Linguistics and Grammar
ESOL Praxis – Session #2
Aspects of Language
• Here is an illustration that shows an
interacting hierarchy of levels in linguistics:
Phonology
• The study of sounds of a particular language and the
rules governing the structure, distribution and
sequencing of speech sounds.
• Phonology is just one of several aspects of language. It
is related to other aspects such as phonetics,
morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.
• Is the basis for further work in morphology, syntax,
discourse, and orthography design.
• Analyzes the sound patterns of a particular language by
determining which phonetic sounds are significant, and
explaining how these sounds are interpreted by the
native speaker.
International Phonetic Alphabet
• The IPA is a universal alphabet representing all
of the sounds that have been found in human
languages
Phoneme
• The smallest linguistic unit of speech that can
signal a difference in meaning.
– How many phonemes in CATS?
– Examples A unit of speech is considered a phoneme
if replacing it in a word results in a change of meaning.
Here are some examples of phonemes:
• pin becomes bin
• bat becomes rat
• cot becomes cut
• Different languages use different sets of
phonemes to communicate ideas.
Consonant Digraph
• Two consonants pronounced as a single
sound.
– Example: ch, sh, th, wh
– In the word chat, the letters c and h appear
contiguously, in this instance, ch is a digraph
because the ch sequence represents a single
sound in the underlying English sound system.
Digraph
• A digraph is a group of two successive letters
whose phonetic value is a single sound (one
phoneme.)
• Examples Here are some examples of
digraphs:
• \ea\ in bread
• \ch\ in chat
• \ng\ in sing
Consonant Clusters
• A group or sequence of two or more
consonants that appear together in a syllable
with no intervening vowel. (Two sounds put
together
• Example: \sp\ and \ts\ in the word spots and
\spr\ in the word spray
Minimal Pairs
• Two words that differ in only one sound, or
phoneme.
• Example:
• [læp] ‘lap’
• [læb] ‘lab’
only one phoneme differs in this example –
/p/ and /b/
Homophones
• A group of two or more letters representing
the same speech sound, or words that sound
the same but are spelled differently
• Examples
– Letters with the same speech sound:
• c in city and s in song
• x in Axe and -cts in acts
Homographs
• A word that has the same spelling as another.
Homographs differ from each other in
meaning, origin, and sometimes
pronunciation.
• Examples
– bow, the front part of a ship
– bow, to bend
– bow, a decorative knot
Morphology
• The study of words in their internal
organization
Morpheme
• The smallest meaningful unit in the grammar of a language.
Includes all root-words, prefix, suffix and s within the
context of the word.
• Examples:
– Unladylike: The word unladylike consists of three morphemes
(un – lady – like)
• None of these morphemes can be broken up any more without losing
all sense of meaning. Lady cannot be broken up into "la" and "dy,"
even though "la" and "dy" are separate syllables. Note that each
syllable has no meaning on its own.
– Dogs: The word dogs consists of two morphemes (dog – s) /s/ is
a plural marker on nouns
• Note that a morpheme like "-s" can just be a single phoneme and does
not have to be a whole syllable.
– Technique: The word technique consists of only one morpheme
Bound Morpheme
• Must be attached to a root word to have full
meaning (affixes – i.e., prefixes and suffixes)
– Example: /un/ means not. /un/ has no meaning
unless it is attached to a root word.
• Unthinkable
– /un/ (bound morpheme)
– think (free morpheme)
– /able/ (bound morpheme)
Free Morpheme
• Units of a word that can stand alone as words
themselves.
Inflectional Morphemes
• Affixes (prefixes or suffixes) that can be added
to a word without changing its part of speech.
– Example: -un is an inflectional morpheme. It can
be added to an adjective or adverb to change the
word’s meaning. However, the word remains an
adjective or adverb.
• Happy (adjective) / Happily (adverb)
• Unhappy (adjective) / Unhappily (adverb
Derivational Morphemes
• Affixes (prefixes and suffixes) that can be
added to a word to change its meaning and
may also change its part of speech
– Examples:
•
•
•
•
•
amaze (verb) > amazement (noun)
speak (verb) > speaker (noun)
Perform (verb) > performance (noun)
soft (adjective) > softness (noun)
warm (adjective) > warmth (noun)
Sample questions
• Which word do you hear when I say ______?
A.
B.
C.
D.
•
[kut]
[kæt]
[cət]
[cæʄ]
How would native English speakers more than likely
pronounce the word “laughed”
A.
B.
C.
D.
[lətId]
[left]
[læft]
[loft]
Organization of Learning
Form
(How)
Meaning
Use
(Situational)
Phonology
Semantics
Pragmatics
Morphology
(vocabulary)
Social Thinking
Literacy
Syntax (grammar)
(The intent of the
language, what is
meant to be
conveyed)
Syntax - Grammar
• Governs the form or structure of a language; the
way words are put together in a language to form
phrases, clauses, or sentences.
• The syntax of a language can be divided into two
parts:
– Syntactic classes such as noun, verb, and adjective
– Syntactic functions, such as subject and object
Example:
1. The cat jumped on the table.
2. The flower jumped on the sound wave.
3. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Active Voice
• The subject performs action in the sentence or is
the thing described by a predicate adjective.
• Active voice is a voice that indicates a subject has
the semantic function of actor.
• Example
– The subject Jones has the semantic function of actor.
• Jones built the house.
– The above active construction contrasts with the
following construction in passive voice, where Jones
has the semantic function of actor but house is the
subject:
• The house was built by Jones.
Passive Voice
• The action is performed by an unknown agent.
• Passive voice is a voice that indicates that the
subject is the patient or recipient of the action
denoted by the verb.
– The man was nudged by a passer-by. The above
example contrasts with the one below, which is in
active voice:
– A passer-by nudged the man.
Degrees of Adjectives
Base
Comparative
Superlative
High
Higher
Highest
Thick
Thicker
Thickest
Beautiful
More Beautiful
Most Beautiful
Bad
Worse
Worst
Active Verb Tense
Simple
Present
Present
Progressive
Simple Past
hear
am
heard
hearing
play
is
playing
run
are
ran
running
was
will run has run had run has
will
running
been
have
running run
Describes
present
action or
condition
Shows
action in
progress
Shows past
action that
took place
over a
period of
time
played
Shows
completed
action
Past
Progressive
Future
Present
Perfect
Past
Perfect
Present
Perfect
Progressive
was
will
hearing hear
have
heard
had
heard
has
will
been
have
hearing heard
was
playing
has
played
had
played
has
been
playing
will
play
Shows an
action that
will or will
not happen
in the
future
Describes
an action
that began
in the past
but
continues
in to the
present
Describes
an event
completed
in the past
prior to
another
event
Describes
an action
that began
in the past,
continues
to the
present
and may
continue in
the future
Future
Perfect
will
have
played
Expresses
an action
that will be
completed
by or
before a
specified
time in the
future
Sample Questions
• I tried on my dad’s shoes and saw they were
too bigs. I could barely walk.
The underlined phrase has an error in the use of
A. Adjectives
B. Pronouns
C. Verbs
D. tense
Sample Questions
• She’s the same like my mom but is much
beautifuller.
The underlined phrase has an error in the use of
A. Figurative language
B. Superlative adjectives
C. Relative clauses
D. Comparative adjectives
Types of Pronouns
Personal
Relative
Indefinite
Demonstrative
Interrogative
reflexive
I, me, mine
you, your,
yours
he, him, his
she, her, hers
It, its, who,
whom, whose
we, us, ours
they, them,
theirs
Who,
whom,
whoever,
that, which
all, another, any,
anyone, anything,
everyone,
everything, each,
both, neither, no
one, none
someone,
something, few,
some, many, most,
several
this
that
these
those
who
whom
which
what
Whose
myself
yourself
himself
herself
itself
ourselves
Yourselves
themselves
I will cook
dinner
myself.
Ends in -self
or -selves
and refers
back to
another
noun or
pronoun in
the sentence
It is mine.
Takes the place
of a person,
place or thing
The chef
who won
the prize
studied in
Paris.
Introduces
a relative
clause and
links to
another
part of the
sentence.
Everyone came to
dinner.
That car is the
one I want.
Who is the
author of that
book?
Refers to an
unknown person,
place or thing
Represents a
thing or things
Used to ask
questions
Semantics
• The study of word meanings, idioms, or nonliteral expressions
Sounds
The manner of articulation
•
•
•
•
•
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Nasal
Lateral
The point of articulation
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bilabial
Labiodental
Interdental
Alveolar
Alveopalatal
Velar
Stops
Stops are consonants formed by completely stopping the flow of air
somewhere in the vocal apparatus, and then releasing the air.
1. /p/ (the phoneme spelled p in pat): voiceless bilabial stop.
2. /t/ (the phoneme spelled t in tot): voiceless alveolar stop.
3. /k/ (the phoneme spelled c in cap): voiceless velar stop
Fricatives
Fricatives are consonants that are formed by impeding the flow of air
somewhere in the vocal apparatus so that a friction-sound is
produced.
1. /f/ (the phoneme spelled f in fine): voiceless labiodental fricative.
2. /ð/ (the phoneme spelled th in this): voiced interdental fricative
3. /z/ (the phoneme spelled z in zoo): voiced alveolar fricative.
Affricatives or affricates
Affricates are consonants that are formed by stopping the flow of air
somewhere in the vocal apparatus, and then releasing the air
relatively slowly so that a friction-sound is produced
1. /ʧ/ (the phoneme spelled ch in chip): voiceless alveopalatal affricate.
2. /ʤ/ (the phoneme spelled g in gyp): voiced alveopalatal affricate.
Nasals
Nasals are consonants that are formed by blocking the oral passage
and allowing the air to escape through the nose.
1. /m/ (the phoneme spelled m in mail): (voiced) bilabial nasal.
2. /n/ (the phoneme spelled n in nail): (voiced) alveolar nasal.
3. /h/ (the phoneme spelled ng in sing): (voiced) velar nasal.
Liquids
Laterals are consonants formed by allowing the air to escape around the
sides of the tongue.
1. /l/ (the phoneme spelled l in let): (voiced) alveolar lateral.
The POINT of articulation
1. /m/ (the phoneme spelled m in mail): (voiced) bilabial nasal.
The POINT of articulation
/n/ (the phoneme spelled n in nail): (voiced) alveolar nasal.
Aspiration
• A strong burst of air that accompanies either
the release or closure of some consonant
sound formed by obstructing airflow.
– Example:
– tore, the /t/ is aspirated
– Store, the /t/ is not aspirated
Study sites
• http://www.brainflips.com/studyflashcards/2652/Linguistics-ESOL-Praxis-testPrep.html
• http://quizlet.com/subject/linguistics/
• http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/PRAXIS/pdf/
0360.pdf