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S P T H 1 5 0 6 L I N G U I S T I C S & P H O N E T I C S 1

PHONOLOGICAL RULES

Exercises & Answers

QUESTION 1

Exercises 313

9. Pairs like top and chop, dunk and junk, so and show, and Caesar and seizure reveal that / / and / ʃ/, /d/ and /dʒ/, / / and /ʃ/, and / / and /ʒ/ are distinct phonemes in English. Consider these same pairs of nonpalatalized and palatalized consonants in the following data. (The palatal forms are optional forms that often occur in casual speech.)

Nonpalatalized Palatalized

[hɪ mi] “hit me” [hɪ ʃ j ] “hit you”lid h m “lead him” lidʒ j “lead you”

æ ʌ “pass us” æʃ j “pass you”l ð m “lose them” l ʒ j “lose you”

Formulate the rule that specifies when / /, /d/, / /, and / / become palatalized as [ ʃ], [dʒ], [ʃ], and [ʒ]. Restate the rule using feature notations. Does the formal statement reveal the generalizations?

10. Here are some Japanese words in broad phonetic transcription. Note that [ ] is an alveolar affricate and should be taken as a single symbol just like the palatal fricative [ ʃ]. It is pronounced as the initial sound in tsunami. Japanese words (except certain loan words) never contain the phonetic sequences *[ i] or *[ ].a ami “mat” m da ʃi “friend” ʃi “house”egami “letter” em “very” k “male”

tʃitʃi “father” tsukue “desk” tetsudau “help”ʃi a “under” a “later” ma “wait”a “summer” m “wrap” ʃi “map”

ka a “person” a em “building” e “hand”a. Based on these data, are [ ], [ ʃ], and [ ] in complementary distribution?b. State the distribution—first in words, then using features—of these

phones.c. Give a phonemic analysis of these data insofar as [ ], [ ʃ], and [ ] are

concerned. That is, identify the phonemes and the allophones.d. Give the phonemic representation of the phonetically transcribed Japa-

nese words shown as follows. Assume phonemic and phonetic represen-tations are the same except for [ ], [ ʃ], and [ ].a ami k e m m da ʃi e da ʃi ʃi ʃi a ka a

egami a k em ma a em k deg ʃi e

ʃi ʃi a i 11. The following words are Paku, a language created by V. Fromkin, spoken

by the Pakuni in the cult classic Land of the Lost, originally an NBC televi-sion series and recently a major motion picture. The acute accent indicates a stressed vowel.a. “evil” (N) c. e g “cactus” (sg) b. a “evil” (Adj) d. e g i “cactus” (pl)

There are two questions to look at this week, both from Fromkin er al (2014), Chapter 7. The questions are given below on p1 & p2. Answers follow on pp3-4.

 

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QUESTION 2

316 CHAPTER 7 Phonology: The Sound Patterns of Language

i. Force you to revise the conclusions about the distribution of labial stops and fricatives you reached on the basis of the first group of words given above?

ii. Support your original conclusions?iii. Neither support nor disprove your original conclusions?

15. Consider these data from the African language Maninka.bugo “hit” bugoli “hitting”dila “repair” dilali “repairing”don “come in” donni “coming in”dumu “eat” dumuni “eating”gwen “chase” gwenni “chasing”

a. What are the two forms of the morpheme meaning “-ing”?(1) _____________________ (2) _____________________

b. Can you predict which phonetic form will occur? If so, state the rule.c. What are the “-ing” forms for the following verbs?

da “lie down” __________ men “hear” ______________ famu “understand” ___________

d. What does the rule that you formulated predict for the “-ing” form ofsunogo “sleep” ________________

e. If your rule predicts sunogoli, modify it to predict sunogoni without affecting the other occurrences of -li. Conversely, if your rule predicts sunogoni, modify it to predict sunogoli without affecting the other occurrences of -ni.

16. Consider the following phonetic data from the Bantu language Luganda. (The data have been somewhat altered to make the problem easier.) In each line except the last, the same root occurs in both columns A and B, but it has one prefix in column A, meaning “a” or “an,” and another prefix in column B, meaning “little.”

A B

a “a canoe” aka “little canoe”a “a house” aka “little house”bi “an animal” aka bi “little animal”

m i i “a kidney” aka i i “little kidney”ŋk a “a feather” akak a “little feather”m m “a peg” akab m “little peg”ŋ m e “a horn” akag m e “little horn”

mi “a garden” akad mi “little garden”g i “a stranger” aka abi “little branch”

Base your answers to the following questions on only these forms. Assume that all the words in the language follow the regularities shown here. (Hint: You may write long segments such as /m / as /mm/ to help you visualize more clearly the phonological processes taking place.)

Exercises 317

a. Are nasal vowels in Luganda phonemic? Are they predictable?b. Is the phonemic representation of the morpheme meaning “garden”

/dimi /?c. What is the phonemic representation of the morpheme meaning

“canoe”?d. Are [ ] and [b] allophones of one phoneme?e. If /am/ represents a bound prefix morpheme in Luganda, can you con-

clude that [ md ] is a possible phonetic form for a word in this lan-guage starting with this prefix?

f. Is there a homorganic nasal rule in Luganda?g. If the phonetic representation of the word meaning “little boy” is

aka be , give the phonemic and phonetic representations for “a boy.”

Phonemic____________________ Phonetic ____________________

h. Which of the following forms is the phonemic representation for the prefix meaning “a” or “an”?

i. /e / ii. / n/ iii. / m/ iv. /em/ v. /e /

i. What is the phonetic representation of the word meaning “a branch”?j. What is the phonemic representation of the word meaning “little

stranger”?k. State the three phonological rules revealed by the Luganda data.

17. Here are some Japanese verb forms given in broad phonetic transcription. They represent two styles (informal and formal) of present-tense verbs. Morphemes are separated by +.

Gloss Informal Formal

call b b imawrite kak kak imaeat abe abe masee mi mi maleave de de mago out dekake dekake madie ʃi ʃi imaclose ʃime ʃime maswindle ka a ka a imawear ki ki maread m m imalend ka kaʃ imawait ma ma ʃ imapress ʃ imaapply a e a e madrop ʃ imahave m m ʃ imawin ka ka ʃ imasteal a lover e e ima

 

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ANSWER TO QUESTION 1

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There are various ways you can formulate the rule, depending on what feature system you are using: Fromkin et al suggest:

1. +alveolar → -alveolar / ___ +palatal - sonorant +postalveolar +sonorant

but this doesn’t show why the /j/ causes the alveolar to change. So you could say:

2. +alveolar → [+palatal] / ___ +palatal - sonorant +sonorant

This shows that the feature [+palatal] is copied from the /j/, but it only works if you allow the feature combination [+alveolar, +palatal] for the palatoalveolars.

The ‘proper’ way to do it, using the feature system I have introduced you to is:

3. +anterior → [-anterior] / ___ -anterior +coronal -coronal- sonorant +sonorant

I don’t think you have to specify the environment in terms of syllable or word boundaries.

9. English palatalisation Palatalisation occurs whenever /t/, /d/, /s/ and /z/ (alveolor obstruents) are followed by the palatal approximant /j/.

 

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ANSWER TO QUESTION 2

2

Aus

Aus Aus Aus, Br, most Am Aus Aus

Aus Aus

Aus Aus

Am

Br

Am

Am Br, Am

NZ

Scots Br, Am

NZ

NZ

1

There are various ways you can formulate the rule, depending on what feature system you are using: Fromkin et al suggest:

1. +alveolar → -alveolar / ___ +palatal - sonorant +postalveolar +sonorant

but this doesn’t show why the /j/ causes the alveolar to change. So you could say:

2. +alveolar → [+palatal] / ___ +palatal - sonorant +sonorant

This shows that the feature [+palatal] is copied from the /j/, but it only works if you allow the feature combination [+alveolar, +palatal] for the palatoalveolars.

The ‘proper’ way to do it, using the feature system I have introduced you to is:

3. +anterior → [-anterior] / ___ -anterior +coronal -coronal- sonorant +sonorant

I don’t think you have to specify the environment in terms of syllable or word boundaries.

9. English palatalisation Palatalisation occurs whenever /t/, /d/, /s/ and /z/ (alveolor obstruents) are followed by the palatal approximant /j/.