Among the many linguistic disciplines, it is especially worth highlighting such a section as phonology. This is a science that studies the sound structure of a language, the implementation of phonemes in it. They master this discipline in the first courses of speci alties related to translation, teaching languages, especially Russian.
We will consider what phonology is, what its subject and tasks are, the structure of our language at this level. Let's also get acquainted with the basic terminology of this section.
Definition
Let's start our conversation with the definition itself.
Phonology is a section of modern linguistics that considers the sound structure of the language, the functioning of various sounds in its system and their characteristics.
It refers to theoretical linguistics. The basic language unit that science studies is the phoneme.
It originated in the 70-80s of the 19th century in Russia. Its founder is Ivan Alexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay, a Russian scientist with Polish roots. In the 30s of the 20th century, it took shape as an independent science. Today is one ofmain philological disciplines and ranks first in the cycle of subjects of the theoretical grammar of the language.
Subject and tasks
Like any other science, this branch of linguistics has its own tasks and subject.
The subject of phonology is a phoneme, which is the minimum language unit. This is what phonologists study. Inattentive students may assume that the subject is sound, but this is not at all the case. In fact, they are studied by another discipline - phonetics.
The second issue to consider is tasks. These include:
- implementation in the language;
- analysis of essence;
- establishing the relationship between phoneme and sound;
- description of the system of phonemes and their modifications;
- description of the phonological system;
- connection between the phoneme and other significant units of the language - morphemes and word forms.
And this is not all the tasks of phonology. It is worth noting that the above are priorities for all currently existing phonological schools.
Famous phonologists
As noted above, Ivan Alexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay became the founder of science. He developed its foundations, gave impetus to its further development.
No less famous is his student Nikolai Sergeevich Trubetskoy, who wrote the famous Fundamentals of Phonology. He significantly expanded the scientific apparatus of the discipline, described the main classifications and concepts.
Roman Osipovich Yakobson, Lev Vladimirovich Shcherba, Avram Noam Chomsky and many others also worked in this section of linguistics.
A lot of scientific works are devoted to the problems of this section of linguistics. The following articles and monographs should be noted, which will give a comprehensive picture of the development of science, its main postulates:
- R. I. Avanesov, V. N. Sidorov published at one time the monograph "The phoneme system of the Russian language".
- The work of S. I. Bernstein "Basic concepts of phonology" is quite well-known.
- Y. Wahek, "Phonemes and Phonological Units".
Those who are interested in the history of the issue will find the book "Basic Phonological Schools" by L. R. Zinder useful.
We also note the work:
- S. V. Kasevich, "Phonological problems of general and Eastern linguistics".
- T. P. Lomtem, "Phonology of the modern Russian language based on set theory".
- B. I. Postovalov, "Phonology".
A. A. Reformatorsky is the author of three works in which the fundamentals of science are covered in detail:
- "From the history of Russian phonology".
- "Essays on phonology, morphology and morphonology".
- "Phonological studies".
Phonological schools
Problems of phonology were de alt with by different linguistic schools. The most famous are the works of scientists who were members of the Prague Linguistic Circle, which included N. Trubetskoy and R. Jacobson.
Scientists from the Moscow phonological school, to which A. Reformatorsky belonged, had their own vision. Representatives of this trend paid attention to the study of the identity of the sound shells of phonemes.
Representatives of the Leningrad school, including the famous linguist L. Shcherba, believed that science, on the contrary, should study their difference.
But regardless of their views, scientists adhere to the same terminology and definitions.
Terminology
As already mentioned, phonology is the science that studies phonemes. Like any other field of knowledge, it has its own terminology.
Its main concepts include: phoneme, allophone, phoneme position, hyperphoneme, archiphoneme and others. Consider the main ones.
- A phoneme is the smallest indivisible language unit. It serves to build word forms and performs a meaningful function. It is realized with the help of sounds - backgrounds. It is worth noting that it is quite abstracted from specific speech sounds.
- Allophone - realization of a certain phoneme depending on its phonetic environment.
- Hyperphoneme is a phoneme that combines the features of two paired sounds.
- Archiphoneme is a phoneme that has a set of features of neutralizing phonemes.
- The position of a phoneme is its realization in speech. Allocate constitutive and combinatorial positions.
- Constitutive position - the implementation of the phoneme depending on the place in speech. For example, an unstressed or stressed syllable for vowels.
- Combinatorial position - implementation depending on phoneticenvironment. For example, vowels in position after hard or soft consonants have different characteristics.
- The strong position of a phoneme is the position in which it clearly shows its properties.
- Weak (second name - neutralization position) - a position in which the phoneme does not perform a distinctive function.
- Neutralization - the coincidence of different phonemes in one allophone.
- Differential features of phonemes - features by which they differ from each other.
This is not a complete list of terms used by phonology. Linguistics in general also uses some of them in other sections - phonetics, grammar.
Phonological structure of the Russian language
Each language has its own phonological system. There are 43 phonemes in the Russian language today. Of these, 6 are vowels and 37 are consonants.
In addition, each of them is characterized by the presence or absence of a certain set of features.
Vowal phonemes have the following functional characteristics: the degree of rise, where they distinguish the upper, middle and lower rise, the absence or presence of labialization.
Consonants have a more impressive range of characteristics. Here the following signs are noted, most of which are divided into pairs. So, phonemes are:
- noisy or sonorous;
- deaf or voiced.
By nature of education:
- closed;
- affricates;
- slotted;
- trembling;
- labial;
- dental;
- palatal;
- hard or soft.
These characteristics are well known to those who study Russian. Phonetics, phonology are sciences that operate with these characteristics, and philology students are required not only to memorize this set of characteristics, but also to be able to apply them in practice, characterizing certain phonemes depending on their position in the word.
Phonological transcription
Another definition used by this section of linguistics is phonological transcription. It is also one of the required skills that should be mastered by students of philology. Phonological transcription is a recording of the transmission of the sound of words using special conventional signs that display the phonemes used in words.
In this case, only the main phoneme is recorded on paper, while allophones are not indicated. For recording, both Cyrillic and Latin characters are used, as well as a number of diacritical marks.
Conclusions
Phonology is one of the main branches of linguistics. This science studies the functioning of phonemes, minimal language units. It has more than a century of history, its own terminology, tasks and subject of research.
Philology students study it in the first year of university, before getting acquainted with phonetics or in parallel with it. Knowing the basics of this discipline in the future helps not only to learn grammar, but also the rules of spelling and orthoepy.
