Linguistic structures and
Present Day English (PDE)
History of the English Language
H. Littlefield, Ph.D.
A sample of Old English…
1. Fæder ure flu fle eart on heofonum;
2. si flin nama gehalgod
3. to becume flin rice
4. gewur flin willa
5. on eor› an swa swa on heofonum.
6. Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg
7. and forgyf us ure gyltas
8. swa swa we forgyfa› urum gyltendum
9. and ne gelæd flu us on costnunge
10.ac alys us of yfele. Sofllice.
(Matthew 6:9-13)
Read by Catherine Ball: http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/oe/paternoster-oe.html
Lexicon
• Core vocabulary
• Different types of words…
1
Borrowings
• Italian:
opera, piano, allegro, virtuoso, diva,
prima donna, maestro, sonata, forte,
pianissimo, presto, adagio, dolce, sotto voce
• French:
pas-de-deux, arabesque, pirouette, plié, en pointe
• Hebrew: messiah, Emmanuel, hallelujah, shibboleth
• Arabic:
algebra, zero, algorithm, average
• Arabic (recent): burka, fatwa, jihad, sharia
Borrowings: Characteristics
• Rare to borrow core vocabulary
• Pronunciation is often altered
– petit larceny
• French: petit larecin
• Note alt spelling in English: petty larceny
– limousine
• French: limousin
Borrowings: Characteristics
• Meaning may change
– à la mode
• French: ‘in the fashion’
– ketchup
• Malay: ‘fish sauce’
– limousine
• French: ‘a type of cloak’
2
Compounds
• A few examples:
N + N:
turtleneck, handbag, sugar maple, cowboy
A + N:
greenhouse, sweet tooth, hot pants, mad money
N + A:
bloodthirsty, duty-free, noteworthy, top-heavy
V + V:
sleepwalk, workstudy
V + N:
telltale, cut-rate, makeshift
N + V:
tailspin
Compounds: Characteristics
Compounds frequently have more than two elements
ring-side seat
squeeze-ball car horn
Saturday night film series
fancy dress ball
brown-eyed girl
Recursive
text book > morphology textbook > derivational
morphology textbook
White house > White house garden party > White house
garden party committee president
Compounds: Characteristics
Spelling isn’t reliable
Spaced
girl friend
new born
wet suit
monkey business
Hyphenated
girl-friend
new-born
spoon-feed
red-hot
dog-eared
No space
girlfriend
newborn
jumpsuit
catfight
birdbrain
How do we know if something is a compound?
3
Compound test: Phrase Test
Compound:
Two elements are same category
Non-compound: Two elements are phrasal
Examples
Compound
white hot (A + A)
eye candy (N + N)
blood money (N + N)
identity theft (N + N)
Non-compound
a white bird, a hot sun
the eye, the candy
the blood, the money
the identity, the theft
Compounds: Stress Test
Compound: First element is stressed
Non-compound: Second element is stressed
What is stress??
English: pitch raises + increased loudness
Examples
Compound
hót dog
gréen house
fúnny farm
whíteboard
Non-compound
hot dóg
green hóuse
funny fárm
white bóard
Compounds: Meaning Test
Compound: unpredictable, new meaning
Non-compound: predictable meaning
Examples
turtleneck
egghead
bigwig
parkway
driveway
hót dog vs. hot dóg
gréen house vs. green hóuse
bláck bird vs. black bírd
whíteboard vs. white bóard
4
Compounds: Modification Test
Compound: parts can’t be modified
Noncompound: parts can be modified
Examples
Compound
Non-compound
*highest chair
*very hot dog
*dark black board
*very red neck
highest chair
[very hot] dog
[dark black] board
[very red] neck
Compounds: Kanuri
1. ci
+ kunduli
mouth + hair
‘mustache’
4. dag´l
+ bulongu
monkey + tree-type
‘baboon’
2. hangadi + tilo
horn
+ one
‘rhinoceros’
5. kam + ba
man + is-not
‘widow’
3. bu
+ k´ri
blood + dog
‘maroon’
6. dawu + de
middle + empty
‘pasta’
Shortenings
• Clipping
lit
dorm
gym
psych
prof
phone
• Acronyms
NASA
UNICEF
laser
scuba
• Initialism/Alphabetism
UCLA
NFL
MIT
5
Backformation
Singular forms with ‘s’ are interpreted as plural
assets ––> asset
Latin:
Vular Latin:
French:
English:
Backform:
peas ––> pea
ad satis
asez
assetz
assets
asset (1531)
Proto IE
OE (449): pise, pease
“Pease porridge hot,
Pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot
Seven days old”
Backform: pea (1611)
capers ––> caper
Greek:
Latin:
ME:
Backform:
kapparis
capparis
caperis, capers
caper (14c)
biceps ––> bicep
New Latin:
Backform:
biceps (1634)
(pl: bicepses)
bicep (1939)
Backformation (more examples)
Nouns ––> Verbs
laser (1957)
escalator (1900)
editor (1649)
burglar (1541)
commentator (4c.)
tweezers (1654)
lase (1962)
escalate (1944)
edit (1791)
burgle (1870)
commentate (1794)
tweeze (1932)
Adjective ––> Noun
flabby (1694)
sleazy (1645)
fuzzy (1713)
greedy (12c.)
hazy (1582)
grungy (1965)
flab (1951)
sleaze (1954)
fuzz (1674)
greed (1609)
haze (1706)
grunge (1965)
A few others
upholstery (1597)
drapery (14c.)
anarchy (1539)
diplomatic (1711)
enthusiasm (1603)
fluorescence (1852)
surveillance (1802)
upholster (1849)
drape, V (1847)
anarch (1667)
diplomat (1813)
enthuse (1827)
flouresce (1874)
surveil (1914)
Backformation
(modern example)
(From Jack Winter’s “How I Met My Wife”)
… when I walked into the party I was very chalant,
despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate.
I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check
when I saw her... She was a descript person, a
woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt,
her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly
way. I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew
I'd have to make bones about it, since I was
traveling cognito...
6
Blends
• Unconscious
– muss
• Conscious
– carjacking
mess + fuss
– prissy
car + hijacking
– bit
prim + sissy
– slosh
binary + digit
– mockumentary
slop + slush
– squiggle
mock + documentary
– beefalo
squirm + wriggle
beef + buffalo
Generification
Q-tip
Saran-wrap
yo-yo
zipper
bandaid
Eponyms (Commonization)
People
sandwich
poinsettia
Braille
watt
shrapnel
lynch
Places
badminton
limousine
hamburger
Labrador (dog)
Chihuahua (dog)
7
Invention (Root creation)
quark
coined by Murray Gell-Mann, 1964
blurb
coined by Gelett Burgess, 1914
grok
coined by Robert A. Heinlein, 1961
hobbit
coined by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1937
But very rare in general…
Echoic Words
• Imitative
– meow, moo, bowwow, bark, neigh
• Symbolic
– flick, flash, flip, flop…
– slip, slick, slime, slop…
– Interjections: ouch, eek, aha, ugh, aw, phew…
Functional shift (Conversion)
• play
– Verb ––> Noun (actors on a stage)
• fax
– Noun ––> Verb (to fax something)
• door
– Noun ––> Verb (to door a cyclist)
• cell
– Noun ––> Verb (to phone)
8
Calques (loan-translations)
• free verse
– French vers libre ‘verse free’
• flea market
– French marché aux puces ‘market of the fleas’
• loanword
– German Lehnwort ‘loan word’
• superman
– German Übermensch ‘superman’
Derived words (affixation)
Suffixes
Prefixes
re- (rewrite, resell)
-er
un- (unfold, undo)
-ness (kindness,
happiness)
un- (unskilled,
ungraceful)
-ize
pre- (prepay, preheat)
(dancer, runner)
(unionize,
hospitalize)
-ation (flirtation,
observation)
NOTE:
Not all types are available to all eras
• Compounds
√ PDE
√ Old English
• Functional shift (Conversion)
√ PDE
≠ Old English
• Generification
√ PDE
≠ Old English
9
Morphology
• Morpheme
cats
cat + s
dancer
dance + er
rewrite
re + write
biweekly
bi + week + ly
activate
act + ive + ate
Morphology
• Morpheme
father
* fat + her
* fath + er
father
• Note: morphemes ≠ syllables
– father, Idaho, Connecticut
– dogs, speaks, walked
Types of morphemes
• Free and bound
– Free
– Bound
• Prefix
• Suffix
• Derivational and inflectional
cat + s
dance + er
re + write
bi + week + ly
act + ive + ate
father
10
Derivational morphemes
1. Change the lexical category of the word
– happiness, sadness, goodness, abrasiveness, coziness
Adjective + ness ––> Noun
(the state of being X)
– darken, redden, shorten, brighten
Adjective + en ––> Verb
(cause to be X)
– truthful, beautiful, prideful, peaceful, masterful
Noun + ful ––> Adjective
(having the quality of X)
Derivational morphemes
2. Change the meaning of the word
– indivisible, indescribable, incompetent, inaccurate
in +Adjective ––> Adjective
(not X)
– rewrite, redo, retie, retake
re + Verb ––> Verb
(do X again)
– untie, unbend, unfold, undress
un +Verb ––> Verb
(reverse X)
Inflectional morphemes
Only 8 in PDE!
• On nouns:
– Plural
– Possessive ‘s’
(cats, dogs, trees, oxen…)
(Daisy’s, the dog’s…)
• On adjectives:
– Comparative ‘er’
– Superlative ‘est’
(shorter, larger, smarter…)
(shortest, largest, smartest…)
11
Inflectional morphemes
• On verbs:
– Past tense
(walked, baked, barked, tried…)
– Third person singular present tense ‘s’
(he walks, she bakes cookies, it barks, he tries…)
– Progressive (continuing action) ‘ing’
(he was walking, she is baking, they are barking…)
– Past participle (completed action) ‘en’ or ‘ed’
(he has walked, she has baked, we have eaten, they had
written)
Inflectional morphemes
Note: not every ‘ed’, ‘en’, etc. is an inflectional
morpheme; it must have the appropriate meaning
Examples:
those fun-loving octogenarians
the howling puppies
the accepted model
a broken pencil
Marking inflection
Bound morphemes
Free morphemes
zebra-s
dance-d
slep-t
walk-ing
eat-en
taller
biggest
Sue’s
will eat
might walk
could dance
more beautiful
most sophisticated
12
Marking inflection: suppletion
Full suppletion
go, went
Partial suppletion
bring, brought
good, better
mouse, mice
be, is, are, were,
was
man, men
sing, sang, sung
write, wrote, written
Derivation vs. Inflection
• Create a new word?
Derivational = yes (new category: lucky)
= yes (new meaning: unlucky)
Inflectional = no
• Required by syntax?
Inflectional = yes (two unlucky cats)
Derivational = no (two unlucky cats)
Exercise:
Derivational or Inflectional?
1.
singer
1.
-er
Der
2.
multinational
2.
multi-, -al
Der, Der
3.
children
3.
-ren
Infl
4.
meditating (he is…)
4.
-ing
Infl
5.
irreplaceable
5.
ir-, re-, -able Der, Der, Der
6.
polished (the polished
stone)
6.
-ed
Der
13
Semantics
• Two types of meaning
– Denotation
• winter
• croak versus die versus pass away
– Connotation
• winter
• croak versus die versus pass away
Syntactic/Lexical categories
(Parts of speech)
• Semantics (meaning)
– Noun: person, place, thing, idea
– Verb: action
– Adjective: modifies a noun
• Morphology (forms of the words)
– Verb: laugh, laughs, laughed, laughing
– Adjective: tall, *talls, *talled
• Syntax (combinations of words)
– Verb: I laughed with my friends.
– Adjective: *I talled with my friends.
Verbs: Syntax
• Major elements of a verb phrase
– Verb
• transitive
• intransitive
• ditransitive
– Object
– Auxiliary verb
– Negative element
14
Verbs: Syntax
• PDE word order
VP ––> Verb (Object) (PP)
•Figaro snarled.
•Figaro scratched the dog.
•Figaro killed the mouse at midnight.
VP ––> (Aux) (Neg) Verb (Object) (PP)
•Figaro will like the new puppy.
•Figaro will not like the new puppy.
•Figaro did not kill the mouse.
Verbs: Tense
• Past
–
–
–
–
Past tense -ed (worked, waited)
Suppletion (ran, sang)
Zero morpheme (hit)
Past participles -en, -ed (eaten, baked)
• Present
– Third person singular present tense -s (runs, bakes)
• Future
– Auxiliary verb (will go, will write)
Tense (Present)
English
French
Mandarin
1st, sg
(I)
dream
reve
mèngjiàn
2nd, sg
(you)
dream
reves
mèngjiàn
3rd, sg
(he/she)
dreams
reve
mèngjiàn
1st, pl
(we)
dream
reveons
mèngjiàn
2nd, pl
(you all)
dream
revez
mèngjiàn
3rd, pl
(they)
dream
revent
mèngjiàn
Morphologically poor
Morphologically rich
15
Verbs: Aspect
• Length of action
– Punctual (The boy sneezed.)
– Iterative (The boy sneezed for an hour.)
– Durative (The girl played.)
• Completeness (Telicity)
– Imperfect (The chicken was eating the worm.)
– Perfect (The chicken ate the worm.)
• Habitual (That chicken eats worms everyday.)
• PDE
– Progressive -ing (dancing, singing)
– Adverbs (not here yet, no longer here)
Verbs: Aspect versus Tense
• He wrote a great novel.
– Tense: past
– Aspect: perfect
• He was writing a great novel.
– Tense: past
– Aspect: imperfect
• He wrote everyday.
– Tense: past
– Aspect: habitual
Verbs: Mood
• Indicative
(I have a dog.)
• Interrogative
(How do you commute to school?)
• Imperative
(Sit down!)
• Subjunctive
(If I were rich, I would give it all away.)
• Conditional
(You should travel as much as possible.)
• Evidentiality
(Chickens might / must be able to swim.)
• PDE
– Modals (might, could, would, should, ought…)
– Adverbs (certain, probable, likely, possible…)
– Verbs (know, believe, think, doubt…)
16
Nouns: Syntax
• Major elements of a noun phrase
– Noun
– Adjective
– Determiner
Nouns: Syntax
• PDE word order
NP ––> (Det) (Adj) Noun (PP)
•Figaro
•The cat
•A fat cat
•That humungous cat in the window
Nouns: Number
• Singular / plural
• Singular / dual / plural
– Inuktitut: iglu (sg), igluk (dl), iglut (pl)
• PDE
– Inflection: dogs, students, oxen, children
– Suppletion: men, women, mice
– Zero-morphology: deer, fish, moose
17
Nouns: Case
• Nominative
• Accusative
• Genitive
• Dative
• Locative
• Vocative
Nouns: Case in English
The cat ate the mouse.
Nominative
We bathed the cat.
Accusative
We lost the cat’s toy.
Genitive
Nouns: Case in English
He ate the mouse.
_____
Nominative
(I, you, she, he, we, they)
him
We bathed _____.
Accusative
(me, you, him, her, us, them)
his toy.
We lost _____
Genitive
(my, your, his, her, our, their)
18
Nouns: Case
• PDE
– Nouns
• Genitive (possessive ‘s)
• No other cases are marked
• Subjects versus objects??
– Pronouns
• Nominative
• Accusative
• Genitive
Nouns: Case (Russian)
“cat”
1. The ______
kos&ka hates the dog.
Nominative:
kos&ka
Accusative:
kos&ku
Genitive:
kos&ki
2. The dog ate the ______
kos&ki toy.
kos&ku
3. The dog chased the ______.
kos&ka was petted.
4. This ______
Nouns: Grammatical Gender
• Masculine / Feminine
– French, Spanish, Italian…
• Masculine / Feminine / Neuter
– German, Russian…
• Noun Class Systems
– Swahili, Zulu, Fula, Jacaltec…
19
Nouns: Grammatical Gender
Note: Inanimate objects are assigned grammatical
gender (but this isn’t “biologically” determined)
• “moon”
Feminine: French (la lune)
Masculine: German (der Mond)
• “stone”
Feminine: French (la pierre)
Masculine: German (der Stein)
• “sun”
Feminine: German (die Sonne)
Masculine: French (le soleil)
• PDE Gender: no gender marked in PDE…
Adjectives: Syntax
Attributive:
Those ____ dogs
Predicative:
They are ____.
big
fierce
white
well-trained
silly
spotted
brown-eyed
Adjectives: Degrees of comparison
• absolute: small, silly, nice, intelligent
• comparative: smaller, sillier, nicer, more intelligent
• superlative: smallest, silliest, nicest, most intelligent
• PDE
– Suppletive forms good, better, best
bad, worse, worst
– Inflection
er, est
– Free morphemes
more, most
20
Adjectives: Agreement
• Number
• Case
• Gender
French
•
•
•
•
ce gros chat
ces gros chats
cette grosse chatte
ces grosses chattes
‘this fat (male) cat’
‘these fat (male) cats’
‘that fat (female) cat’
‘these fat (female) cats’
• PDE agreement: None
Prepositions
• PP ––> P NP
• PDE
aboard, about, above, across, after, against, ahead, along,
alongside, amid, among, around, as, at, away , before,
behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond,
but, by, concerning, down, during, except, for, forwards from,
in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, opposite, out,
outside, over, past, since, through, throughout, to, together,
toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within,
without…
Determiners
Main types:
• Definite article (the)
• Indefinite articles (a, an)
• Demonstratives (this, that, these, those)
Always occur with nouns
• The cat
• *The
21
Determiners: Agreement
• Number
• Case
• Gender
• Spanish
– el professor
– la professora
– los professores
‘the professor (singular, male)’
‘the professor (singular, female)’
‘the professor (plural)’
• PDE agreement: None
Personal Pronouns
• Gender
• Person
– Female
– Male
– Neuter
– First
– Second
– Third
• Case
• Number
– Singular
– Dual
– Plural
–
–
–
–
Nominative
Accusative
Genitive
…
Personal Pronouns
English
• PDE
(Nominative)
(Accusative)
(Genitive)
– Person
– Number
– Gender
1st
2nd
– Case
3rd
singular
plural
me
my
I
our
we
us
your
you
his
he (masc)
(masc)
him
(masc)
she
her (fem)
its
(neut)
it (neut)
their
they
them
22
Other pronouns
• Interrogative pronouns: who, whom, whose,
what, why, when
• Reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself,
herself, itself, ourselves, themselves
• Relative pronouns: who, that
Adverbs
Modify verbs (slowly, quickly, carefully…)
Note: today, some people drop the ‘ly’
He drives slow(ly).
Don’t take it personal(ly).
Modify adjectives (very, really, most…)
Modify prepositions (right…)
Modify sentences (now, tomorrow…)
Inflectional Morphology
(Review)
• Verbs
– Tense
– Aspect
– Mood (Modality)
• Adjectives
– Agreement with nouns
(number, case, gender)
– Comparative
– Superlative
• Nouns
– Number
– Case
– Grammatical Gender
• Determiners
– Agreement with nouns
(number, case, gender)
23
Syntax and morphology
“Poor” languages = strict word order
English:
The cat killed the mouse.
The mouse killed the cat.
“Rich” languages = free word order
Russian:
“The cat killed the mouse”
kos&ka ubila mis&ku
mis&ku kos&ka ubila
kos&ka mis&ku ubila
mis&ku kos&ka ubila
and so on…
Phonetics and Phonology:
Writing and Sounds
• Attitudes: written versus spoken language
• Writing is secondary to spoken language
– Accounts for a very small amount of language
– Changes because spoken language changes
– “Captures” spoken language
Writing and Sounds
• Written forms obscure the real language
– How do people really say things?
• What do you want to use them for?
– What do you want to use them for?
– Wahdaya wanna yusum for?
• I’m going to take them apart.
– I’m going to take them apart.
– Ahm gawna takumapart.
24
Writing and Sounds
• Written forms obscure the real language
– Spelling often doesn’t reflect pronunciation
• Many silent letters
• One sound can have a many spellings
[f]
• One letter can represent many sounds
‘t’
• Two letters can represent a single sound
• The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
Vocal tract--anatomy
lip
lip
teeth
teeth
alveolar
ridge
tongue
larynx
hard palate
glottis
glottis
soft palate
(velum)
uvula
Two types of sounds
Consonants
Glottal state (Voicing)
Place of articulation
Manner of articulation
Vowels
Height
Frontness
25
Consonants: Glottal state
Voiced (+V)
Unvoiced (Voiceless, –V)
Voiced or voiceless?
[s]
[v]
[p]
[t]
[g]
[z]
[f]
[b]
[d]
[k]
Consonants: Place of articulation
bilabial
labiodental
interdental
alveolar
palatoalveolar
palatal
velar
glottal
Place of Articulation
velar
glottal
palatal
palatoalveolar
alveolar
interdental
labiodental
bilabial
Voicing
Manner of
Articulation
stops
–V
+V
p
t
k
/
b
d
g
m
nasals
+V
fricatives
–V
+V
affricates
–V
+V
liquids
+V
glides
+V
flaps
+V
n
N
f
T
s
S (s&)
v
D
z
Z (z&)
h
tS (c&)
dZ (j&)
l r(®)
w
j (y)
R (D)
26
Vowels: Height
Say these:
seat
boot
High
[i]
set
boat
Mid
sat
body
Low
[a]
Vowels: Frontness/Advancement
Say these:
beat hat
Front
[i]
Central
boot
hot
Back
[u]
Vowels in PDE
Front
High
Mid
Low
Central
Back
i
‘beat’
u ‘boot’
I
‘bit’
U ‘foot’
e
‘bait’
´
E
‘bet’
√ ‘but’
Q ‘bat’
‘sofa’
o ‘boat’
ç
‘caught’
A (a)‘father’
27
Vowels: Diphthongs
[ay], [aj], [ai]
I, eye, aye, sigh, hi, die, buy
[çy], [çj], [çi]
boy, oink, boil
[aw]
cow, house, pout, bough
Vowels: Two features
• Lip rounding
PDE: All back vowels (except [A])
– Rounded
– Unrounded PDE: All other vowels
• Tenseness
– Tense
– Lax
PDE: [i, e, u, o]
PDE: [I, E, U, ç]
Syllabic consonants
Sometimes some consonants (nasals, liquids)
can act like vowels
They are syllabic in these instances:
prism
[prIzm`]
prison
[prIzn`]
table
[tebl`]
hiker
[hajkr`]
28
Names of the symbols
Consonants
/
glottal stop
N
engma
T
theta
D
eth
S
esh
Z
yogh
R
flap
s&
s-caret
Vowels
I
E
Q
U
ç
√
´
capital ‘i’
epsilon
ash
upsilon,
capital ‘u’
open ‘o’
wedge
schwa
IPA: Reading Practice
1.
√ nQro fElo In D√ grQs
2.
3.
4.
´keZUn´li rajdz
ju me hQv mEt hIm, dId ju nat
hIz notIs s√dn` Iz
5.
6.
D√ grQs dIvajdz Qz wIT √ kom
√ spaRId SQft Iz sin
7.
8.
Qn DEn It klozIz Qt jor fit
Qnd opEnz fUrDr` an
9.
hi lajks √ bagi ekr`
10. √ flor tu kul for korn
11. jEt wEn √ bçj, Qn berfUt
12. aj mor DQn w√ns Qt nun
1.
2.
3.
4.
A narrow Fellow in the Grass
Occasionally rides
You may have met Him—did you not
His notice sudden is
5.
6.
7.
8.
The Grass divides as with a Comb
A spotted shaft is seen
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on
9.
10.
11.
12.
He likes a Boggy Acre
A Floor too cool for Corn
Yet when a Boy, and Barefoot
I more than once at Noon
IPA: Reading Practice
13.
14.
15.
16.
hQv pQst, aj Tat, √ wIp lQS
´nbredIN In D√ s√n
wEn stupIN tu sikjUr It
It rInkl`d Qnd w√z gan
13.
14.
15.
16.
Have passed, I thought, a Whip lash
Unbraiding in the Sun
When stooping to secure it
It wrinkled, and was gone
17.
18.
19.
20.
sEvr`l` √v netSr`z pipl`
aj no Qn De no mi
aj fil for DEm √ trQnspçrt
√v kordZiQlIti
17.
18.
19.
20.
Several of Nature's People
I know, and they know me
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality
21.
22.
23.
24.
b√t nEvr` mEt DIs fElo
´tEnRId çr ´lon
wITowt √ tajRr` briDIN
Qn ziro Qt D√ bon
21.
22.
23.
24.
But never met this Fellow
Attended, or alone
Without a tighter breathing
And Zero at the Bone—
29
IPA: Transcription
1. quiche
kiS (kis&)
7. singer
sIN´r (sINr`)
2. laugh
lQf
8. crackers
krQk´rz (krQkr`z)
3. bread
brEd
9. sheep
Sip (s&ip)
4. thin
TIn
10.queen
kwin
5. then
DEn
11.know
no
6. finger
fINg´r (fINgr`)
12.life
lajf
Two kinds of sounds:
Introduction
• Physiological differences in production
– Each speaker differs slightly
– Individual speaker differs slightly
– Single sound differs
• “t”
–
–
–
–
–
team
train
eighth
little
kitten
Native speakers perceive
these as the same
Two kinds of sounds:
(1) Phonemes
• What is perceived
• Minimal pairs
– One sound change
– Sound change is in the same location
– Meaning changes
cat
mat
[k]
[m]
side [d]
sight [t]
remind [m]
resigned [z]
30
Minimal Pairs?
seat
sit
[i]
[I]
eye
I
No!
marble
marvel
[b]
[v]
back
cab No!
splits [l]
spritz [r]
sink
sing
No!
pick [p]
thick [T]
hide [d]
height [t]
foamy
phony
[m]
[n]
Two kinds of sounds:
(2) Allophones
• The different realizations/variations/ways of
pronouncing a phoneme
Phoneme:
Several different
pronunciations
of this phoneme:
t
t1
t2
t3
These are allophones
Allophones
• Native speakers unaware of their allophones
• They hear all allophones of one phoneme as
the same
Phoneme:
What is perceived
t
t1
t2
t3
Allophones:
What is produced
31
Allophones in PDE: [t]
sit
sitting
sittin’
rot
rotting
rotten/rottin’
mitt
--
mitten
write
writing
written/writin’
admit
admitting
admittin’
delight
delighting
delightin’
t or t|
R
/
Preceding /N/
Preceding /n/
Allophones in PDE: laterals
blue
plow
gleam
clap
slip
kleenex
flog
play
leaf
clear
pill
pliable
l
l8
Following /p/ and /k/
Allophones in PDE: Voiceless stops
spot
pot
spine
pine
sprint
print
steak
take
style
tile
skid
kid
p, t, k
pH, tH, kH
word-initial
32
Allophones:
A note about other languages
Aspiration in Hindi:
ta@li
‘key’
tHa@li
‘dish’
• What will an English speaker always say:
‘key’ or ‘dish’?
Allomorphs in PDE: plural ‘s’
dogs
cats
buses
caves
laughs
flushes
halls
sacks
houses
toes
flaps
causes
songs
puffs
kisses
jobs
skirts
z
s
misses
Iz
Follows voiced
sounds
Follows voiceless
sounds
Follows ‘s’-like
sounds
Stress
• Three levels of stress
– Primary stress ( ´ )
– Secondary stress ( ` )
– Unstressed
• Examples
– Mássachùsetts
– ùnivérsity
– ùnderstánd
33
Stress
Fixed stress (French)
gouvernement
système
végétarien
American
‘government’
‘system’
‘vegetarian’
‘American’
Variable Stress (PDE)
góvernment
sy@stem
vegetárian
Américan
PDE Stress: Contrastive
Noun
Verb
Compound Non-compound
éxport
présent
récord
súbject
cóntrast
próduce
expórt
presént
recórd
subjéct
contrást
prodúce
bláckboard
black bóard
Whíte House white hóuse
rédneck
red néck
Length
• Short versus long duration
• PDE: length is allophonic
Long vowels
add
riding
bag
lab
Short vowels
at
writing
back
lap
• Note: Schools often teach ‘long’ and ‘short’ vowels
– mat (short ‘a’)
– mate (long ‘a’)
– But these are different vowels for us!
34
Length: can be phonemic
Yapese vowels
[pul]
[pu:l]
‘to gather’
‘moon’
Italian consonants [fatç]
[fat:ç]
‘fate’
‘fact’
Fula
‘promise, take an oath’
‘honeybee’
‘worker’
‘elope, run away’
‘welcome/receive someone’
[aadagol]
[n)aakii]
[golloowo]
[doggidugol]
[ja∫∫aagol]
35