Linguis 3: Introduction to Linguistics
Winter 2019
Problem Set 2: Phonology
Due 1/28/2019. 100 points possible
1. (LF 3.14) Describe the following natural classes of English sounds. (2 points each)
a. [ f, θ, s, ʃ, h ]
b. [ i, u ]
c. [ p, b ]
d. [ n, ɹ, l ]
2. (LF 3.15) Identify what type(s) of phonological rule(s) applies in each of the
following derivations. (2 points each)
a. little /lɪtl̩/ → [ lɪɾl̩ ]
b. late bell /leɪt bɛl/ → [ leɪp bɛl ]
c. park /pɑɹk/ → [ pʰɑɹk ]
d. lance /læns/ → [ lænts ]
e. it’s her car /ɪts hɹ̩ kɑɹ/ → [ ɪts ɹ̩ kʰɑɹ ]
f. prescription /pɹiskɹɪpʃn̩/ → [ pʰəɹskɹɪpʃn̩ ]
3. (LF 3.25) Standard Spanish is an Indo-European language of the Romance family.
Examine the phones [ d ] and [ ð ]. Determine whether they are allophones of one
phoneme or of separate phonemes. If they are allophones of one phoneme, identify the
type of distribution (complementary distribution or free variation). If they are in
complementary distribution, state a rule that describes the distribution. If [ d ] and [ ð ]
are allophones of separate phonemes, give minimal pairs that prove this. (16 points)
a. [ dɾenar ]
b. [ dentɾo ]
c. [ dia ]
d. [ aðonde ]
e. [ ajuða ]
f. [ iðioma ]
g. [ duða ]
h. [ bendito ]
i. [ laðear ]
j. [ aldea ]
k. [ deðo ]
l. [ toldo ]
‘to drain’
‘within’
‘day’
‘where’
‘help’
‘language’
‘doubt’
‘blessed’
‘to tilt’
‘village’
‘finger’
‘canopy’
4. (LF 3.28) Korean is a “language isolate,” meaning that it is not linguistically related to
other languages. It is spoken in Korea. In the following Korean words, you will find the
sounds [ s ] and [ ʃ ]. Determine whether the sounds [ s ] and [ ʃ ] are allophones of the
same phoneme or separate phonemes. If the sounds are allophones of the same
phoneme, give the conditioning environment for each allophone. (16 points)
a. [ ʃi ]
b. [ miʃin ]
c. [ ʃinmun ]
d. [ tʰaksaŋʃiɡe ]
e. [ ʃilsu ]
f. [ oʃip ]
g. [ paŋʃik ]
h. [ kanʃik ]
i. [ kaʃi ]
j. [ sal ]
k. [ kasu ]
l. [ sanmun ]
m. [ kasəl ]
n. [ miso ]
o. [ susek ]
‘poem’
‘superstition’
‘newspaper’
‘table clock’
‘mistake’
‘fifty’
‘method’
‘snack’
‘thorn’
‘flesh’
‘singer’
‘prose’
‘hypothesis’
‘smile’
‘search’
5. (LF 3.30) Examine the classes of voiced versus voiceless vowels in Totonac, a
Totonacan language spoken in Mexico. Are voiced and voiceless vowels in Totonac in
contrast, in free variation, or in complementary distribution? If the sounds are in
complementary distribution, pick one sound as the basic sound and give the phonetic
contexts for its allophones. (Note that [ ts ] represents a voiceless alveolar affricate, and
[ ɫ ] a velarized [ l ].) (10 points)
a. [ tsapsḁ ]
b. [ tsilinksḁ ]
c. [ kasitti̥ ]
d. [ kuku̥ ]
e. [ ɫkakḁ ]
f. [ miki̥ ]
g. [ snapapḁ ]
h. [ stapu̥ ]
i. [ ʃumpi̥ ]
j. [ taːqhu̥ ]
k. [ tihaʃɫi̥ ]
l. [ tukʃɫi̥ ]
‘he stacks’
‘it resounded’
‘cut it’
‘uncle’
‘peppery’
‘snow’
‘white’
‘beans’
‘porcupine’
‘you plunged’
‘he rested’
‘it broke’
6. (LF 3.34) German is an Indo-European language of the Germanic family, spoken in
Germany. Examine the voiceless velar fricative represented by [ x ] and the voiceless
palatal fricative represented by [ ç ] in the German data below. Are the two sounds in
complementary distribution or are they contrastive? If the sounds are allophones in
complementary distribution, state the phonetic contexts for each allophone. (Remember
that marks vowel lenɡth, so [ uː ] is a long vowel, not a sequence of two segments.)
(16 points)
a. [ buːx ]
b. [ lɔx ]
c. [ hoːx ]
d. [ flʊxt ]
e. [ ɪç ]
f. [ ɛçt ]
g. [ ʃpreːçə ]
h. [ lɛçəln ]
i. [ riːçən ]
j. [ fɛçtən ]
‘book’
‘hole’
‘high’
‘escape’
‘I’
‘real’’
‘(he/she/it) would speak’
‘to smile’
‘to smell’
‘to fence’
7. (LF 3.37) Modern Greek is an Indo-European language spoken in Greece. Examine
the sounds [ x ], [ k ], [ ç ], and [ c ] in the following data. [ k ] represents a voiceless
velar stop, [ x ] a voiceless velar fricative, [ ç ] a voiceless palatal fricative, and [ c ] a
voiceless palatal stop. Which of these sounds are in contrastive distribution, and which
are in complementary distribution? State the distribution of the allophones. (22 points)
a. [ kano ]
b. [ xano ]
c. [ çino ]
d. [ cino ]
e. [ kali ]
f. [ xali ]
g. [ çeli ]
h. [ ceri ]
i. [ çeri ]
j. [ kori ]
k. [ xori ]
l. [ xrima ]
m. [ krima ]
n. [ xufta ]
o. [ kufeta ]
p. [ çina ]
q. [ cina ]
‘do’
‘lose’
‘pour’
‘move’
‘charms’
‘plight’
‘eel’
‘candle’
‘hand’
‘daughter’
‘dances’
‘money’
‘shame’
‘handful’
‘bonbons’
‘goose’
‘china’
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