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Faculty of Human and social sciences

Department of English

Academic year : 2008-2009

Course instructors : Asma MAAOUI GAALOUL

Sameh BENNA

INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

Course objectives

This course provides an introduction to the basic principles of general linguistics. It lays the

foundation for understanding the nature and properties of human language and is a prerequisite for

successful completion of other linguistics courses. Besides, this ourse aims at making students draw

a broad understanding of human language and its study through linguistics as a science. Key course

objectives of what language is, what it is used for, and how it works. The more immediate objectives

of this course are:

- To correct misconceptions about particular languages and about language in general.

- To familiarise students with the history of linguistics from the Greeks till the present day and

acquaint them with the major shools of thought in linguistics.

- To acquaint students with the basic concepts necessary to further pursue linguistic studies.

- To equip students with some tools and techniques for linguistic analysis and to give them

some practice in using these to discover the organising principles of a language .

- Students are introduced to the study of formal linguistics and the main sub-branches of the

discipline. The following areas are covered: sounds and sound patterns (phonetics and

phonology) and sentence structure (morphology and syntax).

Teaching Method

The sessions will be divided up into lecture and seminar; seminars will involve discussion of topics

covered, presentations and group work.

Organisation and teaching strategies

This course consists of three hours of formal teaching and learning per week:

· a one-hour lecture

· a one-hour tutorial

Exercises for presentation and discussion at the tutorials will be given. The exercises will generally

practice and apply what has been presented in the previous lecture. Preparation of the exercises,

attendance, and active participation in the tutorials will be assessed. Students should be aware that

regular absences from class and a lack of participation in class will affect their grades.

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Course outline

Week 1, 2, and 3

Introduction: Linguistics versus language

Properties of human language

Misconceptions about language

The history of linguistics

Introduction to linguistics

Week 4 and 5

Phonetics: Phonetics versus phonology

Articulatory phonetics

Consonants : place and manner of articulation

Vowels

Week 6 and 8

Morphology: morphemes

Word coinage

Ways of making inflections

Week 9 and 11

Syntax: Syntactic categories

Phrase structure rules and trees

Week 12: Mock exam

References

Crystal, D. (1997). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kuiper, K & W. S. Allan. (1996). An Introduction to English Language : word, sound and sentence.

China: Palgrave McMillan.

Fromklin, V. & R . Rodman. (1993). An Introduction to Language. Forth Worth/ Harcourt Brace &

Company.

Fasold, R. W., and Connor-Linton, J. (2006). Eds. An Introduction to Language and Linguistics.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Yule, G. (2006).The Study of Language. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Introduction to linguistics

Lecture

Week 1, 2, and 3

Introduction: linguistics vs language

Misconceptions about language

Properties of human language

The history of linguistics

Introduction

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, encompassing a number of sub-fields. An important

topical division is between the study of language structure (grammar) and the study of meaning

(semantics). Grammar encompasses morphology (the formation and composition of words), syntax

(the rules that determine how words combine into phrases and sentences) and phonology (the study

of sound systems and abstract sound units). Phonetics is a related branch of linguistics concerned

with the actual properties of speech sounds (phones), non-speech sounds, and how they are

produced and perceived.

Linguistics is concerned with language in all its forms, spoken, written and signed. Because language

appears to be a uniquely human attribute, the questions of what language is, how human beings

come to have it, and how they use it, have been pursued for over 2,000 years. Inquiry into language

has raised fundamental questions about human cognition and behaviour ever since. Perhaps the key

insight of linguistics is just that language and linguistic behaviour are highly structured, and the

guiding principle of modern linguistics is that the nature of these structures can be elucidated by

systematic study through a range of theoretical and empirical methodologies.

Linguists today concern themselves with many different facets of language, from the physical

properties of the sound waves in utterances to the intentions of speakers towards others in

conversations and the social contexts in which conversations are embedded. The various sub-

branches of linguistics are concerned with how languages are structured, what they have in

common, the range of and limits to the differences among them, how they are acquired and used,

how they change and so on. The study of the properties of language in this sense, and the

construction of theoretical models for these areas of inquiry, all come under the rubric of linguistics.

Speech and writing

The traditional grammarian tended to assume that the spoken language is inferior to and in some

way dependent upon the standard written language. As opposed to this view the contemporary

linguist maintains that the spoken language is primary and that writing is essentially a means of

representing speech in another medium. Most contemporary linguists work under the assumption

that spoken (or signed) language is more fundamental than written language. This is because:

• Speech appears to be universal to all human beings capable of producing and hearing it,

while there have been many cultures and speech communities that lack written

communication;

• Speech evolved before human beings invented writing;

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• People learn to speak and process spoken languages more easily and much earlier than

writing;

Linguists nonetheless agree that the study of written language can be worthwhile and valuable. For

research that relies on corpus linguistics and computational linguistics, written language is often

much more convenient for processing large amounts of linguistic data. Large corpora of spoken

language are difficult to create and hard to find, and are typically transcribed and written.

Additionally, linguists have turned to text-based discourse occurring in various formats of computer-

mediated communication as a viable site for linguistic inquiry.

The study of writing systems themselves is in any case considered a branch of linguistics.

The traditional grammarian tended to assume not only that the written language was more

fundamental than the spoken but also that a particualr form of the written language namely the

literary language was inherently purer and more correct than all other forms of the language written

and spoken and that it was his task a a grammarian to preserve this form of the language from

corruption. It should be evident that there are no absolute standards of purity and correctness in

langugae and that such terms can only be interpretedin relation to some standard selected in

advance. We can say that a foreigner has made a istake because he has said something which would

not be said by a native speaker. We can aso say that some speaker of a regional dialect of English has

produced an incorrect or ungrammatical form beause this form is not in conformity wth the patterns

of standard English. To assert that any linguistic form is correct or incorrect because it is at variance

with some other form taken as the standard is therefore tautological. Each socially or regionally

differentiated form has its own standard of purity and correctness immanent in it. No language or

variety of a langugae is superior to any other in a linguistic sense. Every grammar is equally complex

and logical and capable of produscing an infinite set of sentences to express any thought. Language

of technonlogically undeveloped cultures are not primitive or ill formed in any way. The linguists’s

foirst task is to describe the way people actually speak their language not prescribe how they ought

to speak and write. So linguistics is descriptie not rescriptive.

Language versus linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. In the thirties it was Leonard Bloomfield who initiated

the study of linguistics as a science. Before him no linguist was consistently careful in writing about

language, or relied on observation. It was Bloomfield who insisted on the necessity of speaking

about language in the style that every scientist uses when he speaks about the object of his

research; impersonally, precisely, and in terms that assume no more than actual observance.

Misconceptions about language

Description and prescription

Prescriptivism

This is the view that one variety of language has an inherently higher value than others, and that this

ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community. The view is prpunded especially with

grammar, vocab and pronunciation. The variety which is favoured is usually a version of the standard

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written language, especially as encountered in litearture, or in the formal spoken language which

reflects this style. Adherents to this variety are said to write or speak correctly; deviations from it are

said to be incorrect. All the main European languages were studied prescriptively, especially in the

18th

c approach to the writing of grammars and dictionaries. The aims of these grammarians were;

(a) they wanted to codify the principles of tehir languages to show that there was a system beneath

the apparent chaos of usage, (b) they wanted a means of settling disputes over usage, (c) they

wanted to point out what they felt to be common errors in order to improve the language.

So prescriptivism is an attempt to promote particular linguistic usages over others, often favouring a

particular dialect, for instance. This may have the aim of establishing a linguistic standard, which can

aid communication over large geographical areas. It may also, however, be an attempt by speakers

of one language or dialect to exert influence over speakers of other languages or dialects.

Descriptivism

Linguistics is descriptive; linguists describe and explain features of language without making

subjective judgments on whether a particular feature is "right" or "wrong". This is analogous to

practice in other sciences: a zoologist studies the animal kingdom without making subjective

judgments on whether a particular animal is better or worse than another.

It should be stressed that in distinguishing between description and prescription the linguist is ot

saying that tehre is non place for prescriptie studies of language. It is not being denied that tehre

might be valid cultural or social or political reasons for promoting the wider acceptnce of some

particular language or dialect at te expense of the others. In particular there are administrative and

educational advantages I having a relatively unified literary standard. With the rise of capiltalism a

new middle class emerged who wanted their children to speak the dialect of te upper classes. This

desire led to the publication of many prescriptive grammars. It important however to reaise that the

literary standard is itself subject to change and that from the point of view of its origin it is based

generally upon the speech of one socially or regionally social class of people and as such is no more

correct no purer than te speech of any other class.

At times prescriptivism is needed because it provides a standard form of language that is accepted

by most speakers of that language; adherence to prescriptive rules allows a speaker to be

understood by the greatest possible number of individuals. Second, a set of standard rules is

necessary for students learning a second language. So they serve a useful purpose for learners and

teachers. Nonstandard dialects are sill frowned upon by many groups and can inhibit one’s progress

in soceity. The existence of prescriptive rules allows a speaker of nonstandard dialect to learn the

rules of the standard dialect and employ them in appropriate social circumstances. Therefore,

prescriptive rules are used as an aid in social mobility. This does not mean, however, that these

judgements about dialects are linguistically valid. The idea that one dialect of a language is

intrinsically better than another is simply false; from a linguistic point of view all dialects are equally

good and equally valid. To look down on nonstandard dialects is to exercise a form of social and

linguistic prejusdice.

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Language change

In addition, from ancient times until the present purists have believed that language change is

corruption, deterioration and decay, and that there are certain correct forms that all educated

people should use in speaking and writing. Those grammarians neglected the idea that all living

languages are of their nature efficient and viable systems of communication serving the different

and multifarious social needs of the communities that use them. As these needs change languages

will tend to change to meet the new conditions. Language changes because society changes.

Language change is inevitable and rarely predictable.

These days there is a growing recognition of the need to develop a greater linguistic awareness and

tolerance of change, especially in a multi-ethnic soceity. This requires that schools have the

knowledge and resources to teach a common standard, while recognisig the existence and value of

linguistic diversity.

Some people see change in language as a progression from a simple to a complex state-a view which

was common as a consequence of 19th

c evolutionary thinking. But there is no evidence for this view.

Languages do not develop, progress, decay, evolve, or act according to any of the metaphors which

imply a specific endpoint and level of excellence. They simply change as soceity changes. If a

language dies out, it does so because its status alters in soceity, as other cultures and languages take

over its role.

The equality of languages

Languages express the needs of their users. All languages are equal I the sense that there is nothing

intrinsically limiting, demeaning, or handicapping about any of them. All languages meet the social

and sychological needs of their users, are equally deserving of scientific study, and can provide us

with valuable information about human nature and soceity.

There are widely held misconceptions about languages one of them is that primitive languages have

a simple grammar, a few sounds, and a vocab of only a few hundred words, whose speakers have to

compensate for their language deficiencies through gestures. Yet every culture which has been

investigated, no matter how primitive it may be in cultural terms, turns out to have a fully developed

language, with a complexity comparable to those of the so-called civilised nations. Anthropologically

speaking the human race can be said to have evolved from primitive to civilised states, but there is

no sign of language having gone through the same kind of evolution. There are no bronze age or

stone age languages.

No natural language is simply or wholly regular. All languages have intricate grammatical rules and

all have exceptions to those rules. In addition, there is no evidence to suggest that some languages

are in the long term easier for children to learn than others, though some linguistic features may be

learned at different rates by the children of speakers of different languages.

The belief that some languages are intrinsically superior to others is a myth; it has no basis in

linguistic fact. Some languages are more useful or more prestigious than theirs, at a given period of

history, but this is due to the preeminence of the speakers at that time, and not to any inhenrent

linguistic characteristics. In the past Latin was used in the Roman Catholic church so it was believed

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that evn God spoke Latin, that is why it was considered superior. The Arabs also think that their

classical Arabic language is superior because it is the language of Quran and since God chose Arabic

as the vehicle of his revelation to the prophet then it is the language used in heaven. In this vein the

Spanish emporor Charles V once said that English was the language to speak with merchants,

German with soldiers, French with women...etc.

The history of linguistics

The Greeks

The earliest surviving linguistic debate revolves around the origins of language and the nature of

meaning. Philosophers are split into two groups, the first clan holds the view that language

originated as a product of conviction, so that the relationship between words and things is arbitrary;

‘for nothing has its name by nature, but only by usage and custom’. They think that no name exists

by nature, but only by becoming a symbol. The second clan holds the opposite position, that

language came into being naturally, and therefore an intrinsic relationship exists between words and

things; language has a divine origin, a power greater than that of man assigned the first names to

things. These first ideas developed into two schools of philosophical thought, which have since been

labelled conventionalist and naturalistic.

Another theoretical question was discussed at this time: whether regularity (analogy) or irregularity

(anomaly) was a better explanation for the linguistic facts of Greek; in the former view language was

seen to be essentially regular, displaying symmetries in its rules, paradigms, and meanings; in the

latter attention was focussed on the many exceptions to these rules, such as the existance of

irregular verbs or the lack of coorrespondence between gender and sex. Modern linguistics does not

oppose the two principles in this way: languages are analysed with reference to both rules and

exceptions, the aim being to understand the relationship between the two rather than to deny the

importance of either one. The historical significance of the debate is the stimulus it provided for

detailed studies of Greek and Latin Grammar.

The focus throughout the period was entirely on the written language. The word grammar in fact

originally meant the art of writing. Some attention was paid to basic notions concerning the

articulation of speech, and accent marks were added to writing as a guide to pronunciation. But the

main interests were in the fields of grammar and etymology, rather than phonetics. A doctrine of

correctness and stylistic excellence emerged; linguistic standards were set by comparison with the

language of the ancient writers (e.g. Homer). And as spoken Greek increasingly diverged from the

literary standard, we also find the first arguments about the undesirable nature of linguistic change;

the language had to be preserved from corruption.

The Romans

The most influential work of the Roman period was the codification of Latin grammar under the

headings of etymology, morphology, and syntax. The main view held in that period is that language

is first and foremost a social phenomenon with a communicative purpose; only secondarily is it a

tool for logical and philosophical enquiry. Towards the end of the millennium several authors wrote

major works in the fields of grammar and rhetoric that continued to be used during the middle ages.

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The Indians

During the above period techniques of minute descriptive analysis were being devised by Indian

linguists (which could have been of great influence if they had reached the western world). The

motivation for the Indian work was different from the speculative matters that attracted Greek and

Roman thinkers. Since the Indian language had diverged from the old sacred texts and since priests

believed that certain religious ceremonies, to be successful, needed to reproduce accurately the

original form of these texts, several disciplines including phonetics, etymology, grammar and metrics

grew up to overcome this problem. Change was not corruption as in Greece but profanation.

Important works remarkable for their detailed phonetic description emerged. For example, places of

articulation are clearly described, the concept of voicing is introduced, and the influence of sounds

on each other in connected speech is recognised. Several concepts of modern linguistics derive from

this tradition.

The middle ages

The dominant thought at that period was that grammar was seen as the foundation for the whole of

learning. A tradition of speculative grammars developed in the 13th

and 14th

centuries in which

grammatical notions were reinterpreted within the framework of scholastic philosophy. Philosophy

was looked to for the ultimate explanation of the rules of grammar.

In addition, it was believed that the differences between languages were thought to be superficial,

hiding the existence of a universal grammar.

The middle ages also saw the development of western lexicography and progress in the field of

translation, as Christian missionary activity increased. Around the 8th

c several major grammars and

dictionaries were produced as well as descriptive works on Arabic pronunciation.

The Renaissance

The rediscovery of the Classical world that came with the revival of learning, as well as the

discoveries of the new world, transformed the field of language study. Missionary work produced a

large quantity of linguistic material, especially from the Far East. The Chinese linguistic traditions

were discovered. Arabic and Hebrew studies progressed the latter especially in relation to the Bible.

There was a more systematic study of European languages. Major dictionary projects were launched

in many languages. Academies came into being. The availability of printing led to the rapid

dissemination of ideas and materials.

The 18th

c is characterised by the arguments between ‘rationalists’ and ‘empiricists’ over the role of

innate ideas in the development of thought and language. The century was also marked by the

breakdown of Latin as a universal medium of communication and its replacement by modern

languages; the beginnings of a systematic approach to phonetics, and the development of general

grammars based on universal principles.

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Modern linguistics

Ferdinand De Saussure

De Saussure is the father of modern linguistics, the man who reorganized the systematic study of

language and languages in such a way as to make possible the achievements of 20th

century

linguistics. Saussure’s foundations for modern linguistics are based on fivedichotomies:

-Langue-parole (competence-performance in modern form)

-Synchronic-diachronic

-signifier-signified sides of the linguistic sign

-Oppositions on two axes-syntagmatic and paradigmatic

-Social vs individual facts

He thinks also that in language, difference is everything. The system of language consists of elements

that define each other by differing from one another. Linguistic elements stand in negative or

contrastive relations.

1- Langue is everything systematic, pertaining to the regularities of the ‘system’ this is competence

in Chomsky’s formulation. Parole is everything else. De Saussure thinks that the real object of study

of linguistics must be ‘la parole’ or language in use.

Saussure was focusing on the linguistic sign (such as a word) and he ‘phonocentrically’ priviledged

the spoken word, referring specifically to the image acoustique (‘sound-image’ or ‘sound-pattern’),

seeing writing as a separate, secondary, dependent but comparable sign system. Saussure thinks

that the signs used in writing are arbitrary, the letter T has no connection with the sound it denotes.

2- Synchronic is taking all the patterns of the language system into view at a single theoretical

instant. The idea underlying synchrony is that language is a system of relations. Diachrony takes a

look at language from the point of view of something undergoing historical change taking place over

decades and centuries. Historical change can break the relationship that connects words within the

system of language. For instance, a word is no longer felt to be derived from another word.

In Latin the word meaning ‘enemy’ inimicus derived from that for ‘friend’ amicus by adding a

negative prefix:

Amicus=>in+imicus (phonetic adjustment of ‘a’ to ‘I’) historical vicissitudes impacted these words

separately, and in French the sense of a negative relationship is lost:

Ami ennemi (en, is not a negative prefix, now part of a single word).

3- The two dominant models of what constitutes a sign are those of the linguist Fardinand De

Saussure and the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. Saussure’s model is dyadic. It includes a (1)

signifier, the form of the sign and a (2) signified), the concept (or sound image) it represents.

For instance, the word ‘open’ on a shop is made up of:

A signifier: the word ‘open’

A signified concept: that the shop is open for business

A sign must have both a signifier and a signified. The same signifier ‘open’ could stand for a

different signified and thus be a different sign. If it were on a push button in a lift it would mean

‘push to open door’. The signifier is now commonly interpreted as the material or physical form of

the sign- it is something which can be seen, heard, touched, smelt or tasted. For De Saussure, the

signifier and signified are purely ‘psychological’. His signified is not to be identified directly with a

referent but is a concept in the mind- not a thing but the notion of a thing.

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De Saussure stressed that sound and thought (or the signifier and the signified) were as

inseparable as the two sides of a piece of paper. They were intimately linked in the mind by an

associative link- each triggers the other. Saussure presented these elements as wholly

interdependent, neither pre-existing to the other. However, commonsense, tends to insist that the

signified takes precedence over, and pre-exists, the signifier. Saussurean theorists have seen the

model as implicitly granting primacy to the signifier, thus reversing the commonsensical position.

Commonsense suggests that the existence of things in the world preceded our apparently simple

application of labels to them. Saussure noted that ‘if words had the job of representing concepts

fixed in advance, one would be able to find exact equivalents for them as between one language and

another. But this is not the case’. Indeed reality is divided up into arbitrary categories and no two

languages categorise reality in the same way. Linguistic categories are not simply a consequence of

some predefined structure in the world. There are no ‘natural’ concepts or categories which are

simply ‘reflected’ in language. Language plays a crucial role in ‘constructing reality’. If one accepts

the arbitrariness of the relationship between signifier and signified then one may argue counter-

intuitively that the signified is determined by the signifier rather than by vice versa. Indeed, the

French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, in adapting Saussurean theories, sought to highlight the

primacy of the signifier in the psyche.

The arbitrariness of the sign is a radical concept because it proposes the autonomy of language

in relation to reality. The Saussurean model, with its emphasis on internal structures within a sign

system, can be seen as supporting the notion that language does not reflect reality but rather

constructs it. We can use language to say what is not in the world as well as what is. And since we

come to know the world through whatever language we have been born into the midst of, it is

legitimate to argue that our language determines reality, rather than reality our language. In their

book ‘the meaning of meaning’, Ogden and Richards criticized Saussure for ‘neglecting enetirely the

things for which signs stand’. Later critics have lamented his model’s detachment from social

context. Robert Stam argues that by ‘bracketing the refrent’ the Saussurean model ‘severs text from

history’.

De Saussure introduces the notion of degrees of arbitrariness. If linguistic signs were to be

totally arbitrary in every way language would not be a system and its communicative function would

be destroyed. He concedes that ‘there exists no language in which nothing at all is motivated’.

Saussure admits that ‘a language is not completely arbitrary, for the system has a certain rationaliy’.

The principle of arbitrariness does not mean that the form of the word is accidental or random.

Whilst the sign is not determined extralinguistically it is subject to intralinguistic determination. For

instance, a compound noun such as a screwdriver is not wholly arbitrary since it is a meaningful

combination of two existing signs. So signs are relatively arbitrary.Levis-strauss noted that the sign is

arbitrary a priori but ceases to be arbitrary a posteriori- after the sign has come into historical

existence it cannot be arbitrarily changed.

As part of its social use within a code, every sign acquires a history and connotations of its own

which are familiar to members of the sign users’ culture. Saussure remarked that although the

signifier ‘may seem to be freely chosen’, from the point of view of the linguistic community it is

‘imposed rather than freely chosen’ because ‘a language is always an inheritance from the past’

which its users have ‘no choice but to accept’. Indeed, ‘it is because the linguistic sign is arbitrary

that it knows no other law than that of tradition, and because it is founded upon tradition that it can

be arbitrary’. The arbitrariness principle does not, of course mean that an individual can arbitrarily

choose any signifier for a given signified. The relation between a signifier and its signified is not a

matter of individual choice, if it were then communication would become impossible. The individual

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has no power to alter a sign in any respect once it has become established in the linguistic

community’.

The Saussurean legacy of the arbitrariness of the sign leads semioticians to stress that the

relationship between the signifier and the signified is conventional- dependent on social and cultural

conventions. This is particularly clear in the case of the linguistic sign with which Saussure was

concerned: a word means what it does to us only because we collectively agree to let it do so.

Louis Hielmslev used the terms ‘expression’ and ‘content’ to refer to the signifier and signified.

Saussre thought of both the signifier and the signified as purely psychological phenomena. The

relationship between signifier and signified is called signification, and together they constitute a sign.

Signification depends on perceptions not merely on physical form since not all users will perceive

things the same way (the example of a blind-colour person).

What Saussure defines as a ‘sign’ unites a concept with a sound-image. This sound-image is not

precisely an actual sound that is spoken, but the psychological imprint of the sound, the impression

that it makes on our senses. A sound image is also connected to a concept. For example if one sees

or hears the word ‘horse’, then he would picture a four-legged animal with a mane and a tail running

through a field. When these two cognitive experiences (the sound image and the concept) are

brought together, the result is a sign. The importance of a sign arises in the recognition that it cannot

exist with just one of these experiences. Rather, both are needed because they are mutually defining

as each recalls the other. The integral yet opposition relationship of the sound-image and concept

may perhaps be clearer by identifying these cognitive experiences by other terms: the signifier and

signified. The unity of these two makes meaningful communication possible but only if the

codification of a signifier with a signified is shared by the speaker and the auditor, or the writer and

the reader.

The necessity of this shared codification is underscored by Saussure when he stresses that the

connection of a signifier with a signified is not natural, absolute, or intuitive. Signs while they seem

distinct representations of language, are actually arbitrary in nature (eg. Sister in English and it has

no significance in French). Signs are arbitrary. The signifier/signified pairing as a sign is not universal,

even within a language or culture; the meaning of signs differ between cultures, regions and time

periods. The only reason a sign comes to be known, is that it has been accepted by a group as a

convention.

No specific signifier is ‘naturally’ more suited to a signified than any other signifier, in principle any

signifier could represent any signified. Saussure observed that ‘there is nothing at all to prevent the

association of any idea whatsoever with any sequence of sounds whatsoever, the process which

selects one particular sound-sequence to correspond to one particular idea is completely arbitrary’.

Saussure thinks that the signs used in writing are arbitrary, the letter T has no connection with the

sound it denotes.

This arbitrariness of the linguistic sign is not an original conception: Aristotle had noted that

‘there can be no natural connection between between the sound of any language and the things

signified’. Some might suggest that sign is the jargon of ‘symbol’. However, Saussure considers that a

symbol, unlike, a sign is not wholly arbitrary. For example, a pair of scales is a symbol of justice. The

scales, though, cannot be replaced by any other symbol such as chariot. The relationship of symbol

and concept is a self-consciously chosen metaphor: justice entails a weighing of good against bad.

Saussure also acknowledges two possible objections to the notion that signs are arbitrary. The first

focuses on the use of onomatopoeia. Because these words are supposed to imitate sounds, the

signifier would not appear to be arbitrary. The sound-images of the signifiers, though, are

approximate. They, too, vary from language to language. The other objection arises in the use of

interjections. Words such as ‘ouch’ might seem like spontaneous expressions, but like

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onomatopoeia, they differ in contrasting languages. For instance, the English ‘ouch’ is the French

‘aie’.

While Saussure argues that signs are arbitrary, he also claims that signs lose that characteristic

when presented in a particular context. A signifier gains its meaning-the signified- by the literary

units, or other signs that it is embedded in. this is the linear nature of a signifier- the dependence of

its signification upon the string of language in which it is embedded- points to the centrality of the

linguistic context to the experience of meaning. Although the relationship of signifier and signified is

arbitrary, the meaningfulness of the sign is not: it is determined by and contributes to the linguistic

string- system of signs- of which it is a part. As a signifier appears, it not only indicates what is to

come, but it has also been indicated by what has preceded it. As a sentence, or even an entire work,

unfolds linearly signs are no longer arbitrary because they are defined by those before and after it.

All of these elements-sign, signifier, signified, sound-image, symbol, etc. make it clear to Saussure

that language is a complex and sophisticated linguistic system. This recognition has profound

implications for the study of literature. In the structuralist aesthetic made possible by Saussure’s

analysis, the study of literature becomes focused not on the discovery or persuit of meaning, but

upon an analysis of the process of reading, upon an investigation of how meaning is experienced and

articulated through the sign system deployed by a given text. (Johnathan Culler’s ‘structuralism and

literature).

According to Saussure, chains of signification are the ordinary state of affairs: signs usually

refer to other signs, not to physical objects. For him, meaning is relational as opposed to referential;

that is signs make sense only within a system of related signs, not because of their inherent

properties or their reference to material things. Structuralism is the tradition, beginning with

Saussure, of viewing signs as functioning within systems, and analysing the structure of these

systems by identifying their constituent parts and the relations among them. This outlook has widely

informed study in the humanities and social sciences, beginning with linguistics and extending to

literature, anthropology, and sociology, and other fields. The influence of structuralism is so

widespread that some view it as the basis for all semiotics.

Saussure argued that signs only make sense as part of a formal, generalized and abstract system. His

conception of meaning was purely structural and relational rather than referential: primacy is given

to relationships rather than to things. No sign makes sense on its own but only in relation to their

signs. The meaning of signs was seen as lying in their systematic relation to each other rather than

deriving from any inherent features of signifiers or any reference to material things.

Signs have two kinds of oppositions at once-one along the paradigmatic axis and the other along the

syntagmatic axis. Paradigmatic relations hold between signs with something in common. On this axis

words contrast in terms of meaning. Syntagmatic relations hold between signs in the same

‘syntagm’- an organised sequence of signs- that contrast in terms of their roles in the combination.

The syntagmatic axis determines how signs combine into sequences.

De Saussure emphasised in particular negative, oppositional differences between signs, and

the key relationships in strcuturalist analysis are binary oppositions (nature/culture, life/death).

Saussure argued that ‘concepts… are defined not positively, in terms of their content, but negatively

by contrast with other items in the same system.

At around the same time as Saussure was formulating his model of the sign, of ‘semiology’ and of a

strcuturalist methodology, across the Atlantic independent work was also in progress as the

pragmatist philosopher and logician Charles Sabnders Peirce formulated his own model of the sign,

of ‘semiotic’ and of the taxonomies of signs. In contrast to Saussure’s model of the sign in the form

of a self-contained dyad’, pierce offered a triadic model:

-The representamen: the form which the sign takes (not necessarily material)

13

-An interpretant: not an interpreter but rather the sense made of the sign

-An object: to which the sign refers

Noam Chomsky

Generative grammar generally refers to a proof-theoretic framework for the study of syntax partially

inspired by formal grammar theory and pioneered by Noam Chmsky. Generative grammar should be

distinguished from traditional grammar, which is often so strongly prescriptive rather than purely

descriptive. In most cases, a generative grammar is capable of generating an infinite number of

sentences from a finite set of rules. These properties are desirable for a model of natural language,

since human brains are of finite capacity, yet humans can generate and understand a very large

number of distinct sentences. Some linguists go so far as to claim that the set of grammatical

sentences of any natural language is indeed finite. A sentence is not merely a group of words, but

rather a tree with subordinate and superordinate branches connected at nodes.

Chomsky theorised that beneath all the variety of different languages there is a common and innate

mental sub-structure which ‘generates’ language. The ‘deep structures’ of language are conceived as

a kind of inherited human grammar in which ‘kernel statements’ are ‘transformed’ and built up into

sentences.

Essentially, the tree model works something like this example, in which S is a sentence, D is a

determiner, N a noun, V a verb, NP a noun phrase and VP and verb phrase.

S

NP VP

D N V NP

The dog ate D N

the bone

the resulting sentence could be ‘the dog ate the bone’. Such a tree diagram is also called a phrase

marker. They can be represented more conveniently in a text form. In this form the above sentence

would be rendered as:

(S (NP (D the) (N dog)) (VP (V ate) (NP (D the) (N bone) ) ) )

However, Chomsky at some point argued that phrase structure grammars are also inadequate for

describing natural languages. To address this, Chomsky formulated the more complex system of

transformational grammar. When generative grammar was first proposed, it was widely hailed as a

way of formalising the implicit set of rules a person ‘knows’ when they know their native language

and produce grammatical utterances in it. However, Chomsky has repeatedly rejected that

interpretation; according to him, the grammar of a language is a statement of what it is that a

person has to know in order to recognise an utterance as grammatical, but no a hypothesis about

the processes involved in either understanding or producing language. In any case the reality is that

most native speakers would reject many sentences produced even by a phrase structure grammar.

For example, although very deep embedding are allowed by the grammar, sentences with deep

embeddings are not accepted by listeners, and the limit of acceptability is an empirical matter that

varies between individuals, not something that can be easily captured in a formal grammar.

So instead of starting with minimal sounds, as the structural linguists had done, Chomsky began with

the rudimentary or primitive sentence; from this base he developed his argument that innumerable

syntactic combinations can be generated by means of a complex series of rules.

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According to transformational grammar, every intelligible sentence conforms not only to

grammatical rules peculiar to the particular language in which it is uttered but also to ‘deep

structures’, a universal grammar underlying all languages and corresponding to an innate capacity of

the human brain. Chmosky and other linguists who have built on his work have formulated

transformational rules, rules for transforming a sentence with a given grammatical structure (e.g.

John saw Mary) into a sentence with a different grammatical structure but the same essential

meaning (Mary was seen by John).

Transformational linguistics has been influenced in psycholinguistics, particularly in the study of

language acquisition by children. For many years there has been a battle between linguistics as to

whether language acquisition is innate or learned. Chomsky argues that language acquisition is an

innate structure, or function, of the human brain.

Although known that there are structures of the rain that control the interpretation and production

of speech, it was not clear as to how humans acquired language ability, both in its interpretive sense

and its production. This is where Noam Chomsky made his contribution.

There are a few factors that Chomsky has used to support his theory of language acquisition. First is

that there is an optional learning age. Between the ages 3 to 10 a child is the most likely to learn a

language in its entirety and grasp fluency. After this age, it is hard and even considered impossible

for the child to completely grasp the language. This is why school systems are criticised for teaching

foreign languages in high school and not in elementary.

The second factor is that the child does not need a trigger to begin language acquisition, it happens

on its own. The parent does not need to coax the child to speak, if it around language production,

the child will work to produce that language on its own. Several things may help the child develop

faster, such as the parent producing baby talk, or being read to on a consistent basis. But these

things only have a small effect, and if they are not done, the child will still eventually learn to speak

without them.

Another factor found was that it does not matter if a child is corrected they still grasp the language

in the same manner and speak the same way. During one stage, a child will make things plural that

are already plural. For example, a child will say ‘geeses’ instead of ‘geese’. It does not matter how

many times a child is corrected, the child still says ‘geeses’.

Another fact is that children go through stages of language acquisition in which they learn certain

parts of the language. They all go through these stages at the same time, around the same age. A

child in China, will follow the same linguistic patterns of language acquisition as a child in the US.

As long as phonology is concerned, Chomsky gives priority to the ‘distinctive features’ and regards

phonemes as mere classes of distinctive features. Moreover, generative phonologists, besides being

about the only ones to conceive of distinctive features as universal. Generally regard them as

necessarily binary- each feature being characterised as a phonetic property, which is either

downright absent or else fully present. For instance, the English phoneme /i/ is characterised as

(+syllabic), (-consonant), (+sonorant), (+high), (-low), (+voiced), (-tense), (-round), (+front), (-back), (-

nasal), (-long), etc. although such a characterisation contains a lot of reduncdancy. Another

peculiarity of generative phonology is that it posits different levels, with one deep level al which

there may be phonemes having features which are not manifested al all at the surface level- an

ordered set of rules turning the deep input into the surface output.

Generative phonology has gained widespread acceptance even outside the English speaking world.

However, a great many linguists have grievances about the existence of deep levels far away from

surface realizations and even more about the psychological reality of such a deep level or the rules

governing the generation of the surface output. There is scarcity of empirical evidence in support of

such posited entities and even abundance of indications pointing to total lack of awareness of their

15

existence on the part of native speakers. Moreover, the universalist view of distinctive features can

hardly be reconciled with many of the empirical data, while the binary principle has been argued to

run counter to the continuous, gradual nature of the psychological and physiological processes

involved. Furthermore, distinctive features are likely to be regarded as somehow less present than

the phonemes themselves in the consciousness of native speakers.

Transformational grammar is a broad term describing grammars (almost exclusively those of natural

languages) which have been developed in a Chomskian tradition. The term is usually synonymous

with the slightly more specific transformational-generative grammar (TGG).

Deep structure and surface structure

In the early to mid 1960s, Noam Chomsky developed the idea that each sentence in a language has

two levels of representation - a deep structure and a surface structure. The deep structure was

(more-or-less) a direct representation of the basic semantic relations underlying a sentence, and was

mapped onto the surface structure (which followed the phonological form of the sentence very

closely) via transformations. Chomsky believed that there would be considerable similarities

between the deep structures of different languages, and that these structures would reveal

properties, common to all languages, which were concealed by their Surface Structures. However,

this was perhaps not the central motivation for introducing Deep Structure. Transformations

themselves had been proposed prior to the development of Deep Structure, essentially as a means

of increasing the mathematical and descriptive power of Context free grammars. Similarly, Deep

Structure was devised largely for narrow technical reasons relating to early semantic theory.

Chomsky emphasizes the importance of modern formal mathematical devices in the development of

grammatical theory:

“But the fundamental reason for [the] inadequacy of traditional grammars is a more technical one.

Although it was well understood that linguistic processes are in some sense "creative", the technical

devices for expressing a system of recursive processes were simply not available until much more

recently. In fact, a real understanding of how a language can (in Humboldt's words) "make infinite

use of finite means" has developed only within the last thirty years, in the course of studies in the

foundations of mathematics.”

(Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, p. 8)

Development of basic concepts

Though transformations continue to be important in Chomsky's current theories, he has now

abandoned the original notion of Deep Structure and Surface Structure. Initially, two additional

levels of representation were introduced (LF — Logical Form, and PF — Phonetic Form), and then in

the 1990s Chomsky sketched out a new program of research known as Minimalism, in which Deep

Structure and Surface Structure no longer featured and PF and LF remained as the only levels of

representation.

To complicate the understanding of the development of Chomsky's theories, the precise meanings of

Deep Structure and Surface Structure have changed over time — by the 1970s, the two were

normally referred to simply as D-Structure and S-Structure by Chomskian linguists. In particular, the

idea that the meaning of a sentence was determined by its Deep Structure (taken to its logical

16

conclusions by the generative semanticists during the same period) was dropped for good by

Chomskian linguists when LF took over this role (previously, Chomsky and Ray Jackendoff had begun

to argue that meaning was determined by both Deep and Surface Structure).

Innate linguistic knowledge

Terms such as "transformation" can give the impression that theories of transformational generative

grammar are intended as a model for the processes through which the human mind constructs and

understands sentences. Chomsky is clear that this is not in fact the case: a generative grammar

models only the knowledge that underlies the human ability to speak and understand. One of the

most important of Chomsky's ideas is that most of this knowledge is innate, with the result that a

baby can have a large body of prior knowledge about the structure of language in general, and need

only actually learn the idiosyncratic features of the language(s) it is exposed to. Chomsky was not the

first person to suggest that all languages had certain fundamental things in common (he quotes

philosophers writing several centuries ago who had the same basic idea), but he helped to make the

innateness theory respectable after a period dominated by more behaviorist attitudes towards

language. Perhaps more significantly, he made concrete and technically sophisticated proposals

about the structure of language, and made important proposals regarding how the success of

grammatical theories should be evaluated.

Chomsky goes so far as to suggest that a baby need not learn any actual rules specific to a particular

language at all. Rather, all languages are presumed to follow the same set of rules, but the effects of

these rules and the interactions between them can vary greatly depending on the values of certain

universal linguistic parameters. This is a very strong assumption, and is one of the more subtle ways

in which Chomsky's current theory of language differs from most others.

Grammatical theories

In the 1960s, Chomsky introduced two central ideas relevant to the construction and evaluation of

grammatical theories. The first was the distinction between competence and performance. Chomsky

noted the obvious fact that people, when speaking in the real world, often make linguistic errors

(e.g. starting a sentence and then abandoning it midway through). He argued that these errors in

linguistic performance were irrelevant to the study of linguistic competence (the knowledge that

allows people to construct and understand grammatical sentences). Consequently, the linguist can

study an idealised version of language, greatly simplifying linguistic analysis (see the

"Grammaticalness" section below). The second idea related directly to the evaluation of theories of

grammar. Chomsky made a distinction between grammars which achieved descriptive adequacy and

those which went further and achieved explanatory adequacy. A descriptively adequate grammar for

a particular language defines the (infinite) set of grammatical sentences in that language; that is, it

describes the language in its entirety. A grammar which achieves explanatory adequacy has the

additional property that it gives an insight into the underlying linguistic structures in the human

mind; that is, it does not merely describe the grammar of a language, but makes predictions about

how linguistic knowledge is mentally represented. For Chomsky, the nature of such mental

representations is largely innate, so if a grammatical theory has explanatory adequacy it must be

able to explain the various grammatical nuances of the languages of the world as relatively minor

17

variations in the universal pattern of human language. Chomsky argued that, even though linguists

were still a long way from constructing descriptively adequate grammars, progress in terms of

descriptive adequacy would only come if linguists held explanatory adequacy as their goal. In other

words, real insight into the structure of individual languages could only be gained through the

comparative study of a wide range of languages, on the assumption that they are all cut from the

same cloth.

"Grammaticalness"

Chomsky argued that the notions "grammatical" and "ungrammatical" could be defined in a

meaningful and useful way. In contrast an extreme behaviorist linguist would argue that language

can only be studied through recordings or transcriptions of actual speech, the role of the linguist

being to look for patterns in such observed speech, but not to hypothesize about why such patterns

might occur, nor to label particular utterances as either "grammatical" or "ungrammatical". Although

few linguists in the 1950s actually took such an extreme position, Chomsky was at an opposite

extreme, defining grammaticality in an unusually (for the time) mentalistic way. He argued that the

intuition of a native speaker is enough to define the grammaticalness of a sentence; that is, if a

particular string of English words elicits a double take, or feeling of wrongness in a native English

speaker, it can be said that the string of words is ungrammatical (when various extraneous factors

affecting intuitions are controlled for). This (according to Chomsky) is entirely distinct from the

question of whether a sentence is meaningful, or can be understood. It is possible for a sentence to

be both grammatical and meaningless, as in Chomsky's famous example "colourless green ideas

sleep furiously". But such sentences manifest a linguistic problem distinct from that posed by

meaningful but ungrammatical (non)-sentences such as "man the bit sandwich the", the meaning of

which is fairly clear, but which no native speaker would accept as being well formed.

The use of such intuitive judgments freed syntacticians from studying language through a corpus of

observed speech, since they were now able to study the grammatical properties of contrived

sentences. Without this change in philosophy, the construction of generative grammars would have

been almost impossible, since it is often the relatively obscure and rarely-used features of a

language which give linguists clues about its structure, and it is very difficult to find good examples of

such features in everyday speech.

Minimalism

Minimalism in the sense described here has no philosophical association with Minimalism, the artistic

and cultural movement.

Much current research in transformational grammar is inspired by Chomsky's Minimalist Program.

The new research direction involves the further development of ideas involving economy of

derivation and economy of representation, which had started to become significant in the early

1990s, but were still rather peripheral aspects of TGG theory. Economy of derivation is a principle

stating that movements (i.e. transformations) only occur in order to match interpretable features

with uninterpretable features. An example of an interpretable feature is the plural inflection on

regular English nouns, e.g. dogs. The word dogs can only be used to refer to several dogs, not a

single dog, and so this inflection contributes to meaning, making it interpretable. English verbs are

inflected according to the grammatical number of their subject (e.g. "Dogs bite" vs "A dog bites"),

18

but in most sentences this inflection just duplicates the information about number that the subject

noun already has, and it is therefore uninterpretable. Economy of representation is the principle that

grammatical structures must exist for a purpose, i.e. the structure of a sentence should be no larger

or more complex than required to satisfy constraints on grammaticalness (note that this does not

rule out complex sentences in general, only sentences that have superfluous elements in a narrow

syntactic sense). Both notions, as described here, are somewhat vague, and indeed the precise

formulation of these principles is a major area of controversy in current research. An additional

aspect of minimalist thought is the idea that the derivation of syntactic structures should be uniform;

that is, rules should not be stipulated as applying at arbitrary points in a derivation, but instead apply

throughout derivations. Recently, it has been suggested that derivations proceed in phases. Deep

Structure and Surface Structure are not present in Minimalist theories of syntax, and the most recent

phase-based theories also eliminate LF and PF as unitary levels of representation.

Mathematical representation

Returning to the more general mathematical notion of a grammar, an important feature of all

transformational grammars is that they are more powerful than context free grammars. This idea

was formalized by Chomsky in the Chomsky hierarchy. Chomsky argued that it is impossible to

describe the structure of natural languages using context free grammars. His general position

regarding the non-context-freeness of natural language has held up since then, although his specific

examples regarding the inadequacy of CFGs in terms of their weak generative capacity were later

disproven.

19

Seminars

1. DEFINITIONS OF LINGUISTICS

Discuss the following statements:

`The goal of linguistic theory is to understand the nature of language: what knowledge of

language consists of, and how the mind is structured so that we are able to acquire knowledge

of language’ (Culicover, 1997).

‘We can formulate and evaluate proposals about the nature of the human mind by doing

linguistics’ (Radford, et al., 2000).

2. PRESCRIPTIVISM VS DESCRIPTIVISM

• Explain which trend from the table below is denied in modern linguistics and why.

…it describes your basic linguistic

knowledge. It tells you what you know

about the sounds, words, phrases and

sentences of your language (the internal

and mental grammar of the speakers of a

language).

how aw language should be used in speaking

and writing. These grammarians believe that

there are certain correct forms that all

educated people should use. They wished to

prescribe the rules of grammar which gave

rise to the writing of prescriptive grammars.

Answer:

Prescriptivism is denied by linguists. They consider prescriptive grammars as elitists. They do

not reflect the real linguistic competence of the speakers of a language. They seem to ignore

linguistic change and linguistic variation.

• Comment on the following statement:

‘Overall, linguistics is a relatively recent science with ancient origins.’

� Fill in the blanks with the missing words to complete this definition of linguistics (there are

extra words):

regularities - generative - descriptive – structural- deficient- prescriptive- differences

"A fully adequate grammar must assign to each of an infinite range of sentences a structural

description indicating how this sentence is understood by the ideal speaker -hearer. This is the

traditional problem of ----------------------- linguistics, and traditional grammars give a wealth of

information concerning ------------------------- descriptions of sentences. However, valuable as they

20

obviously are, traditional grammars are ------------------- in that they leave unexpressed many of the

basic -------------------------------- of the language with which they are concerned. This fact is particularly

clear on the level of syntax, where no traditional or structuralist grammar goes beyond classification

of particular examples to the stage of formulation of ------------------------- rules on any significant

scale. An analysis of the best existing grammars will quickly reveal that this is a defect of principle,

not just a matter of empirical detail or logical preciseness."

� Fill in the blanks with the missing words:

Functional- prescriptive– descriptive- function- describe- prescribe

-------------------- grammarians ask the question, "What is English (or another language) like what are

its forms and how do they --------------- in various situations?" By contrast, ------------- grammarians ask

"What should English be like ----------------- what forms should people use and what functions should

they serve?" Modern grammarians aim to ----------------- rather than ----------------- linguistic forms and

their uses.

� Supply the missing word(s) to complete this text about linguistics.

Linguistics is the scientific study of --------------------------. Linguistics shares with other sciences a

concern to be -------------------, systematic, consistent and explicit in its account of language. Knowing

a language however, means knowing the -------------- system, ---------------------------- rules, and the -----

------------------ use of sentences in certain situations.

There are widely held misconceptions about language, the first one deals with the view that there

are languages which are inherently or intrinsically ---------------------------- in status, that’s why rules

should be --------------------------------- in order to preserve these languages from getting corrupted. -----

-------------------------- on the other hand, explains features of language without making subjective

judgements on whether a particular feature is right or wrong. A second misconception lies in the fact

that language change means deterioration and decay of that language. All living languages are of

their nature efficient and viable systems of communication serving the different social needs of the

communities that use them. Another misconception lies in the fact that ---------------------------- ---------

----------------------- have a simple grammar, a few sounds, and a few words and speakers should

compensate for the language’s -------------------------------- through gestures. Finally, many people

think that the spoken language is ---------------------------- to and dependent upon the standard written

language.

It is worth noting that human language is the major thing that differentiates men from animals. It is

interesting to note that although animals can ----------------------------- like humans, human language

has unique --------------------------. First, people can refer to past and future time and to other

locations; ------------------------------. Second, there is no natural connection between a linguistic sign

and its meaning; ----------------------------------. Third, it is a feature of all languages that novel

utterances are continually being created; ---------------------. Fourth, we do not inherit languages, we --

21

------------------------- a language in a culture with other speakers; ------------------------------ -----------------.

Fifth, the sounds used in language are meaningfully distinct; -------------------------. Finally, -----------------

refers to the fact that language has two levels; at one level we have distinct sounds and the second

we have distinct ---------------------------------.

“Chewing, licking and sucking are extremely widespread mammalian activities, which in terms of

casual observation, have obvious similarities with speech.” MacNeilage (1998) (cited in Yule, 2006)

• In what way are chewing, licking and sucking similar to speaking?

What is linguistics? Linguistics is concerned with language in all its forms, ---------------------, -------------

---------------- and signed. Because language appears to be a uniquely ----------------- attribute, the

questions of what language is, how human beings come to have it, and how they use it, have been

pursued for over 2,000 years. Inquiry into language has raised fundamental questions about human

cognition and behaviour ever since. Perhaps the key insight of linguistics is just that language and

linguistic behaviour are highly structured, and the guiding principle of modern linguistics is that the

nature of these structures can be elucidated by systematic study through a range of theoretical and

empirical methodologies.

Linguists today concern themselves with many different facets of language, from the physical

properties of the sound waves in utterances to the intentions of speakers towards others in

conversations and the social contexts in which conversations are embedded. The various sub-

branches of linguistics are concerned with how languages are structured, what they have in

common, the range of and limits to the differences among them, how they are acquired and used,

how they change and so on. The study of the properties of language in this sense, and the

construction of theoretical models for these areas of inquiry, all come under the rubric of linguistics.

20th

Century Modern Linguistics

What is defined as “[…]a well-defined object in the whole miscellaneous collection of linguistic facts

(faits de langage). It can be localized in that part of the [communicative] circuit where an auditory

image is associated with a concept. It is the social aspect of language (langage), exterior to the

individual, and the individual alone can neither create nor modify it; it exists only by virtue of a kind

of contract which holds amongst the members of the community.” (FROM: Ferdinand de Saussure

(1915) Cours de linguistique générale. Paris: Payot. 1968 page 31)

Langue

p.33 One can therefore envisage a science which studies the life of signs at the heart of social life

[…]

William Labov (1970) The study of language in its social context. In Sociolinguistic Patterns.

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1972.

“Langue is the abstract language system and is conceived as the only true object of study: but it is

unobservable. Parole is concrete language behaviour, which is considered unsystematic: as a whole,

it is also unobservable. Linguistics has therefore defined itself with reference to a dualism, both

halves of which are unobservable. This is the Saussurian paradox.” (Labov,1972, 185ff).

internal > langue > synchrony > paradigmatic

22

external > parole > diachrony > syntagmatic

Complete the sentence and diagrams below:

Ferdinand De Saussure

Dichotomy between Langue and Parole:

Langue is the totality of a language: it is deducible from the memories of all language users.

De Sausssure argues that the characteristics of Langue are really present in the brain and not simply

abstractions.

Grammar vocabulary pronunciation (all= linguistic

structure)

The concrete act of speaking on the part of the individual

= Parole (system existing at a particular time +place or community)

Personal dynamic social activity

What is object to study (linguistic observation)? Parole

Nature of the linguistic sign: Linguistic units are dual in nature (i.e., comprising 2 elements)= It is a

two-sided psychological entity where we can distinguish between:

Concept

Sound pattern

However, this does not imply that signals depend on the free choice of the speaker because they are

established in linguistic communities

Signified= signifié

Signifier= signifiant

PRINCIPLE 2: The linear character of the signal (the verbal representation of the concept)

It occupies a certain temporal space:

linear like a chain: H O U S E

visual signals (based on graphic signs):

PRINCIPLE 1:

An arbitrary relationship

↸

De Saussure developed the object study of linguisics around -------------------------------.

23

The properties of human languages

I

1/ Read the following statement and explain to what extent can chewing, licking and sucking similar

to speaking.

“Chewing, licking and sucking are extremely widespread mammalian activities, which in terms of

casual observation, have obvious similarities with speech.”

MacNeilage (1998) (cited in Yule, 2006)

“We don't usually think of speaking as similar to chewing, licking and sucking, but, like

speaking, all of these actions involve movements of the mouth, tongue and lips in some

kind of controlled way. So, perhaps this connection is not as improbable as it first sounds.

It is an example of the type of observation that can lead to interesting speculations about

the origins of spoken language. They remain, however speculations, not facts. We simply

don't know how language originated. We suspect that some type of spoken language

developed between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, well before written language (about

5,000 years ago). Yet, among the traces of earlier periods of life on earth, we never find

any direct evidence or artifacts relating to the speech of our distant ancestors that might

tell us how language was back in the early stages Perhaps because of this absence of

direct physical evidence, there has been no shortage of speculation about the origins of

human speech. In this chapter, we will consider the merits of some of those speculations.”

(Yule, 2006).

2/ When your pet cat comes home and stands at your feet calling meow, you are likely to

understand this message as relating to that immediate time and place. If you ask your cat where it

has been and what it was up to what will you get as a response?

Animals Humans

Animal communication seems to be

designed exclusively for this moment,

here and now. It cannot effectively be

used to relate events that are far

removed in time and place.

Humans can refer to past and future time.

This property of human language is called

displacement. It allows language users to

talk about things and events not present in

the immediate environment.

3/

24

It is generally the case that there is no 'natural' connection between a linguistic form and its

meaning. The connection is quite arbitrary. We can't just look at the Arabic word and, from its

shape, for example, determine that it has a natural and obvious meaning any more than we can with

its English translation form dog. The linguistic form has no natural or 'iconic' relationship with that

hairy four-legged barking object out in the world. This aspect of the relationship between linguistic

signs and objects in the world is described as arbitrariness. Of course, you can play a game with

words to make them appear to 'fit' the idea or activity they indicate, as shown in the words below

from a child's game. However, this type of game only emphasizes the arbitrariness of the connection

that normally exists between a word and its meaning.

There are some words in language with sounds that seem to 'echo' the sounds of objects or

activities and hence seem to have a less arbitrary connection. English examples are cuckoo,

CRASH, slurp, squelch or whirr. However these onomatopoeic words are relatively rare in

human language. For the majority of animal signals, there does appear to be a clear

connection between the conveyed message and the signal used to convey it. This impression

we have of the non-arbitrariness of animal signaling may be closely connected to the fact that,

for any animal, the set of signals used in communication is finite. That is, each variety of

animal communication consists of a fixed and limited set of vocal or gestural forms. Many of

these forms are only used in specific situations (e.g. establishing territory) and at particular

times (e.g. during the mating season).

4/ Displacement “In one experiment, a hive of bees was placed at the foot of a radio tower

and a food source placed at the top. Ten bees were taken to the top, shown the food source,

and sent off to tell the rest of the hive about their find. The message was conveyed via a bee

dance and the whole gang buzzed off to get the free food. They flew around in all directions,

but couldn't locate the food. (It's probably one way to make bees really mad.)” (Yule,

2006:10-11).

When a worker bee finds a source of nectar and returns to the beehive, it can perform a complex

dance routine to communicate to the other bees the location of this nectar.

Doesn't this ability of the bee to indicate a location some distance away mean that bee

communication has at least some degree of displacement as a feature? A question of degree Bee

communication has displacement in an extremely limited form. Certainly, the bee can direct other

bees to a food source. However, it must be the most recent food source. It cannot be that delicious

rose bush on the other side of town that we visited last weekend, nor can it be, as far as we know,

possible future nectar in bee heaven.

This limiting feature of animal communication is described in terms of fixed reference. Each signal

in the system is fixed as relating to a particular object or occasion.

5/ An infant born to Korean parents in Korea, but adopted and brought up from birth by English

speakers in the United States vs a kitten, given comparable early experiences, will produce meow

regardless.

25

Do we inherit language from our parents? (cultural transmission).

We are not born with the ability to produce utterances in a specific language such as English. We

acquire our first language as children in a culture. The general pattem in animal communication is

that creatures are born with a set of specific signals that are produced instinctively.

6/ Your dog may be able to produce woof ('l'm happy to see you'), it does not seem to do so

on the basis of a distinct level of production combining the separate elements of w+oo+f

Is the dog able to use different combinations of these sounds?

We, humans, are constantly creating new expressions and novel utterances by manipulating our

linguistic resources to describe new objects and situations. (productivity or 'creativity' or' open-

endedness).

Utterances in any human language are infinite.

The communication systems of other creatures do not appear to have this type of flexibility.

II Explain each of the properties of human languages on the basis of the course readings. Give

examples.

(1) DISPLACEMENT

human language can refer to past and future time and to other locations

bee language: dance routine to communicate the location of nectar

(2) ARBITRARINESS

no natural connection between linguistic form and its meaning

arbitrary relationship between linguistic signs and objects of the real world (no iconic

relationship)

(3) PRODUCTIVITY/ CREATIVITY

a child learning a language is active in forming and producing utterances it has never heard

before

a language user can manipulate his linguistic resources� open endedness

Syntactic Productivity

A grammar can license infinitely many expressions by using

a finite dictionary, and a finite set of syntactical rules

Chomsky 1957, 1965

(4) CULTURAL TRANSMISSION

We acquire language with other speakers -� not from parental genes

Language is passed on from one generation to the next

(5) DISCRETENESS

The sounds used in a language are meaningfully distinct

e.g.: pack – back

pin - bin

26

Difference in pronunciation between /p/ and /b/ sound leads to a difference in meaning

(6) DUALITY

Language is organised on two levels:

Physical level at which we can produce individual sounds e.g. n, b, i.

Meaning level: when we produce sounds in combination e.g.: nib, bin

(7) SEMANTICITY

Language carries meaning

(8) STRUCTURE DEPENDENCE

Language is dependent on structure � syntactical rules

27

Lectures

Week 4 and 5

Phonetics : Phonetics versus phonology

Articulatory phonetics

Consonants : place and manner of articulation

Vowels

Distinctive features

What is Phonetics?

Phonetics focuses on the study of speech sounds, their acoustic and perceptual

characteristics, and how they are produced by the speech organs, without reference to

how speech sounds are combined and used in language.

What is a Phoneme?

It is the smallest unit of sound capable of differentiating between words. Changing a

phoneme can result in the creation of a new word. E.g. Look/ book, cat/ cab, here/ beer.

These words are called minimal pairs. They vary only by one phoneme or one speech

sound though spelling shows that they differ by more than one grapheme or letter.

Allophones

Speech sounds are not always pronounced the same way in every word. Consider for

example, the /p/ sound in `spot’, ‘pit’, the /1/ sound in `lip’ and `bull’,/p/ at the beginning of a

word is pronounced with a small puff of air called aspiration. When /p/ is found after another

sound it is not aspirated as in `spit'.

/p/ and /ph/ are said to be allophones of /p/ and they are in complementary distribution.

The sound /l/ in `lip’ is light /1/ and the /l/ sound in `ball’ is dark /l/. Some allophones are not linked

to phonetic context and can be exchanged for one another. They are free to vary. For instance, at

the end of a word, the consonant /p/ in the work `keep’ and the consonant /t/, in the word `hit' may

be released or unreleased. Released and unreleased consonants occur in free variation. You may

freely use one or the other. They are not distinct phonemes. They are allophones of one phoneme

that is in free variation.

International Phonetic Alphabet

The alphabet that represents the speech sounds of English and other languages of

the world is called IPA alphabet. This alphabet is different from most alphabets because

it represents the sounds of words not their spelling(Figure 1).

Articulatory Phonetics

Articulatory phonetics is concerned with the anatomy of speech mechanism. It

studies the production of speech sounds. It describes the role of speech organs in the

production of each sound.

28

Speech production is a complex process that involves various speech organs such as the

lungs, the larynx, the vocal tract, etc. (Figure 2)

The lungs are important in generating the airstream for speech.

The larynx is important in generating voice

The vocal tract, with its resonating capability gives a unique sound quality to each of

the speech sounds. It corresponds to the mouth and the nasal cavity above the larynx.

To understand the production of each phoneme, it is essential to understand the role of

the speech organs: (see Figure 2)

a. The lips

Their purpose is to open and close in the production of several speech sounds. The

sounds associated with the lips are called bilabials because the lips are involved in the

production of these sounds.

b. The teeth

The top front teeth, the central incisors, and the lower lip are used in combination

to produce the phonemes /f/ and /v/. Phonemes that involve the articulation of the

lower lip and the teeth are called labiodental (lip and teeth). The top and bottom

central incisors (with the assistance of the tongue) are important in production of the

initial phonemes in the words `think’ and `that’. Phonemes that are produced by the

tongue and the teeth are called dental.

c. The alveolar ridge

It is the bony ridge containing the sockets of the teeth. It is located directly

posterior to the upper central incisors. The production of the phoneme /t/ involves the

tongue which touches the anterior alveolar ridge.

d. The palate

The hard palate is the bony structure located just posterior to the alveolar ridge.

You can feel the palate by sliding the tip of your tongue from the alveolar ridge towards

the back of the mouth. The palate, often referred to as the roof of the mouth, separates

the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. Sounds produced in conjunction with the palate

(and tongue) are called palatal.

e. The velum

The velum, or the soft palate, is a muscular structure located directly posterior to

the hard palate. Velar sounds are those produced by articulation of the soft palate with

the back of the tongue. Because the velum is muscular, it is capable of movement. The

velum acts as a switching mechanism that directs the flow of air coming from the lungs

and larynx. When the velum is raised, it contacts the back wall of the pharynx, closing

off the nasopharynx from the oropharynx. This process is called velopharyngeal closure.

Closure of the velopharyngeal port prevents air from entering the nasal cavity. On the

other hand, when the velum is lowered, air flows into both the oral and nasal cavities.

Phonemes produced with a raised (closed) velum are called oral phonemes, the air

stream is directed solely into the oral cavity. Phonemes produced while the mouth is

29

closed and the velum is lowered are called nasal phonemes because the breath stream

flows into the nasal cavity as well.

f. The uvula

The uvula is the rounded, fleshy structure located at the posterior tip of the velum.

It is used in production of speech sounds in French and Arabic but not in English.

g. The tongue

It is the major articulator in the production of speech It is composed of muscle and

is a quite active and mobile structure. The tongue is supported by the mandible and the

hyoid bone through muscular attachments. The tongue also has muscular attachments

to several other structures including the epiglottis, the palate, and the pharynx:

The tongue articulates with the lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, palate, and velum in

production of the consonants. The root of the tongue arises from the anterior wall of

the pharynx and is attached to the mandible.

The tongue has several parts. The tip of the tongue (also called apex) and the

blade, which lies immediately posterior to the tip. The body of the tongue is found just

posterior to the blade. The body is comprised of two portions, the front and the back.

The front of the tongue generally lies inferior to the hard palate and the back lies

inferior to the velum.

h. The Glottis

It is the place of production for the English phoneme /h/. This phoneme is

considered a glottal sound because it is produced when the airstream from the lungs is

forced through the opening between the vocal folds.

Vocal cords and phonation

Located in the larynx are the vocal cords/folds. They are elastic folds of tissues,

primarily composed of muscles. They attach anteriorly to the thyroid cartilage and

exteriorly to the arytenoids cartilages. When the airstream enters the larynx, it exerts a

pressure on the vocal folds from below. Actually, the pressure is applied to the glottis,

the space between the vocal folds. When the pressure is great enough the vocal cords

are pushed apart releasing an airburst.

The elasticity of the vocal folds helps to bring them together and the action

repeats, thus creating the process called vocal fold vibration. The vibration of the vocal

folds in creation of a vocal sound is called phonation.

During phonation, the vocal folds open and close at the rate of approximately 125

times per second in the male larynx, and approximately 215 times per second in the

female larynx. This basic rate of vibration of the vocal folds is called the fundamental

frequency of the voice. The fundamental frequency is responsible for the inherent voice

pitch or habitual pitch of an individual.

The pitch of the male voice is usually perceived to be lower than the pitch of the

female voice due to the lower fundamental frequency. The pitch of the voice is largely

30

dependent on the size of the individual larynx. Because the vocal fold tissue in the male

larynx has greater mass than that of the female larynx, the male vocal folds vibrate

more slowly. Hence, the male voice is perceived as being lower in pitch. Because

children have smaller larynges than adults, their vocal pitch is the highest of all.

Figure (1): The anatomical relationship between

the human larynx, trachea and lungs

Figure (2): The vocal tract and related organs

During phonation, the vocal folds open and close at the rate of approximately 125 times

per second in the male larynx, and approximately 215 times per second in the female larynx.

This basic rate of vibration of the vocal folds is called the fundamental frequency of the voice.

The fundamental frequency is responsible for the inherent voice pitch or habitual pitch of an

individual.

The pitch of the male voice is usually perceived to be lower than the pitch of the female

voice due to the lower fundamental frequency. The pitch of the voice is largely dependent on

the size of the individual larynx. Because the vocal fold tissue in the male larynx has greater

mass than that of the female larynx, the male vocal folds vibrate more slowly. Hence, the male

voice is perceived as being lower in pitch. Because children have smaller larynges than adults,

their vocal pitch is the highest of all.

The Supralaryngeal System and Articulation

It is composed of the pharynx or throat, the oral cavity, the nasal cavity and the

articulators (see Figure 3):

31

Figure 3: The production of speech

It is accomplished, in part, by lowering the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a major muscle

that separates the abdominal cavity from the thoracic cavity. The production of any speech

sound involves the movement of a pulmonic egressive airstream. That is an airstream pushed

out from the lungs.

The Laryngeal System

It is comprised primarily of the larynx or voice box. The larynx is composed mainly of muscle

and cartilages. It attaches inferiorly to the trachea and superiorly, by a board curtain-like

ligament, to a floating bone known as the hyoid bone. The tongue articulates with the lips,

teeth, alveolar ridge, palate, and velum in production of the consonants. The root of

the tongue arises from the anterior wall of the pharynx and is attached to the mandible.

The tongue has several parts. The tip of the tongue (also called apex) and the blade,

which lies immediately posterior to the tip. The body of the tongue is found just posterior to

the blade. The body is comprised of two portions, the front and the back. The front of the

tongue generally lies inferior to the hard palate and the back lies inferior to the velum.

The Glottis

It is the place of production for the English phoneme /h/. This phoneme is considered a

glottal sound because it is produced when the airstream from the lungs is forced through the

opening between the vocal folds. On the other hand, when the velum is lowered, air flows

into both the oral and nasal cavities. Phonemes produced with a raised (closed) velum are

called oral phonemes, the air stream is directed solely into the oral cavity. Phonemes

1. Pharyngeal cavity

2. oral cavity

3. labial cavity

4. Nasal cavity

1

4

3

32

produced while the mouth is closed and the velum is lowered are called nasal phonemes

because the breath stream flows into the nasal cavity as well.

Articulation

The uvula is the rounded, fleshy structure located at the posterior tip of the velum. It is used

in production of speech sounds in French and Arabic but not in English.

The tongue

It is the major articulator in the production of speech. It is composed of muscle and is a

quite active and mobile structure. The tongue is supported by the mandible and the hyoid

bone through muscular attachments. The tongue also has muscular attachments to several

other structures including the epiglottis, the palate, and the pharynx (see ):

The pharynx directs airflow from the larynx to the oral and nasal cavities. The nasal cavity

begins at the nostrils and continues to the nasapharynx, posteriorly. The oral cavity or mouth

is directly inferior to the nasal cavity separated by the palate. It begins at the lips and

continues posteriorly to the pharynx. The oral and nasal cavities join at the pharynx.

Articulation is a process that occurs when the airstream from the lungs is directed to the oral

and nasal cavities and the vibrations are modified by the speech organs to produce the individual

phonemes of a language. The major articulators are located in the oral cavity (see Figure 2)

The lips

Their purpose is to open and close in the production of several speech sounds. The

sounds associated with the lips are called bilabials because the lips are involved in the

production of these sounds.

33

Consonant Transcription

Place - Manner -Voicing

Introduction

Consonants are produced by the coming together of two articulators like the tongue, the teeth,

the lips, etc. Consonants are classified and described according to three different articulatory

aspects: place of articulation, manner of production and voicing.

Place of Articulation

It is the place where the constriction of the vocal tract is located when a particular consonant is

produced. To determine place of articulation, we need to know which speech organs are active in

production of that consonant.

There are 7 places of articulation responsible for the production of English consonants: bilabial,

labiodental, dental, alveolar, palatal velar, glottal.

1. Bilabial: Both lips are used to produce a phoneme. The upper and lower lips. [Bilabial English

consonants are p, b, m, w]

2. Labiodental: The lower lip and the upper central incisors are used to produce a phoneme.

[Labiodental English consonants are f, v]

3. Dental: the tip of the tongue and the teeth are used to produce a phoneme. [Dental English

consonants are θ, ð]

4. Alveolar: The blade of the tongue and the alveolar ridge are used to produce a phoneme.

[Alveolar English consonants are t, d, s, z, n, l]

5. Palatal: The blade of the tongue and the hard palate are used to produce a phoneme. [Palatal

English consonants are ΣΣΣΣ, tΣΣΣΣ , ΖΖΖΖ , dΖΖΖΖ, j, r]

34

6. Velar: The back of the tongue and the velum are used to produce a phoneme. [Velar English

consonants are k, g, ŋ, w]

7. Glottal: The vocal folds are used to produce a phoneme. [Glottal English consonants are ????, h]

Manner of production

It refers to the way in which the airstream is modified as it passes through the vocal tract.

There are 6 manners of production: stop, fricative, affricate, nasal, glide, liquid.

1. Stop consonants

Stop consonants (also called plosives) are produced by completely obstructing the airstream

once it enters the oral cavity. Stop production is also marked by a closure of the velopharyngeal

port. That is, the-velum is raised to prevent the breath stream from entering the-nasal cavity. The

English stop consonants are produced by forming a closure in the oral cavity at one of three places

of articulation: bilabial, alveolar, .o~ velar. During the period of closure, air pressure within the

oral cavity increases due to the fact that the obstructed airstream cannot escape the oral cavity.

Once the constriction is released, the air pressure within the oral cavity is relieved, resulting in the

expulsion of an audible noise burst from the oral cavity. Once the airstream has been released by

the articulators, the production of the phoneme is complete. [The English stops are p, h, t, d, k, g,

2. Fricative consonants

Fricatives are produced by forcing the breath stream through a narrow channel or

constriction in the vocal tract. The articulators do not close completely during fricative production

as they do in stop consonant production. They simply converge to form a slit to create the channel

necessary for the production of each fricative phoneme.

There are 5 different places of articulation in the vocal tract used for the production of

English fricatives: the dental, labiodental, alveolar, palatal, and glottal places of articulation. There

are no bilabial or velar fricatives in English but the y do exist in other languages (bilabial fricatives

exist in Spanish, and velar fricatives occur in German and Hebrew).

Because the airstream from the lungs is being forced through a narrow channel, a turbulent,

frictional noise is generated at the point of constriction. Fricatives involve an obstruction of the

airstream in the vocal tract. [English Fricative consonants are: f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ȓȓȓȓ, ΖΖΖΖ]

3. Affricate consonants

The affricate manner of production involves a combination of the stop and fricative

manners. Both English affricates are considered to have a palatal place of articulation. During

35

production of the two affricates, the articulation begins as an alveolar stop. The tongue tip

contacts the posterior alveolar ridge; there is a corresponding increase of the air pressure in the

oral cavity. However, when the breath stream is released, the air is forced through the constriction

formed by the tongue and palate, creating a turbulent noise. The constriction is similar to that

formed during production.

4. Nasal consonants

Nasal consonants are produced in a manner similar to the stop consonants. That is the

airstream is completely obstructed in the oral cavity during their production. The obstruction

occurs at the same three places of articulation as the stops, that is, bilabial, alveolar, and velar.

However, nasal consonants are produced with the velum lowered so that the airstream "and

acoustic vibrations continually flow into the nasal cavity. The obstruction at the lips, alveolar ridge,

or velum is not released during the production of the nasal consonants as it is for stops. Therefore,

there is no release of the air pressure through the oral cavity. The articulators simply block the

flow of air out of the oral cavity so that air may continually flow through the nostrils. All nasal

consonants are voiced because the sound source for nasals is the vibration of the vocal cords.

[English nasal consonants are m, n, ŋ]

5. Approximant consonants: Glides and Liquids

The approximants fall into a manner of production quite different from the others already

discussed. They behave like consonants and vowels at the same time. Even though these

consonants are produced with an obstruction in the vocal tract, the articulators are only

approximated during their production. All approximants are voiced; their sound source originates

in the larynx.

Glides are always prevocalic. They are characterized by continued movement of the

articulators throughout their production in the following vowel. [English glides are j, w]. The term

liquid is used to categorize the consonants /r/ and /l/. The retroflexed articulation of /r/ involves a

raising of the tongue and curling it back toward the alveolar ridge as the back of the tongue

creates a second velar constriction. The phoneme /l/ has two separate articulations depending on

whether the phoneme occurs at the beginning or at the end of a syllable. Syllable-initial /l/ is

produced by raising the tip of the tongue in order to approximate the alveolar ridge. In this

position, the back of the tongue remains low in the oral cavity and the airstream is diverted over

both sides of the tongue. This is the production of the so-called light /l/. When /l/ occurs in the

syllable-final position, the tongue tip is lowered, and the back of the tongue is raised to

approximate the palate as the airstream passes over both sides of the tongue. This is the

production of the dark /l/.

36

Voicing

Voicing refers to whether the vocal folds are vibrating during the production of a particular

consonant. The vibration of the vocal folds in creation of a vocal sound is called phonation. You

can feel the vocal folds vibrating if you place your fingertips on your 'Adam's apple' while

pronouncing the phoneme /z/ (zzzzzzzzzzz). You should be able to feel the vocal fold vibrating

during its production.

The phoneme /z/ is called a voiced sound due to the vocal fold vibration during its production. Do

the same with the phoneme /s/ (sssssssss). The production of the phoneme /s/ does not involve

phonation. Because the vocal folds do not vibrate, the phoneme /s/ is called a voiceless phoneme.

Several phonemes in English share the same manner of production and place of articulation, yet

differ only in the voicing dimension (like /s/ and /z/ above). Phonemes that differ only in voicing

are called cognates. Words that differ only in the voicing dimension of one phoneme are called

minimal pairs such as 'bit' and 'pit', 'tuck' and 'duck'.

2. Velar Articulation Articulated by raising

the back of the tongue to the soft palate or

1.

37

Vowels

What is a vowel?

Vowels are phonemes that are produced without any appreciable constriction or blockage of

air flow in the vocal tract. As you know, English has many more vowel sounds than those

represented by the five Roman alphabet letters, ‘a, e, i, o, and u’.

Vowel production

The tongue is the primary articulator in the production of vowels. As the tongue changes

position for the production of the individual vowels, the size and shape of the pharynx also change

correspondingly. The airstream passes through the oral cavity with virtually no obstruction by the

tongue or other major articulators. Vowel phonemes are categorized in relation to the position of

the body of the tongue in the mouth during their production. Vowels are characterized by height

and advancement of the tongue body.

Tongue height refers to how high or low in the oral cavity the tongue is when producing a

particular vowel.

Tongue advancement relates to how far forward or backward in the mouth the tongue is when

producing a particular vowel.

All of the vowels in English can be described by using these two dimensions of tongue position in

the oral cavity.

To better understand the idea of tongue height and advancement, it is convenient to think of the

oral cavity as the space schematically represented in Figure 4:

Voiceless [k] Voiced [g]

3. Velar Articulation

Articulated by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate or velum

4. Stop articulation

produced by complete obstruction of the airstream once it enters the oral cavity and a closure of the velopharyngeal port

38

Figure 4: Vowel Chart/ Quadrilateral

The vowel quadrilateral shows that tongue height can be divided into 3 dimensions: high, mid and

low and that tongue advancement is also divided into 3 dimensions: front, central and back.

A secondary characteristic of vowels involves lip rounding, that is whether the lips are rounded or

retracted in their production. In English, most vowels produced in the back of the mouth are

rounded and the front vowels are unrounded or retracted.

The term tense and lax are also used to classify vowels. Tense vowels are generally longer in

duration and require more muscular effort than lax vowels.

All English vowels are oral sounds; that is why the velum is generally raised to prevent air from

being directed into the nasal cavity during their production.

39

Seminars

1. Label the following figure and complete the sentence with the appropriate words.

Phonetics has three main branches of study including ------------------- phonetics, concerned with

the positions and movements of the ---------------------------, -------------------------, and other speech

organs in producing speech.

2. Complete the table below:

In Complementary

distribution in

English words

Phonetically

similar (yes/

no)

Classified as Examples of

English words

[t] and [d]

[h] and [ ŋ ]

[ku] and [k’]

[ ae ] and [e]

40

Extra Practice and Exercises

Vowels

1. Circle the words that contain the /i/ phoneme:

paper train Cleveland Seaside

please picture Trip Trail

tribal machine Labor Trees

settle screen Toledo Lip

nice foreign Levi Jeans

2. Place an `.X

' next to the pair of words that share the same vowel sound

dream drip east eaves

seek wheel chief vein

same land base lease creek steam need pain bean heed creed cream

3. Circle the words that contain the /I/ phoneme:

Peace friend enthrall bitter

Mythical silver woman trust

click ingest build fear

thread pink bowling tried

pride clear sporty

synchronize

4. Place an `X' next to the pairs of words that share the same vowel sound:

feel teach win king

lip thread mint inch

been drink deed flea

vent list dish ill

tied pig kick mill

5. Circle the words that contain the /ei/ phoneme

trail rage wheel palatial

vice razor manage green

transit machine whale potato

lazy bread football temperate

dale tackle daily bright

1

41

6. Circle the words that contain the /e/ phoneme:

pimple jeep thread build

syrup trip pistol prepare pencil caring ensure unscented

thing butter women tryst

7. For the appropriate items, fill in the blank with the appropriate vowels from the description given, then

write the word in English orthography:

1. /b_d/ low, front

2. /s _ n / low-mid, central

3. /sl__pt/ mid, front, lax

4. /s__p/ high, back, tense

5. /K rd/ mid, back, lax

6. /f_t/ high, back, lax

7. / f _z/ high, front, lax

8. /p_rk/ low, back, tense

9. /W_ d/ mid front, tense

8. Place an `X

' next to the pairs of words that share the same vowel sound:

____ feel teach _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________win king

____ lip thread _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________mint inch

____ been drink __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ deed flea

____ vent list _____________________________________________________________________________ dish ill

____ tied pig _______________________________________________________________________________________ kick mill

Consonants

Task 1:

Write the symbol that corresponds to each of the following phonetic descriptions, then give an

English word that contains this sound

− voiceless bilabial stop

− lateral liquid

− velar nasal

− voiced dental fricative

− voiceless affricate

− palatal glide

42

Task 2:

For each group of sounds listed below state the phonetic feature or features which they all

share

− /m/, /n/, /ii/

− /1/, /r/, /w/, /j/

− /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, /1/, /r/

− /k/, /g/, /ii/, /w/

− /f/, /v/, /0/, /b/, /s/, /z/

− /p/, /b/,/ /m/, /w/

− /b/, /d/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /1/

Task 3:

Identify the first phoneme in the following words and give its description (voicing, place and

manner)

- Jester / / - Charming / / .

- Phase / /

- Walk / /

- Distribute / / - Masculine / / - Lazy / /

43

Week 6 and 7

Morphology: morphemes

Word coinage

Ways of making inflections

Morphology

Introduction

The form and the meaning of a word are inseparable. There is an arbitrary union between

the sounds (form) and meaning (concept) of the linguistic sign (word). Each word stored in our

mental dictionary must be listed with its unique phonological representation, which determines its

pronunciation, and with its meaning. Each word listed in our mental dictionary must specify its

grammatical category or syntactic class.

What is Morphology?

It is the study of the internal structure of words and of the rules by which words are formed

What is a Morpheme?

It is the smallest unit of meaning. A word may be composed of one or more morphemes:

Boy: 1 morpheme

Boy.ish: 2 morphemes

Boy.ish.ness: 3 morphemes

A morpheme is a minimal linguistic sign in which there is an arbitrary union of a sound and a

meaning that cannot be further analyzed. Morphology looks at the question of what constitutes a

word in the first place. A word like dog is morphologically simple but a word like dog.s is

morphologically complex. Foot and feet, child and children are also morphologically complex in

different ways.

Other examples: happy, un.happy, un.happy.ness

Nation, nation.al, nation.al.ize, nation.al.ize.ation

Segmenting a word into its components morphemes to identify where one morpheme ends and

another starts (using dots).

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Classes of words

1. Lexical content words: in English, nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs make up the largest part

of the vocabulary. They are the content words of a language. They are called open class of words

because we can add new words to these classes (e.g. download, biodegradable, weatherwise,

etc…).

2. Function words: other syntactic categories include grammatical or function words. Conjunctions

(and, or), prepositions (in, on), pronouns (he, she, him) are referred to as being closed class

words.

Bound and Free morphemes

Affixes (Prefixes and suffixes) are considered as bound morphemes because they cannot occur

unattached. Words like man, girl, door are called free morphemes. Affixes are always bound. Non-

affix lexical content morphemes, also called root morphemes may be free or bound.

Nation + al

Root suffix

Base + ize

Base + ation Stem

Base: it is any form to which an affix is added

Root: it carries major component of meaning. It cannot be analyzed into smaller unit. It is

considered as the core of a word.

Stem: It is the form to which we add the last derivational suffix.

Root morphemes such as dog, cat, hot school, etc are considered as free root morphemes. Root

morphemes such as ceive in perceive, chalance in nonchalance, geneous in homogeneous are

considered as bound root morphemes. These words seem to be composed of prefix + root

morphemes that cannot occur alone but always with a regular prefix that is why they are

considered as bound root morphemes.

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Types of affixes:

1. prefix: only occurs before other morphemes. E .g. from English un-, pre-, ex- in respectively

unhappy, preschool, exwife.

2. suffix: only occurs after other morphemes. E.g. from English –tion, -er, ity in respectively

satisfaction, painter, anxiety.

3. infix: is inserted into the root morpheme. E.g. from Bontoc: fikas (strong) fumikas (to be strong).

The infix –um- is inserted into the root morpheme fikas.

4. circumfix: is attached both before and after a root morpheme. E.g. from Chickasaw: chokma (he

is good), ik-chockm-o (he is not good).

Derivational morphology

There are morphemes in English that are called derivational morphemes because when they are

conjoined to other morphemes or words, a new word is derived or formed. The derived word may

have a different grammatical class and a different meaning.

Desire (Verb) + -able → desirable (adjective)

Adore (verb)+ -able → adorable (adjective)

Dark (adj. ) + -en → darken (verb)

Sing (verb) + -er → singer (noun)

Derived words could change in meaning but not in the grammatical class

a- + moral → amoral

ex- +wife → ex-wife

re- +print → reprint

Inflectional morphology

Some morphemes have a grammatical meaning as an infinitive marker to in English. Such bound

grammatical morphemes are called inflectional morphemes. They represent purely grammatical

makers and concepts such as tense, number, gender, case, comparative/superlative, etc.

They never change the syntactic category of the words or morphemes to which they are attached

and they are always attached to complete words.

English inflectional morphemes:

-s third person singular present, waits

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-ed past tense, waited

-ing progressive, waiting

-en past participle, eaten

-s plural, dogs

-’s possessive, May’s hair

-er comparative, shorter

-est superlative, shortest

Ways of marking inflection

1. Affixation

Inflectional markers (listed above) are attached to the word. Affixation is the regular way of

marking inflection.

2. Internal change

a. Ablaut: The grammatical change is observed in the vowel alternation. E.g. sing, sang, sung.

b. Umlaut: The grammatical change is phonologically observed. E.g. the vowel is fronted in

foot/feet.

3. Suppletion

a. Partial suppletion: the grammatical change is observed in the vowel alternation and the

addition or deletion of other phonemes. E.g. lose/ lost.

b. Suppletion: A morpheme is entirely replaced by a different one. E.g. go, went

Word coinage

New words can be added to the vocabulary of a language through derivational morphology or

through other ways:

1. Compounds: New words may be formed by stringing together other words to create compound

words. It is a common and frequent process for enlarging the vocabulary of all languages.

Examples of compounds: bittersweet, headstrong, carryall, poorhouse, rainbow, pickpocket,

spoonfeed, sleepwalk, downfall, uplift, girlfriend, landlord, mailman.

2. Acronyms: they are words derived from the initials of several words. Such words are

pronounced as the spelling indicates.

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Examples of acronyms: NASA (National Aeronautic and Space Agency), UNESCO (United Nation

Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization), RADAR (Radio Detecting and Ranging), LASER

(Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency

Syndrome).

3. Blends: They are compounds that are less than compounds.

Examples of blends: smog (smoke +fog), motel (motorway +hotel), unrinanalysis (urin+analysis).

4. Abbreviations/clipping: Abbreviations of longer words or phrases also may become lexicalized.

Examples of abbreviations: nark (narcotics), tec (detective), telly, (television), prof (professor), lab

(laboratory), gym (gymnasium), bus (autobus), math (mathematics), ad (advertisement), gas

(gasoline), phone (telephone).

5. Coinage: New words are created from names of brands or people

Examples of coinage: Kleenex, Xerox, Hoover.

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Seminars

Task 1

Divide the following words into their morphemes. Indicate which morphemes are inflectional and

which are derivational.

mistreatment - disactivation - psychology - airsickness - terrorized - uncivilized - lukewarm -

impossible - predisposed - befriended - unpalatable - grandmother - morphemic - retroactive -

televise - margin - endearment - holiday

Task 2

For each of the following bound morphemes, determine whether it is derivational or inflectional

and give two words in which it appears:

Example

-able: derivational bound morpheme

eat-able; cod(e)-able

–ity , –s, un-, –ing, –al, –er, –ed

Task 3

For each of the verbs below, give the past tense forms. Say whether the morphological process

involved is affixation, partial suppletion, suppletion or ablaut.

a) bring

b) drive

c) care

d) go

e) lose

f) read

g) skip

h) think

i) take

Task 4

The following infinitive and past participle verb forms are found in Dutch

Root

Wandel

Duw

Zag

Stofzuig

Infinitive

Wandelen

Duwen

Zagen

Stofzuigen

Past Parti.

Gewandeld

Geduwd

Gezadg

Gestofzuigd

Walk

Push

Saw

Vacuum clean

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- how is the infinitive formed in Dutch

- How is the past participle formed in Dutch

Practice and Exercises (part 1)

Exercise 1

Identify the component morpheme(s) of each word. How many morphemes does each word

contain?

Stupidity- unreliable – classroom – ugly – unfairly- paper – sleeping – disinfectant – magazine –

sandwich – misidentification – management – painters – deforms – husbands.

Exercise 2: Isolate the affixes in each of these words and state whether each is prefix or suffix.

Depose – readily – active – behead – action – repackage – unchanged - forcefully

Exercise 3: For the following words, identify all roots (base words).

Dragged – deactivated – impossible – thumbtack – hopefully – unassuming – redness –

auctioneers – cloudiness - exceptionally

Exercise 4: Divide the following words into morphemes.

Phoneme – phonology – phonology – psychology – holiday – morphemic – barefoot – research -

scissors

Exercise 5:

The component morphemes of the five morphologically complex words in (a) to (e) have been

separated by a hyphen (-). Indicate which of these morphemes are bound morphemes and

which ones are free, and which of the bound morphemes are inflectional and which

derivational.

Example:

hit-s hit: free

-s: bound, inflectional

(a) stud-ent-hood

(b) bi-annu-al-ly

(c) anti-soviet-ism

(d) mis-place-d

(e) kind-ness-es

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Exercise 6: Below are some sentences in Swahili.

/mtoto amefika/ "The child has arrived."

/mtoto anafika/ "The child is arriving."

/mtoto atafika/ "The child will arrive."

/watoto wamefika/ "The children have arrived."

/watoto wanafika/ "The children are arriving."

/watoto watafika/ "The children will arrive."

/mtu amelala/ "The man has slept."

/mtu analala/ "The man is sleeping."

/mtu atalala/ "The man will sleep."

/watu wamelala/ "The men have slept."

/watu wanalala/ "The men are sleeping."

/watu watalala/ "The men will sleep."

/kisu kimeanguka/ "The knife has fallen."

/kisu kinaanguka/ "The knife is falling."

/kisu kitaanguka/ "The knife will fall."

/visu vimeanguka/ "The knives have fallen."

/visu vinaanguka/ "The knives are falling."

/visu vitaanguka/ "The knives will fall."

/kikapu kimeanguka/ "The basket has fallen."

/kikapu kinaanguka/ "The basket is falling."

/kikapu kitaanguka/ "The basket will fall."

/vikapu vimeanguka/ "The baskets have fallen."

/vikapu vinaanguka/ "The baskets are falling."

/vikapu vitaanguka/ "The baskets will fall."

- Identify all the morphemes you can detect, and give their meanings

- How would you say in Swahili

The child is falling

The baskets have arrived

The man will fall

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Practice and Exercises (part 2)

Exercise 1:

Divide the following words into their morphemes. Indicate which morphemes are inflectional

and which are derivational.

mistreatment - disactivation - psychology - airsickness - terrorized - uncivilized - lukewarm -

impossible - predisposed - befriended - unpalatable - grandmother - morphemic - retroactive -

televise - margin - endearment - holiday

Exercise 2:

For each of the following bound morphemes, determine whether it is derivational or

inflectional and give two words in which it appears:

example:

-able: derivational bound morpheme

eat-able; cod(e)-able

–ity , –s, un-, –ing, –al, –er, –ed

Exercise 3:

For each of the verbs below, give the past tense forms. Say whether the morphological process

involved is affixation, partial suppletion, suppletion or ablaut.

a) bring

b) drive

c) care

d) go

e) lose

f) read

g) skip

h) think

i) take

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Week 8 and 9

Syntax: Syntactic categories

Phrase structure rules and trees

1. Introduction

There is an infinite number of possible sentences for any language, but we don’t and can’t ever

hear all of them.

→ We must learn a FINITE SYSTEM OF RULES that generates all these sentences.

Only certain sentences are possible in a given language.

→ We must learn a system that generates ALL of the possible (grammatical, well-formed)

sentences and NONE of the impossible (ungrammatical, ill-formed) ones.

Syntax is the part of the grammar that represents a speaker’s knowledge of the structure of

phases and sentences.

2. Constituent Structure

Sentences are organized into hierarchical structures.

[ subject The child ] [predicate found the puppy]

[ [subject The child] [[verb found ] [object the puppy ]predicate ]sentence ]

2.1. Syntactic categories

Syntactic category is a family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of

grammaticality.

The child found the puppy

He found the puppy

The girl who lives next door found the puppy

The police officer found the puppy

The cat found the puppy

The syntactic categories found in English and all other languages of the world:

Noun Phrase: things that can be the subject or object, article +noun, proper nouns, complex

NP, pronouns, etc.

Verb Phrase: what comes after the subject, predicate. All types of verbs (transitive, intransitive,

distransitive).

Prepositional Phrase: preposition +NP

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Adjective Phrase: quality of noun

Adverb Phrase: quality of verb

2.2. Phrase Structure Rules

Phrase structure rules specify the constituency of syntactic categories in the language. The

following is a set of rules that will generate the grammatical sentence of English.

Noun Phrase: NP

NP → D N [the child]

NP → D AdjP N [the old man]

NP → D N PP [the house in blue]

NP → D AdjP N PP [the pretty girl with blue eyes]

Verb Phrase:VP

VP → V [slept]

VP → V NP [found the puppy ]

VP → V PP [leave at 5 O’clock]

VP → V AdjP [looks pretty]

VP → V AdvP [smells badly]

VP → V NP PP [put the turkey in the fridge]

VP → V NP NP [give Mary a gift]

Prepositional Phrase: PP

PP → P NP [in the house]

Adverb Phrase: AdvP

AdvP → Adv [badly]

AdvP → AdvP Adv [very badly]

Adjective Phrase: AdjP

AdjP → Adj [pretty]

AdjP → AdvP Adj [very pretty]

Syntactic phrases are headed, i.e. it is the head of a phrase that determines the category of the

phrase.

Governor of North Carolina

The host of the party

Bake a loaf of bread

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Behind the counter

A student of physics

The student who ate 7 pizzas in a row

Extremely tired

3. Syntactic structure of sentences

We use the phrase structure rules listed above in order to analyze the syntactic structure of

sentences. For this matter, we use the phrase structure trees.

3.1. Simple sentences

S →→→→ NP (Aux) VP

In Aux, you insert modals, auxiliaries, do, be of progressive, have of perfect, be of passive.

Those students left

John ate a red apple

John ate a very red apple

Max read a book about linguistics

Max will read a book

John put the turkey in the fridge

They planted the tree in the garden

They know the answer the question

3.2. Wh-questions

S’ →→→→ Comp S

S →→→→ NP (Aux) VP

When did Mary talk to him?

Where did John put the jacket?

Who broke the vase?

3.3 Embedded clauses

S→→→→ NP (Aux) VP

S’→→→→ (Comp) S

S →→→→ NP (Aux) VP

Mary said that the child found the puppy

John believed that Mary loved the cat

I knew that the senator visited our school

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3.4 Passive sentences

S →→→→ NP (Aux) VP

VP →→→→ V PP in the active form the VP rule is VP → V NP

The house was stolen by the neighbors

The policeman was killed by the thief

4. Structural Ambiguity

The following sentences are structurally ambiguous

The man hit the woman with wheelchairs

They are hunting dogs

Consider the following sentence:

John said that Mary went to the store quickly

Meaning 1: quickly is related to John

Meaning 2: quickly is related to Mary

Draw the tree for the other meaning