ENGLISH 3271 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Complementary Distribution, Free Variation, Phoneme
8 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Use of one allophone vs another for instances of the same phoneme. Predictable variation: we can predict which allophone will occur based on its phonetic content. Allophones occur in complementary distribution, never in the same environment. For predictable allophones, we can write rules that describe when one allophone occurs over another. Produced with lowered velum so air exits the nasal cavity: compare bow to bone, loot to loan, dot to don, english vowels become nasalized when they occur before a nasal consonant, they are not nasalized elsewhere. Aspiration: voiceless consonants become voiced, puff of air released from mouth with release of stop consonant, rule: English voiceless stops are aspirated when they occur as the first sound in a word or stressed syllable with no preceding consonant. Phonemes vs allophones: categories vs actual instances. Allophones variation: production of one allophone vs another.
