LINGUISTICS EXAM PRACTICE
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS.
DATASET A
[axt] 'eight'
[lœçə] 'holes'
[bu:x] 'book'
[ɛçt] 'real'
[ho:x] 'high'
[ɪç] 'I'
[laxən] 'to laugh'
[kɔʏçt] 'gasps'
[lɔx] 'hole'
[byçə] 'books'
Unfamiliar symbols:
[ç] voiceless oral palatal fricative
[x] voiceless oral velar fricative
[y] high front tense rounded vowel
[ʏ] high front lax rounded vowel
[œ] mid front lax rounded vowel
for following problems
Consider the German data below. Based on this data, what is the phonological status of [ç]
and [x] in German?
A) separate phonemes
B) allophones of the same phoneme
B) allophones of the same phoneme
Again based on the data in Dataset A above, what is the phonological distribution of [ç] and
[x] in German?
,A) contrastive distribution
B) complementary distribution
B) complementary distribution
Now draw t-charts for the sounds and analyze them.
Once you have finished your t-charts and eliminated overlap from your enquiries, you
should have ended up with the following as the relevant environments for the velar
fricative [x]:
a__
u:__
o:__
ɔ__
What general statement can you make about these environments? (Choose one.)
A) back vowels ___
B) front vowels ___
C) short vowels ___
D) tense vowels ___
E) lax vowels ___
F) rounded vowels ___
G) unrounded vowels ___
A) back vowels ___
For the palatal fricative [ç], you should have come up with the following relevant
environments from Dataset A:
ʏ__
y__
ɪ__
ɛ__
œ__
, What general statement can you make about these environments? (Choose one.)
A) back vowels ___
B) front vowels ___
C) short vowels ___
D) tense vowels ___
E) lax vowels ___
F) rounded vowels ___
G) unrounded vowels ___
B) front vowels ___
Considering ONLY the data given to you in Dataset A above, which fricative is the best
choice for the underlying form (the phoneme)?
A) Choosing the velar fricative [x] as the phoneme would give us a simpler rule.
B) Choosing the palatal fricative [ç] as the phoneme would give us a simpler rule.
C) Neither one is obviously better - either way we could write an equally simple rule. We
would need to consider other issues as naturalness to choose the phoneme.
C) Neither one is obviously better - either way we could write an equally simple rule. We would
need to consider other issues as naturalness to choose the phoneme.
Suppose that we choose the velar fricative as the phoneme. We could then write the
following phonological rule, which accounts for the distribution in the data in Dataset
A:
German fricative palatalization rule:
voiceless velar fricative --> palatal / front V ___
Now consider the following hypothetical word, which has a blank in it. If the fricative
phoneme from the above rule occurs in the position of this blank, which allophone does our
rule predict will appear there?
man___
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS.
DATASET A
[axt] 'eight'
[lœçə] 'holes'
[bu:x] 'book'
[ɛçt] 'real'
[ho:x] 'high'
[ɪç] 'I'
[laxən] 'to laugh'
[kɔʏçt] 'gasps'
[lɔx] 'hole'
[byçə] 'books'
Unfamiliar symbols:
[ç] voiceless oral palatal fricative
[x] voiceless oral velar fricative
[y] high front tense rounded vowel
[ʏ] high front lax rounded vowel
[œ] mid front lax rounded vowel
for following problems
Consider the German data below. Based on this data, what is the phonological status of [ç]
and [x] in German?
A) separate phonemes
B) allophones of the same phoneme
B) allophones of the same phoneme
Again based on the data in Dataset A above, what is the phonological distribution of [ç] and
[x] in German?
,A) contrastive distribution
B) complementary distribution
B) complementary distribution
Now draw t-charts for the sounds and analyze them.
Once you have finished your t-charts and eliminated overlap from your enquiries, you
should have ended up with the following as the relevant environments for the velar
fricative [x]:
a__
u:__
o:__
ɔ__
What general statement can you make about these environments? (Choose one.)
A) back vowels ___
B) front vowels ___
C) short vowels ___
D) tense vowels ___
E) lax vowels ___
F) rounded vowels ___
G) unrounded vowels ___
A) back vowels ___
For the palatal fricative [ç], you should have come up with the following relevant
environments from Dataset A:
ʏ__
y__
ɪ__
ɛ__
œ__
, What general statement can you make about these environments? (Choose one.)
A) back vowels ___
B) front vowels ___
C) short vowels ___
D) tense vowels ___
E) lax vowels ___
F) rounded vowels ___
G) unrounded vowels ___
B) front vowels ___
Considering ONLY the data given to you in Dataset A above, which fricative is the best
choice for the underlying form (the phoneme)?
A) Choosing the velar fricative [x] as the phoneme would give us a simpler rule.
B) Choosing the palatal fricative [ç] as the phoneme would give us a simpler rule.
C) Neither one is obviously better - either way we could write an equally simple rule. We
would need to consider other issues as naturalness to choose the phoneme.
C) Neither one is obviously better - either way we could write an equally simple rule. We would
need to consider other issues as naturalness to choose the phoneme.
Suppose that we choose the velar fricative as the phoneme. We could then write the
following phonological rule, which accounts for the distribution in the data in Dataset
A:
German fricative palatalization rule:
voiceless velar fricative --> palatal / front V ___
Now consider the following hypothetical word, which has a blank in it. If the fricative
phoneme from the above rule occurs in the position of this blank, which allophone does our
rule predict will appear there?
man___
