help~~~~~~!quenstions of linguistics?

Question

1. (A) In all of the following English words there is an onset consonant cluster with /r/ in second position. Is there any way (using voice, place and manner of features) to describe the kind of consonant that can appear before /r/ in these clusters, and to exclude any other consonants?

brave, crash, freak, growl, pray, shriek, three, thrick



(B) When the second part of an onset cluster is /l/, as in black and other words, which features are required in the first consonant?

(resource: an entrance exam for graduate school of National Cheng Kung University)

Answer 1

I'm not 100% sure about your question (A), but, from the list you offer us, I see that all your examples start with a fricative or a plosive sound. Both those types of sounds are part of the "obstruent" category of sounds, as opposed to "sonorants". An obstruent is "a consonant sound formed by obstructing outward airflow, causing increased air pressure in the vocal tract" (wording from Wikipedia). Sonorants, however, are sounds that are "produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract."

About your question (B): I think only "bl", "pl", "gl" and "cl" consonant clusters are allowed in English if the second is an "l" sound. That means that the first consonant in the onset of such a syllable has to be a plosive sound with a different place of articulation from the "l", which leaves only the bilabial and the velar plosives as possible onsets for such a syllable.

I am a linguist, but haven't worked with phonetics and phonology for a while. I hope my answers help. Check out the IPA chart at the following address too:
http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/course/chapter1/chapter1.html

Good luck!

Answer 2

To answer this you need a phonetic table that shoes voice, place, and manner. Nobody ever memorizes what a fricative, stop, or labiodental sound is. I think Wikipedia has one, just look at the articles on Phonetics, English, and IPA. I have one in my textbook How English Works: A Linguistic Introduction by Anne Curzan. There is also one in a book by David Crystal.

Good luck on your exam!

Answer 3

Well,
for question A:
/b/ voiced,plosive,bilabial
/k /in crash> voiceless,plosive,velar
/ f / voiceless, fricative,labio-dental
/ p / voiceless or partially voiced"according to assimilation,plosive,bilabial
/ Å  / in Shriek >voiceless,fricative,palatal
/ Θ /in three> voiceless,fricative,inter dental
/ Θ /in thrick> partially voiced,fricative,inter dental

For the part B,i think the same features voicing ,manner & place of articulation to be able to indicate any assimilation process&any phonological process as well.
Hope it helps