phonology (n.)

A branch of LINGUISTICS which studies the sound SYSTEMS of LANGUAGES. Out of the very wide range of sounds the human vocal apparatus can produce, and which are studied by PHONETICS, only a relatively small number are used DISTINCTIVELY in any one language. The sounds are organized into a system of CONTRASTS, which are analyzed in terms of PHONEMES, DISTINCTIVE FEATURES or other such phonological UNITS, according to the theory used. The aim of phonology is to demonstrate the patterns of distinctive sound found in a language, and to make as general statements as possible about the nature of sound systems in the languages of the world. Putting this another way, phonology is concerned with the range and function of sounds in specific languages (and often therefore referred to as ‘functional phonetics’), and with the rules which can be written to show the types of phonetic relationships that relate and contrast words and other linguistic units. The student of phonology is known as a phonologist. The term has also been applied to the study of analogous contrastivity in sign languages.

In linguistic theories, phonology is seen in one of two main ways: (a) as a LEVEL of linguistic organization, contrasted with the levels of PHONETICS, GRAMMAR and SEMANTICS in the first instance, (b) as a COMPONENT of a GENERATIVE grammar (the phonological component), contrasted with various other components (e.g. SYNTACTIC/semantic in early generative grammar; COVERT in the MINIMALIST PROGRAMME). Within phonology, two branches of study are usually recognized: SEGMENTAL and SUPRASEGMENTAL. Segmental phonology analyses speech into DISCRETE segments, such as phonemes; suprasegmental or non-segmental phonology analyses those features which extend over more than one segment, such as INTONATION CONTOURS. Another distinction is made between DIACHRONIC and SYNCHRONIC PHONOLOGY, the former studying patterns of sound change in the history of language, the latter studying sound patterns regardless of the processes of historical change. Experimental phonology aims to integrate research in experimental phonetics, experimental psychology and phonological theory to provide a hypothesis-based investigation of phonological phenomena (of the kind which is standard in the experimental sciences).

The history of phonology is largely taken up with the development of ideas concerning the phoneme, as originally propounded in PRAGUE SCHOOL and BLOOMFIELDIAN phonological theory, and the subsequent alternative views proposed, especially in generative phonology (GP) and prosodic phonology, both of which reject the concept of the phoneme. In PROSODIC phonology, the notions of PHONEMATIC UNIT and PROSODY are proposed. In early versions of GENERATIVE phonology, different LEVELS of REPRESENTATION (such as the SYSTEMATIC PHONEMIC and the SYSTEMATIC PHONETIC) are recognized, and an AUTONOMOUS phonemic level rejected. The purpose of the phonological component of a generative GRAMMAR is to take the output of the syntactic component and interpret it phonetically, making reference only to the SURFACE-STRUCTURE properties of the FORMATIVES involved. These surface-structure properties include a specification of the segmental (VOWEL/CONSONANT) structure of the formatives (which comes from the LEXICON), and a specification of the SYNTACTIC FEATURES involved (which comes from the syntactic RULES). The phonological rules of the component apply to the segmental representation, using the principle of the TRANSFORMATIONAL CYCLE. At the end of this cycle, all the BRACKETS marking structure have been removed, STRESSES have been assigned, and the resulting STRING of elements is represented as a set of phonetic segments (defined in terms of DISTINCTIVE features). The first book-length exposition of generative phonology, and the standard model for the 1970–80 period, was The Sound Pattern of English by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle (1968), often referred to as SPE, and in this dictionary as ‘Chomsky and Halle’.

Later phonological theory has been much taken up with the question of how far phonological rules can be explained in synchronic phonetic (typically, ARTICULATORY) terms, and how far other CONSTRAINTS (e.g. of a syntactic, MORPHOLOGICAL or historical kind) require explanations involving more abstract notions. Earlier models of ‘abstract’ phonology, which presented solutions involving UNDERLYING forms that are not realized on the phonetic surface, are thus opposed to models which are more ‘concrete’ in character. Several alternatives to traditional generative phonology have been proposed. For example, natural phonology (NP) stresses the importance of natural processes – a set of UNIVERSAL, OBLIGATORY, inviolable rules which govern the phonology of a language. They are said to be ‘natural’ because they are phonetically plausible, in terms of the properties of the VOCAL TRACT, as evidenced by their tendency to appear similarly in a wide range of languages. Natural phonological processes are held to be INNATE, and represent the constraints which a child has to follow when learning a language. These constraints disallow the production of all but the simplest pronunciation patterns in the first stages of development; they later have to be modified or suppressed, as the child learns to produce more advanced forms. In this approach, a distinction is drawn with ‘acquired’ rules, which are learned and language-specific.