Notes

LANGUAGE: a system of communication consisting of sounds, word, and grammar. Or the system of communication used by people in particular country or type of work.
SPEECH VS. LANGUGAGE: Speech is the verbal means of communicating. Speech consists of the following.
• Articulation: How speech sounds are made.
• Voice: Use of the vocal folds and breathing to produce sound.
• Fluency: The rhythm of speech.
ORAL LANGUAGE VS. WRITTEN LANGUAGE
• Language was first in spoken mode speech is not the as writing or vice versa.
• Carefully organizing ideas in mind while writing
• Ideas bore in mind instantly and spontaneously in speech
• However oral language is richer than written language
WHAT IS LINGUISTICS: The scientific study of human language. Linguistics is the study of these knowledge system structured, how is it acquired, how is it used in the production and comprehension of messages, how does it change over time.
LINGUISTICS TRIES TO ANSWER THE BASIC QUESTIONS
- What is language
- How does language work
- What do all languages have in common
- What range of variation is found among languages?
- How does human language differ from animal communication?
- How does a child learn to speak?
- How does one write down and analyze an unwritten language?
- Why do languages change?
- To what extent are social class differences reflected in language?
MICRO VS MACRO FIELDS OF LINGUISTICS
Micro fields: Phonology, Morphology, Syntax and Semantics
Macro fields: Psycholinguistics, Historical linguistics, Neurolinguistics, Sociolinguistics, etc.
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-Pragmatics: meaning with context
-Sociolinguistics: the study of language and society
-Neurolinguistics. The study of brain and language
-Historical linguistics: the study of language change
-Psychological linguistics: the study of language and mind
-First language acquisition
-SLA
-Applied linguistics (Educational linguistics, speech pathology, application of linguistics to language -teaching)
-Anthropological linguistics: the study of language in cross-cultural setting.
-Computational Linguistics: the use of computers to simulate language and its workings=fuzzy logic, artificial intelligence
-Stylistics: the study of language and literature= text linguistics
-Philosophical linguistics: the link between language and logical thought.
-Linguistics typology: the study of different language types.

Who is Linguist: Anyone who studies a language with a purpose to describe and explain any topic related to language.
MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT LINGUISTS:
- Capable of speaking many languages
- Confused with translators and interpreters
- But they can write a grammar of language she/he cannot speak
- A linguist is interested in all languages of the world.
SOUND SYMBOLISM:
• Words whose pronunciation suggests their meanings. Most languages contain onomatopoeic words like buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects of actions they refer to
HOCKETT’S DESIGN FEATURES OF HUMAN LANGUAGES
ARBITARINESS:
• There is no intrinsic or logical connection between the form of specific language signal and the nature of specific meaning they represent.
• Instead, the signal and the meaning are linked by either convention or instinct. (Onomatopoeic words)
DISPLACEMENT:
• Displacement also includes prevarication, which is the ability to lie or produce utterances which do not correspond with reality
PRODUCTIVITY:
• Productivity is also called openness or creativity
• Humans can use language to understand and indefinite number of novel utterances
CULTURAL TRANSMISSION:
• In other words, language is socially transmitted from one generation to the next, and a child reared in isolation does not acquire language.
DUALITY OF PATTERNING:
• The discrete speech sounds of a language combine to form discrete morphological units, which do not have meaning in itself.
VOCAL-AUDITORY CHANNEL:
• With the exception of signed languages, natural language is vocally transmitted by speakers as speech sounds and auditorily received by listeners as speech waves.
• Although writing and sign language both utilize the manual-visual channel, the expression of human language primarily occurs in the vocal-auditory channel.
BROADCAST TRANSMISSION AND DIRECTIONAL RECEPTION:
• Language signals (i.e. speech sounds) are emitted as waveforms, which are projected in all directions (‘broadcasted into auditory space’), but are perceived by receiving listeners as emanating from a particular direction and point of origin (the vocalizing speaker).
TRANSITORINESS:
• Temporal nature of language signals requires humans to receive and interpret speech sounds at their time of utterance, since they are not subsequently recoverable.


INTERCHANGEABILITY:
• Humans can transmit and receive identical linguistic signals, and so are able to reproduce any linguistic message they understand.
TOTAL FEEDBACK:
• Humans have an ability to perceive the linguistic signals they transmit i.e. they have understanding of what they are communicating to others.
SPECIALIZATION:
• Language signals are emitted for the sole purpose of communication, and not any other biological functions such as eating. In other words, language signals are intentional, and not just a side effect of another behavior.
SEMANTICITY:
• Specific language signals represent specific meanings; the associations are ‘relatively fixed’.
COMPETENCE VS PERFORMANCE
LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE: Knowledge of words and grammar.
LINGUISTIC PERFORMANCE: how we use this knowledge in actual speech production and comprehension
GRAMMAR: Grammar is the knowledge speakers have about the units and rules of their language—rules for combining sounds into words (called phonology), rules of word formation (called morphology), rules for combining words into phrases and phrases into sentences (called syntax), as well as the rules for assigning meaning (called semantics).
DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR: A god model of description
PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR: No grammar is equal. There are better or worse language change is corruption.
LINGUISTIC PETERMINISM: The strongest form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
LINGUISTIC RELATIVISM: Weaker than determinism.
ARTIFICAL LANGUAGES
• Languages which have been constructed to be similar in function (broadly speaking) to natural languages.
• Artificial Languages consist of material gathered from several natural languages, or even a single natural language.
APPLIED LINGUISTICS: Refers to a broad range of activities which involve solving some language-related problem or addressing some language-related concern.
THE ROLE OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS: Solving practical problems provides teacher with a formal knowledge of the nature of the language and its system


LINGUISTIC THEORIES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR: A traditional grammar is a pre-20th century language description based on earlier grammars of Greek or Latin.
STRUCTURALISM: FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE/ Language is a socially shared system of signs. The current spoken language. Description of phonological system.
CHOMSKT’S TGG: A system of innate rules. a native speaker possesses a kind of linguistic competence. language learning becomes an activity of building and testing hypotheses instead of habit formation.
PHONETICS: THE SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE
PHONETICS: The science of speech sounds is called phonetics.
PHONEME: A phoneme is the smallest unit that distinguishes meaning between sounds in a given language.
PHONE: A phone is the smallest unit that distinguishes meaning between sounds in a given language.
ALLAPHONE: Allophone, one of the phonetically distinct variants of a phoneme. The occurrence of one allophone rather than another is usually determined by its position in the word (initial, final, medial, etc.) or by its phone
ACOUSTIC PHONETICS: focuses on the physical properties of sounds;
AUDITORY PHONETICS: is concerned with how listeners perceive these sounds; and
ARTICULATORY PHONETICS: the study of how the vocal tract produces the sounds of language.
CONSONANTS
The sounds of all languages fall into two classes: consonants and vowels.
Consonants are produced with some restriction or closure in the vocal tract that impedes the flow of air from the lungs.
In phonetics, the terms consonant and vowel refer to types of sounds, not to the letters that represent them
PLACE OF ARTICULATION:
We classify consonants according to where in the vocal tract the airflow restriction occurs, called the place of articulation.
Movement of the tongue and lips creates the constriction, reshaping the oral cavity in various ways to produce the various sounds.
• Bilabials [p] [b] [m] When we produce a [p], [b], or [m], we articulate by bringing both lips together.
• Labiodentals [f] [v] We also use our lips to form [f] and [v]. We articulate these sounds by touching the bottom lip to the upper teeth.
• Interdentals [θ] [ð] These sounds, both spelled th, are pronounced by inserting the tip of the tongue between the teeth.
• Alveolars [t] [d] [n] [s] [z] [l] [r] All seven of these sounds are pronounced with the tongue raised in various ways to the alveolar ridge.
• Palatals [ʃ] [ӡ] [ʧ] [ʤ] [j] For these sounds, which occur in mission [mɪʃən], measure [mɛӡər], cheap [ʧip], judge [ʤʌʤ], and yoyo [jojo], the constriction occurs by raising the front part of the tongue to the palate.
• Velars [k] [g] [ŋ] Another class of sounds is produced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate or velum.
• Uvulars [ʀ] [q] [ɢ] Uvular sounds are produced by raising the back of the tongue to the uvula, the fleshy protuberance that hangs down in the back of our throats.
• Glottals [h] [Ɂ] The sound of [h] is from the flow of air through the open glottis and past the tongue and lips as they prepare to pronounce a vowel sound, which always follows [h].

MANNER OF ARTICULATION
Speech sounds also vary in the way the airstream is affected as it flows from the lungs up and out of the mouth and nose.
It may be blocked or partially blocked; the vocal cords may vibrate or not vibrate. We refer to this as the manner of articulation.
VOICED AND VOICELESS SOUNDS
Sounds are voiceless when the vocal cords are apart so that air flows freely through the glottis into the oral cavity. [p] and [s] in super [supər] are two of the several voiceless sounds of English.
If the vocal cords are together, the airstream forces its way through and causes them to vibrate. Such sounds are voiced. [b] and [z] in buzz [bʌz] are two of the many voiced sounds of English. To get a sense of voicing, try putting a finger in each ear and say the voiced “z-z-z-z-z.”
MINIMAL PAIRS: A minimal pair is two words with different meanings that are identical except for one sound segment that occurs in the same place in each word.
ASPIRATION: Voiceless sounds fall into two classes depending on the timing of the vocal cord closure.
ORAL VS NASAL SOUNDS: Sounds produced with the velum up, blocking the air from escaping through the nose, are oral sounds, because the air can escape only through the oral cavity.
Most sounds in all languages are oral sounds. When the velum is lowered, air escapes through both the nose and the mouth.
Sounds produced this way are nasal sounds. The sound [m] is a nasal consonant. Thus [m] is distinguished from [b] because it is a nasal sound, whereas [b] is an oral sound
STOPS: Stops [p] [b] [m] [t] [d] [n] [k] [g] [ŋ] [ʧ] [ʤ] [Ɂ] We are seeing finer and finer distinctions of speech sounds. However, both [t] and [s] are voiceless, alveolar, oral sounds.
FRICATIVES [f] [v] [θ] [ð] [s] [z] [ʃ] [ӡ] [x] [ɣ] [h] In the production of some continuants, the airflow is so severely obstructed that it causes friction, and the sounds are therefore called fricatives.
Affricates [ʧ] [ʤ] These sounds are produced by a stop closure followed immediately by a gradual release of the closure that produces an effect characteristic of a fricative. The palatal sounds that begin and end the words church and judge are voiceless and voiced affricates, respectively. Affricates are not continuants because of the initial stop closure.
Liquids [l] [r] In the production of the sounds [l] and [r], there is some obstruction of the airstream in the mouth, but not enough to cause any real constriction or friction. These sounds are liquids. They are articulated differently, as described in the earlier alveolar section, but are grouped as a class because they are acoustically similar.
Glides [j] [w] The sounds [j] and [w], the initial sounds of you [ju] and we [wi], are produced with little obstruction of the airstream.
Approximants The sounds [w], [j], [r], and [l] may also be called approximants because the articulators approximate a frictional closeness, but no actual friction occurs. The first three are central approximants, whereas [l] is a lateral approximant.
Trills and flaps The r-sound of many languages may be different from the English [r]. A trilled r is produced by rapid vibrations of an articulator. An alveolar trill, as in the Spanish word for ‘dog,’ perro, is produced by vibrating the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge. Its IPA symbol is [r], strictly speaking, though we have co-opted [r] for the English r. Many French speakers articulate the initial sound of rouge as a uvular trill, produced by vibrating the uvula. Its IPA symbol is [ʀ]
Clicks These “exotic” sounds are made by moving air in the mouth between various articulators. The sound of disapproval often spelled tsk is an alveolar click that occurs in several languages of southern Africa such as Zulu.
VOWELS
Vowels are produced with little restriction of the airflow from the lungs out through the mouth and/or the nose
The quality of a vowel depends on the shape of the vocal tract as the air passes through. Different parts of the tongue may be high or low in the mouth; the lips may be spread or pursed; the velum may be raised or lowered
LIP ROUNDING
Vowels also differ as to whether the lips are rounded or spread. The back vowels [u], [ʊ], [o], and [ɔ] in boot, put, boat, and bawd are the only rounded vowels in (American) English. They are produced with pursed or rounded lips.
DIPHTONGS
A diphthong is a sequence of two vowel sounds “squashed” together. Diphthongs are present in the phonetic inventory of many languages, including english.
The vowels we have studied so far are simple vowels, called monophthongs.
Nasalization of Vowels
When the nasal passage is blocked, oral vowels result; when the nasal passage is open, nasal (or nasalized) vowels result.
In English, nasal vowels occur for the most part before nasal consonants in the same syllable, and oral vowels occur in all other places.
TENSE AND LAX VOWELS
The first vowel in each pair is generally produced with greater tension of the tongue muscles than its counterpart, and it is often a little longer in duration.
PROSODIC FEATURES
Length, pitch, and stress (or “accent”) are prosodic or suprasegmental features.
Length: Speech sounds that are identical in their place or manner features may differ in length (duration).
PITCH: When we speak, we also change the pitch of our voices. The pitch depends on how fast the vocal cords vibrate: the faster they vibrate, the higher the pitch.
STRESS: In many languages, certain syllables in a word are louder, slightly higher in pitch, and somewhat longer in duration than other syllables in the word
TONE AND INTONATION
Speakers of all languages vary the pitch of their voice when they speak.
The effect of pitch on a syllable differs from language to language. In English, it doesn’t matter whether you say cat with a high pitch or a low pitch. It will still mean ‘cat.’
But if you say [ba] with a relatively high pitch in Nupe (a language spoken in Nigeria), it will mean ‘to be sour,’ whereas if you say it with a relatively low pitch, it will mean ‘to count.’
Languages that use the pitch of individual vowels or syllables to contrast meanings of words are called tone languages. Rather than pitch we use the term tone.
Intonation is variation of pitch that is not used to distinguish words.
Languages that are not tone languages, such as English or French, are called intonation languages.