Phonetics and Phonology: Key Concepts
Key Concepts in Phonetics and Phonology
1) Phoneme: Trubetzkoy’s set of distinctive features are presented simultaneously in a phonetic complexity of application. For example, the phoneme /b/: consonant, bilabial, occlusive, sonorous.
2) Phonetic Oppositions: Phonetic oppositions are distinguished by a feature and do not change significantly. For example: /b/ bilabial, sound, occlusive (e.g., course) /ɸ/ bilabial, sound, fricative (e.g., it came yesterday) Phonological oppositions distinguish meanings, such as between /b/ and /p/: bullet and blade.
3) Complementary Distribution: When two or more allophones of one phoneme are mutually exclusive in their respective contexts.
- /b/? [b] + consonant + nasal? course
- ? ? yesterday came
- [?] In other contexts. ? it came yesterday
4) Free Variation: Two or more allophones of one phoneme can occur in one context and not alter the meaning of the word. For example, /s/ in syllable-final position are not excluded in the same context.
5) Linguistic Sign: Union solidarity in a form of expression and a form of content.
6) The Concept of Substance in the Level of Expression: Substance in the level of expression, as Hjelmslev, consists of physical and psychological means by which speech is carried out. For example, nasality that in Spanish would not be a distinctive feature (meaning) but in French, it is.
7)
- Chair + + + + – + s 1 = support
- Chair + + + + + + s 2 = On foot
- Stool – + + + – + s3 = For a person
- Canape + + – + + + s 4 = To sit
- Pouf – + + + – – s 5 = With arms
- s 6 = rigid material
8) Seme: A characteristic or relevant trait. For example, with back, high above the ground.
Sememe: The set of semes and provides the meaning of a morpheme. For example, with back, on foot, for a person, sitting, rigid material.
Archisememe: These are all features that lexemes have and consists of the semes. For example, walk and sit on.
Archilexeme: The word that contains the common features of all members of a lexical field, as Pottier, would seat.
Lexeme or Ley: Signifier of language for each sememe. For example: chair, armchair, stool, couch, ottoman.
9) Semic Analysis: E. Rosch, who after applying a series of tests, noted that in the case of categorizations contained and common words such as fruits, birds, and furniture, the lexical items that the research subjects included under each of these categories, they would not match. Or, in other cases, which include lexical features were moving away somewhat from that shared mostly those that had been indicated as belonging to different considered categories. These findings led to the conclusion that the limits of a category are rather fuzzy.
10) Current Objectivist: Groups elements according to the principle of shared properties. The members of the same class have identical features.
Experientialist Current: The theory is based on prototypes that break with the traditional view of categorization, or also known as the model of the necessary and sufficient conditions.
11) Logical Categories: Are defined by all necessary and sufficient conditions, which means that some object to belong to a particular need to meet certain conditions shared with other members of the category, e.g., all the birds are just birds once included in the category.
Natural Categories: Come from the semantics of prototypes which does not consider that the existence of common properties shared by all members is a necessary condition for the establishment of a category, so it is considered that some elements or members are more birds than others, for example.
12) Prototype: Copy most suitable, the best representative or central case of a category, then happened to be defined as the ideal specimen commonly associated with a category. The prototype acts as a cognitive reference point for the process of classification of the elements of our experience.
13) Opinion Experiments:
- a) The prototypical members are categorized more quickly than those who are not prototypical.
- b) Prototypical members are the first children learn.
- c) The prototypes serve as a cognitive reference point.
- d) Generally, when what is required is to list the members of a category, the prototypes are mentioned in the first place.
14) Horizontal Dimension: The theory of prototypes introduces new organizational factors in the categorization. One is the internal structure of categories, which includes a horizontal dimension, which is an inter-categorical hierarchy. Thus, this theory distinguishes three levels within categories: superordinate level, basic level, and subordinate level.