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.

Phonetic Alphabet Universal alphabet representing sounds

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

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. Examples (English)   Sounds which differ: /p/ and /b/ [lQp] ‘lap’ [lQb] ‘lab’

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 Axe and 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 (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 Base in root words that can stand alone.

Inflectional Morphemes Affixes, prefix or suffix, that can be added to a morpheme to without changing part of speech. Example: Happy (adjective) Unhappy (adjective)

Derivational Morphemes Affixes, prefix and suffix, that can be added to a morpheme to change its meaning and may change its part of speech or semantic meaning. Examples: amaze > amazement, speak > speaker, perform > performance, soft > softness, warm > warmth

Organization of Learning Form (How) Meaning Use (Situational) Phonology Morphology Syntax (grammar) Semantics (vocabulary) Pragmatics Social Thinking Literacy (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: The cat jumped on the table. The flower jumped on the sound wave. 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 hear play run am hearing is playing are running Simple Present Present Progressive Simple Past Past Progressive Future Present Perfect Past Perfect Present Perfect Progressive Future Perfect hear play run am hearing is playing are running heard played ran was hearing was playing was running will hear will play will run have heard has played has run had heard had played had run has been hearing has been playing has been running will have heard will have played will have run Describes present action or condition Shows action in progress Shows completed action Shows past action that took place over a period of time 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 Expresses an action that will be completed by or before a specified time in the future

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 It is mine. Who, whom, whoever, that, which The chef who won the prize studied in Paris. all, another, any, anyone, anything, everyone, everything, each, both, neither, no one, none someone, something, few, some, many, most, several Everyone came to dinner. this that these those That car is the one I want. who whom which what Whose Who is the author of that book? myself yourself himself herself itself ourselves Yourselves themselves I will cook dinner myself. Takes the place of a person, place or thing Introduces a relative clause and links to another part of the sentence. Refers to an unknown person, place or thing Represents a thing or things Used to ask questions Ends in -self or -selves and refers back to another noun or pronoun in the sentence

Semantics The study of word meanings, idioms, or non-literal expressions

Stops Formed by completely blocking the air and releasing the bilabials – stopped lips

Fricatives Produced by a constant flow of air through the vocal tract. /f/ /v/

Affricatives Produced by briefly stopping air and then releasing with some friction church

Nasals Sound comes through the nose /m/

Liquids Make a smooth sound /l/ /r/

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