Phonology: Introduction to Phonological Analysis 1.1

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In this exercise, you will be looking at selected phonemes and deciding whether they are distinct (meaning the speaker is aware that they belong to his/her language), found in near or minimal pairs, in free variation, or allophones (sounds of which a speaker is unaware using in natural speech) in complementary variation. Some of these categories may overlap, however this will not occur in the choices of responses. For each of the following questions, select the term that best describes the distribution of the selected phonemes.

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Question 1

Standard English

Long and short vowels are:

[sit] [si:d] [ɹot] [ɹo:d]

[fɅs] [fɅ:z] [bæk] [bæ:g]

A	found in near minimal pairs Hint: Vowels are not found in near minimal pairs. If that were the case, examples would be similar to: /sit/ ‘seat’ and /sli:t/ ‘sleet’ where the only difference would be the addition of the /l/. Long and short vowels are allophones found in complementary distribution since they never surface in the same phonological environment. Long vowels are found before [+voice] consonants and short vowels are found before [-voice] consonants.
B	found in minimal pairs Hint: Long and short vowels are not found in near minimal pairs.
C	found as allophones in complementary distribution

Question 2

Greek: Velar Obstruents

The velar obstruents are:

[kano] ‘do’ [kori] ‘daughter’

[xano] ‘lose’ [xori] ‘dances'

A	distinct phonemes
B	found in complementary distribution Hint: /k, x/ are not found in complementary distribution since they surface in identical phonological environments. Moreover, when they are exchanged one for the other, meaning is changed. This indicates that they are distinct phonemes.
C	allophones Hint: /k, x/ cannot be allophones due to the fact that when they are exchanged one for the other, meaning is changed. This indicates that they are distinct phonemes.

Question 3

Standard English Stops

Stops in English are:

/tɹIp/ ‘trip’ /dɹIp/ ‘drip’

/tin/ ‘teen’ /din/ ‘dean’

/tiɹ/ ‘tear’ /diɹ/ ;dear’

A	distinct phonemes
B	in minimal pairs Hint: The stops /t, d/ are exchanged one for the other in minimal pairs. Meaning is changed, they are distinct phonemes.
C	in free variation Hint: The stops /t, d/ are not in free variation since, when they are exchanged one for the other, meaning is changed. This shows that when found in minimal pairs, as they are, and meaning is changed, they are distinct phonemes.

Question 4

Swahili: high/back vowels and glides

[kúwa] 'to be' [walímu] 'teachers'

[kuúa] 'kill' [ualímu] 'school for teachers'

A	in free variation distinct phonemes allophones Hint: High/back vowels and glides in Swahili are not found in free variation due to the fact that when they surface in identical phonological environments, meaning is changed. They are distinct phonemes since, when they do they surface in identical phonological environments, meaning is changed.
B	allophones found in complementary distribution Hint: High/back vowels and glides in Swahili are not allophones since they surface in identical phonological environments. They are distinct phonemes since, when they do they surface in identical phonological environments, meaning is changed.
C	distinct phonemes

Question 5

Standard English

Velar Stops are: [k^hIt] [k^hæn] [k^howp]

[skIt] [skæn] [skowp]

A	found as allophones in complementary distribution
B	found in free variation Hint: These velar stops are not in free variation since they are never found in the same phonological environment. [kh] is found at the beginning of the word whereas [k] is only found as the second consonant of a cluster.
C	distinct phonemes Hint: These velar stops are not distinct phonemes since exchanging [k] for [kh] will not alter the meaning of the word.

Question 6

Standard English: word pairs

Each word pair shows an alternation in one vowel or consonant, i.e., /d/, /i/, /t/.

These alternations show:

[dId ju] ‘did you’ [dIdʒu] ‘did you’

[iðəɹ] 'either' [ajðəɹ] 'either'

[ɔfən] 'often' [ɔftən] 'often'

A	distinct phonemes found in minimal pairs Hint: These sounds and their counterparts (/d/ and /dʒ/, /i/ and /aj/, /ø/ and /t/), are found in minimal pairs however meaning does not change when one is exchanged for the other. The fact that they do not change meaning shows that they are in free variation
B	found in free variation
C	allophones found in complementary distribution Hint: These sounds and their counterparts (/d/ and /dʒ/, /i/ and /aj/, /ø/ and /t/), are not found in complementary distribution since they surface in identical phonological environments. The fact that they do not change meaning when surfacing in identical phonological environments shows that they are in free variation.

Question 7

Fijian non-nasal and pre-nasalized stops

These stops are:

[viⁿdi] 'to spring up' [dina] ‘true’

[keⁿda] ‘we’ [dalo] ‘taro plant’

[tina] ‘mother’ [maⁿda] ‘first’

[mata] ‘eye’ [vuⁿdi] ‘plantain’

A	distinct phonemes Hint: Based on this data non-nasalized and pre-nasalized stops never surface in the same phonological environment, which indicates that they are allophones and in complementary distribution. /d/ becomes pre-nasalized when found between vowels.
B	found in free variation Hint: Due to the fact that non-nasalized and pre-nasalized stops never surface in the same phonological environment, they cannot be in free variation. Their distribution indicates that they are allophones and in complementary distribution.
C	allophones in complementary distribution

Question 8

Ganda liquids

For this question, it will be necessary to make a chart showing the distribution of these phonemes.

These liquids /l, r/ are:

[kola] 'do' [wulira] 'hear'

[buulira] 'tell' [be:ra] 'help'

[omugole] 'bride' [eryato] 'canoe'

[ed:waliro] 'hospital' [i:ukira] 'remember'

A	distinct phonemes Hint: /l, r/ are each found intervocalic, i.e., between vowels thus they seem to be distinct phonemes. However, a closer look at their distribution shows that /l/ is preceded by [+back] vowels and /r/ is preceded by [-back] vowels, thus they are in complementary distribution.
B	found in free variation Hint: /l, r/ are never found in the same phonological environment, thus they cannot be in free variation. Their distribution shows that /l/ is preceded by [+back] vowels and /r/ is preceded by [-back] vowels, thus they are in complementary distribution.
C	allophones found in complementary distribution

Question 9

French vowels: nasalization

Vowels in French are:

[to] tot ‘early [tõ] ton ‘your’

[ʃa] chat ‘cat’ [ʃɑ̃] chant ‘song’

[at] hɑ̂te ‘haste’ [ɑ̃t] hante ‘haunt’

[ot] hôte ‘host’ [õt] honte ‘shame’

A	found in free variation Hint: [+nasal] and [-nasal] vowels are not found in free variation since, when they surface in the same phonological environment, meaning is always changed.
B	distinct phonemes
C	allophones found in complementary distribution Hint: [+nasal] and [-nasal] vowels are not allophones found in complementary distribution since they surface in the same phonological environment, changing meaning when exchanged, one for the other. Thus they are distinct phonemes.

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Phonology: Introduction to Phonological Analysis 1.1

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