L110 - Spring 2005 Final Exam

Problem I (30 points)
Consider only the vowels of the initial syllable in the following cognate sets.
How many vowel phonemes should be reconstructed for the protolanguage?
Which are the proto-words that contained each of the reconstructible vowels?
What are the outcomes in each language, and if there are any conditioning
factors, what are they for each outcome?

Note that /ie/ and /uo/ are diphthongs in Old High German and should be treated
as contrastive units (phonemes); the long vowels /e:/, /ɛ:/, /æ:/, /a:/, /o:/ are also
phonemes in these languages.

		Gothic	 Old English	Old High German
	 
1 to advise		re:dan	ræda:n		ra:tan
2 to blow		wɛ:an	wa:wan		wa:en
3 book		bo:ko:s	bo:k		buox
4 they broke	bre:kun	bræ:kon		bra:xun
5 brother		bro:ðar	bro:ðor		bruoder
6 they came	kwe:mun	ko:mon		kwa:mun
7 chair		sto:ls	sto:l		stuol
8 flower		blo:ma	blo:ma ('ingot') 	bluomo
9 foot		fo:tus	fo:t  		 fuos
10 good		go:ðs	go:d  		 guot
11 hair		----	hær   		 ha:r
12 heavy		swe:rs 	swæ:r ('sad')	swa:r
13 here		he:r  	he:r		hier
14 judgment	do:ms 	do:m		tuom
15 kinsman	me:gs	mæ:g		ma:g
16 to leave		le:tan	læ:tan		la:san
17 month		me:no:ðs 	 mo:nað		ma:no:d
18 moon		me:na	 mo:na		ma:no
19 one's own	swe:s 	 swæ:s		swa:s
20 they saw	se:hwun	 sa:won		sa:hun
21 shoe		sko:hs	 ʃo:h		skuoh
22 to sleep		sle:pan 	 slæ:pan		sla:fan
23 to sow		sɛ:an	  sa:wan		sa:en
24 they swore	swo:run 	 swo:ron		swuorun
25 (a) time		me:l	  mæ:l		ma:l
26 weapon		we:pn	  wæ:pen		wa:fan

Problem II [20 points]
On the basis of the following data for two related
native languages spoken in the northern interior of
British Columbia, discuss the relationship between
/z/ and /ts/. That is, explain how things got this way. State what
sound changes occurred to produce the current distribution
of /z/ and /ts/ and account for any exceptions.
A	B	Gloss
ʔaz	ʔats	outside
guz	Guts	scale (of fish)
xwuz	hots	over there
baɬats	baɬats	potlatch (ceremony original to neither culture))
ʔuts	ʔuts	oats
xwʌzk'ʌz	hozk'its	it is cold
-biz	-bits	aunt
ʔiɬiz	ʔeɬits	forever
tsʌz	tsits	firewood
dats'uz	dets'uz	shrew
-jiz	-jiz	long

Problem III (20 points)
Consider a group of related languages A through E
with the following properties. Construct a family tree for them. Explain your reasoning.
(a) The cluster sl > s in language A, ɬʌ in all others. 
(b) The cluster hl > ɬ in language A, ɬʌ in all others
(c) When the optative prefix /u/ occurs word-initially
      it became /w/ in all languages other than A.
(d)  The cluster dɣ > g in language A only;
(e) The "mode" morpheme /ɣ/ appears in the 4th position
      preceding the stem in  D and E, in the 6th
      position preceding the stem in  A, B, and C. Assume that
      the 4th positionis the original one.
(f) The imperfective aspect prefix /in/ precedes the subject
     marker in D and E but competes with the subject (occupies) the same position)
     in A, B, and C. Assume that D and E reflect the original situation.

Problem IV  [30 points]
Decide which two of the following three languages are genetically related.
Justify your conclusion. Give reconstructions for those words that you believe
are inherited from the common ancestor of the two related languages and state
the rules necessary to derive the attested forms.  If changes must have applied
in a certain order, indicate the order. Explain as best you can any
similarities that you note between the third, unrelated language, and the 
other two.

Gloss	A	B	C
water	tu	ap	to
fish	tukok	uo	tukox
wheel	kuma	xuma	mas
fire	pok	hi	pox
tree	ki	tin	ke
flower	fana	kesat	fanar
hand	lamu	mina	lamo
priest	bel	ber	per
rock	isik	sep	isix
house	teina	ku	tarinar
mouse	teinakok	lat	tarinarkox
foot	kanok	mar	kanox
head	tamu	nasir	tamo
mud	peli	loso	pale
nose	tei	samo	tarir
eye	meti	naka	mate
sister	sau	des	saro
hymn	dakot	dakot	takot
horse	nemi	nami	soxam
rifle	kali	kali	pula
radio	kori	kori	pejot
my water	situʔ	api	situʔ
my flower	sifanaʔ	kesati	sifanar
my head	sitamuʔ	nasiri	sitamuʔ
her water	putuʔ	apes	putuʔ
her flower	pufanaʔ	kesates	pufanar