Consider these forms:
1. Transcribe the forms phonetically. The first one is shown as an example.
| pin | |
| bin | |
| bid | |
2. Fill in the feature matrices for bin and bid. pin is shown as an example.
| pin | bin | bid | |||||||
| p | I | n | b | I | n | b | I | d | |
| voicing | -voice | +voice | +voice | +voice | +voice | +voice | +voice | +voice | +voice |
| nasal | -nasal | +nasal | -nasal | +nasal | -nasal | -nasal | |||
| place | labial | alveolar | labial | alveolar | labial | alveolar | |||
3. What are the two minimal pairs?
a. pin and bin
b. bin and bid
4. What are the distinctive features that distinguish the two words in each minimal pair?
minimal pair a: place
minimal pair b: nasality
5. There are exactly 5 segments (four consonants and a vowel) used in the three words. List them below.
p, i, n, b, d
6. Based on the evidence from the minimal pairs, circle the segments that are phonemes. (p, b, n, d)
Based on what you know about Stokoe's analysis of signs, answer the following questions about ASL signs.
Consider these forms:
1. Fill in the feature matrices for KNOW and ME. THINK is shown as an example.
| THINK | KNOW | ME | |
| handshape | 1-hand | B-hand | 1-hand |
| location | forehead | forehead | chest |
| movement | touch | touch | touch |
| palm orientation | down | down | down |
2. What are the two minimal pairs?
a. THINK and KNOW
b. THINK and ME
3. What is the distinctive feature that distinguishes the two signs in each minimal pair?
minimal pair a: handshape
minimal pair b: location
4. Think about the terms word
, sign
, phoneme
,
feature
. Give an example for each of these for English and for
ASL:
English: ASL: word pin, bin, bid, etc. sign THINK, KNOW, ME, etc. feature voicing, nasality, place, etc. feature handshape, location, movement, palm orientation phoneme p, b, n, d phoneme ???
5. What would you say is an important difference between the phonology of ASL and the phonology of English, according to this analysis?
This analysis of ASL treats each sign as a simultaneous bundle of features, which is analogous to the way in which traditional phonological analyses of spoken languages treat segments in English. This analysis implies that although spoken languages have at least two levels of phonological organization (the word and the segment), signed languages have only a single level of phonological organization (the sign). Linguists working within a nativist framework are inclined to be skeptical about such an arbitrary dramatic difference in abstract phonological organization between the two modes of language. Further research has shown that the phonology of signed languages is just as complex as that of spoken languages.