of history
Phoneme: the basic unit of contrast in phonology.

It was originally defined shortly before 1900,

but was prominent in phonology from the 1930s to
the 1950s (generally called the American Structuralist
period, whereby a great deal of attention was given to
the development of explicit principles & procedures for
identifying the phonemes of a language).

Further developments in the 1960s challenged the

traditional definition of the phoneme.
Aim of Phonologists

To establish
patterns of organization
within the indefinitely large
range of sounds
heard in languages
Phonological Analysis
A Phonological Analysis consists of the following
elements:
List of the phonemes of a language
Classification system for categorizing the
phonemes
Distribution of speech sounds (phones)
Phonotactics - positional and sequential
occurrences of phonemes within a language
List of the allophonic variation for each of the
phonemes
 Phoneme
Traditional phonological theories described it as the
minimal unit in the sound system

An abstract underlying unit of speech sounds; stored

in the memory (a mental entity)

Example: /p/ & /t/ are phonemes; phonemes are

indicated within slashes: / p /

The phoneme / p / can be pronounced in different

ways (can have different realisations);
- in English, the /p/ sounds in pit, spin, lip
correspond to one phoneme
 Allophone

Realizations of a phoneme that are predictable

from context; predictable surface elements of
speech sounds, e.g., [p] [p] [p ] - 3 allophones of
the phoneme /p/ which have specific distributions
Corresponds to something physical produced by a
speaker
Allophones are indicated within square brackets:
[p] [p ]
[p] [p ] [p] are, e.g. [p] occurs in the initial position
of English words, e.g., in pool [pu:]
 Phoneme (contd)

A phoneme and its allophones can be illustrated as:

/p/

[p] [p ] [ p ]
pit spin lip
Why are allophones predictable?

Consider the following:

We can predict which p-sound will be pronounced

in which context;
e.g. [ _ u:]

In the above example, one can guess the

allophone of /p/ that goes in the blank if we are
told that the blank must be filled with a p-sound.
 In English, the phoneme /p/ is realized as
three allophones:

- [p ] occurs in the word initial position (word initially),

e.g. [pt] pat,

- [ p ] occurs in an initial cluster following [s],

e.g. [spin] spin,

- [p ] occurs at the end of a word, e.g. [lip ] lip

To help understand the difference between a
phoneme & an allophone, remember the following:

A phoneme is stored in the memory. It is

represented in slanting brackets / p /.

An allophone is the realization of a phoneme

(something uttered). It is represented in square
brackets [ p ].
To identify a phoneme:

Several procedures were developed by phonologists

for the purpose of identifying the phonemes of a
language or establishing the phonemic status of a
sound.
Terms/concepts established are:
Contrastive distribution
Complementary distribution
Minimal pairs
Free variation
Distribution of Speech Sounds

Distribution of a speech sound: the set of

phonetic environments in which a sound
occurs/the range of places within a word which
a given sound may occur

- e.g., in English, aspirated consonants occur

syllable-initially
Distribution of Speech Sounds (contd)

Types of distribution:

- Complementary distribution
- Contrastive distribution
- Parallel distribution
 Complementary Distribution

Two sounds not occurring in the same

phonetic environment (the distribution of the pair of
sounds is mutually exclusive)

Complementary distribution explains the number of

allophones grouped within a phoneme; they are
allophones of the same phoneme

- e.g., [p ] & [p] are in complementary distribution

in English

Sounds in complementary distribution occur in non-

overlapping environments
 Complementary Distribution (contd)

The allophones of the phoneme /p/ has the following

non-overlapping distribution:
- [p ] is realized at the beginning of words, but not in
clusters following [s], e.g. pan

- [p] is realized in clusters following [s], e.g. spin, &

- [p ] is realized at the end of words but not in initial
position, e.g., tap
CONSIDER:
Aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops in English below:
(to show complementary distribution)
(a) [pu:] pool (b) [p] appear
Voiceless stops are
aspirated when they
(c) [sp:t] spurt (d) [dspat] despite are at the beginning
of a stressed
(e) [tp] top (f) [tk] attack syllable, e.g. in pool
& appear.

(g) [stp] stop (h) [dst] destroy Voiceless stops are

unaspirated when
(i) [kl] (j) [ku:] preceded by a
killing accrue
voiceless alveolar
fricative
(k) [skod] scold (l) [dsv] discover

NB: The diacritic above represents stress at the beginning of a syllable.

 Complementary Distribution (contd)

Sounds which are in complementary distribution

are phonetically similar, i.e. they share the same
characteristics.
For example, [p] & [p] in the English data are both
stops, voiceless & bilabials.

The sounds [p] & [p] belong to a single mental

category, i.e. the phoneme /p/
English voiceless stop phonemes and their
allophones (realizations):

/p/ /t/ /k/

[p] [p] [t] [t] [k] [k]

Parallel Distribution
Compare the distribution of English aspirated and
unaspirated voiceless stops with the Korean data below:

(a) [pul] grass (b) [pul] fire

(c) [tal] mask (d) [tal] moon

(e) [kda] dig (f) [kda] fold

The distribution of the aspirated & unaspirated

voiceless stops in Korean is overlapping.

This kind of distribution is called parallel distribution.

Semantically contrastive sounds

In Korean, the distinction between aspirated &

unaspirated voiceless stops is semantically
contrastive, i.e. it makes a difference to the meaning
of 2 words which have the same form

To Koreans:

[p] in[pul] grass & [p ] in[ pul] fire are NOT the same

[p] & [p ] in Korean are in contrastive distribution

 Contrastive Distribution

A pair of speech sounds (phones) is in

contrastive distribution if interchanging the
two can result in a change in meaning

- e.g., [s] and [ ] are in contrastive

distribution in English as in:
sue - shoe
 Are [k] and [b] in contrastive
distribution in English?
To answer this question, find a minimal pair in
English showing contrast in the 2 sounds:
e.g.,
bat [] & cat [] - (Minimal pair)
What difference do you notice in this pair of
words?
- it shows a contrast that can help establish
phonemes
- [b] & [k] are allophones of different phonemes
of /b/ & /k/, respectively.
Minimal pair

Two words which differ only by just one sound (in

the same position) & have different meanings
e.g.: cat // & 'bat//
(difference in ONE sound in initial position),

A procedure in phonology to determine which sounds

belong to the same phoneme),
Minimal pairs
Other examples of minimal pairs:

that vs. chat // vs. //

consonant difference
shame vs. shave // vs. //

had vs. head /hd/ vs. /hed/

vowel difference
feel vs. fill /f i:l/ vs. /fl/
 More examples:

bad // vs. mad // - a minimal pair

foot // vs boot // - NOT a minimal pair

judge [] & charge [:] - near minimal pairs

Pairs such as judge [] & charge [:]

are NOT minimal pairs, as there are differences
in 2 sounds,
i.e. [] & [] and [] & [:]
Some Korean voiceless stop phonemes

/p/ /p/

[p] [p]

/t/ /t/

[t] [t]

/k/ /k/

[k] [k]
CONSIDER:
[] and [] in Scottish English and Korean
Scottish English Korean

(a) [lm] lamb (b) [mul] water

(c) [m] ram (d) [mulkama] place of water

(e) [lp] lip (f) [mue] at the water

(g) [ip] rip (h) [ mal] horse

(i) [bi] berry (j) [malkama] place for horse

(k) [bli] belly (l) [mae] at the horse

The phonemic status of [] and [] in Scottish English
and Korean
Scottish English Korean speakers
speakers

Phonemic units
/l/ // /l/
(perceptual)

Allophonic units
(articulatory)
[l] [] [l] []

In Scottish English: a phonemic contrast between /l/ & //

- 2 distinct mental categories

In Korean: no such phonemic contrast, only 1 phoneme /l/

- an allophonic contrast between [l] & []
- a single mental category
Consider:
English clear and dark
(a) [k] clever
(b) [z] bells
(c) [pn] plain
(d) [] trail
(e) [lk] look
(f) [p] pull

Clear l
occurs immediately before vowels

Dark l []
occurs immediately after vowels
// realization in English and Korean

English Korean

/l/ realization in English /l/ realization in Korean

/l/ is realized as [] immediately /l/ is realized as [] between

after a vowel vowels

/l/ /l/

[l] [] [l] []
The Phonemic Principle (Distribution of sounds)
Look for minimal pairs.
Make the list of the environments where the sound
occurs
Do the sounds occur in the same environment?

NO YES

a) The sounds are in The sounds are in parallel

complementary distribution (overlapping) &
distribution showing semantic contrast or
b) The sounds are they are in contrastive
phonetically similar distribution

The sounds are allophones The sounds are allophones

(realizations) of the same of different phonemes
phoneme
 Free Variation
A term used to refer to two sounds that occur in
overlapping environments but not changing word
meaning
Example:
1.Different pronunciations of the word neither
/ni: / or /na /

2. Different articulation of a sound in a word like lip

& pot:
- an unreleased or an aspirated plosive:
[ ] or [ ] : [] & [] are free variants

- released/unreleased word-final stops/plosives:

[] or [] : [] & [] are free variants
 Free Variation (contd)

Free variants - different phonetic realizations of a

phoneme; other examples:
- [i:] & [a] are free variants in /ni: / or /na /
- [] or []
- [] or []

When several phones are in complementary

distribution & in free variation, they are allophones
of a single/the same phoneme. In English, free
variation is a very limited phenomenon.
Exercise
1. Give 2 examples of minimal pairs which show contrast
in vowels and consonants.

2. Establish at least TWO minimal pairs in English showing

contrast in the following pairs of sounds in two different
positions:
i ) the initial position of a word &
ii) the final position of a word
a. [k] & [g] b. [m] & [n] c. [p] & [f]
d. [s] & [] e. [v] & [b]
 Read up!

See you again.