English Phonetics/Phonology/Morphology Exam

Katalin Balogné Bérces

6. Which of the following rules is totally insensitive to morphological Answers
Sample test (originally exam 3 on 18 January 2005) and syntactic structure?
a. palatalisation a. b. c. d.
Working time: 70 mins b. nasal place assimilation 1. X
c. consonant elision
Questions refer to RP unless explicitly indicated otherwise. d. R-dropping 2. X
WORD = Kristó, L. (May 2004) The English word.
Kristó (2004b) = Words and meanings. In: Dubs, K. (ed.) What 7. In which of these words is the vowel the shortest? 3. X
does it mean? Piliscsaba: PPKE. (pp. 248-270) a. bean c. bead
b. bee d. beat 4. X
Balogné (2004) = On the notion word and its role as a
phonological constituent. In: Dubs, K. (ed.) What does it
8. Which of the underlined t’s is always aspirated in both RP and 5. X
mean? Piliscsaba: PPKE. (pp. 240-247)
General American?
a. hesitate c. twenty 6. X
Part A: Multiple-Choice Questions (26 pts: 1 pt each) b. flatter d. competitive
Data 7. X
9. A // can NOT undergo ...
1. Which of the following RP vowels is rounded?
a. aspiration c. flapping 8. X
a.  c. 
b. devoicing d. elision
b.  d.  9. X
10. In RP, as opposed to GA, // can only become syllabic...
2. Which of the following consonants canNOT form a two-member a. word-internally c. in stressed position 10. X
onset with // in English? b. word-finally d. None of a, b or c.
a.  c.  11. X
b.  d.  11. The word cart does NOT exemplify ...
a. Aspiration c. Pre-R Breaking 12. X
3. Which of the following word pairs illustrates unmotivated Vowel b. R-dropping d. Pre-Fortis Clipping
Shift? 13. X
a. do – does c. tone – tonic 12. Which of the following grammatical function words canNOT be
b. crime – criminal d. vain – vanity pronounced //?
a. the c. there
4. Closed-syllable shortening basically refers to the same regularity b. their d. they
as ...
a. Pre-cluster Laxing c. Trisyllabic Laxing 13. Which of these sound changes is a characteristically British
b. Degemination d. Broadening innovation?
a. (extended) Yod-dropping c. Diphthong Shift
5. In which of the following words is Yod-Dropping optional in RP? b. t/d-tapping/flapping d. LOT Unrounding
a. rude c. suit
b. during d. new

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Analysis/theory 22. Which of the following features must change its value to bring
14. Oral sounds are produced by … the velum. about the // → // change?
a. raising c. opening a. [coronal] c. [nasal] Answers
b. lowering d. pulling back b. [sonorant] d. [voice]
a. b. c. d.
15. Syncope rules … segments. 23. Compensatory lengthening illustrates ... 14. X
a. move c. insert a. the independence of timing relations from other aspects of
b. delete d. assimilate phonological representation. 15. X
b. the naturalness of lexical phonological processes.
16. The difference between inflection and derivation is that ... c. a major weakness of Generative Phonology. 16. X
a. in inflection there is pressure for all the members of the paradigm to d. the relative ease of dropping consonants.
be present, in derivation there are many accidental gaps. 17. X
b. inflection forms new lexemes, derivation forms new word-forms. 24. Which of the following stressed vowel letters is in covered graphic
c. inflection is a more open system, derivation is a more closed position? 18. X
system. a. taxi c. later
d. inflection is always class-changing, derivation is always class- b. scruple d. manor 19. X
maintaining.
25. Which of these letters does NOT have // as one of its regular 20. X
17. Which of the following words has an ult with a branching onset? sound values?
a. horizon c. algebra a. <a> c. <ai> 21. X
b. propaganda d. Matilda b. <e> d. <ey>
22. X
18. Which of the following characterises postlexical rules? 26. According to Balogné (2004), compounds like lifestyle ...
a. essentially no exceptions a. behave like single p-words in English. 23. X
b. morphological information decisive b. are morphologically simple.
c. distinctive alternating sounds c. do not reduce their second terms to zero stress. 24. X
d. not particularly natural phonological process d. treat their terms as separate units grammatically.
25. X
19. The nucleus of the syllable // is ...
a. // c. // 26. X
b. // d. //

20. Which of the following is a well-formed partial sonority

hierarchy?
a. <<< c. <<<
b. <<< d. <<<

21. Bogus cluster is the name given to consonant cluters that ...
a. can only appear word-medially.
b. cannot appear word-medially.
c. can appear word-initially but not word-medially.
d. can appear word-finally but not word-initially.

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 Answers
Part B:

Part B: Open-ended Questions (20 pts: 2 pts each) 1. nasals, liquids, glides

1. The three groups of sonorant consonants are … 2. / U  (or E)   Ă/

2. The plain lax vowels of RP are ... (list their symbols!)
3. Give an example of a position in which the plain lax vowels listed above can NOT normally appear. 3. word-finally, prevocalically, before a dropped /r/, in
4. Kristó (2004b) uses Tarzanlike and Jabbalike to illustrate the on-line, on-the-spot formation of unconventionalized items that free graphic position...
are usually referred to as ...
5. The name of the phonological rule governing the choice of the form of the suffix -val/-vel 'with' in Hungarian, as in madárral 4. nonce words/items
'with bird' as opposed to egérrel 'with mouse' (described in Balogné 2004) is ...
6. In morphology, the situation when a single form represents several grammatical words within the paradigm is best referred to 5. vowel harmony
as ...
7. In three-member onsets in English the first consonant is always ... 6. syncretism
8. In the word gradual (cf. grade), the vowel undergoes a rule causing Vowel Shift called ...
9. Using the numbers 1 (primary), 2 (secondary), 3 (tertiary or strong unstressed), and 0 (completely unstressed), indicate the stress 7. /s/
degree of the syllables in the word domesticity.
10. List at least three words (other than carrot) in which the Carrot-rule applies. 8. Pre-u Laxing

9. 20100 or 23100

10. mirror, merry, miracle, paradise, hurricane...

Part C:
Part C: Analysis (10 pts)
1. 1030
Consider the word radiator.
1. Indicate the stress degree of the syllables using numbers. (1 pt) 2. deverbal nominal agentive derivational suffix
2. Characterize the morpheme –or. What kind of morpheme is it? List as many characteristics as you can (2 pts)
3. What kind of morpheme is –or as far as its phonological behaviour is concerned? Is it able to influence the phonological shape 3. analytic (/strong-boundary/neutral/ClassII):
of the base? (2 pts)
unable to influence the base phonologically

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 Answers

4. If the ult of a verb (radiate) is stressable (-ate is heavy

4. Using this word, explain what the Alternating Stress Rule is. (3 pts)
5. The first vowel letter of the word is pronounced //. Which phonological class of vowels does it belong to? (1 pt) even if the /t/ is extrametrical) and the verb has more than
6. Which letter-to-sound rule is responsible for the pronunciation of the first vowel letter? (1 pt)
two syllables, primary stress moves to the antepenult (ra-)

and the ult reduces to tertiary stress.

5. plain tense

6. Free Position Basic Rule / CiV Tensing

Part D:

1. /()/

2. /Ă or - or -/

3. //
Part D: Transcription (7X2=14 pts)
4. /()/
Transcribe the following words phonemically as they are pronounced in RP, using the symbols of Gimsonian IPA, either the
standard set or the modified version introduced in WORD, but please be consistent. All these words are regular as far as letter-to-
5. //
sound rules are concerned.

1 auctions, 2 chunky, 3 hissed, 4 Mabel, 5 propaganda, 6 repel, 7 Samantha 6. / or -E/

Total: 70 pts 7. //