LING 400 Exam 1 Study Guide

linguistics - definition

the scientific study of language as a mental (cognitive) system

big questions that linguistics investigates

• Language structure (e.g., sounds, words, sentences, meaning)

• Language acquisition

• Language processing in the brain

• Language processing by computers

• How language changes over time

• How language varies by situation

• How language functions in society

major subdisciplines of linguistics - what are their major objects of study?

• phonetics/phonology - sounds and interactions between sounds

• morphology - building words

• syntax - building sentences

• semantics - interpreting complex expressions from the meaning of simple expressions

major steps in the cycle of the scientific method

observation - make observations with our senses (with or without instruments) about some properties of language; make notes and organize data

theory - make hypotheses about why the observed facts exist/occurred

predictions - make predictions about what other facts we might expect to see based on our hypotheses

testing - make new observations to test our hypotheses (if new observations are borne out — stop or test other predictions from the same hypotheses)

revising - if what we observe is contrary to our predictions, revise or come up with a new hypothesis (to capture original and new observations accurately)

repeat

key features of language as a natural phenomenon

arbitrariness of the linguistic sign - relationship between a linguistic sign (e.g., phoneme) and what it means does not follow anything

discreteness - languages are made up of discrete units that can be separated out

compositionality - larger units are composed of smaller units; meaning of the larger unit comes from the meaning of the smaller units and how they’re combined

creativity - can create an infinite number of combinations (sentences) with a finite set of units (sounds) and rules

rule-governedness - languages have a set of systematic rules that govern how larger units are constructed from smaller ones

major parts of the vocal tract

• larynx (vocal cords) 

• glottis

• epiglottis

• pharynx

• oral cavity

• tongue (tip, body, root)

• alveolar ridge

• teeth

• lips

• hard palate

• velum (soft palate)

• nasal cavity

articulatory vs auditory vs acoustic phonetics

articulatory - how speech sounds are produced by the vocal tract

auditory - how people perceive speech sounds

acoustic - physical properties of speech sounds

major difference between consonants and vowels

consonants have some degree of obstruction in the vocal tract

3 majors properties used to describe each consonant

voicing - whether or not the vocal folds are vibrating

place - where in the vocal tract the constriction occurs

manner - how the airflow is impeded

vowel classification (using articulatory features)

tongue position

• height: high, mid, low

• backness: front, central, back

roundness (of the lips): round, unround

tenseness (of the vocal tract): tense, lax

why IPA is necessary in doing research on speech sounds

because there is no 1-1 correspondence between speech sounds and symbols that we need in phonetics

also important to note: represents all speech sounds in every language consistently

how IPA differs from English orthography

each speech sound is represented by one symbol; each symbol represents one sound

English spelling does not follow this (i.e., inconsistent spelling)

basic properties of words that contribute to its melody

lexical stress - emphasis placed on a particular syllable within a word

length - duration of vowel/consonant production

pitch - frequency of vibration of vocal folds (specifically look at pitch contours to derive meaning)

phonetics vs phonology

phonetics - study of speech sounds

phonology - study of the structures and patterns of speech sounds within languages

note: phonology studies sounds at a more abstract level than phonetics

what phonology studies

• how sounds of a language are represented in our mind

• rules about where sounds can occur

• how sounds are modified by their environments

definition of phoneme (how it differs from phone and allophone)

definition: abstract, underlying forms of speech sounds that signify a change in meaning (mental representation)

• phone - most basic unit of speech (what is listed in the IPA; what we hear/utter)

• allophone - a possible realization, or variant, of a phoneme (produced differently but does not signify a change in meaning)

making observations about what environments alternating sounds occur

complementary distribution - 2 sounds that can never occur in the same position

free distribution - 2 sounds that can occur in the same position but are not contrastive

phonetically too dissimilar - 2 sounds that don’t occur in the same position but belong to different phonemes because they are too different

contrastive vs complementary distribution

contrastive distribution - Batman and Superman - they can be seen in the same place at the same time, and more importantly, there is a distinction in meaning. So, for example /p/ and /t/ form a minimal pair in English (e.g. "pan" vs "tan") so they're in contrastive distribution

complementary distribution - Superman and Clark Kent - you never see both of them in the same place because, deep down, they're allophones of the same phoneme

natural class - definition

a group of phones that can be defined by some phonological similarity

example: [b, d, g] are voiced stops

how to formulate rules to derive predictable allophones from the basic phones

Are [X] and [Y] in contrastive or complementary distribution?

Are [X] and [Y] different phonemes, or allophones of the same phoneme?

 

• Can you find minimal pairs that differ only in whether they contain [X] or [Y], with everything else held constant?

  • If so, [X] and [Y] are different phonemes. You’re done!

  • If not, then list all the environments that contain [X] and the ones that contain [Y].
    
    

    • Are they in complementary distribution? If so, they are allophones of the same phoneme.

  • Formulate a rule to predict when [X] is used and when [Y] is used.

• Remember: one allophone may be the default (‘elsewhere’ case) = RESTRICTED PHONE (the other is a BASIC PHONE)

• Phonological rules usually apply to natural classes of sounds, not just individual sounds, so once we find one sound that behaves in a certain way, it is best to check if other similar sounds exhibit the same behavior. 

common phonological processes

assimilation: two nearby sounds become more similar.

dissimilation: two nearby sounds or syllables become more different.

insertion (epenthesis): a phone is added.

deletion: an underlying phoneme is not realized on the surface phonetic level.

metathesis: two sounds are switched.

official notation for phonological rules

example: English nasal place assimilation

[alveolar nasal] ➝  [bilabial nasal]  /  ______ [bilabial]

                [alveolar nasal] ➝ [velar nasal]  / ______ [velar]

                [alveolar nasal] ➝ [alveolar nasal] /  elsewhere

how to syllabify English words

syllable - made up of a vowel (in the nucleus) and some number of consonants (in the onset and coda)

• rhyme - nucleus and coda

why sounds are grouped into syllables the way that they are

according to the Sonority Hierarchy

• definition: sonority contour goes up until the syllable peaks, and then it goes down

relevant information: organized from most to least sonorous:

• vowels > glides > liquids > nasals > fricatives > affricates > stops

phonotactics

restrictions on sound combinations (i.e., tells us what kind of syllables we can have)

• reflected in systematic gaps

• example: for English, the sequence [stra] is OK, but the sequence [rtsa] isn’t

how to build a syllable

1. nucleus formation

2. onset formation

3. coda formation (ONSET BEFORE CODAS - Maximize Onset Principle)

   1. for any consonant following the nucleus, if phonotactic constraints allow the consonant to be grouped in the onset of the following syllable, put it in that onset

   2. if doing that would violate any phonotactic constraints or the Sonority Hierarchy, then place it in the coda after the vowel it follows

4. word formation