L212 Firthian Prosodic Analysis.
Lecture 1.
Notes on Hjelmslev (1935) and Firth (1948).
Louis Hjelmslev (1935):On the principles of phonematics.
Purposes of this paper: to outline the theory of phonematics, and to establish a technique for establishing phonemes.
Significance for FPA: many ideas in here are also found in FPA. Firth was at the Congress and most likely heard Hjelmslev (and his co-worker Uldall) speak. The Greek example is even the same one that Firth (1948) uses.
Some key ideas:
Phoneme = a unit of linguistic description set up on solely linguistic criteria.
Content = functional rôle
Form = place occupied by a unit in the language system, defined by its value, ie. what differentiates it from other things. Eg. plural vs. singular is not the same as plural vs. singular vs. dual.
Expression = the symbolisation or material expression of a linguistic unit.
Expression is independent of form and content. Eg. [® r R “] are all possible expressions of /r/.
Commutation = a form of substitution. Example: bæth, ræth, pæth, hæth… these things mean different things. This method means we can posit prephonemes, initial guesses at what the ‘real’ phonemes are. eg. khikh, phikh: p and k are prephonemes. khikh, khiks, s and h are prephonemes.
Sometimes we have to recognise prosodies: “I understand by a prosody an element not constituting the series, but consolidating the series.”
Central and marginal prephonemes: ´ can be a word on its own, and is called a central prephoneme; but eg. l, s need a central prephoneme because they can’t for a word by themselves. These are called marginal prephonemes.
vowel = a central prephoneme
prosody or consonant = marginal prephoneme.
marginal prosody = a marginal phoneme not capable of being both initial and final (eg. w, h, N in English).
consonant = marginal phoneme which can be both initial and final (eg. s, t, l in English).
In Greek, h is a prosody. It is only initial, and is written with a special diacritical sign.
Three kinds of significant phonological relations: grouping, alternation, impliation.
Grouping = possible combinations of units. Eg. pl is good in English, so is sp, so is spl. Hypothesis: bigger clusters are formed from smaller ones.
Alternation = replacement of one phoneme by another because of the grammar.
Implication = replace one phoneme by another because of some phonematic conditions, eg. German [hUnt], but [hUnd´].
J. R. Firth (1948): Sounds and Prosodies.
Purposes of this paper: to set out the essentials of Firth’s theory of phonology (which isn’t named!).
Significance for FPA: this is the seminal paper everyone quotes. It contains all the main ideas of FPA which are worked on later papers by people at SOAS. 
Key ideas: The ideas in this paper are not laid out consistently or clearly, but plenty of exemplification.
Polysystemic analysis. Seen by Firth as one of the main characteristics of his way of working. Instead of treating language as one big system, treat it as lots of smaller interacting ones. Firth equates monosystemic with ‘paradigmatic’ phonology, with emphasis on alternance, opposition, distinctive differentiation and substitution.
Analysis of things in context. ie. the starting point is the ‘piece’, not individual words but combinations of words. This leads to connections with grammar (a major emphasis in many FPA works).
Paradigmatic and syntagmatic: not Firth’s ideas, but Saussure’s, developed by Hjelmslev. Prosodies are associated with syntagmatic relations.
ad hoc analysis: ie. make it up as you go along, setting up systems for the language under analysis. Rejection of universalism.
Prosodies. The key idea in this paper. Described in many ways:
• not part of the consonant and vowel systems
• characteristics of word/syllable initial/final
• “musical attributes”
• syllabic structure
• elision, anaptyxis, liaison, “cushion” consonants, etc.
• “linking” and “separating”
Evidence: • Greek prosodiai • Devanagari writing system • Arabic writing system • Firth’s own experience of Japanese “directed to the specialised purposes of operational linguistics”.
Hunanese: (more on this in week 2) several kinds of ‘prosodic diacritica’: tone, voice quality, yotisation, velarisation. Not properties ascribable to particular points in time.
Arabic: syllable structure. Claims that by looking at what holds the word together (syllable structure) you get a better analysis of the word than if you concentrate on differentiation. Prosodic material weightier in the analysis than phonematic material.
English “prosodic r” as part of the system of word joins, including “aitch”, “glottal stop” and “prosodic y and w”.