Foundations of Linguistics
SWPRSC PRAXIS PREP
Linguistics Graphic
Pragmatics
Semantics
Syntax
Morphology
Phonology
Phonetics
Linguistics: The scientific study of language
 Phonetics: The study of sounds across languages
 Phonology: The study of the sounds of a language.
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The rules that govern pronunciation
Morphology: The study of word formation
Syntax: The study of phrases, clauses or sentences.
Word order; inherent knowledge
Semantics: The study of linguistic meaning; the
meaning of words, phrases and sentences
Pragmatics: The study of how language is used to
communicate with its situational context
Linguistics: (2)
 Phonetics: the study of sounds across languages
 Phonology: the study of sounds in a particular
language
 Phoneme: the smallest segmental unit of sound
employed to form meaningful contrasts between
utterances M in mat, b in bat
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English has about 40, Spanish 22
No alphabet has a one-to-one correspondence to letters &
sounds, one letter can represent different sounds
Phoneme
 Minimal pair: set of two words that differ by only
one phoneme (sound different)
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Fair / care
 English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, etc: use
“letters” to represent units of spoken language
 Alphabetic principal: “lit” and “let” each have 3
phonemes, 3 chances to be different
 Switch one phoneme and change the meaning:
 Lip, leg, sit, set
Homonyms
 Challenge to both L1 and L2
 Homonym: -homo = “same”
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-0nym=“name”
Two words that share the same sound or same
spelling or both
Fair, fare
Quail (cower, hunting bird)
Fair (appearance, reasonable, county ___)
Three Sub-categories of Homonyms
Homophone: same sound, different spelling
Cite, sight, site / see, sea / your, you’re / bow, bough/fare,
fair/there, they’re, their / bow, bough
Homograph: same spelling, may or may not
have same sound
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Bow of ship, , bow to someone
hair bow, bow & arrows
Present (gift), present (to introduce)
Row (argument), row a boat
Heteronym: same spelling, different sound
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desert (to abandon), desert (arid region)
Phonemes (2)
 Phonemic Awareness: The study of the sound
system of a given language and the analysis and
classification of the phonemes (represented by
letters in written words)
 Phonemic awareness & reading are mutually
reinforcing
 Do not need phonemic awareness to speak or listen
Vowels / Consonants
 Vowel sounds are “syllabic” – each syllable contains
a vowel
 Consonants are “non-syllabic” – consonants by
themselves do not constitute a syllable
 English permits clusters of 2 or 3 consonants at the
end of syllables
 Consonant clusters are difficult for L2 learners
Vowels
Short vowels:
 Pit
 Pet
 Pat
 Putt
 Put
 Pot
I
ε, e
æ
Λ
u
ɒ, a
Long Vowels: start with a
vowel, end with a glide.
 Beet iy
 Bait ey
 Boot (Boo!) uw
 Boat, ow,
 Boy, oy
 Bite, ay,
 Bout, aw
Vowels (2)
Diphthongs: Gliding Vowels
/aI/ aisle, mine, try
/aʊ/ hour, mouth, plow
/ɔI/ oil, spoil, destroy
www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics
Reduced Vowels: Weaker air flow, unstressed syllable
Schwa “uh” /ə/
very common (adept, synthesis, decimal, harmony, syringe)
really short vowel, Can be spelled with almost any vowel
Barred “i” /ɨ/ (medicine, jumping, monitor) really short i sound
Consonant Phonemes: Generally in pairs,
one voiced, , one voiceless
Stops: complete blocking of air, then releasing
voiced
voiceless
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Bilabial
Alveolar
Velar
Fricatives:
b
d
g
p
t
k
constricting air flow through vocal tract.
Voiced / Voiceless Pairs
/v/
/f/
/h/ fricative with no ‘voiced” partner
/ð/
/θ/
/z/
/s/
/Ʒ/
/ʃ /
Speech Production Model
Consonants (2)
Affricatives: (sub-group of fricatives) brief stopping of air, release with
friction
Church, watch: combination of t, s (tʃ )
Judge, badge: combination of d, z (dʒ)
Nasals: stop air flow in nasal cavity, air through nasal cavity Mom,
nan, sing (ŋ)
Liquids: smooth sounds l (lull) r (roar)
Spanish: r, rr flap tongue against back teeth (trill, roll) Neither
Spanish “r” is like English
Glides: “semivowels” very little constriction of air flow, like vowels y
(yes) w (wet)
American English has 24 consonant phonemes: 6 stops, 9 fricatives, 2
affricatives, 3 nasals, 2 liquids, 2 glides
Implications from Phonology for Teaching
Reading & L2
 L1 acquired without instruction
 Word recognition view: Phonemic awareness, words
made of individual sounds
 Two views of Phonemic Awareness
1. Metalinguistics: knowledge about language
2. Sociopsycholinguistics: subconscious, graphophonic
clues (letters), combination of visual & audio clues
Implications (2)
 For reading, children don’t need to be consciously
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aware of phonemes
For writing, must be aware of sounds & how they
connect to letters
L1 learners attend to meaning, not to sounds
Krashen’s limited research base supports phonemic
awareness training
L2 learner must develop control over English
phonology
Methods of L2 Learning: Learning vs. Acquisition
Grammar Translation: learning, almost no phonetic
role, writing, direct teaching
ALM: learning, major role for phonology, drills,
exercises, goal: near native pronunciation
Natural Approach: acquisition, minor role for
phonology, focus on meaning, language to
communicate
Sustained Content: acquisition, focus on learning
interesting content, phonology developed as means to
learn content
Word Stress
 English speakers segment continuous speech with
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a procedure which relies on “stress”
Phoneticians describe English by its stress-based
rhythm
English stress rules are complex because English
vocabulary is based on many different languages
French, for example, applies syllable-based rhythm
Spanish stress is very regular
Allophones
 English has 39 phonemes made up of phones
(groups of sounds)
 Allophones = phones that make up one phoneme
 Keep cool. Two phonemes, produced differently,
result of assimilation to neighboring sounds
 All phonemes have allophones, phonemes are not
constant realities
Allophones (2)
 /k/ 2 allophones
Keep cool.
 /t/ 6 allophones, more complex
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Top, pot, kitten, letter, train, stop
Language differences minimized when focus is on meaning.
/d/ and /ð/ separate phonemes in English
Spanish – same two sounds, allophones of one phoneme “dedo”
/d/ a /ð/ o
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Spelling (Orthography)
Cummins : 3 forces that shape spelling system
1. Phonetic Demands: pin, set
2. Semantic Demands: bomb / bombard, hymn/
hymnal
3. Etymological Demands: avalanche, kangaroo
Noah Webster: 1st spelling textbook in America,
wanted to create a uniquely American English, reform
spelling by simplifying
Spelling (2)
 “Spell it like it sounds.” would make writing easier,
reading more difficult with constant change to reflect
pronunciation.
 Our system is a compromise
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Spell words like they sound
Spell words alike that are related in meaning
Spell borrowed words to reflect origin
Spelling (3)
 Current system is a good compromise
 Most words are spelled the way they sound
 Phonetic: spell words the way they sound
 Semantic: Spell words alike that have similar
meanings
 Etymological: spell words to reflect origins
 Spelling signals meaning not just sound
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flour / flower
Morphology: the study of words
 Words are perceptual, not physical units, more
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associated with written than spoken language
Spaces make reading easier
Words are broken into morphemes
Free morphemes: units that can stand alone “tree”
Bound morphemes: must be attached (bound) to a
free morpheme as either a suffix or prefix “trees”
Morphemes (2)
 Simple word – one morpheme “tree”
 Complex word – one free + one or more bound
morphemes unclear, clearer
 Compound word – two free morphemes “hotshot”
 Inflectional morphemes: are all suffixes, added to
word without changing meaning
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-s, -es, -ing, -ed, -en, -er, -est
 Derivational morphemes: do change meaning, can be
either suffix or prefix, when added to base word,
change meaning
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Work, worker tie, untie
Types of Languages
 Analytical language relies on word order to show
function of words (English)
 Inflectional language Hablo / I speak, one word
Spanish, two words English
 Languages either rely more on ending or order, all
use both to convey meaning
Classifying Words
Classification of words as parts of speech reflects Latin
origin
Current approach to classifying words:
1. Use meaning (semantic knowledge)
2. Use syntactic evidence, position or role of word
3. Use morphologic evidence, inflectional &
derivational suffixes
Content & Function Words
 Content words carry the main meaning in the
sentence (open class words) nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs
 Function words: determiners (a,the, this that),
qualifiers (one, numbers), pronouns (you),
auxiliaries (I am, is, helping verbs), prepositions (in),
conjunctions (and), particles (up), intensifiers (very)
 Particles are added to verbs to make 2-3 word verb
“He gave up on the project.”
 Function words provide grammatical connection
among content words.
More words
 Coining: someone makes up a name for an object & it
sticks
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desktop, mouse (new meanings), Kleenex, Coke
 Clipping & Acronyms: abbreviated forms of words
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Math, gas, cab, taxi
VIP, UCLA, SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
LEP – Limited English Proficiency
FEP – Fluent English Proficiency
BICS – Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills
CALP – Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
L2 – 2nd Language
SLA – Second Language Acquisition
Even More Words
 Blends: brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke +
fog), motel (motor + hotel)
 Back Formation: noun – verb, teacher, teach
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May use same word for noun, verb “head a committee”, “table
a motion”, “email a friend”
 Compounding: teacup, cupboard, son-in-law
 Compounds confused with nouns + adjectives
 Highchair or chair that is high
 Hairbrush, toothbrush
 Rules for plural suspended in compounds (toothbrushes not
teethbrush)
Borrowed Words
 English vocabulary is very large because of borrowed
(stolen?) words
 40% of English – French
 3,000 Spanish cognates
 60% of English – Latin & Greek roots
Applications of Morphology
 Word recognition view – relies on phonics, sight
words
 Structural analysis – looking for little words inside
big words
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Complicated by spelling variations (invert, inversion – revolt ,
revolution, revulsion)
 Sociopsycholinguistics engages students in structural
analysis
Cummins
BICS – Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills
conversational language,
learned first,
communication
students who appear to speak & understand on playground,
struggle in academic areas
CALP – Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
academic language
more cognitively challenging
New vocabulary and new concepts
Less contextual support
Takes much longer to acquire (5 years)
Learning Vocabulary
 Structural analysis: process of building up from
small units to the whole
 Phonological analysis: building from smallest sound
unit (phonemes to figure out pronunciation)
Important “Parts”
 Prefix: re – back, again, con- with, un-not
 Root: cogn-know, bene-good, capit-head
 Suffix: -ize-to make, -ion – state or condition, -ate –
to make
 Word parts make sense if know meaning of the
whole
Vocabulary Development
 Pre-teaching vocabulary – hard to know what to
include
 Reading is not just decoding words, need context
 Frontloading – learning about something, talking
about it, wondering about it , then reading & writing
about it
 “Time spent in vocabulary exercise apart from
context is time wasted.”
More vocabulary
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Knowing a word from a linguistic perspective involves
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Phonological information – able to pronounce & recognize in oral
language
Morphological information – knowing the inflectional & derivational
affixes (tense, adjective & adverb)
Syntactical information – how does it function in a sentence (blessed –
verb or adjective / does verb take an object)
Semantic information – can define or provide synonyms, know related
words
Pragmatic information - real world use, register
 Acquire more words through reading than through direct
teaching of vocabulary
 Average HS graduate has 60,000 words
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Avid readers gain 5 – 10,000 words a year
Other Important Stuff
 Consonant digraph: pair of letters that together
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represent one sound “sh” shirt
Semiotics: the study of relations between signs and what
they refer to /m/ [ ]
Metalinguistic awareness: awareness of rules of a
language – being able to extrapolate a rule (plurals: car,
cars)
Paralinguistic awareness: statement – question, (period
to question mark) changes meaning
(Socio)psycholinguistics: the study of the human mind
through speech and language