Question 1

Describing a culture in terms of emics involves
A)creating a phonetic transcription of a language.
B)getting an insider's point of view.
C)getting an outsider's point of view.
D)comparing one culture to another.

Accepted Answer

Emics involve understanding a culture from an insider's perspective, focusing on the intrinsic cultural distinctions that are meaningful to the members of that culture.

Question 2

When the vocal cords are open and relaxed, the sound produced is called
A)voiceless.
B)voiced.
C)articulated.
D)unarticulated.

Accepted Answer

When the vocal cords are open and relaxed, allowing air to pass through without vibration, the sound produced is called voiceless. This contrasts with voiced sounds, where the vocal cords vibrate.

Question 3

The English word "shadow" has how many phonemes?
A)2
B)3
C)4
D)6

Accepted Answer

Shadow has 4 phonemes: /ʃ/, /æ/, /d/, /oʊ/.

Question 4

The following sets of English language words would be used to identify _____________. [ɹod]/[ɹot] road/rote
[tin]/[din] teen/dean
[æd]/[æt] add/at
A)allophones of a phoneme
B)morphological rules
C)cultural focus
D)phonemes

Accepted Answer

These sets of words demonstrate minimal pairs, which are used to identify phonemes. Phonemes are distinct units of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another.

Question 5

Which of the following words in English is a minimal pair?
A)to/two
B)through/three
C)only/lonely
D)bye/dry

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following words in English...

Question 6

When the vocal cords are close together and vibrating, the sound produced is called
A)voiceless.
B)voiced.
C)articulated.
D)vibratory.

Accepted Answer

When the vocal cords are close together and vibrating, the sound produced is called voiced. This is because the vibration of the vocal cords is necessary to produce voiced sounds, such as vowels and voiced consonants.

Question 7

"Approximant" on the IPA chart describes
A)a manner of articulation.
B)the fact that linguists can only approximately describe the sounds of language.
C)a sort of reduplication.
D)a place of articulation.

Accepted Answer

Approximants are a manner of articulation in phonetics, characterized by a smooth airflow through the oral tract, making them sound similar to vowels. They are not defined by the place of articulation (like where in the mouth the sound is produced) nor do they involve reduplication (repeating sounds or syllables) or the approximation of linguistic sounds in general.

Question 8

Rules of complementary distribution of phones are concerned with
A)what is physically possible given the human vocal apparatus.
B)the sounds that linguists have encountered in human languages all over the world.
C)patterns in the occurrence of allophones of a phoneme.
D)discovering minimal pairs and using them to identify phonemes in a particular language.

Accepted Answer

Complementary distribution of phones refers to the phenomenon where allophones (variant forms of a phoneme) occur in non-overlapping, specific phonetic environments within a language. This means that the choice between using one allophone over another is not random but is determined by the phonetic context, indicating patterns in the occurrence of allophones of a phoneme.

Question 9

When we notice that an American English speaker puffs air when they say "pit", but not when they say "spit", and that this pattern holds true across a variety of utterances and for a variety of speakers, we can conclude that
A)[p] and [pʰ] are allophones of /p/.
B)/p/ and /pʰ/ are allophones of [p].
C)/p/ and /pʰ/ are phonemes in English.
D)the mechanics of producing a bilabial plosive at the beginning of a word require you to puff air, no matter what language you may be speaking.

Accepted Answer

The observation that [p] and [pʰ] (the latter indicating a puff of air, or aspiration) occur in different contexts in American English (e.g., [p] in "spit" vs. [pʰ] in "pit") without changing the meaning of the words suggests that they are allophones of the same phoneme /p/. This means they are different sounds that can be used to represent the same phoneme in different contexts, not affecting the word's meaning.

Question 10

Variant forms of phonemes, such as the p of pit and spit in English are called
A)phones.
B)phonemes.
C)allophones.
D)marked sounds.

Accepted Answer

Allophones are the variant forms of a phoneme that occur in specific contexts or sound environments within a language, without changing the meaning of the word. The "p" in "pit" and "spit" are examples of such variations, where the presence or absence of aspiration does not change the meaning of the word, thus making them allophones of the same phoneme in English.

Question 11

The area where the vocal cords modify the air, creating sound waves, is called
A)the larynx.
B)the uvula.
C)the epiglottis.
D)Fred.

Accepted Answer

The larynx, often referred to as the voice box, is the area where the vocal cords are located. It plays a crucial role in breathing, producing sound, and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. The vocal cords modify the air expelled from the lungs to create sound waves, enabling speech.

Question 12

The area above the vocal cords where sound waves take on distinctive shapes and become recognizable speech sounds is called
A)the epiglottis.
B)the supralaryngeal vocal tract.
C)the uvular.
D)the retroflex.

Accepted Answer

The supralaryngeal vocal tract is the area above the vocal cords where the vocal tract (consisting of the throat, mouth, and nasal passages) modifies the sound produced by the vocal cords into recognizable speech sounds through the processes of articulation and resonance.

Question 13

Below, the word _____ has an open vowel.
A)[bit]-beat (The drummer keeps the beat.)
B)[pand]-pond (We swim in the pond.)
C)[tek]-take (Take a left at the next intersection.)
D)[tu]-too (I use the IPA chart too!)

Accepted Answer

The answer of Below, the word _____ has an open...

Question 14

The study of the physical properties of sounds and the nature of the sound waves that they produce is known as
A)acoustic phonetics.
B)auditory phonetics.
C)articulatory phonetics.
D)descriptive phonetics.

Accepted Answer

Acoustic phonetics focuses on the physical properties of sounds and the nature of the sound waves they produce, analyzing how sounds are generated and perceived.

Question 15

A predictable pattern of allophone distribution in a language is referred to as conditioned variation. Another technical term for this is
A)complementary variation.
B)complementary distribution.
C)contrastive distribution.
D)technical distribution.

Accepted Answer

Complementary distribution refers to the situation where allophones are used in non-overlapping, context-specific situations, which is essentially a predictable pattern of variation within a language.

Question 16

The detailed description (as opposed to analysis)of the sounds of a language is called
A)phonotactics.
B)phonemics.
C)phonetics.
D)phonography.

Accepted Answer

Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speech and their production, combination, description, and representation by written symbols. It is the most appropriate choice for the detailed description of the sounds of a language.

Question 17

From the rule below, which of the following words can you hypothesize would be challenging for a Korean speaker learning English? The following rules hold true for Korean:

A)car
B)cold
C)bull
D)battle

Accepted Answer

The answer of From the rule below, which of the...

Question 18

When Ottenheimer tried to understand the difference between nʈu "hermit crab" and ntu "arrow" in Shinzwani, the most important information she gathered had to do with
A)the complementary distribution of allophones for the phoneme [ʈ].
B)a difference in the place of articulation of a consonant.
C)the rounding or unrounding of the lips in producing a the vowel [u].
D)a difference in manner of articulation of a consonant.

Accepted Answer

The most important information Ottenheimer gathered was related to a difference in the place of articulation of a consonant, distinguishing between "nʈu" (hermit crab) and "ntu" (arrow) in Shinzwani.

Question 19

When I compare the Hindi words kʰʊl (which means "to open")and kʊl (which means "total")in, I am working to
A)identify phonemes in Hindi.
B)compare pulmonic and nonpulmonic consonants.
C)analyze conditioned variation of allophones of the phoneme /k/.
D)analyze conditioned variation of allophones of the phoneme /ʊ/.

Accepted Answer

The comparison between "kʰʊl" and "kʊl" involves identifying the distinct sounds (phonemes) that differentiate meanings in Hindi, thus identifying phonemes in the language.

Question 20

The area in the human vocal apparatus between the velum and the pharynx is called the
A)glottis.
B)uvula.
C)alveolar ridge.
D)epiglottis.

Accepted Answer

The uvula is located at the back of the mouth, hanging from the end of the velum (soft palate), and is near the pharynx.

Quiz 3: The Sounds of Language

Describing a culture in terms of emics involves

When the vocal cords are open and relaxed, the sound produced is called

The English word "shadow" has how many phonemes?

The following sets of English language words would be used to identify _____________. [ɹod]/[ɹot] road/rote [tin]/[din] teen/dean [æd]/[æt] add/at

Which of the following words in English is a minimal pair?

When the vocal cords are close together and vibrating, the sound produced is called

"Approximant" on the IPA chart describes

Rules of complementary distribution of phones are concerned with

When we notice that an American English speaker puffs air when they say "pit", but not when they say "spit", and that this pattern holds true across a variety of utterances and for a variety of speakers, we can conclude that

Variant forms of phonemes, such as the p of pit and spit in English are called

The area where the vocal cords modify the air, creating sound waves, is called

The area above the vocal cords where sound waves take on distinctive shapes and become recognizable speech sounds is called

Below, the word _____ has an open vowel.

The study of the physical properties of sounds and the nature of the sound waves that they produce is known as

A predictable pattern of allophone distribution in a language is referred to as conditioned variation. Another technical term for this is

The detailed description (as opposed to analysis) of the sounds of a language is called

From the rule below, which of the following words can you hypothesize would be challenging for a Korean speaker learning English? The following rules hold true for Korean:

When Ottenheimer tried to understand the difference between nʈu "hermit crab" and ntu "arrow" in Shinzwani, the most important information she gathered had to do with

When I compare the Hindi words kʰʊl (which means "to open") and kʊl (which means "total") in, I am working to

The area in the human vocal apparatus between the velum and the pharynx is called the