819Q1 – Language Description and AnalysisAutumn term 2010

Exercise Phonetics and Phonology(unassessed)

To be handed in week 5. Note: questions 2 and 3 count double.

1. How do the following sets of sounds differ from each other? For example: set 1 contains bilabial sounds; set 2 contains labiodental sounds.

[e i y ø] vs [u o ʌ ɒ] – Set 1 contains vowel front sounds; Set 2 contains vowel back sounds

1. [e] front/close-mid [i] front/close [y] front/close [ø] front/close-mid

2. [u] back/close [o] back/close [ʌ] back/open-mid [ɒ] back/open

[i u y ʉ] vs. [e o ø ɤ] – Set 1 contains vowel closed sounds; Set 2 contains vowel closed-mid sounds.

1. [i] front/close [u] back/close [y] front/close [ʉ] central/close

2. [e] front/close-mid [o] back/close-mid [ø] central/close-mid [ɤ] back/close-mid

[i ɑ e æ] vs. [u o ɒ y] – Set 1 contain frontal vowel sounds; Set 2 contain mostly back vowel sounds and one frontal vowel sound.

1. [i] front/close [ɑ] front/open [e] front/close-mid [æ] front/(semi)open

2. [u] back/close [o] back/close-mid [ɒ] back/open [y] front/close

[y e u o] vs. [ɪ ɛ ɔ ʊ] – Set 1 contain two close and two close-mid vowel sounds; Set 2 contain two open-mid and two fairly close vowel sounds.

1. [y] front/close [e] front/close-mid [u] back/close [o] back/close-mid

2. [ɪ] fairly front/fairly close [ɛ] front/open-mid [ɔ] back/open-mid [ʊ] fairly back/fairly close

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[p t g b] vs. [f s z x] – Set 1 contain plosive consonants sounds; Set 2 contain fricative consonant sounds.

1. [p] bilabial/plosive [t] aveolar/plosive [g] velar/plosive [b] bilabial/plosive

2. [f] labiodental/fricative [s] alveolar/fricative [z] alveolar/fricative [x] velar/fricative

[p f z g] vs. [m j l r] – Set 1 contain 2 voiceless and 2 voiced consonants; Set 2 contain 4 voiced consonants.

1. [p] bilabial/plosive [f] labiodental/fricative [z] aveolar/fricative [g] velar/plosive

2. [m] bilabial/nasal [j] palatal/approximant [l] aveolar/lateral approximant [r] alveolar/trill

[p f s k] vs. [b v z g] – Set 1 contain voiceless consonants; Set 2 contain voiced consonants.

1. [p] bilabial/plosive [f] labiodental/fricative [s] alveolar/fricative [k] velar/plosive

2. [b] bilabial/plosive [v] labiodental/fricative [z] alveolar/fricative [g] velar plosive

[l ɹ ʎ ɾ] vs. [m n ŋ ɳ] – Set 1 contain 2 lateral approximant, 1 approximant and 1 tap or flap consonants; Set two contain nasal consonants.

1. [l] alveolar/lateral approximant [ɹ] alveolar/approximant [ʎ] palatal/lateral approximant [ɾ] alveolar/tap or flap

2. [m] bilabial/nasal [n] alveolar/nasal [ŋ] velar/nasal [ɳ] retroflex/nasal

[l k n v] vs. [a u o e] – Set 1 contain a variety of different sounding consonants; Set 2 contain a variety of different sounding vowels.

1. [l] alveolar/lateral approximant [k] velar/plosive [n] alveolar/nasal [v] labiodental/fricative

2. [a] front/open [u] back/close [o] back/close-mid [e] front/close-mid

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[t s n l] vs. [k g x ŋ] – Set 1 contain alveolar consonants; Set 2 contain velar consonants.

1. [t] alveolar/plosive [s] alveolar/fricative [n] alveolar/nasal [l] alveolar/lateral approximant

2. [k] velar/plosive [g] velar/plosive [x] velar/fricative [ŋ] velar/nasal

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2. Look at the following data from Standard German and establish whether [ç] and [x] are allophones of one phoneme or whether they belong to two independent phonemes /ç/ and /x/. List the contexts in which each of the two sounds can appear and explain how you reached your decision, using appropriate terminology.

[ʁi:çə] ‘I smell’ [ʁɛçə] ‘I avenge’[laɪçə] ‘corpse’ [lɪçt] ‘light’[zi:ç] ‘diseased’ [vaɪç] ‘soft’[by:çɐ] ‘books’ [lœçɐ] ‘holes’[høçlɪç] ‘highly’ [vœçntlɪç] ‘weekly’[kʏçə] ‘kichen’

The [ç] is follows a frontal vowel sound, for example [i:ç], [ɪç], [œç], etc, as illustrated above.

[mɪlç] ‘milk’[mɑnç] ‘some’ [dʊʁç] ‘through’

The frontal vowel sounds above include an inserted consonant in this case with the phoneme [ç] at the suffix of the word.

[ʁɑxə] ‘revenge’ [lɔx] ‘hole’[bu:x] ‘book’ [ho:x] ‘high’[vɔxə] ‘week’ [lɔxɐ] ‘hole-punch’[ʁɑʊx] ‘smoke’ [bʁɑ:x] ‘fallow’

The phoneme [x] occurs after back vowels, for example [u:x], [ʊx], [o:x], etc as illustrated in the words above. The position of the phoneme [x] is embedded in the middle of the word as well as at the end of words.

When comparing singular and plural forms of words, one could compare allophones. For example, comparing ‘book’ (buch) [bu:x] vs ‘books’ (bücher) [by:çɐ] it would appear that /x/ and /ç/ are allophones. This pattern is further acknowledged whilst comparing other plural and singular word forms; such as ‘hole’ (loch) [lɔx] and ‘holes’ (löcher) [lœçɐ].

However, comparisons could also include the use of adverbs and nouns (week vs weekly; high vs highly). For example, the word ‘week’ [ʁɑʊx] compared to ‘weekly’ [vœçntlɪç] would also support the above point that /x/ and /ç/ are allophones of the same phoneme. Again,

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the comparison of ‘high’ [ho:x] and ‘highly’ [høçlɪç] supports the above point.

Thus, it could be assumed that the phoneme /x/ is more common with singular nouns and whilst phoneme /ç/ is more common when used as an adverb or plural and that they are both allophones of the same vowel. Nonetheless, as Wiese mentioned, the two German fricatives /x/ and /ç/ is a “classical (but much debated) example of an allophonic relationship” (2000; pg. 16).

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3. Look at the pronunciation of the following English loanwords in Shona, the main language of Zimbabwe. (a) How many vowels does Shona have, compared to English, and how does it adopt the different English vowels? (How are English vowels realised in Shona?)

There are only 5 vowels in Shona (/a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/) and long vowel sounds, such as /i:/, /a:/, etc are not present and vowel length is reduced and epenthetic vowels are inserted when loanwords are used in Shona. Furthermore, as observed by Uffmann, there is “strict CV-syllable structure and five vowels” (2002). This is compared to 25 English vowels.

Long vowel sounds in English are adopted by inserting additional consonants and epenthetic vowels, word-final epenthetic vowels and epenthetic vowels in onset clusters. For example, ‘miniskirt’ [minisiketi] suggests that there are word-final epenthetic vowels, etc.

(b) There are many epenthetic (inserted) vowels. What do they tell us about possible syllable structures in Shona? More precisely, what kinds of structures are disallowed in Shona?

[bazi] ‘bus’ [koko] ‘cork’[deti] ‘date’ [sitiretʃa] ‘stretcher’[buku] ‘book’ [sutu] ‘suit’[minisiketi] ‘mini skirt’ [sitopu] ‘stop’[timu] ‘team’ [rodi] ‘road’[hafu] ‘half’ [akita] ‘act’[kirabu] ‘club’ [girama] ‘grammar’

Epenthetic vowels as mentioned previously, is present in word-finals and all words end with an inserted vowel. As Kadenge illustrated complex English vowels “such as diphthongs and triphthongs are simplified [with] … Shona speakers” (2009).

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BibliographyKadenge M. (2009) African Englishes: The Indigenization of English Vowels by Zimbabwean Native Shona Speakers The Journal of Pan African StudiesUffmann C (2002) A Typology of Epenthetic Vowels in Loanwords Philipps-Universität MarburgWeise R. (2000) The Phonology of German Oxford OUP

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