Language

							                Phonemes
Minimal meaningful contrast in sound.

Smallest unit of meaningful difference in sounds.

 “The units which we call „phonemes‟
 are in themselves of no importance: it
 is the differences among them that
 count.”
                  Phonetics
Description of all the sounds in a language

Phonology is the study and theory of sounds in
Language
                         Vocal tract
Points of articulation
IPA chart
       Phonetics websites
       http://www.fanamtutor.de/

http://www.paulmeier.com/ipa/charts.html
                   or
    http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/
Phonetics studies and describes
   perceptible differences



top   stop   little   kitten   hunter
  Phonemics analyses meaningful
        contrasts in sound
Voiced vs. unvoiced is a meaningful contrast in English,
carries a heavy functional load

      Bit - pit

      Done - ton

      Could - good

     Minimal Pairs highlight phonemic contrasts
    Not all differences are meaningful
Aspiration in English is not meaningful


            Top - stop
             th    t

Redundantly associated with voiceless
        tab - tap
         b - p or ph
 Other languages contrast aspirated
          and unaspirated
     Korean                  Hindi
/keda/ = “fold”       /tali/ = “key”
/kheda/ = “dig out”   /thali/ = “strip”
                      /kap/ = “cup”
                      /kaph/ = “phlegm”
                      /ph l/ = “fruit”
                      /p l/ = “moment”
                      /b l/ = “strength”
More examples of phonemic contrasts
Stress
English:  present, object, construct, implant,
Pitch/Tone
Chinese



Length
Korean:     il    “day” i:l    “work”
            seda “to count” se:da “strong”
            pam “night”        pa:m “chestnut”
German:     die Stadt, der Staat
                            etics
System-external description and analysis

Victor Turner’s first stage of ritual analysis (observe behavior)

Biological genealogies in kinship (parents & children)
                            emics
System-internal description and analysis
Explains social or cultural elements according to indigenous
definitions/categories

Victor Turner’s third stage of ritual analysis (interpretation
following internal logic of the culture)

Kinship terms (how the natives classify their relatives)
                              Etic Kin terms


      FZ                FB         F          M             MZ             MB



FZD        FZS    FBD        FBS                      MZD        MZS MBD        MBS
                                   B   Ego    Z


      FZSD       FZSS                                            MBDD   MBDD
                                   D              S



                             DD        DS    SD       SD
                 Emic Kin terms (English)

    aunt           uncle          father       mother       aunt          uncle



cousin cousin cousin cousin                             cousin cousin cousin cousin
                         brother           Ego sister


     cousin   cousin                                             cousin   cousin
                             daughter            son



                       grand-       grand- grand-       grand-
                       daughter     son    daughter     son
Emic categories of kinship
       (Hawaiian)
                    Etic distinctions
External frameworks or universal classificatory grids

• Linguistic typologies (e.g., analytic, inflecting, agglutinating,
            polysynthetic)
• Linnaean classification of plants & animals (genus,
                                                     species)
• Disease (medical pathology)

But are these just our (Western) emic categories, deployed universally?
                         emics

Not the natives’ model
Boas’s secondary rationalization, Turner’s exegetical models


Emic models, like phonemes, are
constructions formalized by the analyst on the
basis of distinctive features present in
indigenous usage
               Hanunoo pronouns
Etic distinctions inelegant and inaccurate
(1st, 2nd, 3rd person; sing., dual, plural; inclusive, exclusive)

Emic categories are
Minimal membership, nonminimal membership
Inclusion of speaker, exclusion of speaker
Inclusions of hearer, exclusion of hearer


Categories not overt in native consciousness
           Componential analysis
Formulate the basic conceptual units behind utterances

Find a native who knows how to use conventional symbols
and record their use in different contexts

Describe all the contexts as closely as possible, make as
many discriminations as possible (etics).

Ex., makuahine = mother, mother’s sister, father’s sister
                   Emic paradigms
/t/ and /d/ are in meaningful contrast, so are /p/ - /t/ - /k/

Morphological paradigm: ljublju, ljubish, ljubit

An analogy to cultural paradigms is age grades.
In Maasai culture: child, junior, warrior, junior elder, elder