Week 1

Question 1

Phonetics and phonology

Answer 1

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds themselves.

Phonology is about the mental structures and unconscious knowledge that speakers have regarding those sounds (including mental categories, stored representations, and rules).

Question 2

What does ‘knowledge of language’ include?

Answer 2

Knowledge of language is more than just conscious understanding—it includes intuitive knowledge of sound patterns, word structures, and meanings.

Question 3

What does a native speaker possess of their language?

Answer 3

They possess unconscious knowledge about that language, which includes:

1. Semantic knowledge (meanings of words and sentences)
2. Syntactic knowledge (structure and relations between words)
3. Phonological knowledge (sound patterns and distinctions)

Question 4

How do voiceless stops (ptk) change in pronunciation depending on their position?

Answer 4

Voiceless stops in English are aspirated (e.g., [ph] in “pool”) at the beginning of a stressed syllable but unaspirated after a voiceless fricative (e.g., [p] in “spurt”).

Question 5

What does the phonemic principle determine?

Answer 5

The phonemic principle determines when two sounds are different phonemes versus when they are simply allophones.

Question 6

Complementary distribution

Answer 6

Same meaning, but different distribution. For some sounds, there are no minimal pairs because they never occur in the same environment.

The first sounds in paint, saint, taint.

Wandelaar, tekenaar.

Another example is allophones of English /l/; clear, devoiced and dark.

Question 7

Contrastive distribution

Answer 7

There is a meaning difference, can occur in the same environment.

The ‘t’ sounds in cat, team, stone, city.

Question 8

What is a phoneme?

Answer 8

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning. For example, /p/ and /b/ in English make “pat” and “bat” different words.

Question 9

What is an allophone?

Answer 9

An allophone is a variant of a phoneme that occurs in specific contexts without changing the meaning of a word, like aspirated [pʰ] and unaspirated [p] in English.

Question 10

What’s the environment of “clear l” [l]? What’s the environment of “dark l” [ɫ]?

Answer 10

In English, /l/ has allophones: “clear l” before vowels and “dark l” ([ɫ]) appears after vowels, demonstrating complementary distribution within the /l/ phoneme.

Question 11

How do English approximants [ɹ] and [ɹ̥] demonstrate complementary distribution?

Answer 11

Voiceless [ɹ̥] occurs only after voiceless consonants, while voiced [ɹ] appears elsewhere, illustrating complementary distribution of allophones.

Question 12

How does phonemic contrast impact perception in native language speakers?

Answer 12

Native speakers perceive phonemes within their language’s phonemic system, often ignoring phonetic differences that don’t distinguish meaning, like aspirated vs. unaspirated stops in English.

Question 13

What is assimilation in phonological contexts?

Answer 13

Assimilation is when a sound becomes more similar to a neighbouring sound, such as voiceless [ɹ̥] after voiceless stops in English.

Question 14

How does the acquisition of native phonology affect infants?

Answer 14

Infants initially distinguish sounds like aspirated vs. unaspirated stops, but they lose sensitivity to distinctions that are not phonemic in their native language.

Question 15

Tap or flap

Answer 15

A quick, voiced alveolar stop [ɾ] produced when the tongue briefly touches the alveolar ridge.

Question 16

Thrill

Answer 16

A sequence of rapid taps, produced by holding the tongue near the alveolar ridge with minimal muscular tension, resulting in vibrations.

Though trills (e.g., [r]) are rare in English, they appear in some Scottish accents.

Question 17

Secondary articulation

Answer 17

Does not relate to location, but is an extra, thus secondary, constriction added in the vocal tract; secondary articulation of place.

Includes palatalisation, velarisation, labialisation, glottalisation, nasalisation.

Question 18

Velarisation

Answer 18

Applies primarily to /l/ in English, but only occurs in certain environments. Another name for a velarised /l/ is a dark /l/, and we can use [ł].

Question 19

Palatalisation

Answer 19

Involves adding an [i]-like articulation. Adds a secondary articulation at the lips, but at the palatal region. We use the little j.

Before front vowels and /j/.

[pʲjupə]

Question 20

Primary articulation

Answer 20

Refers to where or how the vocal tract is narrowed or blocked to produce a consonant, or to the tongue contour, lip shape, and larynx height that determine the sound of a vowel.

Lips, teeth, mouth, tongue, larynx.

Question 21

Form

Answer 21

Words have form:
1. In sign language form is a sequence of gestures.
2. In written language form is a sequence of letters.
3. In spoken language form is a string of connected speech sounds.

Question 22

English consonants can be distinguished by three properties:

Answer 22

1. Laryngeal properties (voicing)
2. Place of articulation
3. Manner of articulation

Question 23

English vowels can be distinguished by three properties:

Answer 23

1. Tongue height (high, mid, low)
2. Tongue position (front, central, back)
3. Length (short, long)

Question 24

Obstruents [-sonorant]

Answer 24

Stops, fricatives, affricates

Question 25

Velic closure

Answer 25

When the velum is raised to prevent the passage of air through the nose (which produces an oral sound).

Question 26

Phonological theory

Answer 26

• The function of speech sounds (=contrast meaning)
• The behaviour of speech sounds (=allophonic distribution)
• The distribution of speech sounds (where speech sounds can
  occur in words and phrases)

Question 27

How can the perception of speech sounds be different?

Answer 27

A sound can be perceived differently by speakers of English and Dutch, because their mental representation is different.

L1 speakers of Dutch VOT 10 ms = /p/
L1 speakers of English = /b/

Question 28

Labialisation

Answer 28

Before rounded vowels and /w/.

[tʷul]

Question 29

Nasalisation

Answer 29

Of approximants: up to two segments before and one segment after a nasal.

Of vowels: up to two segments before and one segments after a nasal.

[pl̃æ̃nə̃z]