英语语言学笔记

第一章

Chapter 1 Invitations to Linguistics

Teaching aims: let the students have the general idea about language and linguistics.

Teaching difficulties: design features of language ; some important distinctions in linguistics Teaching procedures

1. language

Why study language?为什么学习语言

A tool for communication交流的工具

An integral part of our life and humanity 人类生活和人性中不可或缺的一部分.

If we are not fully aware of the nature and mechanism of our language, we will be ignorant of what constitutes our essential humanity.如果不能完全理解语言的本质和结构,我们就会对人类的本质一无所知.

What is language?什么是语言

different senses of language 语言的不同意义

1. what a person says( concrete act of speech)

a person‘s consistent way of speaking or writing

a particular level of speaking or writing e.g. colloquial language

an abstract system

2. A webster‘s New Dictionrary offers a frequently used sense of the word ―language‖:

a. human speech 人类的言语

b. the ability to communicate by this means 通过言语来交流的能力

c. a system of vocal sounds and combinations of such sounds to which meaning is attributed,

used for the expression or communication of thoughts and feelings; 用来表达或交流思想和

感觉的一套声音及这些声音互相结合的系统

d. the written representation of such a system 系统的文字表达

3. the barest of definition, language is a means of verbal communication.最简洁的定义:语言是

言语交流的一种方式.

Language is instrumental in that communicating by speaking or writing is a purposeful act. It is social and conventional in that language is a social semiostic and communication can

only take place effectively if all the users share a broad understanding of human interaction

including such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and socio-cultural roles.

Language distinguishes us from animals.因为说和写的交流方式是一种有目的的行为,所以

语言是实用性的;因为语言是社会符号,语言的交流只能在所有参与者广泛理解了人类的那些

非言语的暗示,动机,社会文化角色等等互相关联的因素之后才能有效进行,因此语言又是社会

的,约定俗成的.语言使人类区别于动物.

definitions

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.

What is communication?

A process in which information is transmitted from a source (sender or speaker) to a goal (receiver

or listener).

A system----since elements in it are arranged according to certain rules systematically, rather than

randomly. They cannot be arranged at will. e.g. He the table cleaned. (×) bkli (×) Why do we say language is arbitrary?

Arbitrary----there is no intrinsic (logic) connection between a linguistic form and its meaning, between the sounds that people use and the objects to which these sounds refer. This

explains and is explained by the fact that different language have different words for the

same object, it is good illustration of the arbitrary nature of language . it is only our tacit

agreement of utterance and concept at work and not any innate relationship bound up

in the utterance. A typical example to illustrate the arbitrary of language is a famous

quotation from shakepeare‘s play:‖ Romeo and Juliet: A rose by any other name would

smell as sweet.一朵玫瑰不管它叫什么名字,闻起来都是一样香的.

Symbols----words are just the symbols associated with objects, actions, and ideas by nothing but convention. Namely, people use the sounds or voval forms to symbolize what they wish

to refer to.

Vocal-------- the primary medium for all languages is sound, no matter how well developed their writing systems are. Writing systems came much later than the spoken forms. The fact

that small children learn and can only learn to speak and listen before they write or read

also indicates that language is primarily vocal, rather than written.

Writing systems came into being much later than the spoken forms.

People with little or no literacy can also be competent language users.

Human ----language is human-specific.

Human beings have different kinds of brains and vocal capacity.

―Language Acquisition Device‖(LAD)

二.What characteristics of langauge do you think should be included in a good ,comprenhensive definition of language?

Language is a rule-governed system; langauge is basically vocal; langauge is arbitrary ; langague is used for human communication.

1.3 Design features of language 语言的结构特征

Design features------ refers to the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication. They are arbitrariness, duality, creativity/ productivity, displacement, clutural transmission and interchangeability.

Design features----- are features that define our human languages,such as arbitrariness,duality,creativity,displacement,cultural transmission,etc.(指决定了人类语言性质的特征.例如任意性,二重性,创造性,移位性,文化转移性等.)

The American linguist Charles Hockett specified twelve design features.

What is arbitrariness?任意性

a. arbitrariness【'ɑ?b?tr?r?n?s】----arbitrariness(任意性): one design feature of human

language,which refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural

relationship to their meaning.(人类语言的本质特征之一,指语言符号的形式与意义之间

没有自然的联系.)

It was discussed by Saussure first.The link between them is a matter of convention.

E.g. ―house‖ uchi (Japanese)

Mansion (French)

房子(Chinese)

(1) arbitrary between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning语言的音和义之间的任意性

a. By ―arbitrary‖, we mean there is no logical connection between meanings and sounds. 语言的意义和语音之间没有逻辑关系。

A gog might be a pig if only the first person or group of persons had used it for a gig. Language therefore is largely arbitrary.

b. But language is not absolutely seem to be some sound-meaning association, if we think of echo words, like ―bang ‖ ‖crash‖ ‖roar ‖ ‖ rumble ‖ ‖cakle‖, which are motivated in a certain sense.‖onomatopoeia拟声词---words that sound like the sounds they describe那些发音像它们的描写的声音的词

c. some compounds (words compounded to be one word ) are not entirely arbitary either. ―type ‖

and ‖write ‖are opaque or unmotivated words, while ―type -writer‖ is less so, or more transpa rent or motivated than the words that make it . so we can say ―arbitrariness‖ is a matter of degree.

arbitrary and onometopoeic effect may work at the same time.任意性和拟声可以同时起作用。

Eg. The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.夏日黄昏，群蝇嗡嗡地非。

(2) Arbitrary at the syntactic level 句法上的任意性

According to systematic-functionalists and American functionlists, language is not arbitrary at the syntactic level. 对于系统功能语言学家和美国功能语言学家来说，语言在句法上是非任意的。

Syntax-----it refers to the ways that sentences are constructed according to the grammar of arrangement.句法就是依据语法安排造句之法。

(3) Aribrtary and convention任意性和约定性

The link between a linguistic sign and its meaning is a matter of convention.语言学上的符号和它的意义之间是约定俗成的关系。

The other side of coin of arbitrariness , namely, conventionality.任意性的相反面，即约定性。

conventionality----It means that in any language there are certain sequences of sounds that have

a conventionally accepted meaning. Those words are customarily used by all speakers with the

same intended meaning and understood by all listeners in the same way.

Arbitrainess of langauge makes it potentially creative, and conventionality of language makes learning a language laborious.任意性赋予语言潜在的创造力，而语言的约定性又使学习语言变得费力。

There are two different schools of belief concerning arbitrariness. Most people, especially structural linguists believe that language is arbitrary by nature. Other people, however, hold that language is iconic, that is, there is a direct relation or correspondence between sound and meaning, such as onomatopoeia.(cuckoo; crash)

For the majority of animal signals, there does appear to be a clear connection between the conveyed message and the signal used to convey it, And for them, the sets of signals used in communication is finite.

b. duality【dju?'?l?t?】(二重性):--- one design feature of human language, which refers to the

property of having two levels of structures , such as units of the primary level are

composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own

principles of organization.(人类语言的本质特征之一,指拥有两层结构的这种特性,底层结构

是上层结构的组成成分,每层都有自身的组合规则.)

duality----language is simultaneously organized at two levels or layers, namely, the level of sounds and that of meaning.

the higher level ----words which are meaningful

the lower or the basic level----sounds which are meaningless, but can be grouped and regrouped into words.

Dog: woof (but not “w-oo-f ” )

This duality of levels is, in fact, one of the most economical features of human language, since with

a limited set of distinct sounds we are capable of producing a very large number of sound

combinations (e.g. words) which are distinct in meaning.

The principle of economy 经济原则

Linguists refer ―duality‖ (of structure) to the fact that in all language so far investigated, one finds two levels of structure or patterning. At the first, higher level, language is analyzed in terms of combinations of meaningful units (such as morphemes, words etc.). At the second, lower level, it is seen as a sequence of segments which lack any meaning in themselves, but which combine to form units of meaning.

According to HUZHUANGLIN, language is a system of two sets of structures or two levels, one of sound and the other of meaning. This is important for the workings of language.

A small number of semantic words /units, and these units of meaning can be arranged and rearranged into an infinite number of sentences.这些意义单位组成无数个句子。(Note that we have dictionaries of words, but no dictionary of sentences!).

Duality makes it possible for a person to talk about anything within his knowledge. No anmial communication system enjoys this duality.

To talk about duality we must notice that language is hierarchical.说到语言的二重性，我们必须注意语言的等级性。

c. Creativity----language is resourceful. It makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users.(novel utterances are continually being create

d.) non-human signals ,on the other hand, appears to have little flexibility.

creativity(创造性): one design feature of human language ,by creativity we mean language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. (指语言的能产性,因为语言有二重性和递归性.)

productivity----productivity refers to the ability to construct and understand an indefinitely large number of sentences in one‘s native language , including those that has never heard before , but that are appropriate to the speaking situation.人们能够利用语言中原有的规则来理解从未碰到过的语言符号的特征。

e.g. an experiment of bee communication:

The worker bee, normally able to communicate the location of a nectar source , will fail to do so if the loca tion is really ?new‘ .

In one experiment, a hive of bees was placed at the foot of a radio tower and a food source at the top. Ten bees were taken to the top, shown the food source, and sent off to tell the rest

of the hive about their find. The message was conveyed via a bee dance and the

whole gang buzzed off to get the free food. They flow around in all directions, but

couldn‘t locate the food. The problem may be that bee communication regarding

location has a fixed set of signals, all of which related to horizonta distance. The bee

cannot create a ?new ‘ message indicating vertical distance.

No one has never said or heard ―A red-eyed elephant is dancing on the small hotel bed with an African gibbon‖, but he can say it when necessary, and he can underst and it in right

register.

Different from artistic creativity, productivity never goes outside the language, thus productivity is also called ―rule-bound creativity‖ (by N. Chomsky)

Productivity is unique to human language. 创造性是人类语言的独一无二的特征。

d. displacement(移位性): one design feature of human language, which means human language

enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present c

in time and space, at the moment of communication.(指人类语言可以让使用者来表示

在说话时(时间和处所)并不存在的物体,时间和观点.)

Bee communication:

When a worker bee finds a source of nectar and returns to the hive, it can perform a complex dance routine to communicate to the other bees the location of this nectar. Depending on the

type of dance (round dance for nearby and tail-wagging dance, with variable tempo, for

further away and how far), The other bees can work put where this newly discovered

feast can be found. Bee communication has displacement in an extremely limited form.

However, it must be the most recent food source.

Displacement , as one of the design features of the human language, refers to the fact that one can talk about things that are not present, as easily as he does things present. In other

words, one can refer to real or unreal things, things of the past, of the present, of the

future.人类语言可以被用来指不在当时当地发生的事情，这就使得人类能够谈论许多事

情而不受时空限制。

Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speak, that means language has the feature of displacement.

Language itself can be talked about too. When a man , for example, is crying to a woman, about something, it might be something that had occurred, or something that is occurring, or

something that is to occur. When a dog is barking, however, you can decide it is

barking for something or at someone that exists now and there. It couldn‘t be

bow-wowing sorrowfully for a bone to be lost. The bee‘s system, nonetheless, has a

small share of ―displacement‖, but it‘s an unspeakable tiny share

e. Cultural transmission----genetic transmission

You acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes.

The process whereby language is passed on from one generation to the next is described as cultural transmission.

This means that language is not biologically transmitted from generation to generation, but that the details of the linguistic system must be learned anew by each speaker. It is true that the capacity for language in human beings (N. Chomsky called it ―language acquisition device‖, or LAD) has a genetic basis, but the particular language a person learns to speak is a cultural one other than a genetic one like the dog‘s barking system. （人类学习语言的能力有遗传基础，但任何详细的语言系统都必须通过教授和学习才能获得，这说明语言具有文化传递性，它不是靠人类的本能而获得的。）

If a human being is brought up in isolation he cannot acquire language. The Wolf Child reared by the pack of wolves turned out to speak the wolf‘s roaring ―tongue‖ when he was saved. He learned thereafter, with no small difficulty, the ABC of a certain human language.

Animal call systems are genetically transmitted.动物是靠其基因来传递其呼叫系统的。

f. interchangeability 互换性

interchangeability means that any human being can be both a producer and a receiver of messages. Though some people suggest that there is differentiation in the actual language use, in other words, men and women may say different things, yet in principle there is no sound, or word or sentence that a man can utter and a woman cannot, or vice versa. On the other hand, a person can be the speaker while the other person is the listener and as the turn moves on to the listener, he can be the speaker and the first speaker is to listen. It is turn-taking that makes social communication possible and acceptable. Some male birds, however, utter some calls which females do not (or cannot). When a dog barks, all the neighboring dogs bark. Then people around can hardly tell which dog /dogs is /are ―speaking‖ and which listening.

What features of human language have been specified by C. Hockett to show that it is essentially different from any animal communication system?

Arbitrariness----a sign of sophistication only humans are capable of.

Duality----a feature totally lacking in any animal communication.

Creativity----animals are quite limited in the messages they are able to send.

Displacement----no animal can talk about things removed from the immediate situation.

Cultural transmission-----details of human language system are taught and learned while animals are born with the capacity to send out certain signals as a means of limited communication.

Why do linguists say language is human specific?

First of all, human language has six ―design features‖ which animal communication systems do not have, at least not in the true sense of them.

Secondly, linguists have done a lot trying to teach animals such as chimpanzees to speak a human language but have achieved nothing inspiring. Washoe, a female chimpanzee, was brought up like a human child by Beatnice and Alan Gardner. She was taught ―American sign language‖, and learned a little that made the teachers happy but did not make the linguists circle happy, for few believed in

teaching chimpanzees.

Thirdly, a human child reared among animals cannot speak a human language, not enen when he is taken back and taught to do so.

1.4 Origin of language 语言的起源

1.5 functions of language 语言的功能

Jakobson defined the six primary factors of any speech event, namely: speaker, addressee, context, message, code, contact. 雅科布逊定义了言语行为的六个要素：说话者，受话者，语境，信息，语码，接触。

Jakobson established a well-known framework of language functions based on the six key elements of communication, namely:

Referential function-----to convey message and information所指功能：传达信息

Poetic function -----to indulge in language for its own sake 诗学功能：完全就语言而语言

Emotive function ----to express attitudes, feelings and emotions 感情功能：表达态度、感觉和感情Cognitive function ----to persuade and influence others through commands and entreaties 意动功能：通过命令和恳求去说服和影响他人

Phatic function ----to establish communion with others 交感功能：与他人建议交流

Metalingual function -----to clear up intentions, words and meanings 元语言功能：弄清意图、词语和意义

They correspond to such communication elements as context ,message, addresser, addressee, contact and code. 它们与一些交流活动的元素相对应，如语境，信息，说话者，受话者，接触和语码等。Halliday proposes a theory of metafunctions of language , that is, language has:韩礼德提出语言元功能

的理论，即语言有：

Ideational function----constructs a model of experience and constructs logical relations;概念功能：建构了经验模型和逻辑关系

Interpersonal function-----enacts social relationships 人际功能：反映了社会关系

textual functions----creates relevance to context. 语篇功能：创立了语言与语境的关系

Halliday proposed seven categories of language functions by observing child language development, that is , instrumental, regulatory, representational, interactional, personal, heuristic and imaginative.他通过观察儿童语言的发展提出了语言的七种功能，他们是工具功能，控制功能，表达功能，交互功能，自指性功能，教导功能和想象功能。

Function(功能): the use of language to communicate, to think ,etc. Language functions inclucle informative function, interpersonal function, performative function, emotive function, phatic communion, recreational function and metalingual function.(用语言交流,思考等.语言功能包括信息功能,人际功能,施为功能,感情功能,交感性功能,娱乐性功能和元语言功能.)

language has at least seven functions: phatic, directive, informative, interrogative, expressive, evocative and performative.

According to Wang Gang (1988), language has three main functions:

a tool of communications,

a tool whereby people learn about the world;

a tool by which people creat art.

1.5.1 Informative function信息功能

What is the informative function?

Language serves an ―informative function‖ when used to tell so mething , characterized by the use of declarative sentences. Informative statements are often labeled as true or false. According to P. Grice‘s ―cooperative principle‖, one ought not to violate the ―maxim of Quality‖, when he is informing at all.

Informative function is also called ideational function i n the framework of functional grammar. 在功能语法的框架中，信息功能也被称为概念功能。

Halliday notes that ―language serves for the expression of ?content ‘‖: that is, of the speaker‘s experience of the real world, including the inner world of his own consciousness. 韩礼德指出―语言为表达?内容‘服务：这个?内容‘就是说话者的真实的经验世界，包括他自我意识的内部世界。―

It requires some intellectual effort to see them in any other way than that which our language suggests to us. 它需要人类的指挥从其他的不同角度看待事物，而不是按照语言提示给我们的那样去做。

1.5.2 Interpersonal function 人际功能

1.5.3 Performative function 施为功能

This means people speak to ―do things‖ or perform actions. On certain occasions the utterance itself as an action is more important than what words or sounds constitute the uttered sentence. The judge‘s imprisonment sentence, the president‘s war or independence declaration , etc, are perfom atives.

1.5.4 Emotive function 感情功能

1.5.5 Phatic communion 交感性谈话

phatic communion(交感性谈话): one function of human language, which refers to the social interaction of language.(人类语言的功能之一,指语言的社会交互性.)

broadly speaking, phatic function refers to expressions that help define and maintain interpersonal relations, such as slangs, jokes, jargons, ritualistic exchanges, switches to social and regional dialects.概况地说，交感性功能是指那些有助于说明，维持人际关系的表达，如俚语，玩笑，行业话，礼节性的交际，社会地域方言的转化等等。

The phatic function refers to language being used for setting up a certain atmosphere or maintaining social contacts than for exchanging information or ideas. Greetings, farewells and comments on the weather in English and cloting in Chinese all serve this function. Much of the phatic language(e.g., ―how are you?‖ ―fine, thanks.‖) is insincere if taken literally, but it is important. If you don‘t say ―hello‖ to

a friend you meet, or if you don‘t answer his ―hi‖ , you ruin your friendship.

1.5.6 Recreational function 娱乐性功能

What is the evocative function? 什么是娱乐性功能？

The ―evocative function‖ is the use of language to create certain feelings in the hearer. Its aim is , for example, to amuse, startle, antagonize, soothe, worry or please. Jokes (not practical jokes, though) are supposed to amuse or entertain the listener; advertising to urge customers to purchase certain commodities; propaganda to influence public opinion. Obviously, the expressive and the evocative functions often go together, i.e. you may express, for example, your personal feelings about a political issuer but end up by evoking the same feeling in, or imposing it on, your listener. That‘s also the case with the other way round.

1.5.7 Metalingual function 元语言功能

metalanguage(元语言): certain kinds of linguistic signs or terms for the analysis and description of particular studies.用以讲述或描述另一语言等的语言或一套符号。

What is the direct function?

The ―direction function‖ means that language may be use d to get the hearer to do something. Most imperative sentences perform this function. E.g. ―Tell me the result when you finish.‖ Other syntactic structures or sentences of other sorts can, according to J. Austin and J. Searle‘s ―Indirect speech act theory‖ at least, serve the purpose of direction too, e.g., ―If I were you, I would have blushed to the bottom of my ears!‖

What is the interrogative function? 什么是疑问功能？

When language is used to obtain information, it serves an ―interrogative function‖. This includes all questions that expect replies, statements, imperatives etc. according to the ―indirect speech act

theory‖, may have this function as well, e.g. ―I‘d like to know you better.‖ This may bring forth a lot of personal information. Note that rhetorical questions make an exception, since they demand no answer, at least not the reader‘s /listener‘s answer.

What is the expressive function?

The ―expressive function‖ is the use of language to reveal something about the feelings or attitudes of the speaker. Subconscious emotional ejaculations are good examples, like ―Good heavens!‖ ―My God!‖；Sentences like ―I‘m sorry about the delay‖ can serve as good examples too, though in a subtle way. While language is used for the informative funciton to pass judgement on the truth or falsehood of statements, language used for the expressive function ev oluates, appraises or asserts the speaker‘s own attitudes.

1.6. What is linguistics?

Linguistics is generally a scientific study of language .It is a major branch of social science.

Linguistics studies not just one language of any society, but the language of all human society, language in general. 语言学是对语言进行科学地研究的学科。它所研究的并不是某种特定的语言，而是人类所有的语言的共性。

A scientific study is one which is based on the systematic investigation of data, conducted with

reference to some general theory of language structure.

Observation------generalization-----hypothesis------tested by further observation------theory

A linguist, though, does not have to know and use a large number of language, but to investigate

how each language is constructed. He is also concerned with how a languag varies from dialect to dialect, from class to class, how it changes from century to century, how children acquire their mother tongue, and perhaps how a person learns or should learn a foreign language. In short, linguistics studies the general principles whereupon all human languages are constructed and operate as systems of communication in their societies or communities.

Explain the following definition of linguistics: linguistics is the scientific study of language.

Linguistics investigates not any particular language, but language in general. Linguistic study is scientific because it is based on the systematic investigation of authentic language data. No serious linguistic conclusion is reached until after the linguist has done the following three things: observing the way language is actually used, formulating some hypotheses, and testing these hypotheses against linguistic facts to prove their validity.

What makes linguistics a science?

Since linguistics is the scientific study of language, it ought to base itself upon the systematic, investigation of language data which aims at discovering the true nature of language and its underlying system. To make sense of the data, a linguist usually has conceived some hypotheses about the language structure, to be checked against the observed or observable facts. In order to make his analysis scientific, a linguist is usually guided by four principle: exhaustiveness, consistency, economy and objectivity.

(1)Exhaustiveness means he should gather all the materials relevant to the study and give them an

adequate explanation, in spite of the complicatedness. He is to leave no linguistic ―stone‖ unturned.

(2) Consistency means there should be no contradiction between different parts of the total

statement.

(3) Economy means a linguist should pursue brevity in the analysis when is is possible.

(4). Objectivity implies that since some people may be subjective in the study, a linguist should be

(or sound at least) objective, matter-of-face, faithful to reality, so that his work constitutes part of the linguistics research.

1.7 Main branches (scope) of linguistics语言学的主要分支

Lingusitics should include at least five branches, namely: phonologic, morphologic, syntactic,

senmantic and pragmatic.语言学至少包括五个分支：语音、形态、句法、语义、和语用。

General lingusitics 普通语言学-------the study of language as a whole is often called general linguistics. This deals with the basic concepts, theories, descriptions, models and methods appliable in any linguistic study. 把语言作为一个整体来研究的学科被称为普通语言学，它是语言学研究中探索人类语言的普遍性质和规律的学科。

1.7.1 phonetics 语音学-----studies speech sounds, including the production of speech, that is how speech sounds are actually made, transmitted and received, the sounds of speech , the description and classification of speech sounds , words and connected speech, etc. 研究语音，包括言语的产生（也就是言语在现实中怎样形成，传递和接受），言语的声音，语音的描写和分类，词语和话语连接等等。

Phonetics----The study of sounds used in linguistic community led to establishment of a brach of linguistics called phonetics. How speech are produced and classified.

1.7.2 phonology 音系学（音位学）-----studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables. It deals with the sound system of a language by treating phoneme as the point of departure. A phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit of sound that can signal a difference in meaning. English has approximately forty-five phonemes. 研究的是语音和音节的结构，分布和序列，它将音位视为起止点，来处理语言的语音系统。音位是语音的最小的语言学单位，它能够区分意义的不同。英语大概有45个音位。

Phonology------how sounds form systems and unction to convey meaning in communication.

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds that the human voice is capable of creating whereas phonology is the study of a subset of those sounds that constitute language and meaning.语音学是研究在言语中人类嗓音所能发出的语音，而音系学则是研究这些语音中能形成语言和意义的一个子集。

Phonetics foucuses on chaos while phonology focuses on order.语音学是无序的语音，音系学则注重有序。

1.7.3 morphology 词法学----is concerned with the internal organization of words. It studies the

minimal units of meaning----morphemes and word-formation processess.涉及词语的内部组织，它研究意义的最小单位---语素和成词过程。

Morphology------the study of the way in which these symbols are arranged to from words has constituted the branch of study called morphology. How morphemes are combined to form words.

1.7.4 syntax 句法学----is about principles of forming and understanding correct English sentences. The form or structure of a sentence is governed by the rules of syntax. These rules specify word order, sentence organization, and the relationship between words, word classes and other sentence elements.句法是形成和理解正确的英语句子的规则。句子形成或结构受制于句法规则，这些规则规定了词语顺序、句子组织、以及词之间，词的格之间，和其他句子成分之间的联系。

Syntax-----the combination of these words to form permissible sentences in language is govened by rules. The study of these rules constitutes a major branch of linguistic studies, i.e., syntax. How morpehemes and words are combined to form sentences.

1.7.5 semantics 语义学----examines how meaning is encoded in a language. It is not only concerned with meanings of words as lexical items, but also with levels of language below the word and above it, e.g. meaning of morphemes and sentences. Key concepts: senmantic component, denotation of words, sense relations between words such as antonymy and synonymy, sense relations between sentences such as entailment and presupposition.考察的是意义如何在语言中编码。它关心的不仅仅是字词作为词汇的意义，还有语言中词之上和词之下的其他成分的意义，如语素和句子的意义。关键性概念：语义成分，词的所指，反义和同义等词语间的意义联系，诸如蕴涵和预设之类的句子间的意义联系。

Semantics-----the study of meaning was gradually developed and became known as senmantics. The study of meaning (in abstraction)

1.7.6 pragmatics 语用学----is the study of meaning in context. It deals with particular utterances in particular situations and is especially concerned with the various ways in which the many social contexts of language performance can influence interpretation. In other words, pragmaitics is concerned with the way language is used to communicate rather than with the way language is structured.在语境中研究意义。它是在特定的场景中处理特定的话语，尤其注意于不同社会场景影响语言诠释的方法。换句话说，语用学关心的是语言被用来交际的方法，而不是语言组成的方式。

Pragmatics regards speech performance as primarily a social act ruled by various social conbentions. Some key concepts: reference, force, effect, and cooperative principles。语用学主要将言语行为看成是被各种社会常规所制约的一种社会行为。主要概念：所指、强制、效果和合作原则。

Pragmatics----the study of meaning is conducted , not in isolation, but in the context of use.研究语言与语言使用者和语言语境的关系。

1.8 macrolinguistics(宏观语言学):the interacting study between language and language-related disciplines such as psychology,sociology,ethnograph,the science of law and artificial intelligence etc.Branches of macrolinguistics include psycholinguistics,sociolinguistics, anthropological linguistics,computational linguistics etc. (心理学,社会学,人种学,法学和人工智能等等语言学有关联.宏观语言学的分支包括心理语言学,社会语言学,人类语言学,计算语言学等等.)

1.8.1 Psycholinguistics 心理语言学-----investigates the interreation of language and mind, in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition for example. There is the psycholinguistic study of grammar. The psycholinguistics constrains on the form of grammar are studied. It also studies language development in the child, such as the theories of language acquisition; biological foundation of language; and a big topic----the relationship between language and cognition.心理语言学考察语言和意识的相互关系，如话语的处理和产生，以及语言习得等。还有语法的心理语言学研究，即研究心理语言学对语法形式的限制。心理语言学还研究儿童语言的发展，如语言习得理论、语言的生物学基础和认知的关系等。

Psycholinguistics----it relates the study of language to psychology . the study of language with reference to the workings of the mind.研究语言的产生和理解。语言习得等问题。

1.8.2 Sociolinguistics 社会语言学-----is the study of the characteristics of language varieties, the characteristics of their functions, and the characteristics of their speakers as these three constantly interact and change within a speech community.研究语言多样性的特征、它们的功能特征和说话者的特征以及者三者在言语社团中持续的交互作用和变化。

Sociolinguistics-----the study of language with reference to society.研究语言与社会文化的产生。

1.8.3 Anthropological linguistics 人类语言学

1.8.4 Computational linguistics 计算语言学-----is an interdisciplinary field which centers around the use of computers to process or produce human language (also known as ―natural language‖, to distinguish it from computer languages.) 一跨学科的领域，它以计算机处理和产生人类语言（即自然语言，与计算机语言相区别）这一应用为中心。

Applied linguistics 应用语言学-----the application of linguistic principles and theories to language teaching and learning. 研究语言学习和语言教学等问题。

1.9 Important distinctions in linguistics

1.9.1 Descriptive vs. prescriptive描写式‖和―规定式‖

prescriptive(规定式): a kind of linguistic study in which things are prescribed how ought to be,https://www.360docs.net/doc/7d15100269.html,ying down rules for language use.(规定事情应该是怎样的.)

descriptive(描写式): a kind of linguistic study in which things are just described.(描述事情是怎样的.) Descriptive vs. prescriptive ―描写式‖和―规定式‖

They represent two different types of linguistic study.

If a linguistic study aims to describe and analyze the language people actually use, it is said to be descriptive; if the linguistic study aims to lay down rules for ―correct and standard‖ behavior in using language, i. e. to tell people what they should say and what they should not say, it is said to be prescriptive.

What makes traditional grammar different from moden linguistics?

Modern linguistics started with the publication of F. de Saussure’ s book ―Course in General Linguistics‖ in the early 20th century. So Saussure is often described as ―father of modern linguistics‖.

The general approach traditionally formed to the study of language before that is roughly referred to as ―traditional grammar.‖ They differ in several basic ways:

Firstly, linguistics is descriptive while traditional grammar is prescriptive. A linguist is interested in what is said, not in what he thinks ought to be said. He describes language in all its aspects, but does not prescribe rules of ―correctness‖.

Secondly, modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary, not the written.

Traditional grammarians, on the other hand, tend to emphasize, may be over-emphasize, the importance of the written word, partly because of its permanence.

Then, modern linguistics differs from traditional grammar also in that it does not force languages into a Latin-based framework. To modern linguists ,it is unthinkable to judge one language by standards of another. They are trying to set up a universal framework, but that would be based on the features shared by most of the languages used by mankind.

1.9.2 Synchronic vs. diachronic―共时‖和―历时‖

synchronic(共时的): a kind of description which takes a fixed instant(usually,but not necessarily,the present),as its point of observation.Most grammars are of this kind.(共时的描写以一个固定的时间(通常,但非必须是现在)为它的观察角度,大多数的语法书属于此类型.)

.diachronic(历时的):study of a language is carried through the course of its history.(在语言的历史过程中研究语言.)

The description of a language at some point of time in history is a synchronic study; the description of language as it changes through time is a diachronic study. A diachronic study is

a historical study; it studies the historical development of language over a period of time.

e.g (1) an essay entitled “On the sue of THE”, for example, may be synchronic, if the

author does not recall the past of THE, and it may also be diachronic if he claims to cover

a large range or period of time wherein THE has undergone tremendous alernation.

(2) a study of the features of the English used in Shakepeare’s time and would be a

synchronic study, and a study of the changes English has undergone since then would be a diachronic study.

1.9.3 langue & parole ―语言‖ 和―言语‖

langue(语言): the linguistic competence of the speaker.(说话者的语言能力.)

parole(言语): the actual phenomena or data of linguistics(utterances).(语言的实际现象或语料.)

The distinction was made by the Swiss linguist Saussure in the early 20th century.

Langue refers to the abstract linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community, and parole refers to the realization of language in actual use, or the actual or actualized language.语言是一个语言社会的所有成员共同使用的抽象语言系统。言语是对于这些抽象语言系统的实际运用。

What linguists should do is to abstract langue from parole, i. e. to discover the regularities governing the actual use of language and make them the subjects of study of linguistics.

(1) Langue is abstract, parole specific to the speaking situation.语言是抽象的，言语是具体的，

是因人而异的。

(2) Langue not actually spoken by an individual , parole always a naturally occruing event.

(3) Langue relatively stable and systematic, parole is a mass of confused facts, thus nto suitable

for systematic investigation.

What a linguist ought to do, according to Saussure, is to abstract langue from instances of

parole, i.e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make than the subject of linguistics. The langue-parole distinction is of great important, which casts great influence on later linguists.

1.9.4 Competence and performance 语言能力和语言运用

competence(语言能力): a language user‘s underlying knowledge about the system of rules.(一个语言使用者关于语言系统规则的基本理解.)

performance(语言应用): the actual use of language in concrete situations.(指在具体场景中语言的真实使用.)

The distinction is discussed by the American lingu ist N. Chomsky in the late 1950‘s.

Competence----the ideal user‘s knowledge of the rules of his language.

Performance----the actual realization of this knowledge in linguistic communication.

According to N. Chomsky, ―compentence‖ is the ideal user‘s knowle dge of the rules of his language理想的语言使用者的抽象语言知识and ―performance‖ is the actual

realization of this knowledge in utterance , in linguistic communication. 语言使

用者在语言交际中对这种抽象语言知识的实际运用。

Competence enables a speaker to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities.

A speaker‘s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological

and social factors. So a spearker‘s performance does not always match or

equal his supposed compentence.

Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance. In other words, they should discover what an ideal speaker knows of his native

language.

How is Saussure‘s distinction between langue and parole similar to Chomsky‘s distinction between competence and performance?

Both Saussure and Chomsky make the distinction between the abstract language system and the actual use of language. Their purpose is to single out the language system

for serious study.

How is Saussure‘s distinction between langue and parole differ to Chomsky‘s distinction between competence and performance?

Chomsky‘s competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as , though similar to ,

F. de. Saussure‘s langue-parole distinction. Langue is a social product, and a

set of conventions for a community, while competence is deemed as a property

of the mind of each individual . Saussure looks at language more from a

sociological or sociolinguistics point of view than N.Chomsky since the latter

deals with his issures psychologically or psycholinguistically.索绪尔的理论与乔

姆斯基的理论的不同之处在于索绪尔是从语言的社会学角度来谈论语言；而乔姆

斯基是从语言的心理学角度来谈论语言的。

1.9.5 Etic vs. Emic

etic(非位的): a term in contrast with emic which originates from American linguist Pike‘s distinction of phonetics and phonemics.Being etic mans making far too many, as well as behaviously inconsequential,differentiations,just as was often the case with phonetic vs.phonemic analysis in linguistics proper.(术语来自于美国语言学家派克对于语音学和音位学的区分.他更容易面临‖非位‖而不是‖位学‖的倾向,也就是实践中弄出来过多的不重要的区别,严格的语言学中有关语言和音位的分析就是这样的例子.)

4. emic(位学的): a term in contrast with etic which originates from American linguist Pike‘s

distinction of phonetics and phonemics.An emic set of speech acts and events must be one that is validated as meaningful via final resource to the native members of a speech community rather than via a ppeal to the investigator‘s ingenuit y or intuition alone.(言语行为和事件中的位学系统必须是有效而有意义的,是通过言语社会中的本族语者而不仅仅是调查者的聪明和直觉获得

的.)

what is speech and what is writing?

Which enjoys priority in modern linguistics, speech or wirting? Why ?

Speech and writing are the two major media of communication. Modern linguistics regards the spoken language as primary , not the written.

No one needs the repetition of the general principle of linguistic analysis, namely, the primary of speech over writing. Speech is primary, because it existed long long bfore writing systems came into being. Genetically children learn to speak before learning to write.

Secondly, written forms just represent in this way or that the speech sounds individual sounds, as in English and French as in Japanese.In contrast to speech, spoke form of language, writing as written codes, give language new scope and use that speech does not have. Firstly, messages can be carried through space so that people can write to each other.

Secondly, messanges can be carried through time thereby, so that people of our time can read Beowuff, Samuel Johnson, and Edgar A Poe. Thirdly, oral messages are readily subject to distortion, either intentional or unintentional, while written messages allow and encourage repeated unalterable reading. Most modern linguistics analysis is focused on speech, different from grammarians of the last century and tehre to fore.

Speech enjoys priority over writing in modern linguistic study for the following reasons:

(1)Speech precedes writing in terms of evolution

(2)A large amount of communication is carried out in speech than in writing.

(3)Speech is the form in which imfants acquire their native language.

What is linguistic potential ? what is actual linguistic behaviour?

These two terms, or the potential-behavior distinction, were made by M.A.K Halliday in the 1960s, from a functional point of view. There is a wide range of things a speaker can do in his culture, and similarlly there are many things he can say, for example, to many people, on many topics. What he actually says (i.e. ―his actual linguistic behaviour‖) on a certain occasion to a certain person is what he has chosen from many possible injustice items, each of which he could have said linguistic potential.

In what way do language , competence and linguistic potential agree? In what way do they differ? And their counterparts?

Language, competence and linguistic potential have some similar features, but they are innately different. Langue is a social product, and a set of speaking conventins; competence is

a property or attribute of each ideal sp eaker‘s mind; linguistic potential is all the linguistic corpus

or repertoire available from which the speaker chooses items for the actual utterance situation.

In other words, langue is invisialbe but reliable abstract system. Competence means‖ knowing‖, abd linguistic potential set of possibilities for ―doing ‖ ro ― performing actions‖. They are similar in that they refer to the constant underlying the utterance, that constitute what Saussure, Chomsky and Halliday respectively called parole, performance and actual linguistic behavior.

Parole, performance and actual linguistic behavior enjoy more similarities than differences.

第二章（添加）

Chapter 2 Speech Sounds- Phonetics and Phonology

2. PHONETICS

2.1 Scope of phonetics

PHONETICS is the science which studies the characteristics of human sound-making, especially those sounds used in speech, and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription.

SPEECH SOUNDS may be studied from different angles, three branches of phonetics, articulatory phonetics, auditory phonetics and acoustic phonetics.

2.1.1 Articulatory phonetics

Speech sounds may be studied from the point of view of the speaker, that is, we may examine the way in which a speech sound is produced to discover which vocal organs are involved and how they coordinate in the process. This aspect of phonetics is called ARTICULATORY PHONETICS.

2.1.2Auditory phonetics

A meaningful act of speech has another end – the reception end. The sounds produced by the speaker will be received by the hearer. Speech sounds therefore may also be studied from the hearer‘s point of view. We may look into the impression a speech sound makes on the hearer as mediated by the ear, the auditory nerve and the brain. This area of research is known as AUDITORY PHONETICS.

2.1.3Acoustic phonetics

To make a speech sound visible so that we can measure its components objectively we must then go into the domain of ACOUSTIC PHONETICS, which studies the physical properties of speech sounds, as transmitted between mouth and ear. Instruments, such as the oscillograph and the sound spectrograph, have been used to translate a sound into a visual representation of its components in terms of frequency and intensity. The sound spectrograph will, in addition, show the formants of vowels.

2.2The Vocal Organs

The vocal organs (see Fig. 1), or the speech organs, are organs of the human body whose secondary use is in the production of speech sounds. The vocal organs may be viewed as consisting of three parts, the initiator of the air-stream, the producer of voice and the resonating cavities.

2.2.1The initiator of the air-stream

The first requisite for the production of a speech sound is that there is an air-stream.

2.2.2The vocal cords

The air-stream provided by the lungs has to undergo a nuntoer of modifications to acquire the quality of a speech sound. The first point where it is possible to modify the air-stream is at the top of the windpipe, which ends in a bony structure called the LARYNX.

Inside the larynx are the VOCAL CORDS.

They are in fact two folds of membrane (hence also the name vocal folds), which are fixed together at the front but horizontally moveable at the back.

The space between the vocal cords is termed the GLOTTIS.

In speech the vocal cords have three main functions.

(1) The vocal cords may be closed tightly so that the airstream from the lungs is blocked and the air pressure behind them builds up. This phenomenon is called the GLOTTAL STOP and symbolized as[?]. Thus the sound is inaudible, but it has its effect on surrounding segments.

In English, it often occurs initially to pronounce a word like ?idiot‘ which begins with a vowel.

(2) If the vocal cords are brought together to the extent that there is only a narrow passage between them, the pressure of the airstream will set them in vibration.

The result is a sound.

The sound has a regular waveform and the number of vibrations in a second is fixed, so that we can perceive its pitch. In phonetics, this sound is called VOICE, and sounds produced while the vocal cords are vibrating are called VOICED SOUNDS. Consonants like English [b,m,z] are voiced. V owels are usually voiced, too.

The PITCH of a sound depends on the rate of vibration of the vocal cords, which in turn is determined by the length of the vocal cords.

When the vocal cords are not vibrating at the time of its production, the resultant sound is called a VOICELESS SOUND. Consonants like [f, s, p] are voiceless sounds.

2.2.3The resonating cavities

In the human speech mechanism, there are three resonating cavities: the PHARYNS, the NASAL CA VITY and the ORAL CA VITY.

2.2.

3.1The pharynx

The PHARYNX stretches from the top of the larynx up to the back of the nasal cavity and serves as the container of a voiume of air which can be set into vibration in harmony with vibrations coming from the vocal cords.

2.2.

3.2The nasal cavity

The NASAL CA VITY is of fixed dimensions and shape, and its contribution to speech is entirely a matter of resonance.

2.2.

3.3The oral cavity

The ORAL CA VITY is by far the most important of the three cavities; it is here that most of the distinctions of articulate speech are fashioned.

The oral cavity is bounded at the top by a dome – shaped structure – the PALATE. The front part of the palate is bony and fixed, hence the term HARDPALATE; its back part, the SPFTPALATE, is muscular and moveable. The soft fleshy tip of the soft palate hanging down at the backof the mouth is called the UVULA.

On the hard palate just behind the teeth one can feel a prominentridge. This covers the roots of the teeth and is called the teeth ridge or, more learnedly, the ALVEOLAR RIDGE. Moving further outwards, we come to the teeth, and the outmost are the lips forming the front exit of the oral cavity.

At the bottom of the oral cavity lies a complex muscular structure – the TONGUE.

When the tongue is at rest, with its tip lying behind the lower teeth, the part which lies opposite the hard palate is called the FRONT and that which faces the soft palate is called the BACK. The tapering section facing the teeth ridge is called the BLADE and its extremity the TIP.

The system of vocal organs is also termed the VOCAL TRACT. The part which is above the larynx is called the supraglottaltract and the part below the larynx the subglottal tract. The supraglottal is further divided into the ORAL TRACT and the NASAL TRACT, the dividing line being the soft palate in its raised position. The vocal organs in the oral tract are technically known as ARTICULATORS, those which are moveable are active

articulators and those not moveable are passive articulators.

2.3Consonants

Speech sounds may be classified into two major types in terms of their articulatory characteristics. The sounds in the production of which there is an obstruction of the airstream at some point of the vocal tract are called CONSONANTS. The sounds in the production of which no articulators come very close together and the air-stream passes through the vocal tract without obstruction are called VOWELS.

2.3.1Places of articulation

(1) BILABIAL --- the obstruction of the airstream is caused by the two lips, such as in the production of [p, b, m] of the English words ―pie, buy, my‖.

(2) LABIODENTAL --- the obstruction of the airstream is caused by the lower lip and the upper front teeth, such as in the production of [f, v] of the English words ―fie, vie‖.

(3) DENTAL --- the obstruction of the airstream is caused by the tongue tip or blade and the upper front teeth, such as in the production of [ ] of the English words ―thigh, thy‖.

(4) ALVEOLAR --- the obstruction of the airstream is caused by the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge, such as in the production of [t, d, 1, n, s, z] of the English words ―tie, die, lie, nigh, sigh, zyme‖.

(5) RETROFLEX --- the obstruction of the airstream is caused by the underside of the tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge.

The tip of the tongue curled up and back. In the standard pronunciation of Southern British English, known as RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION (RP), retroflex sounds are not usually used.

A retroflex r-sound is typical of many American speakers.

(6) PALATO-ALVEOLAR --- the obstruction of the air-stream is caused by the tongue blade and the back of the alveolar ridge, such as in the production of [∫, 3] of the English word ―shy‖ and the French word ―genre‖.

(7) PALATAL --- the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate to obstruct the air-stream, such as in the production of [j] of the English words ―yes, you”.

(8) VELAR --- the back of the tongue is raised so that it touches the soft palate to obstruct the air-stream, such as in the production of [k, g, η] of the English words ―sick, zig, sing‖.

(9) UVULAR --- the obstruction of the airstream is caused by the back of the tongue and the uvular, such as in the production of [R] or [R] of the French words ―rouge, rose‖.

(10) GLOTTAL --- the obstruction of the airstream is caused by the vocal cords, such as in the production of [?], the glottal stop mentioned before.

Some sounds involve the simultaneous use of two places of articulation. For example, the English [w] has both an approximation of the two lips and that of the back of the tongue and the soft palate, and may be termed LABIAL-VELAR.

2.3.2Manners of articulation

(1) PLOSIVE --- in the production of a plosive, the air-stream is obstructed completelv both in the oral and nasal tracts, so that when the closure in the oral tract is suddenly released, the compressed air rushes out and produces an explosive sound. According to the place of the oral closure, plosives may be bilabial [p, b], alveolar [t, d], velar[k, g], glottal [?], etc A plosive can also be called an ORAL STOP.

(2) NASAL --- in the production of a nasal, the air- stream is completely obstructed in the oral tract but not in the nasal tract, so that the air passes through the nose freely.

e. g. bilabial [m], alveolar [n], velar [?], etc. A nasal can also be called a NASAL STOP.

(3) TRILL --- in the production of a trill the obstruction of the air-stream is caused by air pressure when a flexible organ touches and leaves a firmer surface in very quick movements repeatedly.

(4) LATERAL --- in the production of a lateral the air-stream is obstructed along the centre of the oral tract, but one or both sides of the tongue are away from the roof of the mouth, so that the air can go through the mouth laterally.

For instance, [1] of the English words ―lie, low‖ is normally produced without audible friction, so it is more precisely called a LATERAL APPROXIMANT.

(5) FRICATIVE --- in the production of a fricative two vocal organs are brought very close together so that the airstream foreing its way through the resulting narrowing becomes turbulent, and this turbulence is heard as a fricative noise. In English the most frequently used fricatives are labiodental [f, v,], dental [θ, e], alveolar [s,

z], and palatal-alveolar [∫, з]. Among them, [s, z, ∫, з] are made with a rather high-pitched, hissy kind of friction and are sometimes referred to as SIBILANTS; the others, having a less hissy, more diffuse kind of friction, are referred to as non-sibilants.

(6)APPROXIMANT ---in the production of an approximant the space between two approximating vocal organs is a little wider than that for a fricative, just wide enough to avoid causing friction when the air-stream passes through them. In English, [r] in words like ―red, right‖ is more often pronounced as an approximant.

In the production of these sounds, the air-stream is not in fact obstructed, which is a characteristic of vowels, therefore [j] and [w] were called SEMIVOWELS, and [j] FRICTIONLESS CONTINUANT in the past.

(7) AFFRICATE ---As there are sounds involving two places of articulation, so there are sounds involving two manners of articulation [t∫,dз]of the English words ―church, judge‖, for example, are each a combination of a plosive and a fricative.

2.3.3The classification of consonants

glottal

So a complete description of a consonant includes five factors: 1) the state of the vocal cords (voiced or voiceless); 2) the place of articulation; 3) the course of the escaping of the air-stream (central or lateral); 4) the position of the soft palate (oral or nasal); and 5) the manner of articulation. Thus the three consonants in the word ―final‖ may be described in the following way:

1 2 3 4 5

[f]: voioeless labiodental (central) (oral) fricative

[n]: voiced alveolar (central nasal (plosive)

[l]: voiced alveolar lateral (oral) (approximant)

2.4Vowels

2.4.1Cardinal vowels

Of the various CARDINAL VOWEL systems, the most satisfactory is the one devised by Daniel Jones.

The first five of these vowels are pronounced with the lips unrounded and the remaining three are pronounced with the lips rounded.

Front

Back

2.4.2The classification of vowels

Three factors were employed to distinguish between vowels. They are: (1) the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low), (2) the position of the highest part of the tongue (front, central, back); and (3) the degree of lip rounding (rounded, unrounded). In terms of these three dimensions, the English vowel [i] may be described as an unrounded high front vowel and [ ]a rounded low back vowel.

For a more precise classification of vowels in the languages, there are three additional factors worth mentioning. They are: (1) whether a vowel is oral or nasal; (2) whether a vowel is long or short; and (3) whether a vowel is pure or gliding.

Cardinal vowels are produced with the soft palate raised. That is to say, there is a closure caused by the velum—a velic closure, the air-stream cannot go through the nasal cavity, so cardinal vowels are all oral vowels.

In English there are also contrasts between long and short vowels. But here the difference is not entirely a matter of length, it is a combination of both quality and length. The so-called short vowel [i] is not only shorter‘but also pronounced with the front of the tongue in a little opener and more central position than [i:].

The distinction between pure and gliding vowels is known more familiarly as one between MONOPHTHONGS and DIPHTHONGS. A gliding (or diphthongal) vowel involves a change in quality within the one vowel. It glides from one element to a second element, and usually the first part is more prominent than the second. While a pure vowel has an unchanging quality, which can be prolonged at will, the quality of a gliding vowel is not the same at the end as it was at the beginning.

2.5Phonetic transcription

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION is a method of writing down speech sounds in a systematic and consistent way. In phonetic studies it serves as an aid to the description of speech sounds.

2.5.1The International Phonetic Alphabet

On the basis of the phonetic alphabet proposed at the time, the International Phonetic Association devised the INTERNA TIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (both, incidentally, are abbreviated as IPA) in 1888. Since then the IPA has undergone a number of revisions.

2.5.2Narrow and broad transcriptions

In his Handbook of phonetics, Henry sweet made a distinction between narrow and broad transcriptions, which he called NARROW ROMIC and BROAD ROMIC. Narrow Romic is meant to symbolize all the possible speech sounds, including the minute shades, while Broad romic is intended to indicate only those sounds which are capable of distinguishing one word from another in a given language.

A sound which is capable of distinguishing one word or one shape of a word from another in a given language is a PHONEME. The transcription in which only the phonemes are represented is phonemic. The different members of a phoneme, sounds which are phonetically different but do not make one word different from another in meaning, are ALLOPHONES. The transcription that shows the allophonic difference is an allophonic transcription.

The transcriptions in dictionaries used to be phonetic, but are now interpreted as phonemic, as shown in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English.

Exercises

1.Define the following terms:

articulatory phonetics place of articulation

voicing IPA

consonant diphthong

articulator phonetic transcription

manner of articulation broad transcription

2.Describe the following consonants: t, d, m, n, l, θ, p, g, h.

3.What are cardinal vowels?

4.Circle the words that begin with a sound as required:

(a)a bilabial consonant

mad sad bad rad pad had lad

(b)a velar consonant

nod god cod pod rod

(c)a labiodental consonant

rat fat sat mat chat vat pat

(d)an alveolar consonant

nick, lick, sick, tick, kick, quick

(e)a dental consonant

lie buy thigh thy tie rye

(f)a palato-alveolar consonant

sip ship tip chip lip zip

(g)a lateral

mull lull hull light

(h)an approximant

one war yolk rush

5.Circle the words that end with a sound as required:

(a)a fricative

pay hose tough rice breath push

sing wreathe hang cave massage

(b)a nasal

train bang leaf limb

(c)a stop

drill pipe fit crab fog ride laugh

rack through tip

(d)an affricate

rack such ridge booze

6.Circle the words that contain a sound as required

(a)A high vowel

Mat lot meat mud boot

(b)A low vowel

Reed pad load map crude cod

(c)A front vowel

Fate bought sat bit but bet

https://www.360docs.net/doc/7d15100269.html, the consonant sounds in the middle of each of the following words as indicated in the example

V oiced or Place of Manner of

voiceless articulation articulation

voiced alveolar stop

adder

brother

sunny

hopper

itching

lodger

calling

singing

robber

ether

utter

3. PHONOLOGY

3.1 Distinctiveness in speech sounds

PHONOLOGY is the study of sound systems—the inventory of distinctive sounds that occur in a language and the patterns into which they fall.

Speech sounds, as we have seen, are different from each other in a number of ways, such as, place of articulation, manner of articulation, voicing, nasality, aspiration, tongue height, etc.

Some of the differences are distinctive in that they serve to distinguish between words in a given language.

In English, for example, the difference between /p/ and /b/, /i/ and /e/, /n/ and /η/ are distinctive. Substituting one for the other changes the meaning of a word: ―pin‖ would become ―bin‖ , ―pen‖ or ―ping‖ Distinctive sounds of this kind are termed PHONEMES.

Definition:

While the actual production of a speech sound may vary slightly, its contrast to other sounds within a system must be distinct enough to differentiate meaning. These systematic units of distinct sound are called phonemes.

If a sound difference does not cause a meaning difference in a language, then it is nondistinctive.