Fonética suprasegmental

Examen final 1 diciembre 2023

Nombre: ________________________________________________________ GRADE: 10 /10

1. Draw a syllable tree for the word attacking /əˈtækɪŋ/ [0.5]

2. Draw a syllable tree for the word incapacity /ˌɪŋkəˈpæsɪtɪ/ [0.5]

3. Draw a syllable tree for the word dishonest /dɪsˈɒnəst/ [0.5]

4. What is a free vowel? [0.5]

A vowel that can occur in either closed or open syllables; these are the long vowels and the
diphthongs.

5. In which of the words below would you expect a syllabic consonant? [0.5]
A) cotton
B) hotel
C) parcel
D) bacon

6. In the verb imagine the stress rule [0.25]

A) applies because the ULT is stressed

B) applies because the PENULT is stressed
C) does not apply because the ULT should be stressed, and it is not stressed
D) none of these answers is correct

7. A natural answer to the statement below would be "Right, like in a sci-fi movie!!" [0.5]

That’s a ˈswimming ˌpool!

A) TRUE
B) FALSE
Because: This statement is simply a compound noun, a pool that is for swimming

8. One characteristic of syllable-timing is that [0.25]

A) stressed syllables are more prominent

B) function words are often reduced
C) unstressed parts of the message are hard to perceive
D) all of the above

9. What type of tone does this utterance have? [0.25]

A rise
10. What type of tone does this utterance have? [0.25]

A fall-rise

11. What is the default (unmarked) tonicity in this utterance: [0.5]

Are you at all interested in coming over?

Explain your choice:
The last content word is the phrasal verb coming over, and phrasal verbs follow this stress

pattern: ˌ ________ ˈ ________

12. The utterance "I am not the least concerned about him or her" would normally [0.5]
be accented on about
A) TRUE
B) FALSE
Because: about is a preposition, a function word therefore. The word normally accented
would be the last content word, in this case concerned.

13. Which tone is used to indicate that the message is incomplete? [0.25]

Normally this would be indicated by a rise, although a fall-rise is also possible.

14. Give an example of an implicational fall-rise [0.5]

— Can you lend me fifty bucks?

— I have some \/ money ... [but not that amount]

15. In the dialog: [0.5]

— What’s Janice like as a classmate?

— She seems nice, but also too chatty

What tone do you expect on nice? Explain your choice

A fall-rise, since the accented word nice is followed by a but, impliying an explicit contrast
between nice and chatty. This usage calls for an implicational fall-rise

16. Draw an intonation transcription for the utterance “He’s such a nasty old \ man” [0.5]
[see the model below]

Model

17. Draw an intonation transcription for the utterance “I don’t know \/ John” [0.5]
[see the model below]

Model

18. Which syllable would be accented in utterance (B) below? [0.25]

A: I like peanut butter

B: Oh I just hate junk food

(a) food
(b) junk
(c) hate
(d) any syllable
19. In the utterance below [0.25]

(a) there is a fall-rise

(b) the nucleus is on the first syllable
(c) there is a rise
(d) none of the above

20. Look at the dialog below; is speaker A encouraging B to continue talking? [0.5]
Explain your choice

A: Well so you went to England last summer

B: That’s right, I spent two weeks there

A: Oh I \ see

No, A is not expressing any form of encouragement, since this speaker uses a fall. A fall-
rise, or more typically a rise, would have been used to indicate this attitude.

21. Look at the dialog below; would it be possible to accent the prefix in dishonest [0.5]
in B’s response? Explain your choice

A: So Jim is a pretty honest guy I would say

B: Mmm, well, from what I know I’d say he can be dishonest, too

In fact it is not only possible, but probably mandatory. A contrast between honest and
dishonet would be established in that way

22. Is it possible to find a vowel like /iː/ in an open syllable in English? [0.25]
Yes it is possible, since this is a free vowel [see question 4]
 23. What is the difference between the two utterances below? [0.5]

A: I just saw a beautiful ˈblack ˌbird out there

B: I just saw a beautifulˌ black ˈbird out there

A is a compound noun, a species of bird Turdus merula [called mirlo in Spanish]; B is just
an adjective plus a noun, and it means a bird that is black

24. What is the sonority scale, and how is it related to syllable structure? [0.5]

Sounds can be classified according to how sonorous they are. Vowels are the most
sonorous sounds, and plosives the least. In between we find the other manners of
articulation. This sonority scale can be used to determine syllable structure; peaks indicate
how many syllables a word has. The examples for the words tracking and bled follow:
SONORITY

t ɹ æ k ɪ ŋ
SONORITY

b l ɛ d