Phonology: Crash Course Linguistics #10

All of the sounds or handshapes in a language can be pronounced differently depending on the context, but in different languages, these differences may be significant, or not. The study of these patterns and variations is known as phonology. In this episode of Crash Course Linguistics, we’ll learn all about phonology and the different phonological systems we see in different languages, and we’ll begin to retrain our brains in order to gain a better understanding and appreciation for phonological patterns.

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[LandgraabIV]

I had never seen exemples of phonological processes in sign languages, how interesting! Thank you!

[thetaClysm]

I'm surprised that the term "minimal pair" never came up in this video, though the concept itself is discussed without putting a name to it. When two words with different meanings are phonetically identical except for a single sound (like pit/bit in english, or the tal/tʰal example given in the video), they're called a minimal pair, and this is a VERY important concept in phonology, because it's proof that the sound difference is semantically relevant, or salient, in that language. It proves that the distribution of those sounds is not *predictable*, since they can both appear in the same environment, so they cannot be allophones of the same phoneme.

[pvtpaink]

8:35 I regularly tell my son to "wash your hams!". I love linguistics and am realizing the specifics of how I play with it though this series. :D

[kellykerr]

A Spanish person told me I actually sound Hispanic not like an American trying to speak Spanish. That was a huge compliment. I accomplished this by listening to their music and singing along.

[vubao]

Still feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of terminologies and stuff, but this is a much better experience than in a classroom setting. Thanks Crash Course!

[PedroEsteban]

I'm not a native English speaker but I've been studying the language for some time now. My knowledge about Phonology increased so much thanks to this short video. Thank you, Crash Course!

[shreeyamittal]

I have never been more tempted to learn ASL. Thanks for an awesome new series l didn't know I needed!

[lhfirex]

I think when recommending this Crash Course to somebody, I'll tell them to "follow the purple rabbit."

[IamSamys]

Showing what these concepts can look like in sign languages just tickle my brain!

[mattkuhn]

Man do I love phonology! And also, Scoutmaster Gavagai! I also especially like you giving plenty of examples of sign phonology. Even in undergraduate work, you don't usually get a good look at that.

[CTON]

My native languages are modern Mandarin, Cantonese, and an ancient dialect “Ai.” Since high school, I learnt English in Canada, then German in Germany. When I start comparing these languages, I have found so many phonological similarities (linguistic relativity), especially among some of the most commonly used terms such as fire, work, do etc. However, it should not be a huge surprise as we humans are shaped the same way, and migration has also promoted frequent exchange of culture.

[_mels_]

Ah, yes, the Rihanna language.

but seriously, seeing the assimilation in sign languages is very interesting!

[NikolajLepka]

Ever since aspiration had been brought to my attention a few years ago, I can't not hear it when watching videos here on YouTube, especially since the aspiration is really noticeable in certain words; like I've heard people pronounce "castle" as /kxæsl/, or at least that's how clear the aspiration sounds to me.
For those unfamiliar with IPA, the /x/ is like a really hard raspy h

[nishapmagar]

I'm from Nepal!!!
It was good to hear you speak Nepali!

[gelbadayah.sneach]

When I lived in Boston I met and identified a fellow southern Pennsylvanian by his pronunciation of "water."

[nickzardiashvili]

"This should be fairly straightforward to follow."
"What if I asked you for water?"
"You lost me..."

[PrivateBaba]

The best episode so far. Thanks for your efforts.

[ancientswordrage]

It was great seeing parts of linguistics I've observed watching conlang videos. More more more please

[AcKun]

I'm looooving this series! All the sign language examples are absolutely amazing! Already waiting for the next episode =)

[ChrisLeeW]

"steam" is unaspirated, despite what the meaning of the word would suggest.