Definition of linguistics

By prof.Abdelhamid Fouda 

The scientific study of human speech including the units,nature,structure and modification of language.(Merriam Webster Dictionary).

Linguists:

These are people who study linguistics.

The part of linguistics that is concerned with the structure of language is divided into a number of subfields:

*Phonetics* - the study of speech sounds in their physical aspects

*Phonology* - the study of speech sounds in their cognitive aspects

*Morphology* - the study of the formation of words

*Syntax* - the study of the formation of sentences

*Semantics* - the study of meaning

*Pragmatics* - the study of language use

Aside from language structure, other perspectives on language are represented in specialized or interdisciplinary branches:

-Dialectology

-Computational Linguistics

-Neurolinguistics

-Applied linguistics

-Language acquisition

-Psycholinguistics

-Sociolinguistics

-Linguistic anthropology

-Generative linguistics

-Cognitive linguistics

-Computational linguistics

-Descriptive linguistics

-Historical linguistics

-Comparative linguistics

-Etymology

-Stylistics

-Prescription

-Corpus linguistics

-Neurolinguistics

-Paralinguistic 

-Bilinguistics 

Dear Learners,

Let’s start from today’s Topic:

*What is Phonetics?* 

 

There are *three types* of the study of the sounds of language. 

*Acoustic Phonetics* is the study of the physical properties of sounds. 

*Auditory Phonetics* is the study of the way listeners perceive sounds. 

*Articulatory Phonetics*  is the study of how the vocal tracts produce the sounds. This article will only describe articulatory phonetics.

The discrepancy between spelling and sounds led to the formation of the *International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA.)* The symbols used in this alphabet can be used to represent all sounds of all human languages.

*Phonology*

Definition: 

Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages.

The phonological system of a language includes

*an inventory of sounds and their features, and

*rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.

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

Here is an illustration that shows the place of phonology in an interacting hierarchy of levels in linguistics:

*Comparison* 

(Phonology and phonetics)

Phonetics:Is the basis for phonological analysis.

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

Phonetics: Analyzes the production of all human speech sounds, regardless of language.

Phonology: Analyzes the sound patterns of a particular language by determining which phonetic sounds are significant, and

explaining how these sounds are interpreted by the native speaker.

*Lecture 2-Part 2*

There are 44 traditional sounds (IPA) 

word-sounds or phonemes. 

English contains 19 vowel sounds—5 short vowels, 6 long vowels, 3 diphthongs, 2 'oo' sounds, and 3 r-controlled vowel sounds—and 25 consonant sounds.

*The 5 Short Vowel Sounds* 

The five short vowel sounds in English are a, e, i, o, and u.

short a: and, as, and after

short e: pen, hen, and lend

short i: it and in

short o: top and hop

short u: under and cup

Remember that these sounds are not necessarily indicative of spelling. 

Note that the above words all contain the vowel whose sound they make but this is not always the case. 

A word might sound as if it contains a certain vowel that is not there. Examples of words whose short vowel sounds do not correspond with their spelling are busy and does.

*The 6 Long Vowel Sounds*

The six long vowel sounds in English are a, e, i, o, u, and oo.

long a: make and take

long e: beet and feet

long i: tie and lie

long o: coat and toe

long u (pronounced "yoo"): music and cute

long oo: goo and droop

Examples of words whose long vowel sounds do not correspond with their spelling are they, try, fruit, and few.

*The R-Controlled Vowel Sounds*

An r-controlled vowel is a vowel whose sound is influenced by the r that comes before it. The three r-controlled vowel sounds are ar, er, and or.

ar: bark and dark

er: her, bird, and fur

or: fork, pork, and stork

It is important that students pay close attention to the er sound in words because it can be created by an r-controlled e, i, or u. These vowels are all transformed into the same sound when an r is attached to the end of them. More examples of this include better, first, and turn.

*The 18 Consonant Sounds* 

The letters c, q, and x are not denoted by unique phonemes because they are found in other sounds. The c sound is covered by k sounds in words like crust, crunch, and create and by s sounds in words like cereal, city, and cent (the c is found in the spelling of these words only but does not have its own phoneme). The q sound is found in kw words like backward and Kwanza. The x sound is found in ks words like kicks.

b: bed and bad

k: cat and kick

d: dog and dip

f: fat and fig

g: got and girl

h: has and him

j: job and joke

l: lid and love

m: mop and math

n: not and nice

p: pan and play

r: ran and rake

s: sit and smile

t: to and take

v: van and vine

w: water and went

y: yellow and yawn

z: zipper and zap

The Blends

Blends are formed when two or three letters combine to create a distinct consonant-sound, often at the beginning of a word. In a blend, the sounds from each original letter are still heard, they are just blended quickly and smoothly together. The following are common examples of blends.

bl: blue and blow

cl: clap and close

fl: fly and flip

gl: glue and glove

pl: play and please

br: brown and break

cr: cry and crust

dr: dry and drag

fr: fry and freeze

gr: great and ground

pr: prize and prank

tr: tree and try

sk: skate and sky

sl: slip and slap

sp: spot and speed

st: street and stop

sw: sweet and sweater

spr: spray and spring

str: stripe and strap

*The 7 Digraph Sounds*

A digraph is formed when two consonants come together to create an entirely new sound that is distinctly different from the sounds of the letters independently. These can be found anywhere in a word but most often the beginning or end. Some examples of common digraphs are listed below.

ch: chin and ouch

sh: ship and push

th: thing

th: this

wh: when

ng: ring

nk: rink

Remember,there are two sounds that th can make and be sure to provide plenty of examples.

*Diphthongs and Other Special Sounds*

A diphthong is essentially a digraph with vowels—it is formed when two vowels come together to create a new sound in a single syllable as the sound of the first vowel glides into the second. These are usually found in the middle of a word. See the list below for examples.

oi: oil and toy

ow: owl and ouch

ey: rain

Other special sounds include:

short oo: took and pull

aw: raw and haul

zh: vision