Definition:
Language
◆ Human and non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas, feelings, and desires by means of
a system of sounds and sound symbols.
(Oxford Dictionary)
◆The possession of language, perhaps more than any
other attribute, distinguishes humans from other animals.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of languages. It is an
empirical science that can be studied and examined. In
contrast to the previous social studies that was
conducted in a subjective way, linguistics takes an
objective way to analyze languages. So, it has the
following features:
◆ observable
◆ analyzable and be generalized
◆ can be verified and falsified
Grammar:
The sounds and sound patterns, the basic
units of meaning, such as words, and the
rules to combine them to form new
sentences constitute the grammar of a
language. The grammar is an internalized,
unconscious set of rules.
competence vs. performance:
And the grammar here means the
competence instead of performance.
◆ competence:
the speaker-hearer’s
knowledge of his language. It is what you
know about the language.
performance: the actual use of
language in
concrete situations. It is how you use the knowledge
in actual speech production and comprehension.
◆
Linguistic ability:
Linguistic ability is the capacity to
produce sounds that signify certain
meanings and to understand or
interpret the sounds produced by
others. (Fromkin & Rodman)
A native speakers of a particular language knows
his/her own language in several ways:
◆phonological ability: the knowledge of
sound system
1. inventory
of sounds
2. phonotactic rules
3. syllable structure
e.g. English: “spray” is a possible word
“ksmatrn” is
not a possible word
◆semantic ability: the knowledge of
words and their references
When you know a language you know words in
that language, that is, the sound units that are
related to specific meanings. You also know the
semantic features contained in the words and the
relations between the graph, the sound, and the
meaning.
◆syntactic ability: the knowledge of relations
between words and phrases in a sentence,
the internal structure of a sentence, and the
correct judgment of grammaticality of
sentences.
e.g. English:
1.Jack likes extremely beautiful girls.
(extremely modifies beautiful;
extremely beautiful modifies girls.)
Subfields of Linguistics
Phonetics:
• The
science
of
speech
sounds is called phonetics.
• It aims to provide the set of features or
properties that can be used to describe and
distinguish all the sounds used in human
language.
Phonology:
• The study of the sound system of a language is
called phonology. It includes the inventory of
phones, the phonetic segments that occur in the
language, and the ways in which they pattern.
• It is this patterning that determines the inventory
of phonemes, the segments that differentiate
words.
Morphology:
• The study of word formation and
the internal structure of words is
called morphology.
Terms:
morpheme;
suffixes,
infixes,
bound vs. free;
derivational.
affixes
(prefixes,
and
circumfixes);
root vs. stem vs.
Syntax:
• The study of how the words in a
grammatical sentence must be
ordered and grouped is called syntax.
Terms: phrase structure, deep structure,
transformational rules, etc.
Semantics:
• The study of how to produce and
understand sentences with particular
meanings is called semantics.
• It is a study of linguistic meaning.
Terms: lexical semantics; phrasal semantics;
homonyms; heteronyms;homographs;
synonyms; antonyms polysemous;
hyponyms; acronyms; etc.
Pragmatics:
• The study of how context affects
meaning is called pragmatics.
Terms: principle of politeness.
PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY:
THE DISTINCTION.
Phonetics
phone – Greek for ‘sound’
 Definitions:
 "[t]he study of the full range of vocal
sounds that human beings are capable
of making" (Kenstowicz & Kisseberth
1979, 1).
 The part of linguistics concerned with
the sounds of language.

 Examines
the inventory and structure of the
sounds of speech.
 It
deals with how sounds are produced, their
physical properties
(cont)
 how the rules of language organize and change
sounds in different context
 analyze the properties common to all human sounds
used in language
a scientific description of what speech
sounds exist in human language.
 traces the processes physiologically
involved in sound production.
 describes the ways the sounds are
produced and the points at which they
are articulated.

Phonology
 concerned with the regularities that govern
the phonetic realizations of sounds in words
of a language.
 looks at and tries to establish a system of
sound distinctions relevant to a particular
language.
(cont)
seeks to determine how the elements of
this abstract system behave in actual
speech.
 delineates the functioning of sounds in
particular contexts.
 the
branch of linguistics which
investigates the ways in which sounds
are used systematically in different
languages to form words and utterances
(Katamba 1989: 1).

phonetics describes the physical
realization of sounds the physiological
processes involved in sound production.

on the other hand looks at
the behavioral patterns of sounds in
actual speech, their realizations in
different environments, whatsoever these
may be.

= sound production
Phonology = sound behavior in
realization
 phonetics = providing the set of features which can
describe the sounds of a language
= provision of information that has to do
with the functional patterning of the sounds in the
language (Adeyanju, 2003).
 phonetics
= raw materials for the description
of speech sounds production.
= the organization of the sound
patterns in the language.
describes the production process
involved in physical sounds.
phonology describes the environmental
factors that shape these sounds in particular
points of occurrence.
Example: /p/
its pulmonic egressive,
voiceless, bilabial stop (physical attributes).
it can occur in initial
position ‘pick’, word medially ‘spot’ and word
finally ‘nip.’ (environmental constraints).
The babbling baby analogy.
IN BRIEF:
• ‘phonetics supplies an embarrassment of
riches, providing much more information than
speakers seem to use or need: all those
speakers, and every utterance different!
Phonology, on the other hand, involves a
reduction to the essential information, to
what speakers and hearers think they are
saying and hearing’ (McMahon 2002: 3).
SCHEMATIC SUMMARY
Phonetics
-speech anatomy and
mechanics (physiology)
-Speech acoustics
& perception
- Sounds as physical,
decomposable entities
-description of sounds
-sound production
-articulatory constraints on
speech timing, speech
aerodynamics, and the
acoustic representation of
speech sounds.
-universal
Phonology
- Sound patterns in
language.
- Structure of sounds
in the linguistic system.
- Sounds as discrete,
cognitive entities.
-functional aspects of
sounds
-behavioral patterns of
sounds
-language specific
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• Enough for today!
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