Phonology is where you put into practice all you’ve learned in phonetics. It is the study of how sounds are strung together (phonotactics), how they interact with each other, and the rules that account for these processes. The focus of phonology at an introductory level course can be categorized into the following areas. 1. The Distribution of Phonemes Phonemes are individual sounds described … [Read more...]
Aspiration and Voice Onset Time
Each language has parameters concerning the distribution of plosives. Some languages only permit voiceless plosives, e.g., Proto-Quechua, whereas others permit both voiced and voiceless, e.g., Spanish. Still others allow a 3-way distribution of plosives, adding aspiration to the mix, e.g., Hindi. (Aspiration is symbolized by the diacritic [h].) Hindi (1) [pʰəl] ‘fruit’ [pəl] ‘moment’ … [Read more...]
Sounds and Spellings
Speech Sounds and Symbols Talking was around for quite some time before any type of writing systems were developed. There are many languages still today today that have no written form. In fact, all human beings learn language perfectly well before ever holding a pencil or decoding a scribed word. So even though symbolizing language visually is not essential to communication, written language is … [Read more...]
An Introduction to Phonetics
Many professors of Intro to Linguistics courses choose to begin the semester by launching into phonetics, much to the student’s dismay. The material is foreign, difficult to grasp (it doesn’t seem to relate to anything else in space and time), and is rarely representative of the rest of the semester. However, there is a good reason for starting off on such seemingly shaky ground. Phonetics is the … [Read more...]
An Intro to Language Universals
Although a considerable amount of languages around the world seem to have nothing in common with each other on the surface, the majority of linguists propose that all languages share certain universal principles. These principles are a set of rules referred to as a Universal Grammar. It is true that the formation of sentences in Hungarian (an agglutinative language) seems to have very little, if … [Read more...]
An Introduction to Linguistics
What is Linguistics? Have you ever wondered why speakers of English are permitted to say White House but not House White, or why Southerners in the US say “pah” for pie? And even more strangely, consider the fact that in English the plural form of the singular noun monkey is monkeys, and yet the plural form of child is children. Why don’t we say monkren or childs? Why do French speakers pronounce … [Read more...]
An Intro to Language Families
Language Families Language families are groups of languages said to be "genetically" related on the basis of having a common ancestor, or protolanguage. Such languages share several features and vocabulary items, although these similarities are hardly apparent when comparing two languages as seemingly distinct as say, English and Hindi (both of the Indo-European family). As speakers move apart, … [Read more...]
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