building blocks of language

Slides prepared by Kensy Cooperrider - COGS 101C

An Introduction to LANGUAGE (7th edition)

Victoria Fromkin

Robert Rodman

Nina Hyams

by

6 BRANCHES IN THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE

phonetics phonology

morphology syntax

semantics [pragmatics]

PHONETICS

concerns the ACOUSTIC, ARTICULATORY, and AUDITORY properties of human language

PLACE OF ARTICULATION

bilabials

labiodentals

interdentals

alveolars

palatals

uvulars

glottals

MANNER OF ARTICULATION

voiced // unvoiced

aspirated // unaspirated

nasal // oral

stops

fricatives

affricates

liquids

glides

CONSONANTS

VOWELS

Sounds from elsewhere: Ejectives, clicks, and trills

Zulu clicks

Kele and Titan trills

K’echi ejectives

PHONOLOGY

concerns the patterns of meaningful sounds, or PHONEMES, in a given language

examples of PHONEMIC CONTRASTS

English pen Ben

English pen Ben English thigh thy Italian nonno “grandfather” nono “ninth” Thai kat “to bite” k(h)at “to interrupt” Japanese Tsuji (proper name) tsu:ji “moving one’s bowels” Luganda kkula “treasure” kula “grow up”

examples of PHONEMIC CONTRASTS

#1 #2 #3

cab

love

spa

can

cat

back

cuff

faith

bus

bush

buzz

garage

#1 #2 #3 #4

cab

love

spa

can

cat

back

cuff

faith

bus

bush

buzz

garage

mouse

ox

woman

criterion

#1 #2 #3 #4

cab

love

spa

can

cat

back

cuff

faith

bus

bush

buzz

garage

mouse

ox

woman

criterion

[z] [s] [iz] [??]

Three ALLOMORPHS, or different pronunciations of the same MORPHEME in different phonological environments

photo

photograph

photography

photographic

photographer

STRESS PATTERNS

sn- gl-

sn- gl-

sn- gl-

SOUND SYMBOLISM

MORPHOLOGY

concerns the smallest units of meaning in languages, which are known as MORPHEMES

tangle

tangle

tangled

tangle

tangled

entangled

tangle

tangled

entangled

disentangled

tangle

tangled

entangled

disentangled

DIS + EN + TANGLE + ED

tangle

tangled

entangled

disentangled

DIS + EN + TANGLE + ED

MORPHEMES ≠ WORDS

honey boy

anger fun only

purse

vs

of and the or but

CONTENT MORPHEMES

FUNCTION MORPHEMES

proto- -ed

-ship pre-

mono-

vs

leak doom make

hazard apple

BOUND MORPHEMES

FREE MORPHEMES

examples from non-English languages…

Karuk ikrivaam “house” ikrivaamak “in a house” Russian lom “scrap” lomshchik “salvage collector” Bontoc kilad “red” kumilad “to be red” Muskogean chokma “he is good” ikchokmo “he isn’t good” Muskogean palli “it is hot” ikpallo “it isn’t hot” Eastern Pomo pabekle “it burned (the say)” pabeka “it burned (I saw)” Piro cokoruha “to harpoon” cokoruhakaka “to cause to harpoon”

SYNTAX

concerns GRAMMAR, or the rules governing how words are put into phrases and sentences

DESCRIPTIVE versus PRESCRIPTIVE

DESCRIPTIVE versus PRESCRIPTIVE

link to article link to audio clip

Why is SYNTAX a big deal?

Why is SYNTAX a big deal?

NOAM CHOMSKY