Phonetics Phonology

Language analysis task 1: Phonetics and phonology Lang1055

Study Period 2, 2014 1 Tim Curnow

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 you’ve 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 lecturer’s box outside room B1-14 (Magill campus). Instructions: 1. Complete the questions below (at least 12 point font). For this task, you’ll 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.

2. Make sure your details (name, student ID) are on the front page somewhere! 3. 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. It’s likely to improve your grade, if you know what I’m looking for before you start.

3. Submit your task before midday on the due date.

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 isn’t 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 you’d use, where you determined the final solution, where you formatted it, etc. without discussing that with other students.



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: Voiced stop symbol: Place 2: Voiced stop symbol: Place 3: Voiced stop symbol: b) 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]?

c) On the vowel charts for Australian and New Zealand English shown in the

lecture and given below (taken from Robert Mannell’s 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 it’s not marked on these non-Australian monophthong charts?



Question 2 (all students to answer) For this question you’ll 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 that’s OK, any of the possible terms is fine. Part A — What is the phonetic description of the following consonants? e.g. [t] voiceless alveolar stop (or voiceless alveolar plosive; or voiceless unaspirated alveolar stop) e.g. [ ] voiceless velarized alveolar lateral approximant 1. [ɸ] 2. [β] 3. [ŋ] 4. [ʔ] 5. [ð] 6. [r] 7. [ɹ] Part B — What is the phonetic description of the following vowels? e.g. [i] high front unrounded vowel (additionally could add e.g. ‘tense’, ‘short’) e.g. [ʊ] high back rounded lax vowel (additionally could add e.g. ‘short’) 1. [e] 2. [y] 3. [ʉ] 4. [u] 5. [ ]



Question 3 (do ONE language, NOT your native language) Q3 — Chinese Go to the ‘Language analysis task, part A’ block on the course website. You’ll 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. [s ŋtɕʰiljəʔ ] [ɕ ŋtɕʰiljəʔ ] [ ŋtɕʰiljəʔ ] 2. [ts ŋmiʊ ŋ ] [tsʰ ŋmiʊ ŋ ] [tsʰ ŋmiʊ ŋ ] 3. [shoʊtɕi ] [ oʊtɕi ] [ɕoʊtɕi ] 4. [futɕʰ n ] [fuqʰ n ] [fytɕʰ n ] 5. [tɕʰjɛtɕʰjə ] [jiɛjiə ] [tɕjɛtɕjə ]

Q3 — English Go to the ‘Language analysis task, part A’ block on the course website. You’ll 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.


Listen to the five words for Question 3 (English). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below:

1. [kʰɹe pʰ] [kʰɹi pʰ] [kɹi pʰ] 2. [ˈkʰ nɡɹes] [kʰ nˈɡɹes] [ˈkʰ ŋɡɹes] 3. [pʰəˈkʰaʃən] [pʰəˈkaʃən] [pʰəˈkʰuʃən] 4. [ˈsuməns] [ˈsumənz] [ˈsaməns] 5. [ˈ npʊtʰ] [ˈ n pʊtʰ] [ˈ mpʊtʰ]



Q3 — French Go to the ‘Language analysis task, part A’ block on the course website. You’ll 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.


Listen to the five words for Question 3 (French). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below:

1. [ˈt χɛzzə] [ˈt rɛzə] [ˈt χeiz] 2. [ ˈpeti ] [ ˈpətiç] [ãˈpətiç] 3. [laˈpomə] [laˈpumə] [laˈpʰomə] 4. [leˈʃosə] [leˈʃozə] [leˈʃozzə] 5. [laˈvejə] [laˈbejə] [laˈbajə]

Q3 — German Go to the ‘Language analysis task, part A’ block on the course website. You’ll 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.


Listen to the six words for Question 3 (German). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below:

1. [dasˈkʰni ] [dasˈni ] [daskəˈni ] 2. [dasɡeˈfeŋn s] [dasɡəˈfeɲn s] [dasɡəˈfeŋn s] 3. [a nʊmˈʃpana] [a nʔumˈʃpanə] [a nʔʊmˈʃpana] 4. [dasˈl pʰ] [dasˈl p] [dasˈl p] 5. [ˈdileŋə] [diˈleŋə] [diˈle ŋə] 6. [ˈɡestən] [ˈɡestəʁn] [ˈɡestɛən]



Q3 — Indonesian Go to the ‘Language analysis task, part A’ block on the course website. You’ll 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.


Listen to the five words for Question 3 (Indonesian). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below:

1. [dəˈŋan] [dənˈɡan] [deˈŋan] 2. [demokɾaˈsi] [dəmokɾaˈsi] [dəmokraˈsi] 3. [benˈteŋ] [benˈtenɡ] [benˈteɲ] 4. [tʃanˈtik] [tʃanˈti] [tʃanˈtiʔ] 5. [renˈtʃana] [rənˈtʃana] [rəntʃaˈna]

Q3 — Italian Go to the ‘Language analysis task, part A’ block on the course website. You’ll 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.


Listen to the five words for Question 3 (Italian). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below:

1. [ˈbɛnne] [ˈbɛne] [ˈbɛni] 2. [laˈɾabbja] [laˈɾabia] [laˈrabbja] 3. [ilˈfat t o] [ilˈfaɾt o] [ˈilfat t o] 4. [ˈbɛlo] [ˈbɛllu] [ˈbɛllo] 5. [lameˈlodia] [lameloˈdia] [lameloˈdja]



Q3 — Japanese Go to the ‘Language analysis task, part A’ block on the course website. You’ll 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.


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. [ɡ ʃ ] [ɡ ɕ ] [ɡ sh ] (HL) 2. [ɕi tsɯɡai] [ɕitsɯgai] [ʃi tsuɡai] (LHL) 3. [ɕo dʒin] [ɕo dʑin] [ɕo dʑiŋ] (HHL) 4. [tsɯnami] [tsɯnamiʔ] [tsunami] (LHL) 5. [o sawaɡi] [osaɰaɡi] [o saɰaɡi] (HHLLL) 6. [ɕi taɡate] [ɕi taɡa te] [ɕi taɡatte] (LHLL)

Q3 — Spanish Go to the ‘Language analysis task, part A’ block on the course website. You’ll 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.


Listen to the five words for Question 3 (Spanish). For each of the words, select the most accurate IPA phonetic transcription below:

1. [ˈkarro] [ˈkaro] [ˈcaro] 2. [ˈubas] [ˈuvas] [ˈuβas] 3. [t amˈbjeŋ] [t amˈbien] [t amˈbjen] 4. [ˈkanceɾ] [kanˈseɾ] [ˈkanseɾ] 5. [k mbinaˈsjonɛs] [ˈk mbinasjonɛs] [k mbinaˈsionɛs]



Question 4 (all students to answer) Go to the ‘Language analysis task, part A’ block on the course website. You’ll 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 can’t find a man, who it’s fun to be virtuous with”.

Remember, a phonemic transcription won’t indicate capital letters. Feel free to leave in commas (though it’s not technically part of the transcription). You’ll need to indicate the stress for any words which have more than one syllable. Transcription:

ðɛə wɒz ə …



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/ → [tɕ] / ___ i and ___ y (that is, before high front vowels) → [k] elsewhere

[tɕ] 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 [tɕ] or as [k]:

Phonological transcription

[tɕ] or [k] Phonological transcription

[tɕ] or [k]

k u [ k ] u ‘dog’ ts k ts [ ] ‘self’ ki n [ ]i n ‘between’ ki u [ ]i u ‘nineteen’ k i [ ] i ‘give’ w nk w n[ ] ‘toy’ m iku m i[ ]u ‘USA’ b ŋk n b ŋ[ ] n ‘biscuit’ k [ ] ‘brother’ ts nk ŋ ts n[ ] ŋ ‘respect’ kýtsi [ ]ýtsi ‘tangerine’ l ku n l [ ]u n ‘hotel’ Part B Here are some more Chinese words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [tɕʰ], a voiceless aspirated alveolo-palatal affricate, and [kʰ], a voiceless aspirated velar stop. Transcription Transcription [tɕʰ] ‘seven’ [tɕʰ]i n ‘money’ [tɕʰ] ŋ ‘request’ [kʰ] ‘approve’ [kʰ] seu ‘cough’ [tɕʰ] ‘go’ [kʰ]àn ‘read’ ɕ ŋ[tɕʰ] ‘interest’ t [kʰ] i ‘open’ [kʰ] u ‘mouth’ li ŋ[kʰ]uai ‘cool’ m [tɕʰ] n ‘mother’ 1 Note that there are several different ideas about the best way to analyse Chinese phonologically. I have used one of these ideas here — it doesn’t actually matter which version we use for this question.



Given the set of words above, are [tɕʰ] and [kʰ] 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 [kʰ] 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]


[n ] or [n] Phonological transcription

[n ] or [n]

sne l s[ n ]e l ‘snail’ naʊ [ ]aʊ ‘now’ ˈsn ɡə ˈs[ ] ɡə ‘snigger’ sn ɡ s[ ] ɡ ‘snag’ ˈne t v ˈ[ ]e t v ‘native’ na s [ ]a s ‘nice’ sn p s[ ] p ‘snip’ sna d s[ ]a d ‘snide’ ˈn ɡəl ˈ[ ] ɡəl ‘niggle’ ne l [ ]e l ‘nail’ ˈn tʃrəl ˈ[ ] tʃrəl ‘natural’ snɒt s[ ]ɒt ‘snot’ 2 Actually the rule is more complex than this. But it will do for our purposes.



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 Transcription s[m ] l ‘small’ [m]ʊtʃ ‘much’ [m]a t ‘might’ s[m ]uð ‘smooth’ [m]e l ‘mail’ [m]e z ‘maze’ s[m ]a t ‘smite’ [m]a s ‘mice’ s[m ]ɒɡ ‘smog’ s[m ]a l ‘smile’ [m] l ‘mall’ s[m ]utʃ ‘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?



Q6 — French One of the phonological rules which operates in French is the following:3

/y/ → [ɥ] / ___ V (that is, before a vowel) → [y] elsewhere

[ɥ] 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 [ɥ] or as [y]:


[ɥ] or [y] Phonological transcription

[ɥ] or [y]

ʁyin ʁ[ɥ]in ‘ruin’ sye s[ ]e ‘sweat’ ly l[ ] ‘read’ ty t[ ] ‘exhausting’ syd s[ ]d ‘south’ ty t[ ] ‘you’ yit [ ]it ‘eight’ ʁy ʁ[ ] ‘road’ byʁo b[ ]ʁo ‘office’ syav s[ ]av ‘smooth’ lyi l[ ]i ‘him’ ylsɛʁ [ ]lsɛʁ ‘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 Transcription b[w]aʁ ‘drink’ [w]i ‘yes’ t[u] ‘all’ f[w]ɛ ‘whip’ l[w]a ‘law’ [u]blije ‘forget’ b[u]l ‘ball’ tʁ[u]p ‘troop’ f[u]l ‘crowd’ tʁ[w]a ‘three’ l[w]i ‘Louis’ k[u]lœʁ ‘colour’

3 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.



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.


Q6 — German One of the phonological rules which operates in German is the following:4

/t/ → [t] / ʃ ___ and s ___ (i.e. after ʃ and after s) → [tʰ] elsewhere

[t] is a voiceless unaspirated alveolar stop [tʰ] 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 [tʰ]


[t] or [tʰ] Phonological transcription

[t] or [tʰ]

ʃta p ʃ[t]a p ‘pole’ ˈba ʃtant ˈba ʃ[ ]an[ ] ‘help’

ˈtanə ˈ[ ]anə ‘fir’ ɛsˈte t k ɛsˈ[ ]e [ ] k ‘aesthetics’

ʃtam ʃ[ ]am ‘trunk’ eˈta ʒə eˈ[ ]a ʒə ‘storey’

ˈa təm ˈa [ ]əm ‘breath’ ˈø stəʁa x ˈø s[ ]əʁa x ‘Austria’

bəˈʃtɛ t ɡən bəˈʃ[ ]ɛ [ ] ɡən ‘confirm’ ti m [ ]i m ‘team’

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



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 [pʰ], a voiceless aspirated bilabial stop.

Transcription Transcription

asˈ[p]ɛkt ‘aspect’ ˈ[pʰ]anə ‘breakdown’ ˈo [pʰ]a ‘grandad’ taˈ[pʰ]e tə ‘wallpaper’ [pʰ]ak ‘pile’ ʃ[p]ʁa xə ‘language’ ʃ[p]iˈta l ‘hospital’ ˈvɛs[p]ə ‘wasp’ ˈba ʃ[p]i l ‘example’ ɛsˈ[p]ʁɛso ‘espresso’ a[pʰ]eˈti t ‘appetite’ bəˈ[pʰ]a kən ‘load’

Given this set of words, are [p] and [pʰ] 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 [tʰ] and [pʰ] 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.




Q6 — Italian One of the phonological rules which operates in Italian is the following:5

/a/ → [a ] ˈ 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 don’t get [a ] if the syllable is unstressed; you don’t get [a ] if there is no consonant after it; you don’t get [a ] if there are two consonants after it; and you don’t 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]


[a ] or [a] Phonological transcription

[a ] or [a]

ˈkane ˈk[a ]ne ‘dog’ ˈgatto ˈg[ ]tto ‘cat’ davˈvero d[ ]vˈvero ‘really’ ˈfaɾe ˈf[ ]ɾe ‘do’ ˈalto ˈ[ ]lto ‘tall’ ˈsale ˈs[ ]le ‘salt’ ˈanke ˈ[ ]nke ‘also’ ˈkadde ˈk[ ]dde ‘she fell’ ˈk za ˈk z[ ] ‘thing’ ˈpasta ˈp[ ]st[ ] ‘dough’ anˈdaɾe [ ]nˈd[ ]ɾe ‘go’ ˈbɾavo ˈbɾ[ ]vo ‘good’ ˈmano ˈm[ ]no ‘hand’ ˈmamma ˈm[ ]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 Transcription ˈv[i]tto ‘food’ ˈp[i]sta ‘runway’ ˈ kk[i] ‘eyes’ ˈv[i ]no ‘wine’ ˈf[i ]lo ‘string’ veˈn[i ]ɾe ‘come’ s[i]mˈpat[i]ko ‘nice’ ˈvent[i] ‘twenty’ aˈm[i ]ʧ[i] ‘friends’ ˈf[i]nto ‘fake’ ˈ[i ]ɾa ‘rage’ kamˈm[i ]no ‘I walk’ d[i]ˈɾ[i]tto ‘straight’ 5 The actual rule in Italian is slightly more complex, but this will do for our purposes. For Italian phonology, /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ count as single consonants; long consonants count as two consonants.



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/ → [ã] / Cnasal (i.e. after a nasal consonant, e.g. [m], [n] and [ŋ]) → [a] elsewhere

[ã] 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 [ã] or as [a]:


[ã] or [a] Phonological transcription

[ã] or [a]

ɾumah ɾum[ã]h ‘house’ ada [ ]d[ ] ‘there is’ bəkəɾʤa bəkəɾʤ[ ] ‘work’ kantoɾ k[ ]ntoɾ ‘office’ puɲa puɲ[ ] ‘have’ makan m[ ]k[ ]n ‘eat’ anak [ ]n[ ]k ‘child’ kakak k[ ]k[ ]k ‘sibling’ aʃik [ ]ʃik ‘infatuated’ nama n[ ]m[ ] ‘name’ sama s[ ]m[ ] ‘equal’ ani [ ]ni ‘warp’ ʤalan ʤ[ ]l[ ]n ‘road’

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



Part B Here are some more Indonesian words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [ĩ] and [i], high front unrounded vowels, nasalised and unnasalised respectively.


m[ĩ]mbaɾ ‘pulpit’ lak[i] ‘man’ har[i] ‘day’ pon[ĩ]s ‘verdict’ ləb[i]h ‘more’ [i]bu ‘mother’ bəŋ[ĩ]s ‘cruel’ bən[ĩ]h ‘seed’ p[i]ntu ‘door’ aŋ[ĩ]n ‘wind’ [i]n[ĩ] ‘this’ bənʧ[i] ‘hate’ b[i]ɾu ‘blue’ kam[ĩ] ‘we (exclusive)’

Given this set of words, are [ĩ] 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.




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]


[i ] or [i] Phonological transcription

[i ] or [i]

kikɯ k[i ]kɯ ‘listen’ kimo k[ ]mo ‘liver’ midori m[ ]dor[ ] ‘green’ kita k[ ]ta ‘north’ tikai t[ ]ka[ ] ‘near’ siba s[ ]ba ‘firewood’ hikari h[ ]kar[ ] ‘light’ ziko z[ ]ko ‘accident’ sasimi sas[ ]m[ ] ‘a day’ sikk s[ ]kk ‘performance’

Part B Here are some more Japanese words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for

[ɯ ], a voiceless high back unrounded vowel, and [ɯ], a voiced high back unrounded vowel.

Transcription Transcription k[ɯ ]sa ‘grass’ t[ɯ ]k[ɯ]r[ɯ] ‘make’ k[ɯ]mo ‘spider’ s[ɯ ]ppai ‘sour’ s[ɯ ]ki ‘opening’ s[ɯ ]s[ɯ]m[ɯ] ‘advance’ k[ɯ ]s[ɯ]ri ‘medicine’ h[ɯ ]k[ɯ]m[ɯ] ‘public service’ h[ɯ]j[ɯ] ‘winter’ sjok[ɯ]zi ‘meal’

7 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.



Given this set of words, are [ɯ ] and [ɯ] 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 [ɯ] 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.


Q6 — Spanish One of the phonological rules which operates in Spanish is the following:8

/b/ → [β] V V (i.e. between vowels) → [b] elsewhere

[β] 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 [β] or as [b]


[β] or [b] Phonological transcription

[β] or [b]

ˈbɾaso ˈ[b]ɾaso ‘arm’ somˈbɾeɾo somˈ[ ]ɾeɾo ‘hat’ xabaˈli xa[ ]aˈli ‘wild boar’ ˈbaɲo ˈ[ ]aɲo ‘bathroom’ laˈbabo laˈ[ ]a[ ]o ‘washbasin’ ˈaɾbol ˈaɾ[ ]ol ‘tree’ bi [ ]i ‘I saw’ kaˈbesa kaˈ[ ]esa ‘head’ ˈuba ˈu[ ]a ‘grape’ xaˈbon xaˈ[ ]on ‘soap’ ˈbaka ˈ[ ]aka ‘cow’ ˈbaso ˈ[ ]aso ‘glass’

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



Part B Here are some more Spanish words. They are primarily in phonological transcription, except that a phonetic transcription is used for [ð], a voiced dental fricative, and [d], a voiced dental stop (really should be [d ], but it’s too hard to see!)


ˈ[d]jente ‘tooth’ anˈ[d]aɾ ‘walk’ saˈli[ð]a ‘exit’ ˈka[ð]a ‘each’ [d]eˈɾeʧo ‘right’ ˈmo[ð]a ‘fashion’ ˈɡoɾ[d]o ‘fat’ [d]i ‘I gave’ esˈpal[d]a ‘back’ ˈto[ð]o ‘all’ xuˈ[ð]ia ‘bean’

Given this set of words, are [ð] 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.




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 [ɬ] 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 you’ve 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. nakatʼ ‘meat’ taʃtawa ‘pay’ tuʃi ‘intestines’ titwiz ‘you come’ wiɬutʼ ‘dove’ takatʼ ‘man’ ihsatuk ‘awake’ istitʼ ‘fingernail’ tehtetʃan ‘people’ lamatʼ ‘old lady’ tihɬan ‘hen’ kaɬatʼ ‘frog’ piɬtsin ‘boy’ komatoɬ ‘rainbow’ kaɬ ‘house’ litʃihtʃiuka ‘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 [tʃ] 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) [s] and [ʃ] (b) [s] and [ts] (c) [a] and [a ] (d) [k] and [kʰ]



1 ˈhu ki ‘cigarette’ 2 ˈʦɨ kʰpa ‘do’ 3 ˈmɨ ʧiʔ ‘toy’ 4 ʃi s ‘meat’ 5 ˈsa wa ‘wind’ 6 ˈpi ti ‘tamale’ 7 ˈhu kʰpa ‘smoke’ 8 na s ‘dirt’ 9 sɨ kʰ ‘bean’ 10 ˈka pe ‘ringlet’ 11 ʃi tʰ ‘boy’ 12 ʔapuˈʦɨ ʃi ‘grandson’ 13 ˈʃi ʔʧi ‘cane’ 14 ˈmi stuʔ ‘cat’ 15 ˈtɨ ʔʧkin ‘spindle’ 16 ˈhu tʰpa ‘harvest’ 17 ˈpu ʔʧiʔ ‘yellow’ 18 ˈʔu ʃpi ‘crocodile’ 19 ˈkɨ ʦus ‘fingernail’ 20 ˈpe tʰpa ‘sweep’ 21 ˈkɨ ʔʃi ‘food’ 22 ʦe kʰ ‘stomach’ 23 pa ʦ ‘skunk’ 24 ˈʧi nu ‘bee’ 25 ˈʔu suʔ ‘mosquito’ 26 ʔiʃˈni tum ‘right’ 27 ˈko ke ‘fish’ 28 ˈʧi ŋpa ‘bathe’ 29 ˈʦa mpa ‘count’ 30 nipʰˈtu kʰkɨ ‘finished sowing’ 31 makʰˈta saŋ ‘four’ 32 nɨ ʦ ‘armadillo’ 33 yukʰˈka pʰpa ‘raise’ 34 hɨ pʰ ‘mouth’ 35 tɨ ʔs ‘snot’ 36 ˈʔa watʰ ‘flea’ 37 tɨ kʰ ‘house’ 38 ˈsa mpa ‘heat’ 39 te ʔpʰ ‘this’

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