Phonetics and phonology 6
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PHONOLOGY AND THEIR APPLICATION TO GERMAN
Growing out of generative phonology have come several develop ments of phonological theory. These are generally referred to by prefacing ‘phonology’
with a qualifying epithet, for example autosegmental phonology, dependency phonology, dynamic phonology, lexical phonology, natural phonology, natural generative phonology and metrical phonology. They are not quite as diverse as their names suggest and share a number of common features, notably an interest in the syllable. A survey of their methods of description and theoretical terminology is provided by Carr (1993:157–304). We have seen how phonologists have sought to analyse German in terms of distinctive units, phonemes, or features. Growing out of an interest in the structure of words, the syllable has now assumed a new importance as a phonological unit. Up to now we have used the term syllable in an undefined way to designate that part of a word which does or does not bear stress, for example stressed and unstressed syllables.
A simple syllable consists of an initial element, a nucleus and a releasing element. Thus the word bin can be symbolized CVC (C standing for any consonant and V for any vowel). A word such as Streit could be symbolized CCCVVC. The concept of the syllable as a phonological unit is based partly on the assumption that some speech sounds are more sonorous, emitting more
‘noise’ than others. A scale of sonority can be set up, ranging from the low vowel [a] to the voiceless plosives [p t k] as can be seen from the following:
Sonority scale vowels: a, e, o, u, i
resonants: r, l, m, n voiced fricatives: v, z,
voiceless fricatives: f, s, , ç, x voiced plosives: b, d, g
voiceless plosives: p, t, k
In the structure of words those sounds that are most sonorous, the vowels, make up the peak, or highest point, the nucleus of the syllable and they are preceded or followed by sounds that are less sonorous. Thus in Bart the vowel is followed by a resonant and a voiceless plosive, in Trab the vowel is preceded by a resonant and a voiceless plosive. From the peak of the vowel the syllable descends through a resonant to a voiceless plosive. This is reflected in the phonotactics of the pre- and postvocalic consonant clusters in German (see 6.4). Using this information, a hierarchical structure of the syllable can be constructed in the form of a tree diagram (see below), comprising an onset, /tr/, the nucleus, / / and the coda, /p/. The nucleus and the coda can further be combined to form the rhyme.
One of the goals of syllabic phonology is to set up a pattern or template for the words of a language. Traditional phonotactics does this by listing the occurring consonant clusters in a language (see 6.4); syllabic phonology does this by setting up a template for the syllable structure of words in a language, i.e. a summary in the form of a tree diagram of all the possible structures. The following diagram attempts to do that for German, based on the information in 6.4.
The only part of the template which is obligatory is V1, V2, for example Ei. The consonants are optional but restrictions are placed on the types of consonants
occurring in the different slots in the template. C1 is always [ s], C2 is an obstruent and C3 a resonant, for example [ pl pr tr]. Where C2 and C3 occur together, then C2 is always an obstruent and C3 a resonant (see Table 6.4). Non-frequent clusters in foreign words will be excluded. The consonants C4 and C5 in word-final position are largely the mirror image of C2, C3, with C4 being a resonant and C5 an obstruent (see Table 6.5). However, there are exceptions to which we will return. In the case of C6 and C7, the obstruent is always an alveolar, usually an inflectional ending.
This approach to syllabic phonology is based on the sonority scale (p. 145) and the occurrence of [ s] in C1 position and [s t] in C6, C7 position are violations of this scale, as are C4, C5 clusters such as [pt ps p kt] etc. (see Table 6.5). Suggestions to deal with this violation have been: (1) to count clusters such as [ p t] as filling a single C slot; and (2) to regard [ s] as being
‘extrametrical’ consonants which do not count as part of the syllable template but are appendices. Giegerich (1989:69–73) discusses these alternatives and rules out the second one since [st] occurs word-internally, for example Meister, Hamster. He would like to accept the first suggestion, which regards [ p t] as complex segments and not sequences. This means that phonetically they are two sounds but phonologically they function as only one unit, occupying one C slot.
As is probably now becoming clear, the old question of whether the affricates in German are one phonological unit or two (see 6.3.4 for earlier discussion) is still very much alive. Giegerich comes to the conclusion that ‘Affricates are phonetically complex elements that behave phonologically like single units’
(1989:69). Other recent studies that take this line are Griffen (1985:123–48), T.A.Hall (1992:15f.) and Wiese (1988:60ff.).
Another phenomenon which receives attention from syllabic phonology is vowel length or quantity. The parallelism between long vowels and diphthongs is maintained by symbolizing both of them VV at the CV level, for example Baum and nahm are both CVVC. However, at the phonetic segmental level the long vowel is only realized by one segment as is illustrated in the diagram on p. 148.
This is the exact reverse of the treatment of the affricates (T.A. Hall 1992:18–
23). Giegerich (1989:25) follows a similar course, but uses different symbolism.
Wiese (1988:62–78) has a slightly different scheme, viewing diphthongs as comprising VC, the C being a resonant, at the CV level. He distinguishes between quantity at the syllabic level and length at the phonetic level. All agree, however, that length and tenseness combine at the underlying level to characterize long vowels. The status of length and quantity, one of the
classic phonological areas of controversy (see 6.3.1) continues to be the subject of debate.
6.7