Linguistics 1

Phonetics/Phonology, Morphology, and Syntax

Phonetics/Phonology
The Production of Speech Sounds

All the sounds we make when we speak are the results of muscles contracting. The muscles
in the chest that we use for breathing produce the floor of air that is needed for almost all
speech sounds. Muscles in the larynx produce many different modifications in the flow of
air from the chest to the mouth.
After passing through the larynx the air goes through vocal tracks, which ends at the end of
the mouth are nostrils. Here the air from the lungs escapes in the atmosphere.
Humans have a large and complex set of muscles that can produce changes in the shape of
the vocal tract. Therefore, it is vital to be familiar with the different parts of the vocal tract
in order to study how the sounds of the speech are produced. These different parts of the
vocal tract are called articulators.

The study of these articulators is called articulatory phonetics.

The diagram represents human head seen from the side, displayed as though it had been
cut in half. Articulators are;
1. The pharynx
2. The velum
3. Hard palate
4. The Alveolar ridge
5. The tongue
6. The teeth
7. The lips
1. The Pharynx – The pharynx is a tube which begins just above the larynx. It is about
7cm long in women and 8cm in men, and at its top end it is divided in to two, one
part begins the back of the mouth and the other begin the beginning of the way
through the nasal cavity. If one can look into one’s mouth with a mirror with mouth
open, one can see the back of the pharynx.

2. The Velum – The velum or soft palate is seen in a position that allows air to pass
through the nose and through the mouth. When speaking it is raised so that air
cannot escape through the nose. The important thing about the velum is that it is
one of the articulators that can be touched by the tongue. When we make the
sounds /k/ and /g/ the tongue is in contact with the lower side of the velum, and we
call these velar consonants.

3. The Hard Palate – The hard palate is often called the “roof of the mouth”, we can
feel its smooth curved surface with our tongue.

4. The Alveolar ridge – The alveolar ridge is between the top front teeth and the hard
palate. We can feel its shape with our tongue. Its surface is really much rougher than
it feels and is covered with little ridges. We can only see these if we have a mirror
small enough to go inside our mouth as it is done by a dentist. Sounds made with the
tongue touching here (alveolar ridges) such as /t/ and /d/ are called alveolar.

5. The tongue – The tongue is of course a very important articular and it can be moved
into many different places and different shapes. It is usual to divide the tongue into
different parts in our study though there are no clear dividing lines within the tongue.
Following is a diagram of the division of the tongue.
6. The teeth – The upper and lower teeth are usually shown in a diagram as follows.

They are only at the front of the mouth, immediately behind the lips. We point
this for the sake of our understanding. We should remember that most speakers
have teeth to the sides of their mouths, back almost to the soft palate. The
tongue is in contract with the upper side teeth for many speech sounds. Sounds
made with the tongue touching the front teeth are called dental.

7. The lips – The lips are important in speech. They can be pressed together when we
produce the sounds /p/ and /b/. Lips are brought into contact with the teeth when
pronouncing consonants /f/ and /v/. Lips are rounded to produce the lip-shape
vowels like [u:], sounds in which the lips are contact with each other. These sounds
are called Bilabial. The sounds that are made with lip to teeth contact are called
Labiodental.

❖ It is true that the seven articulators described above are the main ones used in
speech. But there are three other things for us to remember.
i. Firstly, the larynx could also be described as an articulator which a very
complex and independent one.
ii. Secondly, the jaws are sometimes called articulators certainly we move
the lower jaw a lot in speaking. But the jaws are not articulators in the
same way as the other because jaws cannot contact with other
articulators.
iii. Finally, although there is practically nothing that we can do with the
nose, and the nasal cavity, there is a very important part of our
equipment for making sounds. They are sometimes called our vocal
apparatus. They are particularly nasal consonants such as /m/ /n/.
Anyway, we cannot really describe the nose and the nasal cavity as
articulators in the same s one to seven above.
 Vowels and Consonants

These two words are very familiar with us, but when we study the sounds of speech
scientifically, we find that it is not easy to define exactly what they mean.
The most common view is that vowels are sounds in which there is no obstruction to the
flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips.
When a doctor asks a patient to open mouth as “ah”, the vowel is sounded un-
obstructively.
But if we make a sound like /s/ or /d/ it can be clearly felt that we are making it difficult
or impossible for the air to pass through the mouth. In this case, most people may think
that sounds like /s/ and /d/ should be called consonants.
However, there are many cases where the decision is not so easy to make.
One problem is that some English sounds that we think of as consonants, such as sounds
at the beginning of the word ‘hay’ and ‘way’, do not really obstruct the flow of air more
than some vowels do.
Another problem is that different languages have different ways of dividing their sounds
in to vowels and consonants: For example the usual sound produced at the beginning of
the word ‘red’ is felt to be a consonant by most English speakers, but in some other
languages the same sound is treated as one of the vowels.
Eg: - Some dialects of Chinese.
Therefore, if we think that the difference between vowels and consonants is the way
they are produced, that view is wrong.
Therefore, we can divide vowels and consonants another way.
We can consider English words beginning with /h/ sound. With ‘h’ generally comes a
vowel.
Eg: - hen, happy
But we do not use these sounds as consonants.
Anyway, that we can think is that vowel consonant distinction is not the way they are
made but their different distributions. This vowel consonant distribution is different in
each language.
However, in studying phonology we assume that the sounds are clearly divided in to
vowels and consonants.
We learn phonology looking at vowels. We should know in what ways vowels differ from
each other.
The first matter we should consider is the shape and position of the tongue when a
vowel sound is pronounced.
We simplify the complexity of vowels describing just two things.
1. The vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the palate.
2. The part of the tongue between front and back which is raised highest.

❖ We can make a vowel sound /i: / in the English word ‘see’. Then if we look our mouth
on mirror, and tit our head back slightly. We will be able to see that the tongue is
held up close to the roof of the mouth.
❖ Then we can make [æ] vowels as in the word cat, and notice how the distance
between the surface of the tongue and the roof of the mouth is now much greater.
❖ Therefore, the difference between /i: / and /æ/ is a different of tongue height.
❖ In that case, we can describe i: as a relatively close vowel and æ is a relatively open
vowel. Tongue height can be changed by moving the lower jaw up and down.
❖ In making the two vowels described above, it is the front part of the tongue that is
raised.
❖ Therefore, we can describe /i:/ and æ as comparatively front vowels.
❖ By changing the shape of the tongue, we can produce vowels in which a different
part of the tongue is the highest point.
❖ A vowel, in which the back of the tongue is the highest point, is called a back vowel.
❖ If we make the vowel in the word, ‘calm’, which we write phonetically a: is a back
vowel. The vowel in ‘too’ (Ʊ:) is also a comparatively back vowel, but compared with
a: it is close.
❖ Therefore, we understand how these far vowels differ from each other. We can show
this in a simple diagram like this,

Front Back

Close i: u:

Open æ a:

However, this diagram is rather inaccurate. Phoneticians need to classify vowels in a

more understood manner.
For these phoneticians found some common vowels which are not vowels of any
particular language.
These set of vowels are called Cardinal Vowels.
These cardinal vowels are a standard reference system common for all languages.
Those who learn phonetics have to identify these cardinal vowels accurately.
One should not understand that learning cardinal vowels mean learning English vowels
and sounds. There are a range of vowels that the human vocal apparatus can make.
Traditionally we locate cardinal vowels on a four-sided figure of the shape like this.

This is the one recommended by the International Phonetic Association in 1989. The
exact shape is not really important, for that drawing a square is quite enough. But above
is the traditional way. Above vowels are called Primary Cardinal Vowels. These vowels
are familiar to the speaker of most European languages, and there are other cardinal
vowels as Secondly Cardinal Vowels. But they are less familiar.
Cardinal vowel 01 has the symbol [i] and is defined as the vowel which is close and as
front as it is possible to make a vowel without obstructing the flow of air enough to
produce friction noise, friction sound is the sort of hissing sound that one hears in
consonants like s and f.
Cardinal vowel number 05 has the symbol [ ɑ] and is defined as the most open and back
vowel that is possible to make.
Cardinal vowel number 08 [Ʊ] is fully close and vowel number 04 [a] is fully open and
front.

❖ In the cardinal vowel frame, there are 8 points of placing the vowels and those
8 points are called extreme vowel points. We should know that the cardinal
vowel frame is like a map for studying vowel quality. Those who study
phonology as a subject should keep this cardinal vowel frame in mind. When a
person becomes familiar with extreme vowels and points person can describe
classify and compare vowels for example, we can say that the English vowel [æ]
is not as open as cardinal vowel no.04 [a]. we have already looked at how we
can classify vowels according to their tongue height and their frontness or
backness. There is another important variable of vowel quality and that is lip
rounding. Although the lips can have many different shapes and positions, we
generally consider three possibilities of lip position.
 1. Rounded – This means the corners of the lips are brought towards each
other and the lips pushed forward. This is most clearly seen in cardinal
vowel no 08 [Ʊ].
2. Spread – This means with the corners of the lips moved away from each
other as a for a smile. This is most clearly seen in cardinal vowel no 01 [i]
3. Neutral – This means lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. The noise
most English people make when they are hesitating as ‘er’ as neutral lip
position.

English Short Vowels

English has a large number of vowel sounds. First are short vowels. The symbols for these
short vowels are I, e, ᴂ, ʌ, ɒ, ʊ. These short vowels are only relatively short. Vowels can
have quite different lengths in different contexts.
In studying phonology we should describe each vowel in relation to the cardinal vowel
frame.

Short vowel 01
This is the vowel (I)
Examples: - ‘bit’, ‘pit’, ‘fish’
We can describe this short vowel in cardinal vowel frame like this.
The vowel is in the close front area, compared with the cardinal
vowel frame, vowel number 1- (i). It is more open and nearer into
the center. The lips are slightly spread.

Short vowel 02
This is the vowel (e)
Example for English words ‘bet’, ‘men’, and ‘yes’.
This vowel can be described in the cardinal vowel frame like this.

Short vowel 03
This is the English short vowel (ᴂ).
Example are ‘bat’, ‘cat’, ‘man’, ‘gas’.

This vowel is front but not quite as open as cardinal vowel no 04

(a). The lips are slightly spread.
Short vowel 04
This is the short vowel (ᴧ).
Examples, ‘but’, ‘some’, ‘run’.
Let us demonstrate this vowel in the cardinal vowel frame.
This is a central vowel. The diagram shows that it is more open
than the open-mid tongue height. The lip position is neutral.

Short vowel 05
This is the short vowel (ɒ)
Examples, ‘pot’, ‘gone’, ‘cross’
This vowel is not quite fully back and between open-mid and
open in tongue height. In pronouncing lips are slightly rounded.

Short vowel 06
This is the vowel (ʊ)
Examples, ‘put’, ‘pull’, ‘push’
Let us describe this in a cardinal vowel frame.
The nearer cardinal vowel is no.08 [u]. But it can be seen that ʊ is
more open and nearer to central. The lips are rounded.
❖ There is also other short vowel, for which the
symbol is a. This is a central vowel called Schwa.
This is a very familiar sound in English. It is heard in
the first syllable of the words ‘about’, ‘oppose’, ‘perhaps’ etc. Anyway that is
different from other vowels.

Long vowels, Diphthongs and Triphthongs.

Long Vowels
There are five long vowels in English sounds. These are the vowels which tend to be longer
than the short vowels in similar contexts. Anyway English long vowels are different
according to the context. Sometimes, they are different according to the presence or absence
of stress. These vowels consist of one vowel symbol plus a length - mark made of two dots.
(:)
Thus we have i:, ɜ:, ɔ:, u:, ɑ: . Let us examine these vowels individually.
Long vowel 01 i:
Example words are ‘beat’, ‘mean’, ‘peace’.

This vowel is nearer to cardinal vowel no 1[i]. It is nearer than

the short vowel [l].Although the tongue shape is not much
different from cardinal vowel no 1 the lips are only slightly
spread and this results in rather different vowel quality.

Long vowel 02 ɜ:
Example words, ‘bird’, ‘fern’, ‘purse’.

This is a central vowel which is well-known in most English

accents such as a hesitation sound “er”. Anyway non-native
speakers find it very difficult to copy. Here, the lip position is
neutral.

Long vowel no 03 a:
Example words, ‘card’, ‘half’, ‘pass’.

This is an open vowel in the region of cardinal vowel no 05 [a].

But that is not back as the cardinal vowel. The lip position is
neutral.

Long vowel 04 ᴐ
Example words, ‘beard’, ‘turn’, ‘horse’

This vowel is between cardinal vowel no 06 (ᴐ) and no 07(ʊ)

This vowel is almost fully back and has quite strong lip rounding.

Long Vowel no 05 ʊ:
Example words, ‘food’, ‘soon’, ‘loose’.

This vowel is not very different from the cardinal vowel no 08 (ʊ)
But it is not quite so back nor so close, and the lips are only
moderately rounded.
 ❖ Now we understand these long vowels are different from the six short vowels
not only in length but also in quality. We can compare some similar pairs of
long and short vowels.
Eg:-
I with i:
ʊ with u:
ᴂ with a:

Here, we can see distinct differences in quality as well as length. These differences are
the results of tongue shape, position and lip position. For this reason all the long
vowels have symbols which are different from those of short vowels. We can see that
the long and short vowel symbols are different from each other even if we omit the
length mark. Therefore, it is important to remember that the length mark is used not
because it is essential but because it helps learners to remember the length difference.
Sometimes, the only case where a long and short vowel is similar is that of ə and ȝ:

Diphthongs
Received Pronunciation has a large number of diphthongs, sounds which consist of a
movement or glide from one vowel to another.
A vowel which remains constant and does not glide is called a pure vowel.
• When pronouncing diphthongs glide from one position to another, non-native
speakers make pronunciation mistakes that they pronounce a vowel instead of
diphthongs.
In terms of lengths, diphthongs are like the long vowels described above. In
diphthongs the first part is much longer and stronger than the second part.
For example, most of the diphthong aI as in the word ‘eye’, ‘I’, consists of the vowel
a and only in about the last quarter of the diphthong does the glide to I become
noticeable.
As the glide to I happens, the loudness of the sound decreases. As the result the I part
is shorter and quarter.
Foreign, learners must therefore, always remember that the last part of the English
diphthongs must not be made too strongly.
The total number of diphthongs is eight. It is easy to remember them when grouping
like this.
 Dipthongs

Centering Closing

Ending ə Ending in I Ending in ʊ

Iə eə ʊə eI aI ᴐI əʊ aʊ

The centering diphthongs glide towards the ə (schwa) vowel as the symbol indicates.

Centering diphthong 01 Iə
Iə - Example words, ‘beard’, ‘fierce’.

The starting point is a little closer than I in ‘bit’, ‘bin’.

Centering diphthong 02 eə
Example- words, ‘aired’, ‘cairn’, ‘scarce’.

This diphthong begins with the same vowel sound as the ‘e’
of ‘get’, ‘men’

Centering diphthong 03 ʊə
This can be described in the cardinal vowel frame like this.
ʊə- Example words’ ‘moored’, ‘tour’.

This has a starting point slightly closer than ʊ in ‘pat’ ‘pull’

etc…
Closing Diphthongs

The closing diphthongs have the characteristic that they all end with a glide towards a
closer vowel. Here, the second part of the diphthong is weak.

eI aI

e I a I
stressed weak Stressed weak

That means, they do not reach a position that could be called close. The important
thing is that a glide from a relatively more open towards a relatively more clos vowel
is produced.
Closing diphthongs ending in I can be described in the cardinal vowel frame as
following.

Closing diphthong 01 ending in I eI

Example words, ‘pain’, ‘paid’, ‘face’

The starting point is the same as the e of ‘get’, ‘men’

Closing diphthong 02 ending in I. aI

Following is the way of describing in the cardinal vowel frame.

Example words, ‘tide’, ‘time’, ‘nice’.

This diphthong begins with an open vowel which is
between front and back it is quite similar to the 𐓘 of the
words ‘cut’, ‘bun’.
Closing diphthong 03 ending in I. ᴐI
This can be described in cardinal vowel frame as following.

Example words ‘void’, ‘loin’, ‘voice’.

The first part of this diphthong has the same quality as

ᴐ: in ‘ought’, ‘born’

Closing diphthongs ending in ʊ

Two diphthongs glide towards ʊ, so that as the tongue
moves closer to the roof of the mouth there is at the
same time a rounding movement of the lips.
This movement is not a large one, again because the
second part of the diphthong is weak.
This diphthong əʊ can be described in this way.

əʊ Example words, ‘lead’, ‘home’, ‘most’ etc.

The vowel position for the beginning of this is the same ‘schwa’, vowel ə.
The lip may be slightly rounded in anticipation of the glide towards ʊ, for which there
is quite noticeable lip-rounding

Closing diphthong ending in ʊ 02 :- aʊ

Example words, ‘loud’, ‘gown’, ‘house’.

This diphthong begins with a vowel similar to a: but a

little more front. Since this is an open vowel, a glide to ʊ
would necessitate a large movement.
Usually in English, the glide towards ʊ begins but is not
completed, the end of the diphthong being somewhere
between close-mid and open-mid in tongue height. There
is only slight lip rounding.

Triphthongs
Triphthongs are the most complex vowel sounds in English. They can be difficult to
pronounce and very difficult to recognize. A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to
another and then to third, all produced rapidly and without interruption.
For example, the word ‘hour’ begins with a vowel quality similar to a: , goes on to
glide towards the back close rounded area for which we use the symbol ʊ, then ends
with a mid-central vowel ə(schwa)
a: ʊ ə
We use the symbol aʊa to represent the way we pronounce ‘hour’, but this is not
always an accurate representation of the pronunciation.
eI + ə = e I ə
aI+ə=aIə
ᴐI+ə=ᴐIə
ə ʊ +ə = ə ʊ ə
aʊ+ə=aʊə

In this manner there are five triphthongs.

However, foreigners find it difficult to distinguish diphthong sounds and triphthong
sounds.

Voicing and Consonants

When studying this lesson we should study the larynx first.

The Larynx – Larynx has several very important functions of speech. We should
study its anatomy and physiology too. We should see how it is constructed and how it
works.
The larynx is in the neck. It has several parts. Its main structure is made of cartilage.
When pressing the nose, the hard part that is felt is cartilage. The structure of the
larynx is made of two cartilages. These are hollow and attached to the top of the
trachea. When we breathe, the air passes through the trachea and the larynx. The front
of the larynx comes to a point and we can feel this point at the front of our neck,
particularly if the person is a man and slim. This point is commonly called Adam’s
apple.
Above two cartilages are called the vocal folds. These are two thick flaps of muscle
rather like a pair of lips. Earlier, these were called vocal codes.

This picture shows the most important parts. At the front of the vocal folds are joined
are joined together and fixed to the inside of the thyroid cartilage. At the back they are
attached to a part of small cartilage called the arytenoid cartilages.
So that if the arytenoid cartilages move, the vocal folds will move too.
The arytenoid cartilages are attached the top of the cricoid cartilage. But they can
move so as to move the vocal folds apart together.

• We use the word gottis to refer to the opening between the vocal folds.
If the vocal folds are apart, we say that the glottis is open.
If they are pressed together, we say that the glottis is closed.

This seems quite simple but in foot we can produce a very simple range of changes in
the vocal folds and their positions.
These changes are often important in speech.
There are four easily recognizable states of the vocal folds.
It would be useful to practice moving our vocal folds in to these different positions.
Wide apart
The vocal folds are wide apart for
normal breathing and usually during
voiceless consonants like p,f,s. Our
vocal folds are probably apart now.

Narrow glottis
If air is passed through the glottis when it is narrowed,
the result is a fricative sound for which symbol is /h/.
The sound is not very different from a whispered vowel.
It is called a voiceless glottal fricative.

1. Position for Vocal fold vibration

When the edges of the vocal folds are touching each other, or nearly touching, air
passing through the glottis will usually cause
vibration. Air is presses up from the lungs and this
air pushes the vocal folds apart.
Therefore, little air escapes. As the air flows quickly
past the edges of the vocal folds, the folds are
brought together again. The opening and closing
happens very rapidly and is repeated regularly,
averaging roughly between two and three hundred
times per second in a woman’s voice and about half
that rate in adult men.

2. Vocal folds tightly closed

The vocal folds can be firmly pressed together so that air cannot pass between them.
When this happens in speech, we call it a
glottal stop or glottal plosive, for which
we usually use the symbol /? /.
 Plosives
A plosive is a consonant articulation with the following characteristics
1. One articulator is moved against another or two articulators are moved against each
other, so as to form a stricture that allows no air to escape from the vocal track. This
stricture is then total.
2. After this stricture has been form and air has been compressed behind it, it is
released, that is, air is allowed to escape.
3. If the air behind the stricture is still under pressure when the plosive is released, it is
probable that the escape of air will produce noise loud enough to be heard. This
noise is told plosion.
4. There may be voicing during part or all of the plosive articulation.

In order to give a complete description of a plosive consonant we must describe what

happened at each of the following four phases in its production.
Phase 01 – when the articulator or articulators move to form the stricture for the plosive.
We call this the closure phase
Phase 02 – this is when the compressed air is stopped from escaping. We call this the hold
phase
Phase 03 – this is when the articulators used to form the stricture are moved so as to allow
air to escape. This is the release phase.
Phase 04 – this is the phase that happens immediately after release phase. This is called
post- released phase.

English plosives
• English has 6 plosives.
• They are p, t, k, b, d, g. In addition to that there is glottal plosive (?)
• However this glottal plosive occurs frequently but it is of less importance.
• The English plosives have different places of articulation.
• Among them p, b are bilabial. That means when pronouncing these two plosives lips
are pressed together.
• Among them t, d are alveolar because the tongue blade is pressed against the alveolar
ridge.
• Normally the tongue does not touch the front teeth as it does in the dental plosives in
many languages.
• Among this k, g are called velar plosive consonants because the back of the tongue is
pressed against the area where the hard palate ends and soft palate begins.
• However these p, t, k are always voiceless.
• b, d, and g sometimes fully voiced, sometimes partly voiced and sometimes voiceless
 • All plosives can occur at the beginning of a word which mean,
1. Initial position(at the beginning)
2. Medial position
3. Final position

1. CV (Consonant vowel)
2. VCV(Vowel consonant vowel)
3. VC (Following Vowels)

Initial position
Here the closure phase for p t k and b d g takes place silently.
During the hold phase there is no voicing in p t k .
In b d g there is normally little voicing.
It begins just before the release.
If the speaker pronounces an initial b d or g very slowly and carefully there may be
voicing during the entire hold phase. In this phase plosive is fully voiced. Anyway
in rapid speech there may be no voicing at all.
When pronouncing p t k there is an audible plosion which mean there is a burst of
noise.
In the post- release phase when the air escapes through the vocal folds a sound like
‘h’ is produced. This sound is called aspiration. In this the vocal folds come
together and voicing begins.
However b d g are followed by a week plosion. This can happen at the same time
or shortly after.
Therefore the difference between initial p t k and b d g is the aspiration of the
voiceless plosives p t k.
The different phases of the plosives all happen very rapidly. Of course the ear
distinguishes clearly between p t k and b d g .
Anyway when English speakers hear a fully voiced initial plosive they will hear it
as one of b d g. However it does not sound quite naturally.
If they hear a voiceless un aspirated plosive they will also hear that as one of b d g
because it is aspiration not voicing which distinguishes initial p t k from b d g.
Only when they hear a voiceless aspirated plosive will they hear it as one of p t k.
Experiments have shown that we perceive aspirations when there is a delay
between the sound of plosion and the beginning of voicing.
In initial position b d g cannot be preceded by any consonant but p t k may be
preceded by ‘s’.
When one of p t k is preceded by ‘s’ it is un aspirated.
Therefore what is clear that the un aspirated p t k of the initial combinations sp, st,
sk have the sound quality that makes English speakers perceive a plosive as one of
 b d g. Anyway, if the sound is tape recorded sp, st, sk is heard with the ‘s’
removed an initial b d or g is heard by English speakers.

Medial position –VCV (Vowel Consonant Vowel)

The pronunciation of p t k and b d g in medial position depends to some extent on
whether the syllables proceeding and following the plosive are stresses. In general
we can say that a medial plosive may have the characteristics either of final or of
initial plosives.

Final Position- VC (Vowel Consonant)

Final b d g normally have little voicing. If there is voicing it is at the beginning of
the old phase. p t k are of course voiceless. The plosion following the release of p t
k and b d g is very weak and of not audible. The difference between p t k and b d
g is primarily the fact that the vowels proceeding p d k are much shorter. The
shortening effect of p t k is most noticeable when the vowel is one of the long
vowels or diphthongs.

Sound System of a language.

Phonology refers to the sound system of a language. In general, the basic unit of
phonology is the phoneme. That is an individual speech sound.

Eg: /p/ That can be represented by a single letter. /p/

Speech sound inventory is the (SSI) new addition to our range of assessments and
measuring tools.

Every native speaker must master the sound system of his or her language. In the
case of England, this knowledge includes, the pronunciations of sounds and words,
information and stress, and grasp how pronunciations are affected by a variety of
other linguistic and non-linguistic factors.

In generally agreed that there are approximately 44 sounds in English, with some
variation dependent on accent and articulation. The 44 English phonemes are
represented by the 26 letters of the alphabet individually and in combination. For
this reason, one letter is used to produce more than one sound. In order to know the
correct pronunciation certain symbols denoting these sounds have been devised and
standardized.
 Pure / Single Vowel
Sounds
Vowels 12
20
Sounds of English Diphthongs
44 8
Consonants
24

Vowel Sounds
There are only five vowel letters to English.

a, e, i, o, u
But the sounds indicate by these 5 letters are 20. A vowel sound is produced when
the air comes out of the mouth freely without any blockage or closure in the mouth
cavity by the tongue teeth lips etc. The vowel sounds are of two types.

1. Single vowel sounds- pure

2. Double vowel sounds- diphthongs

When single or pure vowels are produced, the tongue remains in the same position
even when the sound is pro-tonged. They consist of one sound only and are called
pure vowels in ‘sit’, ‘pot’, ‘heat’ etc. (Single vowels)

1. /i:/ – sheep – tea

2. /I/ – bit – bucket
3. /e/ – egg – bread
4. /aʊ/ - bat – cat
5. /ᴧ/ - run – but – cut
6. / a:/ - car – clerk
7. /ᴐ/ - hot- swan
8. /ɔ:/ - caught - bought
9. /u/ - put – hood
10. /u:/ - unity – uniform
11. /ə:/ - perfect – shirt
 12. /ə/ - about – alike
13. /eI/ - tray – great
14. /aI/ - kite – fly
15. /ᴐI/ - boy – noise
16. /aʊ/ - home – know
17. /av/- how
18. /Iə/ - ear – deer
19. /eə/ - chair – there
20. /və/ - poor - tour

Double vowel sounds (diphthongs)

These vowel sounds are a combination of two single vowel sounds and in
pronouncing them the tongue moves from one position to another. For instance, in
the word ‘light’, the sound of ‘I’ is a combination of the vowel sounds /a: / in art
and /i/ as in ‘it’. The words ‘hair’, ‘toy’, and ‘poor’ also contain double vowel
sounds.

Consonant sounds
Consonant sound is one in which the air stream coming out of the lungs is modified
in the mouth cavity by some blockage created by the tongue, lips etc. When we say
the sound of ‘p’ as in ‘pen’ a blockage is created in the outgoing breath by closing
both the lips and thus, a consonant sound is produced.

Following is an illustration of vowel sounds of English.

Spelling Symbol Example

1. p /p/ pin

2. b /b/ bit – bat

3. t /t/ time - ten

4. d /d/ dog

5. k /k/ kite - kit

6. g /g/ get - go

7. ch /tʃ/ chop - chick

8. j /dȝ/ judge – jam

 9. f /f/ fan - fun

10. v /v/ van - vine

11. th /θ/ think - thought

12. s /s/ send - see

13. z /z/ zip - zoo

14. sh /ʃ/ shop - shoe

15. s /ȝ/ leisure - pleasure

16. h /h/ hen - happy

17. m /m/ man - monkey

18. n /n/ nice- night

19. ing /ղ/ ring - sing

20. l /l/ leg - long

21. r /r/ rat - run

22. w /w/ wet - wine

23. y /j/ yes - yet

Supra-segmental features

Phonology encompasses segmental and supra-segmental information. Segments consist

of vowels consonants while supra segmental features ah speech attributes that
accompany consonants and vowels, but which are not limited to single sounds and
often extend over syllables, words or phrases.

specific features that are super imposed on the utterances of this speech are known as
supra segmental features. Common supra segmental features are the stress, tone and
duration in the syllable or the word of a continuous speech sequence. Sometimes even
harmony nasalization is also included under this category. When a person knows
phonology, he should know segmental phonology skills referring to the awareness of
separable sound unit In speech and the ability to manipulate these. Suprasegmental
phonology refers to intonation, pattern, stress, placement, and rhythm in spoken
language. This is also called prosody.
Following other types of supra segmental.
1. Tone
2. Intonation
3. Stress
4. Pitch
5. Length
6. Rising intonation
7. Word accepts.
8. Falling intonation

Supra segmental are important for making all kinds of meanings in particular speaker’s
attitude or stances to what they are saying and in making out how the utterance relates
to another. The primary piece of supra segmental information is the pitch of sound,
loudness and the length.

One of the phonemes such as speech, stress, juncture, nasalization, voice or

voicelessness in clusters of a language that occurs Simultaneously with succession of
segmental phonemes or prosody.
Intonation is referred to as a prosodic feature of English. This is the collective term
used to describe the variations in pitch, loudness, tempo and rhythm. These features
are all involved in intonation stress and rhythm.

Stress
Rebecca Hincks says that stress is a feature of pronunciation in which a syllable is even
more emphasis than surrounding syllables. It is intrinsically contrastive. A single
syllable cannot be stressed in isolation but only in relation to another syllable.

Prosodic features
Prosodic Features are features that appear when we put sounds together in connected
speech. It is as important to teach phonology learners prosodic features as successful
communication depends as much an intonation, stress, and rhythm as on the correct
Pronunciation of sounds. Therefore, intonation stress and rhythm are called prosodic
features.

Tone in prosodic features

Tone refers to significant contrast between words signaled by pitch differences When
we speak there are pitch differences and it makes what we speak effective or not. This
difference makes a person to understand that he speaks differently. Example command
or request
Therefore, understanding or accepting a person's language depends on prosodic
features.
Juncture
Juncture in linguistics is the manner of moving between two successive syllables in
speech. An important type of juncture is the supra segmental phonemic cue by means
of which a listener can distinguish between two otherwise, identical sequences of
sounds that have different meanings.

Phonemes of English
Despite there being 26 letters in the English language there are approximately 44
unique sounds also knows as phonemes. These 44 sounds help distinguish one word or
meaning from another. Various letters and letter combinations known as graphemes
are used to represent the sounds.

Importance of prosodic features

communicatively prosody held interactants produced and comprehend the important
points of utterances through stress and also to signal and recognize where one topic
ends and another begins through topic management. It also communicates whether the
speaker is stating, asking or commanding. Prosodic Stress or sentence stress refers to
stress pattern applies to at the higher level than the individual word namely within a
prosodic unit. Prosody Is an essential skill for anyone who acts or reads aloud. It is
composed of three basic elements as expressions, intonation and flow. there are four
categories of time stress, anticipatory stress, situational stress, and encounter stress.

Stress means physical or mental tension. An example of stress is the pressure to finish
three large projects by the end of the day. another example of stress is discomfort and
pain in our arms of too heavy objects. Stress is defined as causing mental and physical
strain or tension. Stress in phonetics is the intensity given to a syllable off speech by
special effort in utterance resulting in relative loudness.

Intonation
Intonation is a feature of pronunciation that is common to all languages. Other features
of pronunciation include stress, rhythm and connected speech and accent. introduction
intonation is the melody of the utterance.

There is a difference between tone and intonation. Tone is the general sound of
somebody says for example being angry, upset or happy can affect the tone of what we
say. Intonation more specifically in accordance with the rise and fall of the tone of
certain words within a sentence. Thus, there are two basic intonation patterns as rising
and falling. With rising intonation, we have to raise slightly, and pitch at the end of the
sentence whereas with falling intonation we go down a bit. We use falling intonation
with statements.
Syllable types
There are seven types of syllables that occur all words of the English language. Every
word can be broken down into the syllables. These seven syllables are,
1. Closed
2. Open
3. Magic -e
4. Vowel teams
5. R – control
6. Diphthongs
7. Consonants

An open syllable ends with the vowel sound that is spelled with the single vowel
letter (a, e, i, o, u). Example: equal, me, programme
A closed syllable had a short vowel ending in a consonant. Example: hat, dish, basket.
All words have syllables, a word might have one or two syllables. Example: the word
reading has two Syllables.

Read ing

Clap clap

• In phonology the clap means one syllable

The word blue has only one syllable.

Blue Clap
The word pumpkin has two syllables. That means,

Pump kin

Clap clap

Received Pronunciation (RP)

The phrase received pronunciation was coined in 1869 by the linguistic professor A.J
Ellis but it only became a widely used to term to describe the accent of the social elite
after the phonetician Daniel Jones adapted it for the second edition of the English
pronouncing dictionary in 1924.
RP is also known as the Queen’s English if not Victorian English. It is a well-known
English accent spoken by the Royal family and other members of the upper classes in
the UK. It is an accent which fascinates many non-native speakers who try to copy that.
However Received Pronunciation is dying out now. The term Received Pronunciation
regards as the accent of those with power influence money and a fine education. It was
adapted as the standard pronunciation by the BBC (British broadband cooperation) in
1922. Anyway today it is used by two percent of the population.
Some people understand wrongly the two terms “standard English” and “received
pronunciation”. Standard English is about the written form which means using the
spelling and grammar considered correct. Received Pronunciation is about the spoken
form and it was the pronunciation that was traditionally associated with the more
affluent classes and that dominated the BBC for a long time. We should know that even
BBC does not use Received Pronunciation at present. Now in England there is no that
form and they speak a mixture of form called Estuary English. That is the form of
pronunciation even BBC uses.
According to Emma Watson Received Pronunciation is a southern English accent. She
was brought up in Oxford Shire and many people around Oxford speak a version of RP.
RP is often abbreviated to RP is an accent of spoken English. Unlike other UK accents, it
is identified not so much with a particular region as with a particular social group
although it has connections with the accent of southern England. RP is associated with
the educated speakers and formal speech. RP English is set to sound posh and powerful
whereas the people who speak Cockney English is the accent of working-class
Londoners often experience prejudice. However, in England now there are so many
versions of English and there is no officially correct one. Therefore, in the world there is
a mixed form of English from both American and England.

Morphology

Morphology is the sub field of linguistics that studies the internal structure of words
and the relationship among words. It deals with such aspects of words as,
1. What words are- This means who do we mean when we say we know words.
2. What is the basic building block in the formation of complex words such as roots,
free morphine, bound morphine etc.
3. What morphological rules are applied in the process of production of complex
words like affixation, compounding, reduplication etc.
4. Which morphine’s are attached first in the process of derivation in both reading
and spelling as well as in vocabulary and comprehension?
Other words for morphology are sound structure, word structure and syllable
structure.

Another definition for morphology.

Morphology is the study of word structure; the way words are formed and the way they
are formed interact with other aspects of grammar such as phonology and syntax.
Morphology in English language is a part of English grammar which studies the
structure of the English word, its components and functions and the formation of the
word. The English morphology studies the word’s root affixes, suffixes, bases,
inflections and phonemes.
From a logical point of view morphology is the oddest of the levels of linguistic analysis.

The words of language (lexicon)

We all have a mental dictionary of all the words we know which includes the following
information.
1. Pronunciation
2. Meaning
3. Orthography (spelling)
4. Grammatical category

Content words & function words

Content words are the words that convey conceptual meaning such as nouns, verbs,
adjectives etc. Open class words are the group of words into which new words can be
added.
Function words are the words that convey grammatical meaning such as articles,
prepositions, conjunctions etc. These are closed class words which mean new words
are rarely added.
The brain treats content and function words differently. Some people are unable to
read function words but can read content words. Sometimes content words may be
switched off in speech but there is no documentation of function words being switched
off in this way. Children often omit function words from there speech when learning
there first language.
Example, doggie barking

Morpheme
Morpheme is minimal units of meaning. Morphemes can be words on their own
and/can often be combined with other morpheme to make words.
Example-
• the word book has one morpheme
• the word books has two morphemes

book + -s

N Plural markers (“s” inflection)

In making morphemes discreetness and creativity are wanted. In all languages, sounds
combined to make words and words combined to make sentences creatively. We can
combine morphemes in new ways to create new words that can easily be understood.

Eg: write – writable

- unwritable
- rewritable
Free Morphemes (root)
Free morphemes are units that can stand alone.
Eg: ‘love’ is a single morpheme that can be uttered with no other morphemes connected
to it.

Bound Morpheme
Bound morpheme cannot stand alone and must be attached to other morphemes.
Eg: ‘un’ and ‘ish’ are bound morphemes because they cannot stand alone.
• Unhappy
• Unable
• Childish

Prefixes
Prefixes are bound morphemes that attached to the beginning of a root.

Eg: un – in unhappy

Prefix root

Suffixes
Suffixes are bound morphemes that attached to the end of the root.

Eg: ness – in kindness

Root suffix
Common name for suffixes and prefixes are affixes. Languages may differ in how they
use affixation. What is prefix in one language, may be a suffix in another.

Infixes
Infixes are morphemes that are inserted inside root.
Example: Bontoc language in Philippines
In the Bontoc language, fikas which means strong.
In the same language example, kilad red
Kumilad to be red

In another language kaya wood

Kinaya chopped wood
Circumfixes
Circumfixes means at the same time both suffixes and prefixes are both added to the
root. Example: bold
Prefix bold siffex
Em + blod + en
Contracted form
These are the shortened forms of auxiliaries attached to proceeding words.

I am I’m
They are They’re

Inflectional morphemes
They serve to trigger a change in the grammatical meaning as person, number, gender,
tense and aspect …etc. of a word -s, -ed, -ing.

Derivational morphemes
Derivational morphemes serve to derive a new word class or category from an existing
word as -able, -ness, -ly.
Example:

Slow + ly

Adjective Adverb

Free morphemes

1. Grammatical categories (parts of speech)

Word sharing significantly

• Grammatical categories are those bits of linguistic sound which mark the
grammatical categories of language like Tense, Number, Gender, spec trach of
which has one or more functions as Past, Present, Future as functions of Tense
and Singular Plural as functions of Number.

2. Identifying different categories

Morphological tests
There is morphological evidence for distinguishing between different categories.
• Verbs can take the third person singular suffix -s, present participle suffix -
ing.
• Adjectives can take comparative suffixes ‘er’, ‘est’ and the words ‘more’ and
‘most’
• Adverbs can take the suffix -ly can be added to an adjective to derive an
adverb
• Most pronouns undergo internal morphological changes when they change
the grammatical person
She her
 He him
• Prepositions, determiners, conjunctions have no special morphological
evidence for their classifications.

3. Word classes

A division which matches the lexical vs functional, one pretty closely is open class vs
closed class division.

3.1 Open class (content word)

They include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
There are thousands of words and new words can be created. Those called lexical
words or content words. No restrictions on using more than one member of the same
class. Example: A fair, tall girl

3.2 Closed class (function words)

They include prepositions, determiners, conjunctions and axillary words. No class
exists 50 words. New words cannot be created. There is a fixed set of words. No
additions for centuries. They have grammatical meaning. These words are called
structural words or functional words. Structural words cannot be used more than at
one time. For example, we cannot say *A the boy

4. Neologism

How new words are created?

For open class words, new words can be created. This involves several kinds of
processes.

4.1 Coining
Creating entirely new words by inventing a new sound and sequence and meaning.
Example: genocide (this word was introduced by Raphael Lemkin in 1944 to
describe Nazi war crimes)

4.2 Acronyms
This is the way of creating new words by combining the first letters of the words
of a long phrase.
For example: Radar – Radio, detecting, and ranging, laser-light, amplication,
simulation, emission, radiation.

4.3 Alphabetic abbreviation

This means coining new words using the first alphabetical letters of the words of
long phrase. Example: CD, PC, IT

4.4 Clipping
This is the use of shorten forms of words like Prof – professor, facts for facsimile.
 4.5 Generified words
This means creating new words using specific brand names of production to
refer to the production in general. For example: Xerox is a name of a company
that produce photocopy machines, but it is used as a word today.

4.6 Blends
This means, combining parts of words to form one word. For example: breakfast
+ lunch = Brunch

4.7 Proper nouns

This means use of proper nouns to refer to products and services. For example:
Guillotime (that name comes from Dr. Joseph Guillotime)

4.8 Borrowing
This means, borrowing words directly from another language. For example:
Kindergarten (is a borrowing word from German)

4.9 Borrowing indirect

This means, expression in one language is translated in literally into another
language. For example: firewater alcohol (sinhala) iron horse (rail road train)

5. Changing the meaning of words

This means a new meaning can be associated with an existing word.

5.1 Change in parts of speech

Here we modify meaning by changing the grammatical category. Example:
ponytail

5.2 Morphological extension

This means, use of an existing word to refer to the process and pheromone in a
new domain. For example: the word ship and other words associated with it are
used in new types of air transportation as well.

5.3 Broadening
This means the use of existing words to give another meaning. For example: The
word cool is originally referred to a specific style of Jazz music but now it is used
in many contexts to indicate general approval.

5.4 Narrowing
Narrowing is the use of an existing words. The context in which the word meal is
a narrowed one.
 5.5 Semantic drift
This means the change in meaning over time. For example: the word awful in the
past was used to mean inspiring wonder or fear, now it has a negative meaning.

Inflectional vs derivational morphology

Derivational morphology means new words in a language can also be formed by

processing with involving word formation rules.

1. Compounding
In English and in many other languages new words can be formed by joining
individual words together. This process is known as compounding.

• Noun + noun noun

Chain smoker
Land load

• Adjective + noun noun

Blackboard
Wildfire
Sickroom

• Preposition + noun noun

Overdose

• Verb + noun noun

Scarecrow

• Adjective +adjective adjective

Icy cold
Bittersweet

• Noun + adjective adjective

Sky blue
• Preposition + verb verb
Overlook

In English there are compound words, more than two words

Example: Community center, finance committee

2. English agentive suffix -er

Agentive nouns in English are formed by the word formation rule of adding the suffix –
‘er’ to a verb.
Example: Paint + er Painter
Eat + er Eater
 3. Use of ‘able’ suffix
New words can be created by adding the suffix ‘able’ toa verb

Verb + able adjective

Read + able readable

4. The diminutive suffix -y or -ie

Example: Dad Daddy
Mum Mummy

SYNTAX

In linguistics, syntax is the set of rules, principles and processes that govern the structure of
sentences in a given language, usually including word order. The term syntax is also used to
refer to the study of such principles and processes.
Therefore syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to form proper sentences. The
most basic syntax follows a subject + verb + direct object formula.
Ex:
• Jillian hit the ball
In syntax, it is defined that the following way is wrong.
• Hit Jillian the ball.
In another word, ‘syntax’, refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words combine
to form phrases, clauses and sentences. The term syntax comes from the Greek, meaning,
‘arrange together’. The term is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of a
language.
The purpose of syntax is to study sentence structure and formulation. It involves setting
rules for creating coherent and grammatically correct sentences by focusing on word order,
phrases, clauses and the relationship among them. When we write our message efficacy
depends more heavily on strict syntax.

The Eight Types of Sentences

• Simple sentence, a sentence with only one independent clause.
• Compound sentence, a sentence made up of two or more simple sentences.
• Complex sentence
• Declarative sentence
• Compound Complex sentence
• Interrogative sentence
• Imperative sentence
• Exclamatory sentence
Ten Basic Sentences in the English Language
There are ten sentence patterns in English.
1. Three ‘BE’ patterns.
I. The students are upstairs.
II. The students are diligent. Three types of ‘Be’
III. The students are scholars.

2. Two linking verb patterns.

I. The students seem diligent. Two types of linking verbs
II. The students became scholars.

3. One intransitive verb pattern

I. The students rested.

4. Four transitive verb patterns.

I. The students studied their assignment.
II. The students gave the professor their homework.
III. The students consider the teacher intelligent.
IV. The students consider the course a challenge.

What makes these sentences different is the predicate, not the subject. What
makes the predicate different is the grammatical function of its parts.

Three ‘BE’ verb patterns

1) The students are upstairs.

Subject + Be-Verb + Adverb.

2) The students are diligent.

Subject + Be-Verb +Adjective

3) The students are scholars.

Subject + Be-Verb + Subject complement

Two Linking Verb Patterns

1. The students seem diligent.

Subject+ linking verb+ adjective

2. The students became scholars.

Subject + linking verb+ subject complement

Intransitive Verb Pattern

The students rested.

Subject + intransitive verb

Transitive Verb Patterns

1. The students studied their assignment.

Subject+ Transitive verb + Direct object

2. The students gave the professor their homework

Subject + Transitive verb + Indirect object+ Direct object

3. The students consider the teacher intelligent.

Subject + Transitive verb + Direct object+ Adjective

4. The students consider the course a challenge

Subject + Transitive verb + Direct object+ Object complement

Now we can analyze the above four Transitive verb patterns following way.

1. The students = subject = Noun phrase

Studied = verb
their assignment = Direct object = Noun phrase

2. The students = Subject = Noun phrase

gave = verb
the professor = Indirect object= Noun phrase

3. The students = Subject = Noun phrase

Consider = verb
the teacher intelligent = adjective = noun phrase

4. The students = subject = Non phrase

consider =verb
the course a challenge = subject complement = Noun phrase

Yule 2006 says:

Syntax is an aspect that gives meaning to a sentence. Most sentences are ambiguous
when they lack syntax properties.
He also says;
Syntax also enables learners to construct sentences that show recursion which is
important in the construction of grammatically correct sentences.
Syntax is important because that is the set of rules that helps readers and writes
make sense of sentences. It is also an important tool that writers can use to create
various rhetorical of literary effects.
Learning proper grammar is important because it is the language that makes it
possible for us to effectively talk about language. Grammar names the words and
word groups that make up sentences not only in English but in almost any language.
We always associate grammar with errors and correctness.

Some Basic Properties of Syntax

In language, we convey information from day to day purposes as well as highly
academic. Language provide a means for us to describe how to cook, how to
understand English grammar or how to provide a convincing argument.
We commonly consider certain properties of language to be key essential features
from which the basic study of linguistics starts.
 Ferdinand de Saussure-1916
The well-known property is that there is no motivated relationship between sounds
and meanings. This is simply observed in the fact that the same meaning is usually
expressed in a different sounding-word in a different language.
Let us look at the following words of which meaning have no connection with the
shape,
EX: hotdog, hamburger

Actually, there is an arbitrary relationship between the word’s sound and its meaning
and this relationship is decided by the convention of the community the speakers
belongs to.
The second important feature of language and more central to syntax is that
language makes infinite use of finite set of rules or principles, the observation of
which led the development of generative linguistics in the 20th century.
(Chomsky- 1965)

A language is a system for combining its parts in infinitely in any ways.

One piece of evidence of the system can be observed kin word order restrictions.
Imagine that there are five separate words as follows,
i. man
ii. ball
iii. a
iv. the
v. kicked
How many possible sentences can we make using these five words? Of course we can
make 120 sentences using above five words. But are they all grammatically correct?
No, only six constructions are grammatically correct. Following are the correct forms:
1)
a. The man kicked a ball.
b. A man kicked the ball.
c. The ball kicked the man.
d. A ball kicked the man.
e. The ball, a man kicked.
f. The man, a ball kicked

That means from above possible 120 constructions from above five words, only these
six expressions convey a grammatically correct meaning. All other constructions then
are wrong.
 Let us see the following constructions.
2)
a. Kicked the man the ball.
b. Man the ball kicked the. Wrong
c. The man a ball kicked.

That means it is clear that there are certain rules in English for combining words.
These rules constrain which words can be combined together or how they may be
ordered, sometimes in groups with respect to each other.
Such combinatory rules also play important rules in our understanding of the syntax
of an example like following sentence.

3)
a. Kim lives in the house Lee sold to her.
However, the following way gives another meaning.
b. Kim lives in the house Lee sold it to her – Wrong
Therefore, such combinatory knowledge also provides an argument for the
assumption that we use just a finite set of resources in providing
grammatical sentences, and that we do not just rely on the meaning of
words involved. Let us consider the following examples.

4)
a. Kim fond of Lee - Wrong
b. Kim is fond of Lee.

It is not impossible for us to understand the meaning of the sentence 4)-a. However English
has a structural requirement and in that case, 4)-b. is correct.

When the speakers are conscious of the rules it is not difficult to understand the meaning
of expressions which have never be heard or seen.

If a person has linguistic competence in English, it is not impossible to understand the

meaning of following sentence if the sentence has not been seen before.

5)
In January 2002, a dull star in an obscure constellation suddenly became
600,000 times more luminous than our sun, temporally making it the brightest
star in our galaxy.
It is understood that a language speaker can produce an infinite number of grammatical
sentences. For example using the following sentence we can produce an infinite number of
grammatical sentences.
Ex:
6)
a. The man kicked the ball.
Using this more complex sentence can be made.
b. The tall man kicked the ball.
c. The handsome, tall man kicked the ball.
d. The handsome, tall, nice man kicked the ball.
e. …
f. ….

One might argue that since the number of English adjectives could be limited, there would
be a dead end to this process. However no one would find themselves lost for another way
to keep the process going on.

7)
a. Some sentences can go on.
b. Some sentences can go on and on.
c. Some sentences can go on and on.
d. ….
To above 7) a. we add the string and on. We can and that without stopping. This is enough
to prove that we could make an infinite number of well-formed English sentences.

Given these observations, how can we explain the fact that we can produce or understand
an infinite number of grammatical sentences that we have never heard or seen before? It
seems impossible to consider that we somehow memorize every example, and in fact we
do not know.
8)
All native speakers have a grammatical competence which can generate an
infinite set of grammatical sentences from a finite set of resources. This
hypothesis, has been generally accepted by most linguistics and has been
taken as the subject matter of syntactic theory. In terms of grammar, this
grammatical competence is hypothesized to characterize a generative
grammar, which we then can define as follows.

9) Generative Grammar
 An English generative grammar is the one that can generate an infinite set of
well-formed English sentences from a finite set of rules or principles.

Therefore, the job of syntax is thus to discover and formulate these rules or
principles. The rules tell us how words are put together to form grammatical
phrases and sentence. Generative grammar or generative syntax, thus aims to
define these rules which will characterize all of the sentences which native
speakers will accept as well-formed and grammatical.

Generative Rules of English Syntax

We should know how to find out what the generative rules of English syntax are. The rules
are present in the speaker’s mind; but are not consciously accessible. Anyway, speakers
cannot articulate their content if they are asked to do so. Therefore, rules are hidden and
used indirectly.
Following are the steps for discovering generative rules.
1. Step 1 Data collection and observation
2. Step 2 Make a hypothesis to cover the first set of data
3. Step 3 Check the hypothesis with more data
4. Step 4 Revise the hypothesis if necessary.

Let us see how these steps wok for discovering one of the grammar rules in English, to
particular the rule for distinguishing count and non-count nouns.

Step 1- Observing Data

To discover a grammar rule, the first thing we need to do is to check out grammatical and
ungrammatical variants of the expression in question.
For example:
Let us look at the usage of the word advice.

10) Data set 01

a. The professor gave John some good advices.
b. The president was hoping for a good advice.
c. The advice that John got was more helpful than one that Smith got.

When we examine above examples, we can make the following observations.

 11) Observation 01
a. Advice cannot be used in the plural.
b. Advice cannot be used with the indefinite article a/an.
c. Advice cannot be referred to by the pronoun one.

➢ However one example is not enough to prove that there are more words that behave
as advice.
12) Data set 02
a. We had hoped to get there new furniture every month, but we only
had enough money to get a furniture every two weeks.
b. The furniture we bought last year was more expensive than the one
we bought this year.

Let us analyze the observation like this:

13) Observation 02
a. Advice/furniture cannot be used in plural.
b. Advice furniture cannot be used with the indefinite article a/an.
c. Advice/furniture cannot be referred to by the pronoun one.

It is useful to fine contrastive examples to understand the range of a given

observation. For instance, words like suggestion and armchair act differently.

14) Data set 03: Suggestion

a. The major gave John some good suggestions.
b. The president was hoping for a good suggestion.
c. The suggestion that John got was more helpful than the one that
Smith got.

15) Data set 04: Armchair

a. The mayor gave John some good armchairs.
b. The president was hoping for a good arm chair.
c. The armchair that John got was more helpful than the one that Smith
got.

Unlike furniture and advice, the nouns suggestion and armchair can be used in the
test linguistic contexts we set up.
Thus, we can add observation 0.3, different that observation 02.
 16.Observation 03:
a. Suggestion/armchair can be used in the plural.
b. Suggestion/armchair can be used with the indefinite article a/an.
c. Suggestion/armchair can be referred to by the pronoun one.

Step 02 Forming a Hypothesis

From the data and observations we have made so far can we make any hypothesis
about the English grammar rule in question?
One Hypothesis that we can make is something like the following.

17.Hypothesis
English has at least two groups of nouns, as
Group 01: Count Nouns
Group 02: Non-Count Nouns
These are diagnosed by tests of plurality, the indefinite article and the
pronoun one.

Step 03: Checking the Hypothesis

Once we have formed such a hypothesis, we need to check out is it is true of the
other data, and also see if it can bring other analytical consequences.
When we think furthermore, we find support for the two-way distinction for nouns.
For example let us consider the usage of much and many.
18.
a. Much information, much furniture, much advice.

We can use the above way

b. Much suggestion, much armchair, much clue.

We cannot use this way because that is wrong.

 19.
a. Many information, many furniture, many advices.

This way is wrong

b. Many suggestions, many armchairs, many clues.

This way is correct

We can observe here that count nouns can occur only with ‘many’ where as non-
count nouns can combine with much.

20.
a. Little furniture, little advice, little information correct
b. Little suggestion, little armchair, little clue wrong

21.
a. Few furniture, few advice, few information wrong
b. Few suggestions, few armchairs, few clues correct

The word ‘little’ can occur with non-count nouns. But, like advice, ‘few’ cannot.
‘Few’ occurs only with count nouns.
In these data, it appears that the two-way distinction is quite plausible and
persuasive.

Let us consider the following example with cake.

22.
a. The mayor gave John some good cake.
b. The president was hoping for a good cake.
c. The cake that john got was more delicious than the one that Smith
got.

Similar behavior can be observed with a noun like beer, too.

23.
a. The bartender gave John some good beers.
 b. No one knows how to tell from a good beer to a bad one.

According to these examples, cake and beer may be classified as count nouns.
Let us observe the following.
24.
a. My Pastor says I ate too much cake
b. The student drank too much beer last night.

25.
a. We recommend to eat less cake and pastry.
b. People now drink less beer.

This means, cake and beer can also be used as non-count nouns since that can be
used with less and much.

Step 04: Revising the Hypothesis

Above examples 24 and 25 imply that there is another group of noun that can be
used as both count and non-count nouns.
This information leads us to revise the hypothesis in above item 17 as following

26.Revised Hypothesis
There are at least three groups of nouns;
• Group 01-Count nouns
• Group 02- Non-count nouns
• Group 03-Count and Non-count nouns

Therefore, the context will decide whether a noun in Group 03is used as count or as
non-count.
As we have observed so far, the process of finding finite grammar rules crucially
hinges on finding data, drawing generalization, making a hypothesis and revising
hypothesis with more data.

Why do we study syntax and what is it good for?

There are many reasons for studying syntax, from general humanistic or behavioral
motivations to much more specific goals such as following.
➢ To help us to illustrate the patterns of English more effectively and clearly.
➢ To enable us to analyze the structure of English sentences in a systematic and explicit
way.
For example; let us consider how we could use syntactic notion of head, which refers to
the essential element within a phrase. The following is a short and informal rule for
English subject-verb agreement.

27.
In English, the main verb agrees with the head element of the subject.

➢ This informal rule can pin point what is wrong with the following two
examples.

28.
a. The recent strike by pilots have cost the country a great deal of
many from tourism and so on.
b. The average age at which people begin to need eye glasses vary
considerably.

These both expressions are grammatically wrong.

When we have the structural knowledge, it is easy to see that the essential element
of the subject in 28 a) is not pilot but strike. This is why the main verb should be has
but not have to observe the basic agreement rule in 27.

Meanwhile in 28 b) the head is the noun age and thus the main verb vary needs to
agree with this singular noun. It would not do to simply talk about ‘the noun’ in the
subject in the example in 28 as there is more than one.

Therefore, we know that one gives its character to the phrase is the head.

If the head is singular, so is the whole phrase, and similarly for plural.
Let us see the following examples:
29.
a. [The real strikes by pilots] have cost the country a great deal of
money from tourism and so on. –WRONG
b. [The average age at which people begin to need eyeglasses] vary
considerably. – WRONG
Either example can be made into a grammatical version by pluralizing the head noun
of the subject.
Now let us look at some slightly different cases. Let us try to explain why the
following examples are unacceptable.
 30.
a. Despite of his limited educational opportunities, Abraham Lincoln
became one of the greatest intellectuals in the world. – WRONG
b. A pastor was executed, notwithstanding on many applications in
favor of him. –WRONG
To understand these examples, we first need to recognize, the words despite and
notwithstanding are prepositions.
We should also know that canonical English prepositions combine only with noun
phrase.
In above example 30 these prepositions combine with prepositional phrases again
violating this rule.
Of his limited educational opportunities – PREPOSIONAL PHRASE
On many applications – PREPOSIONAL PHRASE

A more subtle instance can be found in the following example.

31.
a. Visiting relatives can be boring
b. I saw that gas can explode.

These examples each have more than one interpretation.

The first sentence has two possible meanings.
I. Event of seeing our relatives is a boring activity.
II. The relatives visiting us are themselves boring.
The second example can have two meanings
I. a specific can containing gas exploded which I saw
II. I observed that gas has a possibility of exploding

If one knows English syntax, that is, if one understands the syntactic structure of
these English sentences, it is easy to identify these different meanings.
Here is another example which requires certain syntactic knowledge.
He said that that ‘that’ that man used was wrong.
This is the kind of sentence one can play with when starting to learn English
grammar.
There are differences among these fire ‘that’s’. Syntactic knowledge can be used to
diagnose the differences. Our study of syntax involves making clear exactly how each
word is categorized, and how it contributes to a whole sentence. When
understanding complex sentences knowledge of English syntax is useful.
Lexical Categories

Determining the lexical categories

The basic units of syntax are words. The first question is then what kinds of words does
English have. Kinds of words are also known as parts of speech, or lexical categories or
grammatical categories. Are they simply noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition and may
be few others? Most of us with simple definitions to explain the categorization of words.
For instance, why do we categorize book as a noun, but kick as a verb? To make it more
difficult, how do we know that virtue is a noun, that virtue is a noun, and without is a
preposition, and that well is and adverb.
Words can be classified into different lexical categories according to three criteria,
1. Meaning
2. Morphological form
3. Syntactic function (distribution)
Now let us check what each of these criteria means, and how reliable each one is.
➢ It is true that words can be classified depending on their meanings. For example, we
would have the following rough semantic criteria for N(noun), V(verb) A(adjective)
and Adv (adverb)
a. N:referring to an individual or entity
b. V:referring to an action
c. A:referring to a property
d. Adv:referring to the manner, location, time or frequency of an action
Though such bases can be used for many words, these national definitions leave a
great number of words unaccounted for.
Eg: words like sincerity, happiness and pain do not simply denote any individual or
entity.
Absence and loss are even harder cases.
There are also many words whose semantic properties do not match the lexical
category that they belong to.
For example: words like assassination and construction may refer to and action rather
than an individual, but they are always nouns.
Words like remain, bother, appear and exist are verbs, but do not involve any action.
A more reliable approach is to characterize words in terms of their forms and
functions. The ‘form based criteria’ look at the morphological form of the word in
question.
a.
a. N:_ + plural morpheme -‘s’ ‘es’
b. N:_ + possessive ‘s
 c. V:_ + past tense _-ed or 3rd person singular –‘s’, ‘es’
d. V:_ + 3rd person singular –(e)-‘s’
e. A:_ +er/est (or more/must)
f. A:_ + -ly[to create an adverb]
According to these frames, where the word in question goes in the place indicated by
_, nouns allow the plural making suffix-(e)s to be attached, or the possessive ‘s,
whereas verbs can have the past tense -ed or the 3rd singular form-(e)s. Adjectives can
take and superlative endings –er or –est or combine with the suffix-ly.
Following example shows some examples derived from these frames.
a. N: trains, actors, rooms, man’s, sister’s etc.
b. V: devoured, laughed, devours, laughs etc.
c. A: fuller, fullest, more careful, most careful etc.
d. Adv.: fully, carefully, diligently, clearly etc.
The morphological properties of each lexical category cannot be overridden, verbs
cannot have plural making, nor can adjectives have tense making. It turns out,
however, that these morphological criteria are also only of limited value.
In addition to nouns like, information and furniture, there are many nouns such as love
and pain that do not have a plural form. There are adjectives such as absent and
circular that do not have comparative –er or superlative –est forms, due to their
meanings. The morphological (form-based) criterion though reliable in many cases, are
not necessary and sufficient conditions for determining the type of lexical categories.
The most reliable criterion in judging the lexical category of a word is based on its
function and distributional possibilities.
Let us try to determine what kind of lexical categories can occur in the following
environments.
➢
a. They have no ______
b. They can ___
c. They read the __ book.
d. He treats John very ___
e. He walked right ___ the wall.

The categories that can go in the blanks are N, V, A, Adv. and P (preposition)

As we could see here, roughly only one lexical category can appear in each
position.
➢
a. They can have no TV/car/information/friend
b. They have no went/in/old/very/and – WRONG
 ➢
a. They can sing/run/smile/stay/cry
b. They can happy/down/door/very – WRONG

➢
a. They read the big/new/interesting/scientific book
b. They read the sing/under/very book – WRONG

➢
a. He treats John very nicely/badly/kindly
b. He treats John kind/shame/under – WRONG

➢
a. He walked right into/onto the wall
b. He walked right very/happy/the wall – WRONG

As shown here, only a restricted set of lexical categories can occur in each position, we can
then assign a specific lexical category to these elements.
➢
a. N: TV, car, information, friend
b. V: sing, run, smile, stay, cry
c. A: big, new, interesting, scientific
d. Adv. : nicely, badly, kindly
e. P: in, into, on, under, over

In addition to these basic lexical categories, does English have other lexical
categories? There are a few more. Let us consider the following syntactic
environments.
➢
a. ___ student hits the ball.
b. John sang a song, ____ many played the piano.
c. John thinks __ Bill is honest.

• The only words that can occur in the open slot in above (a) are words like the,
a, this, that and so forth, which are determining (Det)
• Suitable words for above (b) are conjunctions (Conj) such as and, but, so, for,
or, yet.
• In the sentences (c), we can have the category we call, ‘complementizer’, here
that – we return to this in future example.
 We can find any supporting evidence for such lexical categorization. It is not so
difficult to construct environments in which only these lexical elements appear.
Let us consider the following.
We found out that ____ jobs were in jeopardy.
➢ Here we see that only words like the, my, his, some, few, these, those, and so
forth can occur here. These articles, possessives, quantifiers and
demonstratives all determine the referential properties of jobs here, and for
this reason, they are called determiners.
One clear piece of evidence for grouping these elements as the same category
comes from the fact that they cannot occupy the same position at the same time.
➢
a. [My these jobs] are in jeopardy – WRONG
b. [Some my jobs] are in jeopardy – WRONG
c. [This his jobs] are in jeopardy
Words like my and these or some and my cannot occur together, indicating
that they compete with each other for just one structural position.
Now, let us consider the following examples.
a. I think ___ learning English is not easy at all
b. I doubt ___ you can help me in understanding this.
c. I am anxious ___ you to study English grammar hard.
Again the possible words that can occur in the specific slot in following are
strictly limited.
a. I think that [learning English is not all that easy]
b. I doubt if [you can help me in understanding this]
c. I am anxious for [you to study English grammar hard]

Content vs. Function Words

The lexical categories that we discussed thus far can be classified into two major word types
as;
1. Content words
2. Function words
Content words are these with substantive semantic content whereas function words are
these primarily serving to carry grammatical information.
If we remove the words of category Det, Aux and P from the examples in following two
sentences.
➢
a. The students will take a green apple
b. The teachers are fond of Bill.
 ➢
a. Students take green apple – WRONG
b. Teachers fond Bill – WRONG

In contrast function words are mainly used to indicate the grammatical function of other
words and are “closed class items”. There are only about 300 function words existing
English and new function words existing English and new function words are only very
rarely added into the language.
Even though, these are ungrammatical, we get some meaning from the strings, since the
remaining N, V and A words include the core meaning of the above example. These content
words are also known as ‘Open Class’ words. Since the number of such words can be added
every day.

Phrasal categories

In addition to the agreement and ambiguity facts our institution may also lead us to
hypothesize constituency let us consider the following example.
Eg: The student enjoyed his English syntax class last semester.
Perhaps most of us would intuitively assign the structure given in following example a) but
not in example b) and c)
a) [The student] [enjoyed] his English syntax class last semester.
[The student] [enjoyed (his English class last semester)]
b) [The] [student enjoyed] [his English syntax class] [last semester].
c) [The student] [(enjoyed his English) (syntax class last semester)].
What kind of knowledge in addition to semantic coherence forms the basis for our
intuitions of constituency. There are certain salient syntactic phenomenon which refer
directly to constituents or phrases.
A collection of several words in a line is called a string. In syntax now we check whether it is
a constituent or phrase. In syntax there are several ways of checking,
1. Cleft
2. Constituent questions & Stand-Alone Test
3. Substitution by a pronoun
4. Co-ordination

Cleft Test
Following are examples for cleft sentences.
 ➢ The policeman met several young students in the park last night.
Following are the ways of making the sentence as constituents.
a. It was [the policeman] that met several young students in the park last night.
b. It was [several young students] that the policeman met in the park last night.
c. It was [in the park] that the policeman met several young students last night.
d. It was [last night] that the policeman met several young students in the park.