Phonotactic-rule assignment
Give two examples of phonotactic rules in English. I want two rules, not examples of
words that violate a phonotactic rule. Use examples other than those that were used in
class or in your text. I want you to come up with examples on your own; i.e., you should
not search the web or use any other resources. The purpose of the assignment is to help
you to learn what phonotactic rules are. Finding examples on the web is not a good way
to do this.
Please do not use examples of sound combinations that do not occur because they
are either unpronounceable or very difficult to pronounce; e.g., do not use examples
such as “words cannot begin with /gb/” or “words cannot begin with /pf/” If you are in
doubt about this, choose another example. There are many examples of sound
combinations that are easily pronounceable but which do not occur in English. Two
examples are given below:
English words cannot begin with /sv/.
English words cannot begin with /ʃt/.
English words cannot end with /ɛ/ or /ʊ/ or /ɪ/.
English words cannot begin with /ŋ/.
Two more rules: (1) No examples involving [ʒ]. (This sound occurs so infrequently
that that there are some combinations that are not seen for reasons do not clarify the
concept of a phonotactic rule.) (2) No examples involving allophones such as [ʔ], [ə], and
[ɾ].
Notes:
1. Resubmissions. If there are problems with your assignment, you will be given one
chance to fix the problem(s) and resubmit. Resubmissions are due at class time of the
next class meeting. However, resubmissions will not be accepted if the problem with
your assignment is that you did not follow the instructions. Failure to follow the
instructions has become a very big problem recently.
2. Letters are entirely irrelevant. Phonotactic rules specify permissible and impermissible
combinations of speech sounds (or phonemes), not letters. Any example that makes
any reference to spelling or uses characters such as ‘q’, ‘c’, and ‘x’ has to be wrong.
These are letters in English orthography but they are not phonetic symbols (at least not
in English). Spelling is irrelevant to all sound-pattern rules and it always will be.
3. The assignment needs to be turned in on time. I’ll tell you when it’s due. The
assignment will be graded pass/fail. If a good-faith effort has been made, you’ll have a
chance to fix any errors and resubmit, but just one chance. Hand-written assignments
are fine, but I need to be able to read the thing. This is sometimes a problem.
Assignments (and resubmissions) are due at the start of class. One point will be
deducted from your final grade if an assignment is not turned in (or not turned in on
time) or if any problems with an assignment are not fixed on the next submission.
Resubmitted assignments need to be turned in at the next class meeting (but see note
#1). If you cannot be in class for any reason on the day the assignment (or
resubmission) is due, you will need to make arrangements to get it to me at the start of
class. Unless you make arrangements with me (or your grad assistant) email
submissions are not acceptable.
4. You need to do your work independently. It is alright to discuss the assignment with a
classmate, but you need to do your own work. This is true for all of your assignments.
Submitting an assignment that is not your own work is considered academic
misconduct.
5. Case matters. If you are using an upper case phonetic symbol /G, F, N, L, …/, it is
guaranteed to be wrong.
6. The word English is a proper noun. Stop writing it as ‘english’. The same is true of
Spanish, French, Japanese, Latin, etc.
7. Come up with your own examples.
8. Phonetic symbol font: Hand-written assignments are fine, but they need to be legible.
If you want to type the assignment, you will need to install a phonetic symbol font. I
would recommend installing these fonts even if you don’t have an immediate need. The
fonts will come in handy. Of the two fonts that are installed, SILDoulosIPA is your best
choice.
a.
b.
Go to my web page for 2040 (http://homepages.wmich.edu/~hillenbr/204.html).
Go almost all the way to the bottom. For Windows users, click the ‘Phonetic font
installer’. Mac users need to look at the notes just below this.
Below are some notes that I sent out to students a few semesters back listing the most
common problem with the phonotactic rule assignments.
Notes
1. The most common problem by far was not writing the assignment down correctly. I
asked for two phonotactic rules, not examples of words that violate a phonotactic rule. I
also got quite a few assignments consisting simply of:
/mb/
/sv/
A list like that is not a rule.
2. A significant number of students are still confusing letters and speech sounds, letters
and phonetic symbols. Once again, letters and spelling are completely irrelevant to all
sound-pattern rules.
3. Case: We still have quite a few students using upper-case phonetic symbols: /P/ is not
the same as /p/, /T/ is not the same as /t/ … You really have to stop doing this
immediately.