4- Phonemes and allophones

Question 1

An allophone of a phoneme is

Answer 1

what happens toa phoneme in a specific environement

[p] and [ph] are allophones of /p/ = what happens to /p/ in certain environements.

Question 2

/p, t, k/ aspiration

Answer 2

Voiceless plosivs are aspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable [ph, th, kh] = come with a puff of air. ex: pay, tea, cake, apppear, lcoate
(pay non aspirated can be cofounded with bay)

The same plosives are UNASPIRATED in UNSTRESSED POSITION ! apple, polite, matter, cake [kheik]

UNASPIRATED after /s/
spare, stake, skull : sounds unnatural with aspiration

Question 3

allophones of /l/

Answer 3

[l] clear l : IN FRONT OF A VOWEL
[ɫ] dark l : IN OTHER ENVIRONEMENTS

In british english dark l may be vocalized (= become a vowel) :
[ɫ] → [o]
→ milk : ˈmɪlk → ‘ˈmɪok
→ shelf : ˈʃɛlf → ˈʃeof
etc
BUT this is considered NONSTANDARD

Question 4

Devoicing of approximants

Answer 4

approximants /r, j, w/ are devoiced following a voiceless plosive in inital stressed positions

ils sont representés :
°
r, j, w
° °

try
pure
queen

Question 5

phonemic transcription

Answer 5

= phonological one between //

We only use the symbol that represent one of the phoneme of the language. extra symbol are excluded

pin ˈpɪn
spin ˈspɪn
lie ˈlaɪ
milk ˈmɪlk
try ˈtraɪ
queen ˈkwiːn

Question 6

phonetic transcritpion

Answer 6

allophonic
[]

the full range of phoentic symbol may be used

pin : [‘phɪn]
spin ˈspɪn
lie ˈlaɪ
milk ˈmɪɫk
try ˈtraɪ
°
queen ˈkwiːn
°