Logbook exercises 1-5 ENG1101 Marthe Pande-Rolfsen
Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 1
Task (i):
a. thirst
b. shooting
c. missile
d. mandatory
a: in the GA transcription of <thirst>, the ɜ is colored, e.g. ɝ
b: RP differentiates from GA with only one consonant in this word, where RP uses a voiced alveolar stop [t], GA uses a voiceless alveolar tap [ɾ].
c: in this word, RP stresses two syllables and pronounces the diphthong [aɪ], whilst GA only stresses one syllable, which cuts out the vowel sound (in this case being the diphthong)
d: RP stresses only one syllable in this word, whilst GA stresses two. The ending also has different pronunciations; GA keeps the vowel sound [ɔ] and RP drops it.
Task (ii):
a. GA: ['stu:dnt]
RP: ['stju:dnt]
b. GA: [ʤa:g]
RP: [ʤɒg]
Differences:
a: in RP the consonant [j] before [u:] occurs after /t d n/ as well as preceding consonants that are not articulated by the tip or the blade of the tongue. In GA however, [j] before [u:] only occurs after the latter mentioned.
b: GA pronounces the <o> in the word <jog> as a more frontal vowel, whereas in RP it’s further back. It is also longer in GA, because of the vowel, where RP uses a short vowel with more emphasis on the last sound, rather than the second last.
Task (iii):
When we speak English, we all have a different way of pronouncing the word, either we have a more American English accent or a British English accent. When we transcribe words, it is normal to use either GA or RP to standardize it, but when we speak English there are usually variations. These variations or differences are easily shown by using IPA rather than the English orthography, as you can then show the different sounds, which are independent from the actual orthography of the word. In Great Britain for example, RP is spoken very little, and certain dialects tend to use more the glottal stop, which is then shown through IPA. IPA is also necessary to show the difference between RP and GA, as there are significant phonetic differences between the two languages as seen in task (i). Through IPA, the different pronunciations are accurately represented, and we are able to decipher different dialects through the phonetic transcription. ‘
Exercise 2
Task (i) and (ii)
Column 1: [z] / Column 2: [s] / Column 3: [ɪz]Trains / Books / Boxes
Shields / Lamps / Chances
Lambs / Troughs / Classes
Thorns / Votes / Sizes
Schemes / Sharks / Phases
Smiles / Nymphs / Splashes
Bulbs / Tics / Marshes
Blogs / Strengths / Flanges
Strings / Faults / Garages
Curves / Cliffs / Lunches
Showers / Tapes / Bitches
Arrays / Doubts / Hedges
Boughs / Aches / Cages
Task (iii)
If the sound preceding the <s> is voiced, it gets [z], if it’s voiceless it gets [s]
Exercise 3
Task (i):
If you change the light /l/ with the dark one you would not change the meaning of the word, only the pronunciation (which would be wrong). To show that two allophones are of a different phoneme you must be able to find a minimal pair where changing one allophone you change the entire meaning of the word. For example leaf [li:f] and thief [ɵi:f]. Light and dark /l/ “are both sounds that are phonetically distinct but phonologically the same”.
Task (ii):
[l] occurs before (and in between) vowel sounds and [ɫ] elsewhere. [ɫ] also occurs when the last syllable is unstressed and has a weak vowel that disappears.
Task (iii):
[l] is generally found in the beginning of the syllable if it’s a one-syllable word, a two-syllable word on the other hand, it is found in the second syllable. [ɫ] is generally found at the end of the word. If it’s a two-syllable word it’s found in the first syllable or in the last one if it is unstressed and has a disappeared vowel sound.
Morphology
Exercise 4
Task (i):
Task (ii):
b. speak, speaks and speaking are morphologically related as these are word forms represented by the same lexeme – speak. The same goes for spoke and spoken. Both cases are related by process of inflection, where –ing is the inflectional suffix for the present participle,–s for third person singular of the verb and –en for the past participle. All of these words are representations of the same verb – to speak.
c. these are all related because they have the same root; hard, though they are all examples of different word forms, such as adjective, verb, noun and adverb. They are all related through the process of derivation, where derivational suffixes are used to change the meanings of the different words.
d. happy – happier – happiest are all related by the process of inflection. The root here is happy, an adjective, which then (by the use of an inflectional suffix) becomes the comparative, then lastly the superlative of the adjective.
e. these words are not at all related as they are all free roots.
f. manager and managers are related through the process of inflection since the – s is and inflectional suffix for the plural of the noun. Manager’s and managers’ shows a possession, and enclitic is used here. All these words do have the same root though, which is manager (or maybe manage).
g. manage – manager – manageress are all related by the process of derivation since these affixes (-er, -ess, -mis and -ment) change the meaning of the word manage.
Task (iii):
When words are related by the process of derivation, this means that by adding derivational affixes we change the meaning of the word, though they may all still be represented by the same lexeme – they can be “inflected forms of one lexeme”. These affixes may also change the word class, from a verb to a noun et cetera. When words are related by the process of inflection, it is done by the use of an inflectional suffix. There are eight categories of inflectional suffixes, and they don’t change the meaning of the word, but its grammatical sense. (93ord)
Exercise 5
Task (i):
The affix –in can only attach to adjectives (and some verbs), therefore it cannot connect with the noun offensiveness, but with the adjective offensive.
Task (ii):
b) is the correct one because ‘undeny’ could not have gone under the same stem since it is not a proper word. Therefore the affix –un needs to be connected with ‘deniable’ which is an adjective that, by adding –un, becomes negative. The suffix –able changes verbs into adjectives as it does in this case. Therefore, b) is the correct tree structure because the change of word class is made under the stem with the root and the derivational suffix.
Task (iii):
I’ve made this choice for tree structure because the derivational suffix – re changes the verb ‘to charge’ into ‘recharge’, and then the d-suf changes the entire word class into an adjective. I felt that ‘recharge’ was more likely to be the stem of this word, rather than ‘chargeable’, because the word is of higher importance in its meaning on a whole.