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Problem 1. R-dropping

Part I. In several dialects of English, speakers can drop the “r” sound, so that “car” sounds like “CA” or “CAH” (in IPA: [ka] or [kɑ]). This is called /r/-drop. However, /r/-drop, even for those who do It regularly, is not always possible.

Below are two lists. The first is a list of words where /r/-drop is possible, and the second list is where/r/-drop is not possible.

Group A     Group B

car           run

bigger        bring

beer         principal

hear         string

father         okra

card          approach

cardboard      April

court           thrill

 

Question 1: What is the pattern that determines whether /r/-drop is possible or not?

Question 2: Does it have to do with meaning or form (grammar, particular sounds, etc.)?

Question 3: State a Rule of /r/-drop based on the two sets of words above. The rule should have the form “Drop /r/ whenever ________________”. (Your job is to fill in the blank so that the statement applies to all of the words in Group A but won’t apply to any of the words in Group B.)

Question 4: Below are eight words with an /r/ in them. Please list those for which your rule predicts that /r/-drop is possible. (Be careful, the second word has two /r/’s, so you have to say whether /r/-drop is possible for each one.)

1. bear 6. computer

2/3. Program       7. party

4. fearful 8. fourteen
5. right

 

Part II. Now consider some more cases:

Group C (/r/-drop is possible) Group D (/r/-drop is not possible)

1. bear 5. bear in the filed
2. car 6. car over at the house
3. four 7. take four apples
4. pear 8. pear in the kitchen

Question 5: Without changing your answer to the first two questions, now state the rule of R-drop that covers those cases and the new ones given here. What 2 conditions must be true for R-drop to be possible?

Finally, consider these:

9. bear hunger (possible)
10. bear hope (possible)
11. bear hour (impossible)
12. bear honesty (impossible)

Question 6: Does your rule cover these cases too? Explain. If not, what change needs to be made?

Problem 2. AAE plurals

Part I. Usually in standard English, the plural of nouns is marked with some version of /s/, pronounced [s], [z] or [әz] cat – cats, dog – dogs, house – houses etc. But in AAE we often have cases where the noun is NOT marked for plural at all. Some examples are given here:

1. We bought two hundred pound o’ fish. (not pounds)
2. How many glass of beer did they drink yesterday? (not glasses)
3. It’s about six mile up the road. (not miles)
4. We have several gallon o’ water. (not gallons)

However the same speakers who have (1-4) there are also cases where the s cannot be dropped, These are given in 5-8:

5. We caught two hundred cats. (not cat)
6. They have three cars. (not car)
7. They have a lot of animals. (not animal)
8. It’s a story about twelve chairs. (not chair)

Question 7: What is the pattern that determines whether plural /s/-drop is possible or not? Does it have to do with meaning or form? Can you state the rule of /s/-drop based on the two sets of words above?

 

Part II. Now consider some cases where we have the same words as we had in (1-4), but here the /s/ drop is not possible. What is the difference between this group (9-12) and (1-4)?

9. We had pounds of fish that spoiled. (not pound)
10. The glasses of beer we bought are on the table. (not glass)
11. These beautiful beaches go on for miles. (not mile)
12. We had gallons of water left. (not gallon)

 

Question 8: Now state a new version of the rule for dropping plural endings that covers all the cases we have seen here. What are the 2 conditions that must be true for this rule to operate?

Question 9: Now predict whether or not plural drop is possible in the following examples: (write the sentence number followed by POSSIBLE OR NOT POSSIBLE)

13. She had three pounds of fish left.
14. She has pounds and pounds of fish left.
15. There are six Russian cats in the yard.
16. There are Russian cats everywhere.
17. It seems to be many miles to the top.