CMU Linguistics PDF

LINGUISTICS LINGUISTICS IS THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF LANGUAGE. COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE 1. Phonology 4. Syntax 2. Phone;cs 5. Seman;cs 3. Morp...

LINGUISTICS LINGUISTICS IS THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF LANGUAGE. COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE 1. Phonology 4. Syntax 2. Phone;cs 5. Seman;cs 3. Morphology 6. Pragma;cs Phone;cs The science of human speech sounds Main Tasks of Phone;cs 1. It is to provide a nota;on and descrip;on for each speech sound. By nota;on we mean a system of transcrip;on symbols whereby we can make an accurate and unambiguous record of what goes on in speech. Interna;onal Phone;c Alphabet (IPA): a transcrip;on system which contains symbols for the hundred or so speech sounds that can be dis;nguished in human language 2. It is the descrip;on (characteriza;on) of speech sounds. -Three Branches of Phone;cs 1. Ar;culatory Phone;cs 2. Acous;c Phone;cs 3. Auditory Phone;cs The oldest branch Deals with the physical Examines the way in proper;es of speech which human beings Examines the ar;culatory sounds as they travel perceive speech sounds (vocal) organs and their through the air in the through the medium of role in the produc;on of form of sound waves. the ear. speech sounds The Vocal Tract Speech is produced by pushing air from the lungs up through the vocal tract and manipula;ng several variables at the same ;me. These variables include: whether or not the vocal cords are vibra;ng whether the velum is raised (forcing all of the air through the mouth) or lowered (allowing some of the air to escape through the nose) whether or not the airflow is stopped or impeded at some point between the larynx and the lips. 1. Lips 6. Velum- the soO ;ssue immediately behind the palate 2. Teeth 7. Uvula- the soO appendage hanging off the velum 3. Tongue 8. Pharynx- the back wall of the throat behind the 4. Alveolar ridge- the bony ridge right behind the tongue upper teeth 9. EpigloPs- the soO ;ssue which covers the vocal 5. Palate- the bony dome cons;tu;ng the roof of the mouth cords during ea;ng, thus protec;ng the passageway to the lungs 1|Page  10. Esophagus- the tube going to the stomach 13. Nose- nasal cavity 11. Larynx- containing the vocal cords 14. Mouth- oral cavity 12. Trachea- the tube going to the lungs Phonology The study of the sound system of language: the rules that govern pronuncia;on Limits itself to phonemes Phoneme An abstract minimal sound unit of a par;cular language, which, when realized, is capable of dis;nguishing different words in that language. It can be discovered by the minimal pair technique (ex: pat and bat). Phones: physical realiza;ons of a phoneme Vowel Phonemes These vowel phonemes are described in terms of the following physical dimensions: 1. Tongue Height- the tongue is rela;vely high, mid, or low. 2. Frontness- the tongue is either rela;vely front or back. 3. Lip Rounding- the lips are either rela;vely round or spread. 4. Tenseness- the vocal musculature is either rela;vely tense or lax. Consonant Phonemes Consonants can be described in terms of place and manner of ar;cula;on. Place of Ar;cula;on 1. Bilabial- the primary constric;on is at the lips. 2. Labiodental- the primary constric;on is between the lower lip and upper teeth. 3. Interdental- the primary constric;on is between the tongue and the upper teeth. 4. Alveolar- the primary constric;on is between the tongue and the alveolar ridge. 5. Palatal- the primary constric;on is between the tongue and the palate. 6. Velar- the primary constric;on is between the tongue and the velum. 7. Glo\al- the primary constric;on is at the gloXs (the space between the vocal cords). Manner of Ar;cula;on 1. Stops- two ar;culators are brought together such that the flow of air through the vocal tract is completely blocked. 2. Frica;ves- two ar;culators are brought near each other such that the flow of air is impeded but not completely blocked. The flow of air through the narrow opening creates fric;on. 3. Affricates- ar;cula;ons corresponding to affricates are those that begin like stops (with a complete closure in the vocal tract) and end like frica;ves (with a narrow opening in the vocal tract). 4. Nasals- a nasal ar;cula;on is one in which the airflow through the mouth is completely blocked but the velum is lowered, forcing the air through the nose. 2|Page  5. Liquids and Glides- both of these terms describe ar;cula;ons that are mid-way between true consonants and vowels; however, they are both generally classified as consonants. Liquid is a cover term for all l-like and r-like ar;cula;ons. Glide refers to an ar;cula;on in which the vocal tract is constricted, but not enough to block or impede the airflow. Consonants can be divided into obstruents and sonorants. 1. Obstruents- produced with a stricture impeding the flow of air Plosives Frica;ves Affricates 2. Sonorants- produced with a rela;vely free airflow Nasals Liquids Glides Consonants can either be voiced or voiceless. Diphthongs A complex vowel during the produc;on of which one tongue posi;on is changed into another but no new syllable is formed. Ex: height, house Blend Two or more consonants, when combined make a certain sound and two sounds are heard. Ex. bring, sting Digraph Two consonants when combined make a certain sound and one sound is heard. Ex. shop, chair Allophones Systema;c varia;ons of a phoneme Specific proper;es of a phoneme vary according to its posi;on in a word Ex: Tim, stem, hit (these English words and phrases contains an instance of the phoneme /t/ MORPHOLOGY The study of morphemes and words The study of word forma;on Concerned with the structure of words Morphemes The smallest meaningful units of language, which cannot be subdivided without losing their meaning Words are composed of one or more than one morpheme Morphs: physical realiza;ons of morphemes Lexical and Gramma;cal Morphemes Lexical Morpheme Gramma;cal Morphemes Have a sense in and of themselves Do not really have a sense in and of themselves; instead, they express some sort of rela;onship Ex: nouns, verbs, adjec;ves between lexical morphemes. Ex: preposi;ons, ar;cles, conjunc;ons 3|Page Free and Bound Morphemes Free Morphemes Bound Morphemes Can stand alone as words Cannot stand alone as words They may be lexical (e.g., serve) or they may be They may be lexical or gramma;cal gramma;cal (e.g., at, and) Inflec;onal and Deriva;onal Morphemes Inflec;onal Affixes Affixes can be subdivided into prefixes and suffixes. Inflec;onal Affixes are all suffixes. English has eight inflec;onal affixes: Two are added to nouns: Plural Inflec;onal Affix Example Plural {PLU} Boys Possessive Possessive {POSS} Boy’s Two come at the end of adjec;ves and adverbs: Compara;ve Older Compara;ve {COMP} Superla;ve Superla;ve {SUP} Oldest Present {PRES} Walks Four of them involve verbs: Past {PAST} Walked Past tense Past Par;ciple Driven Present-tense {PAST PART} Past par;ciple Present Par;ciple Driving {PRES PART} Present-par;ciple Deriva;onal Affixes Open-ended There are a poten;ally infinite number of them Ex: carefully, cri;cize Deriva;onal Prefixes Ex: un-, dis-, an;- Stem Part of a word which remains if we remove the suffix or prefix that has entered the word last. The stem is not necessarily a single morpheme. Ex: the stem of unfriendliness is unfriendly, the stem of unfriendly is friendly Absolute Stem also called root or base All affixes are removed. Always a single morpheme. 4|Page  Allomorphs the posi;onal alternants of a morpheme 1. Phonological Condi;oning o The phonological differences between the allomorphs of a morpheme are oOen due to the phonological environment o Ex: when the last sound of the noun is a sibilant (i.e. /s,z,Ꚃ,ʒ,ʧ,ʤ), the allomorph will be /iz/ as in boxes and bushes 2. Lexical Condi;oning o The one responsible for the altera;on is the lexeme. o Ex: Ox-Oxen Word-Forma;on Processes 1. Deriva;on o This involves the addi;on of a deriva;onal affix, changing the syntac;c category of the item to which it is anached. o Ex: orient (V) orienta;on (N) 2. Category Extension o This involves the extension of a morpheme from one syntac;c category to another. o Ex: chair (N) chair (V) 3. Compound o This involves crea;ng a new word by combining two free morphemes. o Ex: put-down 4. Root Crea;on o A brand new word based on no preexis;ng morpheme o Ex: Kodak 5. Clipped Form o A shortened form of a preexis;ng morpheme o Ex: brassiere bra 6. Blend o A combina;on of parts of two preexis;ng forms o Ex: fog + smoke = smog 7. Acronym o A word formed from the first lener(s) of each word in a phrase o Ex: FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) 8. Abbrevia;on o Word formed from the names of the first leners of the prominent syllables of a word o Ex: television TV 9. Proper Name o This process forms a word from a proper name o Ex: Hamburg hamburger o 5|Page  10. Folk Etymology o This process forms a word by subs;tu;ng a common na;ve form for an exo;c form with a similar pronuncia;on o Ex: cucuracha (Spanish) cockroach 11. Back Forma;on o A word formed by removing what is mistaken for an affix o Ex: burglar burgle Morphophonemic Processes Assimila;on is a process that results from a sound becoming more like another nearby sound in terms of one or more of its phone;c characteris;cs; a process in which segments take on the characteris;cs of neighboring sounds; e.g. probable – improbable; potent -impotent; separable – inseparable; sensi;ve – insensi;ve Dissimila;on is a process that results in two sounds becoming less alike in ar;culatory or acous;c terms; a process in which units which occur in some contexts are ‘lost’ in others; e.g. ‘libary’ instead of ‘library,’ ‘ govenor’ for ‘governor’ Dele;on is a process that removes a segment from certain phone;c contexts. It occurs in everyday rapid speech; e.g. [blaɪn mæn] ‘blind man ’ Epenthesis is a process that inserts a syllable or a nonsyllabic segment within an exis;ng string of segment; e.g. [plæntɪd] ‘planted’ Metathesis is a process that reorders or reverses a sequence of segments; it occurs when two segments in a series switch places, e.g. ask ! aks; ruler ! lurer; violet ! viloyet SYNTAX The study of the structure of phrases and sentences The study of sentence structure The study of phrases, clauses, and sentences Sentences are composed not directly out of words but of cons;tuents which may consist of more than one word called phrases Phrase is an expression which is a cons;tuent in a sentence and is the expansion of a head (keyword). It can happen that a phrase is realized by a single word. Syntac;c Structures 1. Structure of Predica;on- subject and predicate ex: the seagulf flies 2. Structure of Complementa;on- verbal element and complement ex: disturbed the class 3. Structure of Modifica;on- head word and modifier ex: trusted friend 4. Structure of Coordina;on- equivalent gramma;cal units ex: bread and buner Gramma;cal Func;on What cons;tuents may perform in the sentence Subject, predicate, object, adverbial Syntac;c Categories They name the gramma;cal category to which the cons;tuent belongs. 6|Page  Ex: nouns, pronouns, verbs, noun phrase, verb phrase Leh-to-Right Ordering The leO-to-right sequence of items within a phrase is governed by principles that are codified in phrase structure (PS) rules. PS Rules PS rules specify three types of informa;on: o Which elements are permined in a par;cular type of phrase o The leO-to-right ordering of those elements o Whether any elements are op;onal Each PS rule consists of two basic parts. The material to the right of the arrow specifies the phrasal category being described. The material to the right of the arrow describe the items that comprise the phrasal category. 1. Sentence It consists of a noun phrase followed by a verb phrase. S NP-VP 2. Noun Phrase It must contain a noun. The noun may be preceded by a determiner, an adjec;ve phrase, or both, and it may be followed by a preposi;onal phrase. NP (Det)-(AP)-N-(PP) 3. Verb Phrase It must contain a verb. The verb may be followed by a noun phrase, and adjec;ve phrase, or neither. The verb phrase may end in a preposi;onal phrase, but need not. VP V-({NP})-(PP) ({AP}) 4. Adjec;ve Phrase It must contain an adjec;ve. The adjec;ve may be preceded by an intensifier. AP (I)-Adj 5. Preposi;onal Phrase It consists of a preposi;on followed by a noun phrase. PP Prep-NP Two Ways of Representa;on 1. Tree Diagram PS rules form the basis for tree diagrams, which allow us to visualize how the components in a phrase are related. Nodes: are the topmost point, the bonom points, and all those intermediate points at which the tree branches. Labels: the abbreviated names of the categories to which the cons;tuents belong. 7|Page  Cons;tuent: A word or a string of words is a cons;tuent in a tree if there is a node which exclusively dominates it. 2. Labelled Bracke;ngs Recursion Refers to the ability to repeat two types of phrases by embedding them in each other- that is, by allowing each type to directly dominate the other type. Transforma;on An opera;on that moves a lexical or phrasal category (e.g., N, NP, V, VP) from one loca;on to another within a structure. Sentence Vs. U\erance Sentence - Any string of words produced by the sentence-forming rules of a language, these rules are stored in na;ve speaker’s competence. - Constructs of competence, they are ideal, abstract en;;es U\erance: - the physical realiza;on of a sentence in a real situa;on of language use - they oOen contain imperfec;ons, such as hesita;ons, false starts, lack of concord, etc. SEMANTICS the study of meaning the study of linguis;c meaning; that is, the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences the study of the meaning of meaningful units Lexical Decomposi;on This method represents the sense of a word in terms of the seman;c features that comprise it. This method allows us to characterize the senses of a poten;ally infinite set of words with a finite number of seman;c features Man Woman Boy Girl Adult + + - - Male + - + - Three Areas of the Study of Seman;cs 1. Sense 2. Reference 3. Truth Condi;ons Sense The study of sense (meaning) can be divided into two areas: speaker-sense and linguis;c sense. 1. Speaker-Sense Situa;onally-independent meaning- The speaker’s inten;on in producing somel 2. Linguis;c-Sense inguis;c expression The meaning of a linguis;c expression as part of a language Literal meaning Non-literal meaning Situa;onally-dependent meaning 8|Page Sense Rela;on Between Words Ambiguity A word is lexically ambiguous if it has more than one sense. Ex: the word ‘fly’ 1. Homonymy o Two or more phonologically and orthographically iden;cal lexemes have completely different, unrelated meanings. o Ex: ball (round object that you can throw or kick) vs. ball (social event at which you can dance) 2. Polysemy o The meaning of one lexeme is metaphorically extended on the basis of some similarity o Ex: leg (of a man) vs. leg (of a table) Synonymy Two words are synonymous if they have the same sense; that is, if they have the same values for all of their seman;c features. Ex: conceal and hide; big and large; Cny and minute Note: in all likelihood, there are no absolute synonyms in any language- that is, words that mean exactly the same thing in all contexts. Hyponymy A word that contains the meaning of a more general word, known as the superordinate. A word whose meaning contains all the same feature values of another word, plus some addi;onal feature values. Also referred to as inclusion Ex: oak contains the meaning of tree; therefore, oak is a hyponym of the superordinate tree. Antonymy Two words are antonyms if their meanings differ only in the value for a single seman;c feature. Antonyms fall into at least three groups: 1. Binary Antonyms Are pairs that exhaust all linguis;c possibili;es along some dimension Ex: dead and alive 2. Gradable Antonyms Are pairs that describe opposite ends of a con;nuous dimension Ex: Hot and cold 3. Converse Antonyms Are pairs that describe the rela;onship between two items from opposite perspec;ves Ex: above and below Reference The study of reference can be divided into two areas: speaker-reference and linguis;c-reference. 1. Speaker-Reference What the speaker is referring to by using some linguis;c expression. 2. Linguis;c-Reference Is the systema;c denota;on of some linguis;c expression as part of a language 9|Page Referent The en;ty iden;fied by the use of a referring expression such as a noun or a noun phrase is the referent of that expression Extension The set of all poten;al referents for a referring expression Prototype A typical member of the extension of a referring expression is a prototype of that expression Stereotype A list of characteris;cs describing a prototype is said to be a stereotype Coreference Two linguis;c expressions that refer to the same real-world en;ty are said to be coreferen;al. Anaphora A linguis;c expression that refers to another linguis;c expression is said to be anaphoric or an anaphor. Deixis A deic;c expression has one meaning but can refer to different en;;es depending on the speaker and his or her spa;al and temporal orienta;on. Truth The study of truth or truth condi;ons in seman;cs falls into two basic categories: the study of different types of truth embodied in individual sentences and the study of different types of truth rela;ons that hold between sentences. Analy;c Sentences Is one that is necessarily true simply by the virtue of the words in it We do not need to check on the outside world to verify the truth of the sentence. True by defini;on Analy;c sentence are some;mes referred to as linguis;c truths, because they are true by virtue of the language itself. Ex: A bachelor is an unmarried. Contradictory Sentences Is one that is necessarily false as a result of the words in them Contradictory sentences are some;mes referred to as linguis;c falsi;es, because they are false by virtue of the language itself. Ex: A bachelor is a married man. Synthe;c Sentences May be true or false depending upon how the world is Synthe;c sentences are not true or false because of the words that comprise them, but rather because they do or do not accurately describe some state of affairs in the world. They are some;mes referred to as empirical truths or falsi;es, because they are true or false by virtue of the state of the extralinguis;c world. Ex: My next door neighbor, Bud Brown, is married. Entailment It is a proposi;on expressed in a sentence that follows necessarily from another sentence. The rela;on of entailment is unidirec;onal. 10 | P a g e  Ex: MarCna aced Chemistry entails MarCna passed Chemistry. Presupposi;on It is a proposi;on expressed in a sentence that must be assumed to be true in order to judge the truth or falsity of another sentence. PRAGMATICS The study of language use in par;cular situa;ons. It deals with the ways in which language-users use and interpret words and unerances in par;cular situa;ons (linguis;c and physical context). The study of how language is affected by the context in which it occurs. The study of intended speaker-meaning. Implicature An implied proposi;on or statement that is not part of the unerance and that does not follow as a necessary consequence of the unerance. Ex: John: Uncle Chester is coming over for dinner tonight. Mary: I guess I’d beNer hide the liquor. Implicature: Uncle Chester has a drinking problem Three important points to note; 1. The implicature is not part of the unerance. 2. The implicature is not an entailment. 3. It is possible for an unerance to raise more than one implicature. Conversa;onal Maxims Coopera;ve Principle: the assump;on that par;cipants in a conversa;on are coopera;ng with each other. 1. Maxim of Quan;ty Each par;cipant’s contribu;on to a conversa;on should be no more or less informa;ve than required. 2. Maxim of Quality Each par;cipant’s contribu;on should be truthful and based on sufficient evidence. 3. Maxim of Rela;on Each par;cipant’s contribu;on should be relevant to the subject of the conversa;on. 4. Maxim of Manner Each par;cipant’s contribu;on should be expressed in a reasonably clear fashion; that is, it should not be vague, ambiguous, or excessively wordy. Flou;ng The inten;onal viola;on of a maxim for the purpose of conveying an unstated proposi;on. Speech Acts An unerance can be used to perform an act Locu;onary Act It is the act of using a referring expression and a predica;ng expression to express a proposi;on. The act of simply unering a sentence from a language Illocu;onary Act It is a descrip;on of what the speaker says. 11 | P a g e  This is what the speaker does in unering a the reac;on of the hearers sentence. Perlocu;onary Act Taxonomy of Illocu;onary Acts 1. Representa;ve An unerance used to describe some state of affairs Sta;ng, asser;ng, denying, confessing, admiXng, no;fying, concluding, predic;ng. Ex: Javier plays golf. 2. Direc;ve An unerance used to try to get the hearer to do something Reques;ng, ordering, forbidding, warning, advising, sugges;ng, insis;ng, recommending Ex: Shut the door. 3. Ques;on An unerance used to get the hearer to provide informa;on Ex: Who won the 2008 presiden;al elec;on? 4. Commissive An unerance used to commit the speaker to do something Promising, vowing, volunteering, offering, guaranteeing, pledging, beXng Ex: I’ll be back by 10:00 pm. 5. Expressive An unerance used to express the speaker’s emo;onal state Thanking, congratula;ng, condoling, welcoming, deploring, objec;ng Ex: I’m sorry for calling you a dweeb. 6. Declara;on An unerance used to change the status of some en;ty Appoin;ng, naming, resigning, bap;zing, surrendering, excommunica;ng, arres;ng Ex: You’re fired. Direct and Indirect Illocu;onary Acts Direct Illocu;onary Acts U\erance Illocu;onary Act Syntac;c Form Keep quiet. Direc;ve Impera;ve Do you know Mary? Yes-No ques;on Yes-No interroga;ve Indirect Illocu;onary Acts It is issued when the syntac;c form of the unerance does not match the illocu;onary force of the unerance U\erance Illocu;onary Act Syntac;c Form You might give me a hand with Direc;ve Declara;ve this. (Give me a hand with this) And you are… Wh-ques;on Declara;ve (Who are you?) 12 | P a g e  Place of Ar;cula;on Manner of Bilabial Labio- Interdental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glo\al Ar;cula;on Dental Stops p b t d k g Frica;ves f v ɵ ð s z ʃ ʒ h Affricates ʧ ʤ Nasals m n ŋ Lateral l Central r Liquid Glides w y Voiced VS VD VS VD VS VD VS VD VS VD VS VD VS VD Voiceless 13 | P a g e