Phonetics and Phonology Overview

Phonetics and Phonology

• Phonetics studies the physical sounds of human speech, examining production, transmission, and perception.
• Articulatory phonetics looks at sound production.
• Acoustic phonetics deals with the transmission of sounds.
• Auditory phonetics focuses on sound perception.
• Phonology studies how sounds function and behave within a language, focusing on their cognitive aspects and patterns.

Sound Types

• Consonants involve blocking or narrowing airflow in the mouth or throat. Examples include /p/, /t/, and /s/.
• Vowels involve open mouths with free airflow. Examples include /a/, /e/, and /i/.
• Glides are sounds in between vowels and consonants, like /w/ and /j/.
• Some languages include clicks, trills, and other unusual sounds produced by tongue movements.

Segmental Features

• Phonemes, including consonants and vowels, are the focus of segmental features.
• Place of articulation describes where in the mouth or throat a sound is produced:
  • Bilabial: Both lips come together (e.g., /b/, /p/).
  • Alveolar: The tongue touches or approaches the ridge behind the upper teeth (e.g., /t/, /d/).
  • Other places include dental, velar, and more.

Manner of Articulation

• Stops involve completely blocking airflow and then releasing it (e.g., /t/, /k/).
• Fricatives involve forcing air through a narrow space, causing friction (e.g., /s/, /f/).
• Other manners include nasal (air flows through the nose, e.g., /m/) and approximant (softer constriction, e.g., /j/).

Voicing

• Voiced sounds involve vocal cord vibrations (e.g., /b/, /d/).
• Voiceless sounds involve no vocal cord vibration (e.g., /p/, /t/).

Suprasegmental Features

• These features go beyond individual sounds, affecting syllables and sentences.
• Stress involves emphasizing a syllable in a word. Example: In "PRESENT" (noun), the first syllable is stressed; in ""present"" (verb), the second syllable is stressed."
• Intonation is the rise and fall of pitch in speech used for nuances and emphasis
• Tone: changes in pitch modify the meaning of a word, as in Mandarin.

Rhythm

• Rhythm is the pattern of stressed and unstressed beats in speech.
• Some languages, like English, have stress-timed rhythms with a consistent pattern.

Duration

• Duration refers to the length of a sound.
• Some languages, like Japanese, use short and long vowels to differentiate words.

Morphology

• Morphology studies the formation and structure of words.
• Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of language.
  • Example: "unhappy" contains the prefix "un-" (meaning "not"), the root "happy," and the suffix "-ness" (meaning "state of").

Branches of Morphology

• Inflectional Morphology: Changes a word's form to show grammatical features
• Derivational Morphology: Creates new words by adding prefixes or suffixes.

Word Formation

• Compounding: Creates a new word by combining two or more words. (e.g., notebook, sunflower).
• Affixation: Adds prefixes (before a root) or suffixes (after a root) to a word (e.g., disagree, kindness).
• Conversion: Changes a word's word class without changing its form (e.g., text – verb).
• Blending: Merges parts of two words to create one word (e.g., smog).
• Clipping: Shortens a longer word (e.g., ad).
• Acronyms: Uses the initial letters of words to create a new word (e.g., NASA).
• Reduplication: Repeats parts of a word (e.g., bye-bye).

Word Classes

• Nouns: Name people, places, things, or ideas (e.g., cat, freedom).
• Verbs: Describe actions, states, or events (e.g., run, is).
• Adjectives: Describe nouns (e.g., happy, blue).
• Adverbs: Describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs (e.g., quickly, very).
• Pronouns: Replace nouns (e.g., he, they).
• Prepositions: Show relationships between words (e.g., on, under).
• Conjunctions: Join phrases or clauses (e.g., and, but).
• Interjections: Express strong emotion (e.g., wow!, ouch!).

Syntax

• Syntax is the study of how words are arranged into phrases, clauses, and sentences to create meaning.
• Example: The sentence "She reads books" follows a specific order: Subject - Verb - Object.
• Clause Patterns are grouped by elements

Clause Patterns

• Different patterns, based on elements, that clauses can follow

Immediate Constituent Analysis

• Breaks down sentences into meaningful parts (constituents).

Structural Classification of Sentences

• Different types of sentences based on structure:
  • Simple Sentence: Contains one independent clause. (e.g., She runs).
  • Compound Sentence: Contains two or more independent clauses. (e.g., She runs, and he walks).
  • Complex Sentence: Contains one independent and one or more dependent clauses. (e.g., She runs because she loves it).
  • Compound-Complex Sentence: Combines features of compound and complex sentences.
• Formal Classifications:
  • Declarative: Makes a statement (e.g., The sky is blue).
  • Interrogative: Asks a question (e.g., Is the sky blue?).
  • Imperative: Gives a command or makes a request (e.g., Close the door).
  • Exclamatory: expresses strong emotion (e.g., Wow!).

Discourse Functions of Sentences

• Sentences serve different purposes in communication:
  • Statements
  • Questions
  • Commands/Requests
  • Exclamations

Semantics

• Semantics is the study of meaning in language.
• Examining individual word meanings.
• Sentence meaning considers how word arrangement creates meaning.
• Contextual meaning is influenced by the situation
• Ambiguity means a word or phrase can have multiple meanings

Set Phrases

• Set phrases are fixed word groups with specific meaning.
  • Idioms
  • Collocations
  • Proverbs

Pragmatics

• Pragmatics studies how language is used in context and how people interpret meaning.
• Different elements are key for interpretation
  • Context
  • Speaker's intentions
  • Relationship between speakers

Key Points in Pragmatics

• Context affects meaning
• Speakers’ intentions can be implied and not explicitly stated.

Cooperative Principle

• The Cooperative Principle suggests people follow rules (maxims) to make conversations clear and effective.
  • Maxim of Quantity
  • Maxim of Quality
  • Maxim of Relation
  • Maxim of Manner

Speech Acts

• Speech acts are actions performed through speaking or writing.
  • Locutionary act: what is said.
  • Illocutionary act: the speaker’s intent.
  • Perlocutionary act: how the listener responds

Types of Speech Acts

• Assertives
• Directives
• Commissives
• Expressives
• Declarations

World Englishes

• Different varieties of English used globally, encompassing
  • Inner Circle (norm-providing countries)
  • Outer Circle (norm-developing countries)
  • Expanding Circle (EFL countries)

Bilingualism

• Different aspects of bilingual language use
  • Proficiency vs. Usage
  • Dominant Language
  • Changing Proficiency Over Time
• Types of bilingualism
  • Coordinate bilingualism
  • Compound bilingualism
• Factors promoting bilingualism
  • Military Invasions & Colonization,
  • Border Areas and Enclaves,
  • Education,
  • International Spread,
  • Ethnic Awareness,
  • Migration