2.2.2 Complementary distribution
- Complementary Distribution: Never finding the two or more sounds in the
same environment.
Two sounds are in complementary distribution if /X/ never appears in any of
the phonetic environments in which /Y/ occurs. For example, in English, the
distribution of the dental and alveolar nasal [ ] and [n] is such that they never
appear in the same environment. They are mutually exclusive. In such cases
of
complementary distribution, we say that these sounds are allophones of one
and the same phoneme.
cf) There is an example that complementary distribution does not imply the
allophones of the same phoneme.
e.g.) [h]-[ŋ] [h] is found only as an onset and never as a coda.
[ŋ] occurs only as a coda and never as an onset.
The contexts of the two sounds are mutually exclusive and can be labeled
as complementary but they are not treated as the allophones of the same
phoneme.
- Phonetic Similarity: Allophones of the same phoneme always share pho-
netic
features, and thus are phonetically similar. Therefore, in [h]-[ŋ], we hardly
see any phonetic similarity because these sounds do not share anything
with respect to their phonetic features: [h] is a voiceless glottal fricative,
and [ŋ] is a voiced velar nasal.
- Generalization: Two or more sounds are allophones of the same pho-
neme,
if (a) they are in complementary distribution, and (b) they are
phonetically similar.
- phonemic relation: English [d]-[ð] is contrastive.
“day[de] - they[ðe]”
- allophonic relation: is not contrastive in English.
“name, panther, snail, invite”
- Refer to figure 2.1 on page 37.
2.3 Phonemic Analysis: A Mini-Demo
- [s], [z], [ʃ] in English and Korean
(a) They all share manner of articulation feature (sibilant fricatives).
(b) [s] and [z] share place of articulation (alveolar), differing only in voicing.
(c) [s] and [ʃ] share voicing (voiceless), differing only in place of articulation.
- English: These three sounds are in overlapping distribution,
producing minimal pairs: sip[sɪp]- ship[ʃɪp]- zip[zɪp].
The three sounds are in contrast and belong to three separate
phonemes.
- Korean: These three sounds are in complementary distribution and they
are allophones of the same phoneme.
Korean ‘ㅅ’ stands for /s/, and /s/ is changed phonetically in
different contexts.
- Korean /s/ -- Refer to page 38
(i) While [ʃ] always appears before [i], [s] is found before other vowels
and
never before [i].
(ii) (13) and (14) reveals that [z] is always preceded by a nasal, and [s]
can
never be.
⇒ mutual exclusivity, complementary distribution.
[ʃ] before [i]
‘ㅅ‘
/s/ [z] after nasals
[s] elsewhere