DLAB Phonetic Pattern Recognition 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In a language, the words 'pata,' 'tapa,' and 'kapa' all end with the same syllable. If the stress rule is 'stress falls on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable,' which syllable is stressed in 'pata'?
- The first syllable 'pa' (Correct answer)
- The second syllable 'ta'
- Both syllables equally
- Neither — the word is unstressed
Correct answer: The first syllable 'pa'
'Pata' has two syllables: pa-ta. The penultimate (second-to-last) syllable is 'pa,' the first syllable. Penultimate stress is the most common stress pattern worldwide, found in Polish, Swahili, and many other languages.
Question 2: The sounds /p/, /t/, and /k/ are all voiceless stops. What property do they share that makes them 'voiceless'?
- The vocal cords vibrate during production
- The vocal cords do not vibrate during production (Correct answer)
- Air flows through the nose
- The tongue touches the teeth
Correct answer: The vocal cords do not vibrate during production
Voiceless sounds are produced without vocal cord vibration. If you place your hand on your throat and say /p/, you won't feel vibration (voiceless). Compare with /b/ where you will feel vibration (voiced). This voicing distinction is fundamental to phonetics.
Question 3: In Language X, 'ban' and 'pan' are different words with different meanings. What does this tell you about /b/ and /p/ in this language?
- They are allophones of the same phoneme
- They are separate phonemes (distinctive sounds) (Correct answer)
- They are in free variation
- They cannot appear in the same position
Correct answer: They are separate phonemes (distinctive sounds)
Because swapping /b/ for /p/ changes the word's meaning (ban ≠pan), these sounds are separate phonemes — they create minimal pairs. A minimal pair proves that two sounds are phonemically distinct in a given language.
Question 4: A language has the following syllable pattern: every syllable must be Consonant-Vowel (CV). Which of these words could exist in this language?
- strak
- banu (Correct answer)
- grim
- elf
Correct answer: banu
'Banu' consists of two CV syllables: ba-nu. 'Strak' has consonant clusters (str-), 'grim' ends in a consonant (CVC), and 'elf' starts with a vowel (VC). Only 'banu' strictly follows the CV syllable template. Japanese is a well-known CV-dominant language.
Question 5: In a tone language, 'ma' with a high tone means 'mother' and 'ma' with a low tone means 'horse.' What role does pitch play in this language?
- It indicates emotion only
- It changes the grammatical category
- It distinguishes word meaning (lexical tone) (Correct answer)
- It marks sentence type (question vs. statement)
Correct answer: It distinguishes word meaning (lexical tone)
When pitch differences change the meaning of otherwise identical syllables, the language has lexical tone. The same consonant-vowel sequence /ma/ has completely different meanings depending on its pitch pattern. Mandarin Chinese has four tones that function this way.
Question 6: Listen to this pattern: 'tapa' [tapa], 'atapa' [atapa], 'matapa' [matapa]. The root is 'tapa.' What phonological process adds material to the beginning?
- Suffixation
- Prefixation (Correct answer)
- Infixation
- Epenthesis
Correct answer: Prefixation
Material is added before the root 'tapa': first 'a-' then 'ma-'. Adding sounds or morphemes to the beginning of a word is prefixation. This is distinct from epenthesis (insertion to fix phonotactic violations) because the additions carry grammatical meaning.
DLAB Phonetic Pattern Recognition 1
In a language, the words 'pata,' 'tapa,' and 'kapa' all end with the same syllable.
If the stress rule is 'stress falls on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable,' which syllable is stressed in 'pata'?