Notes on Introduction to Linguistics I
These are the main materials for the mid-term test.
1. Chapter 1 What is Language?
 Language is the method of human communication, either spoken or written,
consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.
 Linguistic Knowledge includes:
 Knowledge of the Sound System: Knowing what sounds are in that language
and what sounds are not.
 Knowledge of Words: Knowing the sound units that are related to specific
meanings.

Arbitrary relationship between form (sounds) and meaning (concept) of a
word.

Onomatopoeic: Words whose pronunciations suggest their meanings.
 Knowledge of Sentences: Knowing how to form sentences.
 Linguistic Competence: What you know about a language.
 Linguistic Performance: How you use this knowledge in actual speech production
and comprehension.

Prescriptive Grammar:
 1762; Bishop Robert Lowth; A Short Introduction to English Grammar with
Critical Notes.

I don’t have none  I don’t have any

You was wrong  You were wrong

Mathilda is fatter than me  Mathilda is fatter than I
 Many of those rules were based on Latin grammar. Latin was assumed as the
respected scientific language in the 15th – 17th Centuries.
 Descriptive Grammar:
 1985; Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik;
A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language.

Based on a corpus of actual spoken and written English.
2. Chapter 3 Morphology: The Word of Language
 The development of monolingual dictionaries:
 1604; Robert Cawdrey; A Table Alphabetical; 2,500 entries.
 1755; Dr. Samuel Johnson; Dictionary of the English Language; two volumes.
 1828; Noah Webster; An American Dictionary of the English Language; two
volumes; 70,000 entries.
 Webster’s Third International Dictionary of English Language has over
450,000 entries.
 Content words: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs.
 Function words: Conjunctions, Prepositions, Articles, Pronouns,
 Morpheme: The minimal unit of meaning.
 Free morpheme: a single morpheme that constitutes a word and can stand
alone.
 Bound morpheme: a morpheme that must be attached to another morpheme.
 Prefix: An affix that occurs before a morpheme.
 Some examples of negative prefixes:
Prefix
Added to
Example
UN-
adjectives
unfair
NON-
various classes
non-smoker, nonsense, non-drip
DIS-
adjectives, verbs, nouns
disloyal, dislike, disfavour
A-
adjectives, nouns
amoral, asymmetry
 Degree and size prefixes:
Prefix
Meaning
Added to
Example
Arch-
highest, worst
nouns
archduke, arch-enemy
Super-
above, better
nouns, adjectives
superman, supernatural
Over-
too much
verbs, adjectives
overeat, overconfident
Hyper-
extremely
adjectives
hyperactive
Sub-
lower than
adjectives
substandard
Mini-
little
nouns
minibus
 Suffix: An affix that occurs after a morpheme.
 Class preserving suffixation:
Suffix
Meaning
Example
-er
occupation
engineer
-ian
occupation
musician
-ist
occupation
violinist
-let
small
piglet
 Class changing suffixation:

Verbs  Nouns

Verbs  Adjectives

Adjectives  Nouns

Adjectives  Verbs

Nouns  Verbs

Nouns  Adjectives
 Derivational morpheme: deriving (creating) a new word with a new meaning.
 Inflectional morpheme: changing the form of a word because of the rules of
syntax.
 English inflectional morphemes:
Nouns
–s
plural
–’s
possessive
Verbs
–s
third person singular present
–ed
past tense
–en
past participle
–ing progressive
Adjectives
–er
comparative
–est superlative
 Word Coinage: Compounds, Acronyms, Back-formations, Abbreviations,
Eponyms, and Blends.
 Compounds: Two or more words joined together to a form a new word.
Home + work  homework
Pick + pocket  pickpocket
Note: The meaning of a compound is not always the sum of the meanings of its
parts.
Coconut oil  oil made from coconuts.
Olive oil  oil made from olives.
Baby oil  .........
cathouse  .........
blue-movies  .........
blue-chip  .........
 Acronyms: Words derived from the initials of several words.
National Aeronautics and Space Agency  .........
Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus  .........
.........  FYI
.........  TGIF
.........  a.k.a
 Back-formations: Creative reduction due to incorrect morphological analysis.
Editor (1649)  edit (1791)
Television (1907)  televise (1927)
 Abbreviations (Clipping): A word which is clipped.
Facsimile  fax
Hamburger  burger
Gasoline  .........
Advertisement  .........
Omnibus  .........

Words from Names (Eponyms): Words derived from proper names or things.
Sandwich
Celsius
 Blends: Similar to compounds, but parts of the words are deleted.
Motor + hotel  Motel
Breakfast + lunch  .........
modulator, demodulator  .........
Deny Arnos Kwary
Lecturer of Linguistics
Airlangga University
http://www.kwary.net