Chapter 5
Q1. What is the difference between phoneme and distinctive features? IMPORTANT
The phoneme is the minimal sound or phonetic unit which distinguishes the meaning of words such as /pɪn/ and /bɪn/.
According to generative phonology, the distinctive features are smaller than the phonemes. i.e. every phoneme consists of features. e.g. the phoneme /p/ has three features which are:
[+ bilabial]
+ stop
_ voice
Whereas /b/:
[+ bilabial]
+ stop
+ voice
In other words, /p/ and /b/ have two features in common and only one feature that distinguishes between them. Voice is a distinctive feature for /p/ and /b/.
Q2. What does the phonetic realization of the phoneme called?
It is called allophone. e.g. the phoneme /p/ has several allophones:
[pʰɪn], [nɪp], etc.
Q3. What are the allophones of the phoneme /l/?
· Clear l: look /lʊk/
· Dark l: cool /ku:l/
· Voiceless l: play /pleɪ/
· Syllabic l: bottle /bɒtļ/
Q4. Are allophones in complementary distribution?
Yes, they are.
Q5. Give some examples of minimal pairs?
/pɪt/
/pet/
/pæt/
/pʊt/
Q6. What is the difference between broad and narrow tranion?
A phonetic tranion containing a lot of information about the exact quality of the sound would be called narrow tranion, while one which only included a little more information than a phonemic tranion would be called broad phonetic tranion. When symbols are used to represent phonemes, we enclose them in square brackets [ ]. In many phonetics books, phoneme symbols are enclosed within slant brackets / /. (pp. 42-43. Ch. 5.2 Third Edition)
Chapter 13
Q7. What are the phonologists’ views of the schwa (ə)?
I. Some phonologists suggested that there is no contrast between ə and ʌ since ə only occurs in weak syllables and no minimal pairs can be found to show a clear contrast between ə and ʌ in unstressed syllables. This has resulted in a proposal that one phoneme symbol (e.g. ə) can be used for representing any occurrence of ə and ʌ.
II. Other phonologists have suggested that ə is an allophone of several vowels. e.g. ‘economy’ ɪkɒnəmi and ‘economic’ i:kənɒmɪk. (pp. 127-129 Ch. 13.5 & 13.6)
Chapter 14
Q8. Define rhythm? IMPORTANT
In metrical phonology, rhythm is a hierarchical relation between strong (s) and weak (w) syllables.
Q9. Give a metrical deion of rhythm for the phrase ‘twenty places further back’? IMPORTANT
Refer to the book (Third Edition) p. 136 Ch. 14 (Tree Diagram)
Chapter 15
Q10. What is intonation?
Intonation is the fall and rise of voice in speech and it is another part of suprasegmental phonology (A suprasegmental is a vocal effect that extends over more than one sound segment in an utterance, such as pitch, stress, or juncture pattern)
Q11. What are the functions of English tones (What are the English tones)? IMPORTANT
1. Fall: usually regarded as more or less ‘neutral’. It could be said to give an impression of ‘finality’.
2. Rise: this tone conveys an impression that something more is to follow or ‘an invitation to continue’.
3. Fall-rise: this tone could be described as ‘limited agreement’ or ‘response with reservations’.
4. Rise-fall: this tone is the opposite of fall-rise and used to convey strong feelings of approval, disapproval or surprise.
5. Level: this tone is used for answering routine, uninteresting or boring questions.
Chapter 16
Q12. What is the structure of the tone-unit? Provide definitions, examples, and signs. Important.
1. The head: it is all of that part of a tone-unit that extends from the first stressed syllable up to the tonic unit. e.g. Give me ˎthose. The phrase ‘Give me’ is the head.
2. he pre-head: it is composed of all the unstressed syllables in a tone-unit preceding the first stressed syllable and it is found in two main environments:
a. When there is no head (i.e. no stressed syllable preceding the tonic syllable), as in this example: in an ˎhour
b. When there is a head, as in this example: in a little less than an ˎhour
In this example, the pre-head consists of ‘in a’, the head consists of ‘little less than an’, and the tonic syllable is ‘ˎhour’
3. The tail: it often happens that some syllables follow the tonic syllable. Any syllables between the tonic syllable and the end of the tone-unit are called tail. e.g. ˎwhat did you •say (The sign is the raised dot ‘•’)
(pre-head) (head) tonic syllable (tail)
(PH) (H) TS (T)
Chapter 17
Q13. What are the pitch possibilities of intonation/tone-unit?
1. Fall-rise and rise-fall tones followed by a tail.
2. High and low heads.
Q14. Define declination?
It is a high pitch, with a gradual dropping down of pitch during the utterance.
Q15. What are the problems in analyzing the form of intonation?
1. Identifying the tonic syllable.
2. Identifying tone-unit boundaries.
3. Anomalous (unusual) tone-unit.
Chapter 18
Q16. What are the functions of tone-unit/intonation? Details are needed (examples, definitions, etc) IMPORTANT
1. Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes as we speak, and this adds a special kind of ‘meaning’ to spoken language. This is often called attitudinal function of intonation.
2. Intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence on syllables that need to be perceived as stressed, and in particular the placing of tonic stress on a particular syllable marks out the word to which it belongs as the most important in the tone-unit. This has been called the accentual function of intonation.
3. The listener is better able to recognize the grammar and syntactic structure of what is being said by using the information contained in the intonation; for example, such things as the placement of boundaries between phrases, clauses or sentences, the difference between questions and statements and the use of grammatical subordination may me indicated. This has been called the grammatical function.
4. Looking at the act of speaking in a broader way, we can see that intonation can signal to the listener what is to be taken as ‘new’ information and what is already ‘given’, can suggest when the speaker is indicating some sort of contrast or link with material in another tone-unit and, in conversations, can convey to the listener what kind of response is expected. Such functions are examples of intonation’s discourse function.
Q17. What are the types of suprasegmental variable? Provide definitions and examples. Ch 18.1 pp. 187-188 IMPORTANT
a. Sequential. IMPORTANT
b. Prosodic. IMPORTANT
c. Paralinguistic (beyond linguistics). IMPORTANT
Q18. What are the factors that influence Paralinguistic? IMPORTANT
1- Fall: Finality, definiteness ( ˎ )
2- Rise ( ˏ )
a. General Questions.
b. Listing.
c. More to follow.
d. Encouraging.
3- Fall-rise: uncertainty, doubt ( ˬ )
4- Rise-fall: Surprise, being impressed ( ̭ )
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P.S.
This questions-answered synopsis does not stand alone by itself, and may contain some mistakes, however, you are highly recommended to refer to the book for more information.
Good luck 
!
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