Linguistics Basics

Phonetics

• Study of the sounds of language
  • Focus on physical properties of speech sounds
  • Includes articulation, acoustic properties, and perception of sounds
• Phonetic transcription: representation of spoken language in written form using IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)

Phonology

• Study of sound patterns in language
  • Focus on distribution and patterns of speech sounds
  • Includes phonemes, allophones, and phonological rules
• Phoneme: smallest unit of sound in a language that distinguishes meaning
  • E.g. /p/ and /b/ are phonemes in English because "pat" and "bat" have different meanings

Morphology

• Study of word structure and formation
  • Focus on internal structure of words and how they are formed
  • Includes roots, prefixes, suffixes, and inflectional endings
• Morpheme: smallest unit of language that carries meaning
  • E.g. "un-" is a morpheme in English because it indicates negation

Syntax

• Study of sentence structure and formation
  • Focus on how words are combined to form phrases and sentences
  • Includes word order, phrase structure, and clause structure
• Constituent: a unit of syntax, such as a phrase or clause
  • E.g. in the sentence "The dog chased the cat," "The dog" is a constituent because it functions as a single unit

Semantics

• Study of meaning in language
  • Focus on how words and phrases convey meaning
  • Includes lexical semantics (word meaning) and compositional semantics (phrase and sentence meaning)
• Semantic field: a set of related words that evoke a particular concept or idea
  • E.g. "dog," "cat," "animal," and "pet" all belong to the same semantic field

Pragmatics

• Study of language in context
  • Focus on how language is used in social contexts to convey meaning
  • Includes speech acts, implicature, and presupposition
• Speech act: an action performed through language, such as making a promise or giving a command
  • E.g. "Can you pass the salt?" is a speech act because it requests an action

Learn the fundamentals of linguistics, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Understand the concepts of speech sounds, language structure, and meaning in language.