Introduction to Linguistics PDF

**CHAPTER 1** **INTRODUCTORY LESSONS** **[LEANING OUTCOMES:]** At the end of this weeks, the pre- service teacher (PST) should be able to: a\. Define Linguistics, branches and features in relation to its nature and goals of the study, history, and influences; b\. Discuss and differentiate the k...

**CHAPTER 1** **INTRODUCTORY LESSONS** **[LEANING OUTCOMES:]** At the end of this weeks, the pre- service teacher (PST) should be able to: a\. Define Linguistics, branches and features in relation to its nature and goals of the study, history, and influences; b\. Discuss and differentiate the kinds of linguistics and their objectives c\. Share one's interest in linguistics research and study through appreciation of the course as an applied science. **[LEARNING CONTENT:]** **LESSON 1** **Linguistics and its Objectives** **[[ ]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/01-stylisticsanditsobjectives-170929132742/95/01-stylistics-and-its-objectives-4-638.jpg?cb=1506692463) What is Linguistics?** **Linguistics** is the study of language - how it is put together and how it functions. Various building blocks of different types and sizes are combined to make up a language. Sounds are brought together and sometimes when this happens, they change their form and do interesting things. Words are arranged in a certain order, and sometimes the beginnings and endings of the words are changed to adjust the meaning. Then the meaning itself can be affected by the arrangement of words and by the knowledge of the speaker about what the hearer will understand. Linguistics is the study of all of this. There are various branches of linguistics which are given their own name, some of which are described below. [[Linguists ]](https://www.sil.org/linguistics/being-linguist)are people who study linguistics. **Phonetics** is the study of the sounds of speech. It includes understanding how sounds are made using the mouth, nose, teeth and tongue, and also understanding how the ear hears those sounds and can tell them apart. A study of phonetics involves practicing producing (sometimes exotic) sounds, and figuring out which sound you heard. The wave form of each sound can be analysed with the help of computer programs. In sign language, phonetics refers to the the possible shapes, movements and use of physical space. **Phonology** makes use of the phonetics in order to see how sounds or signs are arranged in a system for each language. In phonology, it matters whether sounds are contrastive or not, that is, whether substituting one sound for another gives a different, or \"contrastive,\" meaning. For example in English, \[r\] and \[l\] are two different sounds - and the words \"road\" and \"load\" differ according to which of these sounds is used. But in some languages, \[r\] and \[l\] are variations of the same sound. They could never make a meaning difference in words that differ by only that sound. Phonologists describe the contrastive consonants and vowels in a language, and how pronunciation is affected by the position of the sound in the word and the sounds that are nearby. They are also interested in syllables, phrases, rhythm, tone, and intonation. **Morphology** looks at how individual words are formed from smaller chunks of meaningful units called morphemes. For example, the English word \'untied\' is really made up of three parts, one refering to the process of reversing an action (un-), one indicating the action of twisting stringlike things together so they stay (tie), and the last indicating that the action happened in the past (-d). Many languages have a much more complex way of putting words together. Morphology interacts in important ways with both phonology (bringing sounds together can cause them to change) and syntax, which needs to pay attention to the form of a word when it combines it with other words. **Syntax** is the study of how phrases, clauses and sentences are constructed and combined in particular languages. Writing a grammar requires defining the rules that govern the structure of the sentences of the language. Such rules involve both the order of words, and the form of words in their various possible positions. There are common patterns among even unrelated languages, and many linguists believe this is the result of general principles which apply to most, if not all, languages. For example, languages where the direct object generally follows the verb have a lot of things in common, in contrast to the things in common held by languages in which the direct object generally precedes the verb. **Discourse analysis **looks at bigger chunks of language - texts, conversations, stories, speeches, etc. Different types of these use language differently, and there can even be differences in how a language is used based on the genre. For example, \"Once upon a time\" is an appropriate start to a fairy tale, but not to a news story on the evening news. Discourse features can also show important principles of organization such as which players in a story have key roles and which just have bit parts. **Semantics **is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between words, phrases and other bits of language and on how these words and phrases connect to the world.** ** **Pragmatics **is similar, but it involves the study of how speakers of a language use the language to communicate and accomplish what they want. Pragmatics looks more at the relationship between speaker and listener which allows assumptions to be made about the intended message, considering, for example, the way context contributes to meaning. A classic example is where someone is asked \"Do you want some coffee?\" Does the reply \"Coffee will keep me awake\" mean yes or no? It depends whether the person wants to stay awake - and the questioner will only understand the intended meaning if they know whether the person wants to stay awake.  **Historical Linguistics** is the study of how languages have changed over time. Some changes happen because of slow (maybe incremental) changes within the language, such as in pronunciation or in the meaning of a word. Other changes happen because of contact with speakers of other languages. The most well know example of this is \"borrowing,\" but language contact can cause other types of change as well. It can be interesting to compare phonology, syntax and word lists of similar or geographically close languages to see how similar they are. Some linguists then use this information to figure out the past of the languages, such as when two languages split from each other. Combined with other known facts about the speakers of the language, it can lead to important discoveries about their history. **Sociolinguistics** is the study of society and language. Sociolinguists may use surveys to examine in which contexts a language is used (e.g. market, home, school, workplace) and the attitudes to each language (particularly in multilingual contexts). They may look at ways that variation in a particular language correlates with social factors such as speaker age, ethnic identity, location, etc. For more information on sociolinguistics, see [[here]](https://www.sil.org/sociolinguistics). **Lesson II. Phonetics *vs.* Phonology** **1. Phonetics *vs.* phonology** **Phonetics **deals with the production of speech sounds by humans, often without prior knowledge of the language being spoken. **Phonology **is about **patterns **of sounds, especially different patterns of sounds in different languages, or within each language, different patterns of sounds in different positions in words etc. **2. Phonology as grammar of phonetic patterns** - The consonant cluster /st/ is OK at the beginning, middle or end of words in English. - At beginnings of words, /str/ is OK in English, but /ftr/ or /http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon77.giftr/ are not (they are ungrammatical). - /tr/ is OK in the middle of words, however, e.g. in \"ashtray\". - /http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon77.giftr/ is OK at the beginnings of words in German, though, and /ftr/ is OK word-initially in Russian, but not in English or German. **3. A given sound have a different function or status in the sound patterns of different languages** For example, the glottal stop \[\] occurs in both English and Arabic BUT \... **In English,** at the beginning of a word, \[http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon98.gif\] is a just way of beginning vowels, and does not occur with consonants. In the middle or at the end of a word, \[\] is one possible pronunciation of /t/ in e.g. \"pat\" \[pahttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon98.gif\]. **In Arabic,** // is a consonant sound like any other (/k/, /t/ or whatever): \[http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon98.gifíktib\] \"write!\", \[daíihttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon98.gifa\] \"minute (time)\", \[ahttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon98.gif\] \"right\". **4. Phonemes and allophones, or sounds and their variants** The vowels in the English words \"cool\", \"whose\" and \"moon\" are all similar but slightly different. They are three variants or allophones of the /u/ phoneme. The different variants are dependent on the different contexts in which they occur. Likewise, the consonant phoneme /k/ has different variant pronunciations in different contexts. Compare:\   -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- These are all examples of variants according to position (contextual variants). There are also variants between speakers and dialects. For example, \"toad\" may be pronounced \[tëUd\] in high-register RP, \[toUd\] or \[tohttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon113.gifd\] in the North. All of them are different pronunciations of the same sequence of phonemes. But these differences can lead to confusion: \[toUd\] is \"toad\" in one dialect, but may be \"told\" in another. **5. Phonological systems** Phonology is not just (or even mainly) concerned with categories or *objects* (such as consonants, vowels, phonemes, allophones, etc.) but is also crucially about *relations*. For example, the English stops and fricatives can be grouped into related pairs which differ in voicing and (for the stops) aspiration:\   -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Patterns lead to expectations: we expect the voiceless fricative \[h\] to be paired with a voiced \[\], but we do not find this sound as a distinctive phoneme in English. And in fact /h/ functions differently from the other voiceless fricatives (it has a different distribution in words etc.) So even though \[h\] is *phonetically* classed as a voiceless fricative, it is phonologically quite different from /f/, /s/, /http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon83.gif/ and //. Different patterns are found in other languages. In Classical Greek a three-way distinction was made between stops:\   -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- In Hindi-Urdu a four-way pattern is found, at five places of articulation:\   --------------------------------------- -- -- -- -- -- Breathy voiced (\"voiced aspirates\") --------------------------------------- -- -- -- -- -- **6. Shapes of vowel systems: some common examples:**\   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Triangular:\ 3 vowels Triangular:\ 5 vowels (e.g. Arabic) (e.g. Japanese) -------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- --- -- --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- i u i u e o a a Triangular:\ 6 vowels Triangular:\ 7 vowels (e.g. Tübatulabal) (e.g. Italian) i http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon39.gif u i u e o e o  http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon61.gif a a Triangular:\ 6 vowels Rectangular:\ 6 vowels (e.g. Bulgarian) (e.g. Montenegrin) i u i u e  o e o a a http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon1.gif ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How many degrees of vowel height are there in Bulgarian? On the face of things, it appears to be not very different from Tübatulabal, which has three heights: three high vowels, two mid vowels and one low vowel. But if we look more closely into Bulgarian phonology, we see that the fact that schwa is similar in height to /e/ and /o/ is coincidental: the distinction that matters in Bulgarian is /i/ vs. /e/, /u/ vs. /o/ and // vs. /a/, i.e. *relatively* high vs. *relatively* low. As evidence for this statement, note that while all six vowels may occur in stressed syllables, only /i/, /e/, /http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/schwa0.gif/ and /u/ occur in unstressed syllables. **7. Phonology as interpretation of phonetic patterns: Fang (Bantu: Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea)**\   **Fang** **English** **Fang** **English** ------ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- -- ----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ 1) etfhttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/schwa0.gif~-~ *shoulder* 7) thttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/schwa0.gifm *branch* 2) http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon28.gifvbi,http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon56.gifvhttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/schwa0.gif~-~bi *hippopotamus* 8) bikq *back teeth* 3) ndvhttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon33.gif() *dam* 9) elhttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/schwa0.gifn *water tortoise* 4) kf~-~l *tortoise* 10) http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon52.giffq *bag* ~5)~ http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon56.gifkfhttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/schwa0.gif~-~ *salt* 11) thttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/schwa0.gif *neck* 6) http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon56.gifkl *rope* 12) oshttp://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/schwa0.gifn *squirrel* Vowels in corpus:\   i y ?u expected but not found --- -------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ---------------------------------------------- e  o http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/phon61.gif a **Lesson III. Segmental Phonemes** Phonological awareness is a **segmental** phonology skill, referring to the awareness of separable **sound** units in speech and the ability to manipulate these [phonemes](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/phoneme) consisting of sound [segments](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/segment); hence, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - the vowel,  ----------- - [consonant](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/consonant),  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - [semivowel](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/semivowel) and ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - consonant cluster sounds of a language. --------------------------------------- Vowel Sounds -- are segmental phonemes which are produced without constriction of the speech organs. These phonemes are produced with a free passage of air. Categories - Laxed or tensed-For instance, \[i\] and \[ɪ\] or \[o\] and \[ɔ\] are very hard to tell apart, but we can categorize them into tense or lax. [Tense vowels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenseness) are \[i\] and \[o\]. [Lax vowels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lax_vowels) are \[ɪ\] and \[ɔ\]. - Rounded or unrounded- The next dimension of vowels is rounding. Rounding is important because it continues to help differentiate the vowels of English. For example, for \[u\], the lips are rounded, but for \[i\], the lips are spread. Vowels can be categorized as rounded or unrounded. Rounded vowels are \[u\], \[ʊ\], \[o\], \[ɔ\] and the unrounded vowels are \[i\], \[ɪ\], \[e\], \[ɛ\], \[æ\], \[ɑ\], \[ʌ\], \[ə\]. - Vowel Height- The vertical dimension of the vowel diagram is known as vowel height, which includes high, central (mid), or low vowels. - Position of the Tongue -The horizontal dimension of the vowel diagram includes tongue advancement and identifies how far forward the tongue is located in the oral cavity during production which includes Front, center and back vowels.  Fig. 1 THE VOWEL CHART Consonant sounds- these are phonemes which are produced with constrictions of the speech organs. To further explain this, you must be rented first with the different speech organs and the mechanism of speech. Consonant Sounds Categories - Voiced or Voiceless -- with or without vibration - Point of Articulation - - Manner of Articulation **Phoneme** **IPA Symbol** **Graphemes** **Examples** **Voiced?** ------------- ---------------- --------------- -------------- ------------- ### Consonants Speech Mechanisms 1. Compression -- the process of air production. The speech organs involved are the Lungs, rib cage, rib membranes, rib tissues, wind pipe, bronchial tube. 2. Phonation -- the process of sound production. The organs involved are the larynx, and the vocal folds. 3. Resonation- the process of amplifying the sound, the organs involved are the pharynx, the nasal cavity and the oral cavity. 4. Articulation- the process of specific sound production. The organs involved are the different points of articulation in the oral and nasal cavities. Consonant Sounds Categories - Voiced or Voiceless -- with or without vibration - Point of Articulation - - Manner of Articulation Voiceless Sounds and Voiced Sounds ================================== Do you know the only difference between pronouncing the English letters "f" and "v"? Your voice. You form your mouth exactly the same for those two sounds, but "v" has your voice behind it. **Try this:** Put your hand on your throat and pronounce the sounds produced by f, s, p, and t. You shouldn't feel any vibration happening in your throat. Now try the same exercise, but pronounce the sounds produced by the letters v, z, b, and d. Did you feel the difference? You should feel vibration in your throat. The reason is that the first group of sounds are "voiceless" and the second group of sounds are "voiced". Why does this matter? Well, it matters a great deal in English pronunciation. Some second language speakers of English confuse voiceless and voiced consonants. They might say something like "Half a great day" instead of "Have a great day." When you confuse voiceless and voiced sounds, your meaning can be obscured to your listener. So what sounds are generally "voiceless" and which ones are "voiced" in English? Check out the helpful list I've put together: **Voiceless Sounds:** ch, f, h, k, p, s, sh, t, th (as in thing) **Voiced Sounds:** b, d, g, j, l, m, n, ng, r, th (as in the), v, w, y (as in yellow), z Now try pronouncing the following lists of words (called minimal pairs), paying attention to whether or not the **FINAL** sound is a voiced or voiceless sound. bed/bet tab/tap\ white/wide neat/need\ prize/price safe/save\ etch/edge lib/lip\ luck/lug trite/tried\ cop/cob belief/believe\ batch/badge hiss/his **Point and Manner of Articulation**  Revisions: Point of Articulation Alveopalatal /ts, dz/ Palatal/ s,z,∫,ᴣ/ Manner of Articulation Liquid or lateral and retroflex Glide or semi vowel Sibilants or hissing sounds / s.z, ,∫,ᴣ/ Diphthongs -are phonemes which are combination of two vowel sounds produced as one by gliding /aI/- aisle, high, cry /OI/ - oil, points, boy /aU/- ounce, about, cow Consonant cluster-= are phonemes which are combination two or more consonant sounds produced as one by gliding. They can appear at the start of a word, for example:\ \ **st** in stay\ **fr** in friend\ **cr** in croak\ \ Or at the end of a word:\ \ **sk** in task\ **st** in fast\ **nt** in went\ **nd** in sound\   **Your \'at-home\' ** --------------------- Lesson IV. Supra-segmental Phonemes and Phonetics ================================================= Phonemic particles that we have so far been considering such as vowels, consonants, diphthongs, etc. are* *called* segmental phonemes. *They* *contribute to the meaning of a speech segment. Apart from this class of segmental phonemes, there is another class of particles that' play equally important role. These are *supra-segmental phonemes.* Features of stress, pitch, intonation and juncture comprise this class, and are said to be 'overlaid' on the segmental units. It is difficult to imagine human communication without these features. They invariably accompany our speech and lend the additional dimension which is mote immediately and directly understood. These features convey the speaker's identity, attitudes, emotional states and his/her evaluation of how he/she is being received. Often, in the totality of communicational situation, a listener doesnot pay so much attention to the wards as he does to the rise and fall of pitch, volume of voice, stress and pauses, and so on. He understands the meaning by simply responding to these extra-linguistic indices. We will now look at these features or phonemes a little more closely. Stress Physiologically, stress means greater articulatory effort. By putting stress on particular segments we give it greater prominence. Various types of meaning are conveyed by distributing stress pattern over speech segments in a controlled manner. Two types of stress can he established 1.   Word stress (or accent) 2.   Phrasal (or sentence stress) Word Stress In words made up of more than one syllable, some syllable stands out from others. In a word like *fable* it is the first syllable that receives 'stress' or more articulatory energy which results in its' sounding louder and longer than the other syllable' the second syllable here. The distribution of stress over the word *fable* can be shown in this manner -- *fa-ble.* In monosyllabic words -- these words may contain more than one phoneme, but that doesnot matter-stress falls on the only syllable they contain: *l*                 /ai/             (single phoneme word) *see*             /si:/             (two-phoneme word) *cat*              /kaet/          (three-phoneme word) *flame*          /fleim/         (four-phoneme word) *tract*           /traekt/        (five-phoneme word) In words made of more than one syllable, the stress is distributed over the syllables; one of the syllables is pronounced with greater syllabic energy or prominence. In words like *sector* and *enable,* the first syllable is prominent in *sector* and the second syllable in *enable*. The syllable that is strongly stressed is called a *strong* syllable and weakly stressed syllable is called *weak syllable.* In *sector, sec* is strong syllable and*-tor* weak syllable. In *enable, en* is weak syallable and no srong syllable followed a weak --bl. In polysyllabic words the stressed syllable may be more than one, for example these words -- *understand, appetizing examination.* Syllabic division is shown as follows: Un-der-stand; ap-pe-ti-zing; e-xa-mi-na-tion. A polysyllabic word is graded in terms of the release of syllabic energy. It can be seen that from the strongest to the less strong to the weak, we can easily perceive different parts carrying these stresses. For example, in a word like *consolidation,* the strongest stress falls on the fourth syllable /-dei-/, the next prominent syllable is the second one, the other syllables carry weak stresses. One reason why the fourth syllable is the strongest is that the pitch of the voice changes on this syllable. Therefore, this is also called *primary stress* or *tonic stress.* A strong stress accompanied by a pitch-change or pitch movement is known as *primary stress.* Roger Kingdon says that 'the prominence of a syllable is also affected by its pitch; high-pitched syllables sound more prominent than low-pitched ones'. Stress features are thus divided into the following levels: 1.       Primary stress 2.       Secondary stress 3.       Tertiary stress 4.       Weak stress The strongest release of syllabic energy accompanied by a potential change of pitch direction marks the primary stress. The next strong stress is called secondary stress. Primary stress is represented by the half straight bar \['\], and the secondary stress by the bar placed at the bottom before the syllable that is stressed. Thus in *apple* the primary stress is on the first syllable '*apple*; so with *'father*; but in *ga'rage* it is on the second syllable. The word *understand *carries a primary and a secondary stress indicated as */unders'tand.* Tertiary stress is weaker than the secondary stress and close to weak or unmarked stress. It is somewhat difficult to define and describe it. The two identically pronounced words *nightrate* and *nitrate*, show that the second example has a tertiary stress while in *night rate *rate carries the secondary stress. A weak stress is always left unmarked. Here the pitch is low and the vowel lax as in *to'bacco.* Stress pattern in English has to be learned; there is nothing in a syllable itself which indicates that it may receive stress or not. In some disyllabic words the first syllable is stressed, for example '*writer, 'bellow, 'coral, 'glimmer, 'ginger,* while other disyllabic words have the second syllable sressed: *re'cord, be'low, con'sort* (vb), *di'sable.* Compared to the unstressed syllable, the vowel in a stressed syllable is longer. Similarly, a long vowel becomes reduced in length when it occurs in an unaccented syllable. Stress Shift It has been observed that stress shifts in derivative words. The following table shows how different derivative words take stress on different syllables. Table ***1^st^ syllable           2^nd^ syllable                3^rd^ syllable*** 'fraternise            fra'ternity 'fragility              fra'gile 'fragment             frag'ment                   fragmen'tation                            Or'thographer           ortho'graphic 'syllable               sy'llabify                    syllabifi'cation 'product               pro'duce                    produc'tivity 'excavate                                              exca'vation 'excellence          ex'cel 'photograph         pho'tographer            photo'graphic Shift of Primary Stress in Syllables In derived words also there is no predictability about the placement of stress. However, an interesting aspect of the stress distribution is that for noun/adjective, stress is on the first syllable and for verb it is on the second syllable. Noun/Adjective                   Verb 'produce                             pro'duce 'import                               imp'ort 'subject                               sub'ject 'perfect                               per'fect 'record                                re'cord 'contract                             con'tract Compound Word Stress Compound word consists of two words, which are written as one word. Mostly the nuclear, tonic or primary stress falls on the first syllable of the first word as in '*postman, 'batsman, 'chairman,* etc. Distribution of stress varies greatly according to the syllabic composition of the compound words. *Primary stress on the first syllable* 'Honeymoon, 'honey suckle, 'market day, 'main spring, 'long shore, 'live stock, 'liveryman. *Primary stress on the first, secondary on the third syllable* 'borderline, firebrigade, copyright *Primary stress on the first, secondary on the fourth syllable* National issue, labour exchange, cabinet maker *Primary stress on the third, secondary on the first syllable* Secondhand, country farm, easygoing, seargent major Phrasal Stress Although words have more or less fixed stress in connected speech, the intonational and contextual imperatives guide a speaker's choice of stress. Longer utterances, clauses and segments can show changes in stress pattern. This is accompanied by the rise and fall in the pitch level. For example in a sentence like Bring those chairs closer different words can be stressed in the manner shown below: *bring*                those                chairs               closer bring                *those*                chairs               closer bring                those                *chairs*               closer bring                those                chairs               *closer* Each of the above examples conveys a different meaning. Normally, content words receive the primary stress, grammatical words donot As T. Balasubramanian says, 'The choice of the syllable receiving primary accent depends on the meaning the speaker wants to convey'. Speech Rhythm In connected speech certain words receive the primary stress and other words are unstressed. A pattern of alternations between the stressed and unstressed words is formed. If we consider the sentence, *see the cat on the roof* we will find that the second, the fourth and the fifth syllable are unstressed; the third and the sixth words are stressed. It is the tendency among the English speakers to crowd together the unstressed syllables between the two stressed syllables. The effect is a rhythm which makes English a stress-timed language. There is another process that produces the characteristic English rhythm, that of weakening of the accent on certain words. In connected speech stress tends to be re-arranged due to elision and assimilation. Syllables that in isolated expressions appear stressed may be unstressed in such instances. Form-words, like articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions and other elements may show this, where consonant and vowel quality of the weak form is affected. Let us look at these sentences. a.   *I shall let you have it *transcribed as       /ai òl let ju: hæv it/; the verb *shall* has become weak and is represented as /òi/ instead of /òæl/. b.   *Lend me the book, I'd read it *transcribed as       /lend me buk, aid ri:d it/; *would* becomes simply /d/ here. a.   *There was a book on the table *transcribed as       /ðәwәzә buk nðә teibl/; note the weakening of vowels in *there* /ðeә/ ® /ðә/ and *was* /wz/ ® /wәz/. We can, therefore, say that such words have two forms; a strong form (in isolation) and a weak form (in raid speech). Below are listed a few words with the two forms. Strong form                        Weak form æt                                      әt /t bai                                      b∂ in tu:                                  intә tu:                                      tә, tu iz                                       z,s kæn                                    k∂n, kn will l,                                  әl, l kud                                    kud, kd jә: 'selvz                             jә'selvz maiself                               m∂self tu him                                tuim hæd                                   hәd, әd, d m\^st                                  mәst, ms aend                                   әnd, әn, d aez                                     әz eni                                     ni s\^m                                   sm sәu                                     sә frәm                                    fr∂m fә:                                       fә Intonation Another significant suprasegmental feature of English language is intonation or variation of pitch from one segment of an utterance to another. A lot of emotional meaning is conveyed by consciously varying intonation level. Pitch is closely associated with vibration of the vocal cords. In males the vocal cords vibrate at a rate of 70-125 times per second, and in adult females it is between 150-200 times. Increase in the vibration of the vocal cords results in the rise of pitch. In normal conversation, pitch variations are quite an integral part and cannot be completely ignored. A combination of stress on a syllable and change in pitch-range produces *tone*, a significant element of intonation. Two types of tone have been identified i) *static tone* and ii) *kinetic tone.* A syllable pronounced on a level tone of unvarying pitch is said to have *static tone.* The *kinetic tones* show different kinds of change in pitch contour. Physiologically, this is explained by variation in the tension of the vocal cords. Different levels of kinetic tone have been postulated by different phoneticians, some grade it into fie, some into four. This shows that precise location of a tone contour is not possible -- gradations are made only as identification of a range, where correspondence with modulations in the emotional level can also be identified. In rapid speech pitch contours rapidly alternate but it must be remembered that all pitch movements are not discriminating, and therefore, significant. Only those variations that serve as significant units, discriminating between meanings are phonemic. Below are presented the signs that are used for indicating itch contours Rising Tone is symbolized as \['\] Falling Tone is symbolized as \[\`\] Falling -- Rising Tone is symbolized as \[v\] Rising -- Falling Tone is symbolized as \[\^\] Intonation pattern in English can be understood by dividing an utterance into *breath-groups. Each *breath-group* forms a tone *group. In a sentence like *She will 'not\` go *we can identify the whole utterance as a breath group, a sense group and an information unit. Under normal conditions it is the final syllable /gәu/ that shows the pitch variation. This syllable, therefore, contains *tonic prominence.* It is known as *tonic syllable.* Tonic prominence is a stress on the syllable, plus change in pitch level. A speaker can vary the *tonic syllable* to correspond to the meaning, sense and emphasis he wishes to convey. That means that tonic prominence can shift from final syllable to any other in a sentence. Thus in the example cited above, *she will not go,* shifts in tonic prominence can be demonstrated alongwitht he corresponding meaning changes: i)    *She* will not go = it is she who will not go. ii)   She will *not* go = come what may, she won't go. iii)  She will not *go* = she will do anything but go. We shall now consider below some examples of all the four tones. *1. Rising Tone:* 'Are you coming?                (stress on *are*) Is, he at home? 'Wait, , keep it in place       (gentle command) 'Come, ,here                       (encouraging, inviting) 'Really?                              (surprise) *2. Falling Tone:* When this tone is used, special implication is conveyed which is not verbally expressed, like sympathetic attitude, surprise, disbelief, sarcasm, boredom, routine greeting, detached attitude, and so on. 'Put it on the stool               (neutrality) 'Good ,morning                  (routine greeting) 'How ,nice                          (routine, bored) ,Sit down ,please                (polite command) ,Such a ,waste                    (mildly sarcastic) *3. Falling-Risging Tone:* The pitch registers a fall from about mid to low and then from high to mid. We are ^v^waiting                  (= better make haste) ^v^Carefully !                         (soothing, encouraging) The ^v^food was nice              (=but the hotel awful) ^v^Well done                          (appreciating) You may ^v^re lax                   (you really need it) ^v^Can she do it?                   (=are you sure?) *4. Rising-Falling Tone:* The pitch changes from low to close to mid and low again. Normally, sarcasm, surprise, interest, enthusiasm are expressed. Is he\^alright?                    (surprise) She looked\^beautiful         (enthusiastic) Yes, it is\^nasty                  (full agreement) But,\^will that do?              (doubt) Juncture: In connected speech it is necessary to distinguish within one macrosegment such phonems whose function is to keep utterances apart. We must, for example, convey to the listener whether we mean *a part* (a+part) or *apart* when we use these segments, however rapid our speech may be. The accent feature of course plays a significant part in it; but we must also give a brief pause that would separate *a * from *part* when we wish to say *a part,* and remove that pause when we wish to say *apart.* As Hockett says, 'Any difference of sound which functions to keep utterances apart is by definition part of the phonological system of the language'. Such transition from one segmental phoneme to another is called *juncture* and represented by \[+\] mark. Juncture is thus a type 'of *boundary* between two phonemes. Often, juncture helps the listener to distinguish between pairs such as *see* Mill and *seem ill* in *Did he see Mill?* And *Did he seem ill*?' (Richards, Platt, Weber). *Terminal juncture *is represented by the \[+\] sign as in the following examples. a                + name an              + aim that            + stuff that's          + tough Ice              + cream I                 + scream Two vowels in close proximity both bearing the primary stress must receive a terminal juncture. - Phonetic drills - IPA Transcriptions - Minimal pairs - Oral Examinations - Written Examinations **Further readings** Lass, R. (1984) *Phonology: an introduction to basic concepts.* Cambridge University Press. Jakobson, R. (1962) The phonemic concept of distinctive features. In A. Sovijärvi and P. Aalto, eds. *Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. *Mouton & Co. 440-455. Jakobson, R. and M. Halle (1956) *Fundamentals of Language. *Mouton. Kelly, J. (1974) Close vowels in Fang. *Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies ***37,** 119-123.