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EXERCISES

1. Examine the following transcriptions. If you agree, do nothing; if the

transcription is erroneous, correct it.

injured [Injerd] gelatin [gEl@tIn]

measure [mEshu@] inches [intS@s]
caution [kOS@n] topical [topIk@l]
telephone [tel@phon] syllable [s@l@b@l]

2. How many segments are there in each of the following words?

homophone equestrian
broach writer
thatched middle
knack photographer
lesson imagination

3. State if the place of articulation is same (S) or different (D) in the

initial consonants of each pair. In either case, state the place of
articulation.

Example: now – pneumonia Same; alveolar

sun – sugar Different; alveolar vs.
palato-alveolar

(a) goose – gerrymander

(b) simple – shackle
(c) curious – cereal
(d) phonetic – fictional
(e) manners – wicker
(f) normal – location
(g) wander – yesterday
(h) those – Thursday
(i) scissors – zipper
(j) temperate – chestnut
(k) chromosome – chief
(l) baker – delegate
(m) happened – usual
(n) neuron – market
(o) painting – broccoli
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4. State if the manner of articulation is same (S) or different (D) in the final
consonants of each pair. In either case, state the manner of articulation.

Example: bomb – ten Same; nasal

rough – zip Different; fricative vs. stop

(a) album – broken

(b) ideal – keepsake
(c) prologue – confine
(d) aqueous – sociable
(e) variable – watch
(f) waste – adage
(g) barometer – finish
(h) inch – gauge
(i) fiord – equip
(j) barb – relief
(k) alive – fiftieth
(l) laughing – hydraulic
(m) opulence – paramedic
(n) outrage – swivel
(o) dominion – eminent

5. State if the vowels in the underlined portions are same or different in

the following words. In either case, state the phonetic description of
the vowels, together with the phonetic symbols.

Example: keel – city Same: /i/ high, front, tense

mess – mass Different: /E/ mid, front – /æ/ low,
front

(a) primary – nutrition

(b) heal – electricity
(c) beau – aperture
(d) anywhere – phantasm
(e) exposure – coaster
(f) explicable – explicate
(g) wave – irrigate
(h) measure – finger
(i) butter – tough
(j) cholesterol – bottom
(k) nymph – jump
(l) abate – caught
(m) hydrogen – hydrolysis
(n) pawn – harsh
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6. Circle the words that:

(a) start with a fricative

foreign, theater, tidings, hospital, cassette, shroud
(b) end in a sibilant
wishes, twelfth, clutch, indicates, admonish, furtive
(c) have an approximant
winter, university, captive, ripe, little, mute
(d) contain a back vowel
putter, boost, roast, fraud, matter, hospital
(e) start with a voiced obstruent
government, pottery, taxonomy, jury, phonograph, sister
(f) contain a lax vowel
auction, redeem, ledger, cram, boat, loom
(g) end in an alveolar
went, atom, rigor, column, multiple, garnish

7. Give the phonetic symbols for the following English sounds.

(a) voiceless stops ________________

(b) voiced fricatives ________________
(c) approximants ________________
(d) alveolar obstruents ________________
(e) nasals ________________
(f) voiced obstruents ________________

Now give the phonetic symbols for the following sounds that are
not found in English.

(g) alveolar affricates ________________

(h) voiceless velar and uvular fricatives ________________
(i) bilabial and palatal fricatives ________________
(j) non-lateral liquids ________________
(k) palatal and uvular stops ________________

8. The sounds in the underlined portions of the following pairs of words

share some phonetic properties and are different in some other
properties. Give the phonetic symbol for each sound and state the
shared feature(s) and difference(s).

Example: [p] ‘park’ – ‘phone’ [f] Shared: voiceless, obstruent

Difference(s):
[p] bilabial, stop
[f] labiodental, fricative
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11. Do the same for the initial soundsof the same words.

sipped latex triumph bridge rough fought dogs palm

Upper
articulator

Lower
articulator

Voicing

Manner of
articulation

12. Fill in the boxes for the “rst vowels of the following.

park ocean make ember hamper fought hypocrite chew

Tongue
height

Frontness/
backness

Lip
position

Tenseness/
laxness

13. Circle the correct alternative(s).

(a) Tensing the vocal cords makes them vibrate faster / slower, so
that the pitch increases / decreases.
(b) In the production of stops / fricatives / glides / affricates, the
air is blocked from going out through the nose and the mouth.
(c) In the production of stops / liquids / fricatives / nasals, the
constriction of the vocal tract is such that a noisy airstream is
formed.
(d) In the production of palato-alveolar sounds, the tip / front /
blade / back of the tongue goes to the forward part of the hard
palate / soft palate / uvula.
(e) In the production of labiodental / bilabial / labio-velar / velar
sounds, the two lips approach one another, and the back of the
tongue is raised towards the soft palate.
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14. Transcribe the following (about ‘the spread of English’) from

P. Trudgill and J. Hannah, International English (London: Edward
Arnold, 2002).

The English language developed out of Germanic dialects that were

brought to Britain, during the course of the 5th and 6th centuries,

by Jutes (from modern Jutland, Denmark), Angles (from modern

Schleswig, Denmark/Germany), and Frisians (from modern

Friesland, Netherlands/Germany). By medieval times, this

Germanic language had replaced the original Celtic language of Britain

in nearly all of England as well as in southern and eastern Scotland.

Until the 1600s, however, English remained a language spoken by a

relatively small number of people and was confined geographically

to the island of Great Britain. Indeed, even much of Britain

remained non-English-speaking. The original Celtic language of

Britain survived in the form of Welsh in nearly all of Wales and as

Cornish in much of Cornwall. The Highlands and islands of western

and northern Scotland spoke Gaelic, another Celtic language which

had been brought across from Ireland in pre-medieval times. And

the populations of the Northern Isles – Orkney and Shetland – still

spoke the Scandinavian language, Norn, which they had inherited

from their Viking ancestors.