analysis of language levels

Analysis of Language Levels

Monday october 28, 2013

Formal linguistics : speaks about language in general. Then they divide it to levels, such as phonology , morphology , semantics and syntax (pragmatics)

It is important to remember the distinction between phoneticsand phonology . while phonetics is concerned with the description of how speech sounds are produced by speech organs and perceived by hearer I.E production and percepton .

Phonology deals with how these speech sounds « phonemes » behave and combine in given languages .

Distinctiveness and Redundancy

Two languagesmay have the same phonetic segments and yet these may have different phonological properties .

Example : French /r/ and arabic /r/ Rare= ghar in arabic
Example : english p t k vs p t k +phonemes Allophones phonemes

The same serves from the phoneticpoint of view havethe important phonological distinction may be mixed if we only concider it as a common inventory of aspirated sounds or stops

In thai : /pa:/ and / p ha : / ___ minimal pair (bird) (forest)
Because aspiration can be predicated from the environmentof the voiceless plosives in English ; aspiration is said to be redondent in english and distincted in Thai . thus in phonology we are concerned in distinctiveness is redundent functions . this distinction is also applied at the level of specific feature of sounds.

Example : in English/b/ + voice
Bilabial
Plosive vs/p/-voice In arabic if consonantis bilabial and plosive it can only be « B » while in english it can either be « B » or « P »

Phonological phenomenon :

Most of these results fromlaw of leasteffort (martinet 1964) Assimilation , elision ,linking ,liaisonetc are all phonological phenomena resulting from this law the animals to convey a msg by means of a less effort as possible
Example : elision : p h haps ___ 1 syllable

Each languages have its own phonemic system , each language has its own phonology .

The study and description how speech sounds are produced and perceived . phonology deals with how speech sounds function and behave in a given lge and there combination in a given language.

Trubetzkoy, founder of prague school of linguistics, its the task of phonology to study which difference in sound are related to differencein meaning in a given language , in which way the discriminated element … are related to each other ; and theaccording to which may be combined in words and sentences (1939 ; 10)

Differences in sounds related to differences in meaning . thus while phonetic study is concerned with how the soundsof language are made and what their acoustic properties are . aphonological study howthese sounds are used in conveying meaning

Concrete Abstract

Phonetics : Phonology :
Inventing of speech sounds also refers to inventory of
Description of discrete phonetic segments segments in a lge , but in More abstract terms Eng 44 phonemes Psychological reality eg / P/ Inventory of distinctive elem (distinguishing meaning)

Speakers are more aware of phonological structure of their lge than their effective realization of their phonemes.

19-11-2013

Linking « n » in french : beau – bon
Intrusive « r « : y –a-t’il / vas-t-on

No cons linking in arabic because no vowels in beg of words
Define linking as phonological phenomena why does it exists and illustrates your explanation by comparing the way itoccurs in eng / fr andarabic

In english thereare 44 phonemes and 26 letters
Short vowels are represented as diacritics Vowel system in Arabic
It is said to be triangular
Vowel length is distinctivei ;e change the meaning
Example : katib / koutoub
Just like arabic semitic languages are characterized by limited vowel system a rich consonantal system in particularyits marked by cons that arent loud in western lges

Monday ,Nov ;25 ;2013

Phonetic environment connected speech and phonological phenomena

Phonemic contrasts are language specific , that is sounds that are distinctive in one lge arent necsserly contrasted in another

Example: /e/ and shwa , a crucial difference in eng
But in turkish they exist but they make no difference in meaning . /be/ or / bshwan/ ___ not distinctive

On the other hand, short and long vowels with the same quality dont contrast in english i,e vowel length isnt distinctive

Phonetic segments behave differently in different languages. Each language is sid to have its own phonemic system segments are affected and altered to a certain extent by the phonetic features of neighboring elements .

Speakersarent usually aware of such phonetic variation , as they have psychological reality of the phoneme asa contrastive unit .

Example : If you tell eng speakers that « l » in histwo words « clue and glue » are different he’ll be surprised cuz he’s aware of phonemic contrasts only not the phonetic variation or realization .

In /KLU/ the voiceless of « l » is a direct automatic consequence of its phonetic environment

The two realization are saidto beallophones in this case in complementary distribution
The two realization allophones are regarded as belonging to oneclass ,the phoneme /l/ i ;e on the level of phonological representation through each realisation is speech said we utter

Assimilation :
Is a phonological phenomenon that results from influence of one segment over a contignous I ;E a sound becomes similar to a meat by segment in terms of one or more of its characteristics

Assimilation of voice is progressive in Eng but regressivein arabic

Dissimilation :
Its the process by which one segment becomes less like another one in its environment . itsmuch less then common than assimilation but its also realized for an easier articulation

Epenthesis :
Its the process of inserting a segment within a string again for an easier pronounciation as a result of historical development (aemting)____ empty

Metathenic :
This process oftenresults in sequence that is easier to articulate
So , metathenic two segments are inversedbyeasier realization

Hapliogy :
Results in sound change involving a less of whole syllable
Example : angla land(oldenglish) __ england

Decembre 2,2013

Thus devoicing isa kindof assimilation as theinfluence comes from theadjacent segment andassimilation can be either regressive or progressive
Example : fromfrench : tout de suite /d/___/t/ /-voice
1- Elision of /t/ : voicing to occur as a case of assimilation « tout desuite «
E .g : comes /s/___/z/ . it acquires voicing when influenced by a voiced sound . /s/__/z/ +voice

2- Insertion of a weak vowel shwa :
As in koran
E .g : ijtama3a

Levels of analysis

Phono ____ speech sounds____ phonetics and phonemics
Grammar____morpho/syntax
Semantics
Pragmatics

Phonetics :

Deals with the physical properties ofspeech sounds . the combination of phonetic and phonology its called linguistics sciences

Descreptive analysis of words :

Morphology is the study of morphemes and their arrangements in forming two words

Morphemes are minimum meaningful unit which may co nstitute word as part of words

The morphemes arrangement includeall combination thatform words or part of words

Combination of words into phrases and sentences are treated thatform words or part of words
Combination of words into phrases and sentences are treated under thesystem of particualr language
It would be quite wrong to assume that morpho and system constitute comartiment in the structure of any language

In some languages there isa constant over laping of structure and in a few instances it seems almost impossible to draw a line between words morpho and phrases structure syntax

The identification of morphemes :
One of the first tasks which confront the ling in examining a new lge with a view to discovering and describing its structure is the identification of minimal meaningful units of which the language is composed .

Defenition of morpheme :
Which is mostly widely accepted and most practical in application is the one stated by bloomfield « a linguistic form which bare no partial phonetics semantic ressemblance to any other form is … a morpheme » bloomfield (1933 :161)

The minimal freeform :
Ling form : the comb of morpheme
Principles employed in the identification of morphemes :
There are 6principles which may apply in isolating and identifying morphemes non of principles is complete itself
1- Forms which have common semantic distinctiveness and on identical phonemic form in all their occurances
Constitute a single morpheme principle means that such a form as (er) added to player is a morpheme semantic distinctiveness it to the same phonetic form .
The principle used the phrase semantic distinctiveness as away of indicated that the meaning which is common to all the occurances of the morpheme (er) contrasts with meaning of all other similar forms . it is necessary however for us to make a certain distinction between types of meaning

Example : in english there is another suffixal morpheme with a form (er) that is the (er) in comparative adj such as wider , smaller deeper . but there is no common semantic distinctiveness in the seriesof suffixial occuring in marker , dancer

Conclusion :
Despite , therefore the identity of form we may distinguish two morphemes on the basis of meaning

2- Forms which have a common semantic distinctiveness but differ in phonemic form i,e the phonemes or order other phonemes may constitute amorpheme provided that thedistribution of formal differences is phonologically definable.
Principle two may seem difficult to understand but its quite easy which means that when we discuss form with somecommon semantic distinctiveness (the same meaning) but with diff phon. Or arrangement of phonemes we can still put the various forms together as a single morpheme provided that we can discover phonological conditions .

6-1-2014

Affixation (prefix affixation suffix)
The affixation process goes into two sub processes

1- Derivational :
Result of forming a word by adding an affix to the base either a prefix and a suffix
This derivational process may or may not change a class of other words
Example : like /dislike

2- Inflectional :
The result of adding a base to the word to determine a limit to its grammatical category
Example : play / plays
3- Dedensions :
A way of categorizing nouns , pronouns , or adjectives according to the inflection they receive
Example : co : co-ordinate, co-pilote, co-operate …