ENG 101: Introduction to Linguistics

Topics: • Medium-transferability – We can switch from writing to

speech – we can express what we want to say and we can also
❖ The topic for Group 1: What is Language? write it down.
- Human Language and Animal Communication • Structure dependence – We have structure dependent
❖ The topic for Group 2: What is Grammar? operations (I gave a carrot to a donkey; a donkey was given a
- Components of Grammar carrot) Animals do not use structure dependent operations.
- Prescriptive and Descriptive Grammar
❖ The topic for Group 3: Phonetics: Describing Sounds Popular Misconceptions About Language
- Sounds and Symbols
❖ The topic for Group 4: Phonemes Misconception 1: Writing is primary to speech (FALSE) One of
- Consonants the basic assumptions of modern linguistics is that speech is
- Voiced and Voiceless Consonants primary and writing secondary. The most immediate manifestation
- Diphthongs of language is speech and not writing. Writing is simply a
representation of speech.
Group 1: What is Language?
Human Language and Animal Communication Misconception 2: Cultures with greater technological
sophistication tend to have grammatically richer languages.
Charles Hocket in the 1960’ s suggested that we can (FALSE)
characterize language by means of a set of design features. A
definition of a language should be based on these design features Group 2: What is Grammar?
(essential characteristics). Components of Grammar
Prescriptive and Descriptive Grammar
Designed Features of Language
Grammar – The knowledge speakers have about the units and
• Vocal-auditory channel is perhaps the most obvious rules of their language rules for combining sounds into words,
characteristics of a language. Sounds are made with the vocal word formation, making sentences, assigning meaning when a
organs and a hearing mechanism receives them. Even in a sentence is ungrammatical in a linguistic sense, it means that it
human communication vocal-auditory channel is not so all- breaks the rules of the shared mental grammar of the language.
important since language can be transferred without loss to
visual symbols (sign language, writing, Braille). Components of Grammar
• Arbitrariness is one of the characteristics of language.
• Syntax – how words are arranged in patterns in sentences;
language is arbitrary because there is no natural connection
'word order’.
between a linguistic form and its meaning. it is not unique to
• Morphology – study of words, how they are structured, and
human because animals can perform words and actions that
the relationship they have with other words. Analyzes the
can be understood.
structure of words, including root words, prefixes, and
• Semanticity - Semanticity, however, is a use of words or
suffixes.
symbols to refer to object and actions. it is relatively to
• Semantics – the branch of linguistics and logic concerned
human according to some writers because parrots, for
with meaning the study and analysis of how language is used
example, they can talk without knowing what it really means.
to produce meaning.
• Displacement – We are able to use language about events
• Phonology and Phonetics – is the system of rules used to
which are not related to now and here, we can speak about
combine sounds, or phonemes, together to form syllables,
abstract objects and events. We can talk about someone or
words, and larger unit study of the sound patterns that occur
something which is far away or about an event which
within the language. Phonetics, the study of the production
happened in the past or will happen in the future.
and description of speech sounds.
• Duality of Patterning – Language is organized in two layers
– basic units of speech – sounds p, i, and g are normally Descriptive Grammar – A true model of the mental grammar of
meaningless by themselves. They only become meaningful language speakers. In other words, a descriptive grammar describes
when combined into sequences such as pig. the linguistic rules that people use when they speak their language.
• Learnability – ability to learn different number of human A descriptive grammar of a language is the set of rules governing
languages. how sentences in the language are constructed.
• Productivity – Feature of human language which enables us
to combine symbols (words, sounds, phrases) in new ways to Prescriptive Grammar – It attempts to prescribe what rules of
express unlimited ideas. language people should use to speak “properly”. A prescriptive
• Cultural Transmission – Language is culturally transmitted grammar of a language is a set of rules governing how some people
in human beings unlike animals who are gifted with required wish sentences in the language were constructed.
signals and signs.
Group 3: Phonetics: Describing Sounds
• Discreteness – Language consists of isolatable units.
Sounds and Symbols
• Prevarication - The ability to lie or decieve.
• Reflexiveness – We can use language to talk about language. Phonetics – is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans
• Feedback – The ability to control what we say – we are produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the
monitoring what we are saying. equivalent aspects of sign.
• Stimulus-freedom – We can say whatever we like. - study of speech sounds.
o What do you think of that book? We can answer whatever - Sounds and symbols use a system of written symbols. One sound
we want – there is no strict response atached to this stimulus. represents one symbol. Each symbol represents only a single
• Specialization – The only function of language is sound. English spelling system is full of inconsistencies e.g., bagz
communication. and pusht.
 ENG 101: Introduction to Linguistics

Phonemes – distinctive sounds in language. They differ from

language-to-language. English has about 40 distinctive phonemes.

The Three Branches of Phonetics

1. Acoustic Phonetics
2. Auditory Phonetics
3. Articulatory Phonetics

Articulatory phonetics is concerned with the production of

speech sounds, acoustic phonetics deals with the transmission and
physical properties of speech sounds, and auditory phonetics is
the study of perception of speech sounds.

Articulatory phonetics – is the branch of phonetics concerned International Phonetic Alphabet – In 1888 the International
with describing the speech sounds of the world's languages in Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was invented in order to have a system in
terms of their articulations, that is, the movements and/or which there was a one-to-one correspondence between each sound
positions of the vocal organs (articulators). in language and each phonetic symbol.
Articulatory Parts – Most speech sounds are produced by What is the difference between consonants and vowels of the
pushing air through the vocal cords. English alphabets?

• Glottis = the opening between the vocal cords. It is in how we produce them—with the restriction in the
• Larynx = ‘voice box’. airflow. A vowel sound is produced in such a way that the air
• Pharynx = tubular part of the throat above the larynx. stream can pass through the vocal tract without a noticeable
• Oral cavity = mouth. obstruction. A consonant sound has some degree of air restriction.
• Nasal cavity = nose and the passages connecting it to the
throat and sinuses. Consonants – There are only 24 consonant phonemes of English–
the sounds that make a difference in the meanings of words to
Articulation is the act of expressing something in a coherent English speakers.
verbal form, or an aspect of pronunciation involving the
articulatory organs. For example, in English the sounds /b/ and /p/ are
distinctive, which means we hear the difference between them. The
Place of Articulation – Places of articulation means when we word bit and pit have different meanings Bit and Pit are a minimal
produce sound, sometime our tongue touches our lips and pair—two words that differ by only a single phoneme in the same
sometime only our lips come together and make sound, sometime position. When we write words using the IPA, we are doing
our tongue touches our soft palate or back part alveolar tongue. phonemic transcription.

Manner of Articulation – the manner of articulation is the 3 Ways to Describe Consonants

configuration and interaction of the articulators (speech organs
such as the tongue, lips, and palate) when making a speech sound. 1. Voicing – controlling the vibration of the vocal cords as air
passes through to make speech sounds.
2. Place of articulation – the places in the oral cavity where
airflow is modified to make speech sounds.
3. Manner of articulation – the way we move and position
our lips, tongue and teeth to make speech sounds.

Voiced and Voiceless Consonants – All consonants are either

voiced or voiceless. The airflow coming out of the lungs can meet
resistance at the larynx, or voice box. Vocal cords or vocal
folds—two muscular bands of tissue that stretch from front to back
in the larynx behind the Adam’ s apple. Voicing – vibrations in the
vocal cords or vocal folds (e.g., s vs. z) Various parts of the mouth
and throat used to make speech sounds are called the articuators.

Places of Articulation Bilabial – two lips brought together or

almost together. Examples /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/.

Place of Articulation Palatal — tongue near your palate. E.g.,

/s//z//c//j//y/.

Manner of articulation – how the sound is made with respect to

airflow.

Manner of articulation Nasals – lowering the velum and letting

the airstream pass primarily through the nasal cavity. E.g., /m/, /n/,
/n/.
 ENG 101: Introduction to Linguistics

Group 4: Phonemes, Consonants, Voiced and Voiceless

Consonants, and Diphthongs

Phonemes – It is the smallest unit of sound that distinguishes one

word from another word in a language. The word phoneme comes
from the Greek phōnēmat, which refers to an utterance made by a
humanor animal. The root "phone" means sound. Different
languages have different phonemes. There are sounds that exist in
one language that do not exist in other languages.

Phonemic awareness is knowing how to pronounce words

correctly in a particular language. In phonology and linguistics, a
phoneme is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from
another in a particular language.

A. Consonants – Are letters that represent certain speech sounds,

specifically sounds that involve blocking the air before it
leaves the mouth, such as with the tongue, lips, or throat. Most
letters of the English alphabet are consonants, except for a, e,
i, o, and u, which are vowels.
B. Voiced and Voiceless Consonants – Consonants are either
voiced (sonant) or voiceless (surd).
a. Voiced Consonants – Your vocal cords, which are
actually mucous membranes, stretch across the larynx at
the back of the throat. By tightening and relaxing as you
speak, the vocal cords modulate the flow of breath
expelled from the lungs.
An easy way to determine whether a consonant is
voiced or not is to place a finger on your throat. As you
pronounce a letter, feel the vibration of your vocal
cords. If you feel a vibration the consonant is a voiced
one.
These are the voiced consonants: B, D, G, J, L, M,
N, Ng, R, Sz, Th (as in the word "then"), V, W, Y, and Z.
But if consonants are only single letters, what are
Ng, Sz, and Th? They're common sounds that are
produced by blending the two consonants phonetically.
b. Voiceless Consonants – Voiceless consonants do not
use the vocal cords to produce their hard, percussive
sounds. Instead, they're slack, allowing air to flow freely
from the lungs to the mouth, where the tongue, teeth,
and lips engage to modulate the sound. These are the
voiceless consonants: Ch, F, K, P, S, Sh, T, and Th (as in
"thing").
C. Diphthongs – “Diphthong” comes from the Greek word
diphthongs. It literally means “having two sounds.” More
specifically, diphthongs deal with vowels. Every vowel has its
own short sound and long vowel sound. However, diphthongs
come into play whenever a vowel makes a new and different
sound, usually because it’s working in conjunction with
another vowel. One of the best diphthong examples is the
word “oil.” Here, we have two vowels working side by side
and, together, they create a sound different from anything “O”
or “I” alone can produce. And that’s just scratching the
surface.

MIDTERM EXAM IS ON APRIL 12, 2023 AT 11:00 TO 12:00