Phonology revision

By Vzu Nguyen

1. Fill each gap in the following sentences with one or two words. a. Air from the lungs goes up the (1) ……………..……….…………….. (trachea) and into the (2) …………………………………, at which point it must pass between two small muscular folds called the (3) ………………..……. ……………………. .

windpipe, larynx, vocal cords,

b. If the (4) …………….. ……………… are apart, as they normally are when breathing out, the air from the lungs will have a relatively (5) …………… passage into the pharynx and the mouth. But if the vocal cords are (6) …………………. so that there is only a narrow passage between them, the pressure of the airstream will cause them to (7) ……………….. . Sounds produced when the vocal cords are vibrating are said to be (8) …………………, as opposed to those in which the vocal cords are apart, which are said to be (9) …………………. .

vocal cords, unobstructed, obstructed, vibrate, voiced, voiceless

c. Vowels sounds are usually (10) …………………, whereas consonants sounds may be either (11) ……………………. or (12) ………………… .

voiced, voiced, voiceless

d. The air passages above the larynx are known as the (13) …………….. ……………., which can be divided into the (14) ………… ……………. within the mouth and the (15) …………… …………….. within the (16) ………………. .

vocal tract, oral cavity, nasal cavity, nose

e. The shape that the oral tract may take is a very important factor in the production of speech as it gives a variety of qualities and resonances to the (17) ……………. produced. In the case of a vowel sound, the cavity within the mouth is somewhat (18) ……………….. and the quality of the vowel is determined largely by the shape of the (19) ………………… and the position of the (20) ……………………… .

sounds, open, mouth, tongue

f. For consonant sounds, there may be either a complete (21) ……………... or a narrowing of the cavity causing friction. An example of the former is the sound /p/ in which there is a complete closure made by the (22) ………………. . The sound /s/ exemplifies the latter, where there is a friction caused by a narrowing in the (23) ……………. tract.

closure, lips, oral

g. The parts of the oral tract that can be used to form sounds are called the (24) ………………………….. . The ones that form the (25) ………..……. surface of the oral tract often move towards those that form the upper surface.

articulators, lower

h. The principal parts of the upper surface of the oral tract are: the upper lip, the upper (26) …………, the (27) ………………… ………………, the (28) …..…………palate, the soft palate or (29) ……………, the (30) ……………. and the pharynx.

teeth, alveolar ridge, hard, velum, uvula

i. The soft palate is a muscular flap that can be (31) ………………to press against the back wall of the (32) …………………………….. and shut off the (33) ………….………… …………………, preventing air from going through the nose. In this case there is said to be a velic closure and an (34) ………………. sound is produced.

raised, pharynx, nasal cavity, oral

j. When on the other hand, the soft palate is in its lower position, the air can escape both through the mouth and the nose. If, however, the mouth is blocked, the air, escapes only through the nose, and a (35) ……….……… sound is produced.

nasal

k. The principal parts of the lower surface of the oral tract are the lower (36) ………., and the (37) ……………… . The (38) ……………. is usually divided into four parts: the (39) ……………, the (40) ……………., the (41) …………….. and the (42) ………………. . There is also the part lying opposite the walls of the pharynx, which is sometimes identified as the (43) …………….. . The (44) …………… and the (45) …………… are the most mobile parts of the tongue and they lie under the alveolar ridge when the tongue is at rest, whereas the (46) ………………… and the (47) ……………. lie opposite the hard and soft palate respectively.

lip, tongue, tongue, tip, blade, front, back, root, tip, blade, front, back

l. The lips are also important in the production of speech, taking up various different (48) ………………… . They can be held together, completely blocking the (49) ……………….. as when /p, b, m/ are pronounced. Conversely, they can be kept apart in a spread or neutral position or with different degrees of (50) ………………, such as the close-rounded or open-rounded positions.

positions, air flow, rounding

hard palate, alveolar ridge, nasal cavity, velum/soft palate, uvula, oral cavity, tongue, epiglottis, pharynx, larynx, glottis, lower teeth, lips, upper teeth,

1. Provide the terms. Write no more than two words

1.      The study of the distribution and patterning of speech sounds in a language and of the tacit rules governing pronunciation.

2.      A system for transcribing the precise sounds of human speech into writing (………………)

3.      A movable organ, as the tongue, lips, or uvula, the action of which is involved in the production of speech sounds. (……………….)

4.      A tube-shaped organ in the neck involved in breathing, sound production, and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. It’s located between the pharynx and the trachea (…………..)

5.      Two small bands of elastic tissue lying opposite each other across the air passage in the larynx. (……. ……….)

6.      The roof of the mouth that separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity (…….)

7.      The soft palate that can be raised so that it makes a firm contact with the back wall of the pharynx is also called ….(………..)

8.      The sounds in the production of which the soft palate is lowered, blocking off the oral cavity so that the airstream can only get out through the nose (…….. ……………)

9.      A speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure (stricture/obstruction) of the vocal tract ( …………….. )

10.  The smallest unit in the sound system of a language (…………….)

1. phonology

2. phonetic alphabet/narrow transcription

3. articulator

4. larynx

5. vocal cords

6. palate

7. velum

8. nasal sounds

9. consonant

10. phoneme

2.      Provide the terms. Write no more than two words

1. Complete closure of the lips.

2. Lower lip is very close to the upper front teeth.

3. Placing the tip of the tongue between the upper and lower teeth.

4. Tongue tip or blade are very close to alveolar ridge or can touch it.

5. Tip, blade and front of the tongue are very close to or touching the back of the alveolar ridge and teeth at either side.

6. Raising the front of the tongue till it's quite close to the hard palate.

7. Raising the back of the tongue till it touches the soft palate.

8. The air is forced though an almost closed glottis.

1. bilabial

2. labiodental

3. Inter-dental/dental

4. alveolar

5. Alveolopalatal

6. palatal

7. velar

8. glottal

2.      Provide the terms. Write no more than two words

1. It involves an explosion of escaping air. It can be: nasal stop or oral stop.

2. Two articulators are close enough together for audible friction caused by turbulent airflow to be heard.

3. A stop followed by a fricative.

4. The air is close but no close enough for a turbulent air-stream to be produced.

1. Stops/plosives

2. Fricatives

3. Affricates

4. Approximants (lateral, retroflex, glides/semivowels)

9.  True or False. Correct the false information.

1.      Voiced consonants are those produced when the vocal cords are not vibrating

F

9.  True or False. Correct the false information.

2.      Vowels depend mainly on the variations in the position of the tongue

 T

9.  True or False. Correct the false information.

3.      /i/ is a short high back unrounded monothong

F (short high front unrounded monothong)

9.  True or False. Correct the false information.

4.      Allophone is the smallest segment of sound

F (this should be phoneme, allophones are their variants)

9.  True or False. Correct the false information.

5.      Minimal pairs are pairs of words which differ by only one phoneme

T

True or false

6.      Broad transcription is one that contains a lot of information about the exact quality of the sounds

F (it’s narrow transcription)

True or false

7.      A syllable is a unit that consists of consonant(s) before and after a nucleus which is optional.

F (not optional, there must always be a nucleus in a syllable)

True or false

8.      A syllable can coincide with a word

T

True or false

9.      The consonant that stands before the nucleus is called the coda and the one after it is called an onset

F

True or false

10.  No word ends with more than 3 consonants

F (no word ends with more than 4 consonants)

True or false

11.  Ambisyllabicity is the case when it is difficult to assign a mid-positioned consonant to the pre or post syllable.

T

True or false

12.  Sentence stress, an extra force exerted on a particular syllable or a particular word in spoken language, is fixed

F (sentence stress is flexible depending on the intentions of speakers, while word stress is fixed)

True or false

13.  There are three factors making a stressed syllable prominent: loudness, length, and pitch.

F (there should be another one - vowel quality)

True or false

14.  It is usually impossible to predict which syllable will be the tonic syllable in a tone group

T

True or false

15.  Stress can help distinguish a word from a phrase

T

TRUE OR FALSE

1. Intonation can distinguish between function words and content words.

2. In the production of fricatives, the gap between articulators is bigger than that in the production of approximants.

3. A function word can carry the tonic syllable in a tone group.

4. Allophones are the variants of morphemes that occur in speech.

5. Like consonants, vowels can be either voiced or voiceless.

6. Sometimes, word stress can change.

7. A fricative is produced without any constriction (Sự co thắt) of the air stream.

8. Coda is one or more phonological segments that follow the nucleus of a syllable.

1. F (stress, not intonation)

2. F (the gap between articulators in fricatives is actually smaller than in approximants, making the statement incorrect)

3. T ( Yes, they can, like highlighting the contrast,….are/can…..,…..aren’t/can’t…….)

4. F

5. F

6. F (word stress is fixed)

7. F (Yes, there is constriction)

8. T

Gap- filling

9. The part of a sentence over which a particular Intonation pattern extends:

10.sounds which occur in the nucleus of a syllable and which are articulated with no closure:

11.A predictable variant of a phoneme:

12.Sounds that are articulated with some degree of closure of the articulators:

13.A distinctive or contrastive sound in a language (a phoneme distinguishes one word from another word):

14.A phonological unit which consists of minimally a vowel and optionally of consonants at the beginning and/or end of the unit:

15.The central organ involved in the production of an oral or nasal sound:

16.Sounds made by the lower lip touching the upper front teeth:

17. The variation of pitch while we are speaking:

18. The part of the windpipe that houses the vocal cords:

19.A sound articulated at the bony ridge just behind the upper teeth:

20. The sounds in the production of which the soft palate is lowered, blocking off the oral cavity so that the airstream can only get out through the nose:

21.A sound formed by combining two simple vowels:

22. The consonant that is produced when the tip, blade and front of the tongue are very close to or touching the back of the alveolar ridge and teeth at either side:

9. intonation contour

10. vowels

11. allophone

12. consonants

13. phoneme

14. syllable

15. uvula

16. labiodental

17. intonation

18. larynx

19. alveolar

20. nasal sounds

21. diphthong

22. alveolopalatal