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Englisch (Subject) / Steop Introduction To English Linguistics (Lesson)
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- Segmental Phonology Analyzes distinctive units(“segments“) of speechcalled phonemes
- Suprasegmental Phonology Analyzes those features ofspeech which extend overmore than one segment,such as intonation
- Phonemes light /laɪt/ vs. right /raɪt/-> different phonemes = different meaning • phoneme = the minimal distinctive unit in thephonology of a language Minimal pairsTwo words that share the same sound sequenceapart from one sound, and differ in meaning night – kite /naɪt/ - /kaɪt/bite – bike /baɪt/ - /baɪk/leave – live /liːv/ - /lɪv/pen – pain /pen/ - /peɪn/
- PHONES <rap> vs. <trap>[ɹæp] vs. [tɹæp] [ɹ] = voiced alveolar central approximant[ɹ̥] = voiceless alveolar central approximant -> Different physical realisations of the samephoneme.
- Allophones = phones which function as alternantrealizations of the same phonemes• do not distinguish meaning• phonetically similar but not equal (differ inonly one feature)• speakers view them as one sound
- Complementary distribution = Two sounds which are distributed in such away that one can only occur where the othercannot occur <rip> [ɹɪp] vs. <trip> [tɹ̥ɪp] Where [ɹ] occurs [ɹ̥] cannot occur and viceversa.
- Summary Phonology Segmental – Suprasegmental Phonology• Phonemes – phones – allophones• Complementary distribution /r/ /l/• Free variation /p/• Symbols & Phonetic contexts
- SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY • Analyzes those features of speech whichextend over more than one sound segment• combination of segments into larger units,such as syllables• phonological properties of longer stretches ofspeech, i.e. prosody (stress, rhythm, tone andintonation)
- Syllable • a unit of phonological organisation above thephoneme level• Monosyllabic: cat , dog, bird• Polysyllabic: rabbit, tiger, kangaroo
- Syllabic consonants • = consonants occupying the central part of thesyllable• <even> , <mountain>, <bottle>• [ˈiːvn] , [ˈmaʊntn̩] , [ˈbɑ:tl̩]
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- Syllable structure • Syllables consist of three constituents: onset (prevocalic slot)nucleus (vocalic slot) – (sonority) peakcoda (postvocalic slot) • onset & coda are filled by consonants• Nucleus can be filled by vowels, diphthongs andsyllabic consonants (not by semi-vowels [w], [j])
- Phonotactics • = constraints on the permissable combination ofsounds in a language• German allows ps, pn, kn, which English does notallow• psychology /saɪˈkɒlədʒiː/ /saɪˈkɑːlədʒiː/• pneumonia /njuːˈməʊniə/ /nuːˈmoʊniə/• knight /naɪt/
- Syllabification = assigning syllable structure to words• Maximal Onset Principle• Sonority Sequencing Principle
- Maximal Onset Principle • = rule of syllabification according to which (asmany) consonants (as possible) are syllabifiedas onsets• goldfish /ˈɡəʊldfɪʃ/ /ˈɡoʊldfɪʃ/-> ? /ˈɡəʊ.ldfɪʃ/ /ˈɡoʊ.ldfɪʃ/?• MOP clashes with another principle - Sonority Sequencing Principle
- Sonority Sequencing Principle • = rule of syllabification according to whichsounds preceding the nucleus (onsets) mustrise in sonority, and sounds following thenucleus (coda) must fall in sonority • Nucleus = sonority peak / most sonorous part(perceived as loudest) • Sonority = relative measure for the audibility ofspeech sounds
- Morphology Morphology is the study of the shape and internal structure of words.
- What is a word? This article explores directives as a dimension of interpersonal discourse management inclassrooms where a foreign language is being used as the medium of instruction. Thedecision to look specifically at requests is motivated in two ways. “spaces” indicate a word Old Latin -> no gaps between words Chinese -> no words but characters • A word is the smallest independent part of anutterance.• Words are distinguished through:stress – pause – move (1) The man always talks with the girls after he hastalked to their parents.• talks, talked = word formstwo representations of the single lexeme TALK(2) After this horrible dream, I fell into a dreamlesssleep.• dream, dreamless = wordsrepresentations of two lexemes: DREAM, DREAMLESS A word is an abstract sign that is the smallest grammatically independent unit of a language.
- LEXEME the dictionary entry of a word. It is a cover term for various grammatical shapes such a dictionary entry can take. E.g.: dream, dreamless are lexemes-> word class changes
- WORD FORM A word form is the representation of a lexeme in an utterance, the grammatical form of alexeme. E.g.: talks, talk, talked are word forms ofthe lexeme talk -> same word classdream, dreams are word forms of thelexeme dream -> same word class
- What is phonotactics? A branch of phonology dealing with restrictions in alanguage on the permissable combinations of phonemes
- What is morphology? Morphology is the study of the shape and internal structure of words.
- What is a morpheme? A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in language
- polymorphic/complex words consist of several morphemes• fearlessly -> fear-less-ly• previewer -> pre-view-er
- monomorphic/simplex words consist of only one morpheme• dream
- Autonomy Free morphemesCan appear on their own without any other morphemes attached to them (dream,fear,settle) Bound morphemesCan appear only in combination with other morphemes. ( -less ;-s ; -ed;-ment)
- Free morphemes = can stand alone as words lexical morphemes • Content words • Open classes • nouns,verbs,adjectives (E.g: dream, buy, big) grammatical morphemes • Function words • Closed classes • prepositions, articles,conjunctions, pronouns ( E.g: at, and, him)
- Bound morphemes = can occur only in combination lexical morphemes • properties,processes,actions (E.g: the {re} in ‘recreate‘) grammatical morphemes • indicating aspect,modality, proximity, etc.• plural, case, tense,possesion, comparison (E.g: {PLU} = plural such as in ‘boys’,‘girls’, and ‘cats’ Exercise:Identify the grammatical morphemes in this sentence and say whether they are free orbound morphemes:• After the boy had kissed the girl, he was holding her hands.
- POSITION (BOUND MORPHEMES) Relevant only with bound morphemes = affixes= where in relation to the base can the affixes stand? Prefixes = before the base • dislike• misleads• preview• unhappy Suffixes = after the base • fearless• hopeful• management• creation
- Unique morphemes are a type of bound morpheme that cannot be assigned a meaning nor a grammaticalfunction, but nontheless serve to distinguish one word from the other.
- “Cranberry morphemes” In linguistic morphology, a cranberry morpheme (or fossilized term) is a type of bound morpheme that cannot be assigned an independent meaning or grammatical function, but nonetheless serves to distinguish one word from the other. The archetypal example is the cran of cranberry. It is unrelated to the word cran meaning a case of herrings, and though it actually comes from crane (the bird), this is not immediately evident. Likewise, mul exists only in mulberry (mul is from Latin morus, the mulberry tree). Phonetically, the first morpheme of raspberry also counts as a cranberry morpheme, even though the word "rasp" does occur by itself. Compare these with blackberry, which has two obvious unbound morphemes, and to loganberry and boysenberry, whose first morphemes are derived from personal names Other cranberry morphemes in English include: mit in permit, commit, transmit, remit, and submit, from the Latin verb mittere meaning to give, to sendceive in receive, perceive, and conceive, from the Latin verb capere meaning to seizetwi in twilightcob in cobweb, from the obsolete word coppe for a spider
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- Allomorphs An allophoneis a variation of a single phoneme. A morphemeis a minimal meaningful and/or functionallyrelevant element of an utterance. An allomorphis a variety of a single morpheme. 1. I had a dream. (noun)2. I dream of you. (verb)Morphs with the same phonemic form anddifferent meaning are allomorphs of differentmorphemes. The English plural morpheme has 3 allomorphs:• [z] as in dogs [dɒɡz]/[dɔːɡz]• [s] as in cats [kæts]• [əz] as in bushes [bʊʃəz] The English indefinite article has 3 allomorphs:• [ə] as in a dog• [ən] as in an arm• [ei] as in ‘a‘ cup not ‘the’ cup
- Allomorphs: conditioning phonologically conditionedthe shape of the allomorph depends onneighbouring sounds • morphologically conditionedthe shape of the allomorph depends on themorpheme which percedes or follows • lexically conditionedthe shape of the allomorph depends on theword as a whole
- Derivational affixes If new lexemes are created by adding an affix to a lexicalbase, this is called derivation.• can change word class• variable form-meaning relationship• prefixes or suffixes Examples:judge-ment verb -> nounhope-fully verb -> adjective un-kind + re-create ->prefixes do not change word class!
- Inflection in English Old English (until ca. 1100):nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns wereinflected English today:only 7 (!) types of inflection• loss of inflectional morphology• fixing of word order, prepositions• analytic ‘drift’ in the history of English
- Inflectional affixes If grammatical information and categories are expressed byaffixes, this is called inflection. • never changes word class• stable form-meaning relationship• suffixes• only 7 types of inflection! Examples:dog-s plural of nounshope-ed regular past tense of wordsdrink-s 3rd person singulargreat-er comparative of adjectives suffix function examples -s plural of nouns cats, dogs ‘s possessive of nouns Mike‘s -ed regular past tense of words walked, jumped -s 3rd person singular of verbs walks, jumps -ing progressive of verbs walking, jumping -er comparative of adjectives bigger, greater -est superlative of adjectives biggest, greatest
- inflection inflection • never changes word class • stable form-meaning relationship • suffixes attach to all possible bases in English:only suffixes
- derivational • can change word class• variable form-meaning relationship• affixes attach to a subset of possible bases in English:prefixes and suffixes
- What is meaning? • word meaning is conven3onal and arbitraryEvidence: Different languages use (in somecases entirely) different sound sequences withthe same meaning: dog – chien – perro – inu – pas – cão – Hund
- The semiotic triangle denotation • the set of entities a word can refer to; itspotential referents connotation • the qualities associated with these referents sense • how we present/describe these referents(definition)
- polysemy one form has multiple related meanings 1a. The university will introduce study fees.1a‘. They built this university in the 1970s.2a. I did a pretty good job.2a‘. I am looking for a job. university a) a high-educational institution b) a building which houses high educational institution
- homonymy one form has two or more unrelated meanings 3a. I quickly swallow the rest of my coffee.3a‘. A swallow can fly thousands of miles.4a. He switched on the light.4a‘. The parcel is as light as a feather. swallow a) to make food, drink, etc. go down your throat into your stomach b) a kind of bird
- homophony two or more different forms have the same pronunciation, • special case of homonymy grisly, grizzly -> [ˈɡrɪzli]plain, plane -> [pleɪn]right, rite, wright, write -> [raɪt]
- Synonymys are words of different form that have the same meaning You look beautiful/lovely in that dress.His job/occupation? – He is a teacher.He tried/attempted to escape. in the case of polysemous words, synonymy involves only one sense/meaning of that word • different contextual limitations indicate different semantic propertiesno real synonyms – only ‘near-synonyms’
- Paradigmatic lexical relations A paradigmatic lexical relation is a culturallydetermined pattern of association betweenlexical units that– belong to the same lexical category– fill the same syntactic position in a syntacticconstruction– have the same semantic function • Synonymy• Antonymy• Hyponymy• Metonymy
- Euphemism the substitution of an agreeable or less offensiveexpression in place of one that may offend orsuggest something unpleasant to the listenerdustman – refuse collectorcorrectional facility – jailethnic cleansing – genocidedifferently-abled – disabledadult beverage – beer
- Antonymy pairs of opposites which refer to two extremepoints on a scalegood – bad, male – female, true – false,teacher –student, old – young
- Antonymy Types • Gradable Gradable antonymsbig – small, old – young, fast – slow• John is faster than Jimmy. comparative possible• Jimmy is not fast ≠ Jimmy is slow can be something in-betweenopposites on a scale • Non-gradable Non-gradable antonymsalive – dead, true – false, male - female• *John is aliver than Jimmy. comparative not possible• Jimmy is not alive = Jimmy is dead. cannot be something in-betweeneither the one or the otherdirect opposites no scale • Reversives Reversives (change of state)enter – exit, pack – unpack, lengthen – shorten,raise - lower• lengthen = not shorten?– reversing the action of shortening– ‘do the reverse of shortening • Converses Converses (mutual implication)buy – sell, mother – daughter, above – below• John buys Jimmy‘s car.• Jimmy sells his car to John– describe the same event which involves the transaction ofgoods in exchange for money from different perspectives• Mary is Susan‘s mother.• Susan is Mary‘s daughter.– one single family relation form described from twodifferent perspectives
- Metaphor figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied tosomething to which it is not literally applicable in order tosuggest a resemblance.... is based upon the similarity between two concepts Life is a rollercoaster.He is a walking dictionary.All the world‘s a stage.Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
- Idiom an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usualmeanings of its constituent elements It‘s raining cats and dogs.To kill two birds with one stone
- Semantic roles Agent,Theme = role that an argument plays in the eventdescribed by a sentence Agent: entity performing an action Theme: entity undergoing action or movement, entity described