Language analysis course: What is a phoneme?

Multiple-choice exercise

ELT Concourse home
Choose the correct answer for each question.

  1. At the beginning of cake, the letter 'c' is pronounced.
    1.   /k/
    2.   /s/
    3.   /c/
    4.   /t/
  2. Which of these is not a minimal pair: sick – think, hut – putt, lag – lack, commuter – computer, happy – nappy?
    1.   commuter – computer
    2.   lag – lack
    3.   happy – nappy
    4.   sick – think
    5.   hut – putt
  3. An allophone is ...
    1.   ... a meaningful change in pronunciation
    2.   ... an alternative pronunciation of the same phoneme
    3.   ... a completely different pronunciation in Arabic
  4. Why do we see letters between diagonal lines, like this: /f/?
    1.   Because we are representing the sound not the letter
    2.   Because we are studying phonetics
    3.   Because it is a minimal pair
  5. What happens in English to the meaning if we change the p-sound at the beginning of pot to the p-sound at the end of cap?
    1.   Nothing
    2.   It has a new meaning
    3.   It sounds odd
  6. Are /f/ and /v/ phonemes in all languages?
    1.   I don't know
    2.   Probably
    3.   Probably not