Review of Terms and Concepts: Phonology (Unit 3)

Review of Terms and Concepts: Phonology (Unit 3)
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 [kʰ] do not occur in the same phonetic
environment is an example of (answer #1) and indicates that [k]
and [kʰ] are
_____________________________________________.
7. The fact that we could say economics as [ikǝnamIks] or
[ƐkǝnãmIks] 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 T/F.
__________________.
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.
14. Examine the table. 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
____________________________________.
20. Changes in syllabicity, deletion, and insertion are examples of
____________________________________.
21. Sounds that are more frequently used in a language, acquired
earlier, and are simpler to articulate are said to
be__________________.
22. Speech usually provides more information than is necessary
to understand the meaning of an utterance. This characteristic is
called __________________.
Exercise 3: Phonological Processes
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.
2. Examine the following corpus of data from the Angas language of Nigeria. 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. [nfwarm̥] head cold
d. [nuŋ̥] to ripen k. [mɓlm̥] to lick
e. [mbaŋga] drum l. [tam̥] bench
f. [dondon̥] yesterday m. [poti] sky
g. [dɛŋ̥] to drag
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? List
them.
4.Consider the following:
sign /sayn/ but signature / sɪgnəčr̩/ and signal /sɪgnəl/
paradigm /pærədaym/ but paradigmatic / pærədɪgmætɪk/
design /disayn/ but designate /dɛsɪgnet/
resign /risayn/ but resignation /rɛsɪgnešɪn/
Can you figure out what phonological process is occurring in the pairs of words
above?
5.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.
Answer:
Review of Terms and Concepts: Phonology
1.Phonology is concerned with the intrinsic systems used to
organize speech sounds.
2. In English, [t] and [tʰ] are allophones.
3. In English, [t] and [b] are different phonemes.
4. [bɔl] and [hɔl] is a minimal pair.
5. The choice of which allophone of the phoneme /p/ to use in a
specific phonetic environment is predictable.
6. The fact that [k] and [kʰ] do not occur in the same phonetic
environment is an example of (answer #1) and indicates that [k]
and [kʰ] are complementary distribution, allophones of the
phoneme /k/.
7. The fact that we could say economics as [ikǝnamIks] or
[ƐkǝnãmIks] is an example of free variation.
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? nasalization, manner
assimilation, obligatory.
9. If two sounds form minimal pairs, the two sounds are different
phonemes.
10.If two sounds cannot be found to form minimal pairs, they are
not different phonemes. This statement is T/F. Answer=False.
11. A distinctive feature is distinguishes one linguistic unit
from another.
12. A phoneme can be thought of as the sum of all of its
distinctive features.
13. A feature matrix lists sound segments along the horizontal
axis, and distinctive features are on the vertical axis.
14. Examine the table. Which sounds would be classified as:
a. [+cons], [+nasal], [+high], [-ant]
b. [+high], [+back], [+tense], [+rounded]
c. [+voiced], [-son], [-nasal], [+cont], [+ant], [+strid]
a. [ŋ]
b. [u]
c. [v]
15. [-continuant, -voice] describes a natural class of speech
sounds called voiceless.
16. The concept of natural classes allows us to see
relationships between sounds more easily.
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? Obligatory
18. Processes, such as the one in number 17, usually modify a
difficult string of phonetic units.
19. The three types of assimilation mentioned in the text are
voice, manner, and place.
20. Changes in syllabicity, deletion, and insertion are examples of
optional phonological processes.
21. Sounds that are more frequently used in a language, acquired
earlier, and are simpler to articulate are said to be unmarked.
22. Speech usually provides more information than is necessary
to understand the meaning of an utterance. This characteristic is
called redundancy.
Answer
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.
Answer: In these examples, the prefixes im and in translate to not. Yet
these two spellings represent three pronunciations: /im/, /m/, and /In,/.
If we look at the phonetic segment that follows these prefixes in each
word, a pattern emerges.
- The bilabial /m/ is followed by /p/, which is also a bilabial.
- The alveolar /n/ is followed by an alveolar /t/.
- The velar /n,/ is followed by the velar /k/.
The speaker, in pronouncing the not prefix in three different ways, is
following a rule of place assimilation. In place assimilation, adjacent
sounds are made to agree in their place of articulation.
2. Examine the following corpus of data from the Angas language of

Nigeria. 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 b. [ŋgak] snake c. [ndarm̥] bark d. [nuŋ̥] to ripen
e. [mbaŋga] drum f. [dondon̥] yesterday g. [dɛŋ̥] to drag
h. [pampam̥] bread i. [nta zum̥] wasp j. [nfwarm̥] head cold
k. [mɓlm̥] to lick l. [tam̥] bench m. [poti] sky
Answer:Note: A raised diacritic [w] means that the consonant is
rounded. [ɓ] stands for a voicedimplosive bilabial stop.
A:[m] and [m̥] are allophones of the phoneme /m/.
[ŋ] and [ŋ̥] are allophones of the phoneme [ŋ].
[n] and [ŋ̥] are allophones of the phoneme /n/.
Nasal phonemes are devoiced at the end of the words. The
phonological process is devoicing.
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? List them.
Answer: In English these phenomes /ŋg/, /m/ and /b/, /n/ and /d/, /n/
and /t/, /n/ /f/ and /w/, never occur next to each other at the start of a
word
4.Consider the following:

sign /sayn/ but signature / sɪgnəčr̩/ and signal /sɪgnəl/
paradigm /pærədaym/ but paradigmatic / pærədɪgmætɪk/
design /disayn/ but designate /dɛsɪgnet/
resign /risayn/ but resignation /rɛsɪgnešɪn/
Can you figure out what phonological process is occurring in the pairs of
words above?
Answer: /g/ is deleted when it is before a nasal consonant at the end
of a syllable. But when the nasalis not at the end of the syllable, the
/g/ is pronounced.The phonological process is /g/ deletion.
5.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.
The rule is as follows: Vowels are long when they occur before voiced
consonants and at the end or words in English.

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Review of Terms and Concepts: Phonology (Unit 3)

1.Phonology is concerned with_________________________.

2. Examine the following corpus of data from the Angas language of

4.Consider the following:

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