Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
system of features describing the sound aspect of the language. In this regard, we
have to refer to the phonological system currently used, which has a rich system of
features called distinctive ones, used to describe the sound aspect of the language
analysed. For the phonological system, it is important to indicate features which
can be phonologically relative if we define the function of the language as the
communication between its users. The basic functions that the phonological sys-
tem plays are presented in Figure 2.18.
Fig. 2.18.
Features of the phonological system
The phonological system depends on the hierarchy of segments found in the
analysed languages, and there can be several such hierarchies. The phonological
analysis of the language makes use of phonemes and segments which can be dis-
tinguished among them, namely phones and sounds. The significance of such
segments cannot be overestimated, because placing them in pairs frequently
means that we hear similar sound forms, but their meanings are completely differ-
ent, e.g. pet and bet, cat and get, dill and till, etc. What is extremely important in
demonstrating the difference between analysed sounds is showing different
phones - distinctive features that differentiate the sounds studied. In our example
those are pairs of phones [p] and [b], [c] and [g] as well as [d] and [t]. However, it
is worth noting that it does not suffice to just indicate the different phones in the
analysed words, because phonological analysis aims at specifying the articulation
locations and the acoustics of the analysed features.
The phonological analysis starts with segmentation consisting in splitting the
word into the smallest sound units (phones and sounds) characterised by the same
features. Then those features among them which occur several times (repeat) as a
result of a certain coincidence or being adjacent to the same features are ignored.
The next stage is to detect features whose elimination would not cause a change in
the meaning of the word, even though they are undoubtedly audible in its pronun-
ciation as such. This process leads to swapping the given features for features
characteristic for other words. Then the features that can be eliminated without
changing the meaning of the analysed words are detected (revealed). Finding all
pairs of words in which the meaning changes as a result of removing similar fea-
tures leads to creating a whole base of phonological oppositions, in which distinc-
tive features are identified once again. The base of phonological oppositions is to
serve in the whole phonological analysis process to find pairs of words for which
the phonological oppositions are minimal (the smallest possible) and to build a hi-
erarchy of the studied features.
