819Q1 – Language Description and Analysis

Autumn term 2010

Exercise Phonetics and Phonology

(unassessed)

To be handed in week 5. Note: questions 2 and 3 count double.

1. How do the following sets of sounds differ from each other? For
example: set 1 contains bilabial sounds; set 2 contains labiodental
sounds.

[e i y ø] vs [u o ʌ ɒ] – Set 1 contains vowel front sounds; Set 2 contains

vowel back sounds

1. [e] front/close-mid [i] front/close [y] front/close [ø] front/close-

mid

2. [u] back/close [o] back/close [ʌ] back/open-mid [ɒ] back/open

[i u y ʉ] vs. [e o ø ɤ] – Set 1 contains vowel closed sounds; Set 2

contains vowel closed-mid sounds.

1. [i] front/close [u] back/close [y] front/close [ʉ] central/close

2. [e] front/close-mid [o] back/close-mid [ø] central/close-mid [ɤ]

back/close-mid

[i ɑ e æ] vs. [u o ɒ y] – Set 1 contain frontal vowel sounds; Set 2

contain mostly back vowel sounds and one frontal vowel sound.

1. [i] front/close [ɑ] front/open [e] front/close-mid [æ] front/

(semi)open

2. [u] back/close [o] back/close-mid [ɒ] back/open [y] front/close

[y e u o] vs. [ɪ ɛ ɔ ʊ] – Set 1 contain two close and two close-mid vowel

sounds; Set 2 contain two open-mid and two fairly close vowel
sounds.

1. [y] front/close [e] front/close-mid [u] back/close [o] back/close-

mid

2. [ɪ] fairly front/fairly close [ɛ] front/open-mid [ɔ] back/open-mid

[ʊ] fairly back/fairly close

Martin Sketchley, University of Sussex 2010 1

[p t g b] vs. [f s z x] – Set 1 contain plosive consonants sounds; Set 2
contain fricative consonant sounds.

1. [p] bilabial/plosive [t] aveolar/plosive [g] velar/plosive [b]

bilabial/plosive

2. [f] labiodental/fricative [s] alveolar/fricative [z] alveolar/fricative

[x] velar/fricative

[p f z g] vs. [m j l r] – Set 1 contain 2 voiceless and 2 voiced

consonants; Set 2 contain 4 voiced consonants.

1. [p] bilabial/plosive [f] labiodental/fricative [z] aveolar/fricative

[g] velar/plosive

2. [m] bilabial/nasal [j] palatal/approximant [l] aveolar/lateral

approximant [r] alveolar/trill

[p f s k] vs. [b v z g] – Set 1 contain voiceless consonants; Set 2 contain

voiced consonants.

1. [p] bilabial/plosive [f] labiodental/fricative [s] alveolar/fricative

[k] velar/plosive

2. [b] bilabial/plosive [v] labiodental/fricative [z] alveolar/fricative

[g] velar plosive

[l ɹ ʎ ɾ] vs. [m n ŋ ɳ] – Set 1 contain 2 lateral approximant, 1

approximant and 1 tap or flap consonants; Set two contain nasal
consonants.

1. [l] alveolar/lateral approximant [ɹ] alveolar/approximant [ʎ]

palatal/lateral approximant [ɾ] alveolar/tap or flap

2. [m] bilabial/nasal [n] alveolar/nasal [ŋ] velar/nasal [ɳ]

retroflex/nasal

[l k n v] vs. [a u o e] – Set 1 contain a variety of different sounding

consonants; Set 2 contain a variety of different sounding vowels.

1. [l] alveolar/lateral approximant [k] velar/plosive [n]

alveolar/nasal [v] labiodental/fricative

2. [a] front/open [u] back/close [o] back/close-mid [e] front/close-

mid

Martin Sketchley, University of Sussex 2010 2

[t s n l] vs. [k g x ŋ] – Set 1 contain alveolar consonants; Set 2 contain
velar consonants.

1. [t] alveolar/plosive [s] alveolar/fricative [n] alveolar/nasal [l]

alveolar/lateral approximant

2. [k] velar/plosive [g] velar/plosive [x] velar/fricative [ŋ]

velar/nasal

Martin Sketchley, University of Sussex 2010 3

2. Look at the following data from Standard German and establish
whether [ç] and [x] are allophones of one phoneme or whether they
belong to two independent phonemes /ç/ and /x/. List the contexts
in which each of the two sounds can appear and explain how you
reached your decision, using appropriate terminology.

[ʁi:çə] ‘I smell’ [ʁɛçə] ‘I avenge’

[laɪçə] ‘corpse’ [lɪçt] ‘light’
[zi:ç] ‘diseased’ [vaɪç] ‘soft’
[by:çɐ] ‘books’ [lœçɐ] ‘holes’
[høçlɪç] ‘highly’ [vœçntlɪç] ‘weekly’
[kʏçə] ‘kichen’
The [ç] is follows a frontal vowel sound, for example [i:ç], [ɪç], [œç],
etc, as illustrated above.
[mɪlç] ‘milk’
[mɑnç] ‘some’ [dʊʁç] ‘through’
The frontal vowel sounds above include an inserted consonant in this
case with the phoneme [ç] at the suffix of the word.
[ʁɑxə] ‘revenge’ [lɔx] ‘hole’
[bu:x] ‘book’ [ho:x] ‘high’
[vɔxə] ‘week’ [lɔxɐ] ‘hole-punch’
[ʁɑʊx] ‘smoke’ [bʁɑ:x] ‘fallow’
The phoneme [x] occurs after back vowels, for example [u:x], [ʊx],
[o:x], etc as illustrated in the words above. The position of the
phoneme [x] is embedded in the middle of the word as well as at the
end of words.

When comparing singular and plural forms of words, one could

compare allophones. For example, comparing ‘book’ (buch) [bu:x] vs
‘books’ (bücher) [by:çɐ] it would appear that /x/ and /ç/ are
allophones. This pattern is further acknowledged whilst comparing
other plural and singular word forms; such as ‘hole’ (loch) [lɔx] and
‘holes’ (löcher) [lœçɐ].

However, comparisons could also include the use of adverbs and

nouns (week vs weekly; high vs highly). For example, the word ‘week’
[ʁɑʊx] compared to ‘weekly’ [vœçntlɪç] would also support the above
point that /x/ and /ç/ are allophones of the same phoneme. Again,

Martin Sketchley, University of Sussex 2010 4

the comparison of ‘high’ [ho:x] and ‘highly’ [høçlɪç] supports the
above point.

Thus, it could be assumed that the phoneme /x/ is more common with
singular nouns and whilst phoneme /ç/ is more common when used
as an adverb or plural and that they are both allophones of the same
vowel. Nonetheless, as Wiese mentioned, the two German fricatives
/x/ and /ç/ is a “classical (but much debated) example of an
allophonic relationship” (2000; pg. 16).

Martin Sketchley, University of Sussex 2010 5

3. Look at the pronunciation of the following English loanwords in
Shona, the main language of Zimbabwe.
(a) How many vowels does Shona have, compared to English, and how
does it adopt the different English vowels? (How are English vowels
realised in Shona?)

There are only 5 vowels in Shona (/a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/) and long vowel
sounds, such as /i:/, /a:/, etc are not present and vowel length is
reduced and epenthetic vowels are inserted when loanwords are used
in Shona. Furthermore, as observed by Uffmann, there is “strict CV-
syllable structure and five vowels” (2002). This is compared to 25
English vowels.

Long vowel sounds in English are adopted by inserting additional

consonants and epenthetic vowels, word-final epenthetic vowels and
epenthetic vowels in onset clusters. For example, ‘miniskirt’
[minisiketi] suggests that there are word-final epenthetic vowels, etc.

(b) There are many epenthetic (inserted) vowels. What do they tell us
about possible syllable structures in Shona? More precisely, what
kinds of structures are disallowed in Shona?

[bazi] ‘bus’ [koko] ‘cork’

[deti] ‘date’ [sitiretʃa] ‘stretcher’
[buku] ‘book’ [sutu] ‘suit’
[minisiketi] ‘mini skirt’ [sitopu] ‘stop’
[timu] ‘team’ [rodi] ‘road’
[hafu] ‘half’ [akita] ‘act’
[kirabu] ‘club’ [girama] ‘grammar’

Epenthetic vowels as mentioned previously, is present in word-finals

and all words end with an inserted vowel. As Kadenge illustrated
complex English vowels “such as diphthongs and triphthongs are
simplified [with] … Shona speakers” (2009).

Martin Sketchley, University of Sussex 2010 6

Bibliography
Kadenge M. (2009) African Englishes: The Indigenization of English
Vowels by Zimbabwean Native Shona Speakers The Journal of Pan
African Studies
Uffmann C (2002) A Typology of Epenthetic Vowels in Loanwords
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Weise R. (2000) The Phonology of German Oxford OUP

Martin Sketchley, University of Sussex 2010 7