UI Engl 241 Phonology Intro Linguistics Distribution

1. How do we know that [t] and
[d] are different sounds in
English?

2. Consider the transcriptions
[kat] and [kad]. Are these
different words?

3. We know [t] and [d] are
different sounds in English
because when we substitute
one for the other but keep the
rest of the transcription the
same, they yield two different
words.

4. Here, [t] and [d] are called
minimal pairs. What are some
other examples of minimal pairs
you can think of?

5. (By the way – It IS okay to find words that aren’t
exactly the same as long as the sounds adjacent
to the sounds in question are the same. See the
textbook’s discussion of leather and pleasure.)

6. We will consider Phonology as the
study of possible sound
combinations in a specific
language.

7. We are especially interested in the
distribution of sounds across a
given language system.

8. The presence of minimal pairs or
near-minimal pairs tells us two
sounds are in contrastive
distribution.

9. CONTRASTIVE DISTRIBUTION:
[d] and [t] can occur in the same
environment (word-final, for
example), and change the
meaning of a word.

10. Ultimately, we are trying to decide
if two sounds are “the same” or
“different” in a specific language.
The contrastive distribution of [t]
and [d] tells us they are different
sounds.

11. Sometimes, two different sounds
occur in the same environment
but do NOT change the meaning
of the word.

12. Let’s check out the “Mid back lax
rounded” vowel. Also called
“Open O.”

13. This is the infamous caught-cot
merger.
(Note, you may see some variations on
the phone used to represent these
symbols.)

14. So, if a New Englander like me
says “caught” with an open o, but
someone from the Pacific NW says
“caught” – the same word – with
[a], that means two different
sounds have occurred in the same
environment without changing
the meaning of the word.

15. FREE VARIATION
A distribution where two sounds in the
same environment can be used
interchangeably without yielding a
different word.

16. Okay, last one. Try holding your
hand in front of your mouth and
repeating, “Spit, pit, spit, pit, spit,
pit.”

17. After a while, you might notice
that you let out more air on the
“p” sound when you say “pit” than
when you say “spit.”

18. In IPA, we acknowledge that extra
puff of air as follows: [pʰ].

19. Fun fact!
[p] will never occur where [pʰ]
does.

20. This is our final phonemic
distribution. We’ve seen that
there’s a relationship between [p]
and [pʰ].
They do NOT form a minimal pair,
since they never occur in the same
environment. Rather, we use [pʰ]
word-initially, and we use [p]
elsewhere.

21. This “elsewhere” tells us that [p] is
the basic phoneme, and [pʰ] is
conditioned by its environment.
But they are the same sound, since
substituting one for the other,
apart from being incredibly
counterintuitive, does not change
the meaning of the word. Try
saying “spit” with [pʰ]!

22. COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION
When a sound varies depending on word environment, but
the variations never overlap, nor have the power to change
the meaning of the word.

23. In sum, [t] is a different sound from [d], since they form
minimal pairs in the same word environment. This is called
contrastive variation.
However, interchanging the open o with [a] in caught does
not change the meaning of the word, even though the
sounds occur in the same word environment. These sounds
are in free variation.
Last, [p] and [pʰ] will never occur in the same environments.
These two sounds are in complementary distribution.

24. Okay, last twist. Remember, our goal is to describe whether
groups of sounds are the “same” or “different” in the
context of a specific language. We do this by describing
allophones.

25. Since [t] and [d] are different sounds, we say they are
“allophones of different phonemes.”

26. So, regardless of the specific language, IPA tells us what [d]
and [t] “mean” by using brackets. When we get to a
specific language, though, we use /slashes/.

27. This seems redundant when the sounds are different. So in
ENGLISH, [d] belongs to the phoneme /d/ and [t] belongs to
the phoneme /t/.
So what?

28. Well, if [p] and [pʰ] are “the same” sound in ENGLISH, we
need a way to represent that. So, we say that [p] and [pʰ]
are allophones of the same phoneme, which is /p/.

29. If I ask you, “What’s the relationship between [d] and [t]?”
The correct answer is, “[d] and [t] form minimal pairs in
contrastive distribution. They are allophones of different
phonemes.”
If I ask, “What’s the relationship between [p] and [pʰ]?” The
correct answer is, “[p] and [pʰ] are allophones of the same
phoneme and occur in complementary distribution.”

30. Keep this in mind as you read the chapter this weekend. On
Tuesday, we’ll start practicing how to determine distribution,
and you’ll surprise yourself by being able to write rules about
what sounds are possible in languages that you have no
background studying!