CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Problem Background

English phonology is the sound system (phonology) of the English language, or the
study of that system. Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural
languages.[1] Like many languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both
historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of English
share a largely similar (though not identical) phonological system.

Our phonological knowledge is not something we can necessarily access and talk about
in detail: we often have intuitions about language without knowing where they come from, or
exactly how to express them. But the knowledge is certainly there. However, English
speakers are not consciously aware of those rules, and are highly unlikely to tell a linguist
asking about those words that the absence of *fnil reflects the unacceptability of word-initial
consonant sequences, or clusters, with [fn-] in English: the more likely answer is that snil
‘sounds all right’ (and if you’re lucky, your informant will produce similar words like sniff or
snip to back up her argument), but that *fnil ‘just sounds wrong’. It is the job of the
phonologist to express generalisations of this sort in precise terms: after all, just because
knowledge is not conscious, this does not mean it is unreal, unimportant or not worth
understanding.[2]

B. Problem Formulation

1. What is the definition of phonology?

2. What are suprasegmental features?

 CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A. PHONOLOGY

1. Definition of Phonology

Phonology is the branch of linguistics concerned with the study of speech sounds with
reference to their distribution and patterning. Adjective: phonological. A linguist who
specializes in phonology is known as a phonologist. Etymologically, Phonology from the
Greek, means "sound, voice".

The aim of phonology is to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are
organized in languages and to explain the variations that occur. We begin by analyzing an
individual language to determine which sound units are used and which patterns they form--
the language's sound system. We then compare the properties of different sound systems, and
work out hypotheses about the rules underlying the use of sounds in particular groups of
languages. Ultimately, phonologists want to make statements that apply to all languages.

Whereas phonetics is the study of all possible speech sounds, phonology studies the
way in which a language's speakers systematically use a selection of these sounds in order to
express meaning. There is a further way of drawing the distinction. No two speakers have
anatomically identical vocal tracts, and thus no one produces sounds in exactly the same way
as anyone else. Yet when using our language we are able to discount much of this variation,
and focus on only those sounds, or properties of sound, that are important for the
communication of meaning. We think of our fellow speakers as using the 'same' sounds, even
though acoustically they are not. Phonology is the study of how we find order within the
apparent chaos of speech sounds.[3] When we talk about the 'sound system' of English, we
are referring to the number of phonemes which are used in a language and to how they are
organized.[4]

Phonology is not only about phonemes and allophones. Phonology also concerns itself
with the principles governing the phoneme systems--that is, with what sounds languages 'like'
to have, which sets of sounds are most common (and why) and which are rare (and also why).
It turns out that there are prototype-based explanations for why the phoneme system of the
languages of the world have the sounds that they do, with physiological/acoustic/perceptual
explanations for the preference for some sounds over others.[5]

The phonological system of a language includes

· an inventory of sounds and their features, and

· rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.

Phonology is just one of several aspects of language. It is related to other aspects such
as phonetics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.

Here is an illustration that shows the place of phonology in an interacting hierarchy of

levels in linguistics:

2. Models of phonology

· In classical phonemics, phonemes and their possible combinations are central.

· In standard generative phonology, distinctive features are central. A stream of speech is

portrayed as linear sequence of discrete sound-segments. Each segment is composed of
simultaneously occurring features.

· In non-linear models of phonology, a stream of speech is represented as multidimensional,

not simply as a linear sequence of sound segments. These non-linear models grew out of
generative phonology:

v autosegmental phonology

v metrical phonology

v lexical phonology

B. SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES

Suprasegmental features are faetures of fundamental frequency, intensity and duration,

according to a common defenition. Although this restriction is tradisional, it is not without
problem. First, there is a problem with defenition, Leshite (1970) defines suprasegmental as
features of ‘pitch, stress and quantity. The other problem with a restricting is there are other
phenomena that might otherwise be covered by the definion intonation purpose here.[6]

Suprasegmental phonology is concerned with other aspects of phonology, such as tone,

stress and intonation. In some periods, suprasegmental phonology has been rather ignored
compared to segmental phonology. This is presumably because, in most fields of scientific
inquiry with the exception of physics, a linear world view has held sway, and also because the
orthography of languages such as English encourages one to see the sound system as being a
simple linear sequence of segments.[7] Suprasegmental or prosodic phonology involves
phenomena such as stress (intensity) and tone (pitch). An accentual pattern involves the
deployment of suprasegmentals within a word (for example, the stress differences between
the noun insert--with stress on the first syllable--and the verb insert--with stress on the second
syllable--), whereas an intonational pattern involves suprasegmentals within the framework
of a sentence (for example, all the words in Mary worries Martin are accentually stressed on
the first syllable, but the stress in Martin is intonationally most prominent). Because the
sentence characteristically constitutes the framework for intonation, and because sentences
are fundamentally syntactic constructs, intonation is one phonological phenomenon whose
domain goes beyond morphology.[8]

Suprasegmental, also called Prosodic Feature, in phonetics, a speech feature such as

stress, tone, or word juncture that accompanies or is added over consonants and vowels; these
features are not limited to single sounds but often extend over syllables, words, or phrases. In
Spanish the stress accent is often used to distinguish between otherwise identical words:
término means “term,” termíno means “I terminate,” and terminó means “he terminated.” In
Mandarin Chinese, tone is a distinctive suprasegmental: shih pronounced on a high, level
note means “to lose”; on a slight rising note means “ten”; on a falling note means “city,
market”; and on a falling–rising note means “history.” English “beer dripped” and “beard
ripped” are distinguished by word juncture. Suprasegmentals are so called in contrast to
consonants and vowels, which are treated as serially ordered segments of the spoken
utterance.[9]

CHAPTER III

SUMMARY

English phonology is the sound system (phonology) of the English language, or the
study of that system. Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural
languages. Suprasegmental, also called Prosodic Feature, in phonetics, is a speech feature
such as stress, tone, or word juncture that accompanies or is added over consonants and
vowels; these features are not limited to single sounds but often extend over syllables, words,
or phrases.
 REFERENCES

April McMahon. An Intriduction to English Phonology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,

2002.

D. Robert Ladd. International Phonology Second Edition. United States of America: Cambridge
University Press. 2008.

David Crystal, How Language Works. Overlook Press. 2005.

David Crystal, The Cambridge Encylopedia of the English Language, 2nd edition. Cambridge
University Press.2003.

Geoffrey S. Nathan, Phonology: A Cognitive Grammar Introduction. John Benjamins. 2008.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_suprasegmental_phonology Tuesday, 11th March, 2013.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/574738/suprasegmental Tuesday, 11th March, 2013.

http://www.sabah.edu.my/smkbft2/phonology.html Tuesday, 11th March, 2013

http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsPhonology.htm Tuesday,
11th March, 2013.

[1] http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsPhonology.htm
Monday, 11th March, 2013.

[2] April McMahon, An Intriduction to English Phonology, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh

University Press, 2002), p. 2

[3] David Crystal, How Language Works. Overlook Press, 2005.

[4] David Crystal, The Cambridge Encylopedia of the English Language, 2nd edition.
Cambridge University Press, 2003.

[5] Geoffrey S. Nathan, Phonology: A Cognitive Grammar Introduction. John

Benjamins, 2008.

[6] D. Robert Ladd, International Phonology Second Edition, ( United States of

America: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 4-5

[7] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_suprasegmental_phonology Tuesday,

11th March, 2013
 [8] http://www.sabah.edu.my/smkbft2/phonology.html Monday, 11th March, 2013

[9] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/574738/suprasegmental Monday,

11th March, 2013