Assignment (Phonetics)
1. Find two English words (of at least two syllables) and provide their phonetic transcription. Then describe the sounds of
each in terms of place, manner and voice.
2. Go to a linguistic website (e.g. http://linguistlist.org/). Briefly describe what the site does, and speculate on how this
site might be helpful to your linguistic research. You don’t really need to write a long answer; a paragraph or two is
enough.
3. The below Japanese words all include the word for ‘three’. What is that word and what phonetic processes does it undergo?
[samban] ‘number three’
[sandan] ‘three steps’
[sansatsu] ‘three books’
[sampun] ‘three minutes’
4. Pick a language (preferably a non-European one: see www.ethnologue.com), go to the library and find a grammar of that
language. Then list all the consonants in a table to show their manner of articulation and place of articulation (as in the
below table of English language). Add some comments as to which consonants are missing in comparison to English or which are
additional. Don’t worry, you get credit for difficult languages and your answer doesn’t have to be `perfect’. Please provide
a reference to the grammar so as I would be able to recheck.
