LING 1001 Lecture Notes PDF

Linguistics Lecture 1 1.1 Language is unique to humans. Language is a thing because of physiology: Organ For Survival For Speech Lungs Exchange carbon dioxide and Supply air for speech oxygen Vocal chords Seal the pass...

Linguistics Lecture 1 1.1 Language is unique to humans. Language is a thing because of physiology: Organ For Survival For Speech Lungs Exchange carbon dioxide and Supply air for speech oxygen Vocal chords Seal the passage to the lungs Produce vibrations for speech sounds Tongue Moves food and liquid Involved in articulation Teeth Reduce food for swallowing Provide a place of articulation Lips Seal the oral cavity Involved in articulation Nose Breathing and smelling Provides nasal resonance Language and Creativity 1.2 Language register (formality) changes due to - Context, environment, audience, intention, etc. Ex: You would change how you speak if you were conversing with the King. We use language as a means to express our creativity: Poetry, writing, lyrics, etc. Creativity affects our language and the context in which we use words. Ex: You’re not gonna “Houdini” your way out of this one! (Harry Houdini is known for his escape artistry) Key points about language: 1. It is systematic at every level: from sound, to sentence, to discourse passage Language is structured and follows rules at multiple levels. 2. Enables an infinite number of things to be expressed One of the remarkable features of language is its generativity. 3. Systematic but diverse: by person, culture, region etc While all languages are systematic and adhere to internal rules, they vary widely across different speakers, cultures, and regions. 4. Many aspects of language are arbitrary The relationship between linguistic signs (like words) and their meanings is often arbitrary. For example, there is nothing inherently "dog-like" about the word "dog"; it’s simply a conventional label that English speakers have agreed upon. 5. Despite the diversity, there are many language universals These universals can include concepts like the presence of nouns and verbs, the use of tense to indicate time, or the existence of questions and statements. 6. Native speakers are not generally aware of the rules that govern their speech Most native speakers use their language fluently without consciously knowing the grammatical rules that govern it. 7. Language acquisition is innate Humans are born with an inherent ability to acquire language. According to this view, children are pre-equipped with a "universal grammar" that helps them learn the specific language(s) they are exposed to. 8. Language changes over time This can happen through changes in pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and usage. For example, Old English has evolved into Modern English over centuries, with significant changes in spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. Linguistic Competence vs Performance 1.3 Competence (innate ability) does not equal performance (what we assess someone on). We do things without knowing we do them. We are able to do things but we don’t. Ex: “ a ten pound dog of bag food” “ His shoes are here, but where are him?” Phonetics: Sounds and signs - Which should be interpreted for communication vs which can be ignored - Ex: Your instructor vs the traffic outside Phonology: How sounds combine systematically in your specific language - Lips vs psychology Morphology: How chunks combine; meaningful units - Nicely vs bookly Syntax: How words combine in long strings of speech - I always really love studying linguistics everyday! Semantics: How words and/or phrases are interpreted - Heather thought the port was incredible Where do we store language? Lexicon: Store of words Grammar: Structure or rules of how we piece together language The “Grammars”: Mental grammar: The lexicon and rules we have in our heads Descriptive grammar: A linguist’s description of a language’s rules based on observations of linguistic performance Prescriptive grammar: The socially embedded notion of the “correct” way to use language Descriptive vs Prescriptive? Descriptive view: How language is naturally used Prescriptive view: How language should be used How “good” is your language? Many people make subjective judgements about others’ abilities based on - Prescriptive grammar - The ability to read and write If someone is unable to read and write, do they not have language? Writing Writing does not equal language Writing is a means to express language Writing is considered more sophisticated compared to speaking - Must be explicitly taught - 50% of the world’s languages do not have writing systems - In the brain, speech areas + other areas are recruited for writing - Can be edited (improved), whereas you can't undo what was said - Only +- 6000 years old, whereas speech has existed since “man” - More permanent (lasts longer) and stable (changes less over time) Lecture 2 Phonetics Articulatory phonetics - The study of the production of speech sounds Acoustic phonetics - The study of the transmission and physical properties of sound Auditory phonetics - The study of the perception of speech sounds Articulatory phonetics How do we produce sounds? - Lungs are the source of speech sounds - We usually exhale when we speak IPA - Each place and manner of articulation creates a slightly unique sound segment - Each sound segment is represented by a symbol in the IPA How can we represent true speech sounds> Each symbol = only 1 sound Different symbols will distinguish different sounds 1 sound = 1 symbol, with slight variations to the pronunciation due to co-articulation being represented with additional elements International Phonetic Alphabet Silent letters - Moose; know; psychology More than one letter but only one sound - Pack; that; apple More than one sound but only one letter - Six; use Ambiguous pronunciation - Sign; pleasure; hedges Ambiguous spelling - See; sea; thief Lecture 3 Lecture 4 Phonology? Phonetics: the study of sound segments - [m]: voiced bilabial nasal stop (consonant) Phonology: how sounds are organized in a language and how they interact with each other = the study of sound patterns in language Sounds influence each other Questions in phonology:  - Can any sounds appear in any order in a word? - Are sounds always produced exactly the same way? - What are our mental perceptions and categorizations of sounds? - Do sounds influence each other when they occur together? The structure of speech sounds Syllable: phonological unit of organization. - Contains one or more sound segments - Every language has syllables - Easy to count Every language has syllables How many beats are there Syllable structure - Linguistics use tree diagrams to illustrate syllable structure - IPA is used, not orthography(spelling) Steps to identify and label syllable structures 1. Identify nucleus 2. Identify onset 3. Identify coda Syllable structure Vowel (or sonorant) - Nucleus Consonant before nucleus - Onset Consonant after nucleus - Coda Nucleus - The core or essential part of a syllable. A nucleus must be present in order for a syllable to exist - Most syllable nuclei are vowels - English liquids and nasals can be the nuclei of syllables under certain circumstances If there are no vowel that is clear, Onset of a syllable goes before the nucleus Coda is the ending of the syllable after the nucleus Phonotactic constraints Language differ by - Phonetic inventories - Which sound sequences are possible or not possible Syllable structure: Languages vary in how they organize syllables, typically in terms of consonants (C) and vowels (V). For example, a simple syllable might follow the pattern of CV (like "to" in English), whereas more complex syllables can involve consonant clusters like CCCV (e.g., "sprint"). Consonant clusters: Not all languages allow the same consonant clusters. English permits clusters like "st" and "bl," while other languages may not, or may have different clusters. For example, Japanese generally does not allow consonant clusters like "str" or "spl." Onsets and codas: Phonotactic constraints govern whether syllables can start (onset) or end (coda) with certain sounds. For instance, in English, a syllable can end with a consonant (e.g., "cat"), but in languages like Hawaiian, syllables usually end with a vowel. Position-specific restrictions: Some sounds are restricted to specific positions within a word. For example, in English, the "ng" sound [ŋ] appears at the end of a syllable but never at the beginning. Vowel sequences: The rules for combining vowels vary. Some languages permit complex diphthongs or triphthongs, while others limit sequences of vowels. Phonemes and Allophones Complementary distribution is a concept in linguistics, particularly in phonology, that describes the relationship between two sounds (phonemes or allophones) when they never occur in the same phonetic environment. In other words, two sounds are in complementary distribution if they appear in different contexts and never overlap in where they can occur. Key points: Allophones: Sounds in complementary distribution are usually allophones of the same phoneme. Allophones are variations of the same phoneme that do not change the meaning of a word. Different environments: Each sound occurs in a specific context or "environment," and the other sound cannot occur in that same environment. Example in English: The sounds [p] and [pʰ] (the "p" in "spin" and the "p" in "pin") are in complementary distribution. ○ [pʰ] (aspirated "p") occurs at the beginning of a word when followed by a stressed vowel (e.g., in "pin"). ○ [p] (unaspirated "p") occurs after the "s" sound in clusters like "spin." These two sounds never appear in the same environment. You won’t find [pʰ] after "s" in words like "spin," and you won’t find an unaspirated [p] at the beginning of words like "pin." Contrastive distribution occurs when two sounds (phonemes) can appear in the same environment, and swapping one for the other results in a change of meaning. In this case, the two sounds represent different phonemes, not just variations of the same sound. Key points: Different phonemes: Sounds in contrastive distribution are considered separate phonemes. Changes meaning: Replacing one sound with the other in the same context leads to a different word with a different meaning. Example in English: The sounds [p] and [b] are in contrastive distribution in English. ○ "Pat" [pæt] and "bat" [bæt] have different meanings. ○ By switching the initial sound, the word's meaning changes entirely. Free variation occurs when two different sounds (allophones) can be used interchangeably in the same position within a word without changing its meaning. Unlike contrastive distribution, where changing a sound alters the meaning, in free variation, the substitution of one sound for another doesn’t affect the meaning at all. Key points: No change in meaning: In free variation, using one sound or the other does not create a different word. Same phoneme, different sound: The two sounds are considered allophones of the same phoneme and don’t signal a difference in meaning. Social or regional factors: Sometimes free variation can depend on dialect, social factors, or personal speech habits. Example in English: The word "economics" can be pronounced with either [i] ("ee-conomics") or [ɛ] ("eh-conomics"). The meaning of the word stays the same, regardless of which vowel sound is used. Similarly, some speakers may pronounce the final [t] in "cat" as a fully pronounced [t], while others may use a glottal stop [ʔ], but the word still means the same thing.