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DEGREE OF MASTER OF STUDIES

DEGREE OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (Year 1)

Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics

DEGREE OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY

General Linguistics and Comparative Philology

GENERAL PAPER A: LINGUISTIC THEORY

TRINITY TERM 2020

Thursday, 18 June

Opening Time: 09:30 (BST)

You have 4 hours to complete the paper and upload your answer file

Candidates should answer THREE questions from THREE different sections

1
Section A: Phonetics
1. The following impressionistic phonetic transcriptions are of a speaker of a Tibeto-Burman
language spoken in South Asia. For some words two variants are given. Disyllabic words are
compounds. From other data not given here we can infer that [ɐ] in (b) and [ə] in (e) are not
phonologically contrastive. The diacritic [ˉ] at the end of (b) indicates that the stop is
unaspirated; on vowels [ˉ] indicates a mid pitch level.

a. cane b. compensation

c. exchange d. flower seed

e. fly f. medicine

g. pear h. pig

i. seed j. press down

k. sit

l. Tibetan m. vegetable seed

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 Comment on:

(i) “minimal pairs” (you may assume that small or predictable differences in vowel quality
are not contrastive);
(ii) secondary articulation and coarticulation;
(iii) variation, and any other points of phonetic interest.

2. ‘The separation of vowels, consonants and diacritics on the IPA chart is meaningful.’ To what
extent do you agree with this statement?

3. Describe the movements of the articulators in the production of human speech.

4. What is the phonetic basis of prosody?

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Section B: Phonology

1. Alternations in Hindi
Hindi has an alternation between /ə/ and ∅. Examine the data below, and answer questions
(i) - (v).

Nouns Nominative singular Oblique plural Agentive Gloss

1) kusum kusumo: kusumne: ‘flower’
2) pustək pustəko: pustəkne: ‘book’
3) ki:rtən ki:rtəno: ki:rtənne: ‘song’
4) tiləsm tiləsmo: tiləsmne: ‘magic’
5) dərəxt dərəxto: dərəxtne: ‘tree’
6) kəmər kəmro: kəmərne: ‘waist’
7) səbək səbko: səbəkne: ‘lesson’
8) ke:sər ke:sro: ke:sərne: ‘saffron’
9) kɑ:rək kɑ:rko: kɑ:rəkne: ‘case’
10) su:rət su:rto: su:rətne: ‘shape’
11) qətl qətlo: qətlne: ‘murder’
12) swərɡ swərɡo: swərɡne: ‘heaven’
13) kəʂʈ kəʂʈo: kəʂʈne: ‘trouble’
14) əŋkən əŋkəno: əŋkənne: ‘mark’
15) pələŋɡ pələŋɡo: pələŋɡne: ‘bed’
16) sənək sənko: sənəkne: ‘craze’

Verb Stem Past Infinitive Gloss

17) tʃəmək tʃəmka tʃəməkna ‘shine’

To avoid confusion, examples are presented using the IPA. However, in your answers (if it is
easier for you), you may use the following transcription conventions:

Use this For this

a ɑ
S ʂ
E ə
g ɡ
T ʈ
N ŋ
C tʃ

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 Look first at examples 1-13.
(i) Crucial to an understanding of the alternation between /ə/ and ∅ are the phonotactics of
Hindi, which does not permit certain consonant clusters in certain positions. Explain
why, giving examples, and referring to both general linguistic tendencies and language-
specific constraints.
(ii) Give the underlying forms of all stems and affixes.
(iii) Describe the phonological rules necessary to derive the correct surface forms and justify
the ordering, if any.
(iv) Explain why we can observe differences in the way the forms [kəmər], [qətl] and
[pustək] behave.

Now consider examples 14-17, as well as example 6.

(v) Hindi has a nasal assimilation rule which means that nasals tend to be homorganic with a
following obstruent. This can be observed in some of these examples, but not others.
Why is this?

2. Discuss the relevance of an autosegmental perspective in understanding phonological issues

involving feature assimilation and tonology.

3. What role does quantity play in metrical phonology?

4. ‘While we want the phonological features to have some phonetic basis, we also want to
distinguish possible [phonological] contrasts from possible [phonetic] differences.’ (Keating)
Discuss distinctive features in the light of this claim.

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Section C: Syntax

1. The following sentences are from a language spoken in the Philippines.

(i) Give as precise an account as you can of the role of the four morphemes which have
been left unglossed (nan, is, ay, and id).
(ii) Describe how questions are formed in this language.
(iii) Comment on any other aspects of syntactic interest in the data.

a) ninʔawit nan lalaki is ɨwɨs

carried ? man ? blanket
'The man carried a/the blanket.'

b) ay ninʔawit nan lalaki is ɨwɨs

? carried ? man ? blanket
'Did the man carry a/the blanket?'

c) sino nan naŋʔawit is ɨwɨs

who ? carried ? blanket
'Who carried a/the blanket?'

d) ay sino nan naŋʔawit is ɨwɨs

? who ? carried ? blanket
'Who carried a/the blanket?'

e) sino nan babaʔi

who ? woman
'Who is that woman?'

f) ʔinawit nan lalaki nan ɨwɨs

carried ? man ? blanket
'The man carried the blanket.'

g) ŋan nan ʔinawit nan lalaki

what ? carried ? man
'What did the man carry?'

h) ay ŋan nan ʔinawit nan lalaki

? what ? carried ? man
'What did the man carry?'

i) binadaŋan nan lalaki id kobʔa

helped ? man ? yesterday
'The man helped yesterday.'

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 j) ɨgʔan nan binadaŋan nan lalaki
when ? helped ? man
'When did the man help?'

k) ʔinmayan nan lalaki id baʔɨy

went ? man ? house
'The man went into the house.'

l) into nan ʔinmayan nan lalaki

where ? went ? man
'Where did the man go?'

m) into nan ɨwɨs

where ? blanket
'Where is the blanket?'

2. Discuss TWO OR MORE aspects of the syntactic structure of the following sentence:
It is rumoured among the peasants who I have spoken to that the wizard caught himself a
dragon with a magical crown.

3. What is the difference between morphological and syntactic ergativity?

4. What is the core/oblique distinction? Are adjuncts distinct from both core and oblique
dependents, or are they a kind of oblique?

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Section D: Semantics and Pragmatics

1. Provide a semantic derivation tree to compose the truth condition of sentence (a). For each
node in the tree, specify its semantic type and its denotation (using the lambda-notation).
Write a short comment explaining the analytical strategies that you followed.
a) Every lorry overtook the red car

2. Discuss the motivations and the main principles of Generalized Quantifier theory. Explain
how a GQ-theoretic account can help explain the distribution of Negative Polarity Items in
sentences with quantifiers.

3. Explain Grice's theory of implicature, making reference to both conventional and

conversational implicature. Discuss the implicature in (a) as part of your answer.
a) Mary earned £2000 last month.
Implicature: Mary did not earn > £2000 last month.

4. Discuss the notion of indirect speech act.

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