Introduction to Linguistics

English Language

• 44 Phonemes

• 24 consonant sounds, 20 vowel sounds

Allophones

Phonetic variations of the same phoneme (ex:t/ such as in top is aspirated, /t/ in stop is released ,and /t/ in pot is unreleased)

Monophthongs

• Single vowel sound

Diphthongs

• Two vowel sound

Tripthongs

• Three vowel sounds that glide together

Micro-linguistics

• Theoretical

• Studies the nature of language

Phonology

• System of sounds, abstract properties

Phoneme

• Distinctive, contrasted sound unit

• Smallest unit of sound

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning

Consonant sounds

• Involve partial or complete obstruction of airflow

• Can be voiced or voiceless

Place of articulation

• where the obstruction happens

Manner of articulation 

• how the obstruction is made

Voicing

• whether vocal cords vibrate

Morphology

• How words are formed

Syntax

• Arrangement of words and phrases to form sentences

Semantics

• Linguistic meaning of words and sentences

• Conceptual meaning

Lexical Ambiguity

• A word has more than one meaning

Syntactic Ambiguity

• A sentence has two meanings due to structure

Hyponym

• A word that is a specific example of a category

• Rose is a hyponym of flower

Homonym

• Words with same spelling or sound, but different meanings

Anaphora

• A word (usually a pronoun) that refers back to something earlier

• John arrived. He was late. (“He” refers to John)

Deixis

• Words that depend on context (who/where/when)

Entailment

• A relationship where truth of one sentence requires another to be true

Coreference

• Two expressions that refer to the same entity

Mr. Cruz is the principal. He is kind. (He = Mr. Cruz)

Pragmatics

• meaning/use

• Contextual meaning

Speech Act Theory

• John L. Austin (British)

Locutionary Acts

• The literal act of saying something

Illocutionary Acts

• The intended function or force behind the words

Perlocutionary Acts

• The effect on the listener

Discourse

• Linguistic units that are longer than a sentence

Macro-linguistics

• Broader perspectives

• How language is acquired and how it relates to society as a whole

Sociolinguistics

• Patterns and variations within a society or community

Psycholinguistics

• Word cognition (language acquisition)

Computational

• Application of computer science in the analysis of language

Historical (diachronic)

• Language change or change of a group of languages

Comparative

• Comparing languages to establish similarities and differences

Structural

• Based on theories and principles

Biolinguistics

• Evolution and formation of language

Applied

• Application of language in real life (language teaching and learning)

Clinical

• Speech language pathology

Developmental

• Linguistic ability

Linguistic Typology

• Classify languages (structural and functional components)

Neurolinguistics

• Language and functions of the brain

Etymology

• Origin of words

• Birth, development

Free Morphemes

• Can stand alone as words and carry meaning.

Lexical

• content words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Functional

• function words: grammatical glue.

Bound Morphemes

• Cannot stand alone; must be attached to another morpheme.

Inflectional

• Change tense, number, degree, or possession, but not the word class 

• -s (plural), -’s (possessive), -s (3rd person singular),

• -ed (past), -ing (progressive), -en (past participle),

• -er (comparative), -est (superlative)

Derivational

• Create new words or change word class

• un-, re-, -ness, -ly, -ful, dis-, -ment

Compounding

• Joining two whole words to form a new one

Blending

• Mixing parts of two words (not full words)

Clipping

• Shortening a longer word

Acronyms

• Using initial letters to form a new word (pronounced as a word)

Initialisms

• Like acronyms, but each letter is pronounced separately

BackFormation

• Removing a part (usually –er, –ing, etc.) to form a new, simpler word

Conversion

• A word changes part of speech without changing form

Derivation

• Adding prefixes/suffixes to a root word

Eponym

• Named after a person (real or fictional)

Coinage

• Creating a completely new word (often brand names)

Borrowing

• Taking a word from another language

Calquing

• Translating a foreign expression literally

Nonce

• A new word made up for a specific occasion, often temporary

Repurposing

• Word formed by taking a word from one context and applying it to another context

Reduplication

• Repeating all or part of a word to form a new one

Error

• Refers to non-standard or mistaken formations that may enter casual speech or evolve into accepted usage