Austronesian Phonology Analysis

Choose one of the following problem sets and write a paper about the solution to it.
Eligible problem sets:
Problem set 5 (Slavic, due at the end of Week 7)
Problem set 6 (Austronesian, due at the end of Week 8)
Problem set 7 (Northern Germanic, due at the end of Week 9)
Problem set 8 (Somali, due at the end of Week 10)
In support of your analysis, your paper should include the following charts and tables:
Vowel chart and consonant chart of all the segments in the dataset, organized as in the IPA chart by place and manner (for consonants) or by height and backness (for vowels).
A table with the local environments where each allophone occurs (for the allophone(s) under consideration)
Formal phonological rules, phrased using features, not lists of segments
Paraphrased phonological rules in prose form: This explains what your formal rules are supposed to do, and shows us that you understand it.
Sample derivations that illustrate how your analysis works. I.e., /underlying representation/ --> [surface representation] for a number of examples that illustrate why you chose the features you did for the rule in (3,4). This is your "proof" section.
Be sure to include examples where each rule applies alone, an example where both rules apply, and an example where no rules apply.
Also include sample derivations showing why a different rule order predicts the wrong surface form, for all pairs of rules where the order matters.
Lexicon: what you hypothesize the underlying representation to be for all forms in the problem. What you think the speaker has in their head, before the rule(s) you discovered apply.
Your paper must explain all your reasoning:
how you set up your lexicon,
how your rule works,
why you chose the particular distinctive features in your rules,
how your sample derivations work,
why alternative rule formulations are not as good as the one you have proposed, any problems you might have encountered, etc.
This discussion should be integrated with the tables and charts. Refer to this guidelines pdf for further guidance on how to organize your paper. The resulting essay will be at least three pages long, if you're concise, or more likely 4-6 pages long, since these problem sets are more complex. There is no reason for it to be more than 10 pages long; you should aim for 3-6 pages (single spaced, 12pt font, reasonable margins).
This counts as your final exam. You can do it in Finals Week, or you can do it sooner. If you'd like to get feedback on a draft of your paper, you can do that during office hours. I encourage you to do this if you have any anxiety about your writing.
You must upload a pdf to submit this assignment.

Some Guidelines for Writing up Homework Assignments Jaye Padgett – Ling 101 Phonology 1 is a disciplinary communications (DC) course. The upshot of this is that you should consider your homework assignments to be papers – even if they are sometimes rather small. Please always keep this in mind. They can be hand-written or typed, but they should be papers. A good analysis takes time to develop. You will usually have to leave more than an hour or two for the job. The first analysis you come up with is not always the best one. Leave yourself time to come back to your analysis and think about whether you have any new insights that could make it better. 1. It's important to put off writing anything until you have worked out the details of your analysis, and your argumentation. Be clear on where you're going and why, before you put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). 2. Have an introduction, of even just one or two sentences, where you state the main point(s) you want to show. It’s OK to write something like “In this paper I will examine the sounds [o] and [ɔ] in Swahili.” But it’s better to write “In this paper I will examine the sounds [o] and [ɔ] in Swahili and show that they are in complementary distribution, with /o/ being the underlying phoneme.” Notice how the second version implies you have to know where you’re going when you start writing. 3. Argue for what you think is the right analysis. This includes taking seriously any salient alternative analysis and showing why it is less desirable. (E.g., what about saying that /ɔ/ is underlying...?) 4. Make use of examples to illustrate your claims, e.g. Swahili forms that show [ɔ] only before nasals and that show [o] in a more diverse set of environments. Call on linguistic terminology as appropriate (“phoneme”, “allophone”, “complementary distribution”, etc.). 5. Appeal to notions we’ve developed in class. But offer your own ideas when you think something more is needed. 6. Make sure you test your analysis or claims against all of the data. Do you account for all the right forms? Equally important, do you avoid predicting wrong forms? If there are any problems or potential problems with your analysis, discuss these. 7. If you realize that your analysis has problems as you write it up, then go back and rewrite the assignment. Remember: what you turn in is a well-finished and succinct presentation of the best analysis you could find. It should not be a history of your trial and error work. 8. An assignment should be clear and easy to read.