« « « « English4succes.ning.

com » » » »

LINGUISTICS 1st Semester

SOME DEFINITIONS

A - LANGUAGE : It’s a means of communication, transmission of thoughts and ideas.

Linguistical definition: Language is a communication system relating sounds and gestures
with meaning.

According to Noam CHOMSKY, language is unique to human being. Language is also innate to
human being. It is mental, i.e. it’s in the brain.

Eg: When a child is born, the grammars of all languages in the world are in his brain, grammar is
essential to know the language. That’s why he have the possibility to understand all the languages
which are in his environment.

Human being can communicate through speaking, writing, and signing.

N.B :
- Spoken language & sign language are equivalent. In general, each language is
different from the other (talking in terms of grammar)
- Language is governed by rules on how to combine symbols known by every speaker
of that language.
- In linguistics, all languages are equals.

* The mental capacity that enable speaker to form a grammatical sentence is known as
Grammatical competence or linguistic competence.

*The capacity that makes human being be enable to use the language appropriately is
called communicative or linguistic performance.

A - 1 . CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE

1 - Discreteness: Speaker of a given language can identify the sound elements in its words. It’s
the ability to recognise the sound of the language.

2 - Productivity (Creativity) : Native speakers of a given language can produce or create

infinite number of sentences. This is only a human being property. Language is creative and limitless.

3 - Duality: Human language can be analysed on 2 levels:

- One that carries the meaning, i.e. (semantics) meaning level, known as “le signifiant” (the signified)
- One that doesn’t carry meaning but the sound, i.e. the sound level (phonological level) is called “le
signifié” (the signifier).

B - LINGUISTICS

It’s the scientific or systematic study of language.

C - LINGUISTIC SIGN

Linguistics – First Semester – Course of Mr Essowè K. Essizewa – Université de Lomé-Togo

 « « « « English4succes.ning.com » » » »

Sounds or gestures have a form bound to meaning in a single unit. Hence, human language is
represented on 2 levels:
- Sound level or phonological level i.e. word level / abstract level known as the signifier
- The meaning level (the real level) i.e. the signified.

a) A language or a linguistic sign is essentially arbitrary and conventional, i.e. the

relationship between the sound and the meaning is arbitrary.

b) The sound do not tell the meaning i.e. no inherent connection between signifier (word), and
signified (meaning).

c) A linguistic sign can also be non arbitrary

eg: smoke (Not talking about the word) = fire burning / clouds = rain.

NB: Some signs are not entirely arbitrary, they are iconic. If a language is iconic, it will be easier
to learn.

d) Synchronic and diachronic linguistics.

* Synchronic linguistics deals with the study of language a linguistic phenomenon at a

particular period without considering historical antecedents.
eg: The study of during the roman conquest in 1066 French influence.

* Diachronic linguistics deals with linguistics phenomenon through times, i.e. historical
linguistic study.
eg : The study of EWE from 1720 to now.

e) Linguistic map enable to locate a language on a map.

f) LINGUISTICS DOMAINS

f-1) Phonetics : The study of speech sounds in a language.

f-2)Phonology: It’s the study of patterns of speech sounds and the abstract rules that
governed them, both within and between languages. It is the study of sound system of a language).

f-3) Morphology : The Study of the structure of word or the rules of words formation .
The science that study how words are formed in a given language

f-4) Syntax: This structure of sentences & study of sentence structure.

f-5) Semantics: Study of linguistics meaning of morphemes (words)

The focus of this course is phonetics. However we are going to look at the correspondence
between the sound and the spelling of a word.
Sound and spelling are not the same. In English, there is no correspondence between the sound
of a word and its spelling.

* Same Spelling, Different pronunciation

Although the precise sound may vary among English speakers, the “ough” spelling here
represents at least 5 different pronunciation in English.
ough : “uff”, “off”, “ow”, “u”, “a

Linguistics – First Semester – Course of Mr Essowè K. Essizewa – Université de Lomé-Togo

 « « « « English4succes.ning.com » » » »

*Same pronunciation - different spelling

Some English words are pronounced alike, but spelled differently as in the sets of Homophones
or homonyms.
eg: Too/two; by/buy

The English playwright Georges Bernard Shaw was a keen advocate of spelling reform in the
English language. According to him, there should be correspondence between English sound and
spelling. Otherwise, “fish” could be spelled “ghoti”.

Human language is done in 2 basic ways:

1 - Phonetics and Phonology

1 - What Is Phonetics?

Phonetics is the study of speech sound in human language.

The sounds are produced by the upper respiratory track. In most languages, air moves out the lungs, up
through the vocal tract & exits through the mouth or nose. (Pulmonic egressive airstream).
Phonetics evolves the physical of speech events including:

a – Speech production, i.e. how speech is produced by the speaker : articulatory phonetics

b – Speech acoustics, i.e. the properties of airwaves that transmit speech from speaker to
listener: acoustics phonetics,

c – Speech perception, i.e. how speech is perceived by the listener : auditory phonetics,

APPLICATION OF PHONETICS

Any person who works with language (e.g.: a student in linguistics) needs phonetics for his or her
fieldwork to collect data (phenomenon). Furthermore the student in linguistics needs phonetics
to transcribe a language. A teacher in English as a second language needs phonetics to better
understand orthographic problems spelling, learning of other language, foreign accents, etc...
Speech pathologists need phonetics to better understand how the vocal apparatus works in other to
diagnose and treat some articulatory defects.
Communication and computer engineers, speech scientists, etc.., improve speech transmission
systems
Comparative historical linguists (scientific philology) need phonetics in other to study sounds change
in different languages,

THE PHONETICS ALPHABET

Linguistics – First Semester – Course of Mr Essowè K. Essizewa – Université de Lomé-Togo

 « « « « English4succes.ning.com » » » »

To refer to sounds of human language in terms of their articulations, phoneticians had developed
descriptive technics that avoid the difficulties of describing sounds in terms of Usual Writing Systems
(UWS): The Phonetic alphabet,
The most widely used is the IPA. The IPA provides on unique written representation of every sound in
every language,
A list of symbols used to represent the consonants sounds in English is to be seen in a table,
N.B: Phonetic means that one letter correspond to one sound and vice-versa. Once you know the sound

Linguistics – First Semester – Course of Mr Essowè K. Essizewa – Université de Lomé-Togo

 « « « « English4succes.ning.com » » » »

of the IPA, you can read text from every language or dialect.

PRODUCTION OF SOUND

a – The vocal tract

The process of the vocal tract uses in creating a multitude of sounds as similar to those of wind
instruments and organ pipes which produce different musical sounds by varying the shape, size and the
cavities through which air passes once it leaves its source.
All sounds are produced in the vocal tract,
The air goes through the pharynx to the oral cavity, i.e. the mouth, or the nasal cavity.
The nasal cavity communicates to the vellum / soft palate and tongue, the most mobile of all. The
tongue controls airflow through the mouth. The outer end of the mouth is the upper and the lower lips.
Larynx (Adam's Pipe): It is more developed in men than in woman. It can be felt up & down when one
swallows something,
Glottis: It's the space between the vocal folds (Vocal cords),

DESCRIPTION OF THE VOCAL TRACT

The Upper surface of the vocal tract

Lips: There are 2 lips (the upper and the lower)

The teeth
Alveolar ridge: small protuberance felt just after the upper teeth
Hard Palate: It's the bony front part of the mouth. It can be felt by the tongue or fingerprint,
Soft Palate (vellum): It is at the back of the mouth. It is a muscular flap that can be raised against
the backwall of the pharynx and shut off the nasal tract from the oral tract. It's separate the oral
tract from the vocal tract,
Uvula: It is a small appendage hanging down at the end of the soft palate,
Pharynx: Situated between the uvula & the larynx,

The lower surface

Linguistics – First Semester – Course of Mr Essowè K. Essizewa – Université de Lomé-Togo

 « « « « English4succes.ning.com » » » »

Tip & blade of the tongue: They are the most mobile parts of the vocal tract
The front of the tongue: It is behind the blade, underneath the hard palate when the tongue is at rest
The centre of the tongue: It is partly between and beneath the hard palate and the soft palate
The root of the tongue: It opposites the back wall of the pharynx
Epiglottis: It is attached to the lower part of the root of the tongue.

BASIC COMPONENTS OF SPEECH

The Production of speech sounds involves free basic functional components: initiation,
articulation and phonation.

Initiation: Pushing the airflow out of the lungs through the vocal tract to the mouth.
Articulation: It is modulation or shaping of airstream by speech organs (generally in the mouth) to
produce a specific type of sound.
Phonation: It is the modulation of airflow as it goes through the larynx (Vocal cords vibration = voiced
sound/ vocal cords don not vibrate = voiceless sounds)

N.B: While initiation and articulation are present in all speech sounds, phonation is not. (ie in the
case of ingressive sounds).

Air stream mechanism

Most sounds of world's languages are produced by pushing air out of the lungs through the vocal
tract: it is pulmonic. And, since it is pushed out, it is egressive. All English sounds have a pulmonic
egressive mechanism,
Some sounds are produced by sucking the air into the mouth. They are said to be ingressive.
Ingressive sounds are known as clicks,

DESCRIPTION OF SOUNDS

Speech sounds can be identified in terms of they articulatory properties, i.e. where in the mouth
and how they are produced.
All English sounds can be produced in terms of three properties

- Voicing, i.e. whether the vocal folds are vibrating or not,

- Place of articulation i.e. where the airstream is most obstructed or blocked.

- Manner of articulation, i.e. how or the particular way the airstream is obstructed.

• Manner of articulation

In producing [s] and [z] for example, air is continuously forced through a narrow opening

Linguistics – First Semester – Course of Mr Essowè K. Essizewa – Université de Lomé-Togo

 « « « « English4succes.ning.com » » » »

at a place behind the upper teeth (In a form of friction). By contrast, in the case of [t] and [d] , air is
completely stopped behind and above the upper teeth and then released in small in burst of air. For this
reason, [t] and [d] are called stops and [s] and [z] are Fricatives.

• Place of articulation

a. bilabial: 2 lips, [p], [b], and [m]

b. Labiodentals: lips & teeth: [f], [v]

c. Interdental: between teeth & tongue

d. Alveolar: The tongue tip & alveolar ridge: t, d, n,s,z,l

e. Alveo-palatals: Tongue blade & back of the alveolar ridge :

f. Palatals: Front of tongue & hard palate

g. Velars: Velum & back of the tongue

h. Uvulas: Back of the tongue against the uvular: r

i. Glottals: h: at the levels of the glottis (Vocal cords' middle)

N.B: All sounds are described according to the position of the tongue. If we don't want to be specific in the place
of articulation of consonants, we use terms:

– labial for the articulation of speech gestures that use the lips/
Linguistics – First Semester – Course of Mr Essowè K. Essizewa – Université de Lomé-Togo
 « « « « English4succes.ning.com » » » »

– Coronal for all sounds that use tip & blade of the tongue. We have generally interdentals, dentals,
alveolars, affricates and palatals,
– Dorsal for sounds produced by the back of the tongue: Uvulars, velars, pharyngeals, glottals,
– obstinents, they are stops, fricatives & affricates,
• affricate = Stop + Fricative
– Sonorants: (non obstruent) : nasals, glide, liquid & vowels
– Sibilants: Fricatives sounds made by a continuous stream of air
– Approximants (Glide) / semi – vowels: Approximation of one articulator near to the given point of
articulation, but not enough to produce friction. We approximate rather than attain the point. Glides
provide transition to or from other sounds. E.g.: You, Toy (palatal glide) /now, well (Velar glides).
– Lateral/liquid : The tongue is touching the roof of the mouth and air passes out at the sides.
E.g. : lie, rye

NB : Sounds made with the tip of the tongue are called apical. Those made with the blade are called
laminal.

DESCRIPTION OF CONSONANTS

In general, a consonant is described by its voicing, place & manner of articulation.

the sound [b]: Voiced bilabial stop [f] : voiceless labiodental fricative
[p]: voiceless bilabial stop [dz]: Voiced, palatal affricate

VOWELS

Contrary to consonants, vowels are produced with no obstruction in the vocal tract. All vowels
are orals except the nasal vowels.
The IPA vowels are presented in figure 6.5

DESCRIPTION OF VOWELS

1- Vowels are described in terms of:

• Height of the tongue (The position of the tongue in the mouth)

• Frontness and backness of the tongue
• Tenseness : the tongue can either be tense or lax during the production of vowels
• Lip-rounding or roundness: The vowels are produced either with rounding or unrounding of the
lips.
• Length: English have vowels of differing length. Although it doesn't exploit length to create
different words. In general, those vowels are said too longer than lax vowels. Length is represented
by V:
Eg: a: i:

NASALIZATION (vowels always followed by a nasal sound)

All vowels types can be nasalized by pronouncing the vowel while passing air through the nose
and the mouth.

ADVANCED TONGUE ROOT (A.T.R)

In some languages, particularly Africans, vowels can be classified according to the position of the
tongue root. (It was Clemens, the person who made this study). Hence a vowel can be + or – ATR

E.g.: [i] : [+A.T.R] [I] : [- A.T.R]

In Kabyè, [a]: [± A.T.R]

Linguistics – First Semester – Course of Mr Essowè K. Essizewa – Université de Lomé-Togo

 « « « « English4succes.ning.com » » » »

DIPHTHONGS

Diphthongs are special vowels which consist on two sounds.

E.g.: eІ: day / ai: eye

TRANCSRIPTION

In transcription that uses only the basic IPA symbols, is said to be a broad transcription. The
word transcribed is generally enclosed in square brackets [..]
Sometimes, broad transcription is also referred to phonemic transcription.
In the latter case, i.e. phonemic transcription makes use of diacritics, i.e. small marks added to a
symbol to increase its pronunciation. The narrow transcription is always enclosed in square brackets.
The articulation with the use of diacritics is often referred to us as secondary articulation.

• Secondary articulation
Two articulators of different ranks: primary & secondary articulations

1 – Labialisation: quick quack

2 – Palatalisation: Key
3 – Labialisation & Palatalisation: Here
4 – Velarisation
*Co-articulation deals with 2 articulators at the same time in terms of place, manner and voicing.
Co-articulation occurs in a running or connected speech. Exceptions are nasalized sounds &
approximants.
Sometimes a sound persits into the next one, this is known as perseverative co-articulation.

E.g.: It is [Itiz]
There are two types of, co-articulation:
– coordinate or double articulation
– secondary articulations

In coordinate or double articulation, two simultaneous articulators are of the same rank, ie they
are of the same degree of structure (STOP+STOP / FRICATIVE + FRICATIVE)

• Homorganic sounds sequences

Homorganic sounds are sounds made of the same place of articulation.

Eg: Interdental:
Alveolar: d and s
Bilabial: m (nasal) and

Homorganic sounds have special names in the phonetic literature and function as a single unit in
particular languages. These sounds are composed of stops, fricatives, lateral fricatives, lateral
approximants, nasal.

* Geminates
A geminate is a sequence of two identical or nearly identical consonants sounds. Normally it is
applied only to no-boundary words
E.g.: Bello [ll] Allah [ll].

Linguistics – First Semester – Course of Mr Essowè K. Essizewa – Université de Lomé-Togo