The purpose of this exam is to give you a chance to demonstrate your understanding of key concepts in phonological theory. The questions will not be focused on specific small details, but will encourage you to reflect on and explain important ideas in phonology and in linguistic model-building. There will not be a major data set to analyze; instead, expect a small number of discussion questions, some of which may involve discussing or critiquing part of a phonological analysis.
This web page is intended as a guide to help you review course material and prepare for the exam. With the following topics in mind, a good way to prepare for the exam is to look back through your own course notes, the lecture outlines, reading guides, and discussion exercises/data sets, and ask yourself, "Do I understand why we/they did things this way?"
That said, if you have been keeping up with readings and spot-check questions, and digesting class discussions thoughtfully, you should be in a strong position for this exam without too much special preparation.
Exam logistics
- The exam will be administered on paper in class on W Apr 8
- You may bring a notes page: letter or A4 size (or smaller) with any information you would like to write down
- You may use both sides of the page
- The notes page must be handwritten, except that you may use the handout "List of distinctive features in Zsiga (2013: Ch 12)" as one side of your notes page (and you can write anything you like on it)
General topics and things to know | DRAFT as of W Apr 1, 3pm
Phonological analysis basics
- Be able to recognize and use phonetic symbols (from the first quiz)
- Be able to distinguish between predictable and contrastive (unpredictable) information in a phonological data set, and defend your claim
- Be able to state an insightful descriptive generalization about phonological data
- Understand what models are used for in science, and some of the principles involved in working with models
URs, distribution patterns, and morphological alternations
- Understand the difference between two forms that are two distinct morphemes, and two forms that are different surface forms of the same morpheme
- Be able to propose and defend URs for items in a data set
when you find:
- Predictable (complementary) distribution
- Neutralization
- Morpheme alternation
Feature theory
- Be able to work with a distinctive-feature system
- Know how to describe consonants and vowels, and natural classes of segments, with the Zsiga (2013) feature system
- Be able to work with an alternative feature system if one is given to you
- More generally, understand what predictions a given feature system (model!) makes about phonologically active classes and phonological processes
Syllable structure and sonority
- Be able to use information about segment distribution, the domain of a phonological process, or syllable-weight-sensitive stress patterns to form a hypothesis about syllable structure in a given language
- Be familiar with which aspects of syllabification are thought to be universal, and which are language-specific
- Be able to formalize generalizations about syllable weight in terms of moraic theory, and draw the appropriate structures
- Be able to identify and discuss sonority-related patterns in syllable structure
Optimality Theory
- Be able to use the basics of the OT formalism insightfully and accurately
- Input and outputs
- Constraints
- Defining constraints and assessing violations
- Distinguishing markedness and faithfulness constraints
- Tableaus
- Hasse diagrams
- Be able to carry out, or critique, the following aspects of an OT analysis
- Finding informative or losing candidates
- Making valid ranking arguments
- Ranking syllable-structure constraints to correctly syllabify segments in a language
- Ranking feature-related constraints to generate a complementary-distribution (allophone) pattern, or the other patterns in this factorial typology (contrast, positional neutralization, inventory gap (also called absolute neutralization))