Introduction to Language

Linguistics

scientific study of language, human capacity for lang unique, employ empirical data, observation, experiments to probe capacity

Characteristics of human vs. animal language

SHARED: 1) mode of communication, 2) have meaning, 3) useful function, DIFFERENT: 1) interchangeability (send + receive messages), 2) cultural transmission (not entirely inherited), 3) arbitrariness (form of signals not logically related to meaning, ex. table + mesa not related to object), 4) displacement (talk about things not in the present), 5) productivity + recursion (creation of new words/use words in new context, human lang infinitely creative), 6) reliance on context

Prescriptivism

prescribe “good,” “proper,” or “standard” language/how we ought to talk, invented based on soci conventions, taught to children + adults, words exist in authoritative reference works, ex. never say “ain’t”

Descriptivism

describe how people actually speak in real world regardless of edu, background, native lang, concerned w/ observable patterns, based on sci analysis/observation, rules exist in mind of speaker, linguists care about descriptive

Grammatical

follows regular pattern used by group of ppl

Ungrammatical

does not follow regular patterns used by group of ppl

Linguists believe…

All langs have a hist + grammar (= regular patterns and rules), not inherently bad to use any form of lang but some forms can be stigmatized, grammar which prescriptivists call “correct” has privileged place in soci, linguists should seek to understand the role of lang in soci

Phonetics

study of human speech sounds (physical properties of speech), look @ articulators + vocal tract structure shows how humans can produce full range of speech sounds, anatomy shows how + where sound happens, can scientifically study dialects, lang change, classes of sounds

Vocal tract anatomy

lips, teeth, tongue (tips, blade, body, root), alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), uvula, nasal cavity, pharynx (throat), epiglottis (flap of cartilage at top of larynx), larynx (air passage to lungs, holds glottis), glottis (vocal folds), trachea (windpipe connect larynx to bronchi of lungs), esophagus (connects pharynx to stomach)

Active articulators

move toward passive articulators to constrict/shape air moving out from lungs, ex. lip, tongue (tip, blade, body, root), glottis

Passive articulators

lie on top of vocal tract, upper lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), uvula, pharyngeal wall

Describing consonants

1. Voicing

2. Place of articulation

3. Nasality

4. Manner of articulation

Voicing

what vocal folds are doing in larynx, voiced → vocal folds vibrate (closed), voiceless → vocal folds not vibrating (open), breathy (partially open), can tell by touching larynx + feeling for vibration

Nasality

nasal sound = open velum (air can pass thru to nasal cavity), oral sound = closed velum (air cannot pass thru to nasal cavity), natural state of velum = open, in English only /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/ ("ng") = nasal

Place of articulation

which passive articulators hit by active articulators, bilabial (lower lip + upper lip, ex. pat, bat), labiodental (lower lip + upper teeth, ex. find, vine), (inter)dental (tongue tip + upper teeth, ex. these, thin), alveolar (tongue tip + alveolar ridge, ex. tie, day), post-alveolar (tongue blade + behind alveolar ridge, ex. ship, chip), palatal (tongue body + palate, ex. you), velar (tongue body + velum, ex. guh), glottal (tongue body constricts further back, ex. uh oh), in other languages also: retroflex (tongue curls, tongue tip + post-alveolar ridge), uvular, pharyngeal (tongue root + pharyngeal wall)

Manner of articulation

type of constriction, stop (active + passive brought together for complete closure, airflow stops completely, ex. bat), nasal (airflow stops completely + vellum lowers, ex. nap), trill (active hits passive repeatedly → vibration, ex. perro), tap/flap (active quickly hits passive, ex. butter), affricative (combination of stop and fricative, ex. chair, judge), fricative (articulators brought close together creating turbulence, ex. fit), lateral fricative (turbulence around sides of tongue, ex. el), approximant (articulators narrow vocal tract but no significant turbulence, ex. yawn), lateral approximant (air flows around tongue but no significant turbulence, ex. lap)

Classes of sounds

obstruents → noise made by obstructing air flow in vocal tract, ex. oral stops, fricatives, affricative, sonorants → air is able to resonate, ex. nasal stops, approximants (glides → sound moves smoothly into following word {w, j} + liquids → air partially blocked [rhotics {ɹ} + laterals {l}], vowels

International Phonetic Alphabet

shows voicing, place + manner of articulation, goals: universal + unambiguous (every sound = 1 symbol), 83 consonants + 28 vowels (no lang uses all)

Diacritics

get more specific in phonetics, 1) aspirated → voiceless stops are aspirated in word-initial position/beginning a stressed syllable, voiceless stops are unaspirated after [s], ex. [kʰat], [skɪp], 2) nasalized → vowels are nasalized before nasals, ex. can: [kãn], 3) velarized: [l] is “dark” at the of a word or
syllable, ex. fall: [faɫ], 4) syllabic → sonorant consonants can make up entire syllable with no vowel, ex. button: [bʌʔn̩], 5) rhoticity: “r-colored” vowels, ex. [ɝ] = stressed; [ɚ] = unstressed; further: [fɝðɚ]