1. Information Conveyed by Speech 2. How Speech Fits in with the Overall Structure of Language TWO TOPICS

Information Conveyed by Speech Phonetic quality: The sequence of phonetic events (e.g., [  ]) which will later be parsed into morphemes, words, phrases, sentences, etc. This is the initial entry point into the linguistic system. All other items on this list are nonlinguistic. 2

Affective quality: The speech signal can convey a great deal of information about the emotional state and attitude of the speaker. Q: Can we go out for ice cream? A: No. [I’m sorry, but we can’t right now.] A: No. [NO! For the last time NO!] The two instances of ‘no’ have the same phonetic representations (  ), but convey very different affective information to listeners. 3

Personal quality: Personal identity (i.e., who is talking): “Hi, it’s me.” Gender Age Health status, fatigue, other miscellaneous information In this class we will be focusing mainly on the transmission of phonetic information, but we will talk some about how some kinds of personal information is conveyed. 4

Layers of Linguistic Organization The phonetic content of a speech signal is the entry point into a complex and hierarchically organized language system. Hierarchical: The system is layered, and each layer is: 1.Distinct or autonomous: Fundamentally different in kind from the other layers. For example, (a) syntax and semantics are fundamentally different and they function autonomously (more in a minute), (b) phonetics and phonology are different. 5

What is syntax? What is morphology? -Rules for creating running from run, personable from person, unbelievable from believe, etc. How do we know these are rules at all? Suppose speakers just memorize these word forms separately? I’m getting tight in my chestal area. Untach everything except the looker and that snapper. I’ve redorkulated. 6

How do we know that syntax and semantics are different (i.e., distinct or autonomous)? Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. [Chomsky] -What’s right and what’s wrong? Take a left at the yellow big sign that say ‘Shell gasoline’. -What’s right and what’s wrong? Semantics: fine. It’s perfectly clear what this sentence means. Syntax is no so good: (1) yellow big → big yellow, (2) sign that say → sign that says. 7

So, each layer is distinct or autonomous, meaning that semantics is not the same as syntax, syntax is not the same as morphology, morphology is not the same as … Each layer (or module) is also: 2.Organized into increasingly abstract forms of information: Allophones are organized into phonemes, phonemes into morphemes, morphemes into words, words into phrases into sentences.

Language has a branching and recursive tree structure everywhere you look: Recursion means that a tree can contain a tree, which can contain a tree, … Recursive tree structure clearly applies to grammar; for example: A noun phrase can branch into a tree containing another noun phrase A sentence can branch into a tree containing another sentence (Maurice, who loved Enid, tried everything to get her to notice him.) 9

Tree structures apply at all levels: Sentences branch into phrases. Phrases branch into words. Words branch into morphemes. Morphemes branch into feet, syllables, and phonemes. Phonemes branch into features (e.g., voicing, place, manner). 10

11 M. Goose Recursion This is the house that Jack built. This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. This is the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. This is the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. This is the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

Examples of grammatical tree structures. These trees are: (1) hierarchically organized (S is at the top, NP+VP come next, etc.) and (2) recursive (trees branch into trees, etc.; e.g., note that the NP branches into a pronoun and another sentence). 12

Words also have an internal structure. Note that we see another tree with subdividing branches. 13

14 Tree Structure for a Noun Phrase The details here are not really the point – notice that stuff branches into stuff, which branches into other stuff … (The details should make you happy that you’re not a linguist, but I’m sure you already were.)

Even at the phonetic level, we see a tree structure. Here we see the tree structure of a consonant, with a voicing branch, a place branch, and 3 branches specifying manner (+nasal, +sonorant, +continuant). 15

Tree Structure for a Word The word is organized into a foot. The foot is organized into a syllables. The syllable is organized into onset and rhyme components. Onset and rhyme are organized into consonant & vowel phonemes. Phonemes are organized into features that specify the articulatory properties of the segment. 16