Linguistics and Grammar

ESOL Praxis – Session #2

Aspects of Language

• Here is an illustration that shows an interacting hierarchy of levels in linguistics:

Phonology

• The study of sounds of a particular language and the rules governing the structure, distribution and sequencing of speech sounds.

• Phonology is just one of several aspects of language. It is related to other aspects such as phonetics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.

• Is the basis for further work in morphology, syntax, discourse, and orthography design.

• Analyzes the sound patterns of a particular language by determining which phonetic sounds are significant, and explaining how these sounds are interpreted by the native speaker.

International Phonetic Alphabet• The IPA is a universal alphabet representing all

of the sounds that have been found in human languages

Phoneme• The smallest linguistic unit of speech that can

signal a difference in meaning.– How many phonemes in CATS?– Examples A unit of speech is considered a

phoneme if replacing it in a word results in a change of meaning. Here are some examples of phonemes:• pin becomes bin• bat becomes rat• cot becomes cut

• Different languages use different sets of phonemes to communicate ideas.

Consonant Digraph

• Two consonants pronounced as a single sound.– Example: ch, sh, th, wh– In the word chat, the letters c and h appear

contiguously, in this instance, ch is a digraph because the ch sequence represents a single sound in the underlying English sound system.

Digraph

• A digraph is a group of two successive letters whose phonetic value is a single sound (one phoneme.)

• Examples Here are some examples of digraphs:

• \ea\ in bread• \ch\ in chat • \ng\ in sing

Consonant Clusters

• A group or sequence of two or more consonants that appear together in a syllable with no intervening vowel. (Two sounds put together

• Example: \sp\ and \ts\ in the word spots and \spr\ in the word spray

Minimal Pairs

• Two words that differ in only one sound, or phoneme.

• Example: • [læp] ‘lap’• [læb] ‘lab’

only one phoneme differs in this example – /p/ and /b/

Homophones

• A group of two or more letters representing the same speech sound, or words that sound the same but are spelled differently

• Examples – Letters with the same speech sound:• c in city and s in song• x in Axe and -cts in acts

Homographs

• A word that has the same spelling as another. Homographs differ from each other in meaning, origin, and sometimes pronunciation.

• Examples – bow, the front part of a ship– bow, to bend– bow, a decorative knot

Morphology

• The study of words in their internal organization

Morpheme• The smallest meaningful unit in the grammar of a language.

Includes all root-words, prefix, suffix and s within the context of the word.

• Examples: – Unladylike: The word unladylike consists of three morphemes (un –

lady – like)• None of these morphemes can be broken up any more without losing all sense

of meaning. Lady cannot be broken up into "la" and "dy," even though "la" and "dy" are separate syllables. Note that each syllable has no meaning on its own.

– Dogs: The word dogs consists of two morphemes (dog – s) /s/ is a plural marker on nouns• Note that a morpheme like "-s" can just be a single phoneme and does not

have to be a whole syllable.

– Technique: The word technique consists of only one morpheme

Bound Morpheme

• Must be attached to a root word to have full meaning (affixes – i.e., prefixes and suffixes)– Example: /un/ means not. /un/ has no meaning

unless it is attached to a root word. • Unthinkable

– /un/ (bound morpheme)– think (free morpheme)– /able/ (bound morpheme)

Free Morpheme

• Units of a word that can stand alone as words themselves.

Inflectional Morphemes

• Affixes (prefixes or suffixes) that can be added to a word without changing its part of speech. – Example: -un is an inflectional morpheme. It can

be added to an adjective or adverb to change the word’s meaning. However, the word remains an adjective or adverb.• Happy (adjective) / Happily (adverb)• Unhappy (adjective) / Unhappily (adverb

Derivational Morphemes

• Affixes (prefixes and suffixes) that can be added to a word to change its meaning and may also change its part of speech– Examples:• amaze (verb) > amazement (noun)• speak (verb) > speaker (noun)• Perform (verb) > performance (noun)• soft (adjective) > softness (noun)• warm (adjective) > warmth (noun)

Sample questions

• Which word do you hear when I say ______?A. [kut]B. [kæt]C. [cət]D. [cæʄ]

• How would native English speakers more than likely pronounce the word “laughed”

A. [lətId]B. [left]C. [læft]D. [loft]

Organization of LearningForm(How)

Meaning Use(Situational)

Phonology

Morphology

Syntax (grammar)

Semantics

(vocabulary)

Pragmatics

Social Thinking Literacy

(The intent of the language, what is

meant to be conveyed)

Syntax - Grammar

• Governs the form or structure of a language; the way words are put together in a language to form phrases, clauses, or sentences.

• The syntax of a language can be divided into two parts:– Syntactic classes such as noun, verb, and adjective– Syntactic functions, such as subject and objectExample:1. The cat jumped on the table.2. The flower jumped on the sound wave.3. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

Active Voice

• The subject performs action in the sentence or is the thing described by a predicate adjective.

• Active voice is a voice that indicates a subject has the semantic function of actor.

• Example – The subject Jones has the semantic function of actor.

• Jones built the house.

– The above active construction contrasts with the following construction in passive voice, where Jones has the semantic function of actor but house is the subject:• The house was built by Jones.

Passive Voice

• The action is performed by an unknown agent.• Passive voice is a voice that indicates that the

subject is the patient or recipient of the action denoted by the verb.– The man was nudged by a passer-by. The above

example contrasts with the one below, which is in active voice:

– A passer-by nudged the man.

Degrees of AdjectivesBase Comparative Superlative

High Higher Highest

Thick Thicker Thickest

Beautiful More Beautiful Most Beautiful

Bad Worse Worst

Active Verb TenseSimple Present

Present Progressive

Simple Past Past Progressive

Future Present Perfect

Past Perfect

Present Perfect Progressive

Future Perfect

hear

play

run

am hearing

is playing

are running

heard

played

ran

was hearing

was playing

was running

will hear

will play

will run

have heard

has played

has run

had heard

had played

had run

has been hearing

has been playing

has been running

will have heard

will have played

will have run

Describes present action or condition

Shows action in progress

Shows completed action

Shows past action that took place over a period of time

Shows an action that will or will not happen in the future

Describes an action that began in the past but continues in to the present

Describes an event completed in the past prior to another event

Describes an action that began in the past, continues to the present and may continue in the future

Expresses an action that will be completed by or before a specified time in the future

Sample Questions

• I tried on my dad’s shoes and saw they were too bigs. I could barely walk.

The underlined phrase has an error in the use ofA. AdjectivesB. PronounsC. VerbsD. tense

Sample Questions

• She’s the same like my mom but is much beautifuller.

The underlined phrase has an error in the use ofA. Figurative languageB. Superlative adjectivesC. Relative clausesD. Comparative adjectives

Types of PronounsPersonal Relative Indefinite Demonstrative Interrogative reflexiveI, me, mineyou, your, yourshe, him, his she, her, hersIt, its, who, whom, whosewe, us, oursthey, them, theirs

It is mine.

Who, whom, whoever, that, which

The chef who won the prize studied in Paris.

all, another, any, anyone, anything, everyone, everything, each, both, neither, no one, none someone, something, few, some, many, most, several

Everyone came to dinner.

thisthatthesethose

That car is the one I want.

whowhomwhichwhatWhose

Who is the author of that book?

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesYourselvesthemselves

I will cook dinner myself.

Takes the place of a person, place or thing

Introduces a relative clause and links to another part of the sentence.

Refers to an unknown person, place or thing

Represents a thing or things

Used to ask questions

Ends in -self or -selves and refers back to another noun or pronoun in the sentence

Semantics

• The study of word meanings, idioms, or non-literal expressions

Sounds

The manner of articulation• Stop• Affricate• Fricative• Nasal• Lateral

The point of articulation• Bilabial • Labiodental • Interdental • Alveolar• Alveopalatal • Velar

StopsStops are consonants formed by completely stopping the flow of air somewhere in the vocal apparatus, and then releasing the air.

1. /p/ (the phoneme spelled p in pat): voiceless bilabial stop.

2. /t/ (the phoneme spelled t in tot): voiceless alveolar stop.

3. /k/ (the phoneme spelled c in cap): voiceless velar stop

FricativesFricatives are consonants that are formed by impeding the flow of air somewhere in the vocal apparatus so that a friction-sound is produced.

1. /f/ (the phoneme spelled f in fine): voiceless labiodental fricative.

2. /ð/ (the phoneme spelled th in this): voiced interdental fricative

3. /z/ (the phoneme spelled z in zoo): voiced alveolar fricative.

Affricatives or affricatesAffricates are consonants that are formed by stopping the flow of air somewhere in the vocal apparatus, and then releasing the air relatively slowly so that a friction-sound is produced

1. /ʧ/ (the phoneme spelled ch in chip): voiceless alveopalatal affricate.

2. /ʤ/ (the phoneme spelled g in gyp): voiced alveopalatal affricate.

NasalsNasals are consonants that are formed by blocking the oral passage and allowing the air to escape through the nose.

1. /m/ (the phoneme spelled m in mail): (voiced) bilabial nasal.

2. /n/ (the phoneme spelled n in nail): (voiced) alveolar nasal.

3. /h/ (the phoneme spelled ng in sing): (voiced) velar nasal.

LiquidsLaterals are consonants formed by allowing the air to escape around the sides of the tongue.

1. /l/ (the phoneme spelled l in let): (voiced) alveolar lateral.

The POINT of articulation

1. /m/ (the phoneme spelled m in mail): (voiced) bilabial nasal.

The POINT of articulation

/n/ (the phoneme spelled n in nail): (voiced) alveolar nasal.

Aspiration

• A strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or closure of some consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow. – Example: – tore, the /t/ is aspirated– Store, the /t/ is not aspirated

Study sites

• http://www.brainflips.com/study-flashcards/2652/Linguistics-ESOL-Praxis-test-Prep.html

• http://quizlet.com/subject/linguistics/

• http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/PRAXIS/pdf/0360.pdf