Phonology

Paul de Lacy

Introduction

The term “phonology” has several meanings. It is often used to refer to generalizations about sounds and sound combinations (often called sound patterns) in and across languages. In contrast, within generative grammar “phonology” refers to a particular cognitive module. Many generative theories propose that the module takes inputs, consisting of strings of symbols (called phonological symbols, segments, phonemes, underlying forms, or the input, depending on the theory). The symbols may be accompanied by information about morphology, syntax, and perhaps even some aspects of meaning. The module produces an output representation, which serves as the input to the phonetic modules; these modules ultimately provoke muscle movements that can result in speech sounds. A common point of confusion is the belief that the phonological module manipulates speech sounds; in fact the phonology manipulates representations that are sent to the phonetic module, which then converts them into phonetic representations that are then implemented as muscle movements that, given the right factors, can produce audible sound. The two meanings of “phonology” are not in opposition. Phonology (sound patterns) makes up some of the data used in theorizing about the phonology (the cognitive module). There are large variations in sound patterns across languages. For example, Hawai’ian has nine contrastive consonants, whereas Ubykh has eighty-six. However, there are commonalities too, though many are disputed. For example, every language has either an alveolar voiceless stop of some kind or a glottal stop or both. Similarly, no language lacks words that start with a consonant. There are also large variations in phonological modules among humans; however, a great deal of research contends that all phonological modules share common properties, at least in their underlying structures. Although the outputs of languages are diverse, much work has argued that the representations and processes used to generate phonological outputs are very similar—perhaps identical—in all phonological modules, with only certain aspects of the phonological module (e.g., rules, constraint ranking) differing between modules.

Foundational Works

Pāṇini’s grammar of Classical Sanskrit includes the earliest comprehensive description of a phonological system (see Pāṇini 1897 for a translation). In the modern era, Saussure 2011(originally published in 1916) was instrumental in directing research toward the synchronic study of phonology and away from diachronic change (see Diachronic Phonology). Trubetzkoy 1969(originally published in 1939) provides a comprehensive framework for understanding synchronic phonologies as logical systems. Until the middle of the 20th century, phonological research focused on taxonomy and description. Chomsky and Halle 1968 changed the focus of research to the cognitive processes that generate and perceive speech sounds: the phonological module and its interfaces became the object of study for many researchers, and phonologies came to be understood as the outcome of those processes. There are many extant theories of phonology (seeTheories). Anderson 1985 provides a history of theoretical developments in the 20th century up until the early 1980s.