Minimal pairs

[Schabnaz Khadem Saba]

Minimal pairs are defined as the smallest meaning- distinguishing units in language. That means that the meaning can change when only one letter is different in a word. For example the letters /p/ (voiceless bilabial plosive) and /b/ (voiced bilabial plosive) only deviate in the voicing and are therefore two different sounds. These two letters change the whole meaning of a word: pit- die Grube, bit- das Stückchen.

[Leon Ruland]

nothing to add.

[Asena Karatekin]

When is English /p/ aspirated?

The vioceless bilabial plosive english  /p/ is aspirated, when it stands in the beginning of a word.

for example pit:[pʰIt]

 

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Asena Karatekin.

[Johannes Brockmeier]

Hi Asena,

thanks for the explanation. What exactly is aspirating however? I can imagine that it is related to airflow (but isn’t any sound?). When I say spit or pit however,  I hear no major difference (when I pronounce it in RP English).

Thank you.

 

[Kirsten Middeke]

Is /p/ aspirated in Alpaca?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Kirsten Middeke.

[Kira Lena Räuchle]

It’s not a sound, it’s just air escaping during the pronounciation. I think you can’t really feel it when you speak (at least I don’t really feel it) but if you would hold a sheet of paper in front of your mouth it would move more while saying pit than while saying spit.

[Deborah Sprang]

Hey guys,

here are my thoughts on task number 4 of the homework in addition to the first video and to the great definition Schabnaz  Saba provided earlier.

minimal pair:                                     phonemes:                                     contrasting feature

pit-bit                                                           /p/ vs. /b/                                         voicing

sit-shit                                                         /s/ vs.  /ʃ/                                          place of articulation (alveolar vs. post-alveolar)

knit-wit                                                       /n/ vs. /w/                                         place and manner of articulation (alveolar, nasal vs. labial-velar approximant)

kit-git                                                           /k/ vs. g/                                             voicing

fit-hit                                                           /f/ vs. /h                                               place of articulation (labiodental vs. glottal)

lit-writ                                                         /l/ vs. /ɹ/                                              manner of articulation (lateral approximant vs. approximant)

 

 

 

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Deborah Sprang.

[Sarah Lee]

@Asena

maybe you could add that the p is only aspirated when it stands in the beginning of a Word and is followed immediately by a vowel. I believe in the word ´problem´ you would not use the aspirated p.

[Kirsten Middeke]

Yes, there is something to add.

Minimal pairs are defined as the smallest meaning- distinguishing units in language. That means that the meaning can change when only one letter is different in a word. For example the letters /p/ (voiceless bilabial plosive) and /b/ (voiced bilabial plosive) only deviate in the voicing and are therefore two different sounds. These two letters change the whole meaning of a word: pit- die Grube, bit- das Stückchen.

The smallest meaning-distinguishing unit in language is a phoneme. That meanst that meaning can change if only one phoneme is changed. /p/ and /b/ are phonemes/sounds, NOT letters. (PLEASE stop talking about letters. Letters don’t matter. Knit and wit is a minimal pair, even though two letters are different.)

[Kirsten Middeke]

And to clarify (this came up in the seminar today): a phoneme is a unit of language. Phonemes are bundles of features (/p/ is a voiceless bilabial stop), and features that differentiate between phonemes in a specific language are called contrastive features. So voicing is a contrastive feature in English, because there are minimal pairs that differ only with respect to voicing (pit vs. bit). You can also say that voicing is phonologically relevant in English, or that aspiration is phonologically relevant (i.e. meaning-distinguishing) in Russian but not in English. (Can someone post a minimal pair from Russian?)

Do try to use linguistic terminology, it makes it a lot easier to understand what you mean and to decide whether what you’re suggesting is correct or not.

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