Phonological rule clarification?

[orange]

Hi everyone!

I'm an introductory linguistics student, so please pardon my questions!
I was quite confused about the phonological rules occurring in these words:

1. /tɛn peɪdʒz/ -> [tɛm pʰeɪdʒəz]
for this, I put in the schwa insertion rule, as well as the voicing assimilation rule - however, I'm not sure what explains voiced alveolar nasal becoming a voiced bilabial nasal.

2. two cups /tu kʌpz/ -> [tʰu kʰʌps]
for this, the aspiration rule - but what could explain the voiceless alveolar fricative becoming a voiced alveolar fricative?

Thank you!

[Daniel]

for this, I put in the schwa insertion rule, as well as the voicing assimilation rule - however, I'm not sure what explains voiced alveolar nasal becoming a voiced bilabial nasal.

First, list the differences. I see three:
1. ə -- you explained that
2. ʰ -- what's going on there?
3. m -- yes, it's assimilation, but what kind? (It's a nasal, so it's...)

I'm not seeing voicing assimilation in that particular example, though.

but what could explain the voiceless alveolar fricative becoming a voiced alveolar fricative?

It isn't. It's voiced becoming voiceless. You had the answer above, just applied to the wrong data.


Since this seems like homework, I'd rather have you figure it out yourself than give away the answers. But that should get you started.

[orange]

Thank you for clarifying!
I'm not sure if my book does the best job of clarifying all the phonological rules... do you happen to have a favourite introductory book or a website that is a good reference guide?
Have a great day

[Daniel]

There are so many variants in specific details of the theories and how textbooks approach it that you might just get confused. And the terminology can vary a lot. Have you asked your instructor for extra materials?

On the one hand, you're learning about the ideas (which are consistent in general from different sources). But on the other hand, you're learning specific details (especially in an intro class) so you don't want to start mixing up things with what you find online.

In general, Wikipedia is a great resource for looking up and generally understanding terminology though. That's where I'd start. But it isn't a read-front-to-back textbook.



You're welcome to ask specific questions here as they come up

[ibarrere]

Introductory Phonology by Bruce Hayes is a great book for starting linguistics students in phonetics/phonology. I always keep a copy of it around for reference.