Linguistics 3 Final Exam
Properties of a word: 1. A lexical meaning (ex: table, come) or a function (ex: the, to). 2. A
morphological structures (ex: tables, coming). 3. A syntactic category (noun, verb, etc). 4. A
form (written language, sign language, spoken language). 5. A phonological structure
(syllables and feet).
Phonology
The unconscious knowledge of a language by a native speaker contains semantic
knowledge, syntactic knowledge, and phonological knowledge.
Phonetics = the study of speech sounds.
Phonology = description of systems / patterns of speech sounds in a language. SSBE is
Standard Southern British English. GA is General American.
Distribution = the range of places within a word which a sound may occur in.
Complementary distribution = the place where sounds occur are never the same (ex: the
distribution of unaspirated and aspirated stops is mutually exclusive: where you get one kind,
you never get the other).
Parallel distribution = when there’s at least one place in which either sounds may occur.
Phoneme = each meaning-distinguishing sound (/ /). They function contrastively (/f/ - /v/).
When 2 sounds share features (/p/ - /k/), they’re members of a natural class of phonemes.
Phones = the sounds that are actually produced in speech ([ ]). This sound is the
realization of their phoneme.
Allophones = realizations of a phoneme which are predictable from the context (place, etc).
Phonological generalization = when it’s predictable which allophone of a phoneme will
occur in a given context. We can express this in a phonological rule.
Minimal pair = when 2 words (ex: fan – van) are identical in form except for one phoneme
occurring in the same position.
The Phonemic Principle = 2(+) sounds are realizations of the same phoneme if they are in
complementary distribution and are phonetically similar. 2(+) sounds are realizations of
different phonemes if they are in parallel distribution and serve to signal a semantic contrast.
Phoneme = smallest units that can make a meaning difference. / /
Allophone = when units don’t make meaning difference, they’re different versions of the
same phoneme. [ ]
Aspiration [h] = a puff of air that occurs after a sound (ex: ‘p’ in pin (ph)).
Syllables
Syllable = σ, a unit containing an obligatory centre part which is usually a vowel.
Nucleus = middle part of the syllable, often the vowel.
Onset = consonants before the nucleus.
Coda = consonants after the nucleus.
Rhyme = nucleus + coda.
Open syllable = a syllable with no consonants in coda position (ex: buy).
Closed syllable = a syllable with 1 or more consonants in coda position (ex: bile).
Monosyllabic morpheme = morphemes which contain only 1 syllable (ex: bile).
Polysyllabic morpheme = morphemes which contain more than 1 syllable (ex: rider).
Empty onset = a syllable with no onset. You don’t write it down when there’s no coda.
Branching onset = an onset with multiple consonants.
Branching nucleus = a nucleus with multiple vowels, often diphthongs (ex: buy). A long
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, vowel can also be shown by a branching nucleus.
Light syllable = syllables in which there’s no branching within the rhyme.
Heavy syllable = syllables which have branching anywhere within the rhyme. These are
often stressed in English.
Timing position = C (consonants) and V (vowels).
Phonotactic constraints = language-specific constraints on the sequences of segments
which may be combined in syllable structure. English only has 1 type of 3 consonant onset
structure: /s/ + consonant + /j/, /w/, or /r/.
Epenthesis = vowel insertion (ex: a Japanese who pronounces screw as ‘sukuru’).
Syllabic consonants [,] = when consonants form the nucleus of a syllable (ex: bottle).
Re-syllabification = a consonant, which is at the end of one syllable (coda), becomes the
start of the next syllable (onset) (ex: an eye).
Drawing of a syllable structure.
Constraints on syllabification:
- Sonority scale: low vowels – high vowels – approximants – nasals – voiced fricatives –
voiceless fricatives – voiced stops – voiceless stops. From the end to the beginning of the
scale, it becomes more sonorous / vowel like. The most sonorous element in a syllable will
be located within the nucleus.
- Maximal Onset Principle: if a consonant can be in an onset, it’s assigned to the onset of the
2nd syllable.
Evidence that CV is the most basic syllable structure:
- CV-type syllables are the first which human children utter & the first which post-stroke
patients (aphasia) speak when they recover their speech.
- Languages which have both onset and coda consonants typically allow for a wider range of
consonants to occur in onset position than in coda position.
- Coda consonants are more likely to undergo loss of articulation in historical development of
languages than onset consonants. Weakening of articulation can lead to elision (non-
pronunciation of a consonant).
Morphology
Morphemes = a minimal unit of meaning / grammatical function (ex: talks, talker, talking).
Morphologically complex = a word with more than one morpheme.
Root = the main word in the morpheme (ex: talk).
Alternation = ex: the phonological form of prefix ‘in’ is /in/, but has 4 phonetic forms: [im],
[ing], etc.
Neutralization = the suspension of phonemic contrasts in one or more contexts.
Glides = /j w/
Liquids = /ɹ l/
Features
- [+/-consonant]: for consonants.
- [+/-sonorant]: + is nasals and approximants, - is plosives, affricates, fricatives.
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Properties of a word: 1. A lexical meaning (ex: table, come) or a function (ex: the, to). 2. A
morphological structures (ex: tables, coming). 3. A syntactic category (noun, verb, etc). 4. A
form (written language, sign language, spoken language). 5. A phonological structure
(syllables and feet).
Phonology
The unconscious knowledge of a language by a native speaker contains semantic
knowledge, syntactic knowledge, and phonological knowledge.
Phonetics = the study of speech sounds.
Phonology = description of systems / patterns of speech sounds in a language. SSBE is
Standard Southern British English. GA is General American.
Distribution = the range of places within a word which a sound may occur in.
Complementary distribution = the place where sounds occur are never the same (ex: the
distribution of unaspirated and aspirated stops is mutually exclusive: where you get one kind,
you never get the other).
Parallel distribution = when there’s at least one place in which either sounds may occur.
Phoneme = each meaning-distinguishing sound (/ /). They function contrastively (/f/ - /v/).
When 2 sounds share features (/p/ - /k/), they’re members of a natural class of phonemes.
Phones = the sounds that are actually produced in speech ([ ]). This sound is the
realization of their phoneme.
Allophones = realizations of a phoneme which are predictable from the context (place, etc).
Phonological generalization = when it’s predictable which allophone of a phoneme will
occur in a given context. We can express this in a phonological rule.
Minimal pair = when 2 words (ex: fan – van) are identical in form except for one phoneme
occurring in the same position.
The Phonemic Principle = 2(+) sounds are realizations of the same phoneme if they are in
complementary distribution and are phonetically similar. 2(+) sounds are realizations of
different phonemes if they are in parallel distribution and serve to signal a semantic contrast.
Phoneme = smallest units that can make a meaning difference. / /
Allophone = when units don’t make meaning difference, they’re different versions of the
same phoneme. [ ]
Aspiration [h] = a puff of air that occurs after a sound (ex: ‘p’ in pin (ph)).
Syllables
Syllable = σ, a unit containing an obligatory centre part which is usually a vowel.
Nucleus = middle part of the syllable, often the vowel.
Onset = consonants before the nucleus.
Coda = consonants after the nucleus.
Rhyme = nucleus + coda.
Open syllable = a syllable with no consonants in coda position (ex: buy).
Closed syllable = a syllable with 1 or more consonants in coda position (ex: bile).
Monosyllabic morpheme = morphemes which contain only 1 syllable (ex: bile).
Polysyllabic morpheme = morphemes which contain more than 1 syllable (ex: rider).
Empty onset = a syllable with no onset. You don’t write it down when there’s no coda.
Branching onset = an onset with multiple consonants.
Branching nucleus = a nucleus with multiple vowels, often diphthongs (ex: buy). A long
1
, vowel can also be shown by a branching nucleus.
Light syllable = syllables in which there’s no branching within the rhyme.
Heavy syllable = syllables which have branching anywhere within the rhyme. These are
often stressed in English.
Timing position = C (consonants) and V (vowels).
Phonotactic constraints = language-specific constraints on the sequences of segments
which may be combined in syllable structure. English only has 1 type of 3 consonant onset
structure: /s/ + consonant + /j/, /w/, or /r/.
Epenthesis = vowel insertion (ex: a Japanese who pronounces screw as ‘sukuru’).
Syllabic consonants [,] = when consonants form the nucleus of a syllable (ex: bottle).
Re-syllabification = a consonant, which is at the end of one syllable (coda), becomes the
start of the next syllable (onset) (ex: an eye).
Drawing of a syllable structure.
Constraints on syllabification:
- Sonority scale: low vowels – high vowels – approximants – nasals – voiced fricatives –
voiceless fricatives – voiced stops – voiceless stops. From the end to the beginning of the
scale, it becomes more sonorous / vowel like. The most sonorous element in a syllable will
be located within the nucleus.
- Maximal Onset Principle: if a consonant can be in an onset, it’s assigned to the onset of the
2nd syllable.
Evidence that CV is the most basic syllable structure:
- CV-type syllables are the first which human children utter & the first which post-stroke
patients (aphasia) speak when they recover their speech.
- Languages which have both onset and coda consonants typically allow for a wider range of
consonants to occur in onset position than in coda position.
- Coda consonants are more likely to undergo loss of articulation in historical development of
languages than onset consonants. Weakening of articulation can lead to elision (non-
pronunciation of a consonant).
Morphology
Morphemes = a minimal unit of meaning / grammatical function (ex: talks, talker, talking).
Morphologically complex = a word with more than one morpheme.
Root = the main word in the morpheme (ex: talk).
Alternation = ex: the phonological form of prefix ‘in’ is /in/, but has 4 phonetic forms: [im],
[ing], etc.
Neutralization = the suspension of phonemic contrasts in one or more contexts.
Glides = /j w/
Liquids = /ɹ l/
Features
- [+/-consonant]: for consonants.
- [+/-sonorant]: + is nasals and approximants, - is plosives, affricates, fricatives.
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