Study Questions and Exercises
- Consonants and Vowels: Look
over "Table 6.6: Phonetic Symbol/English Spelling Correspondences"
on pages 244-245 of An Introduction to Language. Note any
differences between the pronunciations indicated in the table and your
own pronunciation of these words. Are there more differences among the
consonants or the vowels? Why do you suppose this is so?
- Phonology and Spelling: Use
your understanding of phonology to analyze and correct the common spelling
problem in the following sentence: "Many scientist have studied this
phenomenon."
- Sound Symbolism: Review David
Crystal's list of "Sounds and Senses" on page 251 of The Cambrdige
Encylopedia of the English Language. Why do you think these sounds
have the associations they seem to have? Try to think of other sounds with
apparent connotations.
- Intonation: Review David
Crystal's comments on "A Really Interesting High Rise Intonation"
(p. 249) in The Cambrdige Encylopedia of the English Language. Have
you noticed this phenomenon in hearing various people speak? If so, how
did you interpret it? Do you use this rising intonation? If not, would
you consider starting? Why or why not?
- Accent: Take turns saying
the list of words below. As one person says the words, the other should
transcribe the words in IPA. Feel free to ask your partner to repeat the
words if necessary. Does your pronunciation of a word change if you use
it in a sentence?
- pen
- interesting
- aunt
- car
- route
- pin
- here
- buy
- ask
- through
- pianist
- mischievous
- Register: This time, each
of you will pronounce the following sentence: "I'm going to say something
to them." First, pronounce the sentence as if you were talking to
a friend over lunch. Next, pronounce the sentence as if you were speaking
to a potential employer in a job interview. Transcribe your partner's speech
for each context and note any differences you find.
- Sound in Poetry: Use what
you have learned about stops, continuants, stress, rhyme, and sound symbolism
to analyze the following poem by Emily Dickinson:
After great pain, a formal feeling comes--
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs--
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?
The Feet, mechanical, go round--
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought--
A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone--
This is the Hour of Lead--
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow--
First--Chill--then Stupor--then the letting go--
- Now use what you have learned about intonation to read
it aloud. You may want to refer to David Crystal's discussion of intonation
on pages 248 and 249 of The Encyclopedia of the English Language.
Try reading some lines with different intonation and analyze the different
effects.
Bibliography
- Crystal, David. "The Sound System." The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1995. 234-255.
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Terms
- phonetics
- International Phonetic Alphabet
- place of articulation
- bilabial
- labiodental
- interdental
- alveolar
- palatal
- velar
- glottal
- manner of articulation
- voiced
- voiceless
- nasal
- stop
- fricative
- affricate
- liquid
- glide
- diphthong
- stress
- phonology
- phoneme
- phone
- allophone
- distinctive feature
- intonation
- assimilation
- deletion
- epenthesis
- metathesis
- allomorph
- accent
- register
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