WEEK 6 ELT2103/ELT2013

PHONOLOGY LINGUISTICS I

PHONOLOGY PROBLEM SETS: SOLVE THEM LIKE

SocialSHERLOCK HOLMES!
Analysis 34: Knowledge of Language
Spring 2009
Section 2: Phonology
PHONOLOGY PROBLEM SET 1: English and Castilian Spanish
!] in English and Castilian Spanish.
3. [d] and [!

Are [d] and [!] contrastive in English? If yes, find minimal pairs, if no, establish the
complementary contexts in which these two sounds appear.

__________________________________________________________________

Are [d] and [!] contrastive in Castilian Spanish?

[ka!a] ‘each’ [du!a] ‘doubt’

[donde] ‘where’ [de!o] ‘finger’
[da!o] ‘given’ [anda] ‘s/he walks’
[de !onde] ‘from where’ [peka!o] ‘sin’
Now answer the following questions in the same order given to you:

1. Is there any minimal pair for [d] and [ð] in Castilian Spanish?
Circle the correct answer: YES or NO (Hint: NO!!!!!!)

2. State which sounds precede and follow [d] and [ð]:

(Use
4. #[l]toand
indicate
[d] inthat the sound
English is at the beginning or at the end of the word)
and Setswana

[d]English?
Are [l] and [d] contrastive in [ð]
example: #___o a___a
__________________________________________________________________
_______ _______
Are [l] and [d] contrastive_______
in Setswana?
_______
lefifi ‘darkness’ _______ _______
lokwal# ‘letter’ xo$ala ‘to marry’
sel"p" ‘axe’ _______ _______
mosadi ‘woman’ dij%o ‘food’
xobala ‘to read’ _______ _______
badisa ‘the herd’ feedi ‘sweeper’
3. Arelerum#
[d] and‘spear’
[ð] the allophones of the same‘tongue’
loleme phone or allophones ofkdifferent
h phonemes?
udu ‘tortoise’
Circle the correct answer:
loxadima ‘lightning flash’ mol#mo ‘mouth’ podi ‘goat’
SAME PHONEMEmmadi ‘reader’
dum"la ‘greetings’ or DIFFERENT PHONEMES
hudi ‘wild duck’
(Clark Kent & Superman) (Batman & Superman)
4. What is the phonological rule about the distribution of [d] and [ð]?
The rule is: /d/ becomes [ð] _______________________________________________________________.
(Where?)

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WEEK 6 ELT2103/ELT2013
PHONOLOGY LINGUISTICS I

PHONOLOGY PROBLEM SET 2: [ɪ] and [ɪː] in English_____

In English the lax vowel /ɪ/ becomes slightly longer (and is thus written [ɪː], where the colon
indicates length) under certain conditions. Consider the examples listed below.

a. [hɪs] h. [hɪːd]
b. [wɪʃ] i. [mɪθ]
c. [pɪːg] j. [rɪːb]
d. [pɪt] k. [lɪːz]
e. [lɪːm] l. [snɪp]
f. [trɪk] m. [rɪːdʒ]
g. [bɪːl] n. [kɪːŋ]

Now answer the following questions in the same order given to you:

1. Is there any minimal pair for [ɪ] and [ɪː] in the data above?
Circle the correct answer: YES or NO

2. State which sounds precede and follow [ɪ] and [ɪː]

(Use # to indicate that the sound is at the beginning or at the end of the word)

[ɪ] [ɪː]
example: h___s p___g
_______ _______
_______ _______
_______ _______
_______ _______
_______ _______
_______ _______
_______ _______

3. Are [ɪ] and [ɪː] the allophones of the same phone or allophones of different phonemes?
Circle the correct answer:

SAME PHONEME or DIFFERENT PHONEMES

4. What is the phonological rule about the distribution of [ɪ] and [ɪː] in English?

The rule is: /ɪ/ becomes [ɪː] _______________________________________________________________.

(Where?)

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WEEK 6 ELT2103/ELT2013
PHONOLOGY LINGUISTICS I

PHONOLOGY PROBLEM SET 3: Turkish, English and Setswana

a. Are [l] and [d] the allophones of the same phoneme or the allophones of different phonemes
in English? (Are they contrastive or not?)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ .
Can you find any minimal pair with [l] and [d] in the same position in English?Ling 83
Fall 2010
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Section 2: Phonology .
b. Are [l] and [d] the allophones of the same phoneme or the allophones of different phonemes
[Link]?
[l] and [d] in English
(Are and Setswana
they contrastive or not?)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ .
a. Are
Can you[l]find
andany
[d] minimal
contrastive in English?
pair with [l] and [d] in the same position in Turkish?
______________YES ”lot - dot”___________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________ .
c. Look
b. Areat[l]
theanddata
[d]from Setswana:
contrastive 1
in Setswana?

lefifi ‘darkness’ lokwal ‘letter’ xoala ‘to marry’

selp ‘axe’ mosadi ‘woman’ dijo ‘food’
xobala ‘to read’ badisa ‘the herd’ feedi ‘sweeper’
lerum ‘spear’ loleme ‘tongue’ khudu ‘tortoise’
loxadima ‘lightning flash’ molmo ‘mouth’ podi ‘goat’
dumla ‘greetings’ mmadi ‘reader’ hudi ‘wild duck’

Now answer the following

Answer: [d] beforequestions in the
high vowels same
[i] and [u]order given to you:
1. Is there any minimal pair for [l] and [d] in Setswana?
Circle the correct
4. Allophonic answer:
rules in English:YES or NOaspiration
predicting

2. State which
pool [p h
uwl]sounds precede and follow [l] and
spool [spuwl] tooth[d][thuw] stool [stuwl]
(Use #h to indicate that the sound is at the beginning or at the end of the word)
pit [p t] sap [sæp] tin [t n]
h
stick [stk]
h
[l] [d] h
apply [p lay] spray [sprey] atomic [t amk] sat [sæt]
prawn [phexample
ran] : spit [spt]#___e a___i twine [thwayn] stray [strey]
_______ _______
a. Are [ph] and [p] in complementary distribution or they are contrastive?
_______ _______
b. What determines the selection of an aspirated
_______ _______ vs. an unaspirated voiceless stop?
_______in the
Possible answer: stop is aspirated _______
beginning of the syllable
_______ _______
c. Now,
3. Are [l] and [d] the allophones of the same phone or allophones of different phonemes?
Circle
happythe correct answer:
[hæpiy] salty [sltiy]
SAME PHONEME or DIFFERENT PHONEMES
Is a revision of the rule needed?
4. What is the phonological rule about the distribution of [l] and [d] in Setswana?
Answer:
The unaspirated
rule is: > aspirated
/l/ becomes in the beginning of the stressed syllable
[d] _______________________________________________________________.
(Where?)
d. What about Hindi?
1 Setswana is a language spoken by more than 10 million people in southern Africa.
h
[k !l] ‘wicked person’ [kаp] ‘cup’
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[k!l] ‘yesterday, tomorrow’ [kaph] ‘phlegm’
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Answer: Aspiration is contrastive

WEEK 6 ELT2103/ELT2013
PHONOLOGY LINGUISTICS I

HOW TO SOLVE PHONOLOGY PROBLEMS

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WEEK 6 ELT2103/ELT2013
PHONOLOGY
Seth Cable Introduction to LinguisticLINGUISTICS
Theory I
Spring 2013 Linguistics 201
Important Vocabulary Items for Phonology

(1) Allophone
An allophone is a speech sound (phone) as it is actually pronounced in the word.

a. Example: [tʰ] (aspirated ‘t’) in English

• The word “top” is pronounced as [tʰɑp] (see slides from Tuesday)

b. Example: [t] (unaspirated ‘t’) in English

• The word “stop” is pronounced as [stɑp] (see slides from Tuesday)

c. Note: Allophones are written in between square brackets ([…])

(2) Phoneme
A phoneme is a speech sound (phone) as it is stored in memory.

a. Example: /t/ (without aspiration) in English

• The word “top” is stored in memory as /tɑp/ (see slides from Tuesday)
• The word “stop” is stored in memory as /stɑp/ (see slides from Tuesday)

b. Note: Phonemes are written in between angled brackets (/…/)

(3) Being an Allophone of a Phoneme

[X] is an allophone of /Y/ if [X] is one of the ways that the phoneme /Y/ ends up being
pronounced in a word.

a. Example:
[tʰ] is an allophone of /t/ in English (in words like “top” /tɑp/ ~ [tʰɑp])

b. Example:
[t] is an allophone of /t/ in English (in words like “stop” /stɑp/ ~ [stɑp])

(4) Being Allophones of the Same Phoneme

[X] and [Y] are allophones of the same phoneme if there is a phoneme /Z/ such that [X]
is an allophone of /Z/ and [Y] is an allophone of /Z/

a. Example: [tʰ] and [t] are allophones of the same phoneme in English (namely, /t/)

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WEEK 6 ELT2103/ELT2013
PHONOLOGY LINGUISTICS I
Seth Cable Introduction to Linguistic Theory
Spring 2013 Linguistics 201
(5) Being Allophones of Different Phonemes
[X] and [Y] are allophones of different phonemes if they are not allophones of the same
phoneme.

a. Example: [t] and [d] are allophones of different phonemes in English.

• [t] is an allophone of /t/
• [d] is an allophone of /d/

(6) Contrast
[X] and [Y] contrast if they are allophones of different phonemes.

a. Example: [t] and [d] contrast in English

(7) Minimal Pair

A minimal pair is a pair of words that differ in exactly one phone (allophone).

a. Examples from English:

• “tall” [tɑl] and “doll” [dɑl]
• “sip” [sɪp] and “ship” [ʃɪp]
• “safe” [sejf] and “save” [sejv]

(8) Minimal Pair for [X] and [Y]

If [X] and [Y] are allophones, then a minimal pair for [X] and [Y] is a minimal pair that
differ in that one word contains [X] while the other contains [Y]

a. Examples from English

• “tall” [tɑl] and “doll” [dɑl] Minimal pairs for [t] and [d]
• “sip” [sɪp] and “ship” [ʃɪp] Minimal pairs for [s] and [ʃ]
• “safe” [sejf] and “save” [sejv] Minimal pairs for [f] and [v]

(9) Being In Complementary Distribution

If [X] and [Y] are allophones, then they are in complementary distribution if there is no
minimal pair for [X] and [Y]

a. Examples from English

[tʰ] and [t] are in complementary distribution in English
(just try to find a minimal pair for them in English!)

b. Note: If two phones are allophones of the same phoneme, then they are also
necessarily in complementary distribution.
Source: [Link]
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