Few questions about phonetics

[nerobianco]

I wonder if anyone of you could help me solving these questions out. Thank you in advance.

1.Explain the meaning of the following statements
a)To describe speech sounds we cannot always depend on they way they are spelt
b)The sounds of a given language have features that are linguistically significant and features which are not linguistically significant

2. Explain the notions of phoneme, allophone : give two examples of each

3. Describe the process of coalescence

4. Define intonation

5. Discuss the difference between phonetic and phonologic transcription ?

6. What are elementary subsystems of prosody.

I hope this is not too much to ask. Again, thank you in advance.

[bhaisahab]

I wonder if anyone of you could help me solving these questions out. Thank you in advance.

1.Explain the meaning of the following statements
a)To describe speech sounds we cannot always depend on they way they are spelt
b)The sounds of a given language have features that are linguistically significant and features which are not linguistically significant

2. Explain the notions of phoneme, allophone : give two examples of each

3. Describe the process of coalescence

4. Define intonation

5. Discuss the difference between phonetic and phonologic transcription ?

6. What are elementary subsystems of prosody.

I hope this is not too much to ask. Again, thank you in advance.

Is this homework?

[nerobianco]

Not really. I am studying english and these tasks are more or less what I can expect on the final exam. I am having a hard time to solve these one out because phonetics is not my "thing". Can you help me please ?

[bhaisahab]

Not really. I am studying english and these tasks are more or less what I can expect on the final exam. I am having a hard time to solve these one out because phonetics is not my "thing". Can you help me please ?

If you try first, somebody will probably comment on your efforts.

[nerobianco]

Yes sir. This is what I could find out using the internet.

1.Explain the meaning of the following statements
a)To describe speech sounds we cannot always depend on they way they are spelt
b)The sounds of a given language have features that are linguistically significant and features which are not linguistically significant

2. Explain the notions of phoneme, allophone : give two examples of each
phoneme - is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances
allophone - is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) used to pronounce a single phoneme [p] ; [k]
3. Describe the process of coalescence /t/; /p/
Coalescence is the merger of the features of two segment into one.
A common form of fusion is found in the development of nasal vowels, which frequently become phonemic when final nasal consonants are lost from a language.

4. Define intonation
Intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words
Rising Intonation means the pitch of the voice increases over time
Falling Intonation means that the pitch decreases with time
Dipping Intonation falls and then rises
Peaking Intonation rises and then falls
5. Discuss the difference between phonetic and phonologic transcription ?

6. What are elementary subsystems of prosody.

"lingual, nasal, glottal" <- these are random that I am not sure about


1 and 6 ... I have no idea how to aproach it

[bhaisahab]

Yes sir. This is what I could find out using the internet.

1.Explain the meaning of the following statements
a)To describe speech sounds we cannot always depend on they way they are spelt
b)The sounds of a given language have features that are linguistically significant and features which are not linguistically significant

2. Explain the notions of phoneme, allophone : give two examples of each
phoneme - is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances
allophone - is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) used to pronounce a single phoneme [p] ; [k]
3. Describe the process of coalescence /t/; /p/
Coalescence is the merger of the features of two segment into one.
A common form of fusion is found in the development of nasal vowels, which frequently become phonemic when final nasal consonants are lost from a language.

4. Define intonation
Intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words
Rising Intonation means the pitch of the voice increases over time
Falling Intonation means that the pitch decreases with time
Dipping Intonation falls and then rises
Peaking Intonation rises and then falls
5. Discuss the difference between phonetic and phonologic transcription ?

6. What are elementary subsystems of prosody.

"lingual, nasal, glottal" <- these are random that I am not sure about


1 and 6 ... I have no idea how to aproach it

When is your final exam? If these are the type of questions you are likely to get, and you have no idea how to approach 1 and 6, I hope it's not this year!

[nerobianco]

September : ) bascially I know what to write in number 1


a)To describe speech sounds we cannot always depend on they way they are spelt

There are words that can sound the same but their spelling are different for example to too two
b)The sounds of a given language have features that are linguistically significant and features which are not linguistically significant
Some features of speech do not change the meaning of a message

Now am I right ?

[Tdol]

A) is right as far as it goes, but b) is unclear.