Phonetics and Phonology Assignment
1. Airstream Mechanism
Fill in the blanks in the following passage with the words provided (some words
may be used more than once):
voiced clicks ejectives velaric voiceless glottalic pulmonic plosives
implosives
There are three principle airstream mechanisms: the pulmonic airstream
mechanism, the glottalic airstream mechanism, and the velaric airstream
mechanism. In normal utterances in all the languages of the world, the airstream
is always flowing outward if the _______________ airstream mechanism is
involved. Stops made with this mechanism are called ______________. The only
mechanism that is used in some languages to produce some sounds with inward
going air and some sounds with outward going air is the clicks airstream
mechanism. Stops made with this mechanism acting ingressively are called
implosives . Stops made with this mechanism acting egressively are called
ejectives . The mechanism that is used in language to produce sounds only with
inward going air is the __________ airstream mechanism. Stops made with this
mechanism are called _____________. Stops may vary in their voice onset time.
In this respect, [b,d,g] are voiced stops, [p,t,k] are voiceless stops.
2. Phonetic description
Give the appropriate phonetic symbol in brackets for each of the sounds
described below:
a) voiceless velar stop [ k ]
b) voiced labiodental fricative [ ʒ ]
c) voiced palato-alveolar affricate [ ʤ ]
d) voiced palatal glide [ y ]
e) voiced velar nasal [ ŋ ]
f) voiceless interdental fricative [ θ ]
3. Phonetic description
Work out the vowel sound associated with each of the following descriptions.
Supply its correct phonetic symbol and illustrate the vowel with a word in English.
One example has been done for you.
a) long (tense) high front unrounded [ ] heat
b) short low central unrounded [ ʌ ] _luck____
c) short high back rounded [ ʊ ] __cook___
d) long mid-high back rounded [ ɔ: ] _ball____
e) long mid central (slightly) rounded [ ɜ: ] __bird___
4. Assimilation
Provide two phonetic transcriptions for each of the following examples, one
which reflects the way you would say it in formal or careful speech style, the
other the way you would say it in more rapid, casual speech style. Identify the
assimilation process that occurs in the sound sequence.
1. Would you like it
Careful style: [ wood ju laɪk ɪt]
Casual style: [ wooʤu laɪk ɪt]
Assimilation process: Mutual Assimilation
2. A basket maker
Careful style: [ ə ‘ba:skɪt bɔ:l ]
Casual style: [ə ‘ba:skɪp bɔ:l ]
Assimilation process: Labialization
3. A good cook
Careful style: [ ə gʊd kʊk ]
Casual style: [ ə gʊg kʊk ]
Assimilation process: Velarization
5. Stress
Stress in a sentence is used to emphasize important information in a sentence,
usually Noun, Verb, Adjective & Adverb.
Look at the underlined word that receives the stress in each sentence, and tell
what the speaker means. One example has been done for you.
Word stressed in sentence What the speaker means
1. I asked you to buy red roses. E.g. It was me who was asking – not him or her
2. I asked you to buy red roses. E.g. You didn’t said it
3. I asked you to buy red roses. E.g Not anybody else’s roses
4. I asked you to buy red roses. E.g Not the sell one
5. I asked you to buy red roses. E.g Not pink/yellow one
6. I asked you to buy red roses. E.g It was roses – not orchids
6. Consider the distribution of [r] and [l] in Korean in the following words:
rupi - ruby mul - water
kiri - road pal - big
saram - person soul - Seoul
irumi - name ilkop - seven
ratio - radio ipalsa - barber
Are [r] and [l] allophones of one or two phonemes? State your reasons.
7. Analyze the syllable structure of the words: spring, little, doctor, structure.
Word Number of First syllable Second syllable
syllables
Onset Rhyme Onset Rhyme
Nucleus Coda nucleus coda
spring One [sp] [ɪ] [ŋ] Ø Ø Ø
little One [l] [ɪ] [tl] Ø Ø Ø
doctor two [d] [ɒ] [k] [t] [ə] [r]
structur two [str] [ʌ] [k] [ʧ] [ə] [r]
e
8. Why do the rules for marking stress and intonation keep changing? Don't we
have any fixed rules?
