Points of Exploration with Gussenhoven and Kenstowicz

The two readings of Gussenhoven and Kenstowicz really opened my ears to realize how little I understand the complexity of phonology as a discipline, and because of this realization, I am confronted with looking through life to notice the nuances of speech in my everyday life. Overall, there were several takeaways that challenged and created understanding of linguistics, and specifically, phonology for me.

One prominent idea that I was fascinated with is presented in the Kenstowicz article which details the “collective phonetic illusions” and how we hear things that objectively are not there and so we fail to notice elements that are not present. However, the peculiarity which I would love to learn more about is how we learn and internalize these rules, because no one teaches them to us while growing up, unless you have a linguist for a parent or guardian. Looking at the interdisciplinary nature of this insight, I would find it interesting to look into the psychological components of how the rule is learned, the neuroscientific process that the rule is internalized and used, and finally how this rule has implications into technological applications such as natural language processing for AI assistants like Siri and Google Voice Assistant.

Another interesting idea I was able to analyze is the idea that there is no special physical organs for speaking as articulated in the Gussenhoven article, and that instead many organs of speech have primary functions for the respiratory and digestive system. However, I find it intriguing how several organs of speech are in fact responsible for the phonological system that we use to communicate and how structure and function relates to the way we communicate as humans. Through understanding how various structural features contribute to specific phonological distinctions, it provides context how our words and their meanings are simply shaped by sounds created through structural features. For example, explaining how vowels are created when the vocal folds vibrate and the distinctions between them open up the question of how vowels serve a phonological role with all their variation.

Lastly, an impression that I would love to explore and learn more about is the impact of different languages on phonology. As a bilingual speaker of English and Tagalog, it would be interesting to do a comparative analysis similar to what Kenstowicz did and figure out the phonological similarities and differences of how the languages compare to each. One example that I learned today in fact is that the Tagalog word “kaibigan” can mean friend or lover depending on the phonological differences of the ‘big’ with a stressed or unstressed syllable.