LIN 1

29 February 2020

CHAPTER 3 EXERCISES

Exercise 1 (has 4 exercises)

Exercise 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.

a. pill spill till still kill skill

b. ask sk aesk
c. kill sill ill
d. cass kass kaes kas
e. king kin ing
f. sky ski ki
g. school skull
h. school skull
i. cool kul
j. key ki
k. cull kull kal
l. ink in’

Exercise 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 in- dicates it is
pronounced with the tongue in the velar position.) After examining the list below, answer
the following questions:

a. They are both allophones of /l/, which is a phoneme.

b. Before the front vowel, in the initial position there is a [l]. Also, [ɫ] and [l] are never in
the same position. Only when in the final position, , [ɫ] takes place before a back or
central vowel.

Exercise 3
Write the broad transcription for the following words. (The diacritical mark [:] means that the
vowel is long.)

a. Tough
b. Form
c. Caught

Exercise 4

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

This phenomenon is labeled as free variation. Data can be /ˈdætə/ or /ˈdeɪtə/. Other exmaples of
this are /pəteto/-/pətato/ and /təmeto/-/təmato/.

Exercise 2 (has 2 exercises)

Exercise 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. They are [k] and [g]. Features are [+consonantal, + Voice, +high]
b. There are no natural classes.
c. They are [p], [g] and features are [+consonantal, + Anterior, + Voice, +high]

Exercise 2

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

a. [i] is the one that does not fit. [+round, +black] are features that are shared by the other
sounds.
b. The one that does not fit is [p]. [-nasal, +sonorant] are shared by the other features.
c. The one that does belong is [v]. [-sonorant, +consonantal, -strident, -continuant]
characterized the other sounds.

Exercise 3 (has 6 exercises)

Exercise 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.

This is following the rule of place assimilation. Sounds that are adjacent agree to their place in
articulation.

Exercise 2

Examine the following corpus of data from the Angas language of Nigeria.3 How many
nasal phonemes are there? Determine the allophones for each of the nasal phonemes. What
phonological process is represented in this exercise?

Devoicing is the required phonological process. This is because nasals are devoiced in word final
position. [m̥] and [m] are allophones of the /n/ phoneme.

Exercise 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.

[ɛ] and [f] do not occur in English.

Exercise 4

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

The rule which is phonological is called g deletion. When /g/ occurs before a nasal consonant in
its final position of the syllable, it is deleted. When nasal is not in the final position, the /g/ is
pronounced when not in final position of syllable.

Exercise 5

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

This process would be the optional phonological process since it only applies to a select group of
people and in this case it’s the westerners.

Exercise 6
English speakers might say the word warmth as /wɔrmpθ/, hamster as /hæmptər/, 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?

Insertion is the optional phonetic process. When /p/ is inserted it makes the words much easier
the say.

End of Chapter Exercises

Exercise 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. Deter- mine 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.

There are various rules to this. This also depends whether it is lengthening or shorten within the
stressed vowel. This is in relation to a singular verb which comes from ending in a consonant.
This also depends on the vowel, specifically if it is short or long. Following, another way to form
a plural in Dieguno is if the singular verb form ends with a consonant and the vowel which is
final is long. In this case, the vowel becomes short in the plural.

Exercise 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.

The process which occurs is obligatory. When it comes to English, when vowels occur before a
voiced consonant, they are long. This is also the case at the end of words.