1 sounds in the mind and hands linguistics lecture #4 november 7, 2006
TRANSCRIPT
2
Overview
• Interfaces again
• The atoms of phonology
• Phonological rules and constraints
• Phonological structure
• Sign language phonology
3
MIND
LANGUAGE
Physical world
Mental representations
Propositions
Syntax
Phonology
Physical world
semantics
phonology
4
Phonology and the world
• Phonology is a mental interface with physics, but it is not itself physics
• For example, which of these two words have the “same main vowel”?
天 貪 貼ㄊ-ㄢ ㄊㄢ ㄊ-ㄝ
• But physically these are more similar• Mentally, these are more similar
5
Phonemes
• Phonemes ( 音素 ) are in your head
• They are turned into phonetic forms by the rules of your grammar
/th/ /i/ /a/ /n/ [thin]
rules
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Phonemes as atoms
• Phonemes are like the “atoms” of phonology, but unlike words, they are meaningless
- ㄨ ㄩ ㄚㄋㄌ
7
Uniquely human?
• The atom + rule structure in syntax is expected, since it’s crucial to express meaning
• The atom + rule structure of phonology is perhaps a more surprising discovery
• Unlike other animal communication systems, human language has two levels of patterning: duality of patterning
- patterning of both meaningful and meaningless units
8
Formal rules in phonology
• Phonology shows patterns that do not seem to be directly related to physics
sign [ai] signal [Ig]
resign [ai] resignation [Ig]
Rule: Change /Ig/ to [ai] before word-final /n/
9
Rule interactions
• Another clue that phonology isn’t just physics: rules interact in complex ways
• Mandarin Tone 3 rule: 3 2 before 3 買馬 老虎
• Tone 0 rule: Tone 0 at end of word (optional) 媽媽 謝謝
• But what if both can apply…?
10
Rule ordering?
點點
2 3
[2 0]
姐姐
3 0
[3 0]
/3 3/Input form
Tone 3 rule Tone 0 rule
/3 3/Input form
Tone 3 rule (can’t apply)
Tone 0 rule
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Formal constraints in phonology
• Some patterns cannot be described with rules of the form A B
• Instead, they require constraints
ㄠ ㄡ ㄞ ㄟ-ㄨ
?
Constraint: *V1 V2 V1 (V1 = same vowel)
iauiouuaiuei
*uau*uou*iei?iai
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Constraint interactions
• Constraints can conflict with each other
• V1V2 constraint:
ie ( ㄧㄝ ) *io ( ㄧㄛ ) *ue ( ㄨㄝ ) uo ( ㄨㄛ )
• V2V3 constraint:
ei ( ㄟ ) *eu *oi ou ( ㄡ )
• What happens in words with V1V2V3, where both constraints can apply…?
13
Constraint ranking
• Question: Which constraint is ranked higher in Mandarin grammar?
• Answer: The V2V3 constraint.
iou, uei: V2V3 obeyed, but V1V2 is violated
*ieu, *uoi: if V1V2 is obeyed (but it’s really not)
• Ranking: V2V3 » V1V2
14
Phonological structure
• The ranking of these constraints relates to the structure of Mandarin syllables ( 音節 ):
Syllable
th i a n
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Phonological structure
• There are also larger phonological structures that link to syntactic structure:
老 李 買 好 酒2 3 2 2 3
N V NP
2 3 3 2 3
N V N
16
Sign languages:duality of patterning
• Signs also have atoms, such as handshapes
• Examples from Taiwan Sign Language:
ZERO FIVE SIX
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Sign languages:duality of patterning
• The same handshapes appear in other signs with totally unrelated meanings
CUT CLASS HAVE FAST
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Different sign languages,different grammars
• Taiwan Sign Language (TSL) has handshapes that are not used in American Sign Language (ASL)
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A phonemic handshape in ASL
• ASL uses the following handshape for “B”, which is also in the sign meaning BLUE:
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Rule-generated “B” in TSL
• But the “B” handshape is not basic in TSL. Instead, it is always derived by a rule:Close thumb only if touching body (otherwise )
NONSENSE PLEASE DOOR
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Phonology and functionalism
• Phonological grammar (competence) is formal
• But phonology is also affected by language use (performance), especially physics
• “Difficult” forms are avoided:- Difficult sounds like // sound are rare across the world’s languages, and so are difficult handshapes
• Rules often “simplify” forms:- For example, /sIgn/ ends a complex way, but [sain] doesn’t. This makes the /Ig/ [ai] rule “natural”.
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Phonology and functionalism
• Phonological forms may even relate directly to meaning- For example, the shapes of signs often “make sense” (e.g. DOOR in TSL)- Sometimes this is so for spoken language too:
snore, sneeze, snot, sniff….