Linguistics

Chapter 6
The sounds patterns of language (Phonology)
Phonology: It is a branch of linguistics which studies the system and sound
patterns of a particular language. It studies the functions and patterns of these
sounds.
Types of phonology:
• Segmental phonology analyses speech into discrete segment such as
phonemes.
• Supra-segmental or Non-segmental phonology analyses those features
which extend over more than one segment such as: stress, intonation, tone,
rhyme, rhythm, elision, assimilation.
Phoneme is the smallest abstract meaningless distinctive unit in phonology.
Phone is the smallest concrete meaningless distinctive unit in phonology.
A phone is the actual physical realization of a phoneme.
Ex: [p], [s], [d].
Allophone is the variants of a phone.
Ex: [s] = /s/, /z/, /iz/.
Minimal pair are two words which differ in meaning when only one sound is
changed.
Ex: Pin-bin, cot-cut.
Minimal set are a group of words which differ in meaning and differentiated by
each having only one sound different from all others.
Ex: big-pig-rig-dig.
Assimilation: It is a process in which two phonemes occur in sequence and some
aspect of one phoneme is taken or occupied by the other.
Ex: and /and/
You and me /yuanmi/
Elision: It is the omission of a sound segment which would be present in the
deliberate pronunciation of a word in isolation.
Ex: must /m^st/
You must be /yum^sbi/. We omitted /t/ sound.
Phonetics Phonology
• Linguistics science. 1. A branch of linguistics.
• Studies human speech 2. Sound system and abstract
sounds. pattern.
• Actual physical. 3. Mental and abstract.
• In language. 4. In a language.

Chapter 7
Word Formation processes
They are those processes in which new words are being created with the passage
of time and we can understand them quickly and cope with the use of different
forms of those new words.
We use word formation processes because life changes so that language changes
as well, and also we need to be economic, we need to be brief and to borrow
words as they are.
• Coinage: It is one of the word formation processes that means the
invention of totally new words.
Ex: aspirin-nylon-kleenx
• Borrowing: It is one of the word formation processes that refers to the
adopted words from other languages.
Ex: Alcohol 'Arabic'
Boss 'Dutch'
Piano 'Italian'
• Compounding: It is one of the word formation processes in which two
separate words are combined to produce a single word.
Ex: textbook-waterbed-fingerprint-bookcase
• Blending: It is one of the word formation processes in which we have two
separate words so we take the beginning of the first word and the end of
the other word and combine them together to have a single new term.
Ex: gasoline+ alcohol= gasohol
Smoke+ fog= smog
Breakfast+ lunch= brunch
• Clipping: It is one of the word formation processes in which a word of more
than one syllable is clipped to a shorter form.
Ex: gasoline= gas, bus-flu-pro-lab
• Backformation: It is one of the word formation processes in which we drive
from a certain word class (ex: N.) a word of different type (ex: V.).
Ex: television (N.) = televise (V.)
Editor (N.) = edit (V.)
• Conversion: It is one of the word formation processes which means a
change in the function of a word, a noun comes to be used as a verb.
Ex: paper-butter-vacation (N.+ V.)
They are vacationing in France.
• Derivation: It is one of the word formation processes in which affixes
'prefixes, infixes, suffixes' are added to words to produce a new one.
Ex: Unhappy-Joyful-boyish-careless
• Acronyms: It is one of the word formation processes in which some new
words are formed from the initial letters of a set of words.
Ex: NATO= North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Radar= radio detecting and ranging