LING 110: Language & Mind - HW 2: Animal Communication & Phonetics

This assignment, LING 110 Homework 2, delves into the realms of animal communication and phonetics. The student's responses cover various aspects, including examples of different communication systems (vocalization, gesture, color showing) in animals, and the limitations of non-human primate language capabilities. The assignment also explores the distinction between mating and territorial defense behaviors in fiddler crabs, and requires labeling of articulators and parts of the vocal tract. Further sections involve sound identification within words, identifying place and manner of articulation, and distinguishing voiced and voiceless sounds. The student also provides IPA symbols for various articulatory features, describes consonants and vowels based on their characteristics, and identifies written English words based on their phonetic transcriptions. Finally, the assignment concludes with phonetic transcriptions of words and analysis of sound pairs based on articulation features.

LING 110: Language & Mind Name: _______________________________
HW 2: Animal Communication & Phonetics Discussion Section: ____________________
(Due Friday March 6th at the beginning of the discussion section)
1. Give an example (i.e., name an animal) that uses each of the following types of communication
systems. (3pts)
a. Vocalization _Frog___________________________
b. Gesture _Raven_______________________________
c. Color showing Chameleon__________________________
2. Answer the following 2 questions about non-human primates that we’ve discussed. (2pts)
a. Have any non-human primates shown clear evidence of being able to use language?
No. Despite the non-human primates being able to communicate, the cannot use language as they lack
the capacity to do so. Language usage is inscribed to the human brain structures which the non-human
primates lack.
b. Which, if any, property/properties of language have some non-human primates shown clear
(unambiguous) evidence of being able to use?
Gestures- Many non-human primates have a wide range of gestures that they use to communicate.
3. How do we know that fiddler crab claw-waving is related to mating and not to defending
territory? Please be specific in your answer. (2pts)
Vertical waving is meant for mate attraction while lateral waving is meant for territory defense. The U.
arcurata has been seen to direct vertical waving to females.
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4. Label the articulators and parts of the vocal tract. (9 pts)
1. Alveolar ridge
2.Nasal cavity
3. Hard palate
4. Velum/ Soft palate
5. Uvula
6. Pharynx
7. Larynx
8. Vocal folds
9. Tongue
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5. How many sounds are there in each of the following words? Circle the correct number.
Note: don’t count syllables. Please count sounds. (4 pts)
(Ex) Thick 1 2 4 5 6 7
(a) Walked 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(b) Around 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(c) Act 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(d) Ringing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. Identify the place of articulation (e.g. bilabial, alveolar, etc.) for the first sound of each of
the following words of each. (9 pts)
E.g., friend: labiodental
(a)
tango______alveolar________
(b) yesterday ___Palatal_______ (c) home __Glottal___
(d) month bilabial_______ (e) nest ___Alveolar__________ (f) sheep_palato-alveolar
(g) cave ____velar_________ (h) loud __Alveolar_________ (i) check palato-alveolar_
7. Identify the manner of articulation (e.g. stop, fricative, etc.) of the first sound in each of the
following words. (9 pts)
E.g., light: liquid
(a) psychology _fricative___ (b) roof retroflex (c) cream __stop___
(d) does___stop_____ (e) shark _fricative__ (f) happy _fricative____
(g) blue __stop__________ (h) yellow __ approximant (i) jaw __affricate____
8. Which of the following words ends with a voiceless (-V) sound and which ends with a
voiced (+V) sound? (9 pts)
3
3
4
6
3
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E.g., boom: +V
(a) volume ___+V_________ (b) wonder ____+V________ (c) rope ____-V ___________
(d) good __+V___________ (e) snake ____-V ________ (f) circle __+V____________
(g) must _____-V _________ (h) judge ____+V__________ (i) shelf _____-V _________
9. Provide the IPA symbol for the combination of articulatory features (voicing, place,
manner). (5 pts)
E.g., voiceless palatal fricative [ ʃ ]
(a) voiced palatal glide __[j]____
(b) voiced alveolar nasal _[n]_____
(c) voiceless bilabial stop ___[p]____
(d) voiced labiodental fricative __[v]____
(e) voiceless palatal affricate _[_tʃ ]____
10. Describe the following consonants by voicing, place, and manner. (9 pts)
E.g., [t] voiceless alveolar stop
(a) [ŋ] __voiced velar plosive
(b) [ð] voiced dental fricative
(c) [j] _voiced palatal approximant
11. Describe the following vowels by height, frontness, rounding and tense / lax. (9 pts)
E.g., [i] high front unrounded tense
(a) [ʌ] _ mid-low back unrounded lax
(b) [ʊ] high back rounded lax
(c) [ɑ] low back rounded tense
12. Which written English words are usually pronounced as transcribed here? (9 pts)
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E.g., [tʃ ɪ p]: chip
(a) [mʌg] ____mug____ (b) [tiʧ] _teach______ (c) [nɔɪz] ____noise____
(d) [ʃeɪv] __shave_____ (e) [sim] __sim_________ (f) [fʌʤ] __fudge_____
(g) [ju] ____you_______ (h) [pɪk] __pick__________ (i) [floʊ] __flow___
13. Provide a phonetic transcription for the standard American pronunciation of the following
words. (6 pts)
E.g., hood: [ h ʊ d]
(a) chick ___ [tʃɪk]________ (b) guide __[ɡʌɪd]___ (c) know ___[nəʊ]____________
(d) reef ___ [riːf]_______ (e) taxes ___[tæksɪz]_____ (f) just __[dʒʌst]______
14. Which of these sound pairs have the same place of articulation? Circle them. Which of
these sound pairs have the same manner of articulation? Draw a box around them. Some
sound pairs share both features. (8 pts)
E.g., [d] [n] [ ʒ ] [z]
(a) [ʧ] [ʤ] (b) [h] [θ] (c) [s] [h] (d) [z] [r]
(e) (f) (g) (h)
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[ʧ] [ʤ] [h] [θ] [s] [h]
[b] [p][k] [ŋ]
[v] [ʃ][w] [j]

15. Write the phonetic symbol for the standard American vowel in the following words. Note
your answer may be a diphthong (7pts)
E.g., boy [ɔɪ].
a. Belt [ ɛ]
b. Coke [əʊ]
c. Wide [ʌɪ]
d. Proud [aʊ]
e. Meet [iː]
f. Bat [a]
g. Pot [ɒ]
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