Task 4 - Speech sounds and semantics

Tutor: Mr. Evanis Rafael Potes

Student: Juan Sebastian Camacho Orjuela

Code: 1121959287

Group: 518017_89

Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia UNAD

Escuela Ciencias de la Educación

Licenciatura en Lenguas Extranjeras con Énfasis en Inglés

Introduction to linguistics

Villavicencio, 26th November, 2020

SCREENSHOT OF FORUM PARTICIPATION
Answers

 Based on the first document “The phoneme: the same but different” by McMahon, A,
answer the three questions from pages 21, 22.

Answer: this has two steps: the first one, I think, what the environment of the learner
is; and the second one, find out why the learner is producing these pronunciations in
those environments. In terms of environments, [d] appears word-initially and word-
finally, and[ð] medially, between vowels; [ʃ] appears before or after an [I] vowel, and [s]
next to other vowels. Since we know the speaker in this case is a learner of English, our
first attempt at explanation might involve the patterns of her native language: we can
hypothesize that in that language,[d] and [ð] are allophones of a single phoneme, and
likewise [ʃ] and [s]are allophones of a single phoneme, with a distribution like the one
our learner imposes on English. Predicted pronunciations would be: Daddy [dði];
either[ð]; loathe[d]; ship[ʃ]; pass[s]; dish[ʃ]; usher[s].
[m n ŋp b t d k g l r]
Answer: One list of minimal pairs for initial position would be my– nigh– pie– buy– tie–
die– guy– lie– rye. You can add me– key in a slightly different context. You should be
able to produce similar lists medially and finally; what you won’t find are cases of initial
[ŋ], final [h], or for some speakers at least, final [r].
 Answer: The main point here is that some pairs of sounds are in complementary
distribution in this language: notably, voiced and voiceless pairs of sounds ([g] – [k], [b]
– [p], [z] – [s]) do not contrast, since the voiced one appears initially and medially, and
the voiceless one finally. Linguist A has noticed this, and uses a single symbol for each
pair; Linguist B uses different graphs. Linguist A also uses a single symbol for [ŋ], which
is a single consonant in this language, and represents [h] with each time it is
pronounced. Linguist B uses for [ŋ], making it look like two consonants, and has no
symbol for [h] word-finally. In short, A is using a system designed for this particular
language; B is following English patterns, and is probably a native speaker of English.

 From the second document, “Natural Language Processing and Applications Phones
and Phonemes” please answer questions 1 and 2 from page 10.

o How many phonemes are there in (a) Keith (b) coughs? What are they in the
IPA? In each case try to demonstrate the correctness of your answer by finding
words differing by only one of the phonemes you have identified.
Answer:
(a) Keith = has four phonemes: /k/ /e/ /i/ /th/
(b) Coughs = has five phonemes: /c/ /o/ /u/ /gh/ /s/

o You are NOT expected to know the IPA symbols; the table given in the Appendix
will be provided if and when necessary. However it is useful to have some
practice in using them. Study the following phonetic transcription of a verse of
Lewis Carroll’s poem The Walrus and the Carpenter. The transcription
corresponds to my ‘careful’ pronunciation. Write down the normal English
 spelling. If your pronunciation differs from mine, write down an amended
transcription in the IPA.

Answer:

The spelling of the poem is:

The time has come, the walrus said,

to talk of many things,
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot,
And whether pigs have wings

We differ in these ones:

Said = sed
Talk = Tak

 From the reading “Semantics. The Study of Linguistic Meaning Chapter” by Akmajian
answer the two following questions:

o What is exactly the concept ‘speaker meaning’?

Explain and give an example (in Spanish or English).

That means that a sentence can be literal or nonliteral, when someone says
 something it can be for real, or in a serious way, but it also can be a sarcastic
way or metaphor.
Example: When someone says ‘I feel you’, I does not mean that literal that
person can feel your body heat, or your body, instead of that it means that
person is able to understand you or your idea.

o Explain, what is an important problem of the ‘Denotational Theory of Meaning’?

Answer: this theory says that a sentence has a direct relationship with the word
or object that it denotes, but the problem is that two sentences can have the
same denotation but different meanings.

Example: The president of Colombia – Ivan Duque

MINI LESSON:
Learn how to pronouns these pair of sounds

Minimal pair to distinguish the differences:

References

 McMahon, A. M. S. (2016). An Introduction to English Phonology. Edinburgh

University Press. http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1584999&lang=es&site=eds-live&scope=site  
 Coxhead, P. (2006). Natural Language Processing & Applications Phones and
Phonemes. [PDF FILE]. https://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxc/nlp/NLPA-Phon1.pdf
 Akmajian, A. et al. (2010). Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and
Communication, 6th edition. The MIT
Press. https://www.academia.edu/40559984/L_I_N_G_U_I_ST_I_C_S_An_Introduc
tion_to_Language_and_Communication

 Huang, Y. (2007). Pragmatics. Oxford University

Press. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V1-uMQcKkcUXp8N6CroaEieb-
HlNDeKv/view