Phonemic Analysis

Phonology write-up expectations

A satisifactory write-up includes:

· A lexicon that is consistent with the underlying forms provided in the analysis and derivation(s)

· Careful description of the environment of the alternation

· As few rules as possible, each with a descriptive name (i.e. vowel lowering, nasal assimilation, NOT ‘rule 1’)

· Examples of each rule, preferably immediately after that rule is given

· Paraphrases of all rules in sentence form

· Explanation and rejection of alternate hypotheses based on careful reasoning

· A derivation to demonstrate that the analysis provides the correct surface forms

· Correct linguistic terminology (as far as possible based on what you have learned so far)

· Logical flow, walking the reader through your explanation of the problem & solution

· Explanations for all of the given data

· Give at least one example for each rule, and insert it immediately after the description of your rule.

· Be very suspicious when you have two or more rules that perform the same change. You can usually reduce them to one rule by make good use of features. For example:

NOT:

Front vowel gliding

--> / ___ [+syllabic]

This rule turns [i] and [e] into [j] before a vowel.

Back vowel gliding

--> / ___ [+syllabic]

This rule turns [u] and [o] into [w] before a vowel.

These two rules can be collapsed into one, because they implement the same phenomenon (turn non-low vowels into glides, preserving their backness and rounding):

Non-low vowel gliding

--> / ___ [+syllabic]

This rule turns [u] and [o] into [w], and turns [i] and [e] into [j], before a vowel.

Use features in your rules, and words in your descriptions. However, in certain cases, using the symbol in the rule is okay (see section 4. 9 of the textbook for details). For example:

Glottal stop epenthesis

∅ --> / ___ [+syllabic]

∅ --> [ʔ] / ___ [+syllabic] Same rule using [ʔ] symbol is also perfectly acceptable.

This rule inserts a glottal stop between a low vowel and a vowel.

Tips for typing IPA

· Use TypeIt: https://ipa.typeit.org/full/

· Download Charis SIL: https://software.sil.org/charis/download/

· Dr. Hayes’ website explains how to insert feature matrices: https://linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/120a/Brackets.htm

Example write-up - Yaka (Kennedy 2015, Hyman 1995)

Lexicon

Lexicon:

Your write up should start with a lexicon, which is a list of all the morphemes in the data and their glosses (translations). Give the underlying forms of the morphemes.

-ini SUFFIX

sól- deforest

jád- spread

kú:nd- bury

kém- moan

nútúk- bow

mé:ŋg- hate

Describe the alternation(s) that you observe in the data.

Yaka exhibits two types of alternations in the verbal suffix shown in the data. The first alternation is between the vowels [e] and [i] of the suffix. The second alternation is between the middle consonant of the suffix, which can appear as [l], [d], and [n].

Vowel alternation

The [e] alternate (allophone) of the suffix appears after root verbs that have the vowels [o], [e] in them. The [i] alternate (allophone) appears after root verbs that have the vowels [a], [u]. Because [o], [e] are both mid vowels, I hypothesize that the mid vowel [e] alternate appears only on the surface, following a root that contains a mid vowel. This means that the underlying form of the suffix vowel is /i/.

State your hypothesis*, then follow it up with justification in the form of a test analysis demonstrates whether the hypothesis is correct or not. Your analysis should include a description of the environment(s) where the alternation occurs.

After describing the alternation in words, you can write a rule (or rules).

Vowel lowering: /i/ --> [e] / [e, o]C-___C___

Vowel lowering occurs in /kém-ini/, where the /é/ in the root /kém/ causes the suffix /ini/ to surface as /ene/.

Consonant alternation

The consonant alternation in the suffix is between the three alveolar consonants [n], [d], and [l]. [n] appears after a verb root that ends in a nasal consonant [m], or a velar stop [k], [g]. [d] appears after a verb root that ends in a [d]. [l] appears after a root that ends in [l]. Because the environment where the [n] alternate appears is complicated and does not seem like a natural class, I hypothesize that /n/ is the underlying form of the suffix consonant.

Alveolar consonant manner assimilation: /n/ --> [d] / d-V__V

/n/ --> [l] / l-V__V

* If you have more than one hypothesis to test (for example, in a problem set that involves alternations with zero), you should start with the hypothesis that does NOT fit the data best, and then conclude with the hypothesis that DOES fit the data best. This is the strongest way to make an argument about why your analysis is the best one.

Derivation

Underlying forms -->	/jád-ini/	/kém-ini/	/nútúk-ini/	/sól-ini/
Rules
vowel alternation	---	kém-ene	---	sól-ene
consonant alternation	jád-idi	---	---	sól-ele
Surface forms -->	[jád-idi]	[kém-ene]	[nútúk-ini]	[sól-ele]

The last part of your write-up is a derivation where you show how the rules you wrote apply to different forms in the data. Choose underlying forms that will allow you to show how all the rules you’ve written apply in different contexts.

The underlying forms should include all relevant morphemes in their underlying form, separated by a dash.

All underlying forms in the top row of the table should be written /inside slashes/. All surface forms in the bottom row of the table should be written in [brackets].

If a rule does not need to apply to a particular form, you should put a long dash (---) in that part of the table to indicate that the rule does not apply.