Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Lang1055 Introduction to the Study of Language University of South Australia

Language Analysis Task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Due midday, Friday 25 April 2014

This language analysis task is worth 25% of your final result Unless you have requested an extension before the due date, any late submissions will lose 10% of the possible mark per day, and will not be accepted later than one week after the due date. This task must be submitted electronically via the course website before the deadline. To avoid character problems, use the font Charis SIL (except in cases of e.g. Arabic, Chinese, Japanese characters). If you think that some characters or symbols youve written on your computer might not turn out right on my computer, then feel free to submit a hard-copy of your task to your lecturer in class or to the lecturers box outside room B1-14 (Magill campus).

Instructions:
1. Complete the questions below (at least 12 point font). For this task, youll have to use Charis SIL, or everything will probably fall apart. For details on the Charis SIL font and how to get it, have a look at the page Fonts on the course website; or else the section in the Course Outline. Make sure your details (name, student ID) are on the front page somewhere! The relevant feedback sheet shows the key components of the task that is, the areas which I will take into account in assessing it. So you might want to have a look at the feedback sheet on the course website. Its likely to improve your grade, if you know what Im looking for before you start. Submit your task before midday on the due date.

2. 3.

3.

There are 8 questions you must answer. All students do the same thing for Questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8. Questions 3 and 6 are language-specific answer one version of Question 3 and one version of Question 6 (unfortunately Arabic isnt an option in this assignment, though it will be in the other assessment tasks). You cannot answer Questions 3 and 6 using the data of your native language. While you are working out the answers to these problems, you can work on your own, or discuss your ideas together with a few other students. However when it comes to writing up your final solution to submit, you must do this on your own. That is, every student must hand in a solution where you thought about exactly what evidence youd use, where you determined the final solution, where you formatted it, etc. without discussing that with other students.

Study Period 2, 2014

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Question 1 (all students to answer)

a) English voiced oral stops (or plosives) are made at three places of articulation. What are the three places, and what are the IPA symbols for each of the three voiced stops? Place 1: Place 2: Place 3: b) Voiced stop symbol: Voiced stop symbol: Voiced stop symbol:

What is the difference between the plosive (or oral stop) [b] and the nasal (or nasal stop) [m] in terms of articulation? That is, what do you do differently in your mouth to produce [b] versus [m]? On the vowel charts for Australian and New Zealand English shown in the lecture and given below (taken from Robert Mannells page at Macquarie University, which used to be at http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/speech/ phonetics/phonetics/ausenglish/auseng_vowels.html), a position is given for the Australian English monophthong (pure vowel) in the word hair. There is no corresponding word hair on the New Zealand English monophthong chart (nor, on the website, for the British RP (Received Pronunciation) nor the US English monophthong charts). Given that all these varieties of English have the word hair, why do you think its not marked on these non -Australian monophthong charts?

c)

Study Period 2, 2014

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Question 2 (all students to answer)

For this question youll need to look at an IPA chart. There is one in the lecture notes, and many others are available on the web, and in most linguistics textbooks. The exact terminology used sometimes varies slightly, but thats OK, any of the possible terms is fine. Part A What is the phonetic description of the following consonants? e.g. e.g. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. [t] [] [] [] [] [] [] [r] [] voiceless alveolar stop (or voiceless alveolar plosive; or voiceless unaspirated alveolar stop) voiceless velarized alveolar lateral approximant

Part B What is the phonetic description of the following vowels? e.g. e.g. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. [i] [] [e] [y] [] [u] [ ] high front unrounded vowel (additionally could add e.g. tense, short) high back rounded lax vowel (additionally could add e.g. short)

Study Period 2, 2014

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Question 3 (do ONE language, NOT your native language)

Q3 Chinese
Go to the Language analysis task, part A block on the course website. Youll see the data for Question 3 there. For each language, there are some practice words that you can try transcribing, plus a transcription of those practice words. Then there are the words that you will need for this question, with individual words in .wav files, and the set of words together in an .mp3 file. You should be able to click on the words and hear them on your computer. Note that I have carefully picked words whose pronunciation may be in conflict with their (traditional) spelling; some of the words may consist of more than one word, but ignore that for this exercise, and treat them as single words. Listen to the five words for Question 3 (Chinese). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below. Note that the tones are indicated by lines after the transcriptions a line at the top indicates a high tone, a line at the bottom indicates a low tone, a line going up indicates a rising tone, etc. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. [s tilj [ts mi [shoti [fut n [tjtj ] ] ] ] ] [ tilj [ts mi [ oti [fuq n [jiji ] ] ] ] ] [ tilj [ts mi [oti [fyt n [tjtj ] ] ] ] ]

Q3 English

Go to the Language analysis task, part A block on the course website. Youll see the data for Question 3 there. For each language, there are some practice words that you can try transcribing, plus a transcription of those practice words. Then there are the words that you will need for this question, with individual words in .wav files, and the set of words together in an .mp3 file. You should be able to click on the words and hear them on your computer. Note that I have carefully picked words whose pronunciation may be in conflict with their (traditional) spelling; some of the words may consist of more than one word, but ignore that for this exercise, and treat them as single words. Listen to the five words for Question 3 (English). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. [ke p] [k nes] [ki p] [k nes] [ki p] [k es]

[pkan] [pkan] [pkun] [sumns] [ npt] [sumnz] [ n pt] [samns] [ mpt] 4 Tim Curnow

Study Period 2, 2014

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Q3 French

Go to the Language analysis task, part A block on the course website. Youll see the data for Question 3 there. For each language, there are some practice words that you can try transcribing, plus a transcription of those practice words. Then there are the words that you will need for this question, with individual words in .wav files, and the set of words together in an .mp3 file. You should be able to click on the words and hear them on your computer. Note that I have carefully picked words whose pronunciation may be in conflict with their (traditional) spelling; some of the words may consist of more than one word, but ignore that for this exercise, and treat them as single words. Listen to the five words for Question 3 (French). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. [tzz] [ peti ] [lapom] [leos] [lavej] [trz] [ pti] [lapum] [leoz] [labej] [teiz] [pti] [lapom] [leozz] [labaj]

Q3 German

Go to the Language analysis task, part A block on the course website. Youll see the data for Question 3 there. For each language, there are some practice words that you can try transcribing, plus a transcription of those practice words. Then there are the words that you will need for this question, with individual words in .wav files, and the set of words together in an .mp3 file. You should be able to click on the words and hear them on your computer. Note that I have carefully picked words whose pronunciation may be in conflict with their (traditional) spelling; some of the words may consist of more than one word, but ignore that for this exercise, and treat them as single words. Listen to the six words for Question 3 (German). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. [daskni ] [dasefen s] [a nmpana] [dasl p] [dile] [estn] [dasni ] [dasfen s] [a numpan] [dasl p] [dile] [estn] [daskni ] [dasfen s] [a nmpana] [dasl p] [dile ] [estn]

Study Period 2, 2014

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Q3 Indonesian

Go to the Language analysis task, part A block on the course website. Youll see the data for Question 3 there. For each language, there are some practice words that you can try transcribing, plus a transcription of those practice words. Then there are the words that you will need for this question, with individual words in .wav files, and the set of words together in an .mp3 file. You should be able to click on the words and hear them on your computer. Note that I have carefully picked words whose pronunciation may be in conflict with their (traditional) spelling; some of the words may consist of more than one word, but ignore that for this exercise, and treat them as single words. Listen to the five words for Question 3 (Indonesian). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. [dan] [demokasi] [bente] [tantik] [rentana] [dnan] [dmokasi] [benten] [tanti] [rntana] [dean] [dmokrasi] [bente] [tanti] [rntana]

Q3 Italian

Go to the Language analysis task, part A block on the course website. Youll see the data for Question 3 there. For each language, there are some practice words that you can try transcribing, plus a transcription of those practice words. Then there are the words that you will need for this question, with individual words in .wav files, and the set of words together in an .mp3 file. You should be able to click on the words and hear them on your computer. Note that I have carefully picked words whose pronunciation may be in conflict with their (traditional) spelling; some of the words may consist of more than one word, but ignore that for this exercise, and treat them as single words. Listen to the five words for Question 3 (Italian). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. [bnne] [laabbja] [ilfatto] [blo] [lamelodia] [bne] [laabia] [ilfato] [bllu] [lamelodia] [bni] [larabbja] [ilfatto] [bllo] [lamelodja]

Study Period 2, 2014

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Q3 Japanese

Go to the Language analysis task, part A block on the course website. Youll see the data for Question 3 there. For each language, there are some practice words that you can try transcribing, plus a transcription of those practice words. Then there are the words that you will need for this question, with individual words in .wav files, and the set of words together in an .mp3 file. You should be able to click on the words and hear them on your computer. Note that I have carefully picked words whose pronunciation may be in conflict with their (traditional) spelling; some of the words may consist of more than one word, but ignore that for this exercise, and treat them as single words. Listen to the six words for Question 3 (Japanese). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below (the pitch accent is given to the right; ignore it): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. [ ] [itsai] [o din] [tsnami] [o sawai] [itaate] [ ] [itsgai] [o din] [tsnami] [osaai] [itaa te] [ sh ] [itsuai] [o di] [tsunami] [o saai] [itaatte] (HL) (LHL) (HHL) (LHL) (HHLLL) (LHLL)

Q3 Spanish

Go to the Language analysis task, part A block on the course website. Youll see the data for Question 3 there. For each language, there are some practice words that you can try transcribing, plus a transcription of those practice words. Then there are the words that you will need for this question, with individual words in .wav files, and the set of words together in an .mp3 file. You should be able to click on the words and hear them on your computer. Note that I have carefully picked words whose pronunciation may be in conflict with their (traditional) spelling; some of the words may consist of more than one word, but ignore that for this exercise, and treat them as single words. Listen to the five words for Question 3 (Spanish). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. [karro] [ubas] [tambje] [kance] [k mbinasjons] [karo] [uvas] [tambien] [kanse] [k mbinasjons] 7 [caro] [uas] [tambjen] [kanse] [k mbinasions] Tim Curnow

Study Period 2, 2014

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Question 4 (all students to answer)

Go to the Language analysis task, part A block on the course website. Youll see the data for Question 4 there. First off, there are some practice words that you can try transcribing, plus a transcription of those practice words. Then there are the words that you will need for this question, with individual words in .wav files, and the set of words together in an .mp3 file. You should be able to click on the words and hear them on your computer. Listen to the five (invented) words listed there. Attempt to transcribe those five words as well as you can using IPA phonetic transcription. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Question 5 (all students to answer)

Use the standard IPA phonemic transcription system for English given on the course website from the Macquarie Dictionary to transcribe the following limerick: There was a young lady named Smith, whose virtue was mostly a myth, she said Try as I can, I cant find a man, who its fun to be virtuous with. Remember, a phonemic transcription wont indicate capital letters. Feel free to leave in commas (though its not technically part of the transcription). Youll need to indicate the stress for any words which have more than one syllable. Transcription: wz

Study Period 2, 2014

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Question 6 (do ONE language, NOT your native language)

Q6 Chinese
One of the phonological rules which operates in Chinese is the following: 1 /k/ [t] / ___ i and ___ y [k] elsewhere (that is, before high front vowels)

[t] is a voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate [k] is a voiceless velar stop Part A Given the following list of Chinese words in phonological transcription, indicate whether the /k/ in each word would be produced as [t] or as [k]: Phonological [t] or [k] transcription k u ki n k i m iku k ktsi [k] u [ ]i n [ ] i m i[ ]u [ ] [ ]tsi dog between give USA brother tangerine Phonological [t] or [k] transcription ts k ki u w nk b k n ts nk l ku n ts [ ] [ ]i u w n[ ] b [ ] n ts n[ ] l [ ]u n self nineteen toy biscuit respect hotel

Part B Here are some more Chinese words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [t], a voiceless aspirated alveolo-palatal affricate, and [k], a voiceless aspirated velar stop. Transcription [t] [t] [k] seu [k]n t [k] i li [k]uai
1

Transcription seven request cough read open cool [t]i n [k] [t] [t] [k] u m [t] n money approve go interest mouth mother

Note that there are several different ideas about the best way to analyse Chinese phonologically. I have used one of these ideas here it doesnt actually matter which version we use for this question.

Study Period 2, 2014

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Given the set of words above, are [t] and [k] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution (that is, if the two can occur in the same places in words), give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution (that is, the two are allophones of a single phoneme), design a phonological rule like the one at this start of this question to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part C Given the combined two sets of words, are [k] and [k] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution, give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution, design a phonological rule like that above to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part D Is there anything similar about the phonological rule at the start of this question, and the rule or rules you developed in Parts B or C? Could you generalize and write a single more abstract rule?

Q6 English
One of the phonological rules which operates in English is the following: 2 /n/ [n] s (that is, at the beginning of words after s) [n] elsewhere [n] is a voiceless alveolar nasal [n] is a voiced alveolar nasal Part A Given the following list of English words in phonological transcription, indicate whether the /n/ would be produced as [n] or as [n] Phonological transcription sne l sn ne t v sn p n l n trl [n] or [n] s[ n ]e l s[ ] [ ]e t v s[ ] p [ ] l [ ] trl snail snigger native snip niggle natural Phonological transcription na sn na s sna d ne l snt [n] or [n] [ ]a s[ ] [ ]a s s[ ]a d [ ]e l s[ ]t now snag nice snide nail snot

Actually the rule is more complex than this. But it will do for our purposes.

Study Period 2, 2014

10

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Part B Here are some more English words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [m], a voiceless bilabial nasal, and [m], a voiced bilabial nasal. Transcription s[m] l [m]a t [m]e l s[m]a t s[m] [m] l small might mail smite smog mall Transcription [m]t [m]e z [m]a s s[m]a l s[m]ut s[m]u much smooth maze mice smile smooch

Given this set of words, are [m] and [m] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution (that is, if the two can occur in the same places in words), give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution (that is, the two are allophones of a single phoneme), design a phonological rule like the one at the start of this question to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part C Given the combined two sets of words, are [m] and [n] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution, give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution, design a phonological rule like that above to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part D Is there anything similar about the phonological rule at the start of this question, and the rule or rules you developed in Parts B and/or C? Could you generalize and write a single more abstract rule?

Study Period 2, 2014

11

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Q6 French
One of the phonological rules which operates in French is the following: 3 /y/ [] / ___ V (that is, before a vowel) [y] elsewhere [] is a voiced labial-palatal approximant [y] is a voiced rounded front high vowel Part A Given the following list of French words in phonological transcription, indicate whether the /y/ would be produced as [] or as [y]: Phonological transcription yin ly syd yit byo lyi [] or [y] []in l[ ] s[ ]d [ ]it b[ ]o l[ ]i ruin read south eight office him Phonological transcription sye ty ty y syav yls [] or [y] s[ ]e t[ ] t[ ] [ ] s[ ]av [ ]ls sweat exhausting you road smooth ulcer

Part B Here are some more French words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [w], a voiced labial-velar approximant, and [u], a voiced high back rounded vowel. Transcription b[w]a t[u] l[w]a b[u]l f[u]l l[w]i drink all law ball crowd Louis Transcription [w]i f[w] [u]blije t[u]p t[w]a k[u]l yes whip forget troop three colour

The actual rule in French is slightly more complex than this it depends whether the /y/ comes after a single consonant or two consonants but this will do for our purposes.
3

Study Period 2, 2014

12

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Given this set of words, are [w] and [u] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution (that is, if the two can occur in the same places in words), give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution (that is, the two are allophones of a single phoneme), design a phonological rule like the one at the start of this question to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part C Given the combined two sets of words, are [y] and [u] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution, give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution, design a phonological rule like that above to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part D Is there anything similar about the phonological rule at the start of this question, and the rule or rules you developed in Parts B and/or C? Could you generalize and write a single more abstract rule?

Q6 German
One of the phonological rules which operates in German is the following:4 /t/ [t] / ___ and s ___ (i.e. after and after s) [t] elsewhere [t] is a voiceless unaspirated alveolar stop [t] is a voiceless aspirated alveolar stop Part A Given the following list of German words in phonological transcription, indicate whether the t would be produced as [t] or as [t] Phonological [t] or [t] transcription ta p tan tam a tm bt t n [t]a p [ ]an [ ]am a [ ]m
pole fir trunk breath

Phonological [t] or [t] transcription ba tant ste t k eta sta x ti m ba [ ]an[ ] help s[ ]e [ ] k e[ ]a s[ ]a x [ ]i m
aesthetics storey Austria team

b[ ] [ ] n confirm

The actual rule in German is slightly more complex than this, but this will do for our purposes.

Study Period 2, 2014

13

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Part B Here are some more German words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [p], a voiceless unaspirated bilabial stop, and [p], a voiceless aspirated bilabial stop. Transcription as[p]kt o [p]a [p]ak [p]ita l ba [p]i l a[p]eti t aspect grandad pile hospital example appetite Transcription [p]an ta[p]e t [p]a x vs[p] s[p]so b[p]a kn breakdown wallpaper language wasp espresso load

Given this set of words, are [p] and [p] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution (that is, if the two can occur in the same places in words), give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution (that is, the two are allophones of a single phoneme), design a phonological rule like the one at the start of this question to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part C Given the combined two sets of words, are [t] and [p] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution, give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution, design a phonological rule like that above to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part D Is there anything similar about the phonological rule at the start of this question, and the rule or rules you developed in Parts B and/or C? Could you generalize and write a single more abstract rule?

Study Period 2, 2014

14

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Q6 Italian
One of the phonological rules which operates in Italian is the following:5 /a/ [a ] CV (That is, you only get [a ] in stressed syllables, and then only if it is directly followed by a single consonant and then a vowel. So, you dont get [a ] if the syllable is unstressed; you dont get [a ] if there is no consonant after it; you dont get [a ] if there are two consonants after it; and you dont get [a ] if the consonant after it is at the end of the word.) [a] elsewhere [a] is a short low central vowel [a ] is a long low central vowel Part A Given the following list of Italian words in phonological transcription, indicate whether the a would be produced as [a ] or as [a] Phonological transcription kane davvero alto anke k za andae mano [a ] or [a] k[a ]ne d[ ]vvero [ ]lto [ ]nke k z[ ] m[ ]no dog really tall also thing hand Phonological transcription gatto fae sale kadde pasta bavo mamma [a ] or [a] g[ ]tto f[ ]e s[ ]le k[ ]dde p[ ]st[ ] b[ ]vo cat do salt she fell dough good

[ ]nd[ ]e go

m[ ]mm[ ] mother

Part B Here are some more Italian words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [i ] and [i] (high front unrounded vowels, long and short respectively). Transcription v[i]tto kk[i] f[i ]lo am[i ][i] [i ]a d[i][i]tto
5

food eyes string friends rage straight

Transcription p[i]sta runway v[i ]no ven[i ]e vent[i] f[i]nto kamm[i ]no wine come twenty fake I walk

s[i]mpat[i]ko nice

The actual rule in Italian is slightly more complex, but this will do for our purposes. For Italian phonology, // and // count as single consonants; long consonants count as two consonants.

Study Period 2, 2014

15

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Given this set of words, are [i ] and [i] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution (that is, if the two can occur in the same places in words), give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution (that is, the two are allophones of a single phoneme), design a phonological rule like the one at the start of the question to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part C Given the combined two sets of words, are [a] and [i] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution, give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution, design a phonological rule like that above to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part D Is there anything similar about the phonological rule at the start of the question, and the rule or rules you developed in Parts B and/or C? Could you generalize and write a single more abstract rule?

Q6 Indonesian
One of the phonological rules which operates in Indonesian is the following: 6 /a/ [] / Cnasal (i.e. after a nasal consonant, e.g. [m], [n] and []) [a] elsewhere [] is a nasalised central low vowel [a] is an (unnasalised) central low vowel Part A Given the following list of Indonesian words in phonological transcription, indicate whether the /a/ would be produced as [] or as [a]: Phonological transcription umah bka pua anak aik sama alan [] or [a] um[]h pu[ ] [ ]n[ ]k [ ]ik s[ ]m[ ] [ ]l[ ]n house have child infatuated equal road bk[ ] work Phonological transcription ada kanto makan kakak nama ani [] or [a] [ ]d[ ] k[ ]nto k[ ]k[ ]k n[ ]m[ ] [ ]ni there is office sibling name warp

m[ ]k[ ]n eat

The actual rule in Indonesian is more complex, but this will do for our purposes.

Study Period 2, 2014

16

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Part B Here are some more Indonesian words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [] and [i], high front unrounded vowels, nasalised and unnasalised respectively. Transcription m[]mba har[i] lb[i]h b[]s p[i]ntu [i]n[] b[i]u pulpit day more cruel door this blue Transcription lak[i] pon[]s [i]bu bn[]h a[]n bn[i] kam[] man verdict mother seed wind hate we (exclusive)

Given this set of words, are [] and [i] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution (that is, if the two can occur in the same places in words), give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution (that is, the two are allophones of a single phoneme), design a phonological rule like the one at the start of the question to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part C Given the combined two sets of words, are [a] and [i] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution, give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution, design a phonological rule like that above to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part D Is there anything similar about the phonological rule at the start of the question, and the rule or rules you developed in Parts B and/or C? Could you generalize and write a single more abstract rule?

Study Period 2, 2014

17

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Q6 Japanese
One of the phonological rules which operates in Japanese is the following: 7 /i/ [i] Cvoiceless ___ Cvoiceless (i.e. between voiceless consonants) [i] elsewhere

[i] is a voiceless high front unrounded vowel [i] is a voiced high front unrounded vowel Part A Given the following list of apanese words in phonological transcription (pitch accent is not marked), indicate whether the i would be produced as [i] or as [i] Phonological [i] or [i] transcription kik tikai hikari sasimi k[i]k midori m[ ]dor[ ] t[ ]ka[ ] h[ ]kar[ ] sas[ ]m[ ] Phonological [i] or [i] transcription kimo kita siba ziko sikk k[ ]mo k[ ]ta s[ ]ba z[ ]ko s[ ]kk

listen green near light a day

liver north firewood accident performance

Part B Here are some more Japanese words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [], a voiceless high back unrounded vowel, and [], a voiced high back unrounded vowel. Transcription k[]sa s[]ki k[]s[]ri h[]j[] k[]mo grass spider opening medicine winter Transcription s[]ppai s[]s[]m[] sjok[]zi t[]k[]r[] make sour advance meal

h[]k[]m[] public service

The actual rule in Japanese is slightly more complex since word-final i also may be [i], and the pitch accent interacts with this rule but this will do for our purposes.
7

Study Period 2, 2014

18

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Given this set of words, are [] and [] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution (that is, if the two can occur in the same places in words), give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution (that is, the two are allophones of a single phoneme), design a phonological rule like the one in Part A above to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part C Given the combined two sets of words, are [i] and [] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution, give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution, design a phonological rule like that above to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part D Is there anything similar about the phonological rule at the start of the question, and the rule or rules you developed in Parts B and/or C? Could you generalize and write a single more abstract rule?

Q6 Spanish
One of the phonological rules which operates in Spanish is the following: 8 /b/ [] V V (i.e. between vowels) [b] elsewhere [] is a voiced bilabial fricative [b] is a voiced bilabial stop Part A Given the following list of Spanish words in (Latin American) phonological transcription, indicate whether the b would be produced as [] or as [b] Phonological [] or [b] transcription baso xabali lababo bi uba baka
8

Phonological [] or [b] transcription arm wild boar I saw grape cow sombeo bao abol kabesa xabon baso som[ ]eo hat [ ]ao a[ ]ol ka[ ]esa xa[ ]on [ ]aso bathroom tree head soap glass

[b]aso xa[ ]ali [ ]i u[ ]a [ ]aka

la[ ]a[ ]o washbasin

The actual rule in Spanish is slightly more complex than this, but this will do for our purposes.

Study Period 2, 2014

19

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Part B Here are some more Spanish words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [], a voiced dental fricative, and [d], a voiced dental stop (really should be [d], but its too hard to see!) Transcription [d]jente sali[]a [d]eeo o[d]o espal[d]a xu[]ia tooth exit right fat back bean Transcription an[d]a ka[]a mo[]a [d]i to[]o walk each fashion I gave all

Given this set of words, are [] and [d] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution (that is, if the two can occur in the same places in words), give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution (that is, the two are allophones of a single phoneme), design a phonological rule like the one at the start of the question to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part C Given the combined two sets of words, are [b] and [d] in complementary distribution or contrastive distribution? If you think they are in contrastive distribution, give evidence of it. If you think they are in complementary distribution, design a phonological rule like that above to show which allophone occurs in what environment. Part D Is there anything similar about the phonological rule at the start of the question, and the rule or rules you developed in Parts B and/or C? Could you generalize and write a single more abstract rule?

Study Period 2, 2014

20

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology

Lang1055

Question 7 (all students to answer)

Given below is a series of words from Pipil in a phonetic transcription, with their translation into English. Based on this data, establish whether the alveolar lateral [l] and the alveolar lateral fricative [] belong to separate phonemes in Pipil, or are allophones of a single phoneme. If they belong to separate phonemes, give evidence that would support this; if they are allophones of a single phoneme, indicate which environment (context) each allophone occurs in, by writing a rule. Once youve done that, then establish whether the voiceless alveolar stop [t] and the ejective alveolar stop [t] are allophones of a single phoneme or belong to separate phonemes. If they belong to separate phonemes, give evidence that would support this; if they are allophones of a single phoneme, indicate which environment (context) each allophone occurs in, by writing a rule. nakat titwiz ihsatuk lamat pitsin meat you come awake old lady boy tatawa wiut istit tihan pay dove fingernail hen tui takat kaat ka intestines man frog house

tehtetan people

komato rainbow

litihtiuka decorate

Question 8 (all students to answer)

Given below is a series of words from Zoque of Chimalpa, a language of Mexico, in a phonetic transcription, with their translation into English. Note that you should treat [ts] and [t] as single sounds. Based on the data, for each of the sets of sounds given below, decide whether the sounds are separate phonemes (and give a justification for this) or allophones of a single phoneme (and give a rule showing which allophone occurs in which environment). (a) (b) (c) (d) [s] and [] [s] and [ts] [a] and [a ] [k] and [k]

Study Period 2, 2014

21

Tim Curnow

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 hu ki kpa m i i s sa wa pi ti hu kpa na s s k ka pe i t apu i i i mi stu t kin hu tpa pu i u pi k us pe tpa k i e k pa i nu u su ini tum ko ke i pa a mpa niptu kk makta sa n yukka ppa h p t s a wat t k sa mpa te p cigarette do toy meat wind tamale smoke dirt bean ringlet boy grandson cane cat spindle harvest yellow crocodile fingernail sweep food stomach skunk bee mosquito right fish bathe count finished sowing four armadillo raise mouth snot flea house heat this

Lang1055

Study Period 2, 2014

22

Tim Curnow