Svetlana Godjevac October 28, 2003

Brown University CG41 – Midterm Answers

MIDTERM ANSWERS Total Points: 74

1. State the following phonological rules in plain English. Points: 5

Ø → + syll / # ____ - syll - syll

a) - con + con + con
+ son - son - son
- high
- low
- back
+ tense

A vowel, [e], is inserted at the beginning of a word preceding a cluster of two obstruents.

b) Points: 5
- syll → [+nasal] / ____ - syll
+ con + con
- son + son
- nasal + nasal
- cont
+ voice
+ anterior
+ coronal
- labial

[d] is realized as [n] before a nasal.

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Svetlana Godjevac October 28, 2003
Brown University CG41 – Midterm Answers

2. Change the following statements into rule notation: Points: 5

a. Voiceless plosives become corresponding fricatives between vowels

- syll → [+ cont ] / V ___ V

+ cons
- son
- voice
- cont

b. Low unrounded vowel becomes rounded before m Points: 5

+ syll → [+ round ] / ___ + nasal

- cons + son
+ son + lab
- round
+ low

3. Transcribe the following English words the way you pronounce them. Also, let us know your
language background.
Points: 10
aspirin [œsp´rIn] or [œsprIn]

method [mET´d]

famous [feIm´s]

consideration [k´nsId´reIS´n]

busy [bIzi]

4. How many phonemes are there in each of the following words? Points: 4

ox [ Oks ] or [ aks] 3

through [ Tru ] 3

often [Ofn` ] or [ afn` ] or [ aft´n` ] 3

bite [ bait ] 3
[ ai ] is an English diphthong, i.e. a single phoneme in English

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Svetlana Godjevac October 28, 2003
Brown University CG41 – Midterm Answers

5. New England r-less dialect Points: 10

The loss of /r/ in the New England dialect of English occurs in specific environments. State this
generalization as a phonological rule that speakers of this dialect obey.

[ r ] is pronounced [ r ] is not pronounced

road bar
red car
treat part
read floor
parade fourth
rat market
garage poor
true portion
road tear
rapid beer
hero beard
Mary artist

The New England r-less dialect of English has a rule of deleting the [r] in the coda position. This rule can be
expressed as the following:

[r] → Ø / σ

Rhyme

coda

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Svetlana Godjevac October 28, 2003
Brown University CG41 – Midterm Answers

6. Children’s speech Points: 10

Consider the following speech errors produced by a child with a phonological disorder. Classify the errors
into categories and write a rule that describes the chid’s pronunciation.

Word Pronunciation Target word

1. [ bEd ] Consonant cluster reduction ‘bread’

C→Ø / σ [ C ___

2. [ baI ] Consonant cluster reduction, ‘prize’

onset voicing,
deletion of a fricative in the coda

C → Ø / σ [ C ___
C → [+ voice ] / σ [ ___

C → Ø / ___ ] σ
[+cont]

‘plane’
3. [ beIn ] Consonant cluster reduction,
voicing of the onset

C→Ø / σ [ C ___

C → [+ voice ] / σ [ ___

‘try’
4. [ taI ] Consonant cluster reduction

C→Ø / σ [ C ___

5. [ daI ] Consonant cluster reduction, deletion of a fricative in ‘drive’

the coda

C→Ø / σ [ C ___

C → Ø / ___ ] σ
[+cont]

6. [ boU ] Consonant cluster reduction ‘blow’

C→Ø / σ [ C __

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Svetlana Godjevac October 28, 2003
Brown University CG41 – Midterm Answers

7. [ bœt ] Consonant cluster reduction, fronting of the velar stop ‘black’

to the alveolar position

C→Ø / σ [ C ___

C → + anterior / ___ ] σ
- son + coronal
- voice
- anterior
- coronal

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Svetlana Godjevac October 28, 2003
Brown University CG41 – Midterm Answers

7. English Points: 10

Consider the following alternation in English:

A B
sign [ saIn ] signatory [ sIgn´tori ]
design [ dizaIn ] designation [ dEsIgneIS´n ]
malign [ m´laIn ] malignity [ m´lIgnIti ]
assign [ ´saIn ] assignation [ œsIgneIS´n ]
impugn [ Impjun ] pugnacious [ pøgneIS´s ]

Divide the words in column B into root and suffix and identify the underlying representation of each root.
Write a rule, which accounts for the stem ending alternations. Ignore the vowel alternations between the
two forms.

Stems:

A A surface forms B B surface forms Underlying forms of

the stems for both
A&B
sign [ saIn ] signatory [ sIgn´tori ] /saIgn/
design [ dizaIn ] designation [ dEsIgneIS´n ] /dizaIgn/
malign [ m´laIn ] malignity [ m´lIgnIti ] /m´laKgn/
assign [ ´saIn ] assignation [ œsIgneIS´n ] /´saIgn/
impugn [ Impjun ] pugnacious [ pøgneIS´s ] /impjugn/

Rules for deriving surface forms from the stems:

[g] → Ø / ____ + nasal ] σ

+ con
+ anterior

Principle: * [ gn ] σ

In plain English: the sequence [gn] is not allowed in the coda position

NOTE:
To arrive at the surface forms given in B, we also need a rule that would change one of the underlying vowels of the
stems. This rule is beyond the scope of this course, so we will ignore it.

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Svetlana Godjevac October 28, 2003
Brown University CG41 – Midterm Answers

8. Setswana Points: 10
Consider the following data from Setswana (language spoken in Botswana) and determine whether [l]
and [d] are separate phonemes or allophones of the same phoneme. Provide evidence for your answer.

Translation Translation

1. [ lefifi ] ‘darkness’ 11. [ loleme ] ‘tongue’

2. [selEpE ] ‘axe’ 12. [ molOmo ] ‘mouth’
3. [ xobala ] ‘to read’ 13. [ mmadi ] ‘reader’
4. [ medisa ] ‘make swallow’ 14. [ lerumO ] ‘spear’
5. [ xo≠ala ] ‘to marry’ 15. [ leN ] ‘when’
6. [ loxadima ] ‘lightning flash’ 16. [ did°ZO ] ‘food’
7. [ dumEla ] ‘greetings’ 17. [ feedi ] ‘sweeper’
8. [ lokwalO ] ‘letter’ 18. [ kÓudu ] ‘tortoise’
9. [ mosadi ] ‘woman’ 19. [ podi ] ‘goat’
10. [ badisa ] ‘the herd’ 20. [ hudi ] ‘wild duck’

Sound distribution:

[d] [l]
4,17 e ___ i 1,14,15 #___ e
9,10,13 a ___ i 2 e ___ E
16 # ___ i 3,4 a ___ a
18 u ___ u 6,8,11 # ___ o
19 o ___ i 7 E ___ a
20 u ___ i 8 a ___ O
11 o ___ e
12 o ___ O

Natural class: high vowels

The two sounds occur in different environments. [d] only occurs before high vowels, whereas [l] occurs before any
other vowel type. The two sounds never occur in the same environment – which means that they are in
complementary distribution.

The distribution of [d] is predictable (phonologically conditioned) and thus it can be said that [l] is the basic sound,
whereas [l] is its allophone. This can be represented as a phonological rule:

[d] → [l] / ___ [i]

[u]
or

[d] → [l] / ___ V

[+high]

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Svetlana Godjevac October 28, 2003
Brown University CG41 – Midterm Answers

Extra Credit: Points: 10

1. Some English suffixes are sensitive to the prosodic shape of the base they are attaching to. The
suffix –en in English is one such example. Consider the following set of forms and state the
generalization about –en.

whiten *bluen
soften *greenen
madden *angryen
quicken *slowen
liven *abstracten

The suffixe –en, which creates a verb out of an adjective, can attach only to adjectival bases that are monosyllabic
and have a coda position filled by an obstruent.

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