1. What is a phoneme? How are phonemes classified? - Both phonetics and phonology study and describe the distinctive sound units or phonemes of a language and their relationship to one another. - A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish two words. - English has 44 phonemes which are classified into 24 consonants, 12 vowels and 8 diphthongs. Ex: PAN and BAN differ only in their initial sound: /p/ and /b/ are phonemes. 2. What is allophone? Give examples to illustrate your answer. - An allophone is any of the different forms of a phoneme. - For example: In English, when the phoneme /p/ occurs at the beginning of words like PUT /put/ and PEN /pen/ , it is said with a little puff of air. That is, it is aspirated. But when /p/ occurs in words like SPEND /spend/ and SPELL /spel/ it is unaspirated. Both the aspirated in PEN and the unaspirated in SPELL have the same phoneme function. That is, they are both heard and identified as [p] and not as [b]. They are both ALLOPHONES of the PHONEME [p]. 3. How does phonology differ from phonetics? • Phonology: Separate units of sounds of a language. • the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages.
4. What is a consonant? How are consonants classified?
A consonant is a sound which obstructs the airflow. Classification of consonants: Consonants are classified according to these 4 standards: A/ PLACES OF ARTICULATION: 1. Bilabial, Labio-dental, Dental or Interdental, Alveolar,Palato-alveolar,Velar, Palatal, Glottal: B/ MANNER OF ARTICULATION Plosive or stop, Fricative,Affricate,Nasal, Lateral, Gliding or semi-vowel (consonant) or approximant: C/ VOICING: Voiced, Voiceless: D/ ASPIRATION Aspirated, Unaspirated 5. What is a vowel? How are vowels classified? Vowel sounds are sounds which do not obstruct the airflow. Vowels are classified according to these 5 standards: 1) TONGUE HEIGHT - The tongue may be raised high, mid or low. 2) TONGUE POSITION: the front, central or back 3) LIP ROUNDING: rounded, unrounded or neutral. 4) MUSCLE TENSION: Tenseness in the muscles of the jaw and throat. The muscles may be lax or tense. Short vowels are often lax vowels meanwhile tense vowels are often long vowels. 5) VOWEL LENGTH: There are 5 long vowels: /i:, u:, Ɔ:, ə: a:/ and 7 short vowels: /i, u, Ɔ, ə, e, æ, ⋀/ 6. In what cases are consonants syllabic? Give illustrative examples. A Syllabic consonant is the one which can form syllable without vowels. A consonant , either l, r or a nasal stands as the peak of weak syllables instead of the vowels. Syllabic l E.g. castle /ka:sl/ Syllabic n E.g. student /’stjudnt/ Syllabic r E.g. literal /litrl/
7. What is the difference between vowels and consonants?
Vowel sounds: sounds which do NOT obstruct the airflow. E.g. /e, a:,…/ Consonant sounds: sounds obstruct the airflow. E.g. /m, n, ŋ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ / 8. Show the difference between phonemic and phonetic transcription of the sounds in the English language. Illustrate your answer with examples. * Narrow transcription (also called phonetic transcription): The transcription in which phonemes are transcribed phonetically (with allophones). The phonetic symbol is [ ] (square brackets). This type is more complex, more detailed & gives more information about a phoneme. E.g. [ka:sl ] * Broad transcription (also called phonemic transcription): The transcription in which phonemes are transcribed phonemically. The symbol is / / (slant bars). This type is easy and quick to learn. It is preferred due to these 2 reasons: simple phonemic symbols and easy printing. As a result, it is the study object of PHONETICS Ex : take / teik /
9. What is stress? What are the rules applied for affix-words? What are the rules applied for two- syllable verbs? What are the rules applied for three- syllable nouns?
-Stress is the prominence given to the syllable. The prominence is made up of 4
factors: clearer, longer, higher and louder. * the rules applied for affix-words -AFFIXES: prefixes, suffixes *Prefixes and stress: Stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those of words without prefixes. E.g. ‘legal-il’legal * Suffixes and stress: +Suffixes: carry main stress E.g. enter’tain + Suffixes: do not affect stress E.g. ‘comfort-‘comfortable + Suffixes: influence stress in the base: E.g: ‘photo → pho’tography *The rules applied for two- syllable verbs -If the second syllable of the verbs contains a long vowel or diphthong (EXCEPT |Əʊ|) or if it ends with more than one consonant, that second syllable is stressed. E.g. App’ly, a’rrive, a’ttract, a’ssist -If the second syllable of the verbs contains a short vowel and ends with one or no final consonant, the first syllable is stressed. E.g. ‘enter, ‘envy, ‘open, ‘equal…. *The rules applied for three- syllable nouns -If the last syllable contains a short vowel or |ƏƱ |, it is unstressed and if the syllable preceding this final syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong, that middle syllable will be stressed. E.g. po’tato, di’saster -If the last and the middle syllables contain a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant, the first syllable is stressed. E.g. ‘cinema, ‘quantity, ‘emperor - - If the last syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong and/or ends with more than one consonant, the first syllable will be stressed. E.g. ‘intellect, ‘marigold,
10. How does the stress help to make the difference between compound words and free word groups? When an adjective modifies a noun, the noun usually has the primary stress. E.g. silver’ fish (a group of free words) When an adjective and noun combine to form a compound noun, the first element often takes the primary stress. E.g. ‘silver fish (a kind of insect) 11. What is linking? When does linking occur? Illustrate your answer with examples.
Linking happens when we link words together, usually for ease of pronunciation. E.g: Thousands of people. -We can link: +a vowel to a vowel: E.g. Formula /r/ A +a stop consonant to a stop consonant: E.g. Stop pushing +a consonant to a vowel: E.g. fish and chips
12. What is elision? What are cases of elison? Illustrate your answer with examples. Elision is the complete disappearance of a consonant or vowel sound, or both. - cases of elison +Vowel elision: */ə/, /i/: can be elided E.g. `secretary_ /`sekrətəri/_/`sekrətri /) +Consonant elision: */t/,/d/, /θ/, /ð/ in the middle of a cluster of 3 consonants: elided Eg: exactly /ik`zækli/ ; handsome /`hænsәm/ */h/ in he, his, her, had (aux), has (aux), have (aux) when these words are unstressed and do not begin a sentence. Eg: He is a doctor, isn’t he? //hi: iz `dɔktə/ `iznti:?//
13. What is assimilation? What are kinds of assimilation? Illustrate your answer with examples. • Assimilation is the influence of one phoneme upon another neighbouring, so that they become more alike. *kinds of assimilation Regressive assimilation: consonant final (Cf) → consonant initial (Ci) E.g. one more /wΛnmƆ:/ /wΛmmƆ:/ Progressive assimilation: (Cf ← Ci) E.g. in the /in ðə/ /in nə/ 14. According to place of articulation, how are consonants classified? PLACES OF ARTICULATION: 1. Bilabial: Eg: /p, b, m, w/ 2. Labio-dental: E.g: /f, v/ 3. Dental or Interdental: E.g: / θ, ð / 4. Alveolar: E.g /t, d, 1, n, s, z/ 5. Palato-alveolar: E.g /r, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ 6. Velar: E.g /k, g, ŋ/ 7. Palatal: E.g /j/ 8. Glottal: E.g /h/
15. According to manner of articulation, how are consonants classified?
MANNER OF ARTICULATION: PLOSIVE /b,p, t,d/ FRICATIVE: /f, v, s, z/ AFFRICATE: /tʃ, dʒ/ NASAL: /m, n, ŋ/ LATERAL: /l/ APPROXIMANT: /w, r, j/ 16. How does a stressed syllable differ from an unstressed one? Illustrate your answer with examples. Stress is the prominence given to the syllable. a stressed syllable is higher, longer, louder and clearer than an unstressed syllable. E.g. ‘INtelligent
17. What are main articulators?
There are 8 main articulators: Nose, Teeth, Alveolar ridge, Tongue, Hard palate, Soft palate, lips, pharynx Nose: an important part for making sounds, particularly nasal sounds /m, n/ Teeth: (upper and lower teeth): sounds made with the tongue touching the the front teeth are called dental. /ð/ Alveolar ridge: between the top front front teeth and the hard palate. /t, d/ Tongue: an important articulator, can be moved into many different places and different shapes. Tip of the tongue touches alveolar ridge=>alveolar: /s, z, t,d/ Hard palate: is often called “roof of the mouth” /j/ Soft palate: an articulator can be touched by the tongue=>velar consonants /k,g/ Lips: important in speech. They can be pressed together=>bilabial sounds; sounds made with lip-to-teeth contact=>labiodental. /p,b/ Pharynx: a tube which begins just above the larynx. /h/
18. What are the functions of intonation? Illustrate your answer with examples. • The function of intonation is to express attitude, feeling or emotion E.g. Thank you (showing real gratitude) Thank you (casual acknowledgement of something not very important) E.g. What a nice dress! (glide down-a complement) What a nice dress! (glide up-questioning)
19. How are tones used in different kinds of sentences according communicative functions? Fall (glide down): Finality, definiteness, strong exclamation, WH questions, tag-question (YES). E.g. Stop talking Rise (glide up): +Y_N question E.g. Can you give me a hand? +Encouraging E.g. It won’t hurt. +Statement intended questions +Greeting Fall-rise (dive): uncertainty, doubt, requesting, correction, warning, incomplete sentences, reservation E.g. You v may be right. Take-off: +tag-questions after command: E.g. Do it now, will you? +exclamation-questioning E.g. What a nice dress? +grumbling E.g. You always keep changing T.V channels.
20. What is a rhythm unit? Give examples for your answer.
Definition: A rhythm unit is a unit of a stressed syllable as its center and any unstressed syllable around it. the unstressed syllables are closely connected grammatically to the stressed Rhythm often coincides with secondary and primary stress. E.g. || aim ‘gƏƱiŋ ‘hƏƱm fƏ ‘krismƏs.|| ( 3 rhythm units )
