Creole Exam Phonology and Pronunciation 2

Question 1

What phonological feature distinguishes Haitian Creole from French regarding the 'u' sound (as in French 'tu')?

Accepted Answer

Haitian Creole replaced French /y/ with /u/ as in English 'food'

Answer

Haitian Creole preserved the French /y/ sound perfectly

Answer

Haitian Creole replaced French /y/ with /i/ as in English 'see'

Answer

Haitian Creole added a glide before French /y/ to produce /wu/

Question 2

How does Haitian Creole handle French liaison (linking of final consonants to following vowels)?

Accepted Answer

Liaison is generally absent because final consonants were dropped during Creole formation

Answer

Liaison is preserved exactly as in formal French

Answer

Liaison is more frequent in Haitian Creole than in spoken French

Answer

Liaison in Haitian Creole only applies to nasal consonants

Question 3

The Haitian Creole word for 'water' is 'dlo,' while the French source is 'de l'eau.' What phonological process best explains this change?

Accepted Answer

Reduction of a French multi-word phrase into a fused Creole word with a consonant cluster

Answer

Metathesis — sounds were reordered within a single word

Answer

Coalescence — two syllables merged into one with a new phoneme

Answer

Epenthesis — a vowel was added between existing consonants

Question 4

Which of the following best describes the role of tone in Haitian Creole?

Accepted Answer

Haitian Creole uses intonation for discourse purposes but is not lexically tonal

Answer

Haitian Creole is a fully tonal language like Mandarin Chinese

Answer

Haitian Creole uses tone to distinguish lexical meaning between words

Answer

Haitian Creole has a two-tone system inherited from Fon and Ewe substrate languages

Question 5

How is the French palatal nasal 'gn' (as in 'montagne') typically pronounced in Haitian Creole?

Accepted Answer

As /nj/ or simply /n/, simplifying the French palatal nasal

Answer

As /gn/ with both consonants fully pronounced

Answer

As /ŋ/, a velar nasal like English 'ng' in 'sing'

Answer

As /j/ alone, dropping the nasal entirely

Question 6

What is the phonological significance of the 'w' and 'y' glides in Haitian Creole?

Accepted Answer

They function as full phonemic consonants that can distinguish word meaning

Answer

They are purely orthographic and have no phonemic value

Answer

They only appear before nasal vowels

Answer

They are borrowed exclusively from English and appear only in loanwords

Question 7

Which phonological feature is most commonly associated with African substrate influence on Haitian Creole?

Accepted Answer

Preference for open CV (consonant-vowel) syllable structure

Answer

Preference for closed syllables ending in consonant clusters

Answer

Use of click consonants in emphatic speech

Answer

Mandatory vowel length distinctions for all phonemes