Back to "2 — Sounds of Language: Phonetics and Phonology"
2.3 — Sample layout of a phonological problem
On pp. 48–49 of the text a Gooniyandi problem is discussed, illustrating the reasoning processes involved in solving the problem. Here we give a sample of how to lay out your answers to questions in phonology in your tests or exams.
Question 1
Based on the following Gooniyandi data, are [d] and [ɖ] distinct phonemes or allophones of a single phoneme? Justify your claim.
[ɟʊdu] 'straight' [laɾgaɖi] 'boab tree' [ŋaɭʊdu] 'three' [lambaɖi] 'little' [waɖa] 'star' [bɪɖi] 'thigh' [lambadi] 'father in law' [mɑːdi] 'cold' [ɟʊɖu] 'dust' [t̪aɻɪdi] 'heavy' [bɪdi] 'they' [lawɑdi] 'shoulder'
Model answer
The phones [d] and [ɖ] represent two different phonemes in Gooniyandi, /d/ and /ɖ/.
First, the two phones are suspicious pairs: both are made with the tip of the tongue in roughly the same region: the alveolar ridge for [d], and just behind it, in the pre-palatal region, for [ɖ]. They are therefore sufficiently similar phonetically to be possible allophones.
Second, there are minimal pairs in the list provided that show that [d] and [ɖ] do actually occur contrastively in the same phonetic environments. The minimal pairs are:
[ɟʊdu] 'straight' [ɟʊɖu] 'dust' [lambadi] 'father in law' [lambaɖi] 'little'; and [bɪdi] 'they' [bɪɖi] 'thigh'
This demonstrates that the two segments are phonemically distinct.
