LING 1F94 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Complementary Distribution, Phoneme
3 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
You hear allophones, it is a phonetic variant of the phoneme. Aspiration does not contrast in english, is does not define separate words. Voicing is relevant in english, changing the voicing will change the meaning of the word (pat vs. bat) The phoneme is a cognitive (mental) construct, this is what we think we perceive in a word. Looking at similar sounds (superman vs. clark kent) Try to come up with generalizations as to when they occur. Look at the distribution: place, environment (superman when there is danger, clark. They never occur at the same time. When there is a particular environment (danger), the environment changes into something else. Environments are never the same: complementary distribution. Formal rule: /ck/ [s] danger ______ (clark kent changes into superman before danger) If you see two people in the same sort of environment, then you know you have 2 different phonemes (twins?)
