Introduction to Linguistics

Prof. Hicham LAABIDI

 Contents of the course

1. The difference between language and

linguistics.
2. Properties of human languages
3. Functions of language
4. Components of linguistics :
4.1. Phonetics
4.2. Phonology
4.3. Morphology
4.4. Syntax
4.5. Semantics
 The difference between language and
linguistics

• Language is the system of human

communication which consists of the structured
arrangement of sounds (or their written
representation) into larger units,
e.g. MORPHEMES, WORDS, SENTENCES,
UTTERANCES.
• In common usage, it can also refer to non-
human systems of communication such as the
“language” of bees, the “language” of dolphins.
• It is any particular system of human communication, for example,
the French language, the Hindi language.

• It is the method of human communication, either spoken or written,

consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.

• It is a system of communication used by a particular country or

community.

• It is a system of communication based upon words and the

combination of words into sentences.

• Sometimes a language is spoken by most people in a particular

country, for example, Japanese in Japan, but sometimes a language
is spoken by only part of the population of a country, for example
Tamil in India, French in Canada.
• Linguistics is the study of language as a
system of human communication.
• Linguistics includes many different approaches
to the study of language and many different
areas of investigation, for example sound
systems (PHONETICS, PHONOLOGY),
sentence structure (SYNTAX), relationships
between language and cognition (COGNITIVE
LINGUISTICS), meaning systems
(SEMANTICS, PRAGMATICS,FUNCTIONS OF
LANGUAGE), as well as language and social
factors (SOCIOLINGUISTICS).
• It is the scientific study of language and its
structure, including the study of grammar,
syntax, and phonetics.
• Specific branches of linguistics include
sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics,
computational linguistics, comparative
linguistics, and structural linguistics.
• Linguistics is the scientific study
of language, and involves an analysis of
language form, language meaning, and
language in context.
• Linguistics is the scientific study of language. In
contrast to other language-related disciplines,
linguistics is concerned with describing the rule-
governed structures of languages, determining
the extent to which these structures are
universal or language-particular, positing
constraints on possible linguistic structures, and
explaining why there is only a fairly narrow
range of possible human languages.
 Properties of language
1. Displacement

• A major difference between animal language

and human language is the displacement
feature of human language.
• It means that human language can overcome
the limitations of time and space.
• Animal communication is designed for here and
now. But, human language can relate to events
removed in time and space.
• Most animals can communicate about
things in the immediate environment only.
A bird utters its danger cry only when
danger is present. It cannot give
information about danger in the past or
future.
• Human language, by contrast can
communicate about things that are absent
as easily as about things that are present.
• This feature of the human language is
called displacement.
 2. Arbitrariness

• It means that human linguistic signs do not

have any natural connection between its
form and meaning.
• The only exceptions are the onomatopoeic
sounds. In the animal communication, the
signs they use are synonymous with
meaning.
• There is no intrinsic or logical connection
between a sound form (signal) and its
meaning. Whatever name a human
language attributes an object is purely
arbitrary.
• The word "car" is nothing like an actual
car. Spoken words are really nothing like
the objects they represent.
• This is further demonstrated by the fact
that different languages attribute very
different names to the same object.
 3.Productivity

• This refers to the human ability to combine

limited linguistic signs to produce new
sentences and expressions.
• Animals are incapable of this as animal
signals have fixed reference.
• It refers to the idea that language-users
can create and understand novel
utterances. Humans are able to produce
an unlimited amount of utterances.
• Language is not stagnant, but is constantly
changing. New idioms are created all the
time and the meaning of signals can vary
depending on the context and situation.
• Most animals have a very limited number of
messages they can send or receive. This type of
limitation is not found in human language.
• Language users manipulate their linguistic
resources to produce new expressions and new
sentences. This property of human language is
known as productivity or creativity.
• It is an aspect of language which is linked to the
fact that the potential number of utterances in
any human language is infinite.
• Productivity = speaker´s ability to combine the
basic linguistic units.
• All animal signals, on the other hand, have
a feature called fixed reference that means each
signal is fixed as relating to a particular object or
occasion.
 4. Cultural transmission

• While animals get their language genetically,

human beings acquire language. Human
languages are passed down by the society in
which one lives and grows up.

• We usually inherit the colour of eyes or height

from our parents but we do not inherit their
language. We acquire a language in a culture
with other speakers and not from parental
genes.
• If a child born in Sweden to Swedish
parent might inherit blond hair, pale
complexion but if s/he is brought up from
birth by English speakers in the USA e.g.
will inevitably speak English. This process
whereby language is passed on from one
generation to the next is called cultural
transmission.

• Human infants, growing up in isolation,

produce no instinctive language.
 5.Discreteness

• This refers to the uniqueness of the sounds used

in human languages. Every language use a set
of different sounds. Each of these sounds is
different from the rest and are combined to form
new meanings.
• A sound can be repeated, or combined with
another to form a new meaning. But, animal
languages do not have this feature of
discreteness.
• Linguistic representations can be broken
down into small discrete units which
combine with each other in rule-governed
ways. They are perceived categorically,
not continuously.
• For example, English marks number with
the plural morpheme /s/, which can be
added to the end of any noun. The plural
morpheme is perceived categorically, not
continuously: we cannot express smaller
or larger quantities by varying how loudly
we pronounce the /s/.
• For example the difference between “i” “í” is not
very great, but when we use these sounds in
a language we cannot use “i” instead of “í”
because then there is distinction in meaning.
• It is the same with pairs like p, b, t, d and so on.
The property of language when each sound is
treated as discrete is described as discreteness.
• For example the English word tin would consist
of three units t/i/n. Speech units can be ordered
and reordered, combined and split apart.
 6.Duality

• Human language can be both spoken and

written. Even the languages that do not
have alphabet can be written down using
some symbols. Animal languages are only
spoken.
• Language is organized in two levels. This
property is called „duality“ or double articulation.
One level is when we produce individual sounds
like “n, t, d, i” . In another level we produce these
sounds in a particular combination “bin, tip” and
we are producing a meaning that is different
from other combination of these sounds.
• At one level we have distinct sound and at
another level we have distinct meaning. With a
limited set of distinct sounds we are capable of
producing a very large number of sound
combinations which are distinct in meaning.
Phonemes are meaningless in isolation but they
become meaningful only when they are
combined with other phonemes.
 7.Learnability

• Language is teachable and learnable. In

the same way as a speaker learns their
first language, the speaker is able to learn
other languages.
• It is worth noting that young children learn
language with competence and ease;
however, language acquisition is
constrained by a critical period such that it
becomes more difficult once children pass
a certain age.
 The critical period hypothesis

• The critical period hypothesis claims that

there is an ideal time window to acquire
language in a linguistically rich environment,
after which further language acquisition
becomes much more difficult and effortful.
• The critical period hypothesis states that the
first few years of life is the crucial time in which
an individual can acquire a first language if
presented with adequate stimuli. If language
input does not occur until after this time, the
individual will never achieve a full command of
language—especially grammatical systems.
 Onomatopoeia
• Onomatopoeia is when a word’s pronunciation imitates
its sound. It is a word that phonetically imitatesor
resembles the sound that it describes.
Examples :
1. Silence your cellphone so that it does not beep during the movie.
2. Someone is knocking on the door.

3. That cat will keep meowing until you pet it.

4. The cow aggressively mooed at the passing freight train.

5. After eating the knight, the dragon let out a puff of smoke.

6. Our peaceful dinner ended when the phone began ringing.

7. Time just keeps on ticking.

8. Birds tweeted long before Twitter did.

 8. Vocal-auditory channel

The speaker uses a vocal tract (containing

most of the speech organs) to produce
speech sounds, and the hearer employs
an auditory apparatus (the sense of
hearing) to receive and process the
speech sounds.
 9.Total feedback

This means that the speaker can hear

themselves speak and can monitor their
language performance as they go.
 10. Interchangeability

-- This means that the speaker can both

rreceive and broadcast the same signal.
 11. Broadcast transmission and directional
reception

This means that the human language signal is

sent out in all directions, while it is perceived in a
limited direction. For spoken language, the
sound perpetuates as a waveform that expands
from the point of origin (the mouth) in all
directions. This is why a person can stand in the
middle of a room and be heard by everyone
(assuming they are speaking loudly enough).
However, the listener hears the sound as
coming from a particular direction and is notably
better at hearing sounds that are coming from in
front of the them than from behind them.
 12. Rapid fading (Transitoriness)

This means that the human language signal

does not persist over time. Speech waveforms
fade rapidly and cannot be heard after they fade.
This is why it is not possible to simply say "hello"
and have someone hear it hours later. Writing
and audio-recordings can be used to record
human language so that it can be recreated at a
later time, either by reading the written form, or
by playing the audio-record.
 13. Specialization

This means that the organs used for

producing speech are specially adapted to
that task. The human lips, tongue, throat,
etc. have been specialized into speech
apparati instead of being merely the eating
apparati they are in many other animals.
Dogs, for example, are not physically
capable of all of the speech sounds that
humans produce, because they lack the
necessary specialized organs.
 14. Semanticity

• This means that specific signals can be

matched with specific meanings. This is a
fundamental aspect of all communication
systems. Signals in all communication
systems have meaning.
• ‘Rat’ means a particular kind of rodent,
and can be used to refer to one when it
appears, or to talk about one which is not
there
 15. Reflexiveness

Humans can use language to think and

talk about language itself — which is
exactly what we’ve been doing in this blog.
In contrast, animals are not able to reflect
on their communication system(s). As
George Yule (2010: 11)puts it: “Dogs
aren’t barking about barking”.
 16. Prevarication

• Language is used to convey information about

states of affairs and states of mind.Yet, as we all
know, these are not necessarily true.
• Language can just as easily be used to withhold
information, or to give false information – to
prevaricate –and deception is as universal as
language itself.
• Roger Brown (1973 pointed out that children are
frequently told off for telling untruths but rarely
corrected for their grammar. Nevertheless,they
all grow up to speak grammatically and tell lies.
 Functions of language
1. The informational function
This function helps human beings deliver
messages, describe things, and give new
information.
2. The expressive function
This function of language is used not to
deliver a message, but to express feelings
and impressions.
3. The directive function

It is used to induce certain actions or

reactions. The example of such a function
is a command. Another example of this
function is a request.

Here affective and situational meanings of

a phrase are more important than a
general meaning, which makes this
function somewhat similar to the
expressive function.
4. The aesthetic function

This function helps huaman beings use

words as a tool of a poetic art, and as
certain signs.

Here the beauty of chosen words and

phrases is more important than usefulness
of this information.
5. The phatic function

The only purpose of such a function is to

maintain social relationships, and to begin,
or continue the conversation.

A well-known example from British culture

is a small talk about the weather.
Prof. Hicham LAABIDI
1. Definition of Phonetics

2. Branches of Phonetics.

3. Phonetic Transcription

4. The Organs of Speech.

5. Consonants

6. Vowels
 What is Phonetics?
• It is a branch of linguistics that studies the sounds of
human speech.

• It is the study and systematic classification of the

sounds made in spoken utterances.

• It is the branch of linguistics that deals with speech

sounds and their production, transmission, reception,
description, analysis and their representation by
written symbols.
 Branches of Phonetics
1. Articulatory Phonetics
➢ It is a subfield of phonetics which studies how
humans produce speech sounds via the
interaction of different physiological structures.

➢ It is the study of the organs of speech and their

use in producing speech sounds by the
speaker.

➢ It is the branch of phonetics dealing with the

production of the sounds of speech.
2. Acoustic Phonetics
• It is the study of the sound waves made by the
human vocal organs for communication.

• It is a subfield of phonetics, which deals

with the acoustic spects of speech sounds,
including an analysis and description of
speech in terms of its physical properties, such
as frequency, intensity, and duration.

• It is a technical area of linguistics.

Phoneticians depict and analyze sound waves
using machines and computer programs.
3. Auditory Phonetics.

• It is a branch of phonetics concerned

with the hearing of speech sounds and
with speech perception.

• It is concerned with how speech sounds

are heard and perceived by listeners.
 Phonetic Transcription
• It is the visual representation of speech sounds .
• It is written representation of speech using a
phonetic alphabet.
• The most common type of phonetic transcription
uses a phonetic alphabet, such as
the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
• IPA is a system of symbols designed by the
International Phonetic Association to be used to
represent the sounds of all human languages in
accordance with a set of common principles.
• The symbols consist of letters and diacrtics.
• Some letters are taken from the Roman
alphabet, while others are special symbols.
English sounds and their IPA symbols
 Diacritics

• It refers to the small added marks placed

over, under, or through a letter that can be
used to distinguish different values of a
sound.
• For example, the addition of ~
distinguishes the velarized lateral /ł/ in feel
from the non-velarized /l/ in leaf.
Broad Transcription vs. Narrow transcription

Broad transcription indicates only the most

noticeable phonetic features of an
utterance, whereas narrow transcription
encodes more information about the
phonetic variations of the specific
allophones in the utterance.
Phonetic Transcription

Practice
 Write the words corresponding to the
following phonetic transcriptions:
1. [ˈsɪgnɪʧə ]

2. [ɑːˌtɪkjʊˈleɪʃən ]

3. [tiːθ]

4. [ɔːlˈðəʊ]

5. [æŋˈzaɪəti ]
 Answers

• Signature
• Articulation
• Teeth
• Although
• anxiety
Write the sentences corresponding to the
following phonetic transcriptions:
1. [ʃiː dʌznt lɪv hɪə]

2. [juː kɑːnt ˈfɪgər aʊt haʊ pliːzd aɪm raɪt naʊ]

3. [ðə lɪps kæn teɪk ˈdɪfrənt pəˈzɪʃənz]

4.[ˈkɒnsənənts ɑː ˈʤɛnərəli ˈænəlaɪzd əˈ

kɔːdɪŋ tuː θriː pəˈræmɪtəz]
 Answers

1. She doesn’t live here.

2. You can’t figure out how pleased I am

right now.

3. The lips can take different positions.

4. Consonants are generally analysed

according to three parameters
 Convert the phonetic transcription into a
text
[ɪf ɑːˈtɪkjʊlətəri fəʊˈnɛtɪks ˈstʌdiz ðə weɪ ɪn
wɪʧ spiːʧ saʊndz ɑː prəˈdjuːst, ˈɔːdɪtəri
fəʊˈnɛtɪks ˈfəʊkəsɪz ɒn ðə pəˈsɛpʃən ɒv
saʊndz ɔː ðə weɪ ɪn wɪʧ saʊndz ɑː hɜːd
ænd ɪnˈtɜːprɪtɪd. ðʌs, wiː meɪ seɪ ðæt waɪl
ɑːˈtɪkjʊlətəri fəʊˈnɛtɪks ɪz ˈmeɪnli kənˈsɜːnd
wɪð ðə ˈspiːkə, ˈɔːdɪtəri fəʊˈnɛtɪks diːlz wɪð
ði ˈʌðər ɪmˈpɔːtənt pɑːˈtɪsɪpənt ɪn ˈvɜːbəl
kəˌmjuːnɪˈkeɪʃən, ðə ˈlɪsnə]
• If articulatory phonetics studies the way in
which speech sounds are produced,
auditory phonetics focuses on the
perception of sounds or the way in which
sounds are heard and interpreted. Thus,
we may say that while articulatory
phonetics is mainly concerned with the
speaker, auditory phonetics deals with the
other important participant in verbal
communication, the listener.
 Homophony vs. Homography

• Homophones are words which sound alike

but are written differently and often have
different meaning.

• Homographs are words which are written

in the same way but which are pronounced
differently and have different meanings.
1. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse

• /ˈrɛfjuːs/n.garbage
• /rɪˈfjuːz/v.to decline

2. The farm was used to produce produce.

• /proʊˈdjuːs/v.to make
• /ˈproʊdjuːs/n.fruit and vegetables

3. We must polish the Polish furniture.

• /ˈpɒlɪʃ/v.to shine
• /ˈpoʊlɪʃ/adj.of, from, or native to Poland
4. He thought it was time to present the present.

• /prɪˈzɛnt/v.to reveal
• /ˈprɛzənt/n.a gift

5. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

• /ˈdʌv/n.a bird
• /ˈdoʊv/v.Mainly American past tense of dive

6. They were too close to the door to close it.

• /ˈkloʊz/v.to shut
• /ˈkloʊs/adj.nearby
7. The bandage was wound around the wound.

• /ˈwaʊnd/v.past tense of wind

• /ˈwuːnd/n. , v.an injury

8. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

• /ɪnˈvælɪd/adj.incorrect
• /ˈɪnvəlɪd/n.a disabled person

9. Don't desert me here in the desert!

• /ˈdɛzərt/n.an arid region

• /dɪˈzɜːrt/v.to abandon
 Speech Organs

• Speech organs or articulators, produce

the sounds of language.
• The study of speech organs helps to
determine the role of each organ in the
production of speech sounds.
• Organs used for speech include the lips,
teeth, alveolar ridge, hard
palate, velum (sofpalate), uvula, glottis
and various parts of the tongue.
Speech Organs
 Classification of Speech Organs
• Speech organs are of two types:
1. Passive articulators
2. Active articulators.
• Active articulators move relative to passive articulators,
which remain still, to produce various speech sounds, in
particular manners of articulation.
• The upper lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft
palate, uvula, and pharynx wall are passive articulators.
• The most important active articulator is the tongue as it
is involved in the production of the majority of sounds.
• The lower lip is another active articulator. But glottis is
not an active articulator because it is only a space
between vocal folds.
 Consonants
• Consonants are generally analysed
according to three parameters :

1. The place of articulation

2. The Manner of articulation
3. Voicing.
 Place of articulation

• The place of articulation of

a consonant is the point of contact where
an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract
between an articulatory gesture, an
active articulator (typically some part of the
tongue), and a passive location (typically
some part of the roof of the mouth).
• The places where the constrictions
and obstructions of air occur.
• Give the phonetic description of the
following speech sounds:

1. [p]
– Bilabial, stop, voiceless

2. [b]
– Bilabial, stop, voiced

3. [m]
– Bilabial, nasal, voiced
• Give the phonetic description of the following
speech sounds:
1. [t]
– Alveolar, stop, voiceless

2. [d]
– Alveolar, stop, voiced

3. [s]
– Alveolar, fricative, voiceless

4. [z]
– Alveolar, fricative, voiced

5. [n]
– Alveolar, nasal, voiced

6. [l]
– Alveolar, lateral, voiced
• Give the phonetic description of the
following speech sounds:

1. [f]
– Labiodental, fricative, voiceless

2. [v]
– Labiodental, fricative, voiced
•Give the phonetic description of the following
speech sounds:

1. [θ]
• Dental,fricative, voiceless

2. [ð]
• Dental,fricative, voiced
 What phonetic features are shared by the
members of each of the following sets?

1. [ʧ], [ʤ]
– Palato-aveolar, affricate
2. [s],[z], [ʃ],[ʒ]
– Fricative
3. [ʃ], [f], [θ], [k], [t], [ʧ],[p]
– Voicesless
4. [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g]
– Stops
5. [m],[n],[ŋ]
– Nasal,voiced
6. [ð],[v],[z],[ʒ], [b],[d],[g]
– Voiced
• Vowels are classified and described
according to the following parameters :

1. Close / open ( or high / low)

2. Front / Back
3. Rounded / unrounded
4. Long / short
 Open vowel
• An open vowel is a vowel pronounced with
the lips relatively wide apart
• An open vowel is a vowel sound in which
the tongue is positioned as far as possible
from the roof of the mouth.
• Open vowels are sometimes also called
low vowels (in American terminology) in
reference to the low position of the tongue.
 Half-open vowel
• The defining characteristic of an open-mid
vowel is that the tongue is positioned one
third of the way from an open vowel to
a close vowel.
• An open-mid vowel is also called mid-
open vowel, low-mid vowel, mid-low
vowel or half-open vowel.
 Close vowel
• The defining characteristic of a close
vowel is that the tongue is positioned
as close as possible to the roof of the
mouth as it can be without creating a
constriction.
• A close vowel is also known as a
high vowel in American terminology.
 Half-close vowel
• The defining characteristic of a close-
mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned
one third of the way from a close vowel to
an open vowel.
• A close-mid vowel is also called mid-
close vowel, high-mid vowel, mid-
high vowel or half-close vowel.
 Front vowel
• Front vowel is a vowel sound produced
with the tongue in a position near
the frontof the mouth
• The defining characteristic of a front vowel
is that the tongue is positioned as far
in front as possible in the mouth without
creating a constriction that would make it a
consonant.
 Back vowel
• A back vowel is a vowel whose sound is
produced in the back of the mouth or
the throat .
• The defining characteristic of a back
vowel is that the tongue is positioned as
far back as possible in the mouth without
creating a constriction that would be
classified as a consonant.
 Rounded / Unrounded
• In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to
the amount of rounding in the lips during
the articulation of a vowel.
• When a rounded vowel is pronounced,
the lips form a circular opening, and
unrounded vowels are pronounced with
the lips relaxed. In most languages,
front vowels tend to be unrounded, and
back vowels tend to be rounded.
Short / Long vowels
 Diphthongs
• a sound formed by the combination of two
vowels in a single syllable, in which the
sound begins as one vowel and moves
towards another(as in coin, loud,
and side ) .
 Triphthong
• a union of three vowels (letters or sounds)
pronounced in one syllable (as in fire )
 Speech perception

• Speech perception is the process by which the sounds

of language are heard, interpreted and understood. The
study of speech perception is closely linked to the fields
of phonology and phonetics in linguistics and cognitive
psychology and perception in psychology.
• Research in speech perception seeks to understand how
human listeners recognize speech sounds and use this
information to understand spoken language.
• Speech perception research has applications in
building computer systems that can recognize speech, in
improving speech recognition for hearing- and language-
impaired listeners, and in foreign-language teaching.
 Articulation

In phonetics and phonology, articulation is the movement

of the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs (the
articulators) in ways that make speech sounds. Sound is
produced simply byexpelling air from the lungs.
 Acoustics
Acoustics is the branch of physics that
deals with the study of all mechanical
waves in gases, liquids, and solids
including topics such
as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infraso
und.
 Morpheme
• A morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit in a
language. In other words, it is the smallest meaningful
unit of a language.
• The linguistics field of study dedicated to morphemes is
called morphology .
• A morpheme is not identical to a word , and the principal
difference between the two is that a morpheme may or
may not stand alone, whereas a word, by definition, is
freestanding.
• When a morpheme stands by itself, it is considered as
a root because it has a meaning of its own (e.g. the
morpheme cat) and when it depends on another
morpheme to express an idea, it is an affix because it
has a grammatical function (e.g. the –s in cats to indicate
that it is plural).
• Every word comprises one or more morphemes.
 Phoneme

• A phoneme (/ˈfoʊniːm/) is one of the units of

sound that distinguish one word from another in
a particular language.
• For example, in most dialects of English, the
sound patterns /θʌm/ (thumb) and /dʌm/ (dumb)
are two separate words distinguished by the
substitution of one phoneme, /θ/, for another
phoneme, /d/. (Two words like this that differ in
meaning through a contrast of a single phoneme
form what is called a minimal pair). In many
other languages these would be interpreted as
exactly the same set of phonemes
(i.e. /θ/ and /d/would be considered the same).
 Minimal pairs
• In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs
of words or phrases in a particular language that
differ in only one phonological element, such as
a phoneme, toneme or chroneme, and have
distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate
that two phones are two separate phonemes in
the language.
• An example for English consonants is the
minimal pair of "pat" + "bat".
• The following table shows other pairs
demonstrating the existence of various distinct
phonemes in English.
 word 1 word 2 IPA 1 IPA 2 note

pin bin /pɪn/ /bɪn/

rot lot /rɒt/ /lɒt/

initial consonant
thigh thy /θaɪ/ /ðaɪ/

zeal seal /ziːl/ /siːl/

bin bean /bɪn/ /biːn/

pen pan /pɛn/ /pæn/ vowel

cook kook /kʊk/ /kuːk/

hat had /hæt/ /hæd/

final consonant
mean meme /miːn/ /miːm/