Phonetics and Phonology exercises

Theory

I. Mark (√) each of the following sentences true or false.

TRUE FALSE
1 All words, when spoken aloud, are made of sequences of vowel
sounds.
2 The nucleus/peak is the optional constituent of a syllable.

3 We velarise an /l/ (dark ɫ) when it occurs before a vowel.

4 A vowel is nasalised when it occurs before a nasal consonant.

5 Broadly speaking, ‘fortis’ and ‘lenis’ regularly correlate with

‘voiceless’ and ‘voiced’.
6 Syllables which consist of an onset and a nucleus are traditionally
termed ‘open’, e.g. pray, spray.
7 A narrow transcription attempts to represent more or less
accurately the way in which a particular speaker pronounces his
words.
8 The major stress on two-syllable words is more likely to fall on the
first syllable if the word is a noun, and on the second syllable if the
word is a verb.
9 Words like handsome, and mostly, are frequently pronounced with
the omission of /d/ in handsome, and /t/ in mostly.
10 Schwa is an unstressed mid central spread vowel.

II. Use an appropriate word to complete the following sentences.

1. Vowels for which the tongue is neither raised nor lowered are called ……………… vowels.
2. In English the voiceless stops are aspirated at the beginning of a stressed ………………………….
3. Major stress is always on the ………………………. before the suffix -tion.
4. The ……………………………….. is made up of the nucleus and the coda.
5. When a speech sound changes, and becomes more like another sound which follows it or precedes
it, this is called …………………...
6. The word catcher is produced with a voiceless ……………………. between the two vowels.
7. When two words such as pin and bin are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme,
occurring in the same position, the two words are described as a ……………….. pair.
8. Dark l and clear l are allophones of the same ……………………..
9. In pronouncing the two vowels /i/ and /e/, the …………………….. of the tongue is raised.
10. Monophthongs are single vowel sounds that may be long or ……………..

I- TRANSCRIBE THE FOLLOWING WORDS AND PHRASES

Example ten men [tem ' men] ( assimilation of
place)

1. sudden syllabicity
2. wonderful velarization / dark []
3. that side assimilation of place
4. healthy dentalization
5. police elision
6. main gate assimilation of place
7. good song assimilation of manner
8. back shortening (vowel)