Linguistics and Grammar

1. Linguistics and Grammar ESOL Praxis – Session #2

2. Aspects of Language • Here is an illustration that shows an interacting hierarchy of levels in linguistics: 

3. Phonology • The study of sounds of a particular language and the rules governing the structure, distribution and sequencing of speech sounds. • Phonology is just one of several aspects of language. It is related to other aspects such as phonetics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics. • Is the basis for further work in morphology, syntax, discourse, and orthography design. • Analyzes the sound patterns of a particular language by determining which phonetic sounds are significant, and explaining how these sounds are interpreted by the native speaker.

4. International Phonetic Alphabet • The IPA is a universal alphabet representing the sounds of human speech (all languages)

5. Phoneme • The smallest linguistic unit of speech that can signal a difference in meaning. • How many phonemes in CATS? • Examples   A unit of speech is considered a phoneme if replacing it in a word results in a change of meaning. Here are some examples of phonemes: • pin becomes bin • bat becomes rat • cot becomes cut

6. Consonant Digraph • Two consonants pronounced as a single sound. • Example: ch, sh, th, wh • In the word chat, the letters c and h appear contiguously, in this instance, ch is a digraph because the ch sequence represents a single sound in the underlying English sound system.

7. Digraph • A digraph is a group of two successive letters whose phonetic value is a single sound (one phoneme.) • Examples   Here are some examples of digraphs: • \ea\ in bread • \ch\ in chat • \ng\ in sing

8. Consonant Clusters • A group or sequence of two or more consonants that appear together in a syllable with no intervening vowel. (Two sounds put together • Example: \sp\ and \ts\ in the word spots and \spr\ in the word spray

9. Minimal Pairs • Two words that differ in only one sound, or phoneme. • Examples (English)   Sounds which differ: /p/ and /b/ • [læp] ‘lap’ • [læb] ‘lab’

10. Homophones • A group of two or more letters representing the same speech sound, or words that sound the same but are spelled differently • Examples •   Letters with the same speech sound: • c in cityand s in song • x in Axe and-ctsin acts

11. Homographs • A word that has the same spelling as another. Homographs differ from each other in meaning, origin, and sometimes pronunciation. • Examples • bow, the front part of a ship • bow, to bend • bow, a decorative knot

12. Morphology • The study of words in their internal organization

13. Morpheme • The smallest meaningful unit in the grammar of a language. Includes all root-words, prefix, suffix and s within the context of the word. • Examples: • Unladylike: The word unladylike consists of three morphemes (un – lady – like) • None of these morphemes can be broken up any more without losing all sense of meaning. Lady cannot be broken up into "la" and "dy," even though "la" and "dy" are separate syllables. Note that each syllable has no meaning on its own. • Dogs: The word dogs consists of two morphemes (dog – s) /s/ is a plural marker on nouns • Note that a morpheme like "-s" can just be a single phoneme and does not have to be a whole syllable. • Technique: The word technique consists of only one morpheme

14. Bound Morpheme • Must be attached to a root word to have full meaning (affixes – i.e., prefixes and suffixes) • Example: /un/ means not. /un/ has no meaning unless it is attached to a root word. • Unthinkable • /un/ (bound morpheme) • think (free morpheme) • /able/ (bound morpheme)

15. Free Morpheme • Units of a word that can stand alone as words themselves.

16. Inflectional Morphemes • Affixes(prefixes or suffixes) that can be added to a word without changing its part of speech. • Example: -un is an inflectional morpheme. It can be added to an adjective or adverb to change the word’s meaning. However, the word remains an adjective or adverb. • Happy (adjective) / Happily (adverb) • Unhappy (adjective) / Unhappily (adverb

17. Derivational Morphemes • Affixes(prefixes and suffixes) that can be added to a word to change its meaning and may also change its part of speech • Examples: • amaze (verb) > amazement (noun) • speak (verb) > speaker (noun) • Perform (verb) > performance (noun) • soft (adjective) > softness (noun) • warm (adjective) > warmth (noun)

18. Sample questions • Which word do you hear when I say ______? • [kut] • [kæt] • [cət] • [cæʄ] • How would native English speakers more than likely pronounce the word “laughed” • [lətId] • [left] • [læft] • [loft]

19. Organization of Learning

20. Syntax - Grammar • Governs the form or structure of a language; the way words are put together in a language to form phrases, clauses, or sentences. • The syntax of a language can be divided into two parts: • Syntactic classes such as noun, verb, and adjective • Syntactic functions, such as subject and object Example: • The cat jumped on the table. • The flower jumped on the sound wave. • Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

21. Active Voice • The subject performs action in the sentence or is the thing described by a predicate adjective. • Active voice is a voice that indicates a subject has the semantic function of actor. • Example • The subject Jones has the semantic function of actor. • Jones built the house. • The above active construction contrasts with the following construction in passive voice, where Jones has the semantic function of actor but house is the subject: • The house was built by Jones.

22. Passive Voice • The action is performed by an unknown agent. • Passive voice is a voice that indicates that the subject is the patient or recipient of the action denoted by the verb. • The man was nudged by a passer-by.   The above example contrasts with the one below, which is in active voice: • A passer-by nudged the man.

23. Degrees of Adjectives

24. Active Verb Tense

25. Sample Questions • I tried on my dad’s shoes and saw they were too bigs. I could barely walk. The underlined phrase has an error in the use of • Adjectives • Pronouns • Verbs • tense

26. Sample Questions • She’s the same like my mom but is muchbeautifuller. The underlined phrase has an error in the use of • Figurative language • Superlative adjectives • Relative clauses • Comparative adjectives

27. Types of Pronouns

28. Semantics • The study of word meanings, idioms, or non-literal expressions

29. Sounds The manner of articulation • Stop • Affricate • Fricative • Nasal • Lateral The point of articulation • Bilabial • Labiodental • Interdental • Alveolar • Alveopalatal • Velar

30. Stops Stops are consonants formed by completely stopping the flow of air somewhere in the vocal apparatus, and then releasing the air. 1. /p/ (the phoneme spelled p in pat): voiceless bilabial stop. 2. /t/ (the phoneme spelled t in tot): voiceless alveolar stop. 3. /k/ (the phoneme spelled c in cap): voiceless velar stop

31. Fricatives Fricatives are consonants that are formed by impeding the flow of air somewhere in the vocal apparatus so that a friction-sound is produced. 1. /f/ (the phoneme spelled f in fine): voiceless labiodental fricative. 2. /ð/ (the phoneme spelled th in this): voiced interdental fricative 3. /z/ (the phoneme spelled z in zoo): voiced alveolar fricative.

32. Affricatives or affricates Affricates are consonants that are formed by stopping the flow of air somewhere in the vocal apparatus, and then releasing the air relatively slowly so that a friction-sound is produced 1. /ʧ/ (the phoneme spelled ch in chip): voiceless alveopalatal affricate. 2. /ʤ/ (the phoneme spelled g in gyp): voiced alveopalatal affricate.

33. Nasals Nasals are consonants that are formed by blocking the oral passage and allowing the air to escape through the nose. 1. /m/ (the phoneme spelled m in mail): (voiced) bilabial nasal. 2. /n/ (the phoneme spelled n in nail): (voiced) alveolar nasal. 3. /h/ (the phoneme spelled ng in sing): (voiced) velar nasal.

34. Liquids Laterals are consonants formed by allowing the air to escape around the sides of the tongue. 1. /l/ (the phoneme spelled l in let): (voiced) alveolar lateral.

35. The POINT of articulation 1. /m/ (the phoneme spelled m in mail): (voiced) bilabialnasal.

36. The POINT of articulation /n/ (the phoneme spelled n in nail): (voiced) alveolar nasal.

37. Aspiration • A strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or closure of some consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow. • Example: • tore, the /t/ is aspirated • Store, the /t/ is not aspirated