HBET1103 Introduction to General Linguistics PDF

HBET1103 Introduction to General Linguistics Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) HBET1103 INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL LINGUISTICS Assoc Prof Dr Yap Ngee Thai Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) Project Director: Prof Dato’ Dr Mansor Fadzil Open University Malaysia Module Writer: Assoc Prof Dr Yap Ngee Thai Universiti Putra Malaysia Moderator: Assoc Prof Hazidi Abdul Hamid Open University Malaysia Developed by: Centre for Instructional Design and Technology Open University Malaysia First Edition, August 2017 Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM), August 2017, HBET1103 All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the President, Open University Malaysia (OUM). Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) Table of Contents Course Guide xiăxv Topic 1 Introducing Linguistics 1 1.1 What is Linguistics? 2 1.2 Fundamental Concepts 3 1.2.1 Mother Tongue 4 1.2.2 Language and Literacy 4 1.2.3 Descriptive and Prescriptive Grammars 5 1.2.4 Linguistic Competence and Performance 7 1.3 Design Features of Language 8 1.3.1 Features Shared by All Systems of Communication 8 1.3.2 Features Shared by Some Systems of Communication 9 1.3.3 Features Shared by Only Human Languages 10 1.4 Development of Modern Linguistics 11 Summary 13 Key Terms 14 References 14 Topic 2 Sounds of Language 15 2.1 Applications of Phonetics and Phonology 16 2.2 Phonetics 17 2.2.1 The Vocal Tract 19 2.2.2 Types of Speech Sounds 20 2.3 Phonology 23 2.3.1 Phonemes and Allophones 23 2.3.2 Distribution of Phonemes and Phonotactics 24 2.3.3 Syllable Structure 25 2.3.4 Prosody 26 2.4 Phonetic Transcription 28 Summary 29 Key Terms 30 References 30 Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) iv  TABLE OF CONTENTS Topic 3 Structure of Words 31 3.1 Types of Words 32 3.1.1 Lexical Words 32 3.1.2 Function Words 33 3.2 Morphemes: Free and Bound 34 3.3 Derivational and Inflectional Affixes and Clitics 36 3.3.1 Derivational Affixes 36 3.3.2 Inflectional Affixes and Clitics 38 3.4 Allomorphs 40 3.5 Morphological Analysis 41 Summary 44 Key Terms 45 References 45 Topic 4 Structure of Sentences 46 4.1 What is Syntax? 47 4.2 Hierarchical Structure 49 4.2.1 Constituency Units 50 4.2.2 Constituency Tests 51 4.2.3 Lexical and Structural Ambiguity 52 4.3 Syntactic Units 55 4.3.1 Clauses 56 4.3.2 Phrases 56 4.3.3 Phrase Structure Rules 58 Summary 60 Key Terms 61 References 61 Topic 5 Semantics and Pragmatics 62 5.1 What is Meaning? 62 5.2 Semantics 64 5.2.1 Reference and Sense 64 5.2.2 Semantic Features 65 5.2.3 Word Relations 66 5.2.4 Structural Semantics: Thematic Roles 69 5.3 Describing Meaning Across Cultures 71 5.3.1 What is Cognitive Semantics? 71 5.3.2 Metaphors 72 5.3.3 Categories in the Mind 73 5.3.4 Natural Semantic Metalanguage 73 Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TABLE OF CONTENTS  v 5.4 Pragmatics 76 5.4.1 Sentence versus Utterance 76 5.4.2 Speech Acts, Performatives and Illocutionary Force 77 5.4.3 Felicity 78 5.4.4 GriceÊs Maxims 79 Summary 81 Key Terms 82 References 82 Topic 6 Sociolinguistics 83 6.1 Language as a Social Phenomenon 83 6.1.1 Speech Community 84 6.1.2 Interactive Context 84 6.2 Social Varieties and Variation 85 6.2.1 Regional Variation 85 6.2.2 Social Dialects 87 6.2.3 Age Related Variation 88 6.3 Registers 88 6.4 Bilinguals and Language Use 90 6.5 Language Shift and Endangerment 92 6.5.1 Language Shift 92 6.5.2 Language Death 93 Summary 94 Key Terms 95 References 95 Topic 7 Psycholinguistics 97 7.1 Language and Cognition 97 7.2 Language and Processing 99 7.2.1 Speech Perception 100 7.2.2 Sentence Processing 102 7.2.3 Speech Production and Perception Models 103 7.3 Language and the Brain 106 7.3.1 Physical Features of the Brain 106 7.3.2 Lateralisation 107 7.3.3 Brain Imaging Techniques 108 Summary 110 Key Terms 111 References 112 Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) vi  TABLE OF CONTENTS Topic 8 Language Acquisition 113 8.1 First Language Acquisition 114 8.1.1 The Cooing and Babbling Stage 114 8.1.2 The Holophrastic or One-word Stage 115 8.1.3 Two-word Stage 115 8.1.4 Telegraphic Stage 116 8.1.5 Basic Mastery 116 8.2 How Children Learn Language 116 8.2.1 Conditioned-response Learning 117 8.2.2 Imitation 118 8.2.3 Hypothesis Testing and Learning from Analogy 119 8.2.4 Innate Predisposition to Learn Language 120 8.3 Second Language Acquisition 121 8.3.1 First Language versus Second Language Learning 122 8.3.2 Factors Influencing Second Language Learning 123 Summary 128 Key Terms 129 References 129 Topic 9 Human Language and Animal Communication 131 9.1 Animal Communication Systems 131 9.1.1 Bees 132 9.1.2 Birds 134 9.1.3 Monkeys 135 9.2 Teaching Animals Human Language 136 9.2.1 Teaching Chimpanzees Sign Language 137 9.2.2 Bonobos and Gorillas 138 9.3 Origins and Evolution of Human Language 139 9.3.1 Divine Source 139 9.3.2 Natural-sound Source Theories 140 9.3.3 Oral-gesture Theory, Physiological Adaptation 141 and Genetic Changes Summary 142 Key Terms 144 References 144 Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TABLE OF CONTENTS  vii Topic 10 Unity and Diversity in Language 145 10.1 Universals of Language 146 10.2 Language Typology 148 10.2.1 Morphological Typologies 151 10.2.2 Syntactic Typologies 153 10.2.3 Phonological Typologies 154 10.3 Explaining Unity and Diversity of Language Structures 155 Summary 156 Key Terms 157 References 157 Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) viii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) COURSE GUIDE Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) COURSE GUIDE  xi COURSE GUIDE DESCRIPTION You must read this Course Guide carefully from the beginning to the end. It tells you briefly what the course is about and how you can work your way through the course material. It also suggests the amount of time you are likely to spend in order to complete the course successfully. Please refer to the Course Guide from time to time as you go through the course material as it will help you to clarify important study components or points that you might miss or overlook. INTRODUCTION HBET1103 Introduction to General Linguistics is one of the courses offered in the Bachelor of English Studies and in the Bachelor of Education (TESL) programmes at Open University Malaysia (OUM). This course is worth 3 credit hours and should be covered over eight to 15 weeks. COURSE AUDIENCE This course is offered to students undertaking the Bachelor of English Studies and other related programmes. As an open and distance learner, you should be acquainted with learning independently and being able to optimise the learning modes and environment available to you. Before you begin this course, please ensure that you have the right course material, and understand the course requirements as well as how the course is conducted. STUDY SCHEDULE It is a standard OUM practice that learners accumulate 40 study hours for every credit hour. As such, for a three-credit hour course, you are expected to spend 120 study hours. Table 1 gives an estimation of how the 120 study hours could be accumulated. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) xii  COURSE GUIDE Table 1: Estimation of Time Accumulation of Study Hours Study Study Activities Hours Briefly go through the course content and participate in initial discussion 3 Study the module 60 Attend 3 to 5 tutorial sessions 10 Online participation 12 Revision 15 Assignment(s), Test(s) and Examination(s) 20 TOTAL STUDY HOURS ACCUMULATED 120 COURSE OUTCOMES By the end of this course, you should be able to: 1. Demonstrate an understanding on how language is analysed at different levels; 2. Construct your own annotation and analysis of language at different levels; and 3. Discuss language issues with confidence in your own expertise. COURSE SYNOPSIS This course is divided into 10 topics. The synopsis for each topic is presented as follows: Topic 1 gives an overview of linguistics as a scientific study. The core areas of linguistics and fundamental concepts in linguistics are discussed. In addition, you will be introduced to the other topics that will be covered in this course. Topic 2 explores how knowledge in phonetics and phonology can be useful in daily life. Basic concepts in phonetics and phonology are introduced. This topic focuses on the production and the organisation of phones in the English language. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) COURSE GUIDE  xiii Topic 3 focuses on the structure of words. You will learn how to identify different parts of speech in English words. You will also learn about the internal structure of complex words, and the difference between free and bound morphemes as well as inflectional and derivational morphemes. Topic 4 introduces the study of sentence structure. The notion of ungrammaticality and native speaker judgement will be discussed. You will learn how to identify natural groupings of words or constituents. You will learn how to draw simple tree diagrams to illustrate your understanding of hierarchical structure in sentences. Topic 5 discusses the study of meaning (semantics) and meaning in context (pragmatics). This topic completes the main core components in linguistics. The rest of the topic will focus on the interface of linguistic knowledge and other areas of study such as child development, psychology, sociology and anthropology. Topic 6 focuses on examining language as a social phenomenon. Types of language varieties will be discussed. Factors that are related to variation in language and factors that influence language choice will also be covered. This topic will also cover the threat of extinction for some languages and what linguists are doing to manage the situation. Topic 7 discusses the focus of psycholinguistics and examines the connection between language, cognitive processes and the brain. Brain areas that are related to language processing will be identified and the types of language impairments related to brain damage will also be discussed. Topic 8 introduces how language is acquired by discussing the developmental milestones that children go through. The topic will also cover child bilingualism which is becoming more common these days before discussing factors that influence second language acquisition. Topic 9 examines the system of communication of bees, birds and monkeys. For each system discussed, the types of signals that are used are described and similarities and differences of these systems with human language are discussed. Topic 10 discusses similarities and differences found among languages of the world. The notion of language universal is introduced. Different language typologies are introduced before discussing explanations for unity and diversity found in the worldÊs languages. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) xiv  COURSE GUIDE TEXT ARRANGEMENT GUIDE Before you go through this module, it is important that you note the text arrangement. Understanding the text arrangement will help you to organise your study of this course in a more objective and effective way. Generally, the text arrangement for each topic is as follows: Learning Outcomes: This section refers to what you should achieve after you have completely covered a topic. As you go through each topic, you should frequently refer to these learning outcomes. By doing this, you can continuously gauge your understanding of the topic. Self-Check: This component of the module is inserted at strategic locations throughout the module. It may be inserted after one sub-section or a few sub- sections. It usually comes in the form of a question. When you come across this component, try to reflect on what you have already learnt thus far. By attempting to answer the question, you should be able to gauge how well you have understood the sub-section(s). Most of the time, the answers to the questions can be found directly from the module itself. Activity: Like Self-Check, the Activity component is also placed at various locations or junctures throughout the module. This component may require you to solve questions, explore short case studies, or conduct an observation or research. It may even require you to evaluate a given scenario. When you come across an Activity, you should try to reflect on what you have gathered from the module and apply it to real situations. You should, at the same time, engage yourself in higher order thinking where you might be required to analyse, synthesise and evaluate instead of only having to recall and define. Summary: You will find this component at the end of each topic. This component helps you to recap the whole topic. By going through the summary, you should be able to gauge your knowledge retention level. Should you find points in the summary that you do not fully understand, it would be a good idea for you to revisit the details in the module. Key Terms: This component can be found at the end of each topic. You should go through this component to remind yourself of important terms or jargon used throughout the module. Should you find terms here that you are not able to explain, you should look for the terms in the module. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) COURSE GUIDE  xv References: The References section is where a list of relevant and useful textbooks, journals, articles, electronic contents or sources can be found. The list can appear in a few locations such as in the Course Guide (at the References section), at the end of every topic or at the back of the module. You are encouraged to read or refer to the suggested sources to obtain the additional information needed and to enhance your overall understanding of the course. PRIOR KNOWLEDGE No prior knowledge required. ASSESSMENT METHOD Please refer to myINSPIRE. REFERENCES Bergmann, A., Hall, K. C., & Ross, S. M. (2004). Language files: Materials for an introduction to language and linguistics. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University Press. McGregor, B. W. (2015). Linguistics: An introduction (2nd ed.). London, England: Bloomsbury. Steinberg, D. D., & Sciarini, N. V. (2006). An introduction to psycholinguistics. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman. TAN SRI DR ABDULLAH SANUSI (TSDAS) DIGITAL LIBRARY The TSDAS Digital Library has a wide range of print and online resources for the use of its learners. This comprehensive digital library, which is accessible through the OUM portal, provides access to more than 30 online databases comprising e-journals, e-theses, e-books and more. Examples of databases available are EBSCOhost, ProQuest, SpringerLink, Books24x7, InfoSci Books, Emerald Management Plus and Ebrary Electronic Books. As an OUM learner, you are encouraged to make full use of the resources available through this library. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) xvi  COURSE GUIDE Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) Topic  Introducing Linguistics 1 LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this topic, you should be able to: 1. Describe what is studied in linguistics; 2. Define fundamental concepts in linguistics; 3. Explain the design features of language; and 4. Discuss the concerns of different subfields of modern linguistics.  INTRODUCTION Linguistics is the scientific study of language. People who study languages are called linguists and we will understand what linguistics is by looking at what linguists do when they study language. This topic will introduce you to the different aspects of language that is important for a linguist to pay attention to. ACTIVITY 1.1 Try to recall an encounter when you are trying to learn a new foreign language. What do you pay attention to in the new language? In some way, we may be like novice linguists when we are learning a new language. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 2  TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS 1.1 WHAT IS LINGUISTICS? Linguistics is the study of language. It describes the basic components of language. All of you know English. English is a language. However, what is language? What does it mean to say you know English? What do you know when you know a language? These are the components of linguistic knowledge and you probably have listed some ideas related to these when you attempted Activity 1.1. Let us have a look at some of these components: (a) Phonetics and Phonology When you know a language, you know the speech sounds of the language. For example you will know that „cat‰ and „kick‰ begin with the same initial sound. You will also know the speech patterns of the language; how speech sounds are combined in that language. For example, you will know that „zug‰ is a possible word in English while „zkik‰ is not, even though you have never heard of either word because they do not exist in English. (b) Morphology You will know some words in the language and what they mean. For example, you probably know the word „tie‰ in English and what it means. You will probably also know that „untie‰ has the meaning of reversing what „tie‰ means. You will know that there are two parts in the word „untie‰ because you know of other words such as „undo‰ and „unzip‰ which also have two components in the word: „un‰ + „do‰ and „un‰ + „zip‰. (c) Syntax You will also know how to combine words to form a sentence when you know a language. For example, you will know that „Maniam loves his son‰ is a grammatical sentence in English; however „Loves Maniam his son‰ is not. You will also know that some sentences are related. For example, you will know that „Joe is sleeping‰ is a statement, while „Is Joe sleeping?‰ is a question. (d) Semantics and Pragmatics You may also know the difference between what is said and what is meant if you know the language well. For example, when someone says „ItÊs really hot‰, he may not be simply describing the condition of the room which is hot but may be indirectly requesting for you to switch on the fan or the air conditioning, or to even open the windows. The literal meaning is covered in semantics while the contextual meaning is covered in pragmatics. These are the core components of linguistic knowledge. We have this knowledge when we know a language. We may not realise that we have this knowledge because sometimes we may not have conscious knowledge of these facts. In the following topics, we will look at each components of linguistics and examine what Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS  3 it tells us about language. You may read ahead if you are interested to know more about these components. Topic 2 till Topic 5 introduce these components in more detail. SELF-CHECK 1.1 Match the following definitions with the core areas of linguistics. Phonetics and Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics (a) Study of speech sounds and sound patterns (b) Study of word structure (c) Study of sentence structure (d) Study of literal meaning of words or utterances (e) Study of contextual meaning of utterances 1.2 FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS Before we proceed with the description of what is involved in linguistics, it is important to understand some fundamental concepts that are often assumed in the study of language to avoid misunderstanding as we cover the rest of the topics in this course. To begin, let us first understand how linguistic knowledge is discovered and used. Some linguists are interested in describing a language by observing how native speakers of that particular language use the language. What we mean by native speakers of the language are speakers who grew up acquiring or learning the language from the natural environment. It could either be from: (a) Everyone around him or her speaking that language; or (b) His family members and caretakers speak it and the native speaker grows up speaking that language without necessarily being taught. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 4  TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS We may also document the language that is used by a particular group of speakers. This was often done with a pen and writing pad. Now with technology, linguists have become more sophisticated. We may record naturally occurring conversations, discussions and create collections of speech and written texts for analysis. 1.2.1 Mother Tongue Some linguists use the term mother tongue instead of native language to refer to the language that is acquired when you are a child from your mother. In Malaysia, the concept of mother tongue or native language is often not a simple matter as some Malaysians grow up speaking more than one language and they may learn other languages when they start schooling and may be more comfortable using the new language learnt compared to their mother tongue. For example, studies have shown that most Malaysians from the Chinese ethnic background speak at least three to five languages. The other communities in Malaysia are also becoming increasingly bilingual. Some speak two or more languages from birth. We will examine this interesting phenomenon again in Topic 6 when we discuss languages used in bilingual communities. ACTIVITY 1.2 1. What language is your native language? This may be a language that you grew up speaking. You may or may not be able to read and write in this language, but you should be able to understand and speak this language. 2. Are you most proficient in your mother tongue? Do you know anyone who can speak more than one language at the competence level of a native speaker or near-native like? Discuss further. 1.2.2 Language and Literacy Every child will acquire at least one language and will acquire it almost effortlessly by the time he reaches the age of four. He will be able to speak and understand the language without being formally taught the language. This is the nature of language and this is the reason why language is considered as a special endowment of the human species. Literacy skills however, need to be taught. Nobody grows up learning how to read and write without being taught. In fact, not every language has a writing system. Many languages of the world are only spoken languages without a writing system. Therefore, you will need to remember Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS  5 the difference between language and literacy. When we talk about language, we usually refer to speaking and comprehension. It would be rare that we refer to reading and writing as these are literacy skills which require effortful learning. 1.2.3 Descriptive and Prescriptive Grammars We started off this topic by drawing upon similarities observed from your experience in learning a new foreign language. However, the way a linguist describes the grammar of a language may be different from the way a language teacher would approach it. Teachers are concerned with you learning what is considered as „grammatical‰ by referring to rules in a grammar book about how to construct sentences and form words in a language. We say teachers are prescriptive in their approach to the grammar of the language. Therefore, the rules that the language teachers refer to are prescriptive grammars. Prescriptive grammars have to be followed. However, most linguists describe a language in order to come up with a descriptive grammar of the language. They depend on the judgement made by the native speakers of the language on how the language is used by the community. For example, if we are to describe Malaysian English, we will find that Malaysians like to use the particle „-lah‰ in their speech. Imagine this situation when you are trying to persuade your friend to help you babysit while you rush to finish your assignment. Your friend may say she does not know how to change the diapers among other excuses. You may end up persuading her by saying „Can-lah, DonÊt worry. I will be here also what? Just need someone to keep an eye on Ah boy while I write my assignment‰. English teachers may label such utterances as ungrammatical or broken English but to a linguist who is trying to understand what is acceptable as a Malaysian variety of English, they will not label these utterances as ungrammatical. They will depend on what is considered as acceptable or used by Malaysian speakers of English. As a Malaysian speaker of English myself, of course we do not use this in writing and formal situations, but this may be the preferred form with close friends as compared to the more formal alternative which may sound distant: „IÊm sure you can do it. DonÊt worry. I will also be here to help. I just need someone to keep an eye on my son while I complete my assignment‰. We will discuss more about varieties of English in Topic 6. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 6  TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS Among other speakers of English, there are other examples of prescriptive rules that are found in grammar books about good use of English. However, if we observe native speakers of the language, they do use these constructions or utterances and they are not grammatically incorrect. Let us look at the following examples where prescriptive grammar will say it is „bad‰ grammar to use double negatives, split infinitives and ending a sentence with a preposition (refer to Table 1.1). Table 1.1: Examples of Good and Bad Grammar Prescriptive Grammar Bad Grammar Good Grammar Use of double negative You donÊt know nothing. You donÊt know anything. Split infinitives to badly want something to want badly something to be done to be done Ending a sentence with a Who do you wish to To whom do you wish to preposition donate the money to? donate the money? However, the use of double negative is common in Old English and in African American Vernacular English. It is also common in Middle English to end sentences with prepositions. You will probably feel more comfortable using what is considered as bad grammar as the alternative sounds very formal. The point is, it is important that some rules are prescribed but they are not meant for all situations. Certainly not all grammatical rules of a language is necessarily prescriptive as there could be varieties of the same language that observe different grammar rules. Malaysian English is a good example. What is considered bad in standard formal English is actually good or acceptable in Malaysian English. Linguists try not to impose their own standards of what is considered good or bad but rely on the judgment of the speakers of the language which are usually based on what they would normally say or use. Hence, linguists work with descriptive grammars to describe grammatical rules in the language, while teachers tend to follow a prescriptive grammar as they are concerned with students getting good marks when they are tested for their proficiency of the language. In conclusion, both prescriptive and descriptive grammars are there for rather different purposes. We just need to be aware that there is such a difference when we work with language. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS  7 ACTIVITY 1.3 1. Discuss some descriptive rules for the use of Malaysian English. 2. Provide specific examples of utterances which may be acceptable in Malaysian English but not in standard varieties of English. 1.2.4 Linguistic Competence and Performance Another important basic concept in linguistics is the difference between linguistic competence and performance. Linguistic competence refers to the linguistic knowledge that we have of a language. Linguistic performance, on the other hand, refers to how you use the language. We often make judgement about linguistic competence by examining linguistic performance of the person. This is done because we do not have direct access to what we know about a language. Most of our linguistic knowledge operates at the subconscious level. As I mentioned earlier, this knowledge may not operate at the conscious level; however it is there if we know how to elicit it. We may not be able to describe what we know, but we know it. To illustrate how this knowledge may work at the subconscious knowledge, think about how we recognise the faces and voices of our family members, friends and acquaintances. We just know a familiar face or a voice; however we may not be able to describe the features of the face or the voices that help us identify the voice or the face. If you need to describe these features for someone to draw the face, you would need to pay very close attention to specific features of the eyebrows, the shape of the eyes, nose, mouth, jaw and chin, and this may prove to be difficult even though we do recognise the face of the person. Having linguistic knowledge is somewhat similar. You can do things in the language you know, but you may not be able to explain how you know it. Have you had the experience where you know a sentence is grammatically correct or incorrect because it sounds right or wrong but you cannot say what is right or wrong about it? This is an analogy to describe how you use your subconscious knowledge. Most times, we would like to think that there is a match between the observed linguistic performance and what we consider as your linguistic competence. However, we all know that this may not necessarily be the case all the time. Our use of the language is often affected by many different factors. At times, our performance may lag behind our competence. This may happen when there are other factors affecting our performance. For example, you may know English well and would normally speak it flawlessly. However, if you have been working the whole night trying to finish an assignment and have not had any sleep for 48 hours, Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 8  TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS you may not be able to speak fluently as you may be extremely tired and your mind is just not quite working right. To give you another example, if you try to speak after visiting the dentist who had just given you an injection to numb your gum and tongue, you would have difficulty speaking accurately. These are examples of poorer performance but these performances do not reflect your linguistic competence. At times your linguistic performance is temporarily compromised because of these other factors; however your linguistic competence remains intact. ACTIVITY 1.4 Examine the following situation and discuss them in terms of linguistic competence and performance. Situation 1: Student A makes an error because he was careless. Situation 2: Student B makes the same error again and again not knowing that it is an error. 1.3 DESIGN FEATURES OF LANGUAGE Is language just a system of communication? Most linguists believe that language is more than just a system of communication. The linguist Charless Hockett developed a list of features to describe what it means to be a language. We will discuss these features by grouping them according to those that are universally shared by all systems of communication, those that are shared by only some systems of communication and those that are unique to the human language. 1.3.1 Features Shared by All Systems of Communication Let us have a look at some features shared by all systems of communication. (a) Mode of Communication Language shares this feature with other systems of communication because language can be used for communication. In a system of communication, messages are sent and received. In the case of sign language, speakers transmit messages in the form of speech or gestures and these messages are decoded by the listener. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS  9 (b) Semanticity and Pragmatic Function All signals used in a system of communication must have meaning and function. In other words, communication must be shared by the people using this system of communication or there is a risk of a breakdown. 1.3.2 Features Shared by Some Systems of Communication Now let us have a look at some features shared by some systems of communication. You will find that there are more features here as follows: (a) Interchangeability Some systems of communication can only transmit while others can only receive. A radio station can only transmit messages. You will need to have a call-in programme to allow messages to be received. However, humans can do both transmitting and receiving. We can speak or use sign language, as well as comprehend speech and interpret sign gestures. (b) Cultural Transmission This feature explains why language is not genetically coded. We learn the language of the environment. We speak the language that has been transmitted to us through cultural transmission. Just because our parents speak a particular language, it does not guarantee that we will also acquire the same language unless that language is also used with us. This is something Malaysians will probably experience readily. For example, my mother speaks the Hokkien language as her father speaks only Hokkien, however she never uses this language with us. Instead she uses Cantonese with her children and my father. In addition, she speaks Hakka with my grandmother who only knows Hakka. So, I grew up speaking Cantonese and Hakka because those are the two languages that were transmitted to me in my cultural home environment. As a result, my siblings and I do not speak Hokkien as my mother did not speak it to us. (c) Arbitrariness Signs and signals in a system of communication and the meaning that is assigned to it are arbitrary. In the same way, words in a language and the meaning that are assigned to them are also arbitrary. There is no specific reason as to why a cat is called a „cat‰ in English and „kucing‰ in Bahasa Malaysia, „gato‰ in Spanish, „goyang-i" in Korean and „mao‰ in Mandarin. When you learn a system of communication or language, you have to learn the signs and the meaning. When you learn a new language, you need to learn the words in that language and the meanings of those words too. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 10  TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS (d) Discreteness This feature refers to the fact that all signals are units that can be combined to form larger units. For example, every language uses a limited set of speech sounds to encode words in the language. There are restrictions to how you can combine speech sounds to form syllables and there are many possible ways to combine different syllables to form different words. Once we have words, we have ways to combine words into phrases and sentences. Although units in the language may be limited, there are limitless ways to combine these units. 1.3.3 Features Shared by Only Human Languages Other than features shared by all and some systems of communication, there are also features that are shared only by human languages such as: (a) Displacement We can use language to talk about things and events that are happening now. We can also use language to talk about things and events that happened long ago or those that have yet to take place. We can talk about our imagination and create ideas that nobody has seen or experienced or thought about before. This is a unique feature of the human language, but not with other systems of communication which are often much more restricted. (b) Productivity Human language is productive. We may have a limited set of speech sounds or gestures, a limited number of words, but there is no limit to the number of ways we can combine these basic units to form new words and new sentences. However, this does not mean that language has no rules and regulations. All languages are governed by specific rules, however even these rules allow for productivity. ACTIVITY 1.5 1. Can you think of an example of a rule in the English language which describes productivity of the language? 2. Do you think displacement is a good test of whether animals have a system of communication or a language like humans have? Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS  11 1.4 DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN LINGUISTICS In previous subtopics, we have discussed the study of languages which focuses on describing the grammars of a language. This includes descriptions of the: (a) Sound patterns of the language (phonology); (b) Word structure (morphology) and word meaning (lexical semantics); (c) Sentence structure (syntax); and (d) Meaning of expressions in context (pragmatics). Notice the term „grammar‰ is used here in a very broad sense. The grammar of a language includes more than just rules on how to combine sentences into phrases and sentences. Some linguists focus their attention on doing descriptions of grammar for a specific language. There are many languages in the world that have yet to be described and some of these languages have been classified as endangered languages as the speakers are mostly elders in the communities who are already very old and the number of speakers are very small. The younger members of their communities may not speak the language as a result of language contact or language and education policies. In Malaysia, many of the orang asli languages and the indigenous languages of Sabah and Sarawak fall into this category. There are sporadic efforts made to document these languages before they go extinct as such efforts fulfil two main goals: (a) It helps preserve the cultural identity of indigenous communities in Malaysia; and (b) It presents an opportunity to other linguists who are interested to examine universal patterns in language to test their theories with a newly described language. Some linguists, however, focus their work on documenting variations within a particular language. For example, various dialects of Bahasa Malaysia exist in Malaysia. Similarly, it is probably evident that most of us can speak and understand a variety of English that is different from the standard variety spoken in the UK and US. While some may hold a negative attitude towards the Malaysian variety of English, by referring to it with derogative reference such as Manglish or rojak English, others may embrace it as a form of our cultural identity. Whichever side of the fence we may belong to, there is still merit in trying to describe what is unique in this variety and to examine the universal patterns that a particular Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 12  TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS language variety possesses. This focus falls within the scope of sociolinguistics, the focus of Topic 6, where we will discuss and examine language and its social context. However, the development of modern linguistics is not limited to just descriptions of a particular language or its variety. Modern linguistics has also been influenced by developments in other fields of study which examine the interaction of language and other fields such as education, sociology and psychology. For example, language teachers and applied linguists who are interested in the applications of linguistic knowledge to possible enhancements in the teaching and learning of a specific language now contribute to developments in a subfield called second language acquisition. It is now widely acknowledged that the way we learn a first language is different from the way we approach our first language or mother tongue. Researchers in psychology, particularly human development psychologists, focus on understanding the processes involved in the acquisition of the mother tongue. These researchers continue to study first language acquisition and the challenges that are presented in understanding language delay or language impairments in the development process. Work is also focused on identifying good diagnostic tools in bilingual and multilingual contexts. These topics will be examined further in Topic 7 (Psycholinguistics) and Topic 8 (Language Acquisition). Developments in modern linguistics are also influenced by studies comparing human linguistic capacities with natural communication systems of animals. Language in its biological context will be discussed further in Topic 9, while unity and diversity in languages and differences that makes each language unique will be discussed in Topic 10. ACTIVITY 1.6 Watch the following online video by cognitive psychologist, Steven Pinker. He describes the study of language and the developments in linguistics as a means to understand how the human brain works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B_ONJIEcE Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS  13  Linguistics is the study of language.  The core components of linguistics include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics.  Phonetics and phonology deal with the study of speech sounds and the organisation of sound patterns in a language.  Morphology refers to the study of word structure, while syntax looks at how words are strung together to form sentences.  Semantics deals with literal meaning, while pragmatics focuses on the meaning in context.  Linguistic knowledge is elicited from the knowledge that native speakers have of their language. Linguistic knowledge is often unconscious knowledge.  Language is not writing. Many languages in the world do not have a writing system.  The ability to speak and understand language is available to every child. Most children acquire language rather effortlessly.  Reading and writing are considered literacy skills that must be taught and learnt.  Language is not just a system of communication. Two design features of language; displacement and productivity are unique to human language.  The development of modern linguistics has resulted in the development of new subfields such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and second language acquisition. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 14  TOPIC 1 INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS Arbitrariness Native speakers Cultural transmission Phonetics Descriptive grammar Phonology Discreteness Pragmatics Displacement Prescriptive grammar Language acquisition Productivity Linguistic competence Psycholinguistics Linguistic performance Semantics Linguistics Sociolinguistics Morphology Syntax Mother tongue Bergmann, A., Hall, K. C., & Ross, S. M. (2004). Language files: Materials for an introduction to language and linguistics. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University Press. McGregor, B. W. (2015). Linguistics: An introduction (2nd ed.). London, England: Bloomsbury. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) Topic  Sounds of Language 2 LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this topic, you should be able to: 1. Describe the application of phonetics and phonology; 2. Explain how speech sounds are produced; 3. Identify the phonemes of a language; 4. Discuss the difference between phonetics and phonology; and 5. Transcribe words using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).  INTRODUCTION This topic introduces you to the study of speech sounds and speech patterns in language. You may find that there are a lot of technical terminologies that are introduced in this topic and you may wonder why anyone would go through so much trouble to learn all these concepts and terminologies. You may also wonder if this topic is relevant to your daily life. These are good questions to have. Life has so much to offer and time is limited. If we have to invest time on something, it should be worth the time spent. So, let us start the topic by exploring how knowledge of phonetics and phonology can be very useful in daily life. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 16  TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE 2.1 APPLICATIONS OF PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY Have you observed how children learn to speak? Early child speech is characterised by cries of excitement that sound like aaahhh... and playful exploration of the lips such as brrr.... (when they rattle their lips) or when they tap their fingers on their lips while sounding out ahh.... resulting in a sound that we associate with American Indians in some films. Eventually, they start to babble with sequences such as ba..ba..ba or wa..wa..wa.. and so on. Usually, developing babies will move on to use single words and short phrases and eventually sentences. Normally, we do not pay attention to the development as they tend to develop rather quickly within a very short period of time once they start to speak. While children tend to say things differently from the way adults do in the beginning, most children will grow out of it and will soon speak like adults. For example, young children may shorten words. Instead of saying „banana‰ they may say „nana‰. My nephew started calling his elder brother „Jemy‰ instead of „Jeremy‰ even after we tried to correct him. My niece would say she wanted „bed‰ when she meant „bread‰. However eventually, they got the right pronunciation as they grew older. Some differences in child speech are normal. All children go through the same phase. However, some children stay in the child phase for a longer period and some seem to have difficulty growing out of these early phases of child speech. These children may face difficulties in language development. They may start to speak much later than their peers and they may not be easily understood even when they do speak. Some parents and caretakers may notice this difference in children while others may not. Early detection of speech anomalies or delay in language development is an important indicator for early intervention for a variety of learning disabilities. It is important to know what these indicators are and to be able to describe them when we want to get help. This is how knowledge in phonetics and phonology will be of great help. More details about language acquisition will be discussed in Topic 8. A good knowledge of phonetics and phonology is needed by clinical speech and language therapists when they diagnose children with language delay and learning difficulties. Special needs teachers who are involved in teaching children with language delay also need to have a good understanding of phonetics and phonology. Apart from these two professions, there are also other applications of phonetics and phonology. Some examples are in forensic linguistics, as well as in teaching and learning of pronunciation to normal developing children and adults in language classrooms. Even if these are not the professions that you are interested in, training in phonetics and phonology can help develop analytical Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE  17 skills and improve awareness about cognitive processes that are involved in speech production and perception. We will explore some of these areas in Topic 9 when we discuss psycholinguistics. Let us get started now with the basics in phonetics and phonology and what these two areas involve. ACTIVITY 2.1 The following are examples of words from two Malaysian children who were four years old. Should the parents or teachers be concerned? Why? If we tell you that these children grew up in Kelantan, would this affect your decision? (a) abai instead of bye-bye (b) iput instead of siput (Malay word for snail) (c) ayang instead of sayang (Malay word for like or love) 2.2 PHONETICS What is phonetics? Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. The scope of the study in phonetics can be narrow. For example, a phonetician may choose to investigate the speech sounds found in a specific language. Most undergraduate students begin their study of phonetics by focusing on the speech sounds of one language. The scope of the study can also be wide. Some phonetician may focus on all possible speech sounds in human languages. Naturally, if the latter were the focus, one would have to look at speech sounds in different languages. There are three subfields within phonetics; each subfield focuses on addressing different questions about speech sounds. (a) Articulatory phonetics focuses on the production of speech sounds. In order to understand how speech sounds are produced, we will need to know the vocal tract and the function of specific vocal organs. We also need to know about the airstream mechanisms and how the airstream is modulated in the vocal tract to produce different types of speech sounds. (b) Acoustic phonetics focuses on understanding the physical properties of speech sounds. The most basic physical properties that are often used to describe speech sounds include frequency, duration and intensity. Acoustic analysis of speech sounds is done with the help of a computer. An open- Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 18  TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE source computer software called PRAAT has been developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenick from the University of Amsterdam for analysing speech sounds. You can download this software for free. To illustrate the physical properties of speech sounds mentioned previously, let us look at an example. Figure 2.1 is a screenshot of what is displayed on PRAAT for the word „sit‰. The upper half of the figure illustrates the waveforms, while the lower half of the figure presents the spectrograms of the sound segments. The y-axis on the upper half of the figure represents amplitude of the wave while the y-axis of the lower spectrograms represents frequency. The x-axis for both halves represents time in milliseconds. Figure 2.1: Waveform and spectrograph of „sit‰ We will not be focusing on acoustic phonetics in this course, but you can measure physical properties of speech and inspect them in a very objective manner using software for acoustic analysis. Application of acoustic phonetics can be found in forensic linguistics, computer assisted teaching and learning of pronunciation as well as automatic speech recognition. (c) Auditory phonetics focuses on the ways in which speech sounds are perceived by the ear and the mind. Among the questions addressed in auditory phonetics is whether all physical properties of a particular speech sound are given equal emphasis. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE  19 ACTIVITY 2.2 Watch the following video on how we perceive speech. Do we only rely on what we hear? Are we also affected by what we see during speech perception? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0 2.2.1 The Vocal Tract The production of speech sounds involves two important elements. The first element is airstream mechanism, while the second is the speech organs and how they modify the airstream. Most speech sounds are produced by the aggressive pulmonic airstream which is the airstream from the lungs. The air is pushed past the larynx and out through the oral cavity or through the nasal cavity. The articulators or speech organs involved in producing speech sounds are shown in Figure 2.2. They can be organised into three major systems: the respiratory system, the phonatory system in the larynx (voice box) and the articulatory system. Each subsystem plays a different role in the production of speech sounds. Figure 2.2: The vocal tract Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 20  TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE Let us have a look at these major systems in further detail: (a) Respiratory System The respiratory system involves the vocal organs below the larynx. Here we have the lungs and the diaphragm. (b) Phonatory System This system involves the larynx or the voice box. The opening in the larynx that allows for air to escape from the windpipes or the trachea into the oral cavity is controlled by the vocal folds in the larynx. Different configuration of the vocal folds produces different phonation of speech sounds such as voiced and voicelessness, creaky and breathy voice quality. (c) Articulatory System The articulators in the oral tract play an important role in determining the type of speech sounds that are produced. Active articulators are articulators that can move. The lips and the tongue are two active articulators in the oral tract. The non-mobile parts in the oral tract are called passive articulators. They include the upper lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate or velum, uvula, and the wall of the pharynx. The positioning of the active and passive articulators determines the manner of articulation and the place of articulation for the consonants. ACTIVITY 2.3 Watch the following video on the anatomy of the larynx and configuration of the larynx for different phonations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6K35fvBjn4 2.2.2 Types of Speech Sounds Speech sounds can be classified based on the way they are produced. Consonants are speech sounds that are produced with some obstruction to the airstream in the oral cavity. Vowels are speech sounds that are produced with no obstruction in the oral cavity. Let us have a look at these two types of speeches in further detail as follows. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE  21 (a) Consonants Consonants can be described based on where the obstruction is made (place of articulation) and the manner of obstruction to the airstream (manner of articulation). Some consonants are produced with vibration of the vocal cords (voiced) while others are not. Table 2.1 presents the consonants that are found in English. Table 2.1: Consonant in Standard British English (Received Pronunciation) Place of Articulation Labio- Alveo- Bilabial Interdental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal dental palatal Stops p (pat) t (ten) k (cat) b (bat) d (den) g (get) Nasal m n (net) ŋ (met) (sing) 'Manner of Articulation Fricatives f (fan)  (thin) s (sue) ʃ (shoe) h (hen) v é (than) z (zoo) ʒ (van) (beige) Affricates ʧ (cheap) ʤ (jeep) Approximants w l (late) j (yet) (wet) r (rate) (b) Vowels Vowels are described based on the position of the tongue, the configuration of the lips, how the mouth is opened and whether or not the airstream escapes through the nasal cavity. Table 2.2 shows the vowels that are found in Standard British English. All back vowels in English are rounded. The top row provides information about the positioning of the tongue. With front vowels, the lips are also stretched, while back vowels are produced with the lips rounded. Mid and low vowels are produced with the jaw dropping to a lower position compared to high vowels. Try saying the example words in succession from high to low vowels and pay attention to the configuration of the lips, the openness of the mouth and the position of the tongue. These Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 22  TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE three articulators change the shape of the oral cavity which results in the production of different vowels. The vowels in Table 2.2 are produced with the tongue in a relatively steady state throughout the articulation and we call these types of vowels monophthongs. However, some vowels are produced with changes in the state or position of the tongue. We call these vowels diphthongs. Try saying the word „soy‰ and „saw‰ and pay attention to the vowel in these words. In articulating the word „soy‰, you will start with your lips rounded and end with your lips stretched. Due to the change in the lip shape, you may not notice the shifts in your tongue position. Now, try saying the same word again but this time with a smile. You will notice your tongue is stretching to the front. Shift between saying the words „soy‰ and „saw‰ and you will notice the difference in the tongue between the articulation of what we call a diphthong and a monophthong. Table 2.2: Monophthongs in Standard British English (Received Pronunciation) Front Central Back i: (seat) u: (pool) High ɪ (sit) ʊ (pull) e (set) ɛ: (heard) ɒ (cot) Mid ʌ (hut) ɔ: (cord) Low Õ (sad) a (hard) Table 2.3 presents some examples of diphthongs that are found in British, American and Malaysian English. You will notice some blanks. Do you know why this is the case? Table 2.3: Diphthongs in Three Varieties of English Standard British General American Words Malaysian English English English buy [aɪ] [aɪ] [aɪ] boy [ɔɪ] [ɔɪ] [ɔɪ] cow [aʊ] [aʊ] [aʊ] say [eɪ] [e] [eɪ] no [әʊ] [oʊ] [o:] here [ɪә] [i:] chair [ɛә] Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE  23 ACTIVITY 2.4 1. Identify the consonants in the pronunciation of the following words: cement, phone, trick, vague, tongue, mosque, measure, leech, bridge 2. Identify the vowels in the pronunciation of these words: beat, bit, bat, bell, ball, bail, bike, bitten, boast, robot, leak, lake, look 3. Try this online resource to learn about the sounds in English. However, be aware of differences in the phonetic symbols used. http://www.shiporsheep.com/ 2.3 PHONOLOGY Phonology is the study of speech patterns in a specific language. Every language will have a specific way of organising the speech sounds in the language. Each language will determine which speech sounds or phones are linguistically relevant to the language. What this means is that different languages will choose different phones used to encode meanings of words in the lexicon, our mental dictionary. 2.3.1 Phonemes and Allophones In English, the difference between the phones, [p] and [b], matters because we use it to contrast meaning in words like „pin‰ and „bin‰. Similarly, difference between [i:] and [ɪ] is important as we use the difference to encode differences in meaning between „beat‰ and „bit‰. When we find pairs of words that differ only in one pair of sound that occurs in the same position in the word (minimal pairs), we have found the phonemes that matter in the language. Phonemes are the units of sound that can be used to encode contrast in meaning. The consonant and vowel charts presented in Table 2.1 and Table 2.2 are phonemes in English. Some phones are not phonemic in one language but are phonemic in a different language. For example, if you pay attention to how Malaysians pronounce the /p/ in „pat‰, you may notice that some of us say it with an extra puff of air while others do not. We call this difference aspiration. Most English native speakers will pronounce the /p/ in „pat‰ with aspiration. However, we do not really pay attention to this difference even if they do not because it does not affect the meaning of the word. We say that [p] and [ph] are different allophones or different Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 24  TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE ways to pronounce the word „pat‰. Allophones are non-contrastive. They only show variations in pronunciation. However, if you speak Thai, the difference matters as pronouncing it differently would result in saying two different words. For example, [pa:] is the word for forest in Thai while [ph a:] is the word for the verb to split. If you speak Thai you will have to pay attention to aspiration or you will say the wrong things and Thai speakers will be confused by what you are trying to say. Thai phonology and English phonology are different in this respect. 2.3.2 Distribution of Phonemes and Phonotactics Another aspect of phonology is distribution of phonemes and the co-occurrence of different phonemes in words which we call phonotactics. You may not realise you have this knowledge when you know a language, but you do. For example, you may never have heard of the word „blik‰ but you will probably not frown if we want to name a new product „blik‰. However, you will probably think it is odd if we choose to name the product as „bkik‰ or „btik‰. Do you have the same reaction? Do you know why? You probably would not protest with „blik‰ because it sounds like a possible combination of sounds in English, and therefore it is a possible English word. We just do not have a word with this sequence of phonemes. We say there is a lexical gap. We have words that begin with bl- such as blend, blind, black and block. However, it will be almost impossible to find a word that begins with bk- and bt- in English. Phonotactic knowledge refers to the knowledge about possible sound sequences. Phonotactic knowledge also refers to knowledge of phoneme distribution. You will know that the [ŋ] in English is found only in the final and middle position such as „sing‰ and „singer‰. It never occurs at the beginning of the word. The same can be said about the sound [ʒ] in words like „beige‰ and „measure‰. However, this is not the case in Hakka Chinese where [ŋ] occurs in the initial position of a word. For example, [ŋaɪ] refers to the pronoun I and me. Also [ʒ] occurs in the initial position of a word in French. The name Jacque in French begins with [ʒ]. Phonotactics is part of phonology, the speech pattern of a specific language. Languages can differ in how the phonemes are distributed in the language and we can see this pattern when we pay attention to distribution of individual phonemes or sequences of phonemes. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE  25 2.3.3 Syllable Structure Another way to look at how different phonologies may differ is to look at the types of syllables that are permissible in a particular language. What are syllables? Syllables are sequences of phonemes. In English, the smallest syllable is a single vowel. We can also form syllables with a combination of one consonant and one vowel. The word „easy‰ is a two-syllable word. The first syllable consists of only a single vowel while the second syllable is a CV syllable. English has many syllable types: V, CV, CVC, VC, CCV, CCVC, CCVCC, and VCC just to name a few types. That is because English allows up to a sequence of three consonants at the beginning of a syllable with words such as „spring‰ and „split‰, and a sequence of four consonants at the end of the word such as „tempts‰. However, there are many languages that allow for fewer syllable types. Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese for example have only CV, CVC and CCVC syllables. That is why when words are borrowed from English into these languages, interesting changes occur. Take for example, the loanword for „friend‰ and „fans‰ (as in „football fans‰) and „cheese‰ in Cantonese? Can you describe the changes? Can you explain the reason for these changes in pronunciation when English words are borrowed into Cantonese? The word „friends‰ is pronounced as [fan] while the word „fans‰ is pronounced like the word „fancy‰ [fan.si:], except stress is placed on both syllables, the same stress on its syllables is also seen with the Chinese word for „cheese‰ [qi.si:]. The reason is related to how Cantonese tries to preserve its syllable shapes. When words move from one phonological system to another, the recipient language will try to keep its own rules. Syllable shapes in the receiving language will be maintained. Therefore, we will find consonant deletion to simplify the syllable and insertion of vowel to create new syllables to support such borrowings. Such changes are not limited to Cantonese. You will find systematic differences in contact situations when words are borrowed from one language into another language. Interesting examples are also found in English loanwords in Korean, Japanese, Bahasa Malaysia and similarly if we look at French and German loanwords into English. Do you know any examples of those loanwords? Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 26  TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE 2.3.4 Prosody Prosody refers to the melody of a language. Prosody includes stress patterns, rhythm and intonation. Some languages have predictable stress patterns which produce a predictable rhythmic melody of speech. For example, words in Hungarian are always stressed on the final syllable. Some languages have different stress assignment rules. Some Arabic languages have a complicated way of assigning lexical stress. Stress assignment depends on the available syllables in the word, the number of syllables and whether or not there is a heavy syllable. Syllables with long vowels and consonant clusters in coda positions are considered heavy syllables and they attract stress in these Arabic varieties. Stress assignment in English, however, is less predictable although there are some guidelines on how stress is assigned in a word. For example, there are many two syllable words in English that can function as verbs and nouns. For example, the words „increase‰, „report‰, „research‰ and „produce‰. If these words are used as nouns, the first syllable is stressed and is said with a rising tone when pronounced in isolation. When these words are used as verbs, it is the second syllable that receives stress. Although there are some rules that can guide stress assignment in English words, some are not predictable and need to be learnt. That is why primary and secondary stress marks are found in dictionary entries that indicate how these words are pronounced. Intonation refers to the movement of pitch within an utterance. Intonation can be placed even on a single word utterance and it can change the meaning that is conveyed. For example, there can be a number of ways to say the word „good‰ and „really‰. If these words are said with the falling intonation, there is a sense of finality (the speaker is done with his turn to talk) and the speaker sounds serious. If they are said with a rising intonation, then this is a sense of non-finality (the person has not finished his turn to talk and will likely continue to talk) and it implies doubt from the speaker. He is questioning whether something is good and the truth of the situation. Have a look at Figure 2.3 to see the difference between a falling and rising intonation when pronouncing the word „good‰ and „bad‰. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE  27 Figure 2.3: Falling and rising intonation in English We can also apply the same intonation to longer utterances and these intonation patterns can be interpreted in the same way. Different intonation patterns can also be applied to convey different attitudes of the speaker. When the default or usual intonation patterns are not used, the speaker may be trying to convey some attitudinal meaning in his speech. When we know a language, we also know what is the usual intonation of saying something and what could be implied if we change our intonation. ACTIVITY 2.5 1. How many syllables are there in the following words? history, preparation, pronunciation, dictionary, scenery, divorce, divorcee, camera, government. 2. Your answers for the above question may depend on how you pronounce those words. Which syllable of those words sound more prominent? Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 28  TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE 2.4 PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION The consonant and vowel charts presented in subtopic 2.2.2 uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). You can now transcribe how a word is pronounced using the IPA and find the pronunciation of a new word in the dictionary. You can transcribe phonemically what was said by providing a phonemic transcription. You can also provide a phonetic transcription that captures the specific ways of the message conveyed. Linguists may go further and do a broad phonetic transcription but that is probably too detailed and we will not go into it for this course. A phonemic transcription focuses on the meaning of the utterance. When a phonetic transcription is provided, you can use allophones in the transcription as well. Here, the actual way as to how the words are pronounced, and the blending of sounds and omission and other changes can be recorded. Variations in the way a particular speaker speaks in normal speech can also be recorded as shown in the following examples. Can you spot the difference between the two transcriptions given? (a) Phonemic transcription: /wɛә ɪz hi: tu:deɪ/ „Where is he, today?‰ (b) Phonetic transcription: [wɛ:s hɪ tәdeɪ] ACTIVITY 2.6 1. Transcribe how you would pronounce the words provided in Activity 2.4 and 2.5. You can compare your transcription with those provided in an English dictionary. 2. The following is the transcription of a few utterances. Can you make out what these utterances are about? „ju: meɪ faɪn éɪz dɪfɪkʊlt ɪn éɪ bɪgɪnɪŋ bʌt ju: meɪ әnʤɔɪ éɪs leɪtә tu: aɪ lʊv fәnetiks әn fәnɒlәʤi aɪ hәʊp ju: wɪl tu:‰ Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE  29  Articulatory phonetics focuses on the articulation of speech sounds.  Acoustic phonetics focuses on the physical properties of speech sounds.  Auditory phonetics examines the physical properties of speech that is attended to during speech perception.  The vocal organs can be organised into three systems: the respiratory system, the phonatory system and the articulatory system.  Consonants are produced with some obstruction in the vocal tract. The place and manner of articulation characterises the types of consonants that are produced.  Vowels are produced with no obstruction in the vocal tract. Different types of vowels are produced depending on the configuration of the lips, the tongue and the openness of the mouth.  Phonology is the study of speech patterns in a language.  Phonemes can be identified by identifying minimal pairs in the language.  Allophones are different variations or pronunciation of a single phoneme.  Phonotactics refer to the distribution of phonemes in a language.  Languages differ in the type of syllable structure that is allowed in the language.  Prosody refers to the melody of language. Prosody includes stress patterns, rhythm and intonation.  Intonation patterns can be used to convey attitudes of the speaker.  Phonemic transcription focuses on the meaning that is conveyed.  Phonetic transcription captures the actual way a word or an utterance is pronounced by a specific speaker. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 30  TOPIC 2 SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE Acoustic phonetics Minimal pairs Allophone Nasal Alveolar Palatal Alveo-palatal Phoneme Approximants Phones Articulatory phonetics Phonotactics Auditory phonetics Prosody Bilabial Rhythm Dental Stress Fricative Syllable Glottal Voiced Intonation Voiceless Baskaran, L. M. (2005). A Malaysian English primer: Aspects of Malaysian English features. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: University of Malaya Press. Carr, P. (2003). English phonetics and phonology. London, England: Blackwell. Davenport, M., & Hannahs, S. J. (2005). Introducing phonetics and phonology (3rd ed.). London, England: Arnold. McGregor, B. W. (2015). Linguistics: An introduction (2nd ed.). London, England: Bloomsbury. Roach, P. (2009). English phonetics and phonology: A practical course (4th ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) Topic  Structure of Words 3 LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this topic, you should be able to: 1. Identify the parts of speech for words; 2. Describe morphemes in complex words; 3. Distinguish derivational from inflectional affixes; 4. Discuss allomorphs and allomorph conditioning; and 5. Conduct simple morphological analysis.  INTRODUCTION This topic introduces you to the study of words in languages. What comes to your mind when you think about words? You may say meaning, relation between words, such words with similar meanings such as „pretty‰ and „beautiful‰ or words with opposite meaning such as „hot‰ and „cold‰, „day‰ and „night‰. Morphology examines the meaning of words as well; however the study of word meaning (lexical semantics) is covered in more depth in Topic 5. So, what will be the focus of this topic? We will look at types of words (parts of speech) and the internal structure of words and examine the internal structure of complex words. Let us now begin with the different types of words in English. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 32  TOPIC 3 STRUCTURE OF WORDS 3.1 TYPES OF WORDS In this subtopic, we will examine the different types of words. Generally, we can classify words based on the function they play in the language. Some words are content words and they carry lexical meaning. Others are function words and they carry only grammatical meaning. 3.1.1 Lexical Words Lexical words are also called content words. These words belong to open-class words as you can create new words and add them to the stock of existing lexical items in the language. Can you think of new words that have been introduced recently because of the Internet technology and mobile phone applications? It is now common to hear people say things like „Just google it up‰ or „You should tweet this‰. Words like „google‰ and „tweet‰ are new words that have come into the English lexicon because of the popularity of these applications. Lexical words can be categorised into different parts of speech: noun, verb, adjective and adverb. (a) Nouns are words that describe a person, an object, a place or a situation. Some examples of nouns are sister, father, chair, pencil, canteen, school and cafe. Abstract concepts such as poverty, democracy are also nouns. Names of people such as Peter, Johan, Siti and names of places such as Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Bank Negara are proper nouns. (b) Verbs are words that denote action, state and events such as write, explain, construct, eat, sleep and pretend. (c) Adjectives are words that describe the property of nouns. For example, words like happy, true and honest are adjectives as they can be used to describe the property of a person or situation. We can use these words in the following utterances: „He is a happy boy‰, „That statement is true‰ and „You should try to be honest to yourself as well.‰ (d) Adverbs are words that describe adjectives, other adverbs, and verbs. Examples of adverbs are words such as very, extremely, slightly, slowly and quickly. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 3 STRUCTURE OF WORDS  33 3.1.2 Function Words Function words are words that do grammatical work in the language. Examples of function words are pronouns such as „I‰, „you‰, „we‰ and „they‰; prepositions, such as „above‰, „below‰, and „between‰, while conjunctions include those such as „and‰, „but‰, „because‰ and „when‰. Unlike lexical words which are open- classed words, function words are closed-class words. You can easily add a new lexical word in a language but you rarely add a function word. Function words can also be categorised into different parts of speech depending on the function of these words in the language. Now, let us have a look at examples of pronouns, determiners, prepositions and conjunctions. (a) Pronouns are function words that can be used to substitute or stand in for nouns. Personal and possessive pronouns in English can be organised into a paradigm as shown in Table 3.1. First person pronouns refer to the speaker(s); second person pronouns are parties that are addressed in the conversation; while third person are the parties that the speakers refer to. Table 3.1: Personal Pronouns and Possessive Pronouns in English First Person Second Person Third Person Subject I, we You he, she, they Object me, us You him, her, them Possessive mine, ours Ours his, hers, theirs Apart from personal and possessive pronouns, there are also indefinite pronouns such as ‰someone‰, „anyone‰, „everybody‰, „nobody‰, „somebody‰, „anything‰, „something‰, „everything‰ and „nothing‰; demonstrative pronouns such as „this‰, „that‰, „these‰ and „those‰; and interrogative pronouns such as ‰who‰, „what‰, „when‰, „whose‰, „where‰, „why‰ and „how much‰. Some relative pronouns have the same form as interrogative pronouns but they are not used in questions. Can you identify the relative pronouns in the sentences provided as follows? (i) The student who wrote the essay is the top student in class. (ii) Jane likes to eat ice-cream that has melted. (iii) She wants to know when we would meet again. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 34  TOPIC 3 STRUCTURE OF WORDS (b) Determiners are function words that precede the noun. They include words such as „a‰ and „an‰ (indefinite articles) as well as „the‰ (definite article). (c) Prepositions are function words that show grammatical meaning in relation to time and space. Words such as „in‰, „on‰, „above‰ and „below‰ all show spatial relation such as shown in the following utterances: „in the box‰, „on the box‰, „above the table‰ and „below the table‰. The same prepositions can also be used in other contexts to convey a slightly different relational meaning. For example, „in two days‰, „for a week‰, „above fifty ringgit‰ and „below zero degrees Celsius‰. (d) Conjunctions are also function words and they can be used to join phrases or utterances. The conjunctions are also referred to as coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. Do you know how to distinguish coordinating conjunctions from subordinating conjunctions? ‰And‰ and „but‰ are examples of coordinating conjunctions, while „because‰ and „when‰ are subordinating conjunctions. There are many more such conjunctions in English. ACTIVITY 3.1 Identify the parts of speech for each word in the quote: (a) Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence ă Helen Keller. (b) Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time ă Thomas Edison. 3.2 MORPHEMES: FREE AND BOUND You may have noticed that most function words are simple words. However, lexical words can be more complex, as they are formed with a combination of meaningful units or morphemes. Let us examine two words that are closely related in meaning: „happy‰ and „unhappy‰. The meanings of these two words are related. They are opposites, you may say. Yes, what makes one the opposite of the other? The addition of „ună‰ to „happy‰. We say that the word „happy‰ has only one morpheme, while the word „unhappy‰ has two morphemes. Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) TOPIC 3 STRUCTURE OF WORDS  35 A morpheme is a minimal unit of meaning. The word „happy‰ cannot be broken down to any smaller units of meaning. „Hap‰ does not have any meaning, and neither does „py‰. We say „happy‰ is a monomorphemic word since it has only one unit of meaning, one morpheme, and the morpheme is a free morpheme since the word „happy‰ can stand alone and its meaning does not depend on another morpheme. On the other hand, the word „unhappy‰ has two morphemes: a free morpheme and a bound morpheme. A bound morpheme cannot stand alone. The prefix „ună‰ cannot be used without being attached to a free morpheme. You can say „IÊm happy and heÊs not‰. However, you probably would not say „IÊm happy and heÊs *un‰ unless you are trying to be funny and you know the others will understand what you are trying to pull off. The asterisk mark is used to indicate the source of ungrammaticality in the utterance. There are many prefixes and suffixes in English that are bound morphemes. Can you think of more examples of words that are formed with bound morphemes? Some examples are provided in the following activity. Try to decompose these words to identify the morphemes in these words. ACTIVITY 3.2 Sort the following list of words according to the number of morphemes there are in each word:  Redo  Collect  Uncover  Recall  History  Typist  Disappear  Reaction  Honesty  Artistic  Remember  Reflections  Magical  Nomination  Personality Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM) 36  TOPIC 3 STRUCTURE OF WORDS 3.3 DERIVATIONAL AND INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES AND CLITICS We are now ready to discuss the internal structure of the word. Some words are simple words. The internal structure is fairly straightforward. As mentioned earlier, the word happy consists of only one morpheme. However, the word unhappy has two morphemes. The word is formed by attaching the prefix „ună‰ to the free morpheme, happy. We say happy is the root word. There are two types of affixes: derivational affixes and inflectional affixes. How do we distinguish these two types of affixes? In addition to affixation, some bound morpheme are clitics. We will discuss how to distinguish these bound morphemes in the following subtopics. 3.3.1 Derivational Affixes Derivational affixes are the bound counterparts of lexical words. Derivational affixes are used in the process of generating new words. The process of derivation may or may not result in a change of word cat

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