Reference no: EM133059197 , Length: word count:800

Phonetics and Phonology

Instructions

You must answer BOTH questions including all the parts of question 2.

You are allowed to consult notes and books but your work must be your own - you must not consult with anyone else.
Any problems or queries should be directed to Kelly Webb-Davies.

1. Greek speakers learning English

To address this question, refer to the blackboard excerpt taken from the following article:

Arvaniti, A. (2007) "Greek phonetics: The state of the art." Journal of Greek linguistics 8(1), 97-208.

If a speaker of Standard Greek wanted to learn English, they would have to learn some sounds that do not exist in their native language. Choose five sounds of English that you think may be especially difficult for a native speaker of Greek. Describe the sounds in terms of place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing (for consonants) or tongue height, tongue backness and lip rounding (for vowels). Then explain by using examples why you think these sounds of English may be especially difficult for a Greek speaker. (500 words)

2. Georgian
Georgian is the main language spoken in Georgia (the country). Consider the following data, containing ‘clear' [l] (an alveolar lateral) and ‘dark' [l'] (which is velarised). (The transcriptions have been simplified somewhat for this exercise).

note: chnage these symbols

[sαxl'fi] ‘at home'
[zαrαli] ‘loss'
[pεpεl'α] ‘butterfly'
[εrthxεl'] ‘once'
[tshεtshxli] ‘fire'
[εαmαzαd] ‘prettily'
[lεl'c'] ‘goal'
[klεbα] ‘reduce'
[xεli] ‘hand'
[kαl'α] ‘tin'
[xc'l'c'] ‘however'
[kbil'i] ‘tooth'
[vxlεtfh ] ‘I split'
[tshc'li] ‘wife'
[l'xεnα] ‘joy' [zαrαli] ‘loss'

Based on the dataset presented above, are [l] and [l'] separate phonemes, or allophones of the same phoneme?

If you decide that they are separate phonemes, explain how you can determine this from the data.

If you decide that they are allophones, explain: i) how you can determine this from the data and ii) in which environments the allophones occur.

Based on your analysis above, pick the most appropriate surface forms from each set of two transcriptions

1. ‘nut' a. [kαkαli] b. [kαkαl'i]
2. ‘dialect' a. [kilc'] b. [kil'c']
3. ‘once' a. [εrthxεl] b. [εrthxεl']
4. ‘siege' a. [αlqα] b. [αl'qα]

What is the surface form of the word for "nut"?
What is the surface form of the word for "dialect"?
What is the surface form of the word for "once"?
What is the surface form of the word for "siege"?