Due February 9, 2000
The following exercise is adapted from:
Salzmann, Zdenek. 1993. Language, Culture, & Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. Westview Press:Boulder, Colorado.
This data is from Zoque, a language spoken in southern Mexico that belongs to the Mixe-Zoque group of languages. Among the sounds of Zoque are [c], a voiceless alveolar affricate and [3], a voiced alveolar affricate. Observe the data, and answer the questions that follow.
Note: for this Web version, [N] stands for a velar nasal, [?] stands for a glottal stop, and [^] stands for a low central vowel.
| 1 | ?aka?N3^hk | 'to be round' |
| 2 | ?aN3oNu | 'he answered' |
| 3 | cam3amnayu | 'he chatted' |
| 4 | cap | 'sky' |
| 5 | ca? | 'stone' |
| 6 | cima | 'calabash' |
| 7 | n3^hku | 'I did it' |
| 8 | n3ima | 'my calabash' |
| 9 | n3in | 'my pine' |
| 10 | pac | 'skunk' |
| 11 | puci | 'trash' |
| 12 | wan3^?yu | 'he quit singing' |
1. What are the environments in which the sound [c] is found?
2. What are the environments in which the sound [3] is found?
3. Are the sounds [c] and [3] allophones of the same phoneme, or separate phonemes? If they are allophones, describe the environments that predict which allophone is chosen. If they are phonemes, give two minimal or near-minimal pairs that support yo ur statement. Write your answer in complete sentences.