Linguistics and phonetics

Shorts Questions

(1) Define linguistics?

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and its focus is the systematic investigation of the
properties of particular languages as well as the characteristics of language in general. It
encompasses not only the study of sound, grammar and meaning, but also the history of
language families, how languages are acquired by children and adults, and how language use is
processed in the mind and how it is connected to race and gender. With close connections to the
humanities, social sciences and the natural sciences, linguistics complements a diverse range of
other disciplines such as anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, biology, computer
science, health sciences, education and literature. The subfield of Applied Linguistics emphasizes
the use of linguistic concepts in the classroom to help students improve their ability to
communicate in their native language or a second language.
(2) Define phonetics and enlist its branches?
Phonetics is the science which studies the characteristic of human sound making
especially those sounds used in speech and provides method of their description
classification and transcription.

Phonetics has three main branches:

 Articulatory phonetics studies the production of speech sounds by the human vocal tract.
 Auditory phonetics studies the perception of speech sounds by the human perceptual system.
 Acoustic phonetics studies the physical properties of speech sounds.

(3) Draw and label the diagram of speech mechanism?

 (4) what do you mean by PMV features of sound and exemplify them?
(5) Enlist diphthongs with example?

 /aɪ/ This diphthong uses letters and letter combinations like /i/, /igh/, and /y/ to form
sounds similar to “eye.” Here are a few more examples
 My
 Like
 Bright
 Lime

 /eɪ/ Thisdiphthong uses letters and letter combinations like /ey/, /ay/,
/ai/ and /a/ to form sounds similar to “great.
 Rain
 Lay
 Eight
 Break

/aʊ/

This diphthong uses letters and letter combinations like /ou/ and /ow/ to form sounds similar to
“ow!” Here are a few more examples:

 Bound
 House
 Brown
 How
 Now

/eə/

This diphthong uses letters and letter combinations like /ai/, /a/, and /ea/ to form sounds similar
to “air.” Here are a few more examples:

 Pair
 Lair
 Stare
 Care
 Bear

/ɪə/
This diphthong uses letters and letter combinations like /ee/, /ie/ and /ea/ to form sounds similar
to “ear.” Here are a few more examples:

 Career
 Here
 Near
 Year
 Pier

/ɔɪ/

This diphthong uses letters and letter combinations like /oy/ and /oi/ to form sounds similar to
“oil.” Here are a few more examples:

 Boy
 Coy
 Toy
 Foil
 Coin

/ʊə/

This diphthong uses letters and letter combinations like /oo/, /ou/, /u/, and /ue/ to form sounds
similar to “cure.” Here are a few more examples:

 Fur
 Sur
 e
 Lure
 Pure
 Manure

(6)Cardinal vowels and its examples?

Cardinal vowels are a group of reference vowels used by phoneticians in describing the sounds of
languages.  They are language independent and are used to mark the relationship between vowels of
different languages. In simple words, Cardinal vowels are not vowels of any particular language, but a
measuring sys

cardinal Vowels are classified into Primary and Secondary cardinal vowels.

Primary cardinal vowels :These eight cardinal vowels are numbered as follows: 1 [i], 2 [e],
3 [ɛ], 4 [a], 5 [ɑ], 6 [ɔ], 7 [o], and 8 [u]. In addition, equidistant between [i] and [u] is
the central, close vowel [ʉ]. d) The above are the primary cardinal vowels.
Secondry cardinal vowels

(7)Write two examples of affixes?

Affix is a word that can be added to a root word or base word to add a new meaning.

For example, let’s examine the root reserve. This word can't be broken down further, but it can
be transformed into unreserved by the prefix un- or even unreservedly by the suffixes -ed and -
ly.

Prefix Meaning Example

ante- before, in front of He didn't know what an antecedent was in grammar.
Suffix Meaning Example
-dom state of being In America, freedom is important to the people.

(8) Define semantics?

There are actually two different definitions of semantics that apply in different contexts. In daily life,
semantics is a term used to describe the differentiations that people have between the meanings of
words. Semantics is also a formal term for a branch of linguistics that is concerned with studying
how meaning is constructed and communicated in written or spoken language. Both of these senses
of the word are important and connected to one another. Semantics can help determine how people
interpret a text, individual reading comprehension, and how people communicate with each other.
Semantic meaning can be studied at several different levels within linguistics. The three major types
of semantics are formal, lexical, and conceptual semantics.
(9) What is syntax? Write any three rules with examples?
Syntax is a branch of linguistics that seeks to understand how languages' grammar is generated and
how sentences are formed.

Syntactic Rules

 English usually has a Subject-Verb-Object world order, unlike some other languages.
 A sentence must have a subject and a verb, and it must express a complete thought.
 Generally, it is best to express separate ideas in different sentences.
 Dependent clauses have a subject and a verb and might look like sentences, but they do
not express complete thoughts and are therefore insufficient on their own.

Syntax Examples
Tools that can help students understand syntax include a comprehensive syntax definition and
examples of sentences that employ correct English syntax. Like all languages, English is governed by
grammatical rules. For instance, most sentences in English follow a Subject-Verb-Object word order,
resulting in syntactically correct sentences like:

 The boy kicked the ball.

 We were almost late for school because we missed the bus.
 The average lifespan for a giraffe is around 26 years.

The above sentences are syntactically correct and they make perfect sense. However, it is also
possible for sentences to follow the rules of syntax without making any sense at all, as in the
following example, which was famously said by linguist Noam Chomsky:

 Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.