Questions and topics for class discussion by JL Smith

jlsmithunc — 2026-02-04 17:05:57 UTC

Do you have a question? Double-click on the Padlet board to make a new post!

Do you have the same question that someone else already posted? You can "like" it so I see there is interest!

2026-02-06 14:36:02 UTC

Is there a phonological distinction to be made that can contrast different classes of word? Are there phonological contrasts that are made solely in nouns, but not in verbs, for example?

jlsmithunc — 2026-02-06 15:06:49 UTC

Do I have an answer for you! ;) --JS

(https://users.castle.unc.edu/~jlsmith/home/pdf/smith2025_WB-Companion2ed_prepub.pdf)

jlsmithunc — 2026-02-16 17:04:50 UTC

Already addressed

jlsmithunc — 2026-03-06 18:27:01 UTC

Follow-up from class on F Mar 6: How do we know when affricates are a single segment, vs. a sequence of a stop and a fricative, in the phonological representation?

2026-03-09 17:11:39 UTC

If a cluster has requirements for sonority, how do we explain languages that have different allowances for heavy consonant clusters like Georgian?

2026-03-10 15:28:20 UTC

Are we expected to answer the first question of the skill check in terms of the feature model? I didn't see a way to do this while describing long vs short vowels?

jlsmithunc — 2026-03-10 15:45:12 UTC

Not all languages have the same requirements on clusters. Also, there are many different types of requirements -- we saw in our discussion of English clusters that even when the sonority requirement is obeyed, there are other reasons for a cluster to be unacceptable, including place of articulation restrictions and voicing restrictions. But we have added the concept of the sonority scale to our model because it seems to help explain certain commonly recurring patterns concerning clusters (and other aspects of syllable structure). --JS

jlsmithunc — 2026-03-10 15:46:40 UTC

This question makes me suspect that you may be misunderstanding what the first question of SC #3 is asking for. Note that our phonological model includes a lot more than features at this point, and, take another look at what question #1 wants you to do. --JS

2026-03-13 15:07:57 UTC

Do you have a favorite phoneme? Are there any that stick out in your mind as interesting for how they might behave in a specific language?

2026-03-13 15:26:35 UTC

I have been thinking about sonority and I was wondering if the reason why we often see Spanish stops turning into fricatives in between vowels was because that position causes the C segment to become more sonorant. Does this process have anything to do with sonority at all?

jlsmithunc — 2026-04-06 17:47:52 UTC

I like syllable structure and syllable-structure typology! --JS

2026-04-23 02:34:43 UTC

Do we need to indicate in our paper if and with whom we collaborated with for work shopping the data?

jlsmithunc — 2026-04-23 02:50:34 UTC

Good question, and yes! See the top of p 5 in the "Course info and policies" document. --JS

2026-04-27 16:32:39 UTC

[JS will find some extra readings for:]

OT and lg disorders?

Theories of constraints?

So many candidates?

2026-04-29 15:27:45 UTC

Thank you for a wonderful semester, Dr. Smith! I have greatly enjoyed your class and I am very grateful to have had you for an instructor. Everything I've learned this semester has been absolutely mind blowing and I am in love with all of it. I hope to have you again in the future. :)

jlsmithunc — 2026-04-29 17:15:20 UTC

Thank you! I'm glad the class was a good learning experience for you! --JS

2026-05-03 00:22:21 UTC

When will the papers be graded

jlsmithunc — 2026-05-04 16:08:08 UTC

Hopefully you've found yours already (they were released after you posted this comment), but I had them graded within a week of the submission deadline, which for a major written assignment I think is pretty good. :) --JS