Deducing Rules from Audio Flashcards

You hear: [MAko] = tree, [maKO] = forest, [MAlu] = stone, [maLU] = mountain. What rule governs stress placement in this invented language?

Answer: Stress on first syllable = singular; stress on second syllable = collective/large form

First-syllable stress = singular/basic; second-syllable stress = collective/large version of the same root.

In a spoken invented language, you hear three sentences. Sentence A has a rising tone on the last word. Sentence B has a falling tone on the last word. Sentence C has a level tone. From context, A = question, B = statement, C = command. You hear a new sentence with a rising tone. What type is it?

Answer: Question

Rising final tone = question, consistent with sentence A.

You hear words in invented language Frelvik: [braNAK], [breNAK], [briNAK]. The translations are: 'I run', 'You run', 'He runs'. The only difference is the first vowel. What vowel codes third person?

Answer: i

[braNAK] = I, [breNAK] = you, [briNAK] = he; third person has vowel 'i'.

In a sound exercise, words ending in [s] mean 'one', words ending in [z] mean 'many'. You hear a new word ending in [z]. What does it refer to?

Answer: Many objects

Final [z] = many; the new word refers to many objects.

You hear Zorathi words: [PREL-ok] = he speaks, [prel-OK] = he spoke. [BREN-ok] = he flies, [bren-OK] = he flew. You hear [TALO-ok]. What does it mean?

Answer: He sings (present)

Stress on first syllable = present tense; [TALO-ok] has first-syllable stress → he sings.

In spoken Drelvic, high pitch on a word = subject, low pitch = object. You hear a sentence: [HIGH: naku] [LOW: shor] [vel]. What is the sentence structure?

Answer: Naku is the subject, shor is the object

High pitch = subject (naku), low pitch = object (shor).