Descriptive Linguistics Study Material and Solved Assignments

AML1001/1101 DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS

AML1001/1101 DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS
Table of Contents
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................4
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
Reference List................................................................................................................................13
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AML1001/1101 DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS
Task 1
1. a. CVCCVCC
1. b. CCVCCVC
1. c. VCCVC
1. d. VC
1. e. CVC
1. f. CCVC
1. g. CVC
1. h. CVCVCVC
1. i. VCCVCCVCVC
1. j. VCCVC
2. a. The symbol /əʊ/ is mostly used as a vowel sound and can have various utilizations where
the pronunciations differ (Liberman, 2018). These are:
 on like in the word boat
 oe like in the word toe
 ow like in the word flow
 ou like in the word soul
 Where "o" is an anomaly with a double consonant like the poll
2. b. Five spellings of the word /k/ is:
 c can be used as cat
 k can be used as sky
 -ck can be used as the lock
 ch can be used as the character
 -que can be used as the technique
2. c. /u/ can have the following five spellings:
 ew as in the word screw
 ue as in the word blue
 ou as in the word soup
 oe as in the word shoe
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AML1001/1101 DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS
 oo as in the word spoon
Different pronunciations of the letter “o” along with specific examples are:
 O as in /ʌ/ used in a word like some
 O as in /ɑ/ used in a word like not
 O as in /ow/ used in a word like loan
 O as in /uw/ used in a word like the fool
 O as in /ʊ/ used in a word like wood
The word “some” and “sum” have different spellings but have the same pronunciation. Same is
the case with the word "not" and the word "naught". "Loan" and "lone" have similar sounds but
different meanings as well (McCarthy, 2018). The word “fool” and the word “full” may sound
similar but are written in different ways. Lastly, the word “wood” is a noun but sounds similar to
“would” which is a modal verb. All these can be called homophones as they sound similar but
have different meanings as well as are written in different ways. The reason for these variations
takes us back to hundreds of years when the first term of the English language came into
existence (Mitterer et al. 2018). The language has evolved extensively from the first made
English language because, the people, time, and culture have largely influenced it as it had
passed hundreds of years to come to the standardized form it has today (Bouma et al. 2015). It
has emerged from various dialects like Scandinavian, Latin, French, West Germanic, and many
more and has reformed completely from the ‘Old English’ structure. The effect of time and
influence of culture have made it a language with variations and certain illogical aspects as well,
examples of which have been provided already (Munro, 2016).
3. a. Xenophobia
3. b. Yoke
3. c. Human condition
3. d. Babies time
3. e. Isn’t transcribing fun
3. f. Pneumatic drill
3. g. Have you got a goat
3. h. A night in his knavish trick
3. i. Sit in that seat
3. j. The shut the door on my foot
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