English phonetics and phonology

Course Content This course will focus on the following theoretical aspects: the production of speech, the classification of the English sounds, phonology: the sound patterns of English,

ENGLISH PHONETICS

AND PHONOLOGY

Contact details Email: hoangha.ntu@gmail.com

Cell phone: 0936158540

Course Content

This course will focus on the following theoretical aspects: the production of speech, the classification of the English sounds, phonology: the sound patterns of English, the syllable, English word stress, aspects of connected speech, weak forms and

intonation

Textbooks and reference books

• Textbooks:

1 Phonetics by Peter Roach

2 English Phonetics and Phonology: A course

book for students of the English Department by

Ha Cam Tam

• Reference books:

1 A course in Phonetics, 6 th edition by Peter

Ladefoged & Keith Johnson

SYLLABUS

1 Course introduction 2 periods

2 Phonetics and Phonology 2 periods

3 The Production of Speech 4 periods

4 The Classification of the English Sounds 4 periods

5 Phonology: The Sound Patterns Of Language 2 periods

8 Aspects of Connected Speech 2 periods

1 Mid-term test (date decided by lecturer): 50%

- Attendance & Participation: 15%

CLASS RULES

• Come on time

• Come prepared

• Come ready to participate

• One person speaks at a time

• No cell phone use during the lesson

Chapter 1 Phonetics and Phonology

1 Phonetics and its branches

(Transmission of speech sounds)

- When a speech sound is produced, it causes minor air disturbances (sound waves)

- Study/ measure characteristics of sound

waves

+ Frequency: voices high & low

+ Intensity: voices loud & weak

1.3 Acoustic phonetics:

1.4 Auditory phonetics:

(Perception of speech sounds)

e.g A listener may perceive:

- Different aspiration of /p/ in pit and tip

- Difference in sound quality of /l/ in light and hill

2 Phonetics and Phonology

• Phonetics is the study of speech sounds and the way in which they are produced

• Phonology is the study and identification of the

distinctive units of sound in a language

e.g Differences b/w /i:/ and /u:/ are the position of the tongue and the shape of lips

Phonology also studies:

+ word-word relations in sentences, how sound patterns combine

e.g give /giv / him /him/ may combine into / givim/

+ intonation patterns

- RP (Received Pronunciation):

Standard British accent

Chapter II

The Production of Speech

2 Speech mechanism

2.2 Larynx

- In the upper part of the windpipe

- Backward the Adam‟s apple

2 Speech mechanism

2.2 Larynx

2.2.1 Vocal cords (Vocal folds)

- Made up from 2 thick flaps of muscle (like 2 lips)

- Can be vibrated by the lung air

2 Speech mechanism

2.2 Larynx

2.2.2 Glottis

- 4 possible states:

Chapter III

Classification of English Speech

sounds

2 CONSONANTS:

- produced with a complete

or partial obstruction of the air stream in the vocal tract

-voiced or voiceless

- generally not syllabic

1 VOWELS:

- produced with relatively

little obstruction of the air

stream in the vocal tract

2 Vowels

Chapter IV

Patterns of Language

1 PHONEMES

1.1 Definition:

Ex1: t ear – n ear (only differ in 1st sound, /t/ - /n/ )

h o t – h a t (only differ in vowel, /ɒ/ - /æ/ )

/t/, /n/, /ɒ/, /æ/ are called phonemes

Phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish two words

1 PHONEMES

1.2 Distinctive features:

Phoneme can be further analyzable into

distinctive features (Contrastive phonemic

characteristics) that distinguish distinctive sound of

language from another or one group of sounds

from another group

Ex2: +/- voice in 2 bilabial stops / p / & / b /

- voice + voice

+ labial + labial

+ stop + stop

1 PHONEMES

1.3 Minimal pair and minimal set:

A minimal pair is a pair of words that is identical

in everywhere except for one phoneme that occurs

in the same distribution

Ex4: Minimal sets: b ig- r ig- d ig- w ig- p ig

f oo t- f i t- f a t- f ee t- f a te- f ough t

A minimal set is a set of words that is identical

in everywhere except for one phoneme that

occurs in the same distribution

Ex3: Minimal pairs: t ear- n ear, h o t-h a t, si t e-si d e

Therefore, a phoneme may have more than one realization

The different realizations of a phoneme are called allophones of that phoneme The allophone is a variant of a phoneme

tea

eat

[t h ] aspirated [t] unaspirated

seed

seen

Allophones of the phoneme /t/

[i:]

[ĩ : ] nasalized

Allophones of the phoneme /i:/

2 ALLOPHONES

The allophones of a phoneme: (1) do not change the meaning of a word,

(2) are all very similar to one another,

(3) occur in different phonetic contexts, and

(4) have non-distintive features

2 ALLOPHONES

• economics may be pronounced with /i:/ or /e/ in the first syllable;

although individual speakers may prefer one or the other, and although one may be more common in some dialects than

others,

• comparative of many disyllabic adjectives can be formed either

with the word more or with the suffix -er, for example more

stupid or stupider

Free variation: the phenomenon of two (or more) sounds or forms

appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native speakers

ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

commitment

60 periods of self-study Subject lecturer Võ Nguyễn Hồng Lam

Contact details Email: lamthuysannt@yahoo.ca

Cell phone: 0963076417

Aim and objectives

• Subject aim:

The purpose of this course is to introduce students words and

word-formation processes in English Students are expected to investigate the internal structures of words and the rules by which words are

formed

• Subject objectives: At the end of this course, students are able to:

- Explain the terms used in English word-formation

- Describe the word-formation processes used in English

- Distinguish different types of morphemes

- Make comparison between English word-formation and Vietnamese word-formation

Textbooks and reference books

• Textbooks:

1 The Study of Language (Third Edition) by George Yule

2 English Word-formation by Laurie Bauer

3 Morphology (Second Edition) by Francis Katamba & John Stonham

• Reference books:

1 A Glossary of Morphology by Laurie Bauer

2 An introduction to Language by Fromkin et al

3 Morphology (Second Edition) by P.H Matthews

SYLLABUS

Session Contents Notes

1 Course introduction 2 periods

2 Word and word-formation processes 3 periods

3 Word and word-formation processes (cont) 3 periods

4 Compounding and Derivation 2 periods

5 Study questions and research tasks (1) 2 periods

6 Morphology- Types of morphemes 3 periods

7 Morphology- Types of morphemes (cont) 3 periods

8 Morphological description 2 periods

9 Study questions and research tasks (2) 2 periods

10 Stop and check 1 periods

CLASS RULES

• Come on time

• Come prepared

• Come ready to participate

• One person speaks at a time

• No cell phone use during the lesson

WORDS AND WORD-FORMATION

PROCESSES

Etymology?

The study of the origin and history of a word

1 Coinage 6 Back formation

Coinage: (one of the least common

processes of word formation in English)

The invention of totally new terms

Ex: aspirin, xerox, vaseline

Borrowing: (one of the most common sources of new

words in English)

The taking over of words from other languages

Ex: chalet (Swiss), Geisha (Japanese), baguette

(French)

Loan translation/ calque: There is a direct translation

of the elements of a word into the borrowing language Ex: the following words were calque for the English skyscraper

gratte-ciel (French term) from “scrape-sky”

wolkenkrabber (Dutch term) from “cloud scratcher ”

wolkenkratzer (German term) from “cloud scraper”

Compounding: a joining of (at least) two

separate words to produce a single form

Ex:

- Ginger- haired (chap)

- Back- to- school (sale)

- End- of- season (clothing sale)

- off- site training / on-site training (program)

- (a) not-for-profit organization

- Not-too-distant (future)

- Full-time/ part- time

Blending: The combination of two separate forms

to produce a single new term Blending is typically accomplished by taking only the beginning of one word and joining it to the end of the other word

Ex:

- Sitcom (situation comedy)

- Motel (motor + hotel)

- Infotainment (information + entertainment)

Clipping: the reduction of a word

Ex:

- Condo (condominium)

- Flu (influenza)

- Gas (gasoline)

Hypocorisms: (favored in Australian and British English)

A longer word is reduced to a single syllable, then –y or –ie is added to the end Ex:

- Goalie (goalkeeper)

- Telly (television)

- Brekky (breakfast)

Backformation: a word of one type (N) is

reduced to form a word of another type (V)

Ex:

- Television (n) televise (v)

- Donation (n)  donate (v)

- Babysitter (n)  babysit (v)

Conversion: a change in the function of a word,

as for example when a noun comes to be used as

a verb (without any reduction)

Acronyms: are new words formed from the

initial letters of a set of other words

Ex:

- ATM: Automatic teller machine

- NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization

- BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation

- VOA: Voice of America

- PIN: Personal Identification Number

Derivation: (the most common word-formation process) This process is formed by adding affixes to the original words

Affixes

• Prefixes: mislead, foresee, discourage

• Suffixes: foolish, careless, faithful

• Infixes: unfuckinbelievable, Singabloodypore (usually taboo, not good to use)

Multiple processes: These word-formation

processes are formed by at least two

Words and word-formation

processes

• Quan ngại (quan tâm + lo ngại)

• Khái lược (khái quát + sơ lược)

• Nhiệt thành (nhiệt tình + chân thành)

• Trung kiên (trung thành + kiên cường)

• ứng xử (ứng phó + xử lý)

• Giao tế (giao tiếp quốc tế)

• Kí túc (kí túc xá)

• ủy ban (ủy ban nhân dân)

• Kho bạc (kho bạc nhà nước)

• Doanh trại (doanh trại quân đội)

Backformation

• Học (v) – việc học (n)

• Hành trình (v)- cuộc hành trình (n)

• Di chuyển (v)- sự di chuyển (n)

• Nhân ái (adj)- tình nhân ái (n)

• Công nghiệp (n)- công nghiệp hóa (v)

• Tin học (n)- tin học hóa (v)

Compounding

2 Compound verbs

1 Noun + verb: sky-dive

2 Verb + noun: shunpike

3 Verb + verb: typewrite

4 Adjective + verb: double-think

5 Particle + verb: overbook

6 Adjective + noun: bad-mouth

7 Noun + noun: brainstorm

8 Particle + noun Before-tax (profits)

9 Verb + verb Go-go (dancer)

10 Adjective + verb High-rise (tower)

11 Verb + particle See-through (blouse)

4 Compound adverbs

• Overnight

• Double-quick

5 Other form classes

• Into; onto (compound prepositions)

• Somebody; anyone (compound pronouns)

• Whenever; so that (compound conjunctions)

6 Rhyme-motivated compounds

• Roly-poly (boy)

• Brain-drain

7 Ablaut-motivated compounds

• zig-zag

• Riff-raff

Morphology

Swahili >< English

ni -ta -ku -penda (Swahili- East Africa)

I will you love (English)

(I will love you)

It would seem that this Swahili „word‟ is rather different from what we think as an English

„word‟

 Morphology: the study of the basic element used in a language

MORPHOLOGY: THE WORDS OF LANGUAGE

morphe (Greek) = shape, form

-ology = "science of"

• whether the word is vulgar (popular)

• whether the word is obsolete (not popular; no longer in use)

• examples

Morphemes

Morpheme: a minimal unit of meaning or

grammatical function

Examples:

„work’ has one morpheme

„worker‟ has two morphemes (work and er)

Free and bound morphemes

• Free morphemes: morphemes that can

stand by themselves as single words

Examples: lock, want

• Bound morphemes: morphemes that

cannot stand alone and are typically

attached to another form

Examples: un(lock), (want)ed

Lexical and functional morphemes

• Lexical morphemes: set of ordinary nouns,

adjectives and verbs They carry the „content‟ of the messages we convey They are treated as

an „open‟ class of words Ex: house, sad, look

• Functional morphemes: set which consists

largely of the functional words in the language such as conjunctions, prepositions, articles and pronouns They are described as a „closed‟

class of words Ex: but, on, an, they

Derivational and inflectional

morphemes

• Derivational morphemes: include suffixes such as

-ish in fool-ish, -ly in quickly and prefixes such as -mis in misunderstand, -un in unhappy

 We use these bound morphemes to make new words

or to make words of a different grammatical category from the stem

• Inflectional morphemes: English has 8 inflectional

morphemes: noun (2), verb (4), adjective (2)

 These bound morphemes are not used to produce

new words in the language, but rather to indicate

aspects of the grammatical function of a word

Morphological description

How many morphemes can you identify in the

following sentence?

The child’s wildness shocked the teachers

the: functional, child: lexical, -‟s: inflectional,

wild: lexical, -ness: derivational, shock: lexical, -ed: inflectional, the: functional, teach: lexical, -er: derivational, -s: inflectional

Morphs and allomorphs

cat + {plural} cats

bus + {plural} buses

sheep + {plural}  sheep

man + {plural}  men

put + {past tense} put

go + {past tense} went read + {past tense}  read walk + {past tense}  walked

Morphs and allomorphs (cont)

A morpheme is manifested (shown) as one

or more morphs (surface forms) in

different environments These morphs are

called allomorphs

An allomorph is one of two or more

complementary morphs which manifest a

morphological environments

More exercises

Alternate the following phrases, clauses, or sentences in

a more effective way by applying morphological rules

Example:

A solution on which everybody agrees 

A globally-accepted/globally-agreed solution

1 University degree is something that

everyone must have to apply for a job

2 Nha Trang is a place that every tourist must

visit

3 People usually talk about the environmental

pollution

4 The TOEFL is based on English used in the

classroom but the TOEIC is based on English used in the workplace

5 Rice is briefing European officials on the

results of her tour in six countries in the Middle East

6 Don‟t try to have a pronunciation which is similar

to that produced by native speakers

7 Education should be considered the most

important

8 A latest report by the branch of the State Bank of

Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City says that capital that the commercial banks have mobilized has grown steadily

9 According to the schedule, Mr Abbas would meet

with President Vladimir V Putin on Tuesday

10 South Korea refused to satisfy the demands of

those who are keeping the hostages

Match the expressions on the left with the correct

(a) wifely, wifehood,

4 root morpheme plus inflectional suffix

5 root morpheme plus derivational

suffix

6 grammatical morpheme followed by

lexical morpheme

7 idiom