BBN-ANG-141 foundations of phonology questions topic 8

1. What is the neutralization of a contrast?

it means the loss of a contrast, while boat /bəwt/ and boot /buwt/ contain different vowels, boar /boː/ and boor /boː/ do not in British English (his is the force-poor merger); the contrast of /əw/ and /uw/ is neutralized before /r/; likewise the contrast of /a/ and /e/ is neutralized in unstressed position: postman and postmen are both /pə́wstmən/

2. What is vowel reduction?

the reduction of the full vowel inventory to /ɪ/, /ə/, /ʉ/, /ɪj/, /əw/, /ʉw/ in unstressed position

3. Where do unstressed short vowels occur?

like all short/checked vowels, they occur only before a consonant, but unstressed /ə/ also occurs word finally

4. Where do unstressed free vowels occur?

like free vowels they occur in any environment, but unstressed /ɪj/ does not occur preconsonantally, and both unstressed /əw/ and unstressed /ʉw/ may be simplified to /ə/ and /ʉ/ before a consonant

5. What is the typical environment before unstressed /ʉ/ and /ʉw/?

they are practically always preceded by a palatal consonant or a stop+liquid cluster

6. What is syllabic consonant formation?

the transference of syllabicity from a schwa to the following sonorant consonant

7. Can /r/ be syllabic?

yes, but only before a vowel (terrorist /tɛ́rṛɪst/), or another syllabic consonant (literal /lɪ́tṛḷ/)

8. What is syncope?

it is the total loss of a schwa, even of its syllabicity

9. What vowel(s) may be syncopated and where in English?

unstressed schwa can be syncopated, when followed by a sonorant consonant and another unstressed vowel

10.What is high vowel gliding?

a special case of syncope, in which unstressed /ɪj/ becomes /j/ and unstressed /ʉw/ becomes /w/, that is, the vowel part is lost: opinion /əpɪ́nɪjən/~/əpɪ́njən/, usual /jʉ́wʒʉwəl/~/jʉ́wʒwəl/

11.What is palatalization?

the alveolar obstruents followed by /j/ become postalveolar/palatal, especially in an unstressed syllable: virtue /və́ːtʉw/~/və́ːtʃʉw/, perdue /pə́ːdjʉw/~/pə́ːdʒʉw/, issue /ɪ́sj ʉw/~/ɪ́ʃʉw/, casual /kázjʉwəl/~/káʒʉwəl/

12.Which vowel letters may be used to spell unstressed /ə/?

any vowel letter, even the absence of a vowel letter, as in prism /prɪ́zəm/

13.Which vowel letters may be used to spell unstressed /ɪ/?

I/Y and E are most common (limit, dactyl, ticket), A is rarer (village), U is unique (minute)

14.Which vowel letters may be used to spell unstressed /ʉ/ or /ʉw/?

these are practically always spelled by U

15.Which vowel letters may be used to spell unstressed /ɪj/?

I/Y or E (atrium, happy, syncope)

16.Which vowel letters may be used to spell unstressed /əw/?

O (obey, motto)