Transcript Introduction to Russian phonology and word structure

Introduction to Russian
phonology and word structure
Ch. 2: Introduction to phonetics
Q&A
• Why is it that phones are not symbols?
Q&A
• Why is it that phones are not symbols?
– Because they do not in themselves bear
meaning
Q&A
• Why would *могл be better than мог?
Q&A
• Why would *могл be better than мог?
– Because it would show us the past tense
marker –л.
Q&A
• Why would *могл be better than мог?
– Because it would show us the past tense
marker –л.
• Why is the –л actually missing?
Q&A
• Why would *могл be better than мог?
– Because it would show us the past tense
marker –л.
• Why is the –л actually missing?
– Because of constraints on pronunciation of
consonant clusters in Russian
Q&A
• Why would *вотка be better than водка?
Q&A
• Why would *вотка be better than водка?
– Because *вотка would yield a phonetic
spelling.
Q&A
• Why would *вотка be better than водка?
– Because *вотка would yield a phonetic
spelling.
• What is the advantage of the spelling of
водка?
Q&A
• Why would *вотка be better than водка?
– Because *вотка would yield a phonetic
spelling.
• What is the advantage of the spelling of
водка?
– The spelling of водка preserves the shape of
the morpheme
Q&A
• Why do we have to remember that spoken
language is primary?
Q&A
• Why do we have to remember that spoken
language is primary?
– In order to avoid “paper phonetics” and
artifacts of the written language
Q&A
• What kind of an alphabet do we need for
phonetic representation?
Q&A
• What kind of an alphabet do we need for
phonetic representation?
– One with a one-to-one correspondence
between sounds and symbols
– Note that the IPA has been revised
significantly since Hamilton’s book came out.
There is a link to the current IPA chart on our
website.
Discussion
• P. 9 “…as long as we have enough detail
to distinguish between words which are
different, the rest is arbitrary.”
– In other words, the level of detail is arbitrarily
chosen. The minimum level of detail is
differences which distinguish words, and this
is phonemics. Phonetics goes beyond
phonemics, but how far is up to the
investigator and the power of their machines.
Q&A
• On pp. 11-13, many of the examples
involve more than one word – what is
going on here?
Q&A
• On pp. 11-13, many of the examples
involve more than one word – what is
going on here?
– Hamilton is citing examples of phonetic
words – what is a phonetic word?
Q&A
• On pp. 11-13, many of the examples
involve more than one word – what is
going on here?
– Hamilton is citing examples of phonetic
words – what is a phonetic word?
– A phonetic word contains all the stressless
elements that are prosodically dependent on
the stress of a single word – what are these
stressless elements?
Q&A
• On pp. 11-13, many of the examples involve
more than one word – what is going on here?
– Hamilton is citing examples of phonetic words –
what is a phonetic word?
– A phonetic word contains all the stressless elements
that are prosodically dependent on the stress of a
single word – what are these stressless elements?
– Prepositions and conjunctions that precede words,
and particles that follow them like же, бы, мол, де
Discussion
• Notice that all consonants are NOT
created equal! Discuss the status of:
– Soft velars
– The voiced velar fricative
– The hard and soft voiceless labio-dental
fricative
– The voiced palatal and alveolar affricates
– The soft palatal fricatives
Discussion
• Notice that all consonants are NOT created
equal! Discuss the status of:
– Soft velars (only before front vowels in native Russian
words)
– The voiced velar fricative (only at word boundary,
foreign and OCS words)
– The hard and soft voiceless labio-dental fricative (only
a devoiced variant of v or in foreign words)
– The voiced palatal and alveolar affricates (only as
voiced variants of the devoiced ones)
– The soft palatal fricatives (are only long and differ as
to Moscow vs. Petersburg pronunciation)
Notes
• Phonetic transcription uses square brackets!
• Book’s question 4: The stationary parts actually
do move when the jaw moves
• 5: Articulatory vs. acoustic phonetics. This
distinction is crucial! There are scholars who
insist that only acoustic phonetics play a role in
language change. This book uses articulatory
features. What would be the terms for acoustic
features?
Notes
• 6: A Czech radio show once asked young
people to choose the most beautiful words
in Czech. The winners were: maminka,
vlast, and mír. What do you think the
criteria were?
• Beware also of voiceless vowels, glides,
nasals, and laterals – all of these make the
distinction between vowel and consonant
less crisp…