Kenneth L. Pike

Phonemics

• Phonemes / /– Abstract contrastive units in a language– Never pronounced– Realized by one or more allophones

• Allophone [ ]– Sound units that are a physical reality– Always pronounced– Variation of a phoneme

Two possibilities

• Allophones of separate phonemes/t/ /th/

[t] [th]

• Allophones of the same phoneme/t/

[t] [th]

Allophones of separate phonemes

• Proof– Minimal pair

• “sip” and “zip”

/s/ /z/

[s] [z]

Allophones of separate phonemes

• Are [h] and [?] allophones of separate phonemes?

[kahon] “box” [?umagos] “to flow”[humagos] “to paint” [ka?on] “to fetch”

• YES/h/ /?/

[h] [?]

Allophones of separate phonemes

• Are [p] and [b] allophones of separate phonemes?

[peso] “(monetary unit)” [beso] “kiss”[kompa] “mate” [komba] “skipping”

• YES/p/ /b/

[p] [b]

Allophones of the same phoneme

• Proof– Complementary distribution

• The allophones never occur in the same environment

/the man/

[bus driver] [security guard]

Allophones of the same phoneme

• Are [t] and [th] allophones of the same phoneme in English?

• YES

/t/

[t] [th]

• But what about in Hindi?

[t] and [th] in Hindi

[tal] “beat”

[th al] “plate”

• Allophones of separate phonemes

/t/ /th/

[t] [th]

Different mappings

• English

/t/

[t] [th]• Hindi

/t/ /th/

[t] [th]

How to do phonemic analysis

• Examine your data– The question will ask about certain sounds; pay

special attention to those sounds. Don’t get confused by extra data. Pronounce each item.

• Look for minimal pairs involving those sounds– If you find one, you can conclude that the sounds are

allophones of separate phonemes

• If there are no minimal pairs, list the environments in which each sound occurs

– If they never occur in the same environment, you can conclude that they are allophones of the same phoneme

Greek

• Are [k] and [x] allophones of the same phoneme or allophones of separate phonemes?

[kano] “do” [kori] “daughter”[xori] “dances” [xrima] “money”[xano] “lose” [xufta] “handful”[krima] “shame” [kufeta] “bonbons”[ceri] “candle” [kali] “charms”

Conclusion

• [k] and [x] are allophones of separate phonemes

/k/ /x/

[k] [k]

Sango

• Are [r] and [l] allophones of the same phoneme or allophones of separate phonemes?

[tere] “body” [kiri] “return”

[wali] “woman” [wara] “like”

[koli] “man” [nila] “then”

[gere] “leg” [doli] “elephant”

List the environments

[r] [l]

e___e a___i

e___e o___i

i___i o___i

a___a i___a

Conclusion

• [r] and [l] are allophones of the same phoneme

/l/

[r] [l]

Other considerations

• Suspicious pairs– Consider only “suspicious” pairs that have

some features in common

• Free variation– Common in all languages

Phonetic reality filtered by your phonemic grid

Phonetic reality filtered by your phonemic grid