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2 Introduction To Linguistics PDF
2 Introduction To Linguistics PDF
Competencies:
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word formation such as derivation may help learners interpret and
remember meaning of words that follow certain patterns in forming
short words into longer words.
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‘building blocks’ for the encoding of meaning, the elements
being phonemes (sounds), morphemes (words), tagmemes
(phrases and sentences/clauses). Language learning, it is
assumed, entails mastering the elements or building blocks
of the language and learning the rules by which these
elements are combined, from phoneme to morpheme to
word to phrase to sentence.
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such as all languages have sounds; all languages have rules
that form sounds into words, words into phrases and clauses;
and all languages have transformation rules that enable
speakers to ask questions, negate sentences, issue orders,
defocus the doer of the action, etc.
B. Acquisition of Language
a. The child imitates the sounds and patterns which s/he hears
around her/him.
b. People recognize the child’s attempts as being similar to the
adult models and reinforce (reward) the sounds by approval
or some other desirable reaction.
c. In order to obtain more of these rewards, the child repeats
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the sounds and patterns so that these become habits.
d. In this way the child’s verbal behavior is conditioned
(‘shaped’) until the habits coincide with the adult models.
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and appropriate occurs in language acquisition.
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have a ‘low filter’ which promotes language learning.
Learners with a low affective filter seek and receive more
input, interact with confidence, and are more receptive to the
input they are exposed to. On the other hand, anxious
learners have a high affective filter which prevents
acquisition from taking place.
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They are also characterized by mechanical habit-formation
teaching, done through unremitting practice: sentence patterns are
repeated and drilled until they become habitual and automatic to
minimize occurrences of mistakes. Grammar is taught through
analogy, hence, explanations of rules are not given until the
students have practiced a pattern in a variety of contexts.
4. The view that is both cognitive and affective has given rise to a
holistic approach to language learning or whole-person learning
which has spawned humanistic techniques in language learning
and Community Language Learning. In these methods, the whole
person including emotions and feelings as well as language
knowledge and behavior skills become central to teaching. The
humanistic approach equips learners “vocabulary for expressing
one’s feelings, for sharing one’s values and viewpoints with others,
and for developing a better understanding of their feelings and
needs.”
D. Linguistic Concepts:
Phonology is the study of the sound system of language: the rules that
govern pronunciation. It comprises the elements and principles that
determine sound patterns in a language.
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3. Morphology. It studies the patterns of forming words by combining
sounds into minimal distinctive units of meaning called morphemes.
It deals with the rules of attaching suffixes or prefixes to single
morphemes to form words.
Phonology:
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Phoneme is the smallest unit of sound of any language that causes a
difference in meaning. It is a phone segment that has a contrastive
status. The basic test for a sound’s distinctiveness is called a minimal
pair test. A minimal pair consists of two forms with distinct meaning
that differ by only one segment found in the same position in each
form. For example, [sɪp] ‘sip’ and [zɪp] ‘zip’ form a minimal pair and
show that the sounds [s] and [z] contrast in English because they
cause the difference in meaning between the words ‘sip’ and ‘zip’;
hence, they are separate phonemes - /s/ and /z/.
The /t/ in top is aspirated [th]; the /t/ in stop is released [t]; the /t/ in
pot is unreleased [t7].
Palatal
Glottal
Velar
Bilabial
Labiodental
Alveolar
Stops voiceless p t k
voiced b d g
Fricatives voiceless f θ s š h
voiced v ð z ž
Affricates voiceless č
voiced
ǰ
Nasals voiceless
voiced m n ŋ
Liquids voiceless
voiced l r
Glides voiceless
voiced w y
Source: Parker, F. & K. Riley. (1994). Linguistics for Non-Linguists.Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
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following points.
(a) Stops. Two articulators (lips, tongue, teeth, etc.) are brought
together such that the flow of air through the vocal tract is
completely blocked (/p,b,t,d,k,g/).
(b) Fricatives. Two articulators are brought near each other such that
the flow of air is impeded but not completely blocked. The air
flow through the narrow opening creates friction, hence the
term fricative (/f,v,θ,ð,s,z,š,ž,h/).
(c) Affricates. Articulations corresponding to affricates are those that
begin like stops (with a complete closure in the vocal tract) and
end like fricatives (with a narrow opening in the vocal tract)
(/č,ǰ/). Because affricates can be described as a stop plus a
fricative, some phonemic alphabets transcribe / č/ as /tš/ and /ǰ/
as /dž/.
(d) Nasals. A nasal articulation is one in which the airflow through the
mouth is completely blocked but the velum is lowered, forcing
the air through the nose (/m,n,ŋ/).
(e) Liquids and Glides. Both of these terms describe articulations
that are mid-way between true consonants (i.e., stops,
fricatives, affricates, and nasals) and vowels, although they are
both generally classified as consonants. Liquid is a cover term
for all l-like and r-like articulations (/l,r/).
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are vowels.
+bilabial +bilabial
/p/ = +stop /b/ = +stop
−voice +voice
5. Vowels are produced with little obstruction in the vocal tract and are
generally voiced. They are described in terms of the following
physical dimensions: tongue height, frontness, lip rounding, tenseness.
Different parts of the tongue may be raised or lowered. The lips may
be spread or pursed. The passage through which the air travels,
however, is never narrow as to obstruct the free flow of the airstream.
Vowel sounds carry pitch and loudness; one can sing vowels. They
may be long or short.
Front Back
i u
ɪ ℧
e o
ε Λ (ә)
Ɔ
æ a
Spread Round
High Tense
Lax
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Mid
Low
Source: Parker, F. & K. Riley. (1994). Linguistics for Non-Linguists.Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
e.g.
2 1 2 1 1 2
fundamental introductory secondary
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Morphology:
3. Free morphemes are those that can stand on their own as independent
words, e.g. {happy} in unhappily, {like} in dislike, {boy} in
boyhood. They can also occur in isolation; e.g. {happy}, {like}
Bound morphemes are those that cannot stand alone as words; they
need to be attached to another morpheme; e.g. {con-}; {de-}, {per-}
to be attached to {-ceive} as in conceive, deceive, perceive.
5. Inflectional morphemes are those that never change the form class of
the words or morphemes to which they are attached. They are always
attached to complete words. They cap the word; they are a closed-
ended set of morphemes - English has only 8 inflectional morphemes.
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actualize; help + {-ful} helpful; {un-} + lucky unlucky.
Proper Name. This process forms a word from a proper name (e.g.,
hamburger < Hamburg (Germany); sandwich < Earl of Sandwich).
8. Morphophonemic Processes
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Dissimilation is a process that results in two sounds becoming less
alike in articulatory or acoustic terms; a process in which units which
occur in some contexts are ‘lost’ in others; e.g. ‘libary’ instead of
‘library,’ ‘ govenor’ for ‘governor’
Syntactic Structures
Semantics
3. Synonymy refers to words having the same sense; that is, they have
the same values for all of their semantic features. happy and glad;
reply and respond; hastily and hurriedly are synonymous words in
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English.
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one sentence presupposes another if the falsity of the second renders
the first without a truth value; e.g. The sentence ‘The King of
Canada is dead.’ presupposes that ‘There exists (is) a King of
Canada.’ The first sentence presupposes the second sentence
because if the second sentence is false, then the first sentence has no
truth value.
Pragmatics
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Expressive. An expressive is an utterance used to express the
emotional state of the speaker – for example, Congratulations for
topping the bar exam!. This class includes acts of apologizing,
thanking, congratulating, condoling, welcoming, deploring,
objecting, and so on.
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4. Implicatures refer to statements that imply a proposition that is not
part of the utterance and does not follow as a necessary consequence
of the utterance.
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