Homework Phonology Assignment Instructions

LING 301 H OMEWORK : P HONOLOGY A SSIGNMENT I NSTRUCTIONS O VERVIEW This assignment introduces key concepts related to phonological analysis, including minimal pairs, distribution of sound segments, phonemes and allophones, and the environments for sounds. You will be asked to predict and formulate rules for the language data sets you see in this assignment. You may find it helpful to review the Phonological Rules section of the textbook as you work on this assignment. I NSTRUCTIONS Each exercise below provides specific instructions. Please read the instructions carefully and answer each question completely. Type your answers to each question into the table provided or immediately below the question when no table is provided. When you see the number of an exercise inside parentheses, you know that exercise has been taken from your textbook. The total point value for this assignment is 50 points. 1. For each pair of sounds, give a minimal pair in English that demonstrates that those sounds are different phonemes in English. Transcribe each member of the minimal pair into IPA. Remember, the given sounds in the “sound pairs” column should be the only difference in the two transcriptions in each pair. Sound pairs First sound Orthography / Phonetic transcription VS Second sound Orthography / Phonetic transcription [s] vs. [z] sit [sɪt] zit [zɪt] [n] vs. [l] Not [nat] Lot [lat] [u] vs. [o] Ruck [ruk] Rock [rak] [i] vs. [ɪ] Seek [sik] Sick [sɪk] [n] vs. [ŋ] Thin [ɵɪn] Thing [ɵɪɳ] [tʃ] vs. [dʒ] Chin [tʃɪn] Gin [dʒɪn] [a] vs. [æ] Cot [kat] Cat [kæt] [k] vs. [g] Lack [læk] lag [ræg] [l] vs. [r] Lace [leɪs] Race [reɪs] 2. Southern Kongo (Textbook, Exercise 7 ) In Southern Kongo, a Bantu language spoken in Angola, the nonpalatal segments [t], [s], and [z] are in complementary distribution with their palatal counterparts [ʧ], [ʃ], and [ʒ], as shown in the following words: tobola “to bore a hole” ʧina “to cut” tanu “five” ʧiba “banana” kesoka “to be cut” ŋkoʃi “lion” kasu “emaciation” nselele “termite” Page 1 of 5

LING 301 kunezulu “heaven” aʒimola “alms” nzwetu “our” lolonʒi “to wash house” zevo “then” zeŋga “to cut” ʒima “to stretch” tenisu “tennis” a. State the distribution of each pair of segments. Example: [t]—[ʧ]: [t] occurs before [o], [a], [e], and [u]; [ʧ] occurs before [i] [s]—[ʃ]: [s] occurs before [u] [o] and [ʃ] pccurs before [i] [z]—[ʒ]: [z] occurs before [u] [w] [e] and [ʒ] pccurs before [i] b. Using considerations of simplicity, which phone should be used as the underlying phoneme (basic phoneme) for each pair of nonpalatal and palatal segments in Southern Kongo? [t] [s] [z] c. State in your own words the one phonological rule that will derive all the phonetic segments from the phonemes. Only state a single, general rule that will apply to all three phonemes you listed in (b). Try make it a formal statement of your rule. [t] [s] [z] occur before all vowel except when it is palatal d. Which of the following are possible words in Southern Kongo, and which are not? Word Yes or No? Word Yes or No? tenesi No ʃiʃi Yes loʧunuta No ŋkasa No zevoʒiʒi Yes iʒiloʒa Yes 3. African language, Maninka (Textbook, Exercise 15) Consider these data from the African language Maninka. Remember you are going to be looking for patterns in how the morphemes behave. Bugo “hit” Bugoli “hitting” Dila “repair” Dilali “repairing” Page 2 of 5