Language, Linguistics, and Literacy
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- What is linguistics?
-
ANS:
Broadly speaking, linguistics is the study of language, including its structures, uses, processes of acquisition, and patterns of evolution. There are many sub-areas of linguistics, a number of which are covered in these materials. - How do linguists approach language?
-
1. Linguists generally view spoken language as primary and written language as secondary.
2. Linguists often make a distinction between linguistic competence and linguistic
performance. Broadly speaking, linguistic competence is what one knows about language while linguistic performance is one’s actual language use.
3. Linguists are more concerned with descriptive than prescriptive rules of grammar. - What is linguistic competence?
-
ANS:
Broadly speaking, linguistic competence is what one knows about language while linguistic performance is one’s actual language use. - What is linguistic performance?
-
ANS:
Linguistic performance is one’s actual language use - What is phonetics and phonology?
-
ANS:
Knowledge of sounds and sound patterns. - What is morphology?
-
Morphology is the study of word structure. When linguists study morphology, they are
interested in the different categories of morphemes that make up words (including bound, free, derivational and inflectional morphemes), as well as morphological processes for forming new words. - What is semantics and pragmatics?
-
ANS:
Language meanings and use - What are descriptive rules of grammar?
-
ANS:
Descriptive rules (those that linguists focus on), on the other hand, describe how speakers actually use language and how this use is related to their unconscious linguistic knowledge. Thus, in describing English grammar, a linguist may note that speakers may or may not end a sentence with a preposition or use “me†as a subject, because we observe that sometimes they do and sometimes they do not. Other descriptive rules might focus on the typical order of elements in a sentence. For example, in English, direct objects nouns tend to go after verbs rather than before; thus, we say “I saw tigers,†rather than “I tigers saw.†These descriptive rules describe tendencies rather than absolutes, as there are exceptions to most language patterns and as our “rules†are constantly evolving. Indeed, a study of the history of English (or of any language) suggests that it is often foolhardy to say that speakers absolutely do not do something because, in time, language patterns change In this descriptive, “anything goes†mind-set, linguists are not interested in making judgments about which uses of English are “better†or “worse†than others. It is important to note, however, that linguists do recognize that some uses of language have more social prestige than others in certain situations - What are prescriptive rules of grammar?
-
ANS:
As the term suggests, prescriptive rules offer “prescriptions†for language; that is, they tell speakers and writers how they should or should not use language. For example, when you were growing up, you may have heard that you should avoid ending a sentence with a preposition (e.g., you should say “That’s the table on which I placed the book†rather than “That’s the table I placed the book onâ€), or that you should never use “me†as a subject pronoun (e.g,. instead of “Me and Joe went to the mall†you should say “Joe and I went to the mallâ€). - What is Phonetics?
-
ANS:
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. - What are articulatory phonetics?
-
ANS:
the study of how sounds are produced in the vocal tract, which is an area particularly relevant to teachers. - What does the English sound system consist of?
-
ANS:
English sounds can be divided into two broad categories: consonants and vowels. English has 26 consonants and 12 vowels (it also has 3 diphthongs) - How are English consonants produced?
-
ANS:
Consonants are sounds that are produced with some constriction of the airstream as it moves through the vocal tract and out of the mouth or nose. The ways in which the airstream is affected is described along three dimensions: Voicing, Place of Articulation, and Manner of Articulation - What is Voicing?
-
ANS:
Voicing describes the vibration of the vocal folds in the larynx (the voice box in your throat).
Those consonants produced without vocal fold vibration are voiceless and those with vibration are voiced. For example, the sounds [f] and [v] are made in exactly the same way except that [f] is voiceless (the vocal folds are not vibrating) and [v] is voiced (the vocal folds are vibrating). If you put your hand over your throat, you can probably feel the vibration with [v]. (Note: Phonetic symbols are written in brackets [ ].) - What is Place of Articulation?
- Place of Articulation describes where in the vocal tract the consonant is made. For example, the sounds [p], [b], [m], and [w] are said to have a bilabial place of articulation because they are made with both lips coming together. There are seven major places of articulation for English consonants.
- What is Manner of Articulation?
-
ANS:
Manner of Articulation describes the way in which the airstream is obstructed when the
consonant is made. For example, the sound [p] is said to have a stop manner because the air is completely stopped in the mouth before it is released. There are six major manners of articulation for English consonants. - How are English vowels produced?
-
ANS:
Unlike consonants, vowels do not involve significant constriction of the airstream in the vocal tract. Rather, the general shape of the oral cavity (the inside of the mouth) creates different vowel sounds and is determined by the following:
1. The height of the tongue
2. The forwardness/backness of the tongue
3. The tenseness of the tongue and lips
4. The roundedness of the lips - What are diphthongs?
-
ANS:
A diphthong is a combination of a vowel and glide consonant (either [w] or [y]) that is
pronounced like a single vowel. In English, we have three diphthongs: [oy], [ay], and [aw], which are found respectively in words such as coin [koyn], bite [bayt], and house [haws]. - What is phonology?
-
ANS:
Whereas phonetics is the study of the structural features of individual sounds, phonology focuses on sound patterns in language. - What are phonemes?
-
ANS:
One of the things phonologists are interested in is how speakers of a language organize sounds into distinctive and non-distinctive categories. Classes of sounds that are meaningfully distinctive in a language are called phonemes. For example, /p/ and /b/ are separate phonemes in English; native English speakers perceive them to be different from one another. One way we know that they are distinctive is that when we substitute one for the other, we change the meaning of a word. For example, the pair of words pin [pIn] and bin [bIn] demonstrate that /p/ and /b/ are separate phonemes; when we exchange /p/ and /b/, we create a new word. (Note: The slashes / / indicate that a sound is a phoneme.)Pairs like [pIn] and [bIn] are called minimal pairs, words that differ in only one sound. One helpful rule of thumb is if you can find a minimal pair contrasting two sounds, then those sounds are separate phonemes. For example, the minimal pair “con†[kan] and “gone†[gan] show that [k] and [g] are separate phonemes: If we subsitute [k] with [g], we change the meaning of the word. Note that [kan] and [gan] are a minimal pair because they differ in only one sound, even though they differ in two letters in the spelling. - What is an aspiration?
-
ANS:
A puff of air use to say words is known as aspiration.You should feel a greater puff of air after the [p] in [pIl] than after the [p] in [spIl]. This puff of air is known as aspiration. Thus, the [p] followed by the puff of air is called “aspirated p - What are allophones?
-
ANS:
Variants of the one phoneme. For example, consider the words “pill†[pIl] and “spill†[spIl]. Try saying each of these words with your hand held an inch or two in front of your mouth. You should feel a greater puff of air after the [p] in [pIl] than after the [p] in [spIl]. This puff of air is known as aspiration. Thus, the [p] followed by the puff of air is called “aspirated pâ€, and the one without the puff of air is called “unaspirated p.†So now we see that we have two different “p†sounds in English. Some sounds that are allophones in English are actually separate phonemes in other languages. For example, in the language Sindhi (spoken in India and Pakistan), aspirated p and unaspirated p are different phonemes. If you substitute one for the other, you do change the meaning of a word. Thus, it might be challenging (at least initially) for native English speakers learning Sindhi to hear the difference between these two sounds because in English we do not perceive them to be distinctive. We also see a reverse pattern in comparing English to other languages. That is, sometimes two sounds that are different phonemes in English are allophones (non-distinctive sounds) in other languages. For instance, in English /r/ and /l/ are separate phonemes. Minimal pairs such as rip [rIp] and lip [lIp] show us that if we substitute /r/ and /l/, we change the meaning of a word. In Korean, however, [r] and [l] are not different phonemes. If you substitute one for the other, you do not change the meaning of word. This helps explain why Korean learners of English may have a difficult time hearing a difference between /r/ and /l/ in English. - What are phonological processes?
-
ANS:
Phonological processes are ways in which sounds may change in certain environments. One
common phonological process is assimilation, whereby sounds become like sounds around them. For example, in English, whenever a vowel occurs before a nasal consonant, it becomes nasal also. In the words “seen†[sin] and “beam†[bim], for instance, the [i] vowel is “nasalized†(represented by the ~) before the nasals [n] and [m]. Thus, we say that the [i] is assimilating to the nasal manner of the following consonant. - What are morphemes?
-
ANS:
Morphemes are the smallest meaningful pieces of language that make up words. Words may consist of one or more morphemes. For example, how many morphemes does the word “boys†contain? Right, two—“boy†is one morpheme (or meaningful chunk), and “s†is another (the “s†here carries the grammatical meaning of plural). Other individual sounds, such as the [b] in “boy,†however, are not morphemes because they carry no meaning. - What are the different types of morphemes in English words?
-
ANS:
In English, we can divide our morphemes along several dimensions. One way
to categorize them is in terms of bound and free classes. - What are Bound morphemes?
-
ANS:
Bound morphemes are, as their name suggests, those that must be attached to a free morpheme. They cannot stand alone as a word. For example, un- is a bound morpheme. It does, in fact, have meaning (roughly “not†or “reverse/oppositeâ€). However, it usually does not hang out by itself; it must be attached to free morphemes like “kind†or “appealing†to form words like “unkind†or “unappealing.†The morphemes “-ity†and “-ing†are also bound, needing to attach themselves to free morphemes such as “sincere†or “sing†to form words like “sincerity†or “singing.†Bound morphemes tend to be affixes (i.e., prefixes and suffixes), attaching to the beginnings and ends of words. - What are free morphemes?
-
ANS:
Free morphemes are morphemes that can stand alone as words, thus giving them “free†status. Words such as “kind,†“boy,†“desk,†“the,†“to,†“clock,†“run,†are all examples of free morphemes. Free morphemes tend to be word roots - What are affixes?
-
ANS:
prefixes and suffixes - What are derivational morphemes?
-
When affixes attach to words, they change the words in various ways. Derivational affixes change the meaning or part of speech (grammatical category) of a word For example, in the word “unkind,†the prefix un- is a derivational morpheme. Why?
Because it changes the meaning of the word. In this case, the meaning is changed to the
opposite. Does it change the part of speech of the word? No, “kind†is an adjective and
“unkind†is still an adjective. What about the suffix –ness in the word “kindness,� The suffix
ness is also derivational, and this time it does change the part of speech of the word: “Kind†is an adjective and “kindness†is a noun. Note that when you change part of speech, you also change meaning; for example, the adjective “kind†has a different meaning from the noun “kindness.†- What are inflectional morphemes?
-
ANS:
Inflectional affixes are ones that do not change a word’s part of speech or meaning (in a
significant way) but rather add grammatical information about number (singular/plural), tense, person (first, second, third), and any of a few other categories. For example, in the word “obeyed,†can you identify any inflectional affixes? Yes, the suffix -ed is inflectional; it adds grammatical information about past tense. Note that it does not change the part of speech of the word (“obey†and “obeyed†are both verbs), nor does it alter the core meaning of “obey.†In English, we have very few inflectional affixes (a total of eight) and all of them are suffixes. - What are the eight inflectional morphemes?
-
ANS:
1. -s 3rd person singular present She works.
2. -ed past tense She worked.
3. -ing present participle/ progressive She is working.
4. -en/-ed past participle She has worked. She has eaten.
5. -s plural The tables are mine.
6. -’s possessive Jan’s friend left.
7. -er comparative Jan has taller children than Sue.
8.-est superlative Jan has the tallest children. -
(re-)
write rewrite
do redo
re- is derivational/inflectional (circle one). How can you tell? -
ANS:
re- is derivational because it changes the meaning of the word, indicating that the action is repeated. -
(-s)
robot robots
-s is derivational/inflectional (circle one). How can you tell? - –s is inflectional because it adds grammatical information about plural number.
-
(-ity)
sincere sincerity
-ity is derivational/inflectional (circle one). How can you tell? -
ANS:
–ity is derivational because it changes the part of speech from an adjective to a noun. -
(-tion)
relate relation
investigate investigation
-tion is derivational/inflectional (circle one). How can you tell? -
ANS:
–tion is derivational because it changes the part of speech from a verb to a noun. -
(-est)
lovely loveliest
short shortest
-est is derivational/inflectional (circle one). How can you tell? -
ANS:
–est is inflectional because it adds grammatical information about superlative degree. - What are morphological processes?
-
ANS:
The different ways in which morphemes combine to form new words are known as
morphological processes. There are several such processes in English, two major ones being affixation (the process of adding an affix or affixes to a word to form a new word) and compounding ( two or more words are combined to form a new word,
such as “blackboard,†“spoonfeed,†“mother-in-law,†or “train station.â€) - What are other ways that new words enter the English language?
-
ANS:
A. Conversion: Changing (converting) an existing word from one part of speech to another. butter (as in “the butterâ€) butter (as in “butter the toastâ€) water (as in “the waterâ€) water (as in “water the plantsâ€)
B. Clipping/Abbreviation: Shortening an existing word to form a new word. professor prof, refrigerator fridge, dormitory dorm, facsimile fax, typographical error typo
C. Blending: Combining parts of two or more existing words to form a new word. breakfast and lunch brunch, smoke and fog smog, spiced ham spam
D. Onomatopoeia : Imitating the sounds made by various things.
hiss, buzz, pow
E. Word Coinage: Creating a new word “from scratch,†not based on any existing word(s). nylon, pooch, snob
F. Affixation: affixes are attach to words
G. Compounding:two or more words are combined to form a new word - What is Clipping/Abbreviation?
-
ANS:
Shortening an existing word to form a new word. professor prof - What is Blending?
-
ANS:
Combining parts of two or more existing words to form a new word. breakfast and lunch brunch - What is an Onomatopoeia?
-
ANS:
Imitating the sounds made by various things. hiss - What is Word Coinage?
-
ANS:
Creating a new word “from scratch,†not based on any existing word(s). nylon pooch snob - What is syntax?
- Syntax refers to sentence structure, a major component of a speaker’s or writer’s grammatical knowledge. When linguists study the syntax of English and other languages, they are interested in analyzing how different categories of words are arranged in sentences. Researchers have also investigated common syntactic errors students make in speech and writing and ways of addressing such errors in classrooms.
- What are content words?
-
ANS:
Nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives are known as content words because
they convey the bulk of the content meaning in sentences. Linguists have also described them as open class words because new words are continually added to these categories. - What are open class words?
-
ANS:
Nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives are known as content words because
they convey the bulk of the content meaning in sentences. Linguists have also described them as open class words because new words are continually added to these categories - What are function words?
- These word categories (auxiliary verbs, prepositions, articles, and conjunctions) are thus not considered content words but instead are classified as function words, which serve mainly grammatical purposes in sentences. These word are closed class words becuase very few words are added to then each year.
- What are closed class words?
-
ANS:
These word categories (auxiliary verbs, prepositions, articles, and conjunctions) are thus not considered content words but instead are classified as function words, which serve mainly grammatical purposes in sentences. These word are closed class words becuase very few words are added to them each year. - What is a lexicon?
-
ANS:
A lexicon comprises the words in a language and includes information about their meanings, pronunciations, parts of speech, and usage patterns - What is lexical knowledge?
-
ANS:
vocabulary knowledge. - What are Articles?
-
ANS:
English has two articles: 1) “a,†the indefinite article (this can also be “an†before a word beginning with a vowel); and 2) “the,†the definite article. How to use these two articles is notoriously difficult for non-native English speakers because the rules for English article usage are very complex. Generally speaking, the indefinite article is used before nouns that are not yet known to the addressee (listener/reader) and the definite article is used before nouns that are known to the addressee - What is the indefinite article?
-
ANS:
“a,†the indefinite article (this can also be “an†before a word beginning with a vowel). The indefinite article is used before nouns that are not yet known to the addressee listener/reader). - What is the definite article?
-
ANS:
“the,†the definite article is used before nouns that are known to the addressee - How is the indefinite article used?
-
ANS:
The indefinite article is used before nouns that are not yet known to the addressee (listener/reader). - How is the definite article used?
-
ANS:
The definite article is used before nouns that are known to the addressee. - What are determiners?
-
ANS:
Determiners are words which are words that typically precede nouns and offer grammatical information about them (e.g., whether or not the nouns are indefinite or definite). Determiners may also include words that quantify nouns (e.g., “many,†“several,†“few,†“some,†“allâ€), as well as words known as demonstratives (e.g., “this,†“that,†“these,†“thoseâ€) that can also modify nouns (e.g., “this bookâ€). Determiners include possessive pronouns that modify nouns may also be classified as determiners (e.g., “my bookâ€) and articles. - What are attributive adjectives?
-
ANS:
Adjectives that appear right in front of the nouns they describe. This old house - What is subject-verb agreement?
-
ANS:
Nouns and verb must be congruent to the amount they describe. He is, They are. - What are Present participles?
-
ANS:
Present participles are typically used with the auxiliary (helping) verb “be†to form progressive tenses, which indicate that an action is, was, or will be in progress. For example, we can say “She is singing†or “They were leaving, or “He will be studying.†- What are Gerunds?
-
ANS:
Gerunds by adding the suffix -ing to the verb root. (swimming,†“driving,†“eatingâ€). Gerunds act as nouns rather than as verbs.For example, we can say “Swimming is my favorite sport†or “Driving can be dangerous†or “I like eating.†- What is a past participle?
- The past participle is formed by adding –ed or –en to the root form of the verb or by changing the internal form of the verb, to indicate that the verbs has already occured.
- What are coordinating conjunctions?
- Coordinating conjunctions hook things together that have equal status. For example, they might link two nouns (e.g., “boys or girlsâ€), two prepositional phrases (e.g., “through the hallway and into the stariwell) these include the words “for,†“and,†“nor,†“but,†“or,†“yet,†and “so.†Notice that if you take the first letter of each of these conjunctions, you form the word “fanboys†(a useful tool for remembering the coordinating conjunctions).
- What are subordinating conjunctions?
-
ANS:
Subordinating conjunctions link two clauses of different status—one independent and one dependent. For example, in the sentence, “They cheered when I arrived,†“when†is a subordinating conjunction that connects the independent clause (“they cheeredâ€) with the dependent clause (“when I arrivedâ€). - What are some common structural patterns for English sentences?
-
ANS:
Three major categories of sentences are declaratives, interrogatives, and imperatives. - What is a Declarative sentence?
-
ANS:
Declarative sentences are those with a basic statement structure (e.g., “My dog likes kibbleâ€).Declaratives usually have a subject noun toward the beginning of the sentence (“my dogâ€) followed by a verb (“likesâ€) and then sometimes an object noun (“kibbleâ€). There may be other things in the sentence as well, such as prepositional phrases (e.g., “In the morning, my dog likes kibble with his toast.â€), but Subject--Verb--Object is a common order for the core items in declarative sentences. - What is the structure of a Declarative sentence?
-
ANS:
Declaratives usually have a subject noun toward the beginning of the sentence (“my dogâ€) followed by a verb (“likesâ€) and then sometimes an object noun (“kibbleâ€). There may be other things in the sentence as well, such as prepositional phrases (e.g., “In the morning, my dog likes kibble with his toast.â€), but Subject--Verb--Object is a common order for the core items in declarative sentences. - What is an interrogative statement?
-
ANS:
A question. - What are the two major categories of English interrogatives?
-
ANS:
Yes-no questions (e.g., “Does my dog like kibble?â€) and wh- questions (“Where does Marie travel?â€). - What is the typical structure for interrogatives?
-
ANS:
Subject-auxiliary inversion. (Wh word)--Auxiliary Verb--Subject--Main Verb--Anything else in the sentence. - What is an imperative?
-
ANS:
A command. - What is the structure of imperatives?
-
ANS:
Imperatives are usually subjectless and typically have a structure of Verb-Object. - What are the elements of a passive sentence?
-
ANS:
Subject (Receiver of the Action)+ Be + Verb (past participle) + (optionally) By Do-er of the Action. The necklace was taken by John. - When are passive statements used?
-
ANS:
They are used when one wants to highlight the receiver of the action as the topic of the sentence or when one wants to avoid mentioning the do-er of the action. For example, in the passive sentence “The necklace was taken in broad daylight (by someone),†the necklace (the thing that received the action of taking) is highlighted as the topic
because it is in the subject position. The passive also allows us to omit the do-er of the action; that is, we could just say “The necklace was taken in broad daylight†and leave off the “by someone.†Using the passive, therefore, may be handy when one does not know or does not wish to mention who did the action. - What is Code-switching?
- code-switching occurs when people alter their speech and behavior so as to fit into different social situations. The most common changes involve vocabulary, levels of casualness or formality, types of clothing, and facial and hand gestures. For example, an African-American student who speaks and writes in Standard English at school might speak Black English Vernacular (BEV) at home, and BEV with swear words with friends.
- What is Creolization?
- Creolization is a process through which a simplified contact language becomes a fully developed native language, that is, a pidgin language becomes a creole language. The first process is referred to as pidginization, the second is creolization, notions used in contact-linguistics. There may be a stage after creolization called decreolization.
- What is Pidginization?
-
Pidginization
Pidgin is a language that has no native speakers. It develops as three or more different languages (different peoples) interact mostly for the sake of trade. If there are three peoples, and one of the three languages is dominant, the less dominant languages must still interact because they trade not only with the dominant people but also with each other. In this case they must simplify the dominant language. - What is Universal grammar?
- A theory of linguistics postulating principles of grammar shared by all languages, thought to be innate to humans. It attempts to explain language acquisition in general, not describe specific languages. This theory does not claim that all human languages have the same grammar, or that all humans are "programmed" with a structure that underlies all surface expressions of human language. Rather, universal grammar proposes a set of rules that would explain how children acquire their language(s), or how they construct valid sentences of their language.
- Speech style
-
. Speech style, which often refers to level of formality, varies depending on the social situation. For example, you probably use a less formal style when speaking with your buddy at the gym than with an employer. These informal styles have some rules of their own.
For example, when speaking casually, many English speakers delete auxiliary verbs and
sometimes subjects at the beginning of questions (e.g., “Have you been to the museum lately?†becomes “You been to the museum lately?†or “Been to the museum lately?â€). Also, word groups become reduced or “blended†in predictable ways (e. g. “What are you doing?†may come out as “Whatcha doin?â€). - Slang
- Somewhat related to style is slang, or the relatively new-to-the-language, colloquial vocabulary used when people speak informally. We often associate slang with hip, edgy words and phrases sometimes only known to certain groups, such as “disâ€, “it’s the bomb!†and “rad,†or with more mundane words that have a casual or vulgar tone (e.g., “barfâ€). F&R note that “one generation’s slang is another generation’s standard vocabulary†(p. 427). Indeed, it is interesting to see how earlier slang words have now become quite normal- or even formal-sounding. F&R cite “phone,†“fan,†“fretful,†and “dwindle,†as examples of words that were once considered slang in English. (See F&R 426-427 and File 10.8.)
- Jargon
- Jargon is a kind of “trade slang,†or specialized vocabulary used by a particular profession, club, academic discipline, sport, or other activity or organization. If you are a modern dancer, for example, you are likely familiar with such dance jargon as “mark,†“full-out,†“across-the-floor,†and “combination.†Similarly, if you tune in regularly to E.R., you may pick up on the jargon of emergency doctors and nurses. In reading through these CSET preparation materials, you have also encountered some of the jargon of literary analysis, composition, and linguistics. Jargon can be quite useful for conveying meanings precisely and efficiently to specific communities. However, it may also exclude and/or confuse those who are not in the “in-group.†Thus, speakers and writers need to be aware of their audiences when deciding when and how to use jargon appropriately.