ABSTRACT
Sanita, Joan. 2015. Stop Deletion in Orthographical Consonant Clusters of English Words. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis focuses on the phonological study and library research dealing with stop deletion in orthographical consonant clusters of English words. The source for this study is Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (LPD), 2nd edition,
published in 2000 both hard copy and soft copy. The data in this research are 581 words of English containing the deletion of /b/, /d/, /g/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, and /n/ from letters A to Z. From the highest number to the lowest frequency, the 567 words consist of 136 words of the stop /g/ deletion, 116 words of the stop /p/ deletion, 112 words of the stop /b/ deletion, 99 words of the stop /k/ deletion, 86 words of the stop /t/ deletion, 16 words of the stop /d/ deletion, 9 words of the stop /n/ deletion, and 2 words of the stop /m/ deletion.
This study attempts to answer three research questions. They are 1) What types of stop deletion are found in English? 2) What are the phonological rules of stop deletion are found in English? 3) What non-phonological factors may affect occurrence of stop deletion in English?
The analysis then yields some findings. The first finding is on the types of stop deletion that are observed in English. With regard to the characteristics of each deletion, the types of deletion can be divided into three: permanent deletion (485 words), non-permanent deletion (61 words), and variety-dependent deletion (37 words).
The second finding reveals the phonological rules that are applied in the stop deletion. In this study, there are fifteen phonological rules for the eight stop deletions based on the permanent and non-permanent deletions. They are the stop /b/ deletion (two rules), the stop /d/ deletion (two rules), the stop /g/ deletion (two rules), the stop /p/ deletion (two rules), the stop /t/ deletion (two rules), the stop /k/ deletion (one rule), the stop /m/ deletion (one rule), and the stop /n/ deletion (one rule).
Meanwhile, the third finding implies that there are at least two factors besides phonology that might affect the occurrence of stop deletion. They are the historical factor (different source of languages, the case of borrowing, general agreement) and economical factor.
ABSTRAK konsonan secara ortografi di Bahasa Inggris. Studi ini menggunakan Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (LPD) dalam bentuk buku dan program komputer, edisi kedua, terbitan 2000 sebagai sumber utama dalam pencarian data. Data dalam penelitian ini adalah 581 kata bahasa Inggris berisi pelesapan hentian (stop deletion) pada /b/, /d/, /g/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, dan /n/ dari mulai abjad A sampai Z. Diurutukan dari yang tertinggi sampai terendah, kelima ratus tujuh puluh enam kata ini terdiri dari 136 kata berisi pelesapan hentian /g/, 116 kata yang mengandung pelesapan hentian /p/, 112 kata yang memiliki pelesapan hentian /b/, 99 kata berisi pelesapan hentian /k/, 86 kata mengandung pelesapan hentian /t/, 16 kata yang mempunyai pelesapan hentian /d/, 9 kata dari pelesapan hentian /n/, dan 2 kata berisi pelesapan hentian /m/.
Studi ini mencoba menjawab tiga pertanyaan penelitian, diantaranya adalah 1) Apa saja tipe dari pelesapan hentian yang ada di dalam bahasa Inggris? 2) Apa saja aturan fonologi untuk pelesapan hentian yang ditemukan di dalam pa saja Bahasa Inggris? 3) Apa faktor non-fonologi yang bisa memengaruhi terjadinya pelesapan hentian di dalam Bahasa Inggris?
Analisa ini kemudian menghasilkan beberapa temuan. Temuan pertama adalah tipe atau jenis dari pelesapan hentian yang ada dalam kata Bahasa Inggris. Sesuai dengan karakteristinya, jenis dari pelesapan hentian ini dapat dibagi kedalam tiga jenis yaitu pelesapan permanen (permanent deletion) sebanyak 485 kata, pelesapan non-permanen (non-permanent deletion) sebanyak 61 kata, dan pelesapan variasi-regional (variety-dependent deletion) sebanyak 37 kata.
Temuan kedua adalah aturan fonologi yang berlaku di dalam pelesapan hentian. Dalam studi ini ditemukan lima belas aturan fonologi yang dirumuskan dari delapan pelesapan hentian berdasarkan jenis permanen dan non-permanen pelesapan. Aturan ini terdiri dari dua aturna untuk pelesapan /b/, dua aturan untuk pelesapan /t/, dua aturan untuk pelesapan /g/, dua aturan untuk pelesapan /p/, dua aturan untuk pelesapan /t/, satu aturan untuk pelesapan /k/, satu aturan untuk pelesapan /m/, dan satu aturan untuk pelesapan /n/.
i
STOP DELETION IN ORTHOGRAPHICAL CONSONANT CLUSTERS OF ENGLISH WORDS
TITLE PAGE
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum.) Degree
in English Language Studies
by Joan Sanita
Student Number: 136332005
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii A THESIS
STOP DELETION IN ORTHOGRAPHICAL CONSONANT CLUSTERS OF ENGLISH WORDS
by Joan Sanita
Student Number: 136332005
APPROVAL PAGE
Approved by
Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. _______________________
iii A THESIS
STOP DELETION IN ORTHOGRAPHICAL CONSONANT CLUSTERS OF ENGLISH WORDS
Presented by
Joan Sanita
Student Number: 136332005
DEFENCE APPROVAL PAGE
Defended before the Thesis Committee and Declared Acceptable
THESIS COMMITTEE
Chairperson : Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A. ____________________
Secretary : Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. ____________________
Members : 1. Drs. Barli Bram, M.Ed., Ph.D. ____________________
2. Prof. Dr. Soepomo Poedjosoedarmo ____________________
Yogyakarta, 12 August 2015 The Graduate Program Director Sanata Dharma University
iv
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This is to certify all the ideas, phrases, and sentences, unless otherwise stated, are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else’s ideas, phrases, or sentences without a proper reference.
Yogyakarta, 1 June 2015
v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Joan Sanita
Nomor mahasiswa : 136332005
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
STOP DELETION IN ORTHOGRAPHICAL CONSONANT CLUSTERS OF ENGLISH WORDS
Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaa Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal 1 Juni 2015
Yang menyatakan
vi
DEDICATION
I blissfully dedicate this thesis to my beloved mother,
Mariaty Wijaya
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillahirabbil’alamin. All praise be to Allah SWT. It is merely because of His grace and blessing so that I can accomplish this thesis as one of the requirements to get my degree of Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) from this university. All my effort and hard work are finished on time because of the help and assistance of all parties who have supported me. Thus, I would like to acknowledge them sincerely.
First of all, my greatest and sincerest gratitude goes to my superlative thesis advisor Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A., for his incomparable solutions, guidance, knowledge, advice, understanding, opinion, favor, support, and helpful reviews. It is because of his remarkable supervision so that I always feel motivated to make my work better. I can continuously learn new things in every writing and consultation meeting. I am really grateful to be one of his students for these four semesters since there are many great time and memorable things that are genuinely useful for me, especially in understanding my study in linguistic stream.
viii
Maria Adelheid Lelyana and Pak Aloysius Mulyadi) for their modesty and assistance during my study.
Last but not least, my foremost-loving thanks go to my dearest family. My parents, who always support mentally, psychologically and financially with all their prayers, love, affection, encouragement, and everything for me. My beloved brother, Mochammad Assad Fadlyan, whom I love so much despite his apathetical personality. I know that deep down inside he loves me as much as I love him. I also thank my beloved eleven-year best mate, Yuranto Eka Putra, who always cares, accompanies, and understands me in my up and down. In addition, I thank all my ‘comrades-in-arms’ KBI friends (Bunda Wulan, Ce Vivi, Mbak Adria, Levyn, Mbak Aik, Mas Ryan, Dewi, Mbak Yun, Mbak Di, Mbak
Din, Mbak Gab, Mbak Anin, Mbak Tuti, Mbak Nurul, Desta, Mas Bayu, Bu Asti, Bu Sitta, Mbak Riettah Nita, Tia, Mbak Inta, Putri Zaskia, Mbak Mimi,
Pak Tangguh, Mbak Rina, Dita, Mbak Siwi, Ika) for the support and
encouragement during my study in Sanata Dharma University.
ix
3. Phonological Classification of Stops in English ... 17
4. Stop Deletion ... 19
5. Phonological Rule ... 23
6. Phonological Analysis ... 24
7. Licit Consonant Clusters in English ... 25
8. Sound Muting ... 29
9. Sounds and Spellings ... 30
10. The Nature of Phonology and Orthography ... 31
11. The Relation between Orthography and Phonology ... 34
x
13. List of Symbols used in this Thesis... 39
B. Related Studies ... 40
C. Theoretical Framework ... 47
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 50
A. Data of the Study and Data Source ... 50
B. Approach of the Study ... 51
C. Method of the Study ... 52
1. Data Collection ... 52
2. Data Analysis ... 55
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ... 59
A. Types of Stop Deletion ... 59
1. Permanent Deletion ... 61
2. Non-permanent Deletion ... 67
3. Variety-dependent Deletion ... 73
B. Phonological Rules of Stop Deletion ... 76
xi
xii
English Initial Consonant Sound Clusters Contain a Stop... English Final Consonant Sound Clusters Contain Stops... Key to English Phonetic Symbols Used for This Thesis... Representative Symbols for Deletion Rule... List of Stop Deletion found for the Research... Types of Stop Deletion According to the Present Writer... Examples of Permanent Deletion in the same Derived-Words... Examples of Position of Stop Deletion in Syllable/ Morpheme Boundary... British English and American English Stop Deletion in Permanent Deletion... The Occurrence of Deletion in Non-Permanent Deletion... Influence on Syllable/ Morpheme Boundary in Non-Permanent Deletion... British English and American English Stop Deletion in Non-Permanent Deletion... Examples of Variety-Dependent Deletion on b-, d-, and
t-deletion... Examples of Variety-Dependent Deletion on g-,p-, t-, and k-deletion... The Representative Data for the Analysis of Stop Deletion... The Occurrence of Vowel Shift in g-deletion... Examples of Source of Languages on Stop Deletion in English... Distinctive Features of Consonants Counterpart in Table 17...
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Appendix 2. Appendix 3.
List of Stop Deletion According to Oro-Nasal Process and Voicing Status ... List of Stop Deletion According to the Types... Stop Deletion According to Positions in the Word...
xiv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1. BrE : British English 2. AmE : American English 3. GenAm : General American
4. LPD : Longman Pronunciation Dictionary 5. OE : Old English
xv ABSTRACT
Sanita, Joan. 2015. Stop Deletion in Orthographical Consonant Clusters of English Words. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis focuses on the phonological study and library research dealing with stop deletion in orthographical consonant clusters of English words. The source for this study is Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (LPD), 2nd edition, published in 2000 both hard copy and soft copy. The data in this research are 581 words of English containing the deletion of /b/, /d/, /g/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, and /n/ from letters A to Z. From the highest number to the lowest frequency, the 567 words consist of 136 words of the stop /g/ deletion, 116 words of the stop /p/ deletion, 112 words of the stop /b/ deletion, 99 words of the stop /k/ deletion, 86 words of the stop /t/ deletion, 16 words of the stop /d/ deletion, 9 words of the stop /n/ deletion, and 2 words of the stop /m/ deletion.
This study attempts to answer three research questions. They are 1) What types of stop deletion are found in English? 2) What are the phonological rules of stop deletion are found in English? 3) What non-phonological factors may affect occurrence of stop deletion in English?
The analysis then yields some findings. The first finding is on the types of stop deletion that are observed in English. With regard to the characteristics of each deletion, the types of deletion can be divided into three: permanent deletion (485 words), non-permanent deletion (61 words), and variety-dependent deletion (37 words).
The second finding reveals the phonological rules that are applied in the stop deletion. In this study, there are fifteen phonological rules for the eight stop deletions based on the permanent and non-permanent deletions. They are the stop /b/ deletion (two rules), the stop /d/ deletion (two rules), the stop /g/ deletion (two rules), the stop /p/ deletion (two rules), the stop /t/ deletion (two rules), the stop /k/ deletion (one rule), the stop /m/ deletion (one rule), and the stop /n/ deletion (one rule).
xvi
ABSTRAK
Sanita, Joan. 2015. Stop Deletion in Orthographical Consonant Clusters of English Words. Yogyakarta: Program Pasca Sarjana Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Tesis ini berfokus pada studi fonologi dan studi pustaka (studi sejarah) terkait dengan fenomena pelesapan hentian (stop deletion) didalam padanan konsonan secara ortografi di Bahasa Inggris. Studi ini menggunakan Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (LPD) dalam bentuk buku dan program komputer, edisi kedua, terbitan 2000 sebagai sumber utama dalam pencarian data. Data dalam penelitian ini adalah 581 kata bahasa Inggris berisi pelesapan hentian (stop deletion) pada /b/, /d/, /g/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, dan /n/ dari mulai abjad A sampai Z. Diurutukan dari yang tertinggi sampai terendah, kelima ratus tujuh puluh enam kata ini terdiri dari 136 kata berisi pelesapan hentian /g/, 116 kata yang mengandung pelesapan hentian /p/, 112 kata yang memiliki pelesapan hentian /b/, 99 kata berisi pelesapan hentian /k/, 86 kata mengandung pelesapan hentian /t/, 16 kata yang mempunyai pelesapan hentian /d/, 9 kata dari pelesapan hentian /n/, dan 2 kata berisi pelesapan hentian /m/.
Studi ini mencoba menjawab tiga pertanyaan penelitian, diantaranya adalah 1) Apa saja tipe dari pelesapan hentian yang ada di dalam bahasa Inggris? 2) Apa saja aturan fonologi untuk pelesapan hentian yang ditemukan di dalam pa saja Bahasa Inggris? 3) Apa faktor non-fonologi yang bisa memengaruhi terjadinya pelesapan hentian di dalam Bahasa Inggris?
Analisa ini kemudian menghasilkan beberapa temuan. Temuan pertama adalah tipe atau jenis dari pelesapan hentian yang ada dalam kata Bahasa Inggris. Sesuai dengan karakteristinya, jenis dari pelesapan hentian ini dapat dibagi kedalam tiga jenis yaitu pelesapan permanen (permanent deletion) sebanyak 485 kata, pelesapan non-permanen (non-permanent deletion) sebanyak 61 kata, dan pelesapan variasi-regional (variety-dependent deletion) sebanyak 37 kata.
Temuan kedua adalah aturan fonologi yang berlaku di dalam pelesapan hentian. Dalam studi ini ditemukan lima belas aturan fonologi yang dirumuskan dari delapan pelesapan hentian berdasarkan jenis permanen dan non-permanen pelesapan. Aturan ini terdiri dari dua aturna untuk pelesapan /b/, dua aturan untuk pelesapan /t/, dua aturan untuk pelesapan /g/, dua aturan untuk pelesapan /p/, dua aturan untuk pelesapan /t/, satu aturan untuk pelesapan /k/, satu aturan untuk pelesapan /m/, dan satu aturan untuk pelesapan /n/.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses the introduction of the study which is divided into five sections. The first section is background that provides the basis of the topic of the study. The second is limitation of the study that sets the constraint of the writer in limiting the problems of the study. The third part is formulation of the problems that notes the questions of the study. The fourth part is the objectives of the study that exemplify purpose of the research in line with the research questions. Lastly, the fifth part shows benefits of the study that justify the contribution of the study for the other related studies and for the readers.
A.Background of the Study
English has been used as an important means of communication among countries. The fact that English has a role as an International language makes English become important to be learnt by people. It is used necessarily in particular business, trade, tourism, and educational setting. Furthermore, when meeting native speakers, we are required to master English as good as possible, especially on its pronunciation. Our pronunciation will directly and indirectly represents our ability in denoting the target language. The better we can perform the language, the better we can confirm our competence to others.
The problem is that, relating the spoken form to its written form, English is one of the languages which typically has different phonetic realization compared to its orthography (Jones, 1989: 9). At this point, English is characterized with a cosmopolitan vocabulary where the vocabulary is mixed with words from other
various languages (Baugh and Cable, 2002: 11). Based on the historical review, English vocabulary nowadays is shaped from Old English, Latin, Greek, French, and some other borrowed languages. Hence, English has wide variation of speech and also its pronunciation system. The spoken forms of word can be different even though their written forms are similar or homographically the same. For example, the pronunciation of wind as a noun (/w nd/) and wind as a verb (/wa nd/) or different pronunciations among thou /ðaʊ/, though / ðoʊ/, tough /tʌf/, thought /θɔːt /, taught /tɔːt/, and thorough /ˈθʌr ə/ that usually misspelled. It makes English pronunciation cannot be simply done by predicting only. It also needs the knowledge of the pronunciation from dictionaries or native speakers of English.
In its spoken form, English has so many words in which the pronunciation system is not typically the same as its written spelling. Thus, it can be claimed that English spelling is not completely phonetic, or more specifically, phonemic (Womack, 1957: 386). As a consequence, non-native speakers are usually mistaken in guessing the orthographical form from its pronunciation and vice versa. The thing is that, producing English words is not simply talking. There are many factors which influence its pronunciation as well as its spelling. This can be affected by the language orthography, spelling conventions, phonological rule, and historical background of English (sound changes, loan words, spelling system).
observation (1998: 37) on the language play by the so-called ‘amateurs’ (people who have not had any formal training). In the rehearsal, they will tend to pronounce the word as it is written. For example, they will pronounce knife as ‘kuh-nif-ee’, scissors as ‘ski-ssors’, knitting as ‘kuh-nitting’, gnome as ‘guh -nom-ee’ and others. This occurrence straightens the importance of comprehending both
sounds and spellings. It can be seen that the relation between sounds and spelling cannot be neglected. That is, if they only know the pronunciation, they will encounter difficulties when writing and if they only rely on the spelling, they will find obstacles in pronouncing. Hence, English sounds continuously take a special attention in dealing with their spellings.
As stated before, sound muting and letter silencing are problems that usually need special attention. Furthermore, in dealing with English as a global language (Crystal, 2003: 3), these problems become more serious for non-native speakers. That is, they usually find difficulties when encountering the matters of letter silencing. In more explicit way, they have problems with the matter of deletion. That is, the letter which is there but it is not pronounced. The instances are the words sign /sa n/ and knee /niː/. The /g/ and /k/ are there but they are not uttered.
Besides, when the letter is completely mute, it is totally silenced in all other derived words. The instances are the words bomb /b m/ and bombing /ˈb m ŋ/,
know /nəʊ/ and knowledge /ˈn l dʒ/, listen /ˈls ən/ and listener /ˈls ən‿ə/, doubt
/daʊt/ and doubtful /ˈdaʊt fəl/. The other instances are in the words psalm /s ːm/,
pneumonia /nju ˈməʊn i‿ə/, and gnat /næt/. In this extent, the stops /b/, /k/, /t/, /p/,
words, we need historical explanation to account for this stop deletion in orthographical consonant clusters.
In line with those matters, the distinct concept of consonant clusters in the pronunciation and the orthography also emerges the problem of the English pronunciation for non-native speakers. For example, in the word foreign, the <gn> in terms of the spelling (orthography) is classified as a consonant cluster. However, in terms of spoken form (phonology), there is no such a consonant cluster observed in talking /ˈf rən/ since /g/ is deleted in the pronunciation.
Consequently, this matter can generate a problem for the speakers in determining what to speak, especially related to sounds. As a consequence, they are usually confused when coping with these types of word. For example, they do not know in what extent that the sound /g/ can be pronounced as in the word sign /sa n/ and signal /ˈs ɡnəl/. This occurrence can cause problems dealing with pronouncing words (spoken form) and also putting letters in writing (written form). That is, the students become bewildered when learning English sounds because they will find difficulties in realizing that the spoken form in English is hardly the same as its written form and vice versa. In this extent, it is essential to seek the explanation from the point of view of phonology,
deletion is one of the deletions that mostly occur in English words. In addition, there is a need to seek the historical explanation to identify the system of orthography in synchronic or diachronic phonology. That is, whether the occurrence of sound deletion is related to particular diachronic events (e.g. sound changes in different time) (Goldsmith et al., 2011: 320). The sound may have existed in the past but has disappeared in some words (at the point of time) or the letter is actually there merely because of the orthographical matter and spelling convention (in case of borrowing: retaining the orthographical form or taking the written form as it is).
This study, then, explores stop deletion that occurs in the consonant clusters of English orthography. That is, those words whose spelling (orthographical) representations contain a consonant cluster with stop oral stops (/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/) or nasal stops (/m/, /n/). The examples are the words paradigm /ˈpærəda m/, design /diˈzan/ and malign /məˈla n/. In this case, /g/ is mute or not
pronounced. Nevertheless, /g/ may appear on the other derived words like and paradigmatic /ˌpær ə dɡ ˈmæt k/, designate /ˈdez ɡne t/ and malignancy /məˈlɡnəntsi/. These occurrences often make people confused. That is, in what extent that these phonological phenomena may or may not happen. In this case, we need phonological explanations that can clarify the rule for this deletion.
For this research, the stop deletion is observed in the words taken from Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (Wells, 2000) both soft copy and hard copy.
characteristics and also tries to identify the possible rules for the deletion. In addition, the historical review is counted to confirm the influence of the language change to the spelling reform and representation.
B.Limitation of the Study
In studying deletion, it is believed that there will be various topics and issues related to this discussion, arguing that deletion is relatively important in order to comprehend English, especially in the connection between the spoken form and the written form. Nevertheless, it is impossible for the writer to discuss them all in this point. Hence, to make this thesis to be more specialized and identifiable, some limitations will be made as followss.
Firstly, deletion that will be observed for this study is the case of stop deletion that is presented in the pronunciation of the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. That is, deletion which takes place in stops (/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/,
/m/, and /n/). In this sense, the letter is assumed as the representation of the sound muting or the letter silencing. Thus, it can be stated that one letter represents one sound in the deletion.
argued that /ŋ/ is a marked phoneme in English especially when dealing with the spelling representation of the phoneme.
Secondly, deletion that will be observed here is deletion which occurs in the consonant clusters. In other words, it is the stop which is deleted in the consonant cluster whether it is in the initial, intermediate, or final position of a word. For instance, the /p/ is deleted in the consonant clusters of the word psychology, the /b/ is deleted in the clusters of the word subtle, and the /g/ is deleted in the sound clusters of the word assign. In addition, if there is more than one consonant in the clusters which are deleted, they will not be observed for this study. The examples are the words Blanc /bl /, debutant /ˈdebjut /, and denouement /deˈnuːm / where the cluster <nc> and <nt> are completely silent will not be included in this study.
Likewise, the third limitation is for the discussion for variant-dependent deletion, like in the words often, grandma, and Wednesday. That is, they are only made in terms of explanation and focused on the matter of the sound, not in the further discussion of the dialects or regions of the language. Since it focuses more on the phonology in the matter of the deletion, this discussion is limited to the argument of the types of deletion that include the variety-dependence as a part of the deletion.
like the outline of the major factors besides the phonological factors as a whole, not as a part of the analysis. Nonetheless, the examples are still provided to clarify the explanation for the factors that has been reviewed.
C.Formulation of the Problems
This research discusses the stop deletion in English based on Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. With regard to the background of the study stated previously, this study addresses the following questions:
1. What types of stop deletion are found in English orthographical consonant clusters?
2. What are the phonological rules of stop deletion in English words?
3. What non-phonological factors might affect the occurrence of stop deletion in English?
D.Objectives of the Study
This study concentrates on the analysis of stop deletion in English of Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (2000). It is signified as marked aspects that
occur frequently in phonological occurrence which can be observed from the linguistic point of view. In reference to the problem formulated previously, this study has the three main goals to be achieved concerning the aspects of stop deletion in English. In this sense, it is associated closely with the relation of sounds in representation of the spelling form.
of the deletion, and the frequency of the deletion. The recognition of the stop sounds in English is in accordance with its consonant graphemes which represent the phonemes in a word. Meanwhile, the occurrence of the deletion is related to its distribution of the deletion in particular sound or letter. Last, the frequency of the deletion is the estimation of the degree on consistency in coping with the sound muting that occurs in English.
Secondly, this study aims to find out the rules that applied in stop deletion
in English. In this sense, the discussion of relations between letters and sounds is significant to explain the difference between the two. Moreover, it is necessary to observe the phonological change that may occur in certain words. The classification of rules in phonology is essential in determining the occurrence of stop deletion in English. It is also referential to know what stops can be deleted or omitted in pronunciation. In this extent, the classification is identified from its differences in the words compared to its lexical derivation. It is done to identify which stops represent the deletion and what deletion can occur in that stop sounds.
second problem formulation. That is to identify the phonological rules as well as to predict the occurrence of stop deletion in English.
E.Benefits of the Study
This study expectantly will give the benefits for the applicants theoretically and practically. Theoretically, it is expected that this research may give a contribution to English language studies, especially concerning to pronunciation and phonological study to the discussion of stop deletion. That is, this study will give a contribution in recognizing stop deletion that occurs in English words. As for the theoretical benefits, this research is useful for refining the relations of sounds, the phonological rules for stop deletion, the influences to their derived-words, and their impact to English pronunciation. Moreover, it is valuable in clarifying the historical explanation that may contribute to the occurrence of this deletion in English. It may give further explanations to the appearance of stop deletion in English so that the applicants may not be confounded with the letter silencing and sound muting occurred in English. In this point, the occurrence of stop deletion may happen in synchronic and diachronic points.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter provides literature review, related studies, and theoretical framework of the study. The first section provides the relevant theories that are needed in relation to the topic discussion. Meanwhile, the second section presents the relevant studies that are related to the discussion of the topic. The third section discusses how the determination of the assumptions is used in correspond to the theories or concepts of the study.
A.Literature Review
This section consists of thirteen points of discussions related to the topic of the study. They are consonant articulation, stop sounds, phonological classification of stops in English, stop deletion, phonological rule, phonological analysis, licit consonant clusters in English, sound muting, sounds and spellings, the nature of phonology and orthography, the relation between orthography and spoken language, lexical borrowing, and the list of phonetic symbols used for this thesis.
1. Consonant Articulation
Consonant articulation deals with speech organ when particular sound is produced. Speech sounds are set by physical organs (i.e. vocal chords, the tongue, teeth, lips, palate). Through the move of these speech organs, the sounds are articulated. The distinction of a variety of speech sounds is produced through mouth and this process is the so-called articulation (Giegerich, 1992: 6-7). The
articulation of different sounds will affect the product of the speech in a word-utterance.
In consonant articulation, the modification of sounds can be differentiated into its places of articulation and manners of articulation (Aitchison, 2003: 246-245). In places of articulation, the articulators are in contact (or at their closest) to the other part of articulators to produced speech sounds. They are divided mainly into labials, labiodentals, dentals, alveolars, palatals, velars, and glottal. Meanwhile, in manners of articulation, the different ways of positioning the lips, tongue, velum, and glottis are applied to produce different sound types. They can be classified into four major types, namely stops, fricatives, affricates and approximants.
Furthermore, the interaction of sounds in the articulation may involve generate different processes. They can be differentiated into deletion, epenthesis (liaison), and assimilation. This process has an impact to sound changes, or more specifically, phonetically conditioned change (O’Grady et al., 2005: 249;
Campbell, 2004: 33). This occurrence is usually related to the articulatory simplification of the word and homorganic assimilation.
2. Stop Sounds
Ladefoged (1993: 8-12) states four basic manners of articulation. They are stops, fricatives, affricates, and approximants. In this sense, they are classified with regard to the ways in which articulation can be achieved. At this point, he asserts stops as a complete closure of the articulators involved. Hence, the airstream cannot come out through the mouth. Furthermore, in this state, according to the oro-nasal process, he clarifies that there are two possible types of stops. The first is oral stop and the second is nasal stop. In oral stop, there is an articulatory closure of the mouth where the soft palate is up. Henceforward, the nasal tract is blocked and the airstream will also be totally obstructed. The sounds are (/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/). Meanwhile, in nasal stop, the air is stopped in the oral tract but the soft palate is down so that the airstream can leave through the nose. For nasal stop, the sounds are (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/).
Furthermore, Ladefoged clears up that the term ‘stop’ itself is more familiarly and almost constantly used by phoneticians to designate an oral stop while the term ‘nasal’ is more recognizably used to denote a nasal stop. Nevertheless, he enlightens that even though the term stop may be marked to the anticipation of air escaping through the mouth (oral stop) but indeed the term stop is generally used to imply a complete blockade of the airstream through both the nose (nasal stop) and the mouth (oral stop). Hence, it can be noted that the term stop is more commonly used to cover oral stop and nasal stop rather than the oral stop alone.
specify what happens in the production of a given sound, and more precisely, to tell two different sounds apart (if the other characteristic is the same). In this respect, he is more likely to classify manners of articulation as mutually exclusive features and straightforward distinctions. They are contrasted to stops or continuants, sonorants, obstruents, and approximants. By this features, he
comparatively pins out the combinations of as nasal stops,
as oral stops, as fricatives, and as
approximants. While the fifth manner, affricates, is described as an oral-stop
period that is followed by a friction period. So basically, he divides the manners into four parts. He also notes that since all English nasals are stops, hence they are simply called as nasals. Likewise, he underlines that all nasal stops are voiced. Furthermore, McMahon (2002: 28-29) categorizes manners of articulation into three main manners with one subsidiary case (since the fourth case can be stated as the intermediate manner between the first two). They are stops, fricatives, approximants, and affricate. In this point of view, she identifies that the definition of a stop as the involvement of the complete, transitory obstruction in the oral cavity that also include nasal cavity. Hence, nasal sounds (or simply nasals) are included in the stops manner.
Slightly different, Akmajian et al. (2001: 73-79) differentiate manner of articulations more numerously into six. They are stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, liquids, and glides. In this extent, the stops are separated from nasals, while approximants are separated into liquid (/l/) and glides (/r/, /w/, /y/). Stops are defined as sounds produced when the airflow is entirely blocked during oral speech. Meanwhile, they state that nasals are the same to voiced oral stops. The difference is that, the airflow and the sound energy are directed to the nasal passages because of the velum lowering.
The other division is also provided by Clark and Yallop (1990: 82) who determine manners of articulation into seven classifications. They are stops, fricatives, approximants, nasal, and three supplementary manners that are flap, tap, and trill. At this sense, they imply stop as total constriction of the airstream and a movement to create and then release the blockage. ‘Nasal consonants’ are in one sense stops since the airflow is blocked at the oral cavity. However, since the velum is lowered to allow airflow go through the nasal cavity, therefore, nasals cannot be directly classified as stops. In this extent, they argue that nasals and stops are separate manner of articulation. Here, they define stop strictly as a sound that is produced by the construction and rapid release of a complete closure at any point in the vocal tract (from the glottis to the lips) and the velum is raised to block the air flow go through the nasal cavity.
nasals. The first claim argues that nasals are part of stops while the second argument assumes the stops and nasals as separate manners because of the matter of the airflow execution. By this case, the writer must have a standpoint to determine what is stated as a stop. By considering all these reviews, she counts nasals as a part of stops in terms of manners of articulation.
At this point, the problem of the outflow of the airstream whether it is stopped completely in the oral cavity or it is released through the nose is favored as an alternative release. In other words, the main concern here is the complete closure or blockage of the airflow in the oral tract as a key point to the basic separation as what has been classified as a stop in manners of articulation. It is in line with the separation of sounds in terms of the oro-nasal process (raising or lowering velum as a distinguished factor in determining oral and nasal sounds). In this case, the matter of nasal stop and the oral stop is more precise to be differentiated as the distinctive feature in the oro-nasal process (the oral cavity/ the nasal cavity) rather than in the articulation process that essentially deals with the articulators in the oral cavity.
3. Phonological Classification of Stops in English
produced. The sounds for oral stop are /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, and /g/. Meanwhile, nasal stop is the complete closure that occurs in the oral cavities only so that the airstream go beyond the nasal cavity and a nasal stop will be formed. Here, the soft palate is downward and the airstream can escape through the nose. The sounds for nasal stop are /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/.
With regard to places of articulation, stop sounds are articulated in three places. They are in bilabials, alveolars, and velars. Firstly, bilabials are sounds that are produced by bringing both lips together. The stops for bilabials are /p/, /b/, and /m/. Secondly, alveolars are sounds that are made by the raise of the tongue to the bony tooth ridge. This bony tooth ridge is called the alveolar ridge. The stops of alveolars are /t/, /d/, and /n/. Thirdly, velars are sounds that are produced by raising the body of the tongue against the velum. There are three stops for this place including /k/, /g/, and /ŋ/.
Based on their voicing status, stops can be divided into voiceless and voiced stop. Voiceless sounds are produced when the vocal cords are apart. In the extent, the airstream is not obstructed at the glottis and it releases freely through the mouth. The sounds of voiceless stop are /p/, /t/, /k/. On the other hand, voiced sounds occur while the vocal cords are together which cause the airstream pushes its way through and causes them to vibrate. The sounds for voiced stop are /b/, /d/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ (Ladefoged, 1993: 50; Fromkin & Rodman, 1993: 187).
/hɪnt/, and blink /blɪŋk/. Likewise, there is a case of pronouncing nothing as [ˈnʌθɪŋ] or [ˈnʌθɪn]. In this case, two different nasal sounds (/n/ and /ŋ/) can vary the pronunciation of the same word. In this extent, there is a case of homorganic stop (Ladefoged, 1993: 54. That is, two sounds which are both articulated on the same organ of speech. The examples are sudden /dn/, button /tn/, and also a case of homorganic assimilation like in open [ˈoʊpm] and bacon [ˈbeɪkŋ]. Moreover, there is an occurrence of vowel length in monosyllables (Collins and Mees, 2003: 52). That is, when vowel meets voiceless sounds, it tends to be shortened but when it meets voiceless sound, the vowel will have its full length as in the case of lit /lɪt/ and lid /lɪd/ where /t/ is voiceless and /d/ is voiced, the vowel /ɪ/ will tend to be shortened in lit and just to be normal in lid.
4. Stop Deletion
The phrase “stop deletion” is a prominent term that will be mostly discussed
in this study. Therefore, it is considered important to define and to clarify this term as a basis for comprehending the discussions of the findings. This section presents the definition as well as types of deletion that will be discussed in the analysis.
a. Definition
of the oral cavity so that the airstream surpasses only through the nose. Nasals stop sounds are /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ (Ladefoged, 1993: 295 & 297).
Deletion can be described as removing or losing of sound segment. It has to do with segments in speech. It can occur in before or after another sounds. Subsequently, deletion rule deals with the decree of easing an underlying segment. It is related to three things. First is the set of segments that undertake the rule. Second is the set of segments that generate the rule and third is the change of the input segments take about by the rule (Giegerich, 1992: 287& 300; Kaye, 1989: 32).
Moreover, O’Grady et al. (1997: 55-56) state that the other name for
deletion is elision. It is a process where a sound is deleted under certain circumstances. Here, deletion may happen because of four reasons. First is because of the complexity of the sound such as in the consonant clusters of sixths /sksθs/, and texts /teksts/ where the last two sounds are usually deleted. Second is because of the weak status of the vowel after /p/, /t/, /k/ as in potato, tomato, and canary which are pronounced as [pˈte t oʊ], [tˈme t oʊ], and [kˈneri]. Third is
because of its being a syllabic consonant as in sudden to become [sʌdņ]. Fourth is because of the rapid speech like in the word suppose [səpəʊz] and parade [pəreɪd] where it is usually pronounced as [spəʊz] and [pṛeɪd] in rapid speech.
b. Types of Stop Deletion
The main forms of stop deletion that occur in English words can be made into three categories. Regarding the observation done of this study, the present writer classifies stop deletion as permanent deletion, non-permanent deletion, and variety-dependent deletion. These categories concern with the nature of the stop in the deletion.
Permanent deletion is deletion of stops in permanent condition. In other words, it does not appear anymore in any English words because the sound for the consonant is already deleted to suit the phonotactic idealization. Phonotactic is the arrangement of phonemes in the specified language to make well-formed syllables and words (Giegerich, 1992: 151). In other words, it deals with the permissible sequence, cluster, or position of word in English language. Moreover, it is related to the so-called phonotactic constraints which cannot be complied by the sound clusters of the syllable or word (Fasold and Connor-Linton, 2006: 41). Hence, this type of deletion is also in line with the sound change. That is, it is the sound which occurred or found in Old English and Middle English but no longer exists in modern pronunciation. The examples are in the words knight, knock, and knee (O’Grady et al., 2005: 255). In Old and Middle English, the /k/ was pronounced
Next, non-permanent deletion can be denoted as deletion that occurs in particular event. That is, the deletion occurs in some fussy words but it does not happen in some other derived words. Otherwise, it happens because of the phonological conditioning (Bybee, 2003: 97). For instance, the words sign, signal, and signaler are connected by the same morphological linking (i.e. derived from the same morpheme). However, in the case of its phonology, they are not similarly pronounced. In word sign /sa n/, the /g/ is not pronounced but it is pronounced for the other two words signal /ˈs ɡnəl/ and signaler /ˈs ɡnələr/. With this respect, it can be assumed that the deletion is not permanent in all derived-words. It may appear in some words but not to the others. Hence, there must be an operation of the general rules in applying this deletion and this case can be stated as phonological phenomena. Likewise, it can be explained using a phonological rule for the underlying representation.
variation deals with the area in which the local people may have variation in speech. For example, the word often may be uttered as /ˈ fən/, /ˈ ftən/, /ˈɔːfən/, and /ˈɔːftən/ in some British Area while /ˈɔːfən/, /ˈ ːfən/, /ˈɔːftən/, /ˈ ːftən/,
/ ːfən/, / ːftən/, / fn/, / ftn/, / fən/, /ɔːfn/, /ɔːftn/, /ɔːftən/, /ɔːfən/, and /ˈ ːfən/ are pronounced in some other dialects (Jones, 1919: 17). For this study, the variant-dependent of deletion is taken from the pronunciation of the LPD that depends on the phonetic transcriptions provided in the dictionary. It is basically in the form of British English and American English (General American).
5. Phonological Rule
In English, different phonemes mean distinctive sounds. For instance, /n/ and /ŋ/ are separate phonemes since they create different meaning in the words.
Furthermore, in creating word, phonology may impact to the restriction of the sounds permitted in the word-utterance. For example, the phoneme /n/ cannot be substituted by /ŋ/ for the word not because there is no a word pronounced as /*ŋot/
and moreover, the phonological rules restricts to permit such word in English (Poole, 1999: 59). Similarly, the word knot which in the past was pronounced as /kn ːt/ is presently no longer anymore. It is because the phonological environment that affects the phoneme in such cluster cannot be occurred in English as well as the phones interaction (sound cluster) in a word-utterance.
Figure 1. Phonological Rule Form (O’Grady et al., 2005: 92)
A B / X ____ Y
In the above figure, A means the element in the underlying representation of the input of the process, the arrow () stands for ‘becomes’ or ‘is rewritten as’, B
means the change it undertakes or for the output of the rule, the environment bar (/) means ‘in the following environment’, while X and Y mean the conditioning
environment or the specification of the change that takes place. So, the above rule can be simply stated as ‘A becomes B in the environment between X and Y’.
6. Phonological Analysis
Phonology is complemented by phonetics. That is, the study of physical characteristics of sounds. The term ‘sounds’ is a reminder that speech is intended
to be heard or perceived and that it is therefore possible to focus on the way in which a hearer analyses or processes a sound. Moreover, it deals with the system and patterning of sounds in a language. Hence, it connects with the ways in which humans produce and hear speech. It describes the systems and patterns of sounds that occur in a language. It is also associated with the study of higher level of speech organization (Finch, 2000: 2; Clark & Yallop 1990: 1-2; Ladefoged, 1993: 296).
It can also connect with the observation of the combinations of letters in its relation to sequence of sounds in a particular language (Wolfram & Johnson, 1982: 1-2).
7. Licit Consonant Clusters in English
As this study deals with stop deletion in the consonant clusters of English, the review on consonant clusters in English is presented in this part. It is provided in this section to give the recognition on the consonant clusters that are discussed in general as well as in particular discussion of this study.
a. Definition
According to Dardjowidjojo (2009: 29, 140-147), a cluster can be defined as two or more consonants that are placed one after the other. The two or more consonants must belong to the same syllable. For example, the word help /lp/, split /spl/, sixths /ksθs/. Likewise, a consonant cluster can be divided into two groups. They are in the beginning (i.e. initial consonant cluster) or at the end (i.e. final consonant cluster) of a syllable or a word.
More specifically, Collins and Mees (2003: 72) define a consonant cluster as a sequence of consonants at the same syllable boundary. In this sense, they emphasize that in the English syllable, the consonant cluster may consist of up to three consonants in initial position as in strong /strɔːŋ/ and four in final position as in glimpsed /ɡlmpst/. Here, the clusters are counted by identifying the sound in the syllable boundary.
vowel (e.g. ends /endz/) or followed by a vowel (e.g. spray /spreɪ/) but it is rarely the cluster alone (e.g. [*mpts]). It is because in a syllable, there must be the so-called a nucleus or peak which is characteristically represented by a vowel. However, in the case of syllabification, certain sounds such as approximants (e.g. [l] in table [ˈtebḷ]) and nasals (e.g. [m] in bottom [ˈb tṃ]) can be the peak of a syllable. Therefore, consonants like [l] and [m] can be noted also as a syllabic consonant.
b. Licit Consonant Clusters Contain a Stop
Table 1. English Initial Consonant Sound Clusters Contain a Stop (Adapted from McMahon, 2002 & Dardjowidjojo, 2009)
Two Consonant Cluster
initial [s] [sp] spy [st] stop [sk] sky [sm] small [sn] snow initial [p] [pl] play [pr] pray [pj] pure
initial [b] [bl] blue [br] brand [bj] beauty initial [t] [tr] try [tw] twist [tj] tune initial [d] [dr] draw [dw] dwell [dj] duke initial [k] [kl] clue [kr] cry [kj] cute initial [g] [gr] grow [gl] glam
initial[m] [mj] mute initial [n] [nj] new
Three Consonant Cluster
initial [sp] [spl] (splash) [spr] (sprite) [spj] (spew) initial [st] [str] (strike) [stj] (stew)
initial [sk] [skl] (sclerosis) [skr] (screw) [skw] (square) [skj] skewer)
For the two-consonant cluster, English has twenty four clusters combination that contain stop. They are five clusters with initial [s] ([sp], [st], [sk], [sm], [sn]), three clusters with initial [p] ([pl], [pr], [pj]), three clusters with initial [b] ([bl], [br], [bj]), three clusters with initial [t] ([tr], [tw], [tj]), three clusters with initial [d] ([dr], [dw], [dj]), three clusters with initial [k] ([kl], [kr], [kj]), two clusters with initial [g] ([gl], [gr]), one cluster with initial [m] ([mj]), and one cluster with initial [n] ([nj]).
For the three-consonant cluster, it has a strict rule. That is, it must be initiated by [s] (voiceless fricative), followed by voiceless stops [p], [t], or [k] and ended with [l], [r], [w], or [j] (approximant). The examples are in splash [spl], spring [spr], spew [spj], straw [str], stew [stj], sclaff [skl], scribe [skr], skew [skj],
The second group is the final consonant cluster. For this type of cluster, the combination is much more varied. There are at least 151 final consonant-cluster combinations in English. Besides, the cluster can be consisted of two, three, or four consonants. The five-consonant cluster is commonly rare but it can be found as in the plural form of the word angsts / ŋksts/ (Dardjowidjojo, 2009: 145-147). In this case, the examples of final consonant cluster combined with a stop can be seen in the following Table 2.
Table 2. English Final Consonant Sound Clusters Contain Stops (Adapted from Dardjowidjojo, 2009: 145-147)
In OE Period the initial clusters such as /hn/, /hl/, /hr/, /wl/, /gn/, /wr/, and /kn/ was permitted. However, in ME period, the first four consonant clusters /hn/, /hl/, /hr/, /wl/ became a single phoneme /n/, /l/, /r/, /l/ respectively while the clusters /gn/, /wr/, and /kn/ still remained. Nevertheless, in EModE the clusters /gn/, /wr/, and /kn/ were reduced to become /n/, /r/, and /n/ respectively as in Middle English, gnawen, wrong, and knight were pronounced as /gnauən/, /wrɔːŋg/, and /kn xt/ but in EModE they are pronounced as /nɔ/, /r ŋ/, and /nʌt/ respectively (Peters, 1968: 99).
8. Sound Muting
Furthermore, Collin and Mees (2003: 103-104) relate the phenomenon of deletion as historical assimilation and elision. On contemporary state, the assimilation and elision occur in contemporary (i.e. present day) process. That is, it happens only at one point of phonetic context, and generally, the assimilation or elision in this extent is optional. Meanwhile, when the so-called “original ideal form” is elided or disappeared, it becomes fossilized as the form turn out to be
fixed. In this sense, they argue that there is a case of a historical assimilation and elision process. The example is /p/ in cupboard [ˈkʌbəd] where the original form [ˈkʌpbəd] has died out. The ‘letter silencing’ of English spelling provides
numerous reminders of historical elision like in the words talk, comb, know, could, gnome, whistle, wrong, and iron.
9. Sounds and Spellings
Sounds and spellings have a mutual relation to spoken language and the written form. It cannot be neglected that they usually have different forms, especially when dealing with English. Finegan (2004: 83, 434) indicates that there is an ‘untidy relationship’ between sound and spelling occurs in languages,
including English. They can be stated as independent to each other because the language may be corresponded to different writing systems. English, in this case, has 24 consonant sounds and between 14 and 16 vowels and diphthongs which are only represented by 26 letters of the alphabet.
sound may be represented by several different letters or more than one letter (diagraph). This inconsistency makes English orthography become inadequate to represent the current English speech sounds. This lack of consistency can be assumed as an impact of the fact that the English writing system became fixed in the past although the pronunciation of the words had remained to change since that period. Hence, phonetic transcription turns out to be the aid in order to clarify the sound which is represented by the symbol (letter).
By these theories, it can be revealed that English orthography fails to fulfill the ideal one sound-one graph model. As a consequence, some of English sounds are represented by a combination of letters. Thus, it is vital to differentiate between the sound of the language and the way it is represented in the writing form. English cannot be recognized by the written form alone. Instead, it has to be confirmed and verified through the spoken language that is pronounced by the native speaker. Hence, the data of written form alone will not be satisfying. The list of phonetic symbols that represent the spoken form will show the occurrence of stop deletion that happen in English. The sounds and spellings can be compared and analyzed to show the stop deletion that occurs in any derived words.
10.The Nature of Phonology and Orthography
and writing systems). Thus, it is considered important to review the nature of both these terms so that the differences can be noted more distinctly.
Phonology can be defined as a description of the systems and patterns of sounds. It is the representative of language in terms of the spoken form. Since phoneticians transcribe an utterance, phonology tries to understand how phonetic transcription works in certain language and how sounds conduct dissimilarities in meaning (Ladefoged, 1993: 25). In essence, phonology deals with the sounds as a language that has significance in delivering meaning. The language is made by the sounds representation in the (phonetic) transcription. The way how we speak describes the way sounds are produced to signify language. Thus, it can be stated that phonology deals primarily with spoken language as the nature of speech.
Likewise, Clark and Yallop (1990: 2) associate phonology with the study of the organized speech sounds. It is focused on the systems and patterns of sounds that take place in specific languages. By this meaning, it can be stated that phonology is the study of the sound pattern where the representation can be made and perceived according to the speech. Thus, despite the various or identical spellings, the sounds still can be recognized and analyzed. Dealing with phonology means dealing with the words within the sounds as a pattern. The length, manner, voicing, and nasality can be identified further through the phonology.
within speech as a single morpheme or word can be realized in more than one phonetic form in a single environment.
On the other hand, Fasold and Connor-Linton (2006: 404-416, 509) intensify the definition of orthography as the language’s writing system in the
standardized version. In this matter, the writing system itself can be classified according to the unit of language that is graphically represented. They are logographic systems (i.e. individual written symbol represents a certain morpheme or word), syllabic systems (i.e. each symbol represents a certain syllable), and alphabetic system. (i.e. each letter represents a certain sound or phoneme). This classification shows how different written symbol will represent different manifestation of units of language.
Furthermore, O’Grady et al. (2005: 546-552, 646) define orthography as a
set of rules or standard for denoting language in written form. It is a set of conventions for signifying language in the written form. In English, it makes use of the alphabetic orthography as the symbols that are utilized to represent individual consonant or vowels rather than syllables or words. It means that in English, the sounds in the broader level (as in the level of syllables or words) cannot be depended by the orthography or more specifically, the spelling. For instance, the spelling of <bt> in word doubt /daʊt/ cannot be paralleled directly to the sounds in terms of the pronunciation since the /b/ is gone in the level of syllable.
above. The second problem, a set of two or more letters can be utilized to signify a single segment. The examples are in the words think where the <th> represents a single segment /θ/ and philosophy where the <phi> and <phy> represent a single segment /f/. The third problem, a single letter can signify a set of two or more segments. The instance is the word saxophone where the <x> represents two segments /ks/. The fourth problem, the same letter can signify distinct segments in different words. The example is the letter <o> that can represent segment /ɒ/ as in
the word on, or /ow/ as in the word bone, or /ʌ/ as in the word son, or /wʌ/ as in the word one. The fifth problem, the same segment can be signified by distinct letters in distinct words. The example is the segment /u/ that can be represented in the words rude, loop, soup, new, to, and two.
Sequentially, Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams (2003: 71, 236, 589) define orthography as the written form of a language, or simply stated as spelling. They relate that each word conveys a sound-meaning unit and it is stored in our mental lexicon. It then determines its pronunciation and its meaning with the corresponding words. In this state, though alphabetic spelling signifies the pronunciation of the words, nonetheless, orthography does not represent the sound of the words systematically in a language. The production of the different sounds as they are spelled in English words is moreover confusing since one letter may represent some several different sounds. Thus, the inconsistency between
orthography and sounds unceasingly occurs in English.
11. The Relation between Orthography and Phonology
orthography can be simply stated as the spelling in writing. The orthography may or may not reveal the occurrence of the stop deletion in English. Since in the pronunciation the stop can be mute or permanently disappeared, in this case, they are two prominent −but slightly different− types of stop deletion in the consonant cluster that will be studied. First is letter silencing. That is, the letter which exists in the word but it is silent (not uttered/ sounded) in the pronunciation. Second is sound muting. It is basically a sound which is systematically deleted in some words but it may appear on the other derived words (non-permanent).
As stated before, in English, there are some inconsistencies between spellings compared to the sounds. There may be different spellings for the same sound and vice versa. The main problem here is that, the spelling system (orthography) in English is irregular and does not represent sounds completely and consistently (Radford et al.,2009: 29). With regard to this, it is realized that some sounds are not just given by the symbol at all. For instance, most of the speakers will distinguish the different vowel in a middle sound of put /ʊ/ and putt /ʌ/. Nevertheless, in fact, the difference is never made in the writing system that is
written with the same symbol <u>.
The new modern movement of orthography system has led the discrepancies of spelling and sounds in English (Fromkin, et al., 2000: 504). It is the so-called orthoepists. At this point, it can be indicated that the orthography of most English
When it came to the spelling reform times, the so-called archaic and idiosyncratic spellings spread out in the printing press era and the orthography became more permanent. There were many words became misspelt because most of the early printers were not English native speakers. By this situation, spelling reformers spotted that there was a need for the uniformity of the spelling to reflect the pronunciation of the word. However, many scholars were relatively over enthusiastic and eager to modify the spelling not only correspond with the pronunciation but also with their etymologies. Thus, by the reference of Classical Greek and Latin, some of English words were made comparatively with these origins. For example, where Latin had a <b>, they added a <b> even if it was not pronounced in the case of letter silencing. Systematically, these are the reasons and motives to what happen related to the pronunciation and the current spelling. That is, the spelling of the letter is originally reflected the pronunciation of the sound in the past.
Thus, this thesis uses the term of “stop deletion in orthographical consonant clusters”. It denotes the occurrence of stop deletion as a part of the spelling system dealing with orthography as represented in the consonant clusters of English words. Then, as the term of consonant cluster which is closely related to the phonology, it tries to seek the phonological and historical assumption dealing with the sound manifestation in the spoken form.
12. Lexical Borrowing
294-295) assert that borrowing is one of the most significant sources of language change in dealing with the contact of the speakers of different languages. The process of adopting elements from the other languages or dialects is the so-called linguistic borrowing. That is, it can be lexical items (loan words), or it can be also morphological and syntactic patterns that are borrowed. The element from another language is possibly borrowed because it is prestige or it fulfills a need or a gap in the language borrowed. The lexical borrowing typically directs to change or adapt into the native linguistic rules, thus, the process is called adaptation. It can be in terms of phonetic equivalents or phonological change. As in earlier English, there were no phonemes /v, ð, z/. However, after many of French words beginning with /v, z/ such as very, virtue, zenith, and zone borrowed into English, phonemes /v, z/ then gradually became different from phonemes /f, s/. Likewise, from Scandinavian word borrowing, there were loan words such as they, them, their, that made phoneme /ð/ become the contrast phoneme of English with /θ/. Here, the case of borrowing resulted in the additional contrastive phonemes in English.
