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Linguistics Review - CDE

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The Scope of Linguistics

The Scope of Linguistics


LINGUISTICS The systematic and scientific study of language
PHONETICS The study of human speech sounds
PHONOLOGY Sound Patterning and Sound Systems
LEXICON The words or vocabulary stored in our “mental dictionary”
The arrangement and the form of words. It includes the structure
SYNTAX of phrases and sentences and the constraints on well-formedness
of sentences.
SEMANTICS The meaning of words and sentences.
MORPHOLOGY The structure of words
How speakers use language in ways which cannot be predicted
PRAGMATICS
from linguistic knowledge alone.
PSYCHOLINGUISTICS The study of language and mind
SOCIOLINGUISTICS The study of language and society
APPLIED LINGUISTICS The application of linguistics to language teaching
SYNCHRONIC
The analysis of language at a single point in time
LINGUISTICS
DIACHRONIC
Historical Linguistics (development over many years)
LINGUISTICS
1. Linguistics is the scientific study of language
“correctness”.
2. Linguists are interested in the rules that govern
language use and enforce its application.
3. Linguists regard the spoken language as primary, not
the written.
4. Linguistics aims to adapt the rules of English into a
Latin-based framework.
Linguistics Traditional Grammar

1. Linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive.


2. Linguists are interested in what is said, not what they
think ought to be said. They describe language in all
its aspects, but do not prescribe rules of “correctness”.
3. Linguists regard the spoken language as primary, not
the written.
4. Linguistics does not force languages into a Latin-based
framework. Instead, it tries to set up a universal
framework.
Phonetics vs. Phonology
Phonetics studies speech in
general and provides the basic
materials.
Phonology uses this material
to discover patterns,
formulate rules, or investigate
the principles governing the
sound systems of particular
languages.
Phonetic and Phonological studies can be
subdivided into two levels:

• Level 1: Segmental
(what you say)

• Level 2: Suprasegmental
(how you say something)
Phonetics or Phonology?
It is an abstract study It is a concrete study
(phonology) (phonetics)

It studies how sounds are It studies the rules of sound


produced and perceived combination
(phonetics) (phonology)

It describes Allophones It studies Phonemes


(phonetic realizations) (phonological segments)
(phonetics) (phonology)

It is transcribed Phonemically It is transcribed Phonetically


/fənɑləʤi/ [fəˈnɛtɪks]
Allophones or Phonemes?
Allophones are represented by Phonemes are represented by
square brackets [ ] slant bars / /

Phonemes constitute the mental Allophones are the physical


representation of sounds (the realization of phonemes. They are
concept of a sound regarding real audible sounds as they are
meaning) pronounced.

Swapping (or confusing) Swapping allophones does not


phonemes alters the alter interpretation of the
interpretation of the message (it message (it does not change the
changes the meaning) meaning)
PHONEMES ALLOPHONES
They constitute the mental They are the physical realization of
representation of sounds. phonemes.

They are units of sounds in a An allophone constitutes any of the


language that cannot be analized variants making up a single
into smaller linear units. phoneme.

They constitute the concept of a They are real audible sounds as they
sound regarding meaning. are pronounced.

Swapping (or confusing) phonemes Swapping allophones does not alter


alters the interpretation of the interpretation of the message (it
message (it changes the meaning) does not change the meaning).

They are represented surrounded by


Allophones are represented by
/ / in transcription. E.g. /p/ /b/ in
square brackets [ ].
pat and bat
In other words…
Allophones

Phoneme
Phonemes and Allophones
The phoneme /k/ has two
possible pronunciations in
English:
Minimal Pair

This is a minimal pair. The two words


differ minimally by one phoneme only.
Meet ≠ Neat
/m/ ≠ /n/
Sound Segments
Speakers of English can separate keepout into the
words keep and out because they know the language.
Sound Segments
• The ability to analyze a word into its individual
sounds does NOT depend on knowledge of
spelling.
not knot
/nɑt/ /nɑt/
❖ They both have three sounds

How many words are there in the word “psycho”?


There are four: /ˈsaɪkoʊ/
Sound Segments
• Can we segment the sounds of someone clearing
their throat into sequence of discrete units?

• Answer: No, because these sounds are not the


sounds of any morpheme in any human language
Sound Segments
Phoneme
A phoneme is the smallest unit (sound) of language which serves to distinguish
words from one another.

For example:
"bat" and "but" are two different words because they have two different
phonemes.

Counting Phonemes in a Word


Knot has three phonemes: /n ɑ t/ Psycho has four phonemes: /ˈsaɪkoʊ/

Morpheme
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language that cannot be broken
into smaller parts. A word can be composed of one or more morphemes.

"Submarine" is a word made up of two morphemes: sub and marine.


There are two morphemes: sub and marine. However, in the same
word there are eight phonemes: /ˈs ʌ b m ə r i n/
Phonetics looks at human speech from three
interdependent viewpoints:
• Articulatory phonetics: studies how speech sounds are
produced.

• Auditory phonetics: studies the way in which humans


perceive sounds.

• Acoustic phonetics
studies the physical properties of speech sounds.
Articulatory Phonetics
• Articulatory Phonetics is the study of how speech
sounds are produced in the vocal tract

• The production of any


speech sound involves
the movement of an air
stream.
• Most speech sounds are
produced by pushing the
air out of the lungs
through the mouth (oral)
and sometimes through
the nose (nasal).
The Vocal Tract and Places of Articulation

•Places of Articulation:
1. Bilabial
2. Labiodental
3. Interdental
4. Alveolar
5. (Alveo)palatal
6. Velar
7. Uvular
8. Glottal
Consonants and Vowels
• The sounds of all languages fall into two classes: Consonants and
Vowels.
• Consonants are produced with some restriction or closure of the
vocal tract that impedes the flow of air from the lungs.
• In phonetics, the terms Consonant and Vowel refer to types of
sounds, not to the letters that represent them.
Consonants
• When linguists describe consonant sounds, they us three
criteria:
Voicing: Do the vocal cords vibrate or not?
Voiced Voiceless
The vocal cords vibrate The vocal cords apart

Place of Articulation: Where does the obstruction occur?


Bilabial Labiodental Interdental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

Manner of Articulation: What type of obstruction is involved?


Stop Nasal Fricative Affricate Glide Liquid
VOICING

• The air stream from the lungs passes through an opening between the vocal cords, the glottis
• If the vocal cords are apart and the airstream is not obstructed at the glottis, the sounds
produced this way are voiceless.
• If the vocal cords are together and the airstream forces its way through, the vocal cords vibrate
and the sounds produced this way are voiced
VOICING

• If you put a finger in each ear and say “zzzzz” you can
feel the vibrations.
• If you put a finger in each ear and say “sssss” you will
not feel any vibration.
• When you whisper, you are actually making all the
speech sounds voiceless.
Place of Articulation: LABIALS
• [b], [p], [m], [f] and [v] are labials

• When we produce [b], [p], or [m], we articulate them


by bringing together both lips. These speech sounds
are called bilabials
Place of Articulation: LABIALS
• [b], [p], [m], [f] and [v] are labials

• When we produce [f] and [v], we articulate by


touching the bottom lip to the upper teeth.
These speech sounds are called labiodentals
Place of Articulation: INTERDENTALS

• When we produce these sounds we insert the tip of


our tongue between the upper and the lower teeth.
These speech sounds are called interdentals.
Place of Articulation: ALVEOLARS
• [t], [d], [s], [z], [n], and [l] are alveolars.

• When we produce these sounds we raise the front


part of our tongue toward the hard palate and touch
the alveolar ridge. These speech sounds are called
alveolars.

Lateral: [l]
Retroflex: [r]
Place of Articulation: PALATALS
• [S], [Z], [tS]

• When we produce these sounds we raise the front


part of our tongue to a point on the hard palate just
behind the alveolar ridge. These speech sounds are
called palatals or alveopalatals.
Place of Articulation: VELARS
• [k], [g], [N], [w] are velars.

• When we produce these sounds we raise the back of


our tongue toward the soft palate or the velum.
These speech sounds are called velars.
Place of Articulation: GLOTTAL
Manner of Articulation: STOP
• When the air stream enters the oral cavity it may be
stopped, obstructed, or flow freely.
• When the air is completely stopped for a brief period
of time, these speech sounds are called stops.
• [b], [p], [t], [d], [k] and [g] are stops.
Manner of Articulation: FRICATIVE
• When the air is not stopped completely but is
obstructed from flowing freely, these speech sounds
are called fricatives.
Manner of Articulation: AFFRICATE
• Some sounds are produced by a stop closure
followed immediately a slow release of the closure
as in a fricative. These speech sounds are called
affricates.
Manner of Articulation: NASAL and ORAL
• When the soft palate or velum is raised to block the
passage of air stream through the nose and forced
through the mouth, sounds produced this way are
called oral.
• If you force the air out of the nose by closing your
lips or blocking the oral passage, sounds produced
this way are called nasal.
Manner of Articulation: LIQUID
• When there is some obstruction of the air stream
but not enough to cause friction, these speech
sounds are called liquids.

• [l] and [r] are liquids.


Manner of Articulation: GLIDE
• When there is little or no obstruction of the air
stream in the mouth, these speech sounds are called
glides or semi-vowels.
Articulatory Phonetics
➢ Vowels include the sounds we ordinarily represent as the letters <a, e,
i, o, u>, as well as a number of other sounds for which the ordinary
alphabet has no unique symbols.
➢ Vowels are distinguished from consonants in several ways:
1. Consonants are produced by constricting the airstream to various
degrees as it flows through the oral tract. Vowels are produced
with a smooth, unobstructed airflow through the oral tract.
2. Differences in vowel quality are produced by different shapes of
the oral cavity.
3. Characteristic vowel qualities are determined by
(a) the height of the tongue in the mouth;
(b) the part of the tongue raised (front, middle, or back);
(c) the configuration of the lips; and
(d) the tension of the muscles of the oral tract.
Tongue height

Frontness / backness of the tongue

Lip rounding

Tenseness / laxness
Source

• Fromkin,V.A. & R.Rodman. 1998. An


introduction to language. New York: Holt,
Rinehart & Winston.
• Kreidler, C.1997. Describing Spoken English.
An introduction.New York: Routledge.
• Ashworth, Evan. "Introduction to Articulatory
Phonetics (Consonants)."YouTube. YouTube,
27 Jan. 2015. Web. 05 May 2016.

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