58 CHAPTER TWOQUESTIONS3. Is the first sound in each of the following words voiced or voiceless?a) though e) zoom i) huge m) when (may vary)b) thought f) silk j) choose n) ghettoc) form g) pan k) judge o) pneumaticd) view h) boat 1) buns p) winced4. Using the words presented in question 3, state whether the last sound of each word is voiced orvoiceless.5. For each of the following pairs of sounds, state whether they have the same or a different place ofarticulation. Then identify the place of articulation for each sound.a) [s]:[1]b) [k]:[≥]c) [p]:[g]d) [1]:[r]e) [m]:[n]f) [dÔ]:[∆]g) [f]:[h]h) [w]:[j]i) [b]:[f]j) [t∆]:[dÔ]k) [s]:[v]l) [ƒ]:[t]PHONETICS: THE SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE 596. For each of the following pairs of sounds, state whether they have the same ora different manner of articulation. Then identify the manner of articulation foreach sound.a) [s]:[ƒ]e) [l]:[t] i) [r]:[w]b) [k]:[g] f) [Ï]:[v] j) [t∆]:[dÔ]c) [w]:[j] g) [t∆]:[s] k) [h]:[÷]d) [f]: [∆] h) [m]:[≥]1) [z]:[dÔ]7. After each of the following articulatory descriptions, write the sound describedin phonetic brackets.a) voiceless velar stop e) voiced velar nasalb) voiced labiodental fricative f) voiceless interdental fricativec) voiced alveopalatal affricate g) high back rounded lax voweld) voiced palatal glide h) low front unrounded vowel8. Which of the following pairs of words show the same vowel sound? Mark eachpair “same” or “different.” Then transcribe the vowels of each word.a) back sat h) hide heightb) cot caught i) least heedc) bid key j) drug cookd) luck flick k) sink fite) ooze deuce 1) oak ownf) cot court m) pour portg) fell fail n) mouse cow9. Using descriptive terms like sibilant, fricative, and so on, provide a single phonetic characteristic that all thesegments in each group share. Try to avoid over-obvious answers such as “consonant” or “vowel.”Example: [b d g m j] are all voiced.a) [p t k g ÷] e) [Ø ˙ Ë a ]i) [l r m n ≥ w j [=y]]b) [i e ‰ á] f) [h ÷] j) [t d l r n s z]c) [t∆ Ô ∆ dÔ] g) [uo]d) [p b m f v] h) [s z t∆ dÔ Ô]threePHONOLOGY:THE FUNCTIONAND PATTERNINGOF SOUNDSMichael DobrovolskyEwa Czaykowska-HigginsA person’s tongue is a twisty thing, there are plenty of words there of every kind, and therange of words is wide, and their variation.— HOMER, The Iliad, 20OBJECTIVESIn this chapter, you will learn:• how we know which language sounds are distinctive in a particular language• how distinctive sounds in a particular language can vary systematically according to the context in which theyoccur• how we use transcription to represent distinctive sounds and systematic variations of these sounds• how syllables are constructed and the influence of language-specific syllable structure• how individual sounds can be broken down further, according to specific features• how we can construct rules to explain systematic variations in the production of sounds• how we can group, organize, and illustrate features of soundsWe saw in Chapter 2 that human beings can produce and perceive a large number of speech sounds. Nohuman language exploits all of these phonetic possibilities. Instead, every language makes its own particularselection from the range of all possible speech sounds and organizes them into a more or less regular system. Thecomponent of grammar that determines the selection of speech sounds and governs both the sound patterns and thesystematic phonetic variation found in language is known as phonology.Speakers have (at least) some subconscious knowledge of the phonetic patterns that make up phonologicalsystems. For example, as we saw in Chapter 1, speakers64 CHAPTER THREEof English recognize without being taught that certain combinations of consonants are acceptable inEnglish, even if those combinations occur in forms that are not real words, while other combinations arenot acceptable; thus, srish and screpk are acceptable to English speakers, while srish and screpk are not.In fact, speakers can do more than recognize that certain forms are unnatural in their system; they caneven correct unnatural forms to make them conform to the patterns that are acceptable in their ownlanguage. Without knowing exactly why, most English speakers would pronounce a form like srish as[s˙rî∆]—breaking up the unacceptable consonant combination with a vowel, rather than, say, deletingone of the consonants to form [sî∆] or [rî∆]. The task of phonologists, then, is (1) to discover anddescribe the systematic phonetic patterns found in individual languages and (2) to discover the generalprinciples that underlie the patterning of sounds across all human languages. In doing this, phonologistshope to uncover the largely subconscious knowledge that speakers have of sound patterns.The existence of phonological patterns in language is a result of the organization of certain basicelements or units that combine to make up these patterns. In our discussion of phonology we willexamine three of the major phonological units: the feature, the segment, and the syllable.We are already acquainted with the idea that the flow of speech can be divided into segments and thatsegments are characterized by specific phonetic properties. In this chapter, we will investigate the typesof patterned phonetic variation that segments exhibit in individual languages and cross-linguistically. Wewill also learn that segments are composed of features. Features correspond to articulatory or acousticcategories such as [voice] or [strident]. They are the smallest building blocks of phonological structure,and as we will see, the types of phonological patterns found in language are directly related to theproperties of the features that make up segments. Finally, we will learn about the ways in whichsegments combine to form syllables. Syllables consist of a syllabic element—usually a vowel—and anypreceding or following segments that are associated with it. As the representation of the word segment inFigure 3.1 illustrates, features, segments, and syllables are organized into hierarchical levels, each ofwhich is composed of units from the level beneath it. In Figure 3.1, segment is a word-level unitrepresented by the abbreviation Wd. This word in turn consists of two syllables, each of which isrepresented by the GreekFigure 3.1 Partial phonological representation of segmentSegment levelPHONOLOGY: THE FUNCTION AND PATTERNING OF SOUNDS 65letter s (sigma). Each syllable itself