Definition
Generative phonology is a component of generative grammar that assigns the correct phonetic representations to utterances in such a way as to reflect a native speaker’s internalized grammar.
Discussion
The following are crucial components of generative phonology:
- Levels of phonological representation
- Generative phonology posits two levels of phonological representation:
- An underlying representation is the most basic form of a word before any phonological rules have been applied to it. Underlying representations show what a native speaker knows about the abstract underlying phonology of the language.
- A phonetic representation is the form of a word that is spoken and heard.
- Generative phonology posits two levels of phonological representation:
- Phonological rules
- Phonological rules map underlying representations onto phonological representations. They delete, insert, or change segments, or change the features of segments.
- Derivations
- Distinctive features
- Distinctive features make it possible to capture the generalities of phonological rules.
- Linearity
- A stream of speech is portrayed as a sequence of discrete sound segments. Each segment is composed of simultaneously occurring features.