Download Language Productivity: Humans vs. Bees & Consonant Deletion in African American English - and more Study notes Linguistics in PDF only on Docsity! XXXX HW #5 Ling200 1.) Human productivity is achieved through the ability to produce novel sentences from discrete units of human language. That is, we are able to create new, never before heard sentences infinitely. We can combine words into sentences with an infinite amount of possibilities. Bee’s, however, display productivity through mathematical units of dance duration and angles from the sun. They are able to convey close or far food is based on whether they do a round or wiggle dance. The duration and level of excitation of the dance indicates how far the food is and the quality of the food. Through these dances and angles from the sun, an infinite amount of messages can be conveyed. The main difference between human and bee productivity is that bees communicate via mathematical units, whereas we create novel sentences. 2.) a. (i) there is a consonant cluster at the end of the word. /sk/ (ii) the second consonant is a stop /k/ (iii) both /s/ and /k/ are voiceless. Consonant is deleted. b. (i) there is a consonant cluster at the end of the word. /rm/ (ii) the second consonant is not a stop. Consonant is not deleted. c. (i) there is a consonant cluster at the end of the word. /nt/ (ii) the second consonant is a stop. /t/ (iii) /n/ is voiced while /t/ is voiceless. Consonant is not deleted. 3.) a. SAE [boʊld]…….AAVE [boʊl] b. SAE [dɔgz]………AAVE [dɔgz] c. SAE [fœst]……….AAVE [fœs] d. SAE [kaIndnɛs]….AAVE [kaIndnɛs] 4.) Hypothesis B [pʊʃ], [peɪdʒ], [reɪz], [pɪk], [dʒʌmp], [mɪs], [ʃaʊɾ], [bɹn] , [mɛs ʌp], [θɹoʊ] Hypothesis A [pʊʃd], [peɪdʒd], [reɪzd], [pɪkd], [dʒʌmpd], [mɪsd], [ʃaʊɾd], [bɹnd] , [mɛsd ʌp], [θɹoʊd] Hypothesis B makes the correct predictions with the given data except in the case of diphthong back vowels such as [ʃaʊɾɪd] and [θɹoʊd]. 5.) AAVE is stigmatized for social reasons. It is seen as incorrect because those that are higher in class tend to speak closer to what would be grammatically correct. There is no linguistic to consider these deletions wrong because they seem to follow a phonological process. 6.) These deletions do not occur out of laziness. Rather, they occur due to a phonological process based on certain rules, based on the data given. Also, as learned in class, “speakers learn the dialects they are exposed to”. Therefore, it would be incorrect to say that these deletions are made out of laziness.
