Phonemes

1
Phonemes

• Minimal meaningful contrast in sound.
• Smallest unit of meaningful difference in sounds.
• The units which we call phonemes are in
  themselves of no importance it is the
  differences among them that count.

2
Phonetics

• Description of all the sounds in a language
• Phonology is the study and theory of sounds in
  Language

3
Vocal tract

• Points of articulation

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IPA chart
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Phonetics websites

• http//www.fanamtutor.de/
• http//www.paulmeier.com/ipa/charts.html
• or
• http//www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/

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Phonetics studies and describes perceptible
differences

• top stop little kitten hunter

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Phonemics analyses meaningful contrasts in sound

• Voiced vs. unvoiced is a meaningful contrast in
  English, carries a heavy functional load
• Bit - pit
• Done - ton
• Could - good
• Minimal Pairs highlight phonemic contrasts

8
Not all differences are meaningful

• Aspiration in English is not meaningful
• Top - stop
• th t
• Redundantly associated with voiceless
• tab - tap
• b - p or ph

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Other languages contrast aspirated and unaspirated

• Hindi
• /tali/ key
• /thali/ strip
• /kap/ cup
• /kaph/ phlegm
• /ph l/ fruit
• /p l/ moment
• /b l/ strength

Korean /keda/ fold /kheda/ dig out
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More examples of phonemic contrasts

• Stress
• English present, object, construct, implant,
  
• Pitch/Tone
• Chinese
• Length
• Korean il day il work
• seda to count seda strong
• pam night pam chestnut
• German die Stadt, der Staat

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etics

• System-external description and analysis
• Victor Turners first stage of ritual analysis
  (observe behavior)
• Biological genealogies in kinship (parents
  children)

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emics

• System-internal description and analysis
• Explains social or cultural elements according to
  indigenous definitions/categories
• Victor Turners third stage of ritual analysis
  (interpretation following internal logic of the
  culture)
• Kinship terms (how the natives classify their
  relatives)

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Etic Kin terms
MZ
F
M
MB
FZ
FB
FZD
FZS
FBD
FBS
MBD
MBS
MZD
MZS
Ego
B
Z
FZSD
FZSS
MBDD
MBDD
S
D
SD
SD
DD
DS
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Emic Kin terms (English)
aunt
father
mother
uncle
aunt
uncle
cousin
cousin
cousin
cousin
cousin
cousin
cousin
cousin
Ego
brother
sister
cousin
cousin
cousin
cousin
son
daughter
grand- daughter
grand- son
grand- daughter
grand- son
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Emic categories of kinship(Hawaiian)
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Etic distinctions

• External frameworks or universal classificatory
  grids
• Linguistic typologies (e.g., analytic,
  inflecting, agglutinating, polysynthetic)
• Linnaean classification of plants animals
  (genus, species)
• Disease (medical pathology)
• But are these just our (Western) emic categories,
  deployed universally?

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emics

• Not the natives model
• Boass secondary rationalization, Turners
  exegetical models
• Emic models, like phonemes, are constructions
  formalized by the analyst on the basis of
  distinctive features present in indigenous usage

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Hanunoo pronouns

• Etic distinctions inelegant and inaccurate
• (1st, 2nd, 3rd person sing., dual, plural
  inclusive, exclusive)
• Emic categories are
• Minimal membership, nonminimal membership
• Inclusion of speaker, exclusion of speaker
• Inclusions of hearer, exclusion of hearer
• Categories not overt in native consciousness

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Componential analysis

• Formulate the basic conceptual units behind
  utterances
• Find a native who knows how to use conventional
  symbols and record their use in different
  contexts
• Describe all the contexts as closely as possible,
  make as many discriminations as possible (etics).
• Ex., makuahine mother, mothers sister,
  fathers sister

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Emic paradigms

• /t/ and /d/ are in meaningful contrast, so are
  /p/ - /t/ - /k/
• Morphological paradigm ljublju, ljubish, ljubit
• An analogy to cultural paradigms is age grades.
• In Maasai culture child, junior, warrior, junior
  elder, elder