Assignment II

1. Osage:
[d] [ð]

#_a a _i
e_e
#_e
#_i
According to my observation, the segment [d] appears before low vowel [a], and the
segment [ð] appears before non-low vowels such as [i] and [e]. In addition, the
segment [d] only appears in word initial. However, the segment [ð] appears both
word-initial and word-middle. The conclusion is [d] and [ð] are in complementary
distribution in Osage. Also, they are allophones of the same phoneme. In the aspect of
vowels position, we can have two hypotheses:

a. /d/→[ð]/_non-low vowels
/d/→[d]/ elsewhere

b. /ð/→[d]/_ a(low vowels)

/ð/→[ð]/ elsewhere

Compared to hypothesis a, hypothesis b seems simpler than the former. The

possibility of non-low vowels is more complex than low ones, so I choose hypothesis
b as the correct one. In conclusion, the segment /ð/ is the phoneme and the segment
/d/ and /ð/ are allophone.

2. Gens:
[l]:
b_e k_ɔ x_e
ɔ_i v_u ŋ_ ɔ
u_ɛ m_a #_ ɔ
a_ɔ w_a p_e
v_ɔ g_o e_u
x_ɔ p_ɔ
h_ɛ b_a

[r]:
 d_ ɛ t_w t_o
t ʃ _ɔ̃ d_ɔ 𝑑 ʒ _o
s_ɔ ɲ_ã
ɲ_ɔ̃ t_e
s_a z_o

Regarding the distribution of two segments, the vowels’ part overlaps to each
other, such as /e/ and /o/. Obviously, it is not decisive factor to tell difference
between two segments. In contrast, we can find front consonant context which
own by two segments is totally different from each other. For example, segment
/r/ goes after alveolar and palatal consonant. Even segment /l/ allows more
contexts go before it, these two segments’ environment are still not overlap to
each other. After analyzing environments, the conclusion is that /r/ and /l/ are
allophone, and they present commentary distribution. Thus we have following two
hypothese:

a. /l/→[r]/{alveolar C, palatal C}_

/l/→[l]/ elsewhere_

b. /r/→[l]/ {vowels, bilabial C, labial C, velar C, glottal C, #}_

/r/→[r]/ elsewhere_

It seems that hypothesis a is simpler than b. So, the hypothesis a is the correct
one. In conclusion, the segment /l/ is the phoneme and the segment /l/ and /r/ are
allophones.