ENG 018 - SAS #2: Defining Linguistics, its Elements and Characteristics

Linguistics deals with the scientific study of language. It aims to understand how the language faculty of the mind works and
to describe how language itself works. It involves the analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context.
Language means is foremost a means of communication, and communication usually takes place within some sort of social
context.

Elements of Language

1. Phonetics - speech sounds

- deals with the sounds of spoken language; how they are made, classified and combined and how they are perceived.
2. Phonology - phonemes
- deals with speech sounds. If phonetics deals with speech sounds, this one deals with the system and pattern of sounds.
3. Morphology - words
- deals with the internal structure of words, not in sounds but with its formation.
4. Syntax - phrases and sentences
- is concerned with the ways in which words are organized into sentences and to be understood.
5. Semantics - literal meaning of phrases and sentences
- deals with the meaning of language. It could be the connotative or denotative meaning of a language.
6. Pragmatics - meaning in context of discourse
- deals with the ways meaning of an utterance may be influenced by the speaker or hearer to interpret within the context.

Characteristics of Language
1. Language is arbitrary - as there is no inherent connection between the nature of things or concepts the language deals
with, however by which those things and concepts are expressed.
2. Language is a social Phenomenon - Language is social that exists in our human society; it is a means of nourishing and
developing culture and establishing human relations.
3. Language is a symbolic system - It consists of different types of sound symbols and their graphological partners that are
utilized to give a few objects, occurrences or significance. These symbols are discretionarily picked and routinely
acknowledged and utilized.
4. Language is Systematic - In spite of the fact that language is symbolic, its symbols are arranged in specific systems. All
languages have their arrangement of plans. Each language is an arrangement of systems. Furthermore, all languages have
phonological and syntactic systems and within a system, there are several subsystems.
5. Language is vocal, verbal, and sound - It essentially comprises vocal sounds just created by a physiological articulatory
component in the human body. First, it shows up as vocal sounds only. Language takes verbal elements such as sounds,
words and phrases, which are fixed up in certain ways to make several sentences. Language is vocal and sound which
different speech organs produce. Writing can be considered as an intelligent platform to represent vocal sounds. It is the
graphic representation of the speech sounds of the language.
6. Language is non-instinctive, conventional - No language was made in a multi-day out of a commonly settled upon the
recipe by a gathering of people. Language is the result of advancement and tradition. Every age transmits this tradition on to
the following. Like every single human organization, languages may also change and pass on, develop and extend. Each
language has a circulation in a particular community around the globe. However, we can consider language as non-instinctive
because naturally it is acquired by us.
7. Language is productive and creative - The auxiliary components of human language joined to create new expressions,
which neither the speaker nor his/her listeners may ever have made or heard previously. Truly, the two sides comprehend
without trouble. Language changes as indicated by the necessities of society. After all, language has the power of
productivity and creativity
8. Language is a system of communication - Language is strong, convenient and the best form of communication. It is the
best way to express everything. It is through language that we humans express our thoughts, desires, emotions and feelings.
Further, we can interact with each other easily through the welfare of language. After all, we may say that language is the
best system of communication around the world.
9. Language is human and structurally complex - Human language is open-minded, extendable and modifiable on the
other hand animal language is not. Language should be modifiable through time to time. No species other than humans have
been endowed with language. So we can say that language is naturally human and in some cases, structurally complex and
modifiable.
10. Language is unique, complex, and modifiable - Language is a unique phenomenon in the world. It has its own
creativity and productivity. Despite their common features and language universals, each language has its peculiarities and
distinctive features. Moreover, this is how language has its own potentiality to be unique, complex and modifiable by the
change of time and culture.
ENG 018 - SAS #3: Phonetics: IPA and Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that focuses on the production and classification of the world’s speech sounds. The
production of speech looks at the interaction of different vocal organs, for example the lips, tongue and teeth, to produce
particular sounds.

Three types of the study of the sounds of language:

1. Acoustic Phonetics is the study of the physical properties of sounds.

2. Auditory Phonetics is the study of the way listeners perceive sounds.
3. Articulatory Phonetics is the study of how the vocal tracts produce the sounds, made and articulated.

The discrepancy between spelling and sounds led to the formation of the International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA.) The
symbols used in this alphabet can be used to represent all sounds of all human languages. The following is the American
English Phonetic alphabet.

ENG 018 - SAS #4: Phonetics: Places and Manner of Articulation

Places of Articulation (B,LD,D,A,P, V,G)

1. Bilabial - consonants occur when you block/constrict airflow out of the mouth by bringing your lips together.
2. Labio-dental - consonants occur when you block/constrict airflow by curling your lower lip back and raising it to touch
your upper row of teeth.
3. Dental - consonants occur when you block/constrict airflow by placing your slimy tongue against your upper teeth.
4. Alveolar - The alveolar ridge is where your teeth meet your gums. You create Alveolar consonants when you raise your
tongue to the alveolar ridge to block or constrict airflow.
5. Post-Alveolar - When you retract your tongue back just a bit from the alveolar ridge, the sounds change enough to be
recognized as distinct consonants. So post-alveolar consonants are those that occur when the tongue blocks or constricts
airflow at the point just beyond the alveolar ridge.
6. Palatal - The roof of your mouth is the hard palate. You may know it as “the place that burns like hell when I eat pizza that
is too hot.” You create Palatal consonants when you raise the tongue to this point and constrict airflow.
7. Velar - Behind your hard palate you have the velum or soft palate. Unlike the bony hard palate in front of it, this consists
of soft, mucousy tissue. You make Velar Consonants when you raise the back of your tongue to the velum to block or restrict
airflow.
7. Glottal - The glottis is actually two vocal folds (i.e. vocal cords). It acts as a sort of bottle cap to your windpipe.
Inhale and then hold your breath for a few seconds while keeping your mouth open. What you are actually doing to keep the
air from expelling out of your lungs by closing your glottis.

Manner of Articulation (N,S/P,F,A,G/A,L/L)

1. Nasal - Nasal consonants are created when you completely block air flow through your mouth and let the air pass through
your nose.
2. Stop/Plosives - Like nasal consonants, stop consonants occur when the vocal tract is closed completely. But for stops the
airflow is NOT redirected through the nose. Instead, the air quickly builds up pressure behind the articulators and then
releases in a burst.
3. Fricative - While nasal and stop consonants involve a complete blockage of the vocal tract, fricative sounds involve only a
partial blockage of the vocal tract so that air has to be forced through a narrow channel.
4. Affricate - When stop consonants mix with fricative consonants, the result is an affricate consonant. Affricate consonants
start as stop sounds with air building up behind an articulator which then releases through a narrow channel as a fricative
(instead of a clean burst as stops do).
5. Glides/ Approximant - Approximants are when two articulators come close together but not quite close enough to create
air turbulence. The resulting sound is more like a fast vowel than anything else. For example, the /w/ approximant is like a
fast /u/ sound (say /u/+ /aɪ/ really fast and you get the word “why”). Notice how your tongue never actually comes in contact
with the top of your mouth.
6. Liquids/ Lateral - Lateral consonants are when the tongue blocks the middle of your mouth so that air has to pass around
the sides.
ENG 018 - SAS #5 - Phonology: The Sound Pattern of Language

Phonology is essentially the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language. It is about the underlying
design, the blueprint of each sound type, which serves as the constant basis of all the variations in the different physical
articulations of that sound type in different contexts.

Phoneme, in linguistics, refers to the smallest unit of speech distinguishing one word (or word element) from another, as the
element p in “tap,” which separates that word from “tab,” “tag,” and “tan.” For instance, in the word, cat, there are 3
phonemes presented.
While the phoneme is the abstract unit of sound type, there are many versions of that sound type, We can describe those
different versions as phones. Phones are phonetic units and appear in square brackets [ ]. A phone may have more than one
variant, called an allophones, prefix allo means one of a closely related set, which functions as a single sound.

Minimal Pair and Set

Phonemic distinction in a language can be tested via pairs and set of words. When two words such as pat and bat are identical
except for a contrast in one phoneme, the two words are described as minimal pairs. A minimal pair is a pair of words with
one phonemic difference only.

In order to decide whether a pair of words is a minimal pair or not, you need to know what sounds make up the word, and
you need to IGNORE the word's spelling. If you are a native English speaker, you may find this easy. Most people have to
look up the words in a pronunciation dictionary. This can best be shown with examples at right.

When a group of words are differentiated, each one from the other by changing one phoneme, this is a minimal set. For
example, a minimal set based on consonant phonemes could have big, rig, pig, dig, wig, fig.

ENG 018 - SAS #6: Syllables and Cluster; Co- articulation Effects; Assimilation; Elision; Normal Speech

The initial element is the onset. Only consonants can fill the onset slot. Similarly, the final element – the coda – can only be
filled by consonants. The central element is the nucleus (sometimes known as the peak) and all syllables must minimally
consist of a nucleus.

Technically, the basic elements of the syllables are the onset and the rhyme. As shown in the example at the left, the rhyme is
composed of a nucleus and a coda. Syllables like me, to or no have an onset and a nucleus, but no coda. They are known as
open syllables. When the coda is present, as in the syllables up, cup, at or hat, they are called closed syllables.

Co-articulation is the way the brain organizes sequences of vowels and consonants, interweaving the individual movements
necessary for each into one smooth whole. It is the process of making one sound almost at the same time as the next sound.
Its general sense refers to a situation in which a conceptually isolated speech sound is influenced by, and becomes more like,
a preceding or following speech sound.

Co-articulation effects:

1. Assimilation is a general term in phonetics for the process by which a speech sound becomes similar or identical to a
neighboring sound. In the opposite process, dissimilation, sounds become less similar to one another. The term "assimilation"
comes from the Latin meaning, "make similar to." In rapid speech, for example, "handbag" is often pronounced [ˈhambag],
and "hot potato" as [ˈhɒppəteɪtoʊ]. As in these two examples, sound segments typically assimilate to the following sound
(this is called regressive or anticipatory assimilation), but they may also assimilate to a preceding one (progressive
assimilation). While assimilation most commonly occurs between immediately adjacent sounds, it may occur between sounds
separated by others ("assimilation at a distance").

2. Elision is a process where one or more phonemes are ‘dropped’, usually in order to
simplify the pronunciation. It may occur for both vowels and consonants, although it is much more common for consonants.
Where it occurs for vowels, we have extreme cases of vowel reduction or weakening to the point that the vowel is no longer
pronounced at all, such as in words like police, correct or suppose being realized as [pliːs], [kɹɛkt] or [spəʊz]. In rare cases,
such as in some realizations of the word perhaps, both consonant and vowel elision may even occur at the same time, e.g.
yielding [pɹaps].