Linguistics 101
HW #8 (Language Contact & Variation)
Due: May 2, 2012
Name: ________________________
(1)
Based on File 10.5, #18 (p. 438). Consider the following data illustrating the pin/pen
merger common in Southern speech patterns. Notice that [ɪ] and [ɛ] are not merged to [ɪ]
in all contexts. Aspiration of initial stops in ignored below.
Word
pin
pen
pit
pet
lit
let
Southern
[pɪn]
[pɪn]
[pɪt]
[pɛt]
[lɪt]
[lɛt]
Standard
[pɪn]
[pɛn]
[pɪt]
[pɛt]
[lɪt]
[lɛt]
Word
Nick
neck
tin
ten
gin
Jen
Southern
[nɪk]
[nɛk]
[tɪn]
[tɪn]
[dʒɪn]
[dʒɪn]
Standard
[nɪk]
[nɛk]
[tɪn]
[tɛn]
[dʒɪn]
[dʒɛn]
i. State the phonetic environment that conditions the merger.
ii. Based on your answer in (i), indicate whether the following words would be
pronounced with an [ɪ] or [ɛ] in the Southern dialect: lid, led, kin, Ken, pick, peck, bin,
Ben.
[ɪ]: ______________________________________________________________
[ɛ]: ______________________________________________________________
(2)
One aspect of different English genderlects (i.e. gender dialects) is lexical choice. For
example, women say darling and lovely more frequently than men; men use sports word
metaphors such as home run and slam dunk more than women. Think of other lexical
usages that appear to be asymmetric between the sexes, 5 for each genderlect.
male genderlect:
female genderlect
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
(3)
(4)
Latin has had a large influence on English, in many cases leading to the existence of pairs
of words with essentially the same meaning. In such cases, the Latinate form is often
used in academic, scientific or other formal settings, while the Germanic form is often
more commonly used in common speech (English is a ‘Germanic’ language, so you can
consider this to mean the ‘native’ form). An example of this includes the Germanic form
tooth and the Latinate form dental. For the following words, find the corresponding
Latinate form. The Latinate form will likely be an adjective.
Germanic:
Latinate:
mother
________________________
dog
________________________
moon
________________________
heart
________________________
water
________________________
Based on File 10.5, #12 (p. 436). For each example below, identify the level of linguistic
structure at which the variation exists. Your options are: phonetic, phonological,
morphological, syntactic, and lexical.
a. ______
b. ______
c. ______
d. ______
e. ______
Some Caribbean English dialects do not have the sounds [θ] or [ð];
instead the sounds [t] and [d], respectively, are substituted, for examples,
both [boʊt], there [dɛr].
Many American dialects have the mid back lax vowel [ɔ]. However, this
vowel is produced very differently in different dialects—some are more
rounded, some less so; some are higher or lower than others.
Names differ from place to place to refer to an insect that glows in the
dark, including firefly, lightning bug, glowworm, and fire bug.
Some African-American English dialects do not mark the third-person
singular present tense with a suffix, for examples, he kiss, she see, it
jump.
Standard American English allows all to follow a wh-word in sentences
like What all did you get for Christmas? West Ulster English, spoken in
Northern Ireland, allow this order, but it additionally allows all to appear
in the object position: What did you get all for Christmas?