BNELMEKROUD MOHAMED

Prof. KHALOUFI AZZDINE

LINGUISTICS
G2 S4 2017/2018

LINGUISTICS
Linguistics is the scientific study (analysis) of human languages and its structure, including study of grammar
syntax, and phonetics.
Specific branches of linguistics include Sociolinguistics, dialectology, Psycholinguistics, Computational linguistics,
comparative linguistics...
Linguistics is a singular noun thought it has the "s" in the end we say linguistics is, but not linguistics are.
Language is a rule governed system of communication, and it is either spoken (using sounds) or written (using
symbols).
Language is an organized noise.
Science is logical explanation of natural phenomena (world) through science Methodology (Observation,
experiments and explanation).

Linguistics approach to language

It doesn't emphasize only on structure but sounds, words formation, meanings (semantics), contexts...
Linguistics is descriptive (it tells how language is)
It gives speech priorities
 Historical priorities humans used speech for centuries before invention of writing.
 Structural priorities speech rules and structures are easier and shorter to be learned naturally and
spontaneously, plus they are not complicated as writing structures and rules are.
 Functional priorities in terms of language usage, it is near impossible humans can leave their
daily life without speech.
Traditional Grammar approach to Language

It is based and emphasizes on structure, whether it is true or false relatively to a generated rule.
TG is prescriptive (it tells how language should be) usually in written form.

Universal features of language

(Capacities that every language is featured with)

 ARBITRARINESS (‫ )االعتباطية‬lack of logical connection between the signifier (word in language how it is in
dictionary) and signified (what that word refers to in the outside world).
 DUALITY duality of
 Phonological elements (sounds) and
 Grammatical units (grammatical categories [ Adj, Adv, N, V...], words).
 PRODUCTIVITY (sometimes called CREATIVITY) it is when you use a certain grammatical combination (for
example [ Det + Adj + N + V + Adj + N ]) to create endless possibilities of sentences ( they should have
meaning of course).
 DISCRETENESS absolute distinction between elements (sounds) and units (words)
EX. SEX and SIX
 DISPLACEMENT the capacity of language to refer to things that are remote in space (place) and time.
 INTERCHANGEABILITY changing roles from sender to receiver (speaker to listener).
COMPLETE FEEDBACK a mental monitor that is predisposed in humans that which allows a native speaker to
correct their own production.
 CULTURAL TRANSMISSION culture must always be thought of as a major medium of learning language
(process of Enculturation).
 LEARNABILITY any language can be learned.
 REFLEXIBILTY any language can be used to talk about itself (we use Arabic to talk about Arabic grammar
rules).
 PREVARICATION the capacity of using language to tell lies, insult and deceive.
 DICHOTOMIES

Dichotomies mean a pair of concepts (ideas) that are different, but complementary.

De.Sasseure Langue VS Parole

Chomsky Competence (innate capability VS Performance
of language acquisition).
John Lyons Language System VS Behavior
Natural abstract mental Concrete and practical
knowledge a native speaker actualization of the system
has of his/her mother tongue. through speech and
writing.

Synchronic description (SD) studies a linguistic phenomenon at one point in time. Particular states of
language regardless of its changes over longer periods of history.
Diachronic description (DD) deals with the historical evolution of language with a view to formulate
general theories about language change.

PHONETICS

Phonetics is the general study of human language speech sounds.

IPA International Phonetics Alphabets.
Phonetics has 3 subfields:
1. ARTICULATORY PHONETICS deals with speech sound production and articulation.
2. ACOUSTICS PHONETICS deals with Physical properties of diffusion of sounds as waves
through the air.
3. AUDITORY PHONETICS deals with the perception of speech sounds.

1- SENDER 2- MESSAGE 3- RECEIVER

Sounds parameters

Places of articulation (which speech organs are involved)

Manners of articulation (how these organs produce sounds?)
Voicing existence of vibration, they can be spotted by placing your fingertip on the top of your Adam’s
apple.
 When the vocal cords are spread apart the air coming from the lungs passes between them and
unimpeded (without being stopped) sounds produced in the way are described as Voiceless [-].
Such voiceless sounds are S or F.
 When the vocal cords are drawn together, the air coming from the lungs repeatedly pushes them
apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. This is described as Voiced [+].
Such voiced sounds are Z or V.

CONSONANTS

Places of articulation and their descriptions

A place of articulation of sounds describes the location inside the mouth at which the consideration takes
place.
Most consonants are produced through tongue to shape the oral cavity through which air is passing.
Bilabial both lips, such bilabial sounds are ( [p] [b] [m] ).
Labiodental upper teeth and lower lip, such labiodental sounds are ( [f] [v] ).
Dental tongue tip behind the upper teeth or between them, such dental sounds are ( [θ]=‫[ ث‬ð]=‫) ذ‬.
Alveolar front part of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge (the rough area above the upper teeth), such
alveolar sounds are ( [t] [d] [n] [s] ).
Palato-alveolar the middle of the tongue touches the place between the hard palate and alveolar ridge),
such palato-alveolar sounds are ( [ ʃ ]=‫[ ش‬ʒ]=‫ [ ج‬t ʃ ]=‫[ تش‬ʤ]=‫) دج‬.
Velar the back of the tongue touches the velum (soft palate); such voices are ( [k] [g] [ŋ]=‫)ني‬.
Glottal open space between the vocal folds, such glottal sounds ([w]=‫[ و‬h]=‫ )هه‬.

Manners of articulation and their descriptions

It is considered with the degree of obstruction, or type of channel imposed upon the passage of air at a
given place of articulation.
It ranges from completely closed to completely open.

Stops air flow completely and immediately closes after a puff of air gets out.
Fricatives produced by forcing the air flow through a narrow channel by placing two articulators
together).
Affricates a combination of Stops and Fricatives produced as stops at the beginning and released as
fricative at the end.
Nasals produced by allowing the air to escape freely through nose.
Laterals a partial closure is made when the tip of the tongue is raised
to the alveolar ridge , with the airstream being allowed to escape along one or both sides of the tongue.
Glides/Semi vowels produced with tongue in motion or from the position of a vowel.

Organs Contract Complete (C.C)

Partial (P.C)

Air Release Immediate (I.R)

Continuous (C.R)
 Bilabial Labiodental Dental alveolar palatoalveolar palatal Velar Glottal
Stops -p -t -k
(Plosives)
CC+IR +b +d +g
Fricatives -f -θ -s -ʃ
PC+CR +v +ð +z +ʒ +h
Affricates -tʃ
CC+IR+PC+CR +ʤ
Nasals
CC+CR +m +n
Laterals(sides
of the tongue) +l
CC+CR
Glides/Semi +w
vowels +j

EXAMPLE: if you were asked to give a sound’s description, this how you do it.
Question. Describe the sound /b/?
Answer. /b/ is voiced, bilabial, Stop, CC+IR.

VOWELS

Al vowels are voiced.

They do not involve any contact between organs of speech.
When talking about vowels we do not talk about air release, we have modification of system.

Vowels are either Rounded or Unrounded.

There are 3 types of vowels
 Short
 Long
 Diphthongs (a combination of 2 short vowels).

EXAMPLES:

Hurt Learn
/3:/ Bird /ea/ Bear
Learn Leave
Word Bread
Hat /ᴂ/ short
Hot /ᴐ/ short
Hit / i / short
Heat / i: / long
Hurt / a: / long
Heart /a: / long
Hut /ᴧ / syllable
Rate /eI / diphthong

Be it short, long vowel or diphthong, it is considered as one sound.

EXAMPLES:

/ᴐ/→ Shot
/ᴜ:/→ Shoot
/aᴜ/→ Shout

Syllables

→there exist no syllables if there is no vowels.

Again → /a g en/
Rising D Centering
Hate / heIt / Care / cᴂr/
Oil / ᴐ/ Here /hia/
Home /haum/ Sure /ʃua/
(w, y) are considered like vowels too.
Hat/ Height → the same pronunciation = Homophones
All vowels are important in terms of function.
C(consonant) + V(vowel) + C= S(sound)

PHONOLOGY

Phonology vs. Phonetics

→Both can be described as the study of speech sounds.
Phonetics
IPA (sounds in isolation).
Basic unit called PHONEME.
Phonetics does not care about sounds in continuum, it deals sounds separately.
A Phoneme in a particular language does not mean it is a Phoneme in all languages.
Phonetics specifically is the study of how speech sounds are produced, what their physical properties are.

Phonology
Language specific.
Deals with sound in context in one language (continuum).
Basic unit in Phonology is Allophone.
Make use of Diacritics.
Shows secondary articulation.
Phonology is the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in different languages.

Minimal pair test/communication test

We take two similar words except for one sound if the two words give different meanings in that language
we say that the two sounds are phonemes.
EX.

ᶷ
Low /la / Son /san/

Law /lᴐ:/ Sun /sᴧn/

Take /teik/ down /daun/
Make /meik/ dawn /dᴐ:n/

Week
Weak /wi:k/ → Homophones

Homophones are words pronunciated the same but having different meanings (e.g. new and Knew).

Ex. In Arabic
/S/ ← /Sa:ra/ ‫سار‬
/S/ ← /Sa:ra/ ‫صار‬
Minima pair test
See [Si:]
Saw [Sᴐ:]

[S] Occurs before front vowels.

/S/
[S] Occurs before back vowels

[Ph] Aspirated in initial position followed by a vowel.

/P/
[P] Non-aspirated.

[ l ] Clear before front vowel (e.g. Live).

/L/
[ ᵻ ] Dark before front vowel (e.g. Love).

Hat [haet]
/ae/
Man [maen]

All vowels that come after a nasal sounds (/n/, /m/…) become nasalized.
EX.
More the M is nasal rounded bilabial, the O is gets nasalized.

PHONOLOGICAL PROCESS
Phonological process (es) is/are the effect(s) neighboring sounds may have on each other in a speech
continuum in one language.
There are 4 types of these effects:
1) Assimilation is the process whereby one sound changes to be more like another sound in its
environment.

EX. Ten minutes → /teminits/

→ The /n/ sound gets affected by the following sound /m/ and changes to be more like it.
We say that it is a Regressive assimilation.

EX. Tenth (10th) ----- /ten0/

-the "n" sound again changes to sound like "0=‫"ث‬, we say that it is Progressive Assimilation.
 2) Dissimilation is the process whereby one sound changes to be unlike another sound in its
own environment.
EX. Soap Powder → /Sauᵹ pauda/
-/p/ changes to /ᵹ=‫ ء‬/

3) Elision is the process whereby one or sourds are omitted.

EX. Last night ----- /la:s na:t/
- the /t/ sound is omitted.

4) Metathesis is the process whereby the relative order of two elements gets reversed.
EX. Animal → Aminal
→ The /n/ sound and /m/ order have been switched.

MORPHOLOGY

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words.

Basic unit in morphology of analysis in Morphology is called the Morpheme.
Morph (Latin origin) it means form.
Morphemes exist in all languages but may appear differently.

1 2 3

WORD

1 Prefix
Affixation 2 Infix
3 Suffix

Morpheme
FREE Morpheme "Root" = can stand alone.
-Its meaning is the meaning we receive by convention.
-Number of "Roots" is unlimited.
BOUND Morpheme cannot stand alone.
They are not words (they are to be added to words “Root”).
They add meaning to the Root.
 Derivational Bound Morpheme (abbreviated DBM).
EX. Establish (Verb) + ment (DBM=suffix).
They do not change the Grammatical Category of the Root.
 Inflectional Bound Morpheme (IBM)
They add new meaning related to Tense, Number, Gender…
EX. Eats (eat is a verb and the "s" adds meaning of tense [Simple present in this example], singular, 3rd
person, absent).
EX. Cats (cat is a NOUN and the "s" adds meaning of Plural).
 Suppletive Reduplication morpheme (exception case where the root changes completely).
EX. Be → is → are
Go → went
Aller(fr) → va → ira
Bad → worse → worst
Good → better → best
...

Syntax

Chomsky (1972) -language and mind-

“I am primarily intrigued be the possibilities of learning something from the study of language
that will bring to light inherent properties of human mind”.

2 Objectives
1) - A theory of language
2) - A theory of language acquisition spontaneously (of Mother tongue).

2 kinds of grammar
1) - Grammar description of language (Phonology, Morphology, Syntax…)
2) - grammar: the study of Syntax (Focus on Sentences).

Syntax the study of structure of words (the way words are combined together within a sentence).

Structuralism school
ICA (Immediate Constituent Analysis) → Serves to disambiguate meanings
→ A linear division of structures without labels.
EX. OLD MEN AND WOMEN has 2 me meaning if we consider punctuation .
- [OLD] [MEN AND WOMEN]
- [OLD MEN] [AND WOMEN]

Word class grammar

Sentence formulate → Adj + Adj + N + V + Adv
Should generate meaning → on a linear basis.
Phrase Structure Grammar
→ Phrase structure Rules (PSR)
- Lexical categories words (N/V/Det/prep/…).
- Phrase category (NP/NP/AdvP/…).
EX. Of PSR
→ The man ate the sweet apples.
→ The young boy came.
→ The nasty child made a mistake.
→ Children play games.
Can generate infinity number of sentences:
Writes
S NP VP (NP)

VP V (NP)
N
NP Det N
Det Adj N
EX.
→ Some professional players have been

Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning of word and sentences in language.

Sing
(Mental concept)

Signifier Signified
(Word) (What the word refers to)

Syntagmatic is the relation between words in linear relationship.

EX.
John finds beautiful roses everywhere.
N V Adj N Adv

Trivial information
Semantics is what does X mean?
Sociolinguistics is who uses X to whom, when and why?
Pragmatics is what do you mean by X?

Reference (extra-linguistic) means the relationship which holds between words in the language and the
non-linguistic world of experience (reality).
Sense (Intra-linguistic) is the relationship between linguistic elements themselves.

Semantic relations
a) Synonymy sameness of meaning, it depends on syntagmatic relationships. It is also 2 words that are
not completely identical, they are interchangeable in some contexts.

EX. Range – Selection - Bunch - Choice

What a nice (Range – Selection - Bunch - Choice) of flowers!
His Range of knowledge is enormous.
Only Range fits in the context; we could include other words but it will sound odd.

b) Antonymy
1. Graded antonymy (oppositeness of meaning)
Fat # Slim
Tall # Short
Big # Small
2. Ungraded Antonymy
Male # Female
Dead # Alive
3. Relational oppositeness
Teacher # Student
Husband # Wife

c) Hyponymy is a relation of inclusion, the meaning of a word is included in the meaning of another
one.
EX.
Orchid
Jasmine
Flower Rose
Tulip
Asters