5.5. Segmental and suprasegmental phonemes - E-Books

Segmental and suprasegmental phonemes ... outside of a larger phonological context is the domain of segmental phonology. Many changes undergone by sou...

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Chapter 5: Phonological structure: The Phoneme and its allophones. Segmental specification: Distinctive Features in various phono-logical theories 5.1. Individual sounds and classes of sounds. The phoneme and its contrastive function 5.2. Allophones. Complementary distribution and free variation 5.3. The phonological idiosyncrasy of linguistic systems 5.4. Broad and narrow transcription 5.5. Segmental and suprasegmental phonemes 5.6. From the minimal unit of linguistic analysis to the bundle of distinctive features 5.7. Jakobson and Halle’s feature system 5.8. Chomsky and Halle’s distinctive features 5.9. Ladefoged’s feature system 5.10. The use of features for segmental specification and for the description of phonological processes

5.5. Segmental and suprasegmental phonemes We have so far described the sounds of English, we tried to list some of their main articulatory features, we even postulated the existence of classes of sounds that we called phonemes and we discussed them in functional terms emphasizing their contrastive value. But even when we talked about classes of sounds (phonemes) we considered them as actually defining unique phonological units in spite of the phonetic variations displayed by their respective members which we chose to ignore. We can say then that we analyzed individual, separate segments, phonological units in isolation. The study of such segments outside of a larger phonological context is the domain of segmental phonology. Many changes undergone by sounds, many contrasts in language, many phonological processes, actually take place or can be noticed at a higher level, a level that will involve sequences or strings of sounds, or even of words and phrases. This will be the domain of suprasegmental phonology and part of the following chapters will be devoted to a brief analysis of such phenomena. Stress, rhythm, intonation are obviously such phonological realities that manifest themselves at a suprasegmental level. Stress and intonation contours can even have phonemic (contrastive) value since only difference in stress placement establishes the distinction between envoy (the noun) and envoy (the verb). The same word, phrase or sentence pronounced with different intonational contours could express surprise, satisfaction, matter-of-factness. The last chapter of the book will discuss such cases in further detail.