VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY Student’s full name: .............................................................

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Student ID: ...........................................................................
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE
Class: ...................................................................................

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FINAL EXAMINATION
ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
Time Allotted: 60 minutes

Proctors Total Score

Approved by Examiners
(CBCT) (100%)

1. 1.

2. 2.

Notes: Materials or dictionaries are NOT allowed.

Students write their answers on the answer sheet.

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SECTION 1. TERMINOLOGY
• Choose a word/phrase to complete each of the following definitions/expressions.
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Number of questions: 15
Point for ONE correct answer: 1
Maximum points: 15
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A. assimilation B. consonants C. syllabic D. elision E. stress

F. lateral G. rounded H. coda I. aspirated J. onset

K. spread L. tone M. phonemes N. vowels O. voiceless

P. Rising R. Rise-fall S. Fall-rise

Q. Falling (tone) T. Level (tone)
(tone) (tone) (tone)

1
 Sounds are _______________ when the vocal cords are apart so that air
1.
flows freely through the glottis into the oral cavity.

The ___________ tone indicates limited agreement or response with

2.
reservation.

The _________ tone conveys an impression that something more is to

3.
follow or to suggest the speaker to continue.

The consonant or consonants that precede the nucleus are the

4.
_______________ of the syllable.

In _______________ languages, different pitch patterns are used to

5.
distinguish words from one another.

When some articulatory feature of one segment is transferred to an

6.
adjacent one, we call this an instance of _______________.

_______________ are produced with some restriction or closure in the

7.
vocal tract that impedes the flow of air from the lungs.

In the production of _______________ sounds, the vocal cords remain

8. apart for a brief time after the stop closure is released, resulting in a puff
of air at the time of the release.

The ____________ tone indicates a feeling of saying something routine,

9. uninteresting or boring. For example: calling and answering names in
checking attendance.

Sounds that may function as the core of a syllable possess the feature
10.
_______________.

If someone used the ___________ tone, it will be understood that the

11. question is now answered and that there is nothing more to be said. This
tone gives an impression of finality.

2
 _______________ are units of sound which combine in various
12. possible ways (but not all possible ways) to express meaningful units
such as words.

The back vowels /ʊ/, /uː/, /ɒ/, /ɔː/ are produced with
13.
_______________ lips.

The ____________ tone is used to convey rather strong feelings of

14.
approval, disapproval or surprise.

The _______________ consonant is articulated with the sides of the

15. tongue drawn in so that air is somewhat obstructed by the center of the
tongue but passes around the sides.

SECTION 2. PHONETICS: CONSONANTS

• Complete the phonemic transcription of each of the following words (1-5) by
filling the missing consonants using the consonantal descriptions.
• On your answer sheet, write the complete phonemic transcriptions AND their
corresponding orthographic representations.

Example:

[primary
stress]
0. k w ɪ Voiced iː n
Alveolar
Fricative

On the answer sheet:

0. /kwɪˈziːn/ cuisine

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Number of questions: 7
Point for ONE correct answer: 5
Maximum points: 35
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3
 [primary stress]
voiced voiceless
1. alveolar
ɔː alveolar ɪ post-alveolar ə
nasal
stop fricative
[primary stress]
voiceless voiceless
2. alveolar
ɪ alveolar ɜː alveolar
nasal plosive
fricative
[primary stress]
voiceless voiceless voiceless
3. alveolar
bilabial eɪ post-alveolar ə alveolar
fricative nasal plosive
plosive
[primary stress] voiceless voiceless
4. bilabial ɪ post-alveolar labiodental ə lateral
approximant fricative fricative
voiceless voiceless
[primary stress] palatal
5. retroflex e alveolar velar uː
approximant
fricative plosive
voiceless voiced
velar [primary stress]
6. velar æ velar ə retroflex uː
nasal
plosive stop
[primary stress] voiceless voiced
7. bilabial æ alveolar ɑː post-alveolar
nasal fricative fricative

SECTION 3. PHONETICS: VOWELS

• Observe the vowel quadrilateral carefully.
• Each black dot represents the location of a pure English vowel. There are totally
twelve dots marked from A to L.
• Decide on the vowel quadrilateral the location of the sound of the highlighted part
in each of the following words.
• Write your answers, A-L, on the answer sheet.
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Number of questions: 15
Point for ONE correct answer: 1
Maximum points: 15
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4
 A C 1. cough 9. goody
B D 2. expertise 10. relax
3. nervous 11. pizza
H 4. sewage 12. terrible
F
5. fruit 13. cartilage
E G
6. walk 14. godliness
J 7. work 15. customer
L 8. world
I K

SECTION 4. SYLLABLE STRUCTURE

• Carefully analyze the phonemic transcription of each of the following words.
• Classify the phonemes by completing the table.
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Number of questions: 5
Point for ONE correct answer: 1
Maximum points: 5
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SYLLABLE
ONSET RHYME

coda
pre- post-
initial peak
initial initial pre- post- post- post-
final
final final 1 final 2 final 3

0 bed bed

1 sprouts spraʊts

2 shelves ʃelvz

3 twelfths twelfθs

4 sixths sɪksθs

5 squealed skwiːld

5
SECTION 5. PHONOLOGY: ASPECTS OF CONNECTED SPEECH
• In rapid and casual speech, segments of the following utterances exhibit various
cases of assimilations (voice, manner, place)
• Phonetically transcribe the following utterances and indicate the phonetic
assimilations which are likely to happen.
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Number of questions: 3
Point for ONE correct answer: 10
Maximum points: 30
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1. What’s up, bro? Let me help you!

2. All the money had gone in the morning! I don’t know what to do!

3. Would you mind if I’m going to lie down a little bit!

--- THIS IS THE END OF THE TEST ---