Linguistic Homework 1 PDF

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In this homework, I define some linguistic terms and respond to some problems of phonetics. Grade: A....

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Alan Mendoza Sosa CLPS0300 Prof. Uriel Cohen Priva September 23, 2017 Homework 1 1. The language that the MIT robots developed cannot be called a human language because it lacks the following design features of human languages: 1.1 Couterfactuality: The language cannot express possibilities that could have been instead of the present since it lacks verbs and therefore lacks a subjunctive mode. 1.2 Displacement: Even if the robots could communicate when the TAs were not present, they lack displacement because (1) they cannot talk about future/prospective things, and (2) they cannot talk about nonexistent things. (The complete set of nouns are all the names of specific people). 1.3 Metalinguistic potential: The limited composition of their language does not allow the robots to talk about the language itself. 1.4 Prevarication: If they just utter random combinations, there would be room for apparent lies. However, an important component of lies is that the person who does it is conscious of saying something that is not true. Since robots do not have selfconsciousness, their apparent lies would just be incorrect random fabrications and not lies. 1.5 Productivity: Whereas human language has the potential of producing unlimited sentences, the language of these robots can only produce a limited number of sentences. 1.6 Tradition/Cultural transmission: These robots do not have to learn the language from other robots. 2. LF 2.8, #5 (p.95): Write the phonemic symbol representing the sounds: 2.1 voiceless post-alveolar affricate: [tʃ] 2.2 voiced interdental fricative: [ð] 2.3 voiced velar nasal: [ŋ] 2.4 voiced post-alveolar fricative: [ʒ] 2.5 voiced glottal fricative: [ɦ] 2.6 voiced alveolar lateral liquid: [ɫ] 2.7 voiced labio-dental fricative: [v] 3. LF 2.8, #7 (p.96): For each group of sounds, identify the segment that differs in place of articulation from the other three. 3.1 [s], [n], [ɹ], [v]: labiodental 3.2 [k], [n], [ŋ], [g]: alveolar 3.3 [m], [p], [l], [w]: alveolar 3.4 [ ʃ], [dʒ], [d], [tʃ ]: alveolar

4. Please provide the phonetic description of the last sound of every word and the word’s full phonetic transcription. I’m natively a speaker of Mexican Spanish. My friend, who helped me with this, is a native speaker of American English. 4.1 Happy [hɑpi] 4.2 Meh [mɛ] 4.3 Hat [hæt] – voiceless alveolar stop. 4.4 Garage [gʌ rɑʃ ] – voiceless post-alveolar fricative. 4.5 Song [sʌ ŋ] – voiceless velar nasal stop. 4.6 Dew [du] 4.7 Bottle [bɔtəl] – voiceless alveolar lateral approximant. 4.8 Ball [bɔ l] – voiceless alveolar lateral approximant. 4.9 Batch [bɑ tʃ ] – voiceless post-alveolar fricative 4.10 Lamb [læm] – voiced bilabial nasal stop 5. The phonetics of Gayo 5.1 What is the name of your chosen language? What dialect are you reporting on? What is the primary source you are using? Please provide the name of the paper you are citing, and a link. 5.1.1 Language: Gayo 5.1.2 Dialect: Bukit 5.1.3 Eades, D., & Hajek, J. (2006). Gayo. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36(1), 107-115. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100306002416. Accessed on September 23, 2017. 5.2 Make charts for your language’s vowels and consonants analogous to the English IPA charts in the back of the book. 5.2.1

5.2.2

5.3 Compare the inventory of this language to that of Standard American English. 5.3.1 How many vowels/consonants does it have? - Gayo has 19 consonants, and - 8 vowels. - It has less sounds than Standard American English. 5.3.2 Are there kinds of sounds that English lacks (uvulars, clicks, etc.)? - Gayo has the voiced palatal nasal stop [ɲ], a sound that does not exist in Standard American English. - It also has [o]: which is high, back, rounded, and tense. - Both [e] and [o] are high in Gayo, whereas in Standard American English, they are mid. 5.3.3 Are there kinds of sounds that English has that X lacks (interdental consonants, mid vowels, voiced fricatives)? - English has the voiceless labio-dental fricative [f], and - the voiced labio-dental fricative [v]. - English also has the voiceless inter-dental [θ], and - the voiced inter-dental fricative [ð]. - Gayo lacks the voiced alveolar fricative [z]. - It also lacks the voiceless post-alveolar fricative [ʃ], and - the voiced post-alveolar fricative [ʒ]. - Finally, Gayo lacks the voiceless bilabial glide [w ] - As for vowels, Gayo lacks the high, back, rounded, lax [ʊ]. - Gayo also lacks the mid, central, unrounded, and lax [ʌ]. - It lacks both [æ] and [ɑ ], a low, front unrounded, lax, and a low, back, unrounded lax, respectively. 5.3.4 Pick one sound which English does not have and describe how it is produced (3-4 sentences). - The voiced palatal nasal stop [ɲ ] is a sound that does not appear in English. To produce it, first position the front of the tongue on the hard palate. Get ready to say “yes” [jes], but, instead of letting air flow for the first “y” [j], block it by completely resting you tongue on the palate. By combining [ɲ ] with a vowel such as [o], you’ll notice how your vocal cords vibrate....