Review, Practice, and Explore – Chapter 3 • 25
Review, Practice, and Explore – Chapter 3
3.1
Describing Consonant Sounds
Using Table 3.1, describe the following sounds in terms of voicing, place of articulation, and manner
of articulation. Example: /p/ is a voiceless bilabial stop.
2. /h/ voiceless glottal glide
4. /θ/ voiceless interdental fricative
6. /r/ voiced alveolar (bunched) liquid
8. /b/ voiced bilabial stop
10. /cˇ/ voiceless palatal affricate
12. /m/ voiced bilabial nasal
3.2
Voiced or Voiceless?
Come up with four minimal pairs of words in which a sound differs only in voicing status; for exam-
ple: pin and bin /pın/ /bın/. Refer to the vowel chart in Tables 3.4 and 3.5 for help with transcribing
vowels.
3.3
Different Places of Articulation
Looking at the consonant chart in Table 3.1, come up with three sets of three words, the words in
each set differing only in the place of articulation of one of the sounds in the same position. For
example, in the words pit, tit, kit, /pıt/ /tıt/ /kıt/, the initial sounds are all voiceless stops, but /p/ is
bilabial, /t/ is alveolar, and /k/ is velar.
3.4
Different Manners of Articulation
Looking at the consonant chart in Table 3.1, come up with three sets of two words each that differ
only in the manner of articulation of one of the sounds in the same position. For example, in the
words ship and chip, /šıp/ /ıp/, the initial sounds are a voiceless palatal fricative /š/ and a voiceless
palatal affricate //. The differing sounds do not have to occur at the beginning of the word.
3.5
Place and Manner Natural Classes
For each group of words, write a three-part description (voicing, place of articulation, and manner
of articulation) for the underlined sound in each word. Then determine which single natural class of
sounds describes the underlined sounds in each group.
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4
pizza think favorite sing
3.6
Oops! That’s Not What I Meant!
Slips of the tongue involve accidental manipulation of the building blocks of language. The slips
can be phonetic, phonological, morphological, and syntactic. In the following phonetic slips, either
a whole phoneme or only a piece—a feature—of each sound is involved in the slips. Describe what
happened from the intended utterance to the actual utterance and why you think each slip occurs.
Example: Intended utterance Actual utterance
Intended utterance Actual utterance
a. pity the new teacher mity the dew teacher
b. mismatched mitchmashed
c. bad, naughty kitten mad, daughty kitten
d. coin toss toin coss
a. pity the new teacher mity the dew teache
(Before attempting an analysis, be sure to transcribe this one to see the correct phonemic
representation.)
Answer: /mismæflt/ /miflmæšt/
28 • PART 2 Answer Key
c. bad, naughty kitten mad, daughty kitten
d. coin toss toin coss
3.7
Fiddle-Faddle!
Why do you think we say flddle-faddle and not faddle-flddle? Why is it ping-pong and pitter-patter
and not pong-ping and patter-pitter? And here are some more:
Come up with some more examples of similar kinds of singsong (there’s one!) phrases. In the exam-
ples given and in your own, which vowel sounds seem to come rst? Why do you think these vowels
come before others? Do you think this pattern is likely to hold for other languages? Why or why not?
3.8
Mono or Di?
Recall that whether vowels are diphthongs or monophthongs varies quite a bit across English
dialects. Write each of the following words in phonemic transcription according to your own
pronunciation. (It might be easier to listen to someone else’s pronunciation, since it can be
difcult to reflect on your own.)
a. foul
32 • PART 2 Answer Key
Discuss the variations, and determine which is most noticeable. What are your perceptions of people
who pronounce these words either one way or the other?
The variation in the vowel sounds is only one step on the vowel chart, as indicated by the ovals,
but we nevertheless nd some distinctions more noticeable than others, and these are typically more
stigmatized. Are your opinions about each variant linguistically or socially determined? Explain.
3.16
Is There a “Right” Way To Say It?
Think of some words that have more than one common pronunciation (coupon, pajamas, apricot,
economic). Practice transcribing by writing each pronunciation in phonemic transcription. After
you have done the transcription, discuss the varying pronunciations and the characteristics you
associate with each pronunciation. What factors (age, race, gender, class, ethnicity, education, etc.)
correlate with each pronunciation, and why do you think you have those associations? Are there
some words for which you do not have a preferred pronunciation? Are there some words for which
you adopt the pronunciation of whomever you’re speaking with?