THE ANSWER OF
PROBLEM SET #1: PHONETIC PROBLEMS
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1.
Provide the
phonetic symbol representing each of the following sounds of :
a.
High front tense
unrounded vowel
b.
Mid back lax rounded
vowel
c.
Low back lax
unrounded vowel
d.
Mid front lax
unrounded vowel
e.
Voiced labiodentals
fricative
f.
Voiceless
palatal affricative
g.
Voiced velar
nasal
h.
Voiceless
glottal fricative
i.
Voiced
inter-dental fricative
j.
Voiced palatal
fricative
k.
Voiced alveolar lateral
liquid
2.
Provide the
appropriate three-part articulatory description for the consonant sounds
represented by the following:
a.
[z] :
b.
[n] :
c.
[č] :
d.
[ŋ] :
e.
[g] :
f.
[f] :
g.
[š] :
h.
[r] :
3.
Provide the four
part articulatory description for the vowel sounds represented by the following
symbol:
a.
[I] : high,
front, lax, unrounded
b.
[o] : middle,
back, lax, rounded
c.
[ɛ] : mid,
front, lax, unrounded
d.
[u] : high,
back, tense, rounded
e.
[æ] : low,
front, lax, unrounded
f.
[ʊ] : high,
back, lax, rounded
4.
Which of the
following phonetic transcriptions represent actual English words? Write the
real words in conventional spelling. For the non-words, explain why they are
not.
[swit] :
[shut] :
[čild] :
[stuk] :
[trad] :
[sipd] :
[Ɵɛm] : them
[falw] :
[strʌgl] : struggle
[left] : left [lˈɛft]
5.
List members of
the following natural classes of English sounds and provide at least two words
for each.
a. Alveolar continuant consonants [t, d] = /taɪ/ tie,
/daɪ/ dye
b. Voiceless labial consonants [p, b] = /paɪ/ pie, /baɪ/ buy
c. Velar oral nasal consonants [k, g, ŋ] = /ki/ key, /gaɪ/ guy, /ræŋ/ rang
d. High lax front vowels [I] = /bɪt/ bit
e. Low tense front vowels [Œ] =
f. Palatal sonorant consonants [j] = /ju/ you
g. Voiceless sibilant consonants []
6.
Transcribe into
(a) broad transcription and (b) narrow transcription :
7.
Write the
following in broad phonetic transcription.
Indian grammarian who wanted to preserve what they thought to be
the correct pronunciation of Sanskrit. Their motivates were religious in that
it was very important to them that their holy scriptures should be pronounced
in traditional way. Their accounts of the sounds pattern of Sanskrit are still
highlight regarded by linguists. The Greek were responsible for the greatest
phonetic invention of all time, the development of a writing system in which
syllables are represented in terms of their components. The realization that
each vowel and each consonant could be systematically represented by a separate
symbol made it possible to write down any word that was said using a
comparatively small inventory of symbols.
8.
List words in
English illustrating the occurrence of vowels in syllable closed by /p/. Do not
include names of foreign origin. Note that some of the vowels cannot occur in
these circumstances.
|
i :
|
a :
|
ʌ :
|
|
ɪ :
|
ɔ :
|
aɪ :
|
|
eɪ :
|
oʊ :
|
aʊ :
|
|
ɛ :
|
ʊ :
|
ɔɪ :
|
|
æ :
|
u :
|
|
9.
Considering only
the vowels that cannot occur in syllables closed by /p/ in 3 above, give words
in English illustrating their occurrence in syllables closed by following
consonant :
|
/b/
|
/n/ :
|
/k/
|
|
/m/
|
/l/ :
|
/g/
|
|
/f/
|
/s/
|
/ŋ/ : ring
|
|
/t/ : act
|
/z/
|
/d/
|
10.
Write a pair of
rules that describes the allophones of /n/ in words such as ‘sin, sing, singer,
finger’. Try to formulize the rules in the conventional way, using terms such
as [+nasal] and
11.
Look Ukrainian
words containing the sound [s], [ś],
[š] and [š].
The sound [ś] and [š]
are palatalized variants of [s] and [š].
Palatalization sounds like a [y] sound right after (or on) the consonant; it is
very closed to the [y] sound in [byuſi],
beauty. Review definition of overlapping, contrastive, and complementary
distribution, distinctive and minimal pair.
|
No
|
[s]
|
|
[ś]
|
|
[š]
|
|
[š]
|
|
|
1
|
lis
|
Fox
|
liś
|
Sheen
|
liš
|
Lest
|
|
|
|
2
|
miska
|
Bowl
|
|
|
miška
|
Little
mouse
|
miši
|
Mice
|
|
3
|
sapka
|
Little
hoe
|
|
|
šapka
|
Hat
|
|
|
|
4
|
sila
|
Strength
|
|
|
šila
|
She
sewed
|
šisť
|
Six
|
|
5
|
sum
|
Sadness
|
|
|
šum
|
Rustling
|
koši
|
Baskets
|
|
6
|
sudi
|
Trials
|
śudi
|
Hither
|
|
|
|
|
|
7
|
sosna
|
Pine
|
śomry
|
Seventh
|
šostry
|
sixth
|
|
|
|
8
|
posadu
|
Job
position
|
pośadu
|
I
will occupy
|
|
|
|
|
a.
What are the
minimal pairs that you can find in these words?
-
/lis/, /lis/, /liš/ =
-
/miska/, /miška/,
b.
The a minimal
triplet sounds :
-
/lis/, /lis/,
/liš/
c.
Three of the sounds
overlapping distribution (HINT: those sounds are also contrastive)
-
/lis/, /lis/,
/liš/
d.
One of these
sounds occurs only before a particular vowel. What is this sound and what is
the vowel? Which words indicate this?
e.
Two sounds are
not in contrastive distribution – they are in complimentary distribution: what
are they?
f.
What can you say
about the distinctiveness of the sound identified in (d)? Is it distinctive in
Ukrainian or not?
Ukrainian there is not sound like /d/ so, they don’t
have distinctive sound of /d/.
12.
Swahili (East
Africa) vowels [o] and [ɔ] more close and more open. What is the nature of
their distribution? Are they allophones of the different phonemes?
|
[ɔ] more open
|
[o] more close
|
||||
|
1
|
ŋgɔma
|
drum
|
12
|
watoto
|
Children
|
|
2
|
bɔma
|
fort
|
13
|
ndoto
|
Dream
|
|
3
|
ŋɔmbe
|
cattle
|
14
|
mboga
|
Vegetable
|
|
4
|
bɔmba
|
pipe
|
15
|
ndogo
|
Little
|
|
5
|
ɔmba
|
pray
|
16
|
ǰogo
|
Rooster
|
|
6
|
ɔna
|
see
|
17
|
šoko
|
Axe
|
|
7
|
pɔńa
|
cure
|
18
|
okota
|
Pick
up
|
|
8
|
ńɔńa
|
nurse
|
19
|
moǰa
|
One
|
|
9
|
ɔńja
|
taste
|
20
|
mtego
|
Trap
|
|
10
|
ɔŋgeza
|
increase
|
21
|
kͪɔndo
|
Sheep
|
|
11
|
ńɔŋga
|
strangle
|
22
|
karɔŋgo
|
Wash
out
|
13.
The Totonac
(Mexico). Evaluate the distribution of voiceless and voiced vowels. Are they
allophones of the different vowels?
|
1
|
capsạ
|
He stacks
|
7
|
snapapạ
|
white
|
|
2
|
cillinkksạ
|
It resounded
|
8
|
stapụ
|
beans
|
|
3
|
kasittị
|
Cut it
|
9
|
šumpị
|
porcupine
|
|
4
|
kukụ
|
uncle
|
10
|
taaqhụ
|
You plunged
in
|
|
5
|
ikakạ
|
peppery
|
11
|
tihašƚị
|
He rested
|
|
6
|
mikị
|
snow
|
12
|
tukšƚị
|
It broke
|
Note
that [ą], [į] and [ů] indicates that
the sounds is voiceless.
