Linguistics 001

Spring 2010 Homework 1

Answer Key

I. Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar

•If you are not a native English speaker, you may consult one for this section.

•Assign each sentence below a number using the following legend:

1: Prescriptively and descriptively correct

2: Grammatical in your dialect, but prescriptively not supposed to be said

3: Grammatical only in a dialect or historical period other than your own

4: Ungrammatical (descriptively impossible)

•Provide a brief explanation where appropriate.

a. Always know where your head is at. 2

b. Be not afraid of greatness. 3

c. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. 1

d. What did John kiss the woman who baked? 4

e. Elvis liked fried peanut butter sandwiches. 1

f. My mother told me to never talk back to my elders. 2

g. She not home yet. 3

h. An assignment will be given you each week. 4

II. Phonetic Descriptions and Symbols

•Provide the correct three-term description (voiced/unvoiced, place, manner) for each of the following consonant sounds (e.g., [k]: voiceless, velar, oral stop).

[θ] voiceless, (inter)dental, fricative

[ɹ] voiced, retroflex, liquid

[ʧ] voiceless, post-alveolar, affricate

[ŋ] voiced, velar, nasal stop

•Provide the correct three-term description (height, backness, rounded/unrounded) for each of the following vowel sounds (e.g., [ɛ]: mid, front, unrounded).

[ʊ] high, back, rounded

[i] high, front, unrounded

[ɪ] high, front, unrounded

[æ] low, front, unrounded

•Give the correct IPA symbol for each of the following sounds:

a. voiced post-alveolar fricative [ʒ]

b. voiced bilabial nasal stop [m]

c. voiced palatal glide [j]

d. low back unrounded vowel [ɑ]

•Write the IPA symbols for the dipthong found in each of these words:

a. plough [aʊ]

b. ploy [ɔɪ]

c. loiter [ɔɪ]

d. bright [aɪ]

e. prowl [aʊ]

f. Einstein [aɪ]

g. Tao [aʊ]

h. rhyme [aɪ]

III. Phonetic Transcription

•Transcribe the following words into IPA:

a. trapezoid tʰɹæpəәzɔɪd

b. college kʰɑlɪʤ

c. bother bɔðɚ

d. tax tæks

e. fluffy flʌfi

f. chemistry kʰɛmɪstri

g. peppercorn pʰɛpɚkʰɔrn

h. bookstore bʊkstɔr

•Transcribe the following words out of IPA:

a. næt gnat

b. geɪʤd gauged

c. khɔf cough

d. rʌf rough

e. θɹu through

f. thɛknɪʃəәn technician

g. jɛlɪŋ yelling

h. ʌnjəәn onion

IV. Acoustic Phonetics

•Please answer True or False:

a. The  x-­‐axis  of  a  spectrum  represents  time.     F  

b. The vibration of the vocal chords in periodic, which determines the fundamental frequency. T

c. The frequency of the first formant is determined by the fundamental frequency. F

d. In general voiceless stops have negative VOT. F

e. If the frequency of a simple harmonic motion is 100 Hz, its period is 10 milliseconds. T

f. In general /a/ has lower F1 than /i/. F

g. Chinese has tones, but no intonation; English has intonation, but no tones.

F

•Select the syllable that correctly transcribes the spectrogram:

a. /ba/

Time (s)0 0.282177

0

5000

b. /su/

Time (s)0 0.650771

0

5000

c. /fa/

Time (s)0 0.57737

0

5000