Kenneth L. Pike

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Kenneth L. Pike
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Phonemics

• Phonemes / /
• Abstract contrastive units in a language
• Never pronounced
• Realized by one or more allophones
• Allophone
• Sound units that are a physical reality
• Always pronounced
• Variation of a phoneme

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Two possibilities

• Allophones of separate phonemes
• /t/ /th/
• t th
• Allophones of the same phoneme
• /t/
• t th

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Allophones of separate phonemes

• Proof
• Minimal pair
• sip and zip
• /s/ /z/
• s z

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Allophones of separate phonemes

• Are h and ? allophones of separate phonemes?
• kahon box ?umagos to flow
• humagos to paint ka?on to fetch
• YES
• /h/ /?/
• h ?

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Allophones of separate phonemes

• Are p and b allophones of separate phonemes?
• peso (monetary unit) beso kiss
• kompa mate komba skipping
• YES
• /p/ /b/
• p b

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Allophones of the same phoneme

• Proof
• Complementary distribution
• The allophones never occur in the same
  environment
• /the man/
• bus driver security guard

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Allophones of the same phoneme

• Are t and th allophones of the same phoneme
  in English?
• YES
• /t/
• t th
• But what about in Hindi?

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t and th in Hindi

• tal beat
• th al plate
• Allophones of separate phonemes
• /t/ /th/
• t th

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Different mappings

• English
• /t/
• t th
• Hindi
• /t/ /th/
• t th

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How to do phonemic analysis

• Examine your data
• The question will ask about certain sounds pay
  special attention to those sounds. Dont get
  confused by extra data. Pronounce each item.
• Look for minimal pairs involving those sounds
• If you find one, you can conclude that the sounds
  are allophones of separate phonemes
• If there are no minimal pairs, list the
  environments in which each sound occurs
• If they never occur in the same environment, you
  can conclude that they are allophones of the same
  phoneme

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Greek

• Are k and x allophones of the same phoneme or
  allophones of separate phonemes?
• kano do kori daughter
• xori dances xrima money
• xano lose xufta handful
• krima shame kufeta bonbons
• ceri candle kali charms

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Conclusion

• k and x are allophones of separate phonemes
• /k/ /x/
• k k

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Sango

• Are r and l allophones of the same phoneme or
  allophones of separate phonemes?
• tere body kiri return
• wali woman wara like
• koli man nila then
• gere leg doli elephant

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List the environments

• r l
• e___e a___i
• e___e o___i
• i___i o___i
• a___a i___a

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Conclusion

• r and l are allophones of the same phoneme
• /l/
• r l

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Other considerations

• Suspicious pairs
• Consider only suspicious pairs that have some
  features in common
• Free variation
• Common in all languages

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Phonetic reality filtered by your phonemic grid
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Phonetic reality filtered by your phonemic grid