English 615: Modern English Linguistics

W 2:30 to 5:20
East Hall 406

Transcription

Due January 30 in class

Choose any passage in English of 100 words or more and transcribe it phonetically as well and as narrowly as you can. Please also provide an orthographic representation of your transcription. Note that this is the only assignment you will turn into me on paper!

Homework 2: Due Wednesday Jan 31

Here is a set of segments designated by their phonological features. Strung together, they make up two questions. You will have to determine where the word boundaries go. Write the questions out in correct English orthography. My exact pronunciation might be different than yours so try to think flexibly when you're trying to make these into sentences. Feel free to give an answer to either or both. You may answer in orthography.

Question One


[voiced labio-velar glide]
[low back vowel]
[voiced palatal glide]
[voiced alveolar stop]
[high front lax vowel]


[voiced alveolar stop]
[voiced interdental fricative
[
[mid central lax vowel]
[voiced bilabial stop]
[high front tense vowel]


[voiced alveopalatal affricate]
[high front tense vowel]
[voiceless labiodental fricative]
[low front lax vowel]
[voiced alveolar lateral]


[voiceless velar stop]
[high front lax vowel]
[alveolar nasal]
[voiceless velar stop]
[voiced nonlateral liquid]


[mid back lax vowel]
[voiceless alveolar fricative]
[voiced interdental fricative]
[mid central lax vowel]
[voiced nonlateral liquid]


[mid back tense vowel]
[voiced alveolar stop]

Question Two

Remember, that when you speak, words can run together. Think carefully about word boundaries in this example.


[voiceless glottal fricative]
[high, back tense vowel]
[voiced alveolar stop]
[high, back tense vowel]
[voiced palatal glide]


[high, back tense vowel]
[voiced labiovelar glide]
[low back vowel]
[alveolar nasal]
[voiceless alveolar stop]


[high, back tense vowel]
[voiced bilabial stop]
[high front tense vowel]
[voiceless bilabial stop]
[nonlateral liquid]


[mid front lax bowel]
[voiced alveolar fricative]
[high lax front vowel]
[voiced alveolar stop]
[mid front lax vowel]


[
[alveolar nasal]
[glottal stop]
[high front lax vowel]
[alveolar nasal]
[mid tense back vowel]


[voiced labiodental fricative]
[mid front lax vowel]
[bilabial nasal]
[voiced bilabial stop]
[syllablic nonlateral liquid]


[mid tense back vowel]
[mid tense front vowel]
[voiced palatal glide]
[voiceless alveolar stop]

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Mrophology Problems

Due Wednesday, February 7th

Cebuano

The following nouns are from Cebuano, a language of the Philippine Islands. Examine them and answer the questions that follow.

1. [bisaya] a Visayan<
2. [inglis] an Englishman
3. [tagalog] a Tagalogperson
4. [ilokano] an llocano
5. [sibwano] a Cebuano
6. [binisaya] the Visayan language
7. [ininglis] the English language
8. [tinagalog] the Tagalog language
9. [inilokano] the Ilocano language
10. [sinibwano] the Cebuano language

A. State the rule (in words, precisely) for deriving language names from the names of ethnic groups. b. What type of positional affix is this? c. Is it inflectional or derivational?

Spanish and Hebrew

A. Examine the following Spanish data, given in phonetic transcription. Then identify all the morphemes, and state the meaning or function of each. (Note: In these examples, the symbol c represents a sound similar to the ch in chance.)

1. amigo
'male friend'

2. amiga
'female friend'

3. mucaco
'boy'

4. mucaca
'girl'

5. amigos
'male friends'

6. amigas
'female friends'

7. mucacos
'boys'

8. mucacas
'girls'

B. Do the same for the following Modern Hebrew data. (Note: In these examples, the x does not represent a ks sound as it does in English but rather a sound similar to the ch in the German pronunciation of the name Bach. The symbol o represents a sound similar to the o in or.)

1. xaver
'male friend'

2. xavera
'female friend'

3. talmid
'male student'

4. talmida
'female student'

5. xaverim
'male friends'

6. xaverot
'female friends'

7. talmidim
'male students'

8. talmidot
'female students'

C. Based on what you have discovered, explain how Spanish and Hebrew differ in the way they mark gender and number.

Kiswahili

Examine the following data from Swahili, a language spoken in East Africa, and answer the questions that follow.
1. [atanipenda] s/he will like me
2. [atakupenda] s/he will like you
3. [atampenda] s/he will like himher
4. [atatupenda] s/he will like us
5. [atawapenda] s/he will like them
6. [nitakupenda] I will like you
7. [nitampenda] I will like himher
8. [nitawapenda] I will like them
9. [utanipenda] you will like me
10. [utampenda] you will like himher
11. [tutampenda] we will like himher
12. [watampenda] they will like himher
13. [atakusumbua] s/he will annoy you
14. [unamsumbua] you are annoying himher
15. [atanipiga] s/he will beat me
16. [atakupiga] s/he will beat you
17. [atampiga] s/he will beat himher
18. [ananipiga] s/he is beating me
19. [anakupiga] s/he is beating you
20. [anampiga] s/he is beating himher
21. [amekupiga] s/he has beaten you
22. [amenipiga] s/he has beaten me
23. [amempiga] s/he has beaten himher
24. [alinipiga] s/he beat me
25. [alikupiga] s/he beat you
26. [alimpiga] s/he beat himher
27. [wametulipa] they have paid us 28. [tulikulipa] we paid you

a. Give the Swahili morphemes for the following English function words/morphemes:

b. Give the Swahili morphemes for the following English content words/morphemes:

c. What is the order of morphemes in Swahili (in terms of subject, object, verb, and tense)?

d. Give the Swahili word for the following English translations:

e. Give the English translation for the following Swahili words.

Homeowrk #4

Popoluca

Examine the following data from Popoluca, a language spoken in Mexico, and answer the questions that follow.

1. [?iNku?tpa] you (sg.) eat it
2. [?anhokspa] I hoe it
3. [?iku?t] he ate it
4. [?imo:ya] his flower
5. [mo:ya] `flower
6. [?ampetpa] I sweep it
7. [?impet] you swept it
8. [?antEk] my house
9. [?inhokspa] you hoe it
10. [no:mi] boss
11. [?ano:mi] my boss
12. [?ika:ma] his cornfield
13. [?iNka:ma] your (sg.) cornfield
14. [?amo:ya] my flower
15. [?ino:mi] your (sg.) boss

a. List all of the Popoluca allomorphs corresponding to the following translations.
cornfield (past tense) flower (present tense) boss I/my house you/your (sg.) eat he/his sweep hoe
State the phonetic environments that condition the occurrence of allomorphs when one morpheme has more than one allomorph.

Isthmus Zapotec

Examine the following data from Isthmus Zapotec, a language spoken in Mexico. Answer the questions which follow.
1. [palu] stick
2. [ku:ba] dough
3. [tapa] four
4. [geta] tortilla
5. [bere] chicken
6. [do'o] rope
7. [spalube] his stick
8. [sku:babe] his dough
9. [stapabe] his four
10. [sketabe] his tortilla
11. [sperebe] his chicken
12. [sto'obe] his rope
13. [spalulu] your stick
14. [sku:balu] your dough
15. [stapalu] your four
16. [sketalu] your tortilla
17. [sperelu] your chicken
18. [sto'olu] your rope

a. Isolate the morphemes that correspond to the following English translations:
possession (genitive)
3rd person singular
2nd person plural

b. List the allomorphs for the following
tortilla rope chicken

c. What phonological process conditions for the allomorphs listed in B? That is, what causes the change from one to the other. Note that the answer is not as simple as 'when you add a prefix'. The question is, why does adding this particular prefix cause this particular kind of change? (Remembering your phonetics will help you here.)

Homework #5: four Phonology Problems
Due Friday march 2

Burmese

The following Burmese data contain both voiced and voiceless nasals. The latter are indicated by a dot before the symbol. Are [m] and [.m] allophones of the same phoneme, or are they different phonemes? What about [n] and [.n]? Is the same also true for [N] and [.N]? Give evidence for your answer. If there is a phonological process involved, state what it is and give the conditioning environment and the conditioning property of the environment. Note: Burmese is a tone language, where [1] indicates a high toned vowel, [2] a low toned vowel, [3] a falling toned vowel, and nothing a mid toned vowel. The sequence of sounds [ey] is a diphthong and [N] represents a velar nasal.

1. [mi3] fire
2. [mwe3y] to give birth
3. [myi?] river
4. [mya3wn] ditch
5. [myi1n] to see
6. [ne3] small
7. [nyi?] dirty
8. [nwe2] to bend flexibly
9. [h.myaw?] to multiply
10. [h.ne3y] slow
11. [h.nwe3y] to heat
12. [h.nya?] to cut off(hair) 13. [h.Ne?] bird
14. [nye2] fine, small
15. [nwa3] cow
16. [Na3] five
17. [Nou?] stump(o/tree)
18. [mi3n] old (people)
19. [h.mi1] to lean against
20. [h.mwe3y] fragrant
21. [h.mwe3y] to cure (meat)
22. [h.mo2wn] flour, powder
23. [h.nyi?] to wring, squeeze
24. [h.nyey?] to nod the head
25. [h.Na3] to lend property, borrow
26. [hi3n] curry

Sindhi

The following data are from Sindhi, an Indo-European language spoken in India and Pakistan. Examine the phones [p], [ph], and [b]. Determine if the three are allophones of separate phonemes or allophones of the same phoneme. What is your evidence? Is the relationship among the sounds the same as the relationship among these three sounds in English? Why or why not?
The @ symbol equates to a shwa.
Note that [ph] means aspirated [p] not a spelling of the [f] sound

1. [p@nu] leaf
2. [v@dZu] opportunity
3. [Seki] suspicious
4. [g@do] dull
5. [d@ru] door
6. [ph@nu] snake hood
7. [t@ru] bottom
8. [kh@to] sour
9. [b@dZu] run
10. [b@nu] forest
11. [b@tSu] be safe
12. [dZ@dZu] judge

English

Examine [?] and [t] below. Are glottal stop [?] and [t] separate phonemes or allophones of the same phoneme? [N] represents a velar nasal.
1. [tap] top
2. [strIN] string
3. [ka?] cot
4. [mItIn] mitten
5. [fElt] felt
6. [rakI?] rocket
7. [list] least
8. [tEnt] tent

fijian

Examine [d], [nd] and [t] in the data below. Are they allophones of the same phoneme or separate phonemes or some combination of these two?
[vindi] - to spring up
[kenda] - we
[tiko] - to stay
[tutu] - grandfather
[viti] - fiji
dovu - sugarcane
[dina] - true
[dalo] - taro plant
[vundi] - plantane banana
[manda] - first
[tina] - mother
[mata] - eye
[dondo] - to stretch out one's hand
[mokiti] - round
[vevendu] - a plant

Homework #7 Psycholinguistics: Speech errors

Due by April 15

Listen to the speech around you and record ten speech errors. You may use your own errors or those you hear. You may *only* use two from me speaking in class! For each, please note: Research shows that 60% of speech errors are phonological. Is that the case with your errors? If not, can you suggest a reason?
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Historical Linguistics Homework #8

Due Wednesday April 11

Proto-Central Pacific

Reconstruct the protoform for each of the folowing:
Maori Hawaiian Samoan Fijian gloss
1. [pou] [pou] [pou] [bou] post
2. [tapu] [kapu] [tapu] [tabu] forbidden
3. [taNi] [kani] [taNi] [taNi] cry
4. [takere] [ka?ele] [ta?ele] [takele] keel
5. [noho] [noho] [nofo] [novo] sit
6. [marama] [malama] [malama] [malama] moon
7. [kaho] [?aho] [?aso] [kaso] thatch

Proto-Romance

Reconstruct the protoform for each of the following words.
[D] represents voiced interdental fricative


Spanish Sardinian Rumanian gloss
1. [hilo] [filu] [fir] thread
2. [viDa] [bita] [vita] life
3. [vino] [binu] [vin] wine
4. [riva] [riba] [ripa] bank
5. [rio] [riu] [riu] river
6. [riso] [rizu] [ris] laugh
7. [muDa] [muta] [muta] change

Homework #9: Braille

Due: Friday April 20

  1. Is Braille an orthography, a language or something else? (consider in your answer how languages other than English are written for blind readers).
  2. Is Braille or does Braille contain any of the following (provide examples):
    1. a true alphabet?
    2. any logographic/ideographic characters?
    3. any words that appear to be written in a consonantal alphabet?
    4. any characters that are similar to those in a syllabary?
    5. something else not covered in this list?
  3. The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requires that signs in public buildings be in both Braille and print. Visit the following places in East Hall and report on any Braille you find on signs there. What does the Braille say? Explain any symbols you find that are not direct representations of Roman letters.. That is, account for each character present on the sign. If it's a roman letter, you can simply type that letter. For any other symbols, tell what that symbol equates to. For example, if you saw a sign that said 'fresh cheese here', that sign would contain a 'ch' sign, an 'sh' sign and a contracted version of the word 'here'. You would simply write 'fre(sh) (ch)eese (here)'. You do not have to tell me what dots comprise each cell used.
    1. any exit sign
    2. any pair of signs on men's/women's bathrooms.
    3. the ""floor 2" and "floor 4" signs in the stairwell across from the seminar rooms (not the glassed in stairwell).
    4. the "stairs to roof" sign on the door beside the stairs to the roof on the 4th floor.
    5. the "use stairs in case of fire" sign on the 4th floor by the elevator.
    6. signs on offices 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, and 223.
    7. "area rescue assistance" signs in any stairwell.
    8. the little note taped up beside my office door.
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