EXERCISES FOR WEEK 4: INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

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EXERCISE 1 Phonemes, allophones, complementary distribution, and free variation

1. Below is a list of words that contain aspirated and unaspirated velar oral stops. Are the aspirated
and unaspirated stops different phonemes or allophones of the same phoneme? If they are
allophones, state the nature of their complementary distribution.
Hint: First see if there are minimal pairs.

a. skill [skɪl] g. school [skul]

b. ask [æsk] h. skull [skʌl]
c. kill [khɪl] i. cool [khul]
d. Cass [khæs] j. key [khi]
e. king [khɪŋ] k. cull [khʌl]
f. ski [ski] l. ink [ɪŋk]

2. In English, the lateral sound l is articulated in either the alveolar position [l] or the velar position
[ɫ]. (The [~] through the center of the l is a diacritic that indicates it is pronounced with the
tongue in the velar position.) After examining the list below, answer the following questions:
a. Are the twolsounds different phonemes or allophones of the same phoneme?
b. What data do you have to back up your conclusion?
lit [lɪt] lull [ɫʌɫ] leak [lik]
lame [lem] lea [li] lap[læp]
all [ɔɫ] low [ɫo] lop [ɫap]
let [lεt] loot [ɫut] Luke [ɫuk]
late [let] lay [le] law [ɫɔ]
lick [lɪk] feel [fiɫ]

3. Write the broad transcription for the following words. (The diacritical mark [:] means that the
vowel is long.)
a. [thap]
b. [phæ̃m]
c. [kho:d]

4. Some people pronounce difficult as /dɪfɪkəlt/, while others say /dɪfəkəlt. /ɪ/ and /ə/are distinctive
elsewhere. (They form minimal pairs.) What is the phenomenon illustrated by the multiple
pronunciations of difficult ? Give three other examples of this phonological phenomenon.

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EXERCISE 2 Distinctive features and natural classes

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1. Determine which of the lettered entries below constitute natural classes. In each case that a
natural class exists, name the features that define that class.

a. /k, g, ŋ/

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b. /n, l, r/

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c. /p, r, θ, g/

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d. /p, b, m/

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e. /i, æ, e, ε/

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2. In each of the lettered entries below, one sound does not fi t. Circle it. Give the features of the
natural class of the remaining sounds.

a. /u, o, ʊ, i/

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b. /r, p, w, y, l/

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c. /g, n, v, p, d, m/

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EXERCISE 3 Phonological processes

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1. Consider the following: immoral, inconclusive, indistinct, immodest, imbalance, inconclusive,
inconceivable, indestructible, improbable, and insoluble. Why are there three phonetic variations
of the prefix meaning “not” in this list? Describe the phonological process involved.

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2. Examine the following corpus of data from the Angas language of Nigeria. 2 How many nasal
phonemes are there? Determine the allophones for each of the nasal phonemes. What
phonological process is represented in this exercise?

a. [mut] to die h. [pampam̥] bread

b. [ŋgak] snake i. [nta zum̥] wasp
c. [ndarm̥] bark j. [nf w arm̥] head cold
d. [nuŋ̥] to ripen k. [mɓlm̥] to lick
e. [mbaŋga] drum l. [tam̥] bench
f. [dondon̥] yesterday m. [poti] sky
g. [dεŋ̥] to drag

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Note: A raised diacritic [w] means that the consonant is rounded. [ɓ] stands for a voiced
implosive bilabial stop.

3. In the data from the Angas language, do you see any phonemes, positions of phonemes, and
combinations of phonemes that would not occur in English? If so, list them.

4. Consider the following:

sign /sayn/ but signature /sɪgnəčr̩/ and signal /sɪgnəl/
paradigm /pærədaym/ but paradigmatic / pærədɪgmætɪk/
design /disayn/ but designate /dεsɪgnet/
resign /risayn/ but resignation /rεsɪgnešɪn/

Can you figure out what phonological process is occurring in the pairs of words above?

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5. If English speakers are asked to pluralize the following made-up nouns, they would do so as
shown (see Box 10-1, The Wug Test).

boo /bu/ as boos /buz/ trut /trʌt/ as t ruts /trʌts/

hap /hæp/ as haps /hæps/ pauk /pɔk/ as pauks /pɔks/
nurch /nərč/ as nurches /nərčəz/ boag /bog/ as boags /bogz/
glab /glæb/ as glabs /glæbz/ kunch /kʌnč/ as kunches /kʌnčəz/

What phonological process is involved in the distribution of the three variations of the
plural?

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6. English speakers might say the word warmth as /wɔrmpθ/, hamster as /hæmpstər/, and the last
name of the linguist Noam Chomsky as /čampski/. What optional phonological process is involved
and why does it occur in these situations?

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Review of terms and concepts: phonology

1. Phonology is concerned with ______________.
2. In English, [t] and [th] are ______________.
3. In English, [t] and [b] are ______________.
4. [bɔl] and [hɔl] is a ______________.
5. The choice of which allophone of the phoneme /p/ to use in a specific phonetic environment is
_____________.
6. The fact that [k] and [k h ] do not occur in the same phonetic environment is an example of
______________ and indicates that [k] and [k h ] are ______________.
7. The fact that we could say economics as [ikə˜nãmɪks] or [ɪkə˜nãmɪks] is an example of
_____________.
8. What does the diacritic in number 7 indicate? What phonological process is operating on the
vowels in this example? Is the process optional or obligatory? ______________
9. If two sounds form minimal pairs, the two sounds are ______________.
10. If two sounds cannot be found to form minimal pairs, they are not different phonemes. This
statement is ______________ (true or false).
11. A distinctive feature is ______________.
12. A phoneme can be thought of as ______________.
13. A ______________ lists sound segments along the horizontal axis, and distinctive features are on
the vertical axis.

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14. Examine Table 3-2. Which sounds would be classified as:
a. [+cons], [+nasal], [+high], [–ant]
b. [+high], [+back], [+tense], [+rounded]
c. [+voiced], [–son], [–nasal], [+cont], [+ant], [+strid]
15. [–continuant, –voice] describes a ______________ of speech sounds called ______________.
16. The concept of natural classes allows us to ______________.
17. Aspiration of voiceless stops at the beginning of a syllable and before a stressed vowel is an
example of what type of phonological process? ______________
18. Processes, such as the one in number 17, usually modify a ______________.
19. The three types of assimilation mentioned in the text are ______________, ______________,
and ______________.
20. Changes in syllabicity, deletion, and insertion are examples of ____________________________.
21. Such processes as those mentioned in number 20 differ from the processes in number 17 in that
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22. Sounds that are more frequently used in a language, acquired earlier, and are simpler to
articulate are said to be ___________________________________________________________.
23. Speech usually provides more information than is necessary to understand the meaning of an
utterance. This characteristic is called ________________________________________________.

End-of-chapter exercises
1. The data listed below is from Diegueño, a Native American language. There are many ways to
form plural verbs in this language. This exercise only deals with the most common way of doing
this. Determine the rules for forming plurals in Diegueño. Take into account that the final vowel
of a verb is always stressed. Long vowels are indicated by the [:] symbol. As the label implies, long
vowels are ones produced with longer duration than other vowels, including longer versions of
the same sounding shorter vowel. (Data from: Douglas C. Walker, “Diegueño Plural Formation,”
Linguistic Notes from La Jolla 4, University of California San Diego, 1970, 1–16;
www.pauldelacy.net/polarity/Walker-1970-Diegueno.pdf. You can see this paper for an answer
to this exercise and a more complete explanation of Diegueño plural formation.)

Singular Plural Definition

a. /Lyap/ /Lya:p/ (to burn)
b. /muL/ /mu:L/ (to gather)
c. /ču:puL/ /ču:pu:L/ (to boil)
d. /sa:w/ /saw/ (to eat)
e. /šu:pit/ /šu:pi:t/ (to close)
f. /si:/ /sič/ (to drink) *
g. /ma:/ /ma:č/ (to eat soft things)
* Disregard the /č/ in the last two examples in terms of your analysis.

2. The diacritic [:] after a vowel means that the vowel is long; that is, it is produced a little longer
than other vowels. Describe the process occurring in the following set of English words. State the
rule as generally as you can.
[næp] [næ:b]
[kot] [ko:d]
[bɪt] [bɪ:d]
[lut] [lu:d]/[lu:]
[mit] [mi:d]
[sis] [si:ǰ]