Name: Nghiêm Thị Phượng

Student ID: 21045292

MIDTERM-TEST
1. Point out the differences between the Glide-up and the Take-off with regard to
contours and uses. Give examples for illustration.
ANSWER:
1. The differences between the Glide-up and the Take-off

Glide-up

- Description

Shortest form: A rise from a low note to a fairly high one

Several syllables or more:

The Glide-up looks just like the Glide-down except a rise on the TS. The rise reaches

a point a little bit above the middle of the voice.

Eg. “Can you help me lift the table now?”

- Contour

the Glide-up looks just like the Glide-down except a rise on the Tonic Syllable. All
syllables, either stressed or unstressed, constitute an ascending line. This ascending line
reaches a point just a little bit above the middle of the voice

- Uses

The Glide-up is used with:

/kæn ju: help mi: lift ð teibl nau/

1. (i)  Yes-No questions seeking either confirmation or rejection from the person
asked.
2. (ii)  WH- questions said with eagerness to obtain information.
3. (iii)  Sentences intended as declarative questions.
4. (iv)  Media or final vocatives.

- Example:

Tom came late again?

/ tͻm keim leit әgen /

If the focus of this declarative question is on the frequency of lateness, the contour would
look something like this:

Take-off

- Description

In the Take-off, all syllasbles, either stressed or unstressed, are said on the same low,
level note except a sudden rise on the tonic syllable. The tune looks just like an aeroplane
running for a while along the runway before suddenly taking off.

- Uses

The Take-off is used to express anger, annoyance, uneasiness or any other such
feelings.

Example:
2. Discuss the principles for sentence stress placement. Base yourself on relevant
phonetic symbols and conventions to make explicit the possible interpretations of the
following sentence with sentence stress on each of the notional words in “Jane didn’t
learn lesson four”.
ANSWER:

- The principles for sentence stress placement

+ Communicatively, any word in the sentence can be considered most important in the
sentence. That most important word usually receives sentence stress.

+ The stress falls on the primary stress of that word. As a result, the intonation contours
of the sentence vary in accordance with different positions of the focal word where the
tonic syllable (TS) resides. The TS is the primary stress of the word considered most
important in the sentence.

+ Different placements of the TS tend to result in different meaning interpretations for

one and the same sentence.

- The interpretations

“Jane didn’t learn lesson four”.

/ dʒeɪn ˈdɪd.ənt lɜːn ˈles.ən fɔːr /

(i) JANE didn’t learn lesson four.

-> Someone else, not Jane who might have learnt lesson four.
(ii) Jane didn’t LEARN lesson four
-> Jane might have done something else with lesson four, not learn it.
(iii) Jane didn’t learn LESSON four.
Jane might have learn something else such as exercises, seminar,…., not abou lesson.
(iv) Jane didn’t learn lesson FOUR.
-> Jane might have learnt any lesson, not lesson four.
3. Provide a phonological rule that captures the velarisation available in these word:
bulk, feel.
ANSWER:
Rules: A-> B/ X_Z and A-> B/ XY_Z

/ l /  [†] / __ (C).

4. Discuss ways of establishing phonemic inventory in language. Illustrate the points

presented with typical examples.
ANSWER:
Techniques for establishing phonemic inventory:
+ Commutation test: a substitution of one sound for another yielding a different lexical
item
Example: bat # mat
+ Complementary distribution: when two phones are in complementary distribution they
are allophones of one and the same phonemes.
Example: Teach /tiːtʃ/
Study  /ˈstʌd.i/
(iii) Process naturalness: Natural means to be expected/ frequently found across
languages/phonetically similar.
(iv) Pattern congruity: Pattern congruity=systematic organisation of the set of phonemes
and their distribution
Example: word final obstruent sequences like /ft, pt, ps, kst/ are well formed while /fd, bt,
pz, ds/ are not.
(v) Free variation: one phone may be replaced by another without changing meaning of
lexical item. Free variation may obscure the identification of phonemes.
Example: electronic /ˌel.ekˈtrɒn.ɪk/
/iˌlekˈtrɑː.nɪk/

5. Discuss the approaches to establishing phonological structures with respect to

conceptulization, representation, strengths & weaknesses. Give examples for illustration
ANSWER:
- approaches to establishing phonological structures:
+ Smallest element: binary dítinctive feature
+ Largest element: segment (phoneme) characterised by matrix of distinctive features.
+ Auto-segmental structures: association lines employed for making explicit the
correspondence between features and segments.
+ Supra-segment structure:
- syllable: onset+rhyme
- mora
- single word
- foot
- group