3. 2-Phonetics
• What is “phonetics”
• Speech sounds production, speech organs, sounds
of English and phonemic symbols:
• Consonants: description and classification in terms
of place and manner of articulation
• Vowels: description and classification
• Transcription of words
3
4. 3-Phonology
• What is "phonology'
• What is the difference between phonetics and phonology?
• Basic concepts: phonemes, phones, allophones, minimal pairs
and sets, assimilation, elision
• Syllable-structure, stress, intonation,
• An introduction to generative phonology
4
5. Morphology
• An Introduction to morphology:
• Morpheme: definition, and types
• Basic concepts: tense, person, gender, number, agreement
• Differences between inflection and derivation
• Morphological analysis of words
• Structure of words - Word-formation
5
6. Syntax
• An introduction to syntax: the sentence as a unit of
syntactic analysis
• a brief idea about Generative grammar
• syntactic structures and structural ambiguity
• a brief idea about structural syntax, phrase structure rules,
and transformation rules
6
7. Semantics
• What is semantics
• What is meaning
• Semantic features
• Semantic roles
• Lexical relations : synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy,
homophones and homonyms, polysemy, metonymy, and
collocation
7
9. What is Language
Nobody has so far been able to come out with
any standard definition that fully explains the
term language. It is a situation like trying to
define the term life
Language is better defined in terms of its
characteristics.
9
10. Why do we study language?
The entire human progress depends on language.
Language is a medium of literature, science and
technology, computers and cultural exchanges between
social groups and the most important means of
communication in the world. It is present everywhere in
all human activities, thoughts, dreams, prayers, etc. it is
through language that knowledge and culture are
stored and passed on from generation to generation
10
11. Language: Levels of structure
In studying language, we subdivide the area in order
to study it in an analytical and systematic way.
Language has a hierarchical structure. This means
that it is made up of units which are themselves
made up of smaller units which are made of still
smaller units till we have the smallest indivisible
unit, i.e. a single distinguishable sound called a
phoneme.
11
15. Language characteristics
1) Language is a means of communication
2) Language is arbitrary
3) Language is a system of systems
4) Language is primarily vocal
5) Language is human
these characteristics will be studied in detail later on
15
17. Language is arbitrary
(arbitrariness(
• Language is arbitrary in the sense that there is no ‘natural’
connection between a linguistic form and its meaning
exception
Onomatopoeic words: words whose sound echoes the sounds of
objects or activities e.g. crash, hush, etc.
But, Onomatopoeic words are relatively rare in human language
17
18. Language is a system of systems (duality- double
articulation(
Language is not a disorganized or a chaotic combination of
sounds
Sounds are arranged in certain fixed systematic order to form
meaningful units or words. Similarly, words are arranged in a
particular system to form acceptable meaningful sentences.
18
20. Language is primarily vocal
Speech is primary ; writing is secondary
We speak first; writing comes much later.
We speak much more than we write
20
21. Language is human
• Language is primarily human. It is humans alone that possess
language and use it for communication. Language is, in that
sense, species-specific – it is specific only to a set of species.
• Human Language differs from animal communication system
21
22. Human Language vs. animal communication
system
Human Language animal communication system
- Can convey a large
number, rather an infinite,
number of messages
- Conveys a very limited
number of messages
extendable Open-ended,
changeable, modifiable
and
Closed-systems that
permit no change,
modification or addition
e.g. a bee’s dance is today
the same as it was 100
years ago22
23. Displacement
A property of human
language that allows
language users to talk
about things and
events not present in
the immediate
environment
Lack of displacement
Animal communication system is generally
considered to lack this property. It 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.
e.g. when your pet comes home and
stands at your feet calling meow, you are
likely to understand this message as
relating to that immediate time and place
23
25. Productivity (creativity- open-
endedness(
-Humans are continually creating
new expressions and novel
utterances by manipulating their
linguistic resources to describe new
objects and situations
-This is linked to the fact that the
potential number of utterances in
any human language is infinite
Fixed reference
-The communication systems of other
creatures do not appear to have this
type of flexibility.
-It does not seem possible for creatures
to produce new signals to communicate
novel experiences or events
--this limiting feature of animal
communication system is described in
terms of fixed reference- a property of a
communication system whereby each
signal is fixed as relating to a particular
object or occasion
25
26. Cultural transmission
-While we inherit physical features such as brown
eyes and dark hair from our parents, we do not
inherit their language.
--We acquire a language in a culture with other
speakers and not from parental genes.
--This process whereby a language is passed on
from one generation to the next is described as
cultural transmission
--We are born with some kind of predisposition to
acquire language in a general sense. However, we
are not born with the ability to produce
utterances in a specific language.
-The general
pattern in
Creatures are
born with a set
of specific
signals that are
produced
instinctively.
26
27. Duality (double articulation-(
Language is organized at two levels or layers
simultaneously:
1)at one level, we have distinct sounds e.g. t,
n, e . As individual sounds, none of these
discrete forms has any intrinsic meaning
2) at another level we have distinct meanings.
e.g. ten has a meaning different from net
Among other
creatures, each
communicative
signal appears to be
a single fixed form
that cannot be
broken down into
separate parts
27
29. Do the sounds of spoken English match up with letters of
written English?
In other words
Is each sound represented by a particular letter in the
alphabet?
29
32. Articulatory phonetics: the study of the production of
speech sounds by the articulatory and vocal tract by the
speaker
Acoustic phonetics: the study of the physical
transmission of speech sounds from the speaker to
the listener (sound waves(
Auditory phonetics: the study of the perception, via the
ear, of speech sounds by the listener
32
34. Voiceless sounds are speech
sounds produced without
vibration of the vocal cords
Voiced sounds are speech
sounds produced with vibration
of the vocal cords
34
36. Consonants
Once the air has passed through the larynx, it
comes up and out through the mouth and/or the
nose.
-Most consonant sounds are produced by using
the tongue and other parts of the mouth to
constrict, in some way, the shape of the oral
cavity through which the air is passing.
--therefore, a consonant is defined as a
speech sound that is articulated with complete
or partial closure of the vocal tract.
-- consonants are described in terms of their
place and manner of articulation. 36
37. Place of articulation
Place of articulation means the location inside the mouth at which the
constriction takes place
-To describe the place of articulation of most consonant sounds, we
can start at the front of the mouth and work back .
-Consonants are classified according to their place of articulation into:
1(Bilabials
2(labiodentals
3(Dentals
4(Alveolars
5(Palatals
6(Velars
7(Glottals
37
38. b bad, lab
d did, lady
f find, if
g give, flag
h how, hello
j yes, yellow
k cat, back
l leg, little
m man, lemon
n no, ten
ŋ sing, finger
p pet, map
r red, try
s sun, miss
ʃ she, crash
t tea, getting
tʃ check, church
θ think, both
ð this, mother
v voice, five
w wet, window
z zoo, lazy
ʒ pleasure, vision
38
39. Bilabials
These are sounds formed using both (+ bi(
upper and lower lips (+ labio(:
[P]: - V e.g. pat
[b]: +V e.g. bat
[m]: + V e.g. mat
[w]: + V e.g. way
Labiodentals
These are sounds formed with the upper
teeth and the lower lip
[f] : -V e.g. Fat , safe, cough , photo
[v] : +V e.g. Vat , save39
40. Dentals
These are sounds formed with the tongue
tip behind the upper front teeth:
[θ]: - V e.g. think, both
[ð]: +V e.g. This, mother
Note: the term ‘interdentals’ is used for
these consonants when they are
pronounced with the tongue tip between (=
inter) the upper and lower teeth.
40
41. Alveolars
These are sounds formed with the front part of the tongue on the
alveolar ridge, which is the rough, bony ridge immediately behind
and above the upper teeth:
[t]: - V e.g. top
[d]: +V e.g. door
[s]: -V e.g. sit
[z]: + V e.g. zoo , raise
[n]: + V e.g. not, knot
[l]: + V e.g. let, lap
[r]: + V e.g. right , write
41
42. Palatals (alveo-palatals)
Sounds produced with the tongue and the palate,
which is a hard area in the roof of the mouth
behind the alveolar ridge.
[ʃ] – V e.g. she, crash
[tʃ] – V e.g. check, church
[ʒ ] +V e.g. pleasure, vision, rouge
[dʒ] + V e.g. just, large, George
[j] +V e.g. yet, you
42
43. Velars
These are sounds produced with the back of the
tongue against the velum, which is a soft area
beyond the hard palate back in the roof of the
mouth
[k]: - V e.g. kid, car
[g]: + V e.g. go, gun bag plague
[ŋ]: + V e.g. sing tongue bang (the velum is
lowered so that air flows through the nasal cavity)
43
44. The voiceless Glottal
That is the only sound produced without the
active use of the tongue and other parts of
the mouth :
[h] : - V e.g. have, he, house, who,
whose
- The glottis is the space between the vocal
cords in the larynx
44
46. Manner of articulation
- Consonants are also described in terms of their manner
of articulation, i.e. how they are articulated.
- Note: sounds which are placed in the same category in
terms of their place of articulation might be placed in
different categories if we consider their manner of
articulation. E.g. [t] and [s] are both voiceless alveolar
sounds but they differ in their manner of articulation,
i.e. in the way they are pronounced.
46
47. Manner of articulation
Consonants are classified according to their
manner of articulation into:
1)Stops
2)Fricatives
3)Affricates
4)Nasals
5)Liquids
6)Glides47
48. Stops (plosives(
Sounds produced by some form of stopping or blocking
of the airstream (very briefly) then letting it go abruptly:
[p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g]
Fricatives
Sounds produced by almost blocking the airstream and
having the air push through the very narrow opening. As
the air is pushed through, a type of friction is produced:
[f] [v] [θ] [ð] [s] [z] [ ] [ ]ʃ ʒ
48
49. Affricates
Sounds produced with a brief stopping of the
airstream accompanied with an obstructed
release which causes some friction
[t ] [d ]ʃ ʒ
Nasals
Sounds produced when the velum is lowered and
the airstream is allowed to flow out through the
nose: [m] [n] [ŋ]
49
50. Liquids
Sounds produced by letting air flow around the
sides of the tongue: [l] [r]
-[l] is a Lateral liquid and is formed by letting the
airstream flow around the sides of the tongue as
the tip of the tongue makes contact with the
middle of the alveolar ridge
- [r] is a voiced retroflex formed with the tongue
tip raised and curled back near the alveolar ridge
50
53. The glottal stop and the flap
There are two common terms used to describe ways of
pronouncing consonants which are not included in the
consonants chart:
(1)The glottal stop [ʔ] which occurs when the space
between the vocal cords (the glottis) is closed completely
(very briefly), then released e.g. the sound between oh oh
(2)The flap [D]: a sound produced by the tongue tip tapping
the alveolar ridge briefly e.g. butter - budder , writer –
rider, metal – medal (the consonants between vowels are
flapped)
53
54. Vowels
-While the consonant sounds are mostly articulated
via closure or obstruction in the vocal tract, vowel
sounds are produced with a relatively free flow of air.
-To describe vowel sounds, we consider the way in
which the tongue influences the ‘shape’ through
which the airflow must pass.
-To describe their place of articulation , we think of
the space inside the mouth as having a front versus a
back and a high versus a low area
54
55. -Examples: the vowels in
-heat and hit: are high front vowels
because the sound is made with the
front part of the tongue in a raised
position
-Hat : the tongue is in a lower
position
-Hot: a low back vowel
55
56. Types of English Vowels
• Monophthongs: single vowel sounds. In
pronouncing the majority of Monophthongs
our vocal organs assume one position
• Diphthongs: combined vowel sounds. In
pronouncing them, we move from one vocalic
position to another as we produce the sound56
57. English Vowels
Monophthongs
[i] eat, key, see
[ ]ɪ hit, myth wring
[e] great, tail, weight
[ ]ɛ dead said
[æ] ban, sat, laugh
[ ]ə above, sofa, support
[ ]ʌ blood, tough
[u] move, two, too
57
58. [ᶷ] could, foot, put
[o] toe, road, know
[ ]Ɔ ball, caught
[a] bomb, cot, swan
diphthongs
Combined vowel sounds that begin with a vowel and
end with a glide [j] or [w]:
[aj] buy, eye, my
[aw] cow, doubt, loud58
59. Phonetics vs. phonology
-In studying phonetics, we investigated the physical production of speech sounds in terms of
the articulatory mechanisms of the human vocal tract.
-When we considered the human vocal tract, we didn’t have to specify whether we were
talking about a fairly large person, or about a rather small person . Yet, those two physically
different individuals would inevitably have physically different vocal tracts, in terms of size and
shape. In a sense, every individual has a physically different vocal tract. Consequently, in
purely physical terms, every individually will pronounce sounds differently. There are
potentially millions of physically different ways of saying the simple word me
In addition, each individual will not pronounce the word me in a physically identical manner on
every occasion
- To answer the question about how do we manage to recognize the different versions of me as
the form [mi] and not [ni] or [si] ? The answer to that question is provided to a large extent by
the study of phonology.
59
60. phonology
- The description of the systems and
patterns of speech in a language.
- It is based on a theory of what every
speaker of a language unconsciously
knows about the sound patterns of
that language.
60
61. - Thus, Phonology is concerned with the abstract or mental aspect of the sounds in language rather than
with the actual physical articulation of speech sounds.
- when we think of the [t] sound in tar , star, writer, and eighth as
being the ‘same’ we actually mean that, in the phonology of
English, they would be represented in the same way. In actual
speech, these [t] sounds are all very different.
- However, all these articulation differences in [t] sounds are less
important than the distinction between the [t] sounds in general
and the [k] sounds or the [f] sounds , or the [b] sounds, because
there are meaningful consequences related to the use of one61
62. Phoneme
• Definition
• The smallest meaning-distinguishing sound unit
in the abstract representation of the sounds of a
language.
• slash marks / / are used to indicate a
phoneme, /t/ , an abstract segment, as opposed
to the square brackets [ ], as in [t] used for each
phonetic or physically produced segment
62
63. An essential property of a phoneme is that it functions
contrastively. /f/ and /v/ are two phonemes in English because
they are the only basis of the contrast in meaning between fat
and vat, or fine and vine .
This contrastive property is the basic operational test for
determining the phonemes that exist in a language. If we
substitute one sound for another in a word and there is a
change of meaning, then the two sounds represent different
phonemes.63
Operational test
64. Features
• The technical terms used in creating sound charts discussed
before can be considered “features” that distinguish each
phoneme from the next. If the feature is present, we mark it
with (+) and if it is not present, we mark it with (-)
• E.g.
• /p/ is [- v, +bilabial, + stop]
• /k/ is [- v, + velar, , + stop]
• /v/ is [ +v, + labiodental, + fricative]
because these two sounds share some features (both are
voiceless stops), they are expected to behave phonologically in64
65. Phones and allophones
The phoneme is the abstract unit or sound-type (in the
mind)
-There are many different versions of that sound-type
produced in actual speech – Phones.
-When we have a set of phones, all of which are versions
of one phoneme we refer to them as allophones
65
66. Examples
1- [t] in tar : pronounced with a stronger puff of air
(aspiration) than is present in the [t] sound in s tar.
This aspirated version is represented more precisely
as [t ͪ ]. (one phone)
2- [t] in writer : is flapped. This can be represented
as [D] : (another phone)
3- [t] in eighth: the influence of the final dental [ϴ]
sound causes a dental articulation of the [t] sound.
This can be represented as [t] (another phone)
66
67. Because these variations are all part of one set of phones, they
are typically referred to as allophones of the phoneme /t/
example 2
-There is a subtle difference in the pronunciation of /i/ in the
words seed and seen . In seen, the effect of the nasal
consonant [n] makes the [i] sound nasalized. This nasalization
(i.e. pronunciation of a sound with air flowing through the nose
typically before a nasal consonant) is represented with a small
mark (~) over the symbol [ĩ] . Thus, there are at least two phones
[i] and [ĩ] , used to realize the same phoneme . They are both
allophones of /i/ in English.
67
68. Minimal pair
Two words which are identical in form except for a contrast in
one phoneme, occurring in the same position.
e.g.
Pat – bat (this contrast between /p/ and /b/ is not found in
Arabic
Fan – van
Bet – bat
Site – side
68
69. Minimal sets
A group of words which are differentiated,
each one from the others, by changing one
phoneme (always in the same position.
e.g.
- Feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot,
- Big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig
69
70. Phonotactics
This type of exercise involving minimal pair and
minimal set is used as a test of phonemic
distinctions in a language.
-Also, this type of exercise involving minimal set
allows us to see that there are definite patterns in
types of sound combinations permitted in a
language.
-- the minimal set list of big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig
does not include forms such as lig or vig which are not
English words, but they could be viewed as possible70
71. Phonotactics
On the other hand, forms such as [fsıg] or [rnıg do not exist or
are unlikely ever to exist.
These Constraints on the permissible combination of sounds
in a language are called Phonotactics (i.e. permitted
arrangements of sounds)
71
72. Syllables
A syllable is : a unit of sound consisting of a vowel and
optional consonants before or after the vowel.
thus, a syllable must contain a vowel (V).
The most common type of syllable in a language also
has a consonant (C)
The basic elements of the syllable the onset (one or
more consonants) followed by the rhyme. The rhyme
consists of a vowel, which is treated as the nucleus,
plus any following consonant (s), described as the
coda
72
75. ??????????????
1- Does a closed syllable contain a vowel?
2- analyze the syllable structure of the following words:
green
Eggs
Do
Not
Like
Them
I
Am
Ham
75
77. Consonant cluster
Both the onset and the coda can consist of more
than one consonant, known as consonant cluster
e.g.
/st / is a CC used as onset in stop, as coda in post
/bl/ black,
/br/ bread
/tr/ trick
/fl/ flat
/tw/ twin
Notice: liquids (/l/, and /r/) and a glide (/w/) are77
78. -English can actually have a larger onset clusters as
in:
-stress splat (CCC)
-1st
consonant 2nd
consonant
/s/ /p/ /t/ /k/ /l/ /r/ /w/
e.g.
Splash , spring, strong, scream, and square
78
79. Co-articulation effect
- mostly, our talk is fast and spontaneous, and
requires our articulators to move from one sound
to the next without stopping. The process of
making one sound almost at the same time as the
next sound is called coarticulation,
- There are two well-known
coarticulation effects, described as assimilation and
elision
79
80. assimilation
-The process taking place when two phonemes occur
in sequence and some aspect of one phoneme is
taken or copied by the other
-E.g.
-[grænd] grand and [græmpa] grandpa : the [n] is
changed into [m] before the bilabial [p]
- [kæn] can and [ajk ŋgoə ] I can go
--[ænd] and and [yu nmi]ə you and me
80
81. elision
The omission of a sound segment which would be
present in the deliberate pronunciation of a word
in isolation
e.g.
-[ænd] and - [yu nmi]ə you and me
- [fr n ıp]ɛ ʃ friendship
-[æsp ks] aspectsɛ
-- [him sbi] he must beə
81
82. Intonation
• intonation is variation of spoken pitch that is not used to
distinguish words; instead it is used for a range of functions such
as indicating the attitudes and emotions of the speaker, signalling
the difference between statement and question, and between
different types of question, focusing attention on important
elements of the spoken message and also helping to regulate
conversational interaction. It contrasts with tone,, below).
• Although intonation is primarily a matter of pitch variation, it is
important to be aware that functions attributed to intonation
such as the expression of attitudes and emotions, or highlighting
aspects of grammatical structure, almost always involve82
83. Stress
In all languages some syllables are in some sense stronger than other syllables; these
are syllables that have the potential to be described as stressed. It is also probably true
that the difference between strong and weak syllables is of some linguistic importance
in every language - strong and weak syllables do not occur at random. However,
languages differ in the linguistic function of such differences: in English, for example, the
position of stress can change the meaning of a word, as in the case of 'import' (noun)
and 'import' (verb), and so forms part of the phonological composition of the word.
However, it is usually claimed that in the case of French there is no possibility of moving
the stress to different syllables except in cases of special emphasis or contrast, since
stress (if there is any that can be detected) always falls on the last syllable of a word.
83
84. what factors make a syllable count as
stressed
It seems likely that stressed syllables are produced with greater
effort than unstressed, and that this effort is manifested in the air
pressure generated in the lungs for producing the syllable and also
in the articulatory movements in the vocal tract. These effects of
stress produce in turn various audible results: one is pitch
prominence, in which the stressed syllable stands out from its
context (for example, being higher if its unstressed neighbours are
low in pitch, or lower if those neighbours are high; often a pitch
glide such as a fall or rise is used to give greater pitch prominence);
another effect of stress is that stressed syllables tend to be longer -
this is very noticeable in English, less so in some other languages;84
85. Generative phonology
We have considered so far two different levels of
abstraction in representing the sound structure of
a language:
1)a phonetic level of representation which includes
aspects of pronunciation which are at least shared
by a community/dialect group
2) and a phonemic level of representation which is
formed from a finite number of phonemic units
and which factors out the contextual influences.
85
86. Generative phonology
It has been a particular hallmark of a branch of
phonology known as
Generative Phonology, that came to prominence
with Chomsky & Halle's (1968) Sound Pattern of
English, to consider a more abstract representation
which will call an underlying representation that
allows phonological rules and principles to be more
transparently and economically stated
86
87. Their emphasis in the Sound Pattern of English is to
eliminate redundancy from phonological analyses.
We already do this to a certain extent, of course, in
representing words using the phonemic rather
than a phonetic representation: that is, there are
some aspects of pronunciation that are redundant
(e.g. aspiration of oral stops in English) and so we
factor out this redundancy and subsequently fill it
in by rule. We therefore of course also necessarily
end up with a considerably more abstract sound
representation of the word (e.g. /p n/ɪ rather than
[p n])ʰɪ
87
88. Thus,
generative phonology is based on the
principle of an abstract, underlying
phonological representation of speech
which needs rules to convert it into
phonetic realizations.
88
89. tense, person, gender, number, agreement
Tense: the grammatical category distinguishing forms of the
verb such as the present tense and past tense
Person: the grammatical category distinguishing first person
(involving the speaker, me), second person (involving the
hearer, you), and third person (involving any others, she, them)
Grammatical Gender: the grammatical category distinguishing
classes of nouns as masculine, feminine (or neuter)
Number: the grammatical category of nouns as singular or
plural.
Agreement: the grammatical connection between two parts of
a sentence, as in the connection between a subject (Cathy) and89
91. Main Divisions of Word Classes
(Parts of Speech(:
•Content Words
•Function Words
• Nouns
• Verbs
• Adjectives
• Adverbs
• Conjunctions
• Prepositions
• Articles
• Pronouns
92. Morpheme:
The minimal unit of meaning or grammatical
function
Example
The police reopened the investigation
re- : a minimal unit of meaning (meaning ‘again’
Open: a minimal unit of meaning
- ed: a minimal unit of grammatical function
- (indicating past tense)
93. Free and bound morphemes
Free morpheme: a single morpheme that constitutes a word and
can stand alone. E.g. play, man, kind
Bound morpheme: a morpheme that must be attached to
another morpheme. E.g. un-, dis, in-, -less, -ed, re-
93
95. English Affixes
(based on the position(
Prefix: An affix (a
bound morpheme)
added to the
beginning of a word
Suffix: An affix
(a bound
morpheme)
added to the
end of a word
96. Affixes
(based on the function(
Inflections vs. DerivationsInflections vs. Derivations
97. Definition
• Derivational morpheme:
• a bound morpheme used to make new words or words of a
different grammatical category.
• Inflectional morpheme:
• a bound morpheme that changes the form of a word because of
the rules of syntax.
98. English Inflectional Morphemes
Nouns
–s plural
–’s possessive
Verbs
–s third person singular present
–ed past tense
–en past participle
–ing progressive
Adjectives
–er comparative
–est superlative
103. 103
Process Definition Examples
Coinage The invention of totally new terms . Aspirin, nylon, Vaseline, Kleenex.
Borrowing Taking words from other languages Croissant (French)
Lilac (Persian)
Sofa (Arabic)
Tycoon (Japanese)
Compounding Joining two or more words
together to form a new word.
Home + work = homework
Pick + pocket = pickpocket
Finger+ print= fingerprint
sun + burn=sunburn
wall + paper= wallpaper
Blending Combining the beginning of one
word and the end of another word to
form a new word.
Smog (smoke + fog)
Brunch (breakfast + lunch)
Telecast (television + broadcast)
Spanglish (Spanish + English)
104. 104
Process Definition Examples
Backformation Reducing a word of one type (e.g. a
noun) to form a word of another
type (e.g. a verb)
Television – televise
Babysitter – babysit
Emotion – emote
Clipping Shortening a polysyllabic word by
deleting one or more syllables
Flu (influenza)
Lab (laboratory)
Ad (advertisement
Gas (gasoline)
Conversion (category change –
functional shift)
Changing the function of a word,
such as a noun to a verb, as a way of
forming new words (without any
reduction)
Bottle, chair, vacation (nouns that
come to be used as verbs)
Must, guess, spy ( verbs that come
to be used as nouns)
105. 105
Process Definition Examples
Acronyms Words derived from the initials of
several words
CD (compact disk)
NATO, NASA, UNESCO , Radar, ATM
Derivation
(The most common word formation
process to be found in the production
of new English words )
forming new words by adding affixes Disrespectful, foolishness,
Singabloodypore , absogoddamlutely!
107. 107
The sentence
Innumerable definitions of sentence exist, ranging from
the vague characterizations of traditional grammar (such
as ‘the expression of a complete thought’) to the detailed
structural descriptions of contemporary linguistic
analysis. Most linguistic definitions of the sentence show
the influence of Leonard Bloomfield who pointed to the
structural autonomy, or independence, of the notion of
sentence: it is ‘not included by virtue of any grammatical
construction in any larger linguistic form’.
108. Linguistic discussion of the sentence has focused on problems of
identification, classification and generation. Identifying
sentences is relatively straightforward in the written language,
(a sentence is defined as a group of words standing between an
initial capital letter and a mark of end punctuation), but is often
problematic in speech, where intonation and pause may give
uncertain clues as to whether a sentence boundary exists.
Classification of sentence structure proceeds along many
different lines, e.g. the binary constituent procedures of
immediate-constituent analysis, or the hierarchical analyses
(sentences being seen as composites of clauses, which in turn
are analysed into phrases, etc.).108
109. In generative grammar, likewise, there are several
models of analysis for sentence structure, with
competing views as to the direction in which a sentence
derivation should proceed. Certain analytic problems are
shared by all approaches, e.g. how to handle elliptical
sentences (or ‘sentence fragments’), such as To town (in
answer to Where are you going?); how to handle cross-
reference between sentences, such as She’s writing
(‘sentence connectivity’); and how to handle the minor,
non-productive sentence types in a language (e.g. Yes,
Please, How do you do?).
109
110. Most analysts agree on the need to recognize
a functional classification of sentences into
statement, question, command and
exclamatory types. There is also widespread
recognition of a formal classification into
declarative, interrogative, imperative and
exclamative types
110
111. Most analyses also recognize some such classification of ‘sentence patterns’ into simple v.
complex or compound types, i.e. consisting of one subject–predicate unit, as opposed to
more than one. Whether one calls this subject–predicate unit a clause or a ‘simple’
sentence, or uses some other term depends on one’s model of analysis – but something
analogous to this unit emerges in all theories, e.g. NP + VP, actor–action–goal, Subject–
Verb–Object. Likewise, the number of formal sentence types recognized, and how they
are best defined, has been and remains controversial. Several linguists insist on making a
systematic distinction between sentence (a theoretical unit, defined by a grammar) and
utterance (a physical unit, a matter of speech production or performance): in this view,
utterances can be analysed in terms of sentences, but utterances do not ‘consist of’
sentences
111
112. Grammatical vs. Ungrammatical
Well-formed or grammatical sentence: a sequence of words that conform
to the rules of syntax.
Ill-formed or ungrammatical sentence: a sequence of words that violate
the rules of syntax.
1. The boy found the ball
2. *The boy found quickly
3.* The boy found in the house
4. The boy found the ball in the house
5. *Disa slept the baby
6. Disa slept soundly
112
113. Symbols used in syntactic descriptions
S: Sentence
NP: Noun Phrase: The car, a clever student
VP : Verb Phrase: play the guitar
PP : Prepositional Phrase; in the class
AP : Adjective Phrase: very tall, kind
N: Noun man, boy
Pro: Pronoun he, she
PN: Proper noun Mona
V: verb play
Art: Article a, an, the
Adj: Adjective kind, clear
Prep: Preposition in, at
Adv: adverb kindly
Consists of
( ) optional
{ } one and only one of these constituents must be selected
Ungrammatical sentence
113
114. Immediate constituent (IC)
Immediate Constituent is a term used in grammatical analysis to refer to the
major divisions that can be made within a syntactic construction, at any level.
For example, in analyzing the sentence The boy is walking, the immediate
constituents would be the boy and is walking. These in turn can be analyzed
into immediate constituents (the + boy, is + walking), and the process continues
until irreducible constituents are reached. The whole procedure is known as
immediate-constituent analysis (or ‘constituent analysis’), and was a
major feature of Bloomfieldian structural linguistics.
115. Immediate constituent analysis
immediate constituent analysis or IC analysis is a method of
sentence analysis that was first mentioned by Leonard Bloomfield
and developed further by Rulon Wells. The process reached a full
blown strategy for analyzing sentence structure in the early
works of Noam Chomsky. Most tree structures employed to
represent the syntactic structure of sentences are products of
some form of IC-analysis
116. IC-analysis in phrase structure
grammars
Given a phrase structure grammar (= constituency grammar),
IC-analysis divides up a sentence into major parts or
immediate constituents, and these constituents are in turn
divided into further immediate constituents. The process
continues until irreducible constituents are reached, i.e., until
each constituent consists of only a word or a meaningful part
of a word. The end result of IC-analysis is often presented in a
visual diagrammatic form that reveals the hierarchical
immediate constituent structure of the sentence at hand.
These diagrams are usually trees.
117. Phrase structure rules
S → NP (Aux) VP
NP → art (adj) N
NP Pro
NP PN
NP { art (adj) N, Pro, PN}
VP → V (NP) (PP) (Adv) (CP)
PP → Prep NP
CP Comp S / C S
117
118. Transformational-generative grammar
-Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) is a theoretical grammar designed to explain
the process and the rules that enable language users to generate an infinite number of
grammatical sentences and to avoid truly ungrammatical ones.
-It had its beginning particularly in the work of Zellig Harris and, later, in the work of his
student Noam Chomsky. Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) had its first exponent
in Chomsky' s works. In his most notable work Syntactic structures (1957) as an illustration of
a generative device more powerful than phrase-structure grammars. In this view, very many
sentence types can be economically derived by supplementing the constituent analysis rules
of phrase-structure grammars with rules for transforming one sentence into another. The
rule of passivization, for instance, is claimed to be a procedure both simpler and intuitively
more satisfactory than generating active and passive sentences separately in the same
grammar. The arguments were persuasive, and as a result transformational grammars
became the most influential type in the development of generative grammatical theory:
indeed, the field as a whole for a time came to be variously known as ‘generative grammar’,
‘transformational- generative grammar’ (or simply ‘TG’).
118
119. Several models of transformational grammar have been presented since its
first outline. The standard model, as presented by Chomsky in Aspects of the
Theory of Syntax (1965), consists of three components: (a) a syntactic
component, comprising a basic set of phrase-structure rules which together
with lexical information provides the deep-structure information about
sentences, and a set of transformational rules for generating surface
structures; (b) a phonological component, which converts strings of syntactic
elements into pronounceable utterance; and (c) a semantic component, which
provides a representation of the meaning of the lexical items to be used in the
sentence. The ways in which these components should be interrelated
(especially the relationships between semantics and syntax) have proved to be
a source of continuing controversy, since the appearance of Aspects, and
alternative models of analysis have developed
119
120. Generative grammar
-- Inspired by the work of Noam Chomsky, linguists attempted to
produce a particular type of grammar that has a very explicit system
of rules specifying what combinations of basic elements would
result in well-formed sentences . Such a set of explicit rules is a
generative grammar
120
121. -The grammar will have a finite (i.e. limited) number of rules, but will be
capable of generating an infinte number of well-formed structures.
-A generative grammar defines the syntactic structures of a language.
The grammar will generate all the well-formed syntactic structures (e.g.
sentences) of the language and will not generate any ill-formed
structures. This has been called the ‘all and only’ criterion’, that is, all the
grammatical sentences and only the grammatical sentences will be
produced.
-- the grammar should also be capable of revealing the basis of two
other phenomena: first, how some superficially different sentences are
closely related, and, second, how some superficially similar sentences
are in fact different.
121
122. -Deep and surface structure
-Two superficially different sentences are shown in these examples:
-Charlie broke the window
-The window was broken by Charlie
-In traditional grammar, the first is called an active sentence, focusing
on what Charlie did, and the second is a passive sentence, focusing on
the window and what happened to it. The distinction between them is
a difference in their surface structure, i.e. the different syntactic forms
they have as individual English sentences. However, this superficial
difference in form disguises the fact that the two sentences are very
closely related, even identical, at some less superficial level.
122
123. -The other ‘underlying’ level, where the basic components (noun
phrase+ verb + noun phrase) shared by the two sentences can be
represented, is called their deep structure. The deep structure is an
abstract level of structural organization in which all the elements
determining structural interpretation are represented. The same
deep structure can be the source of many other surface structures:
such as It was Charlie that broke the window. And Was the window
broken by Charlie . In short, the grammar must be capable of
showing how a single underlying abstract representation can
become different surface structures
123
124. ambiguity
-This term refers to a word or sentence which expresses more than
one meaning (is ambiguous). Several types of ambiguity are
recognized. The most widely discussed
-type is grammatical (or structural) ambiguity. In phrase-structure
ambiguity,
-alternative constituent structures can be assigned to a
construction, as in new houses and shops, which could be analysed
either as new [houses and shops] (i.e. both are new) or [new
houses] and shops (i.e. only the houses are new).
124
125. In transformational ambiguity, the sentence may
have a similar bracketing on the surface for both
readings, but is related to more than one structure at
a more abstract level of representation. For example,
Visiting relatives can be awful is relatable to either It is
awful to visit relatives or Relatives who visit are awful.
125
126. Consider the following example:
Ann whacked a man with an umbrella
this sentence has two underlying interpretations
that have to be represented differently in deep
structure:
-Ann had an umbrella and she wacked a man with it
-Ann whacked a man and the man happened to be
carrying an umbrella
126
127. Exercise
In what ways are these expressions structurally ambiguous :
-The chickens are ready to eat.
-Small boys and girls
-We met an English history teacher
-Flying planes can be dangerous
-Draw two phrase structure trees representing the two meanings of
each of the sentences above
127
128. Transformational rules
Remember :
-Phrase structure rules can be treated as a
representation of the ‘underlying’ or deep structures
of sentences in English.
-One feature of these underlying structures is that
they will always generate sentences with a fixed
word order.
128
129. Examples
If we follow the phrase structure rules, adverbs will always come at the end of their
sentences, e.g. Mary saw George recently.
What about Recently Mary saw George. Here, the adverb recently has been moved to the
beginning of the sentence. In order to make this possible in the grammar, we need other
rules that will change or move constituents in the structures derived from the phrase
structure rules.
These rules are called transformational rules . Essentially, what they do is take a specific part
of structure , like a branch of the tree, away from one part of the tree diagram and attach it
to a different part.
E.g.
Mary saw George recently. Recently Mary saw George.
V NP Adv adv V NP
129
131. - His main publication on phonology was The Sound
Pattern of English (1968), with Morris Halle. Later
developments in his linguistic thinking in book form
may be found in Reflections on Language (1976),
Rules and Representations (1980), Knowledge of
Language (1986), Barriers (1986) and The Minimalist
Program (1995).
131
132. By the mid-1960s Chomsky had come to stress the role of
language as a key means to the investigation of the human
mind. The view that linguistics can be profitably seen as a
branch of cognitive psychology is argued especially in
Language and Mind (1968). A collection of essays since 1992
is New Horizons in the the Study of Language and Mind
(2000). In the 2000s, Chomsky has argued that his whole
generative grammar project is an exercise in biolinguistics: a
good summary is in On Nature and Language (2002).
132
133. competence/performance
competence (n.) A term used in linguistic theory, and
especially in generative grammar, to refer to speakers’
knowledge of their language, the system of rules which they
have mastered so that they are able to produce and
understand an indefinite number of sentences, and to
recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. It is seen as
in opposition to the notion of performance, the specific
utterances of speech.
133
136. Sense vs. reference
sense (n.) In semantics, this term is usually contrasted with
reference, as part
of an explication of the notion of meaning.
Reference, or denotation, is seen as extralinguistic – the entities,
states of affairs, etc. in the external world which a linguistic
expression stands for. Sense, on the other hand, refers to the system
of linguistic relationships (sense relations or semantic relations)
which a lexical item contracts with other lexical items – the
paradigmatic relationships of synonymy, antonymy, etc., and the
relationships of collocation.136
137. denotation
A term used in semantics as part of a classification of types of meaning; often opposed
to connotation. It has been given different though overlapping uses in philosophy and
branches of linguistics, so it has to be used with care. In one sense, in traditional
linguistic terminology, denotational meaning equates roughly with literal meaning,
contrasting with the subjective and personal associations of connotation. For example,
the denotation of dog would be its dictionary definition of ‘canine quadruped’, etc.,
while its connotations might include ‘friend’, ‘helper’, ‘competition’, etc. In a second
sense, the denotation of an expression is the set of entities that it properly applies to or
identifies; so for dog this is the set of all actual dogs. In this case it is equivalent to
extension. In a third usage, the denotation of an expression is the set of properties that
something has to have to allow the expression to be applied to it. In this case it is
equivalent to intension.
137
138. connotation
A term used in semantics as part of a classification of types of
meaning; opposed to denotation. Its main application is with
reference to the emotional associations (personal or communal)
which are suggested by, or are part of the meaning of, a linguistic
unit, especially a lexical item. Denotation, by contrast, covers the
relationship between a linguistic unit and the non-linguistic
entities to which it refers. (The traditional philosophical use of
‘connotation’ and ‘denotation’ is quite different: here, the
meanings involved largely correspond to the distinction between
sense and reference, the former being concerned with the
relationships of equivalence between terms and propositions,
the latter with their external-world status and truth-value.) For138
139. Lexical Semantics
Semantic feature: A device for
expressing the presence or absence of
semantic properties by pluses and
minuses.
E.g. baby is [+ young], [+ human], [–
abstract].139
140. Identify the features (1(
1. (a) widow, mother, sister, aunt, maid
(b) widower, father, brother, uncle, valet
The (a) and (b) words are[+ human]
The (a) words are [+ female]
The (b) words are [+ male]
2.2. (a) bachelor, paperboy, pope, chief(a) bachelor, paperboy, pope, chief
(b) bull, rooster, drake, ram(b) bull, rooster, drake, ram
The (a) and (b) words are [+ male]The (a) and (b) words are [+ male]
The (a) words are [+ human]The (a) words are [+ human]140
141. Semantic Relations among Words
lexical relations
Synonymy: words that have the same meanings, e.g. start &
begin. big & large
Antonymy: words that are opposites in meanings, e.g. hot & cold.
Happy & sad
Polysemy: A word which has two or more related meanings, e.g.
bright: ‘shining’ ; ‘intelligent.
Homonymy: A word which has two or more entirely distinct
meanings, e.g. club: ‘a social organization’ ; ‘a blunt weapon’.
Homophony: Different words pronounced the same but spelled
differently, e.g. two and too.141
142. Identifying Homonyms in Jokes
Policeman: Why have you parked your car here?Policeman: Why have you parked your car here?
Motorist: Because the sign says “Fine for ParkingMotorist: Because the sign says “Fine for Parking
Customer: Have you got half-inch nails?Customer: Have you got half-inch nails?
Ironmonger: Yes, sir.Ironmonger: Yes, sir.
Customer: Then could you scratch my back. It’s very itchyCustomer: Then could you scratch my back. It’s very itchy
142
143. More semantic relations among wordsMore semantic relations among words
HyponymyHyponymy: Words whose meanings are specific instances of: Words whose meanings are specific instances of
a more general word, i.e. the meaning of one form isa more general word, i.e. the meaning of one form is
included in the meaning o another. e.g.included in the meaning o another. e.g. flower/roseflower/rose
dog/poodledog/poodle
MetonymyMetonymy: A word substituted for another word with: A word substituted for another word with
which it is closely associated, e.g.which it is closely associated, e.g. bottlebottle //water , crownwater , crown //
king, car/wheelsking, car/wheels
143
144. Collocation
A relationship between words that frequently
occur together
Or
- the habitual co-occurrence of individual lexical
items
e.g. salt and pepper,
letter and alphabet, graphic, etc.
Green and jealousy
144
145. lexical ambiguity
Ambiguity which does not arise from the grammatical analysis of a
sentence, but is due solely to the alternative meanings of an individual lexical
item, is referred to as lexical ambiguity, e.g. I found the table fascinating (=
‘object of furniture’ or ‘table of figures’.
The term needs to be distinguished, in particular, from ‘generality’ of
meaning. The word parent, for example, has one reading synonymous with
mother and a second reading synonymous with father, but this is not a case of
ambiguity because parent has a single, more general meaning which
subsumes the two possibilities. Ambiguity also needs to be distinguished from
the kind of indeterminacy which surrounds any sentence: in Mary saw a
balloon, it is not clear when she saw it, how big the balloon was, what its
colour was, and so on. No sentence would be called ambiguous on account of
such unstated issues.145
146. participant role
(1) A term used in linguistics, especially in pragmatics, to refer to
the functions which can be ascribed to people taking part in a
linguistic interaction. Typical roles are speaker and addressee, but
several other roles can be recognized, such as the recipient (as
opposed to the target) of a message.
(2) The term is also sometimes used in grammar, as an alternative
to case, to refer to the semantic functions attached to clause
elements, such as agent, recipient and affected.
146
147. Thematic relation
semantic role
The term thematic role is used for the role performed by
each argument (i.e. subject or complement) of a
predicate, defined with reference to a restricted universal
set of thematic functions (or thematic relations); also
known as a theta role
e.g.
agent, patient/theme, instrument, experiencer, locative,
source and goal.
147
148. Agent and theme
Agent: the entity that performs the action – human and non-
human
Theme/patient: the entity that is involved or affected by the action
or is simply described (i.e. not performing an action) --- non-human
and human
The boy kicked the ball
The wind blew the ball away
The dog chased the boy
148
149. Instrument and experiencer
Instrument: the entity used by the agent in order to perform an
action.
e.g.
He cut it with a knife
The boy cut the rope with an old razor
Experiencer: the entity that has the feeling, perception or state
described by the verb.
e.g. The boy feels sad
Did you hear that noise
149
150. Location, source and goal
Location: the noun phrase identifying where an
entity is
e.g. The boy is sitting in the classroom
Source : the noun phrase identifying where an
entity moves from
e.g. The boy ran from the house
Goal: the noun phrase identifying where an entity
moves to
e.g. The boy walked to the window.
150
151. Exercise
Identifying the semantic roles of the noun phrases in the following
sentences:
1- Mary saw a fly on the wall
2- She borrowed a magazine from George
3- She squashed the bug with the magazine
4- She handed the magazine back to George
5-We traveled from Abha to Najran
151
152. Argument structure
Argument: (an entity about which something is ‘said’) and a
predicate (what is ‘said’ about the argument). In ‘Pete is
tall’, ‘Pete’ is the argument and ‘(is) tall’ is the predicate.
Some predicates need more than one argument to form a
complete proposition: ‘like’, for instance, requires two (‘Pete
likes Liz’) and ‘give’ requires three (‘Pete gave Liz a present’).
Predicates may be described as one-place, two-place or
three-place according to the number of arguments they take
152
153. In later generative grammar, the term is used to refer to any noun phrase position
within a sentence (i.e. functioning as subject, object, etc.). In government-binding
theory, an argument is an expression with a theta role, and the position to which
a theta role can be assigned is called an A(rgument)-position. An internal
argument is an argument of the verb that does not include the subject; an
external argument is an argument of the verb that does include the subject.
External arguments may differ depending on how a sentence is understood: for
example, in John broke his leg, John is an agent if John and his refer to different
people, but it is a patient if his is co-referential. A preferred argument structure is
a demonstrable discourse preference in a language for the use of a particular
syntactic structure – for example, a tendency for lexical NPs to appear as the
subject of an intransitive verb rather than of a transitive verb. An argument which
is not overtly expressed (as when the agent of a passive sentence is left unstated)
is called an implicit argument.
153
154. categorization
categorization refers to the whole process of organizing human
experience into general concepts with their associated linguistic
labels.
Category: a group with certain features in common
154
155. The term category in some approaches
refers to the classes
themselves, e.g. noun, verb, subject,
predicate, noun phrase, verb phrase
155
