Microsoft Word 2 Steps phonological analysis doc

poetry

 (e.g. rhyme games) and 

language games

 (e.g. inversion of syllables within 

words) may be explored in order to test this metalinguistic awareness within a given 

speech community. The issue: To what extent the speakers are they aware of the sound 

patterns? Alphabetism may play a more or less significant role here. (For a more 

detailed account, see, for instance, Hodson and Edwards (1997: 158-9) and Koda (2007: 

220-2).) 

 

2.2.

 

One basic and crucial distinction one should constantly keep in mind: the objective linguistic 

facts (e.g. speech signal) vs. the way the linguist chooses to represent these facts 

(interpretation, construction)

6

. An utterance such as 

I am working on the phonology of the X 

language

 is ambiguous: it may refer to the study of the sound patterns of the language (the 

interpretation) as well as to the sounds patterns of the language themselves (the facts). 

 

2.3.

 

A good knowledge of the (areal) typology of sound systems is useful. Cf. The UCLA 

Phonological Segment Inventory Database (UPSID): corpus of segment inventories of 317 

languages. 

 

2.4.

 

Right from the beginning, while gradually eliciting data, pay particular attention to the