Phoneme, Prosodeme, and Allophone Exercises

A minimal pair is a group of words differentiated by only one phoneme or prosodeme. Since phoneme or phoneme make it possible to distinguish a meaning of word, the minimal pair can be paraphrased into a meaningful group of words distinguished by only one morpheme or prosodeme.


허리, 우리, 무리, 미리, 다리, 오리, 머리, 소리, 사리, 도리, 요리, 조리, 거리, 서리, 추리, 고리, 유리, 처리, 그리, 저리, 이리

Minimal pairs from the words above are as follows.


1.소리:도리:조리:고리 ( 'ㅇ' doesn't have phonetic value when in first syllable, but signifies soft palatal nasal when in last syllable. When indicating 'o' as a phoneme or prosodeme, it refers to soft palatal nasal.)
2허리:머리:거리:서리:처리:저리
3무리:추리
4다리:사리
(only one consonant)
5.우리:오리:이리:요리:유리 (not sure...)
6거리:고리:그리
7머리:무리:미리
8소리:서리:사리
9도리:다리
10조리:저리
11처리:추리
(only one vowel)


Marking Allophones of Consonant with Symbols
나리 [nari] since phoneme 'ㄴ' is not before '이 or y-diphthong' and phoneme 'ㄹ' is not in last syllable or after 'ㄹ', symbol for 'ㄴ' is 'n' and symbol for 'ㄹ' is 'r'.  In this case, n is alveolar nasal(치조 비음), r is tap(탄설음).

후사 [ɸusa] 'ㅎ' is before 'ㅜ' and 'ㅅ' is not before '이, y-diphthong'. 'ɸ' is bilabial fricative(양순 마찰음), 's' is alveolar fricative(치조 마찰음).

샤갈[ʃagal] 'ㅅ' is before y-diphthong and 'ㄱ' is between voiced sounds.
효도[çyodo] 'ㅎ' is before y-diphthong and 'ㄷ' is between voiced sounds.
비약[p<yak>] 'ㅂ' is in first syllable and 'ㄱ' is in last syllable.
녀석[ɲyeosuk] 'ㄴ'  before y-diphthong, 'ㅅ' in first syllable, 'ㄱ' in last syllable.
군령[k<uʎʎyeong] 'k<' in first syllable, though 'ㄹ' is after 'ㄹ', the 'ㄴ' sound is pronouned as 'ㄹ', so it's after 'ㄹ' phonetically.
히읗[çieut] 'ㅎ' before 'ㅣ', 'ㄷ' in last syllable
바다[p<ada] 'ㅂ' in first syllable, 'ㄷ' between voiced sounds


Seeing the following two facts, let's set representative of 'ㄹ'.
(1)'y' in '이' or 'y-diphthong' is articulated near hard palate.
(2)The consonant in Korean becomes closed sound when in last syllable.


If representative allophone of 'ㄹ' is tap(r), it's possible to explain its becoming lateral(l) with the (2). And it becomes 'ʎ', affected by '이' or 'y-diphthong', because the place of articulation moves behind.



The following represents words in virtual language with hangeul. Let's judge whether they can perform phonemic function.

감     알주: 이:노
진      상박 달라:닉
뉴:     상보: 사:다:니:
후:       친도:  전대:남
아:주    도:몽          강주:장
용봉도:로:  오:리:품기: 삭닥걸미:

On the above, all the syllables that ends with vowels, which are long vowels and, but syllables with consonants are not long. They are in complementary distribution so they can't perform phonemic function.(모음부분 공부후 다시 보기)



Identifying Separate Phonemes of bilabial(p, ɸ, b) in Virtual Language.

.pat.(돼지)   .as.pa.(소)   .sat.pu.(말)
.vaɸ.(책)     .ak.pa.(닭)    .yaɸ.mi.(마을)
.ha.nuɸ(하늘) .taɸ.si.(땅)   .bat.(산)
.ha.nub.(강)  .u.bu.(안)    .ab.tir.(밖)
.as.ba.(보리) .vab.(과일)    .u.poɸ.(아침)

p:voiceless bilabial plosive, ɸ: voiceless bilabial fricative, b:voiced bilabial plosive, .:boundary of syllable

Minimal pairs
ɸ and b are both in the last syllables. Unlike 'ɸ', 'b' is also in first syllable as 'p'. In this regard, 'p' and 'ɸ' are allophones of one phoneme, and 'b' is separate phoneme from two.