Phonology and Morphology

Coursework, Other Subject
Project description
LX250: Introduction to Linguistics Spring 2014 -1- Homework: Phonology and Morphology 1. Phonology READ DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY!!! Kurmanji Kurdish is a Western Iranian language spoken in Turkey, Syria, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, among other places. Phonetically speaking, its inventory of stop consonants contains, among other things, voiced and voiceless velars [k], [g], voiced and voiceless “prevelars” [k?], [g?],1 and a voiceless uvular [q]. Part A. Consider the distributions of each of these sounds in the data below. Are some of these sounds in complementary distribution with some others? State as exhaustively as possible which sounds are in complementary distribution with which others, and which are in a contrastive distribution with which others. (Meaning, compare the distribution of each of these sounds with that of every other one, k vs. g, k vs. q, k vs. k?, etc., and decide whether each pairing involves complementary distribution or not.) Part B. Based on what you have observed, and the principles reviewed in class, decide how many independent phonemes there are among these five sounds. If certain sounds should be considered allophones of a single phoneme, state what these groupings should be. Part C. Where two or more sounds are allophones of a single phoneme, which of those allophones should be considered basic, and why? State a rule (either in precise-but-ordinary language, or in rule formalism, as you prefer) that derives each allophone from the basic, phonemic form you have chosen. ?g?i? ‘fire’ k?nd ‘owl’ k??vt?i ‘spoon’ g?h ‘ear’ g??l ‘many, much’ g????v ‘islands’ g?ez?? ‘carrot’ g?me? ‘water buffalo’ k??w ‘quail’ k?l ‘elderly’ k?e? ‘profit, benefit’ k?ilim ‘kilim’ k??n ‘short’ gog ‘ball’ q?l?w ‘fat’ q?z ‘goose’ qemi? ‘mercy’ qit? ‘given to grinning stupidly’ q????k ‘trash’ q?l ‘hole’ w?q?w?q ‘squeal of an animal’ g?isk ‘1-to-2-year-old male goat’ kutik ‘unripe cucumber’ kon ‘tent’ qum ‘sand’ qot??k ‘diligent’ 1 These in fact sound a bit like [k] or [g] followed by [j] – think of the consonant sequence at the beginning of English cute. LX250: Introduction to Linguistics Spring 2014 -2- 2. Phonetic vs. phonemic representation Give both phonetic and phonemic transcriptions of the following words of English. 1. den 2. total 3. parodic 4. statistics 5. remedy Morphology A. The following words are made up of either one or two morphemes. Isolate the morphemes and decide for each whether it is free or bound, and what kind of affix (prefix, suffix) is involved (if any). 1. cats 2. unclear 3. hateful 4. bicycle 5. entrust 6. spacious 7. register B. Turkish. Examine the following data from Turkish and answer the questions that follow. a. deniz sea i. elim my hand b. denize to a/the sea j. eller hands c. denizin of a/the sea k. di?ler teeth d. eve to a house l. di?imizin of our tooth e. evden from a house m. di?lerimizin of our teeth f. evd?ik little house n. eld?iklere to the little hands g. denizd?ikler little seas o. denizlerimizde in our seas h. elde in a/the hand p. evd?iklerimizde in our little houses 1. Give the Turkish morpheme that corresponds to each of the following translations: ___________ sea ___________ in ___________ my ___________ house ___________ to ___________ of ___________ hand ___________ from ___________ our LX250: Introduction to Linguistics Spring 2014 -3- ___________ tooth ___________ little ___________ plural marker 2. Specify a “template” for the order of morphemes for the composition of a complex word in Turkish, including slots for a noun stem, possessive marker (e.g., my, our, etc.), diminutive marker (i.e. ‘little’), case marker (here: to, of, in, etc.), and plural marker. (In other words, specify the order in which the above-listed morpheme types must occur relative to one another.) 3. How would you say “of our little hands” in Turkish?