VISUAL MID TERM EVALUATION

LINGUISTICS
BY
HASRIANA
(A 122 20 011)

ENGLISH EDUCATION
POST GRADUATE PROGRAM
UNIVERSITAS TADULAKO
2020
 Chapter I
LANGUAGE: A PREVIEW

A. Definition of Language

Linguistics is study of language. People who study language in all its aspect are called linguists.
Then, what is language? Is language human specific? Language is a system of communication by
sound, operating through the organs of speech, among members of given community, and using vocal
symbols possessing arbitrary conventional meaning (Pei, 1966). Firstly, language is a system, i.e.,
elements of language are combined according to rules. Secondly, language is arbitrary in the sense
that there is no intrinsic connection between the word and the things objectively. Thirdly, language is
vocal because the primary medium is sound for all languages no matter how well developed their
writing system are.

Human language is characterized by creativity. Fromkin (2011:77) stated that any speaker of any
language can produce and understand an infinite number of sentences. People are able to use
language in a recent (novel) way to get new forms. It allows each speaker to create new words and
sentences that have never been spoken before.

B. Grammar and Linguistic Competence

Grammatical competence is the ability to recognize and produce particular structure rule and to use it in
communication effectively. Meanwhile, Linguistic competence is unconscious knowledge of grammar
that allows a speaker to use and understand language.

The components of grammar are phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Phonetics
is study of speech sounds. Phonology is study of sound system of human language. Morphology is
study of word formation. Syntax is study of sentence formation. And semantics is study of words and
sentences meaning.

Linguists use the term grammar in a rather special and technical way. They call a grammar of the
system as follows:

1. Generality; that all languages have a grammar. They must have phonetic and phonological system.
Since they all have words and sentences, they also must have a morphology and syntax. And since
these words and sentences have systematic meanings. There must be semantic principles as well.
2. Equality; all grammars are equal. From the point of view modern linguists, we can’t say that a
language is better than another. All languages and all varieties of a particular language have
grammars that enable their speakers to express their minds. There is no better language than
another, they all are the equal.
3. Changeability; grammars change over time slightly. New words and phrases created by speakers
naturally based on their needs. Their language grows to include words, phrases, and constructions.
4. Universality; grammars are alike in basic ways. All languages have similarities in pattern. At least,
the structure of sentence at least has subject and predicate in sentence.
5. Tacitness; grammatical knowledge is subconscious. People may aware or unaware in gathering
knowledge about language. Speakers of a language know what sounds right and what doesn’t
sound right, but they are not sure how they know it.
 Chapter II
PHONETICS: THE SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE
A. Phonetic Transcription

Phonetics is study of speech sounds. Phonetics is the precise study of speech sounds-how they are
produce, how they are transmitted and how they are heard. As such, the study of phonetics crosses
language barriers, since it is concerned with all speech sounds and not just those of one particular
language. The best known system, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), has been developing
since 1888. This system of transcription attempts to represent each sound of human speech with a
single symbol. This symbols are enclosed in brackets [ ] to indicate that the transcription is phonetic
and doesn’t represent the spelling system of a particular language. Many alphabets, including IPA,
represent speech in the form of segments. Segment is an individual speech sound.

B. The Sound-Producing System

Sound is produced when air is set in motion. The speech production mechanism consists of:
• an air supply provided by the lungs.
• a sound source that sets the air in motion in ways specifically relevant to speech production the
larynx where a set of muscles called the vocal folds (or vocal cords) are located.
• a set of filters that modifies the sound in various ways organs above the larynx:
the pharynx (the tube of the throat between the oral cavity and the larynx) the oral cavity the nasal
cavity.

The lungs:

In order to produce the majority of sounds in the Images 2.1 Sound Producing System

world’s languages, air is taken into the lings and

expelled during speech (A small number of sounds
are made with air as it flows into the vocal tract).A
certain level of air pressure is needed keep the
speech mechanism functioning steadily which is
maintained by the action of various sets of muscles.
The muscles are:
– theintercostals (the muscles between the ribs)
– the diaphragm (the large sheet of muscles that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen).

The larynx:

Air flowing out of the lungs up the trachea (windpipe) passes through a box-like structure made of
cartilage and muscle – the larynx (commonly known as the voice box or Adam’s apple).The main
portion of the larynx is formed by the thyroid cartilage, which rests on the ring-shaped cricoid
cartilage.Fine sheets of muscle flare from the inner sides of the larynx, forming the paired vocal folds
(vocal cords).The vocal folds are each attached to the thyroid cartilage at the front and to the arytenoids
cartilage at the back.As the air passes through the spaces between the vocal folds, which is called the
glottis, different glottal states are produced.

Images 2.2 Larynx System

The air passages that make up the vocal tract are often divided into three main parts:
– the oral tract
– the pharynx
– the nasal tract.

The parts of the vocal tract that can be used to form sounds are called articulators. The articulators that
form the lower surface of the vocal tract often move to towards those that form the upper surface.
The Articulators or Organs of
Speech
1. Lips
2. Teeth
3. Alveolar Ridge
4. Hard Palate
5. Soft Palate (velum)
6. Uvula
7. Tip of the tongue
8. Blade of the tongue
9. Front of the tongue
10. Back of the tongue
11. Nasal cavity
12. Oral cavity Images 2.3 Articulators

13. Pharynx
14. Larynx

The lower surface of the vocal tract consists primarily of the different parts of the tongue and the lower
lips.

The principal parts of the lower surface of the vocal tract

Images 2.4 Vocal Tracts

The tip and blade of the tongue are the most mobile parts.Behind the blade is what is known technically
as the front of the tongue (actually the forward part of the tongue that lies underneath the hard palate
when the tongue is at rest).The center of the tongue is the part of it that lies partly beneath the hard
palate and partly beneath the soft palate when it is at rest.The back of the tongue is beneath the soft
palate, and the root which is opposite the back wall of the pharynx.The epiglottis is attached to the
lower part of the root of the tongue.

C. Sound Classes

The sounds of language can be grouped into sound classes based on the phonetic properties that they
share. Some Natural Classes of sounds are described below. Determine which sound that does not
belong in each group. Consonantal sounds, which may be voiced or voiceless, are made with a narrow
or complete closure in the vocal track. As a result of the difference in articulation, consonants and
vowels differ in the way they sound. Vowels are more sonorous than consonants, and so we perceive
them as louder and longer lasting. The greater sonority of vowels allows to form the basis of syllables.
A syllable can be defined as a peak of sonority surrounded by less sonorous segments.

D. Consonant Articulation

The place of articulation is the physical location in the vocal tract that a phoneme is produced in, and
the kinds of articulatory movements that are involved in producing a sound. Here is a diagram of the
vocal tract:

• Bilabial consonants are produced at the lips (e.g. /b/).

 • Labiodental consonants are produced with the lower lip and the upper teeth (e.g. /f/).
• Dental consonants are produced when the tongue is placed between the teeth (e.g. /θ/, /ð/).
• Alveolar consonants are produced with the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge (the hard,
bony ridge behind the teeth) (e.g. /s/).
• Post-alveolar sounds are produced with the tip of the tongue and the roof of the mouth
(specifically, the area in between the alveolar ridge and the soft palate). (e.g. /ʃ/, /ʒ/).
• Palatal sounds are produced between the tongue and the hard palate (e.g. /j/).
• Velar sounds are produced between the back of the tongue and the velum (e.g. /k/, /g/).

E. Manner of Articulation

Consonants can be defined by (1) their voicing, and (2) their place of articulation. Our final level of
classification is to do with the manner or process of articulation. This is related to the degree of closure
(complete closure → close approximation → open approximation).

• Plosives involve a complete closure, where the vocal articulators fully meet and air flow is
stopped. This creates the 'explosion' of sound when the closure is released, hence the name
'plosive'. The plosive sounds in English are: /p b t d k g/.
• Fricatives involve a close approximation, where the vocal articulators do not fully meet and air
flow is forced through a narrow passage. This creates the friction sound, hence the name
'fricative'. The fricative sounds in English are: /f v s z θ ð ʃʒ/.
• Approximants involve an open approximation, where the vocal articulators are still close but not
enough to create friction. The approximant sounds in English are: /j r w/.
• Nasal sounds are produced by air coming out through the nose and mouth. The nasal sounds
in English are /m n ŋ/.

F. Vowels

Vowels are sonorous, syllabic sounds made with the vocal tract more open than it is for consonant.
English vowels are divided into two major types, simple vowels and diphthongs. Simple vowels do not
show a noticeable change in quality. Diphthongs are vowels that exhibit a change in quality within a
single syllable. English diphthongs show changes in quality that are due to tongue movement away
from the initial vowel articulation towards a glide position.

Differences in vowel quality are produced by different shapes of the oral cavity. Characteristic vowel
qualities are determined by (a) the height of the tongue in the mouth; (b) the part of the tongue raised
(front, middle, or back); (c) the configuration of the lips; and (d) the tension of the muscles of the oral
tract. An articulatory description of a vowel must include all of these features.

Tongue height

Pronounce the words eat and at. Now pronounce just the vowels of these two words. The degree of
open-ness of its vowel falls between those of eat and at, so there is a continuous increase in mouth
openness as you go from one vowel to another. These degrees distinguish high, mid, and low vowels.
We will use the following symbols for this sequence of vowels:
beat [i] High bit [ı] Mid bat [æ] Low

Front and back vowels

Now compare the vowel of beat with that of boot. Alternate the words, and then just the vowels. It will
be more difficult this time to monitor the activities of your tongue as you shift from one of these to the
other, but try anyway. You produce the [i] of beat with the front (blade) of your tongue raised toward
your palate. If you draw in your breath as you make this vowel, you will feel the cold air against your
palate. As you shift from [i] to [u], the vowel of boot, you will find yourself raising the back of your
tongue. (You will also find yourself pursing (rounding) your lips, but disregard this for the moment.)
Because of the relative positions at which these vowels are made in the mouth, phoneticians call [i] and
the other vowels in front vowels, and [u] a back vowel. The back vowels, like the front ones, descend
from high, through mid, to low, in a continuous sequence. You can observe this by pronouncing the
words coot, coat, and cot, and then just their vowels. As you produce this series of vowels you’ll find
your mouth opening (monitor your lower jaw) as you go from coot to coat to cot. We use the following
symbols for these back vowels:
boot [u] High bought [ɔ] Mid hot [α] Low

Images 2.5 Articulation of Vowels

 Chapter III
PHONOLOGY (THE FUNCTION AND PATTERNING OF SOUNDS)
A. Definition of Phonology
Phonology is study of sound system of human language. Phonology is the broader study of major
speech sounds, and their organization, in a particular language. We can say that phonology deals with
how language organized by its elements of speech into an integrated system. While phonetics is the
study of the ways in which speech sounds are produced, phonology is the study of (1) how the speech
sounds of a language are used in that language to distinguish meaningful units (such as words) from
each other, and (2) how sounds are patterned in a language. Consequently, the study of phonology
requires us to take meaning into consideration, while phonetics does not. In this section we explore
phonology and the basic unit of phonological analysis, such as phoneme and syllable.

B. Phonemes

A phoneme is smallest unit of sound in word. It is meaningless but has function in differentiate words
meaning. A phoneme may be made up of one or more letters which make one sound. Phonemes are
always written between two slashes / /. A letter can represent different phonemes, for example:

chef /∫ef/
choir /kwaıə/
cheese /t∫i:z/

Allophones

Allophone is variant sound of phoneme. It always written between brackets [ ]. One phoneme may
have two or more different sound. Examples of allophones:
phoneme /s/

allophones [s] sleep [∫] sheep

phoneme /p/

allophones [p] speak [ph] picture [p¬] stop

C. Syllable

A syllable is one unit sound of language. It can also be defined as a word of part of word with a vowel
sound. We can say that number of times that we hear vowel sound is the number of syllables in a word.
Syllables can have more than one letter; however, a syllable cannot have more than one sound.
Syllables can have more than one consonant and more than one vowel, as well. However, the
consonant(s) and vowel(s) that create the syllable cannot make more than one sound. Some words
have one syllable (monosyllabic), and some words have many syllables (polysyllabic).
1. Monosyllabic and Polysyllabic Word
a. Monosyllabic Word
A word with single syllable or one syllable is named as monosyllabic word. For examples: man, bat,
ball, fan, pen, cry, dry, fry, etc.

b. Polysyllabic Word
A word with more than one syllable is named as polysyllabic word. For examples: mother (two
syllables), position (three syllables), photography (four syllables), university (five syllables),
capitalization (six syllables), etc.

2. Open Syllable vs. Closed Syllable

a. Open Syllable
An open syllable is a syllable that is ended with vowel sound. Examples of open syllables:
• wry
• no
• a
• chew
b. Closed Syllable
A closed syllable is a syllable that is ended with consonant sound. Examples of closed syllables:
• clock
• bin
• trim
• if
D. Suprasegmental

Consonants and vowels are two different qualities of sounds that are found almost in all languages of
the world. All vowel sounds are voiced and all of them are oral sounds as during the production of them
the soft palate is raised and hence the nasal cavity is completely blocked. Consonants are identified or
classified in terms of voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation. Suprasegmental
phonology is concerned with other aspects of phonology, such as tone, stress and intonation.
1. Stress
Stress of word refers in how to produce syllable sound in high or low pitch. It may be donated by an
accent over the vowel in stressed syllable. A different stress can distinguish different meaning of
word.
Eq.
• “contrast” [khαntræst] Noun [kʌnthræst] Verb
2. Tone
In tone languages, speakers change the rate at which their vocal folds vibrate to signal important
differences in meaning. Variation in tone sound commonly found in Mandarin.
3. Intonation
In English, high and low intonation appears at the end of phrase and utterance. Statements usually
have high accent of certain word within sentence and low accent at the end, meanwhile question
forms usually have low accent within sentence and high accent at the end.
Eq.
Statement Harry came with Anna.

Question Harry came with Anna?

 Chapter IV
MORPHOLOGY (THE ANALYSIS OF WORD STRUCTURE)
A. Words and Word Structure

Some words consist of a single morpheme called simple words. While, complex words consist of two or
more morpheme.

1. Morphemes

A morpheme is smallest meaningful unit of language, covers both grammatical and/or lexical meaning.
It consists of free and bound morpheme. Free morpheme is word element that can stand alone as word
that has meaning (e.g. cat, house man, happy, etc.). While bound morpheme is a word element that
cannot stand alone as a word. It has no meaning but can differentiate the meaning (e.g. co-, -er, -s, -ity,
-ness, etc.). Sometimes, because of historical or phonological reasons, the same morpheme can have
different forms. Many morphemes have two or more different pronunciations called allomorphs. For
examples:
books /-s/
pigs /-z/
boxes /-iz/

2. Representing Word Structure

Roots and Suffix

Complex words consist of a root and one or more affixes. Affixes can be further classified as prefixes or
suffixes. A prefix is an affix that is added before the root (e.g. cowrite, imposible, undo). A suffix is an
affix that is added after the root (e.g.writer, happiness, doable).

Bases

A base is the element to which a affix is added. As such, it has no lexical meaning. All roots are bases,
but not all bases are roots. For example, the word “speakers”; the base is speaker, while the root is
speak.

B. Derivation

Derivational affixes are changes in which a word base is expanded or modified order to indicate a
syntactic change. It changes the word category.
E.g.
weak (adj)
weakness (n)
weaknesses (n. plural)
globe (n)
global (adj)
globalize (v)
globalization (n)

Table 4.1 Examples of English Derivational Prefix

Examples of English Derivational Suffix

C. Word Formation

Generally, word formation (derived words) is the process or result of forming new words, which derived
from words or group of words with the same root. In other words, it is defined as the ways in which new
words are made on the basis of other words or morphemes.

1. Compounding

Compounding consists of the combination of two words, in which one word modifies the meaning of the
other (the head). E.g. Moonlight, football, know-nothing. The head of compound is usually the right-
most constituent. It determines how the inflectional properties of a compound are realized. Compounds
with a head are called endocentric compound, while compounds with no head are called exocentric.

2. Borrowing

Borrowing I a word formation process in which a word from one language is borrowed directly into
another language. E.g. algebra (Arabic), democracy (Greek), cookie (Dutch), haiku (Japanese).

3. Clipping

Clipping is the process in which a word is reduced or shortened without changing the meaning of the
word. Types of clipping: (1) back clipping-removing the end portion of word, (2) fore-clipping-removing
the beginning portion of a word, (3) middle clipping-retaining only the middle part of a word. E.g. bike-
bicycle, gas-gasoline, math-mathematics, gym-gymnasium, fridge-refrigerator, sub-submarine.

4. Blending

Blending is process in which parts of two or more words combine to create a new word whose meaning
is often a combination of the original words. E.g. camera + recorder = camcorder, cybernetic +
organism = cyborg, emotion + icon = emoticon, information + commercial = infomercial, internet +
citizen = netizen, smoke + fog = smog.

5. Backformation

Back-formation is a word formation process in which an actual or supposed derivational affix detaches
from the base form of a word to create a new word. E.g. automate - automation, babysit – babysitter,
blockbust – blockbuster.
6. Acronyms

Acronym is a word or name formed as an abbreviation from the initial components in a phrase or a
word, usually in the form of individual letters. E.g. RADAR (radio detection and ringing), NATO (north
Atlantic treaty organization), NASA (national aeronautics and space administration).

7. Eponyms

Eponym is a word formation process in which a new word is formed from the name of a real fictitious
person. E.g. America (Amerigo Vespucci), August (Augustus Caesar), Celsius (Anders Celsius).

D. Inflection

Inflection is modification suffering a lexeme to express its position. It is the extra letter or letters added
to nouns, verbs, and adjectives in their different grammatical forms, nouns are inflected in plural, verbs
are inflected in various tenses, and adjectives are inflected in the comparative/superlative.

Table 4.2 Examples of Inflectional Morphemes

 Chapter V
SYNTAX (THE ANALYSIS OF SENTENCE STRUCTURE)
A. CATEGORIES AND STRUCTURE

A fundamental fact about words in all human languages is that they can be grouped together into a
relatively small number of classes that is called grammatical/syntactic categories.

1. Word-Level Categories
a. Lexical and Non-lexical categories
Word level categories can be divided into lexical categories and non-lexical categories:
Lexical categories
• Noun (N); Harry, boy, policy, etc.
• Verb (V); arrive, discuss, hear, etc.
• Adjective (Adj); good, tall, old, etc.
• Preposition (P); in, on, at, etc.
• Adverb (Adv); now, quickly, slowly, etc.
Non-lexical categories
• Determiner (Det); a, an, the, etc.
• Degree word (Deg); too, so, very, etc.
• Qualifier (Qual); always, perhaps, often, etc.
• Auxiliary (Aux); will, can, may, etc.
• Conjunction (Con); and, or, but, etc.
b. Semantic criteria (Meaning)
• Noun; for instance, typically name entities such as individual (Paijo, Tessy) and objects (book,
desk).
• Verbs; characteristically designate actions (run, jump), sensation (feel, hurt), and state (be,
remain).
• Adjective; refers to connotation of noun (tall, handsome).
• Adverbs; typically attributes to actions, sensations, and states about verbs (quickly, early).
c. Morpho-syntactic criteria (Inflection)
Table 5.1 Vocal Tracts
d. Syntactic criteria (Distribution)
The syntactic criteria for word classes are based on what words a given word occurs with and
types of phrase in which a given word occurs.

• Noun; occurrence with a determiner (eg. a car, the table)

• Verb; occurrence with an auxiliary (eg. has gone, will stay)
• Adjective; occurrence with a degree word (e.g. very rich, too small)
2. Phrase Structure

Heads

Sentences are not just formed by words together, rather sentences have design of level which
words are grouped together into structural unit.

NP VP AP PP Phrase level

N V A P Word level

Phrases can consist of some elements of word. An element is called head if it is the main part of
the word phrase, meanwhile the element is called specifier that has function as modifier of head.

e.g. NP; the books

VP; never eat

AP; quite certain

PP; almost in

Specifier

Semantically, specifiers help to make more precise towards the meaning of head. They are
determiner (Det), qualifier (Qual), and degree words (Deg). Syntactically, specifiers typically mark
phrase boundary. In English, specifiers are putted at the beginning of their respective phrases.

NP

Det N

the books

VP

Qual N

never eat
Complements

Complements are elements which are themselves phrases, provide information about entities and
location whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head.

e.g. A vegetarian should never eat [a hamburger].

head complement the thing eaten

VP

NP

Qual V Det N

never eat a hamburger

a VP consisting of a head, a specifier, and a complement.

3. Sentences

The largest unit of syntactic analysis is the sentence (S). A sentence is combination of NP that
often called as subject and VP.

e.g. S

VP

NP NP

Det N V Det N

A scientist discovered the answer

4. Tests for Phrase Structure

According to the syntactic analysis, words that make up a sentence form intermediate structural
units called phrases. How do linguists using this way to determine in syntactically which words
should be grouped together into phrases?

Substitution Test

NP often can be replaced by an element such as they, it, or do so.

E.g. - The Students came in after they got lunch.

- The children will if the adults will do so.
 Movement Test

Another indication is that phrases can be moved as a single unit to a different position within the
sentence.

E.g. - I thought the people would buy these flowers, and they did

[would buy these flowers]

Coordination Test

A group of words forms a constituent if it can be joined to another group of words by a conjunction
such as and, or, or but.

E.g. The children often sweep the floor but never clean the wall.

VP VP

B. COMPLEMENT CLAUSES

All human languages allow sentence-like construction to function as complement. Words such as that,
if, and whether are known as complementizers (Cs).

e.g. The psychic knows that/whether/if the contestant will win.

complement clause

CP

NP VP

C Det N Infl V

that the contestant will win

whether
if
S

NP VP
CP

Infl NP VP

C
that
Det N NonPst V whether Det N Infl V
The psychic knows if the contestant will win
C. TRANSFORMATIONS

Transformation is a special type of rule that can move an element from one position to another. It can
be in the form of inversion and insertion. Inversion refers to move the auxiliary from the Infl position to a
position to the left of the subject. Insertion refers to add a special auxiliary verb.
1. Inversion in Yes-No Questions
E.g
Will the boy leave? >> The boy will leave.
S
NP VP

Det N Infl V Will the boy ----- leave?

The boy will leave

2. Deep Structure and Surface Structure

Surface Structure

Will the boy leave? >> The boy will leave.

S
NP VP

Det N Infl V Will the boy ----- leave?

The boy will leave

Deep structure Inversion process

3. Wh Movement

E.g. The man should repair which car?

Which car should the man ------ repair ------ ?

Inversion

Wh-Movement
 REFFERENCES
Eagleson, R.D., Threadgold, T., & Collins, P. 1985. Inside Language. Melbourne: Pitman Publishing.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th Edition.
Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.

O’grady, William. 1997. Contemporary Linguistics an Introduction Third Edition. Boston: Bedford.
Pei, Mario. 1966. Glossary of Linguistic Terminology. New York: Columbia U.P.