Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics and Phonology. Any language deals with two persons, the speaker and the hearer. In other words, an act of speech involves the speaker‘s situation ; his utterance of speech-sound and its effect on the hearer ; and the hearer‘s response. In linguistics, phonetics is the study of speechsound. It is concerned with the production, properties and perception of the speechsounds in general. Phonetics deals with the study of sounds in two ways. The sound producing movements of the speaker is termed as physiological phonetics, and the resulting sound ways as the physical phonetics. Physiological phonetics deals with the larynx and the vocal organs. Physical phonetics deals with the distinctive and nondistinctive features. In speech form, a part of it is connected with meanings and essential to communication, hence distinctive; and a part is indifferent to communication, hence non-distinctive. Phonology is the study of how speech-sounds function in a language. It is concerned with the way speech-sounds are grouped under phonemes. It is also concerned with how phonemes combine with one-another. It underlines the fact that phonemes differ in different languages. For example, the aspirated phonemes p, t, k in English different sounds in other languages like Hindi or Marathi. A proper understanding and training of the phonemes help us to distinguish the sounds in different languages. Phonemes and Allophones The patterns in which sounds occur in a language is called the structure or the expression system of the language. What the expression system conveys is called the meaning or content of the language. The most basic element in the expression system is the phoneme. Every language has phonemes or sound –features. English has 44 sound- features or phonemes. A phoneme is defined as the minimal distinctive sound-feature. The features can be different, e.g., let us take the English word ―pin‖ ---1. pin ends with the same sound as fin, sin , tin but begins differently; 2. pin contains the sound in, but adds something at the beginning; 3. pin ends with the same sound as man, son, hen- but the resemblance is smaller than Nos. 1 and 2; 4. pin begins with the same sound as pig, pill, pit- but ends differently; 5. pin begins with the same sound as pat, push, peg – but the resemblance is smaller than No. 4; 6. pin begins and ends like pen, pan,pun- but the middle part is different; 7. pin begins and ends differently from dig, fish, mill- but the middle part is the same. Thus we find that the word pin is the combination of three distinctive units. Each unit is the minimum unit of distinctive sound –feature or a phoneme. Minimal pair---A pair of words pill and bill, or pin and tin are different because they suggest different meanings. If we ignore the difference in the meanings—pill is different from bill because p is different from b; the rest of the words sound similarly. This difference in p and b is accompanied by the difference in their meanings. Hence, pill and bill or pin and tin are minimal pairs because they differ in expression and content only by one phoneme. On the other hand, bill and tin cannot be a minimal pair because they differ by two phonemes. Allophones – English phonemes p, t, k and at times tʃ are differently pronounced. In any language a specific phoneme is differently pronounced in the company of other sounds. In English, the initial phonemes p, t, k and tʃ are pronounced with a little aspiration (ph , th, kh , tʃ h ) as in pill, till, kill and church. But the final sounds are not aspirated as in lip, like, lit and teach. Again the sound p is different in pill and lip. In a language like Hindi, these variations are different phonemes. But in English they are the variants of the phonemes p, t, k and tʃ . Hence these variants are called allophones---i.e., p and ph are the allophones of the English phoneme p. Writing and Transcription A proper study of language tells us that language continues to change. The English sounds have changed to such an extent that, for a speaker of Modern English, the sounds of old English may look strange and unintelligible. Besides, English spelling is so chaotic that a specific letter can refer to different sounds. Phonetic transcription is a useful device to represent on paper the way in which words are pronounced in a language. This is particularly useful in the case of English, in which there is no one-to-one relationship between letters of the alphabet and the sounds they represent. In other words, the 26 letters of the English alphabet actually represent 44 distinctive sounds. In English, one letter often represents several sounds. For example, the letter a represents different sounds in fat, fate, father, fall. Or the letter ch is sounded differently in chips, machine, parachute, character, much. Also the same sound is represented by different letters as in cot, kite, walk, character, check, cheque etc. To study the nature of English sounds, a consistent system of symbols---commonly termed as the Received Pronunciation---has been derived from the International Phonetic Alphabet (I.P.A). Phonetic transcription helps a person to use the correct sound system of the language. Phonetic transcription of English should not be influenced by the ordinary spelling habits or the vernacular variations. English Received Pronunciation This is the system of symbols used mainly by the educated native speakers of English, or broadcast by BB, AIR to help us articulate the correct English sounds. English sounds Pure vowels—12 i: These ði:z i Bit bit e Bed bed æ Bad bæd Bus bΛs Λ Card : k :d /ɔ Hot h ɔt ɔ: u u: ə 3: / ə: All Book Rule Account Serve ɔ:l buk ru:l ə kaunt s 3:v Diphthongal Glides / Diphthongs—8 ei Gate g ei t ai Bite b ai t Boil ɔi b ɔi l əu au iə Home House Cheer eə uə Air Poor Consonants—24 þ Pen b Bag t Take d Day k Keep g Gate Chain tʃ dʓ f v θ ð s z ʃ Join Face Vain Thank Then Sea Zoo Shade ʓ h m n ŋ Measure l r j w Lamp Rain Yes Wait Hand Make Night Long h əu m h au s tʃ iə eə p uə Þ en b æg t ei k d ei k i: p g ei t tʃ ei n dʓ ɔi n f ei s v ei n θæŋk ð en s i: z u: ʃ ei d me ʓ ə h æ nd m ei k n ai t lɔŋ l æ mp r ei n j es w ei t Speech mechanism : A) The Respiratory system :-- The energy for the production of sound is generally provided by the air-stream coming out of the lungs. There are three types of airstream mechanism. --1 Pulmonic—consisting of the lungs and respiratory muscles. 2 Glottalic---- the larynx, with the glottis firmly closed, is moved up and down to let the air out. 3 Velaric ----the back of the tongue is in firm contact with the soft palate / velum, and is pushed forward or pulled back. The air-stream can be egressive (air is pushed out) or inegressive (air is pulled in). B) The Phonatory system /larynx:-- The air from the lungs comes through the windpipe or trachea at the top of the larynx. In the larynx, there are two vocal chords which are like a pair of lips placed horizontally from front to back. The opening between them is called glottis. The sounds produced with the vocal-chords drawn apart are called breathless / voiceless sounds (e.g., p, t, k, tʃ , f , θ, s, ʃ, h ). If the vocal-chords are held loosely together, the air causes some vibration. Such sounds are called breathed / voiced sounds, (e.g., b, d, g, dʓ, v, ð, z, ʓ, m, n, ŋ, l, r, j, w ) and all vowel sounds. C) The Articulatory system :--- (Palate, tongue and lips) 1)Palate :-- The roof of the mouth, called palate, is divided into three parts--a) The teeth-ridge or alveolar-ridge ; b) the hard palate ; c) the soft palate or velum. The soft palate moved up to close the passage into the nose. Such sounds are called oral sounds (e.g., all sounds except m, n, ŋ ). The soft palate is slightly lowered to let the air pass through the mouth and nose simultaneously. Such sounds are called nasal sounds (e.g., m ,n , ŋ ). 2) Tongue:--The tongue has three parts—the blade, the front and the back. The extreme end of the tongue is called the tip of the tongue. 3) Lips :-- Lips play an important part in the articulation of certain sounds. It has three different positions—spread, neuter and rounded (e.g., see, sat, shoes). The upper part of the mouth including lip, teeth-ridge and palate are called passive articulators ; while the lower part of the mouth including lip and tongue are called active articulators. In the production of sounds, the active articulator moves up and touches the passive articulator. Place of Articulation Consonants are usually classified according to their place and manner of articulation. The place of articulation involves the roles played by both the active and passive articulators. 1) Bilabial--- The two lips are articulators, p play , spade , crop. b ball , above , grab. m mother, among , come. 2) Labio-dental--- The lower lip is the active articulator, and the upper teeth are the passive articulators. f face , laughter , snuff. v vein , living , love. 3) Dental--- The tip of the tongue is active articulator, and the upper front teeth are passive articulators. θ think , ether, teeth. ð those , other , bathe. 4) Alveolar--- The tip / the blade of the tongue is the active, and the teeth-ridge is the passive. t tall , little, allot. d dare, address, red. n never , sunny , alone. l light , allow, fall. s sun , missing , chess. z zoo ,pleasing , arouse. 5) Post- alveolar--- The tip of the tongue is the active, and the back of the teeth-ridge is the passive. r round, arrival, (does not occur at the end, but is sounded if followed by a word starting with a vowel sound) . 6) Retroflex--- The tip of the tongue is the active, but is curled back. The back of the teeth-ridge or the hard palate is the passive. These sounds are not found in English but are there in Hindi, Marathi. 7) Palato-alveolar--- The tip, blade and front of the tongue are active, and the teethridge and the hard palate are passive. tʃ chair, archery, bench. dʓ joy, magic, badge. ʃ shade, ashamed, brush. ʓ ----- , measure, garage. 8) Palatal--- The front of the tongue is active, and the hard palate is the passive. j Europe, beauty, ----- 9) Velar--- The back of the tongue is active, and the soft palate is passive. k cage, account, take. g gate, again, dog. ŋ -----, finger, song. 10) Uvular--- The rear part of the tongue is active and the uvula is the passive. q in Urdu ---qalam(pen), qayamat (end). 11) Glottal--- Produced at the glottis. h hat , unhappy , hurrah. Manner of Articulation. The manner of articulation means the type of stricture involved in the production of a consonant. 1) Complete closure. a)Stop:--In the production of a stop, there is a simultaneous oral and nasal closure. The active and passive articulators form a complete closure, preventing the air from escaping through the mouth. The soft palate is raised and the nasal passage blocked. The two articulators are suddenly removed and the air escapes with an explosion. Stops made with an egressive pulmonic air-stream are called Plosives. E.g., p, b, t, d, k, g. If the stop is not held for any appreciable time and released slowly we get an Affricate. e.g., tʃ , dʓ b)Nasal:--- The soft palate is lowered to allow the air escape through the nose, with a complete oral closure. e.g., m, n, ŋ 2) Intermittent Closure. a) Roll (Trill) :-- The active articulator taps several times against the passive, causing a stricture. e.g., r Telugu qurramu (horse) The tip of the tongue strikers against the teeth-ridge a number of times. b) Flap :--The active articulator strikes the passive once only. e.g., r (phonetic symbol ) The tip of the tongue strikes the teeth-ridge once only. 3) Partial Closure. a) Laternal :--By a partial closure of the mouth, the air is allowed to escape through one or both sides. This sound is continuant and non-fricative. e.g., l lady. There is a voiced retroflex lateral in Marathi ʅ (क ) 4) Narrowing. a) Fricative:-- In the production of a fricative consonant, the stricture is one of close approximation. The active articulator is brought so close to the passive that the passage between them is very narrow, and the air passes through it with audible friction. e.g., f face. v very. θ thank. ð that. s sad. z zero. ʃ ship. ʓ h pleasure. hair. 5) Frictionless continuant --- A frictionless continuant is produced with an open approximation, so that there is no audible friction. e.g., r red. Hindi व 6) Semi- vowel –It is a vowel glide functioning as a consonant. e.g., j yes. w wait. A consonant can be briefed by using a three term label, indicating (1) whether it is voiced or voiceless ; (2) the place of articulation and (3) the manner of articulation. e.g., p in pot is ------voiced, In labial , stop (plosive) m in man is ----voiced, In labial, nasal. ŋ in song is -----voiced, velar, nasal. z in zoo is -------voiced , alveolar fricative. English lateral ---Dark / l / and Clear / l /. In English there is only one alveolar lateral phoneme, al though it has three main allophones. The sound / l / is pronounced by raising the soft palate and closing the nasal passage ; the tip of the tongue is in contact with the teeth-ridge allowing the sir to escape on both sides. 1) Clear / l / U—The front of the tongue is raised as the tip contacts the teeth-ridge. This sound occurs with a relatively front vowel resonance, before vowels and / j/. e.g., leave, let, lock, loud, blow, glad, fly, slow, silly, yellow, collar, feel it, fall out, all over. 2) Dark / l /-- For dark /l / the tip contacts the teeth-ridge, but the front of the tongue is raised back in the direction of the soft palate. The contact is almost postalveolar. e.g., (after vowel)-----feel, fill, doll. (after vowel, before consonant)---help, salt, bull. Syllabic ---apple, table, middle, Both the Clear and Dark vowels are voiced. 3) Voiceless / l /----Following aspirated p , k or less devoicing after s, f, θ, ʃ, or weakly accented p, t, k. e.g., play, clean, aptly, butler, ghastly. Classification of English vowels. Vowels are made with an open approximation of the articulators. The active articulator is raised towards the passive articulators is such a way that there is sufficient gap between the two for the air to escape through the mouth without any friction. E.g., the sounds in the words shoe or Gh! Escape freely and continuously without any friction. Such sounds are called vowels. These vowel-sound differ in their quality depending upon the mouth and throat cavities, and they themselves depend upon the position of the tongue and lips. Though the tongue can assume different positions, yet its surface is usually convex, because the tongue is always raised towards the roof of the mouth. Front vowels are those during the production of which the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate. These English vowels are i: , i, e, æ, Λ as in see, bed, bat, and bus. Back vowels are those during the articulation of which the back of the tongue, is raised in the direction of the soft-palate. These English vowels are u: , u , ɔ: , ɔ , : as in rule, book, walk, cot and card. Central vowels are those during the articulation of which the center of the tongue (part between the front and the back) is raised towards that part of the roof of the mouth which lies at the meeting point of the hard-palate and the soft-palate. These English vowels are 3: and ə as in bird and cup. A further classification of the vowels refer to the A further classification of the vowels refer to the height and position of the tongue when it is raised towards the roof of the mouth. Close vowels are those during the production of which the part of the tongue is raised very close to the roof of the mouth still leaving a gap for the air to escape without friction. Open vowels are those during the production of which the tongue is far away from the roof of the mouth. Again, we have a four-fold classification of these vowels taking into account the height of the tongue. 1) front close vowel------------ i 2) front half-close vowel------ e 3) front half-open vowel------ ε 4) front open vowel------------ a 5) back open vowel-----------6) back half-open vowel------ ɔ 7) back half-close vowel------ o 8) back close vowel------------ u ( Taken from International Phonetic Alphabet ) Again, the vowels are classified on the position of lips. We have rounded vowels, u: as in shoe ,where the lips are brought forwards, and unrounded vowels , i: as in see where the corners of the lips are pulled back. Thus, vowels can be described using a three-term level---1) to indicate which part of the tongue is raised; 2) to indicate the height of the tongue; 3) and to indicate the position of the lips. To give a few examples, the vowel in the word see is a front close unrounded vowel; that in shoe is a back close rounded vowel ; that in bard is a back open unrounded vowel. Cardinal vowels : Daneil Jones devised a satisfactory system of vowels called the Cardinal vowels. The basis of this system is physiological, and is felt in two positions. 1) the front of the tongue raised as close as possible to the palate without any friction-----e.g., i, e, ε , a. 2) the whole of the tongue as low as possible in the mouth, with very slight raising at the extreme back. u, o, ə, a The front series i , e, ε, a, and a of the back series are pronounced with spread or open lips, whereas the remaining three vowels u, o, ɔ, are pronounced with some what rounded lips. 1) i ---Eng. i: see 2) e --- e bed 3) ε ---- 1st elemant of ε ə father—pere 4) a ----1st elemant of ai father--- patte 5) a ----a: car 6) ɔ ---- ɔ 7) o ----father. Eau 8) u ---u: saw beau do The Syllable Speech, for the purpose of analyzing is divided into units and the syllable can be the starting point. Words may have any number of syllables. Tailor --------- t ei l ə Examination --- ig-z æ-mi-nei - ʃ n ------- --- --syllable- division is marked with a hyphen. It is not always possible to show syllabledivision in the spelling. And so, it is advisable to write a phonetic transcription of a word and show syllable-division. Because a transcription can always indicate the actual way in which the word is pronounced. Tailor---- t ei- l ə Mistake--- mis-t ei k Phonetics---f əu- ne- tiks Linguistics ---li ŋ- gwis- tiks It is possible to explain the syllable in terms of the pulmonic air-stream mechanism. When we speak, the air from the lungs does not come out in a continuous stream. The muscles of the chest push the air out in small puffs at the rate of approximately five times a second, and each puff of air produces a syllable. Each movement of the muscles of the chest is called a chest-pulse. Occasionally a chest-pulse is produced by a great muscle effort. This is called a reinforced chest pulse and it produces a stressed syllable. Stress is indicated by the mark [ ‘ ] placed before the syllable to which it relates. Accident --- `æk- si-d ə nt Mistake ---- mis-`t ei k ( II syllable ) Cigarrette --- si-g ə-`r ət ( III syllable) Examination--- ig- zæ-mi- `nei- ʃ n ( IV syllable) Dic`tation Opti`mistic De`lay `Manager `Politics Monosyllabic words like cat, dog, man, pen, need not have the accent mark. The rhythm of a language, particularly English, depends upon the arrangement of the stressed and unstressed syllables, and the way they follow one-another. The syllable is analysed in terms of speech-sounds or vowels and consonants. That is, syllables are made up of one speech-sound or more. For example, eager ( i:- gə ) the first syllable is made up of one sound. Table ( t ei-bl) the first syllable is made up of two sounds; t and ei. During the production of a syllable by the chest-pulse, there must be a free and unrestricted passage for the air to escape, and thus a vowel is pronounced. This vowel is called the nucleus or the central part of the syllable. The consonant is the marginal occurring at the beginning or at the end—termed as releasing and arresting marginals. To explain the structure of the syllable the symbol C is used to represent the consonant, and V to represent the vowel. For example --Releasing Nucleus Arresting C V C b t æ 1) Some syllables have only the nucleus like I ( ai ) therefore the structure is V . Also in the words---About---- ə-`b au t Earnest---- ə: - `nist Educate --- `e –dju- k ei t Upper ----- Λ- p ə Order ------ ɔ: -d ə The first syllables are of the structure V. 2) The monosyllabic words like ---Am ---- æ m ; Ill ------ il ; Inn ----- i n ; On ----- ɔ n. Or the first syllable of the poly-syllablic words like Already---- ɔ: l --` re- di Altitude --- `æ l – ti – tjud Engagement – in- `g ei dʓ -ment Enrol ---------- in - `roul Have the structure VC. 3) The monosyllabic words like------Be --- bi ; bee -----bi: He ---hi ; may -----m ei She -- ʃ i: ; way ------w ei. Or the first syllable of the polysyllabic words like Better -------be- t ə Butter -------b Λ - t ə Letter -------le - t ə Matter ------m æ - t ə have the structure CV. In English, it is possible to have more than one consonant at the beginning or at the end of a syllable. They are called consonant Cluster. e.g., slate -- -s l ei t---cc v c streets -- -s t r i: ts--ccc v cc stamps ---s t æ mps-- cc v ccc switch ----s w i t ʃ----cc v c books --- -b u ks------c v cc a syllable which is arrested by a consonant is called a closed / checked syllable, and one which have no arresting consonant is called an open / free syllable. E.g., add (æ d)is closed, and die ( d ai ) is open. A few examples of syllable structure are given below :--Cigarette -------- si-g ə -`ret ------------------------cv-cv-cvc. Countryman-----`k Λ n-tri-m ə n-------------------cvc-ccv-cvc. Hesitation--------he-zi-`t ei- ʃ ə n-------------------cv-cv-cv-cvc. Manufacture-----m æ –nju-`f æ k- t ʃ ə -----------cv-ccv-cvc-cv. Penetration-------pe-ni-`tr ei- ʃ ə n------------------cv-cv-ccv-cvc. Refreshment-----ri-fre ʃ –m ə nt---------------------cv-ccvc-cvcc. Syllabic consonant Button ----b Λ-tn cv-cv Cattle-----k æ –tl cv-cv Little------li-tl cv-cv Sudden----s Λ-dn cv-cv The second syllable of these words are marked CV, though the final sounds are l and n, which are consonants. The nucleus of a syllable is a vowel or a sullable consonant, and must be marked V in the syllabic structure. The English voiced lateral and nasal sounds ( l and n) are phonetically consonants. But they fulfil a syllabic function. Without the presence of a vowel. e.g., middle ( midl ); button ( b Λ-tn ); unlike / dz / and / ts / the ending in l and n , have a possible prononciation of / ə l / and / ə n /. They sound very much like syllable and so are called syllabic consonants. e.g., apple, little, buckle, table, ribbon, sicken, organ, cotton, open. Supra-segmental Features Apart from the speech-sounds ( consonants and vowels) there are other features that influence a language. These are length, stress and pitch , commonly termed as the suprasegmental or prosodie features. The term ‗length‘ refers to duration ; stress relates to intensity, muscular activity or air-pressure ; and pitch relates to the note of the voice as determined by the frequency of vibration of the vocal-cords. Length :- The term ‗length‘ is used to signify the duration of time taken for the pronunciation of a sound. A vowel can be articulated as long as the breath holds out. But generally two or three degrees of length are distinguished. There are the long and the short or the long, the half-long and the short. Full length is heard in English stressed vowels when occurring at the end as in sea, he ( si: , hi:). Full length in vowels is also heard before voiced consonants, but not before voiceless one. e.g., seize ( si: z )---- whereas cease ( siz ) Short final stressed vowels do not occur in English. In English, consonants are pronounced long after a stressed short vowel as in hill, sit, etc. But they are usually short in duration after a stressed long vowel as in heel. In words like heel, the length is distributed evenly over the vowel and the consonant. In the case of a voiceless stop sound like / t / length means the length of pause or cesstion of sound after its pronunciation. The length of vowels help as in our historical study of English OE sta:n with a long vowel ( a: ) and OE scafan with a short vowel ( a ) changed into modern English stone ( st ə un) and shave ( ʃ ei v ) Stress :- Stress is based on the force with which breath is expelled in articulation. A stressed syllable is pronounced more loudly than the unstressed or weak syllable . when a vowel is pronounced with a weak stress, it becomes less and less distinct in articulation and gradually disappears. Stress has played an important part in the development of English language from the Germanic and before that from the Indo-European. In Indo-European stress was free and variable while in Germanic it was fixed. In English, stress has led to variation between the voiced and the voiceless consonants in pairs of words like off –of and too-to. In words like death, blood etc. it has shortened the vowels. The general tendency of English is to pronounce words with diminishing stress as in but. In the case of a long vowel the force diminishes from its beginning to its end. In words like cart and cat, the / t / sound in cart coming after a long vowel ( a: ) it weaker than the / t / of cat coming after a short vowel (æ ). Intonation pitch The term intonation means the rise and fall in the voice while speaking. It is caused by the variations in the rate of vibration of the vocal-cords. It has more importance in the spoken language. Intonation determines the objective and subjective utterances. Objectives are the utterances----- statement vs question , command vs request , simple vs complex and the subjective determines the speaker‘s mood and his attitude to what he is saying. In some languages, the word-meanings are distinguished by the intonation. In Cantonese the syllable ‗fan‘ when pronounced with a high falling tone means divide , and with five other varying intonations can refer to powder, sleep, burn, courageous and duty. In Sechuana language in South Africa, the word metse pronounced with a mid-level tone in each syllable means village , and with a mid-level tone on the first syllable and a high level tone on the second means water. In English, it helps to express shades of meanings which cannot conveniently be expressed by other means. For example, if a speaker says, ‗ She’s very beautiful ‗ with a falling intonation he means perfectly that ; but with a fallingrising intonations he questions her character while agreeing to her being beautiful. Stress and Intonation Stress and intonation are linked features, and work together to give the effect of prominence or accent. An accented syllable can be said with level pitch, high or low ; or with a change in pitch. The level pitch has a static tone and the changing or moving pitch has a kinetic tone the syllable which initiates a kinetic tone is called the nucleus. The Tones :----1) Level ( Static ) a) A high level tone will be marked with a symbol / / above and in front of the syllable to which, it refers. E.g., those have. b) A low level tone will be marked with a symbol / , / below and in front of the syllable to which, it refers. E.g., ,now ,then. 2) Moving / Changing ( Kinetic ) a) A falling tone will be marked with a symbol / / in front of the syllable to which it refers. The symbol will be above the line for a high falling tone, and below the line for a low falling tone. The falling tone is mostly seen when it takes place on a syllable containing a long vowel or diphthong or a voiced continuant ( m, n, ŋ , l, z etc). e.g., No. He couldn’t be seen. It was raining. A falling tone is slightly realized in a syllable containing a short vowel ending with a voiceless consonant. e.g., What have you got ?/ got? b) A rising tone will be marked with a symbol / / in front of the syllable to which it refers. The symbol will be above the line for a high rising tone and below the line for a low rising tone. The rising tone is easily seen in syllable containing a long vowel, diphthong or a voiced continuant consonant. e.g., No. can you see. He’s not ill. Or in rapidly pronounced short syllable as in e.g., Can you cook? c) A falling-rising tone will be marked with a symbol / / above and in front of the syllable to which it refers. In the case of a short syllable rapidly ending or in an unaccented tail following a nucleus syllable. e.g., No. its’ blue. Its shut. Its raining. Its quite comfortable. 3) A rising-falling tone will be marked with the symbol / / above and in front of the syllable to which it refers. It is seen in long syllables containing voiced continuant consonants, and Reinforced short syllables followed by a tail. 3) In a running dialogue, or a connected speech, these tones are determined by the style of conversation and the emotional attitudes of the speakers. An utterance can be divided into groups by noting the structural and sematic clues. Generally, they are grouped according to---i) the breath control e.g., When I went to see them, they were out. When I went to see them they were out, so I went back home. ii) the punctuation ----includes a full stop, colon, semi-colon and comma. e.g., Its very, very nice of you to call. The distribution of meaning---e.g., There’s a city in South India called Hyderabad. I shall always remember it, firstly because I lived there happily for almost two years and secondly because it was hotter there than at any place I’d ever been before, or have visited ever since. The Uses of the Tones 1. Falling---A falling tone is used--------a) In ordinary, statements made without emotional implications. e.g., It’s seven O Clock. I have a lot of students. The house is empty. The waters’ warm. b) In questions beginning with question word, in neutral and sometimes unfriendly way. e.g., Why did you do it? When are they coming? How will they get here? What are they muttering about? c) In commands ; e.g., Do as I say. Come here. Jump to it. 2. Rising ---a) In incomplete utterances, very often as the first clause of a sentence. e.g., It’s seven O Clock ( she hasn’t got up). I have a lot of students ( some are bright ). The house is empty ( has been for years ). The waters’ warm ( what don’t you come in ). b) In questions demanding yes or no ; e.g., Are they coming? Will you do it? Has the lecture started yet? Have you seen my younger brother? c) In questions with Q-words, in a warm friendly manner. e.g., How’s your mother? Why didn’t you come and see me? What time is it ? d) In polite requests ; e.g., Would you open the window? Please sit down. 3. Rising-falling ; The rising-falling tone implies that the listener should understand more than a literal meaning of the words. It covers insinuations, veiled insult, apology, unpleasant news, happiness, reassurance, or doubt. Though fall-rise takes on one syllable, it can be spread over the other syllables. I am going there this evening. ( I couldn‘t earlier, but now ) I didn’t see you at the theatre. ( but saw you somewhere else ) The houses are nice. ( but the people aren‘t ) His brother will come. ( purpose served, no worry ) He’s not as stupid as I thought. ( a good thing though stupid ) Do it at once. ( wont do until told to ) Word Accent Accent is the term used to refer to the prominence given to a syllable. The prominence of a syllable may be due to stress ----- that is greater breath force, greater muscular effort and greater amplitude of vibration of the vocal cords in the case of voiced sounds. Very often stress, pitch change, quality of the sounds and their length make a syllable prominent. The syllable on which there is a pitch change is said to have the primary / tonic accent. Any other prominent syllable has the secondary accent. The primary accent is marked with the symbol / / above and in front of the syllable, and the secondary accent with the symbol / / below and in the front of the syllable. 2-Syllables. E.g., able, baggage, captain, eager, about, because, canal, effect. 3-Syllables. E.g., accident, bicycle, calculate, accustom, committee, elastic, disappoint, entertain, understand. In the derivatives with the same stem, normally the stress changes ---E.g., academy, academic, academician, individual, individuality, individualistic, politics, political, politician. Again historically speaking, words which have come from Germanic have accent at the beginning ; and those from Romans have accent in the last syllable. In compound words, the primary accent is generally on one element, usually the first. 2-elements---Primary accent on the first syllable. E.g., anything, backbone, goldsmith, church-yard, earthquake. Sometimes both elements are accented. In such cases, the tonic takes the symbol of an oblique bar / /. E.g., half-hour, long-lived, middle-aged, north-west, afternoon. 3-elements---Primary accent on the second element. E.g., Hot-water-bottle Waste-paper-basket In some cases, stress determines noun / adjective, or a verb. Primary accent on the first syllable denotes as noun or as adjective ; and on the second syllable a verb. E.g., object, perfect, produce, progress, record, import, subject, increase. Rules for Accentual Patterns : 1) All English words have some accent, primary or secondary, on the first or second syllable. 2) Words with weak prefixes are accented on the root. E.g., abroad, across, admit, ahead, alone, aloud, between, compose, develop, reduce. 3) They do not affect the accent :-The inflexional suffixes ---es, --ing, --ed The derivational suffixes ---age, --ance, --en, --er, --ess, --fy, --ful, --hood, -ice, --ish, --ive, --less, --ly, --ment, --ness, --or, --ship, --ter, --ure, --y, --zen. 4) Words ending in suffix ---ion have the primary accent on the last syllable but one— e.g., application, examination, conversation, cultivation, introduction, qualification. 5) Words ending in ---ic, --ical, --ically have the primary accent on the syllable preceding the suffix. e.g., apologetic, electrical, politically. 6) Words ending in ---ity are accented on the syllable proceding the suffix , i.e., on the third syllable from the end. e.g., activity, curiosity, necessity. 7) Words ending in ---ial, --ially have the primary accent on the syllable preceding the suffix. e.g., artificial, ceremonial, essential, essentially, confidentially. 8) The suffix ---al, --ally have the accentual patterns. e.g., accident, autumnal, origin, original. 9) In words of more than two syllables ending in ---ate the primary accent is placed two syllables before the suffix, i.e., on the third syllable from the end. e.g., complicate, cultivate, educate, separate ( adj ) separate ( v). 10) Words ending in ---ian are accented on the syllable preceding the suffix. e.g., electrician, politician. 11) Words ending in ---ious are accented on the syllable preceding the suffix. e.g., anxious, industrious, injurious, laborious, victorious. 12) The following suffixes take the primary accent on their first syllable :--aire ------- millionaire --eer ------- career --ental ------ fundamental --ential ------- existential --esce ------- acquiesce --escence ------- effervescence --esque ------- qrotesque --ique ------- physique --itis -------- neuritis What is Language? A general question such as ― What is language?‖ is difficult to answer. And philosophically, a definition should come only at the end of the investigation for only at that point does it make complete sense. However, it is customary to begin the study of any subject with a definition, and we will fall in line with the custom. Linguists are not the only people interested in language. Philosophers, linguists, psychologists and literary critics, to name only a few, have traditionally been interested in language and have defined it from the point of view of their own disciplines. This makes the task of defining language particularly difficult. Even the definitions offered by linguists vary in their emphases and theoretical orientation. But by and large, linguists seem to be in broad agreement over some of the important characteristics of language, as can be seen from the following fairly representative set of definition :-1) Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced sounds. --Sapir : Language 2) A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group co-operates. --Block and Traqer : Outline of linguistic analysis. 3) Language is human--------- a verbal systematic symbolism ---- a means of tranemitting information ---- a form of social behaviour --- ( with a )high degree of convention. --J.Whatmough :Language 4) A language ( is a ) symbol system based on pure or arbitrary convention --infinitely extendable and modifiable according to the changing needs and conditions of the speakers. --R. H. Robins : General Linguistics 5) Human Languages are unlimited --- ( an unlimited set of discreet signals ) --(have) great structural complexity --- structure on atleast two levels – ( the learning task is considerable ) --- are open-ended --- allow for the transmission of information. --R. W. Langacker : Language and its structure. Each of these definitions suggests certain features as the defining characteristics of language. 1] Language is a means of communication Language is primarily a means and form of communication although it is not the only means of communication that human beings use. The signals used to control traffic, Morse code used to transmit telegraphic messages etc. are all communication systems, but all these are based on language. Language is used by human beings to communicate messages, commands etc. There are various types of communication needs that language meets. We not only convey information and orders through language but use it also for what is known as a feeling of social solidarity and well-being e.g., How are you? Language is primarily a means and form of communication although it is not the only means of communication that human beings use. The signals used to control traffic, Morse code used to transmit telegraphic messages etc. are all communication systems, but all these are based on language. Language is used by human beings to communicate messages, commands etc. There are various types of communication needs that language meets. We not only convey information and orders through language but use it also for what is known as a feeling of social solidarity and well-being e.g., How are you? Phatic communication --- a type of which ties of union are created by a mere exchange of words. This refers to that aspect of our speech behaviour which consists mainly of polite talk, greetings and such meaningless exchange o words as ‗ How do you do?‘ Language –Its characteristics Language is the universal medium of communication--- the way of expressing human mind. Language and culture of a particular society or nation are inert-related. It is more effective than all other known mediums of expression like signs and gestures. It involves the sounds of speech produced by the movemets of vocal organs, lungs and vocal cords. Thus, these sounds convey a meaning to the hearer. So, language involves two persons --the producer and the hearer. Human language is unique in its own way. Because no other medium of expression has the following characteristics :--1) Duality:--- Language has a system of unit of sounds ( phonemes ) and a system of unit of form ( morpheme ) --- which is the meaningful arrangement of phonemes. 2) Productivity:--- Language can produce new utterances ( sentences / statements ) never before spoken by any speaker not heard by and hearer. 3) Arbitrariness:--- There is no inherent, necessary relation or similarity between any given feature of a language and its meaning. That is, the word and the idea ( thing ) conveyed by it are entirely arbitrary. E.G., the four-legged pet animal is called dog in English , kutta in Hindi, nayi in Tamil, chien in French, hund in German, perro in Spanish and cachorro in Portugese. If there was no arbitrariness, these would have been only one language in this world. 4) Interchangeability:---Aperson using a language can both receive and send messages, by speaking and being understood, and by understanding what he hears from other speakers. 5) Specialization:---It can both send and receive messages with very little physical relation to the meanings and acts involved. 6) Displacement:---It can not only relate to direct contact, but also to places and times ( past, present and future ). One can understand a reference without having any experience. 7) Cultural transmission:--- Language is transmitted from one to another not by physical inheritance, but by learning. Young imitate the old. Knowledge gained is passed on to others. Man learns more about this world from past generations than what they themselves learn. In short, the human race ( homo-sapiens ) started to be humans when it started using language. Language is studied at three levels --- phonetic, grammatic and sematic. Language ---It‘s Function :-Language is the tool ( medium ) of letting other people know our thoughts, ideas and emotions. It is used in different ways for different purposes or uses like science, journalism, advertising, political oratory, poetry, prayer and worship. Failure to understand the finer and complicated nature of language leads to mistake and misunderstanding. 1) Informative :- One of the basic functions of language is to provide information --propaganda of all kinds and even misinformation. True or false propositions, correct or incorrect arguments, important or unimportant, general or particular information are included. The language of science, technology and education belong to this kind. 2) Dynamic :- A language that goes beyond the factual statement is dynamic. Formation and organization of opinions, speeches of politicians, political manifesto come under this group. Happily or unhappily action does not follow the language to this kind of use. If followed, there can be disasters as in example of Hitler‘s fiery speeches. 3) Emotive :- It is used with a definite motive of inspiring a community or nation leading to actions peaceful and violent. Political slogans preceding revolution like ―Equality , Fraternity and Liberty‖ or ―Quit India‖ or ―Vande Mataram‖ had the magic effect of moving people into action. 4) Aesthetic :- Commonly found in poetry, it is a cultivated way of expression. It functions to delight man. It depends on the selection, variation and arrangement of words. Human speech, not with-standing stimuli and response, is varied and complex. No two persons speak or act in the same way. Hence, it is too difficult to predict human conduct in a given situation. There are two more theories regarding this aspect. 1) Mentalistic :- The variability of human conduct in a given situation is attributed to some abstract non-physical factor called spirit / will / mind / psyche. It does not follow the pattern of succession like cause and effect of this material world. So, the speech and action of an individual cannot be forefold. 2) Mechanistic :- Variability of human conduct is due to complex nervous system. Though it believes in the fixed pattern of succession, cause and effect, it attributes the variability to the complexity of changes in human body. No two persons have the same body and like nervous system. A person‘s response can be predicted if we know the structure of his body --- which again as depended on his pre-natal or post-natal conditions. It is impossible to know these details ---- and hence the difficulty in explaining the human conduct. Language ---A Symbolic System :Of all other known systems of communication, language is the best to convey our thoughts and feelings. Gestures and signs are helpful though to a certain extent. It involves the sounds as produced by the speaker, and convey a meaning as received by the hearer. Language is a symbolic system. It produces sounds which combine into words convey a meaning. Hence, words are symbolic. A symbol is essentially a concrete sign which stands for an idea or meaning. Thus, the sign represents Christianity, Black Clothes stand for mourning. A word is a symbol because, the sounds k, a, t constitutes a concrete sign representing the idea of a cat. The word book ( buk) is the form ( signifier ) referring to sheets of paper bound together ---its meaning ( signifie ). Compare this system with some other systems. For example, a) --- if color represents meanings :Red --- I am hungry Blue --- There is danger Green --- I love you ----the messages conveyed thereby is limited to the colors, or to hundreds. It is too restricted and insufficient. b) ---if strips of colors are put one after another and meaning is assigned ---Blue Green ---------I am hungry Black Red Orange Green Orange --------There is danger Yellow Red Blue Green Green --------I love you the combination of twenty / thirty strips of colors can construct thousands of symbols. This system is still inefficient because the user has to memorize the strips. c) ---Strips of colors represent a single concept------a part of the message. Red --Girl White Orange Green Blue Purple Violet ---Boy Boy is crying Purple Purple Orange Red Blue Blue Violet ---Cry ----Good-looking Girl is Good-looking An infinitely large number of messages can be conveyed using a relatively small number of symbols. Language is like this system. The wealth English vocabulary is formed by combining 44 distinctive sounds. These limited number of sounds produce thousands of, though finite, words that can be listed in a dictionary. Thus these words, symbols of speech, are confined to construct infinite number of sentences. Language ----Spoken And Written Forms Langue is defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which we communicate and co-operate with each other. We employ our vocal organs for the articulation of sounds, that constitute again into words and sentences. In human language speech is primary and writing is secondary. The spoken form implies the using of certain symbols for the sounds which are heard in the spoken language. The spoken form is the symbol of the thing referred to, the written form is the symbol of that symbol. To illustrate the point further, a human child produces the sounds at an early stage ( say between 1 to 2 years). Whereas it learns the written form (words) at the stage of going to school at about 6 years. Another important factor is that an human being uses the spoken form a hundred times more than the written form in his average daily life. Speech is primary, and writing is derivative. It means, writing is the representation of the speech. Generally, the spelling of a word is arranged to produced the sounds as in the spoken form. Considering the oral-auditory nature of language, it must be admitted that speech comes first, and writing secondary. There many spoken forms that have no written forms which were illiterate, as in the case of present India. A historical study of all the major languages prove that spoken form had evolved first. In the beginning, writing meant carving, drawing or painting the symbols representing the features. Later, it acquired fixed meanings and so came to be used as the symbols corresponding the words. It lost its pictorial value and acquired the phonetic value. A particular symbol is found for every syllable as in the Indian Languages as Japanese. English has no perfect consistancy in the relation between spoken and written forms. There are two main reasons:1) English has adopted many written symbols from foreign alphabets like Latin. There are not enough symbols to represent the vowels, or the consonants th, sh, z, wh, ng (θ, ð, z, w, ŋ ). We have letters like C, Q, X ( si: , kju: , eks). 2) The second reason is that language continues to change from age to age. Because of this change the orthography of a language becomes ancient and out-dated in the course of time. Refusal to change according to the needs of time and people compels a language to confine itself in its written form ----- unpopular and forgotten, in many cases, dead, as it happened with Sanskrit or Hebrew.