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Q: Linguistics: Phonology (Phonemic distinction in stops) ( No Answer,   0 Comments )
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Subject: Linguistics: Phonology (Phonemic distinction in stops)
Category: Science > Social Sciences
Asked by: pravda29-ga
List Price: $12.00
Posted: 19 Aug 2006 22:35 PDT
Expires: 20 Aug 2006 05:13 PDT
Question ID: 757785
I need to be able to determine whether voicing is phonemic in stops
from the following data set of words from the Tamil language:

1. [pakkam] 2. [kandam] 3. [ta?gam] 4. [taa???] 5. [katt?] 6. 
[paga?i] 7. [kappu] 8. [kabam] 9. [paambu] 10. [ka???] 

Phonemic in stops means phonemic distinction. 
There is a phonemic distinction between dental and retroflex stops. 
If applicable, write a rule.

I have devised a set of rules but I am sure there is an error.

Clarification of Question by pravda29-ga on 19 Aug 2006 22:45 PDT
-if voiceless consonant is not the intial letter it is doubled (long consonant)
-otherwise, voiceless consonants are initial letters, otherwise the
consonant is voiced

This may not be relevant to whether voicing is "phonemic in stops". A
minimal pair exists for retroflex plosives (4 & 10), therefore the
retroflex plosives are not allophones of the one phoneme and
constitute allophones of different phonemes. There does not appear to
be a rule for the other sets (p and b; k and g; t and d).

Could someone point me in the right direction?

Clarification of Question by pravda29-ga on 19 Aug 2006 22:46 PDT
English translations of the transcriptions:
1. nearness
2. smell
3. gold
4. jump
5. cry
6. mockery
7. forked branch
8. phlegm
9. snake
10. tie
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