Introduction

In chapter one, the sketch of the pronunciation system of English will be discussed. It begins
with phonetics, a system for describing and recording the sounds of language objectively.
Phonetics provides a valuable way of opening our ears to facets of language that we tend to
understand by reference to their written rather than their actual spoken forms. Phonology
concerns itself with the ways in which languages make use of sounds to distinguish words from
each other.
Chapter two deals with sound pattern. The Sound Pattern of English (frequently referred to
as SPE) is a work on phonology (a branch of linguistics) by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle
(1968). In spite of its title, it presents not only a view of the phonology of English, but also
contains discussions of a large variety of phonological phenomena of many other languages. It is
the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language. It is concerned with
the ways in which speech sounds form systems and patterns in human language Phonology
permits a speaker.(Israa Burhanuddin Abdurrahman 2019)
Chapter three discusses theories of phonology. There are two theories of phonology. These are
linear and nonlinear theories of phonology. Phonology is a study of speech sounds and the rules
that dictate the formation of sound sequences in forming syllables and words. Liner theories
include, Generative Phonology, Classical Phonology, Natural Phonology and Lexical Phonology,
whereas non-linear theories include Auto-segmental Phonology, Metrical Phonology, Feature
Geometry and Optimality Theory. All of these theories are presented in chapter three.

In the last chapter graphology will be presented. Writing is the oldest known and most
consistently applied form of Linguistic analysis. In relying on the abstraction of Linguistic
analysis, writing is crucially distinct from recording technology, in that a written text captures a
linguistic message but not the particulars, such as voice quality, of a given utterance, whereas a
recording captures the details without an analysis. In fact, most written texts exist in the absence
of spoken utterances—i. e, the text was not first spoken and then transcribed. ‘This chapter
briefly describes the meaning of graphology, meaning and origin of writing, socio and
psycholinguistics of writing and types of writing system.

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 CHAPTER ONE
SPEECH SOUND
Worked by Nigussie Girma
1.1 Branches of phonetics
Articulatory phonetics have three goals in this section. First, it is concerned with the ways in
which the sounds of English are produced. Second, it deals with developing a system for
classifying speech sounds on the basis of how they are produced. Simultaneously it introduces an
alphabet approximating that developed by the International Phonetics Association (IPA), which
will allow us to refer to sounds quite precisely. That letters are to be interpreted as phonetic
symbols which is enclosed in square brackets, [ ], letters from an ordinary spelling system are
enclosed in angled brackets, < >. Consonants include the sounds we represent as in the ordinary
alphabet. All consonants are produced by entirely or almost entirely stopping the airstream
coming from the lungs.
Phonology vs. phonetics – Phonology is concerned with the distribution and patterns of speech
sounds in a particular language, or in languages in general – Phonetics is concerned with the
study of speech sounds and their production, classification, and transcription in a nutshell,
phonetics deals with the physical nature of speech sounds, and not with their relations to other
speech sounds in particular languages.
Three basic approaches to the study of phonetics – Articulatory phonetics is concerned with the
position, shape and movements of speech articulators – Acoustic phonetics is concerned with the
spectro-temporal properties of the speech sound waves – Auditory phonetics is concerned with
the perception, categorization, and recognition of speech sounds and the role of the auditory
system.
1.2 Place and manner of articulation
Manner of articulation we mean the kind of closure or constriction used in making the sound.
Place of articulation we mean the area in the mouth at which the consonantal closure or
constriction occurs. Bilabial sounds are made by bringing both lips together to stop the airstream:
Labiodental sounds are made by bringing the top teeth into contact with the bottom lip and
forcing air between the two to create the fricatives:
Interdental sounds are made by placing the tip of the tongue between the top and bottom teeth
and forcing air through. Again, these are both fricatives:
Alveolar sounds are made by bringing the tongue and the alveolar ridge (the bony ridge just
behind the top teeth) together to create either a stop or fricative:
(Alveo-) palatal sounds are made by bringing the blade of the tongue to, or close to, the alveo-
palatal area of the roof of the mouth to create fricatives and affricates.

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Velar sounds are created by stopping the airstream by bringing the back of the tongue into
contact with the velum:
phonology While phonetics is the study of the ways in which speech sounds are produced,
phonology is the study of (1) how the speech sounds of a language are used in that language to
distinguish meaningful units (such as words)
From each other, and (2) how sounds are patterned in a language. Consequently, the study of
phonology requires us to take meaning into consideration, while phonetics does not. In this
section we explore phonology and the basic unit of phonological analysis, the phoneme.
Pairs of words like this are called minimal pairs, and are used to demonstrate that pairs of sounds
are used in a language to distinguish words from each other.
1.3 phones
Phonemes and allophones A good way to think about a phoneme is as a group of phonetically
similar sounds that are treated as members of the same sound category. Because the members of
a sound category are treated as “the same sound” in a language, they cannot be used for
communicating differences in meaning. English speakers treat [t h] and [t] as belonging to the
same sound category, so they cannot be used to distinguish one word from another. Different
phonemes are different categories of sounds and the differences among these categories can
signal differences in meaning.
Feature changing rules change the value of a component feature of a sound, The nasal
pronunciation of the vowel of can is due, as we’ve seen, to the influence of the nasal
consonant /n/ that comes immediately after it. Segment deletion rules remove sound segments.
For instance, in informal speech, a segment deletion rule removes the second of a pair of
consonants at the end of one word when the next word begins with a consonant.
1.4 suprasegmental features
supera segmental features, operates over longer stretches of speeches such as rhythm and voice
quality as opposed to segmental include vowel length, germination, stress, tone intonation and
pitch. Gemmination is the length duo to taking long duration of time. Stress the reactive
prominence of syllable with in a word or phrase. Tone the distinctive pitch level of syllable.
Register tone shows at only certain pitch levels that signals meaning differences
Contour tone complex tone which are combination of the different levels moving pitches.
1.5 Phonology and phonetics
Description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in language.
Phonology perimeties a speaker to;
-produce sounds that from meaning full utterance.
-recognize aforigne accent. And make up a new word.

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Phonology is often defined as the cognitive aspects of sound structures and sound patterns, while
phonetics is understood to be the physical implementation of these structures and patterns. Under
this view, phonology is what the speaker/hearer knows about the sound patterns of his/her
language and, thus, is non controversially part of the linguistic grammar. Phonetics, on the other
hand, is what actually happens during the production and perception of these cognitive patterns

1.6. Phonetic alphabet and transcription

Orthographic writing is not accurate in representing sound. Example: English words phone, five
and laugh. The three letters, ph, f, and gh that are used in three different words represent the /f/
sound which can be transcribed as /fəun/, /faɪv/ and /læf/ respectively with the same symbol,
namely /f/ representing the same sound in all the words.

The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic alphabet, is the International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):
A number of symbols and special marks are designed to record speech accurately as
much as possible.
Phonetic transcription can provide a function that orthography cannot.
Some words may vary in their meanings while their orthography is the same

1.7 Applications of phonetics, phonology and graphology

Phonology applied to language teaching and learning, computer programming, language
acquisition, and speech pathology. Phonology is the base for conveying meaning in lexical,
grammatical and utterance levels. For learning pronunciation, sound patterns, and sound change
over time
• Target phonological awareness: information about how students are developing with
early literacy skills.
• Check your pronunciation: students’ pronunciations and identification of sounds can be
heavily influenced by English or other languages
• How English sounds are made: the characteristics of sound creation (consonants and
vowels) can be helpful when understanding mispronunciations and when teaching new
distinct sounds.
• Connect English sounds with native sounds
• Teach letter sounds clearly

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 UNIT TWO
SOUND PATTERN
Done by Melese Mesfin
2.1 Phonology
Phonology is typically defined as “the study of speech sounds of a language or languages, and
the laws governing them, particularly the laws governing the composition and combination of
speech sounds in language. The study of how speech sounds form patterns is phonology which
differs from language to language.
2.2 Phoneme and Allophone
A phoneme is a set of allophones or individual non-contrastive speech segments. Allophones are
sounds, whilst a phoneme is a set of such sounds. Allophones are usually relatively similar
sounds which are in mutually exclusive or complementary distribution.
2.2.1 Minimal Pairs and Sets
When two words such as ‘pat’ and ‘bat’ are identical in form expect for a contrast in one
phoneme, occurring in the same position, the two words are described as a minimal pair. e.g.
Feat, fit, fat, fate.
2.3 Discovery Procedures
2.3.1 Complementary Distribution
Allophones are found in complementary distribution in mutually exclusive environment when
one occurs under condition A but never B, while the other occurs under condition B, but never A.
2.3.2 Contrastive Distribution
When two or more words differ in meaning in only one sound in the same position
2.4 Phonological Processes
Phonological processes are changes that occur when we produce and combine sounds into words
or in larger linguistic forms in the chain of speech. Phonological processes are patterns of sound
errors that typically developing children use to simplify speech as they are learning to talk.
2.5 Assimilation
2.4.1.1 Degree of Assimilation: (a) Partial assimilation –Segments are assimilated only in one or
two features. Eg: in-possible →impossible /ɪmpɒsɪbl/ /n/ → /m/ (b) Total assimilation – All
features of the sound is assimilated to the influencer.
Eg: in-legal → illegal /ɪli:gl/ /n/ → /l/ offering all features to the influenced and making
total change toward. different pronunciation of –ed and –s based on the sound preceding itself.

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2.4.1.2 Direction of Assimilation:
from right to left; left to right; the influencer to the influenced sound. Regressive assimilation:
right-to-left, anticipatory A sound becomes more like a following sound. Some prefer to use the
term anticipatory assimilation, as the sound which changes anticipates the following sound in
some
way. Eg: English /in-/ prefix, as in “import”, “irregular”, “illegal”.Progressive Assimilation (left-
to-right, perseverative) A sound becomes more like the preceding sound. Eg: The English plural

is either /z/ or /s/ when it occurs after a non-sibilant sound, dogs → dɒgz; cats → kæts
It is the most frequent type of phonological processes. When two phonemes occur in sequence
and some aspect of one phoneme is taken or copied by the other the process is known as
“assimilation”.
2.5. Natural class and distinctive features
A natural class is a set of sounds that have certain phonetic features in common. All the members
of a natural class are affected in the same way in the same environment. A given natural class is
described using the minimum number of features needed to include all sounds within the class
and exclude all sounds outside the class.
2.5.1 Distinctive feature
Distinctive feature is an alternate way to analyze sounds makes use of the concept of binary or
paired features where there is an opposition between the presence or absence of a feature in a
particular sound.
2.6 Phonotactics
Phonotactics is the branch of phonology dealing with the distribution of segments within
phonological and morpho-syntactic domains. Phonotactics deals with the freedoms and
restrictions that languages allow in terms of syllable.
2.7 Syllable structures
Sounds uttered together with single effort or impulse of the voice, and constituting a part of a
word. Most syllables have a single vowel plus zero or more consonants. No syllable has more
than one vowel (long or short).Vowel-like sequences in a single syllable are interpreted as
diphthongs or semi-vowel. Syllable is a complex unit made up of nuclear and marginal elements.

Nuclear elements are the vowels or syllabic segments; marginal elements are the consonants or
non-syllabic segments. In the syllable paint /peɪnt/, the diphthong /eɪ/ is the nuclear element,
while initial consonant /p/ and the final cluster /nt/ are marginal elements than obstruents; vowels
are more sonorous than consonants, open vowels being more sonorous than close one.
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 CHAPTER 3
THEORIES OF PHONOLOGY
worked by Dawit Feyisa
Theories of phonology are grouped into linear and non- linear theories.
A) Linear theory
Linear theory assumes that speech is assembled in the brain and produced in a sequential (linear)
fashion. This theory assumes that phoneme segmentals are a bundle of independent features that
may freely combine with each other is. It focuses on the individual speech sounds or their
features. It Assumes that all features and sounds are equal.
Linear theory incorporates: Generative Phonology, Classical Phonology, Natural Phonology and
Lexical Phonology.
B) Nonlinear theory
Nonlinear theories assume that phonological representations consist of more than one linear
sequence of segments; each linear sequence constitutes a separate tier.
Nonlinear theory incorporates: Auto-segmental Phonology, Metrical Phonology, Feature
Geometry and Optimality Theory
3.1 Auto segmental theory.
Auto segmental phonology is a theory of how the various parts of the articulatory organs - the
tongue, the lips, the larynx, the velum are coordinated and related. It is a non-linear approach to
phonology that allows phonological processes, such as tone and vowel harmony, to be
independent of and extend beyond individual consonants and vowels. As a result, the
phonological processes may influence more than one vowel or consonant at a time. The
segmental features involve consonant and vowel sounds or phonemes, whereas the
suprasegmental features include stress, rhythm, intonation, pitch, length etc.
3.2 Metrical Phonology
Metrical phonology is a theory of stress or linguistic prominence. Metrical phonology is a
phonological theory concerned with organizing segments into groups of relative prominence.
Segments are organized into syllables, syllables into metrical feet, feet into phonological words,
and words into larger units. It is mostly concerned with the syllable structures, stress patterns,
and rhythms of speech, the innovative feature of this theory is that the prominence of a unit is
defined relative to other units in the same phrase. Stress can be strong or weak stress. For
example, in ‘penicillin’, the strong stress is ‘ci’, thus, it is referred to as Designated Terminal
Element. Stress can be shown by Metrical trees, metrical phonology, metrical grid, Pre-stress-
shift metrical grid. Metrical phonology is a phonological theory concerned with organizing

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segments into groups of relative prominence. Segments are organized into syllables, syllables
into metrical feet, feet into phonological words, and words into larger units.
3.3 Markedness theory
Originally, marked meant the presence and the unmarked meant the absence of a specific feature
in a phoneme. For example, /g/ is marked for voicing (+ voice) and /k/ is unmarked for it (–
voice). Such a binary system was in the distinctive features theory (Chomsky and Halle, 1968).
Currently, the meaning of markedness varies across theories, but in OT, it means sounds that are
(a) complex, (b) difficult to produce, (c) not natural, (d) infrequent in languages, (e) abnormal,
(f) unpredictable, (g) later-acquired, (h) language-specific, and (i) perceptually weak. Being the
opposite of marked, unmarked sounds are (a) simple, (b) easy to produce, (c) natural, (d)
frequently occurring in languages, (e) normal, (f) predictable, (g) early acquired, (h) universal,
and (i) perceptually strong (Haspelmath, 2006; Hume, 2011). Natural are the features present in
most if not all languages; unnatural are those present in only a few languages. More easily
understood sounds are perceptually strong and difficult to understand are perceptually weak.

3.4 Under Specification Theory

Under specification theory is a phenomenon in which certain features are omitted in underlying
representations. Restricted under specification theory holds that features should only be
underspecified if their values are predictable. For example, in most dialects of English, all front
vowels (/i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ/) are unrounded. It is not necessary for these phonemes to include the
distinctive feature [−round], because all [−back] vowels are [−round] vowels, so the roundness
feature is not distinctive for front vowels. Radical under specification theory, on the other hand,
also allows for traditionally binary features to be specified for only one value, where it is
assumed that every segment not specified for that value has the other value. For example, instead
of the features [+voice] and [−voice], only [+voice] is specified and voice lessness is taken as the
default.
The concept of under specification is also used in morphological theory, particularly to refer to
cases in which a morpheme does not bear an entire set of feature-values, and is thus compatible
with a wide range of potential morphological environments. In this approach to morphology, for
example, while the English pronouns he vs she are specified for gender, the plural pronoun they
would be underspecified for gender.

vowels height backness roundedness

/I/ high __-_ ___-

[i] high front unrounded

[y] high front rounded

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[ɯ] high back unrounded

[u] high back rounded

3.5 Lexical phonology

The theory of lexical phonology is concerned with the relationship between morphological
structuring and the phonological operations which affect vowels or consonants or stress patterns
as far as words are concerned to yield the final phonological representations. This is the domain
of lexical rules.
3.6 Feature Geometry
Feature geometry is a phonological theory which represents distinctive features as a structured
hierarchy rather than a matrix or a set. Feature geometry recognizes that some sets of features
often pattern together in phonological and phonotactic generalizations, while others rarely
interact.
3.7 Optimality theory
Optimality theory is concerned in analyzing speech sound disorder. For examples, a child gets a
speech input. (She heard her brother say “cat,” for example.) Now the child is ready to exhibit an
output. (She is ready to imitate her brother or give a verbal response.) But for reasons, the child
will encounter numerous output options, including the word cat, an approximant of that, and
many that are totally different. (The child could say any number of different words or syllables
when trying to imitate or produce a specific word.) A mechanism in the child’s mind will select
one of those countless options as the most optimal to produce. (The child said something.) That
optimal output is the winner, all other potential outputs are losers, and hence the name
optimality.

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 CHAPTER FOUR
GRAPHOLOGY
worked by:Gemechu Yadesa
Belaynash Alemayehu

Definition of Graphology
As the Encyclopedia Britannica (2011) defined, graphology is the inference of character from a
person‘s handwriting. The theory underlying graphology is that handwriting is an expression of
personality; hence, a systematic analysis of the way words and letters are formed can reveal traits
of personality. Graphologists note such elements as the size of individual letters and the degree
and regularity of slanting, ornamentation, angularity, and curvature. Other basic considerations
are the general appearance and impression of the writing, the pressure of upward and downward
strokes, and the smoothness of the writing. (Encyclopedia Britannica 2011). Similar to this, the
Oxford English Dictionary (2013) defines the Linguistic side of graphology as ―the study of
written and printed symbols and of writing systems. Also other scholar defined graphology as
this:Graphology, however, is an essential part of the description of any written language. The use
of the word may be unfamiliar. It has been chosen to parallel phonology, and the term includes
orthography, punctuation, and anything else that is concerned with showing how a language uses
its graphic resources to carry its grammatical and lexical patterns. (Halliday Et Al. 1987: 50).
Beyond this, Wales (2001: 182-183) defined graphology in detail way. For her, graphology is the
study of graphemes and any other element related to the written medium, and of the linguistic
system that is manifested through these:The study of such units [graphemes] in a language is
called graphemics, or graphology.Graphemics also embraces other features associated with the
written or graphic medium:punctuation; paragraphing; spacing, etc. Different registers make
particular use of such graphological features as: size of print and capitalization in newspaper and
advertising lay-outs; different typefaces and sizes in dictionaries such as this one; special lines in
poetry, etc. Graphology can also refer to the writing system of a language, as manifested in
handwriting and typography; and to the other related features e.g. capitalization and punctuation.
(Wales 2001: 182-183).
The novelty of the definition offered by Wales (2001) lies in the fact that it broadens the
spectrum of elements to be analyzed within the category of graphology beyond the letters of the
alphabet, which is something that has not been considered until very recently. She also gives
equal importance to the writing system itself and to the discipline that focuses on its analysis,
since these are the key aspects that define the concept of graphology. In short, Wales (2001) aims
to go beyond the traditional perspective in the treatment of graphology.
1.1. Writing

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Writing is a visual system for representing language, including handwriting, print, electronic
displays of these written forms (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2014) Also Rowe & Levine,
(2016) defined; writing is defined as a graphic (visual) representation of units (Morphemes,
Syllables, Phonemes) of Speech.Writing was originally created to facilitate accounting, and
contributed to advancements in exchange and the management of economic affairs (Goody,
1986).
From a human perspective, writing serves to extend the possibilities of social action, creating
more precise types of transaction and relationship that give these partnerships the strength to
endure in more complex, more anonymous circumstances (Goody, 1986:175). Writing facilitates
the development of a beaurocratic state, and contributes greatly to the dissemination of political
and religious information. The twenty-first century alone has witnessed countless manifestations
of the power of written texts, as acts of martyrdom, tyranny, fanaticism, oppression and
liberation have been committed in deference to the written word of God (Powell, 12). Powell
makes a point of describing writing as a "Technology of explosive force sprung from the human
mind" (Powell P.11, 2009), not an inevitable progression in natural development but as the single
most important Invention In the history of humanity.
1.2 History of Writing
The history of writing traces the development of expressing language by systems of markings
and how these markings were used for various purposes in different societies, thereby
transforming social organization (Goody, 1986:175).
Writing has long been considered the marker of an advanced society (Ezzamel And
Hoskin,2000).
As a hunter-gatherer, early man had little use for a written system to record or communicates. It
was only with the proliferation of agriculture and subsequently trade between individuals and
entire villages and even nations that a need for a writing system emerged.
Written markings were physically permanent memory aids that and swerved the need for a
record-keeping system.
The available evidence shows that writing arose autochthonous in three places of the world: in
Mesopotamia about 3200 BCE, in China about 1250 BCE, and in Mesoamerica around 650BCE
(Gnanadesikan,2009:2). Devising a system of graphic symbols to represent the sounds of
language is, in itself, a remarkable achievement. However, the spread of this system through a
society and across a geographical area is also remarkable. After all, communicating with writing
is impossible if the recipient of a written message owes not know the meaning of the written
symbols. Thus, when we refer to the spread of writing, we mean not only the dissemination of
the concept of representing the sounds of language with graphic symbols or the migration of
those symbols, but also the dissemination of the rules and standards of what the graphic signs
represent.
1.3 Types of Writing System

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Writing system is a symbol which represents the sounds, syllables, or words of a language
(Richards & Schmidt, 2010). Writing systems are the foundation of literacy and literacy learning,
with all the social and psychological consequences associated with literacy activities.
Different writing systems reflect speech or linguistic principles in different ways. Writing system
began as pictographs, later becoming ideographs, logographs and then syllable character
(Healey, 1990) pictograms are precursors of writing systems. Pictogram is an image that
represents an object and resembles it. Pictograms become standardized, and their meanings get
extended to related concepts (but not specific words). Thus, they become ideograms.
Both pictograms and ideograms exist alongside other writing systems in modern societies.
Ideograms
eventually become associated with specific words. Thus, they become logograms. Logograms
often become associated with homophonous words in a language. logograms become associated
with a syllable, thus becoming syllabic writing.
Pictograms → Ideograms → Logograms → Syllabic
The first known writing system, ―cuneiform, began around 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia (Modern
Day Iraq) it was created by Sumerians and Akkadians (Healey (1990). at the end, cuneiform was
a combination of logographic and syllabic writing. Cuneiform continued to change over time;
there are three main types of writing System:
1. Logographic (Word) Writing
2. Syllabic Writing
3. Alphabetic Writing
1.3.1 Logographic Writing
As Goody (1986) stated, logographic writing is a writing system in which the symbols stand for
whole words or morphemes. It is a written symbol that represents a concept or word without
indicating its pronunciation. One examples of logographic writing is Chinese writing system.
The symbols are called logograms. Also, logograms found in other languages though they are not
described as logographic writing. For Example, there is logographic in English writing.
English cannot be described as logographic. However, there are some logograms such as:
@ = At
&= And
$= Dollar
#= Hash
%= Per Cent

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1.3.2. Syllabic Writing
Syllabic writing is a writing system in which each symbol represents one syllable.
Syllabic writing will have fewer symbols than logographic writing. Syllabic alphabets, alpha
syllabaries or abugidas are writing systems in which the main element is the syllable. Syllables
are built up of consonants, each of which has an inherent vowel, e.g. Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha. Diacritic
symbols are used to change or mute the inherent vowel, and separate vowel letters may be used
when vowels occur at the beginning of a syllable or on their own. There do not seem to be any
purely syllabic writing systems in use today, but Japanese can be described as having an at least
partly syllabic writing system(Healey, (1990) ).
In addition to this, Healey, (1990) stated, syllabic writing is:
 Phonological System
 Each grapheme corresponds to a spoken syllable, vowel-consonant pair usually
 First fully developed syllabic writing was used by the Phoenicians at around 1000 B.C
 When a writing system employee a set of symbols which represent the pronunciation of
syllables
1.3.3 Alphabetic Writing
The invention of the alphabet took place in the near east, probably in present-day Lebanon, about
1700 BCE (Healey, 1990) In alphabetic writing, each symbol ideally corresponds to individual
phonemes. The name is derived from Greek letters: Alpha = A and Beta = B.
The alphabetic symbols are called graphemes. Ideally, each grapheme stands for one specific
phoneme.
English Grapheme-Sound Correspondences:
 One grapheme represents a single phoneme fry, root, van
 One sound can be represented by a variety of graphemes as the vowel sound in meet, meat,
machine, key, ceiling, people.
 One grapheme can represent a variety of sounds:
damage, educate, picked.
 One or more graphemes may represent no sound at all:
knee, gnat, lamb, receipt, night.
 Two or more graphemes may represent a single sound:
throne, Chain, shore, eat.
(Brinton & Brinton, 2010)

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1.4 Sociolinguistics of Writing
Hudson (1980) stated, sociolinguistics is defined as the study of language in relation to Society.
In sociolinguistics we study society i.e. the context of language use to know more about the
language. Sociolinguistics is the study of the sociological aspects of language and is interested in
society ‘s effect on language. Sociolinguistics tells us about the social factors that influence our
use of language.
Sociolinguistics is an interesting and important area of language for teachers because it deals
with how the language is used and thought of in the real world. The educators should have a
huge view of sociolinguistics to help their teaching; learning language process can be
implemented well because sociolinguistics covers a tremendous variety of approaches.
They have to know the variations if each learner ‘s language and social background in order to
be able to select the appropriate approaches for teaching language.
A central problem for sociolinguistics approaches to language is nationhood. Being the defining
framework for much discussion of both language and culture in popular and academic domains,
the concept of the nation has had a huge influence on the ways in which languages and cultures
have been defined (Nancy &Sandra, 2010). Learning language with sociolinguistics can help the
speakers able to distinguish where, whom, when they speak.
Our account of writing within sociolinguistics thus far foregrounds the mainstream or canonical
position. The three imperatives or pulls towards a different orientation towards writing are:
 The Ethnographic Imperative
 The Educational Imperative
 The Digital Imperative
1.4.1 The Ethnographic Imperative
The ethnographic imperative is evident in a longstanding strand of sociolinguistic inquiry, the
ethnography of communication ‘(Gumperz And Hymes 1972) which has proved highly
influential across the field with regard to spoken language and interaction but also in contributing
to the development of a field specifically concerned with writing and literacy.
1.4.2 The Educational Imperative
The second historical imperative driving interests in writing and literacy and frequently drawing
on an ethnographic tradition is a concern with education: sociolinguistic researchers have often
been preoccupied not only with noting variety and difference in language use but in considering
ways in which sociolinguistic understandings can be used to redress inequalities in educational
experience and outcomes (Hymes, 1971). Writing comes into focus because literacy with nested
assumptions about the use of standard language(s) is seen as the goal of schooling. There has
been considerable interest in describing and accounting for why and how some children and
adults are successful in schooled language and literacy practices and others are not, with

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researchers often pointing to the differences between practices in the home or local communities
as compared with practices in the school.
We return below to the importance of this educational imperative to early debates around spoken
language and how these relate to current attempts to find ways of developing an adequate
language of fescription for writing.
1.4.3 The Digital Imperative
The third and most recent imperative which is pushing the question of writing to the fore is
language use and communication involving digital technologies. The steadily increasing number
of studies of digitally mediated language use indexes s growing albeit often implicit concern with
writing.
All three imperatives: ethnographic, educational, digital, foreground the importance of focusing
on writing as an everyday activity, that is as nested in a myriad of ways in people ‘s lives and
therefore treat the phenomenon epistemologically and ideologically in much the same way as
spoken language is treated in sociolinguistics.
1.5 Psycholinguistics of Writing
Psycholinguistics that means psychology of language is the study of the psychological and
neurological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language
(Altman, 2001:1). Psycholinguistics has provided numerous theories that explain how a person
acquires a language, produces and perceives both spoken and written language.
Psycholinguistics is an integration of two disciplines; psychology and linguistics. Psychology is
the study of mind and behavior; linguistics is the study of language. So, in general,
psycholinguistics can be defined as the study of mind and language. It is concerned with the
relationship between the human mind and the language as it examines the processes that occur in
brain while producing and perceiving language. Psycholinguistics covers three main points;
language production, language perception and language acquisition. Language production refers
to the processes involved in creating and expressing meaning through language. Language
perception refers to processes involved in interpreting and understanding both written and
spoken language. Language acquisition refers to processes of acquiring a native or a second
Language. Psycholinguistics has provided numerous theories that explain the three points above.
The theories have been very useful in the field of language teaching. Some experts use them as
the basic theories in developing language teaching methods. It is known as psycholinguistics
approach.
Psycholinguistic approach views that language and thought as related but completely
independent phenomena. Learning is viewed as a cognitive individual process happening within
the individual and then moves to the social dimension.
1.5.1 Psycholinguistics Approach and Writing Skill

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Psycholinguistics helps in understanding the students ‘mistakes in writing. It has a clear
contribution on spelling mistakes since in English words are not spelled as they sound. There is a
hardship on this case because storing of the spelling of words and retrieve them on demand is
very difficult. Psycholinguistics approach indicates that there are mistakes in writing caused by a
graphic, which must be treated properly. Psycholinguistics helps to find interesting topic to write.
It serves to decrease the level of the difficulties in writing. It helps to specify the writing levels
and writing types. It pins down the mechanic mistakes on punctuation and suggests certain cures
for them.

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 Conclusion
Phonetics is the scientific study of the production, transmission, and perception of speech sound.
Articulatory phonetics studies how and where speech sounds are produced Speech sounds could
be called vowels.
The study of how speech sounds form patterns is phonology. These patterns may be as simple as
the fact that the velar nasal cannot begin a syllable in English, or as complex as why /g/ is silent
in sign but is pronounced in the related word sig nature. The phonological systems of different
languages are obviously different. These are assimilation, dissimilation, deletion, metathesis, and
epenthesis and vowel harmony. often in language a phoneme has several allophones, with the
allophone selected in a particular position being dependent on the other sounds that are adjacent
to it. The commonest phonological process responsible for this is assimilation. All the members
of a natural class are affected in the same way in the same environment. Similarly, all members
of a natural class have the same effect on other sounds that occur in their environment.
Linear theory assumes that phoneme segmentals are a bundle of independent features that may
freely combine with each other, whereas nonlinear theories assume that phonological
representations consist of more than one linear sequence of segments; each linear sequence
constitutes a separate tier.
Graphology is the study of handwriting with the aim of revealing the character and personality of
The writer and his or her strengths, weaknesses and abilities. It is a linguistic level of analysis
that comprises the study of graphic aspects of language. Writing is a visual system for
representing language, including handwriting, print, electronic displays of these written forms.
Learning language process can be implemented well because sociolinguistics covers a
tremendous variety of approaches. They have to know the variations of each learner ‘s language
and social background in order to be able to select the appropriate approaches for teaching
language. Psycholinguistic approach views that language and thought as related but completely
independent phenomena. Learning is viewed as a cognitive individual process happening within
the individual and then moves to the social dimension. Psycholinguistics helps in understanding
the students ‘mistakes in writing. It has a clear contribution on spelling mistakes since in English
words are not spelled as they sound. There is a hardship on this case because storing of the
spelling of words and retrieve them on demand is very difficult.

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