Linguistics ( Anita Ma'am )

Linguistics

The word linguistic originates from the Latin word 'lingua', it therefore certainly deals with language. Linguistic is scientific study of language. Its aim is to see a scientific understanding of language and the ways  in which it is organised to fulfill the need it serves and the function it performs in human life. It is not concerned with any particular language but rather is concerned with human language and recognizable part of human behaviour. Thus, the study of an individual language in the grammar of that language while the study of language in general in linguistics. Finegen and Besnier defines linguistics as “the scientific enquiry into human language into its structures and uses and into the relationship between them”

However, when we say linguist studies a language we mean he or she studies the mechanism of the language that is he or she studies the way a language works. Linguistics comprises language in all its form and manifestations. The subject matter of linguistics is all natural languages living or dead. It differs from the animal system of communication in various terms such as creativity, interchangeability, cultural transmission, displacement and so on.

Science, as a discipline, is a search for explanation which is its essence, one has to observe the facts closely beside which facts are relevant and which not mere guesses then check those guesses using rigorous logical thinking. A linguist, just like a scientist explains the observed data of natural languages alive or dead by constructing hypothesis, theories and laws and like scientific theories, a linguistic theory has to not only explain the observed data but also predict that which constitute potential though not actual data. A general principle explains what has already been observed and it predicts what has not been observed yet. For example, the English word like farm can be pronounced as |fa:m| with the long vowel will pose a problem for a native speaker of hindi who tend to simplify it |faaram|.

Proto-Indo European has three parts :
1)Germanic
2)Italic
3)Indo-Persian

Germanic includes English, German and Dutch.
Italic includes Latin, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Indo-Persian includes Indic which has Sanskrit, Hindi and Gujrati.
Indo-Persian includes Persian which has Persian and Pashto.

Ferdinand de Sassure  (1857-1917), a swiss linguist, in his course of general linguistic puts forwards the concept of Langue and Parole. In the words of Sassure, La-langue of language, he calls it :
“The sum of images in the mind of individuals, it is not to be confused with human speech which it is a only a definite part, though certainly a essential one”.

He goes on to say that La-langue is a social product based on conventions. It is a system of real concrete linguistics signs and it is constituted of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Sassure then introduces the idea of Laparole is a set of all utterances that have actually been produced. La-langue on the other hand is the set of all utterances that can be produced. The difference between La-Langue and La-Parole has been described by Stephen Ullman in symantics and introduction to the signs of meaning. These differences can be expressed as columns.

Phonetics

The study of phonetics is concerned with the study and analysis of the generation, transmission and the reception of sound. However in most cases, the study phonetics restricts itself to the study and analysis of the sounds of human speech. Phonetics is generally divided into three branches :

1) Articulatory Phonetics
2) Auditory Phonetics
3) Acoustic Phonetics

Articulatory Phonetics

It is the most important branch of study of phonetics. It is concerned with study and analysis of various aspect of the various aspect of the production of the sounds of human speech. ( Production of sounds from the mouth their description and transcription )

Auditory Phonetics.

This branch of the study of phonetics, is concerned with study and the analysis of the function of hearing. It is thus the study of the reception of the sound by the ear and its processing in the brain. As such, in auditory phonetics the anatomy and the physiology of the human hearing mechanism are studied. Apart from these concepts such as decibel, that defects of hearing the use of audiogram. The concept of depthness and such others are related to the study of auditory phonetics.

Acoustic Phonetics

It is the study of the physical properties of the sound itself. It is thus concerned with the physical analysis of the sound. For an instance, the frequency and the amplitude of sound waves, the various sounds produced by various musical instruments. The tuning of musical instruments, the quality of sound produced by the ____ all related to the study of acoustic phonetics.

A new branch of phonetics called forensic phonetics has also emerged and is quite demanding in modern times. It is concerned with the investigation and detection of crime with the help of the analysis and characteristic properties of forensic finger prints, just as there is linguistic fingerprint of a person in written work, similarly there is phonetic finger print in speech habits of an individual. These are analysed in the study of forensic phonetics.

Physiology Of Speech Production

For the production of speech air stream mechanism is needed. The production of speech in human beings takes place through the aggressive pulmonic air-stream. The passage of this air stream is from the inside of the body to the outside so the air-stream is called aggressive. Since, this air-stream is generated by the action of lungs, thus the air stream is called pulmonic. The air is pushed out of the lungs through the mouth, nose or both.

a) The Respiratory System.
The respiratory system comprises, the lungs, the muscle of chest and the windpipe also called as trachea. The lungs perform the function of breathing or respiration under the actions of muscles of the chest. Under such action when the lungs are compressed. They throw the air out and when they expand, that draw the outside air in. The former process is breathing out exhalation and the latter breathing in or inhalation. In both cases, the air passes through the trachea.

The respiratory system plays a vital role in relation to the production of the speech sound through the process of breathing, the system provides an air stream that acts as a source of energy without an air-stream, no amount of activity on the path of the speech organs can produce a sound.

b) Phonetory Subsystem

The main function of the Phonetory Subsystem is phonation or to produce sound. The main Phonetory Subsystem are the upper end of the trachea, the larynx and the vocal cords. The parts of the Phonetory Subsystems are connected to the upper end of the trachea passes through the larynx, causing the vocal cords to vibrate. The vibration of the vocal cords reduces the sound. The rate of the vibration of the vocal cords is responsible for the pitch of the sound that is produced.

The vocal cords are joined at one end and separate at the other. Thus the space between the vocal cords is called glottis. Another function of the vocal cord is to stop any foreign body from entering into the lungs.

c) The Articulatory Subsystem

The articulatory Subsystem is that which is responsible for the articulation of the various kinds of sound units that are used by human beings for the purpose of oral communication. That is all the consonant, vowels, diphthongs, triphthongs and other kinds of sound units are produced through the coordination of the concerned parts of the articulatory Subsystem. The sounds are produced with a certain degree of precision by all human beings, the anatomy of whose articulatory parts are of normal structure. The important parts of articulatory subsystem are the two sets of teeth, the lips, the tongue and the palate.

Larynx

In the upper part of the trachea is a structure called the larynx. Formed of cartilages and muscle, its primary function is to act as valve, when necessary, it closes off the air from and to the lungs and also prevents food from entering the trachea. Its front is prominent in the neck, and is commonly known as the Adam's apple. Situated inside the larynx, is a pair of lip-like structures called the vocal cords. These are placed horizontally from front to back, joined at the front, but separated at the back. As they are separated at one end, they can assume a large number of positions. Important among these are three positions -

1) Vocal Cords drawn wide apart.
2) Vocal Cords held loosely together.
3) Vocal Cords held tightly together.

Vocal Cords drawn wide apart.

When the vocal cords are drawn wide apart, there is a wide opening between them, called glottis through this opening, the air can pass freely without setting the vocal cords into vibration. This is normal position of the vocal cords during the process of breathing. The speech sounds produced when the vocal cords are in this position to not have the human sound, they are voiceless sounds. Examples of such sounds are the initial sounds in the English words tan, cot, chair, film, thin, sheet, sin, etc.

Vocal Cords held loosely together.

When the vocal cords are held loosely together, the air from the lungs can escape only by setting them into vibration. Such vibration imparts a humm to the sound produced which are then called voiced sound. Example : all english vowels and the initials consonants in the English words such as dead, get, jug, men, nest etc. All languages have voiced as well as voiceless sound. All vowels are voiced sounds as for consonants. Some are voiced and others are voiceless.

Vocal cords held tightly together.

When the vocal cords are held tightly, held together along their whole length, the glottis is closed, therefore no air can escape through it. This is the position, the vocal cords must take at the time of eating or drinking, so that no food or liquid enters the windpipe. Proceeding from this position when the vocal cords are suddenly drawn apart. An explosive sound called the glottal stop is produced. Such a glottal stop which resembles the sound of a mild cough, may be found to occur infront of a forceful articulation of words as in the initial vowels, act, empty, uncle.

Pharynx

The pharynx extending from the top of the larynx to the hindermost part of the tongue is the pharynx. The shape and size of the pharyngeal cavity can be greatly modified by the contraction and the expansion of the muscles of the pharynx by the moment of the back of the tongue, by the position of the soft palette and by raising or lowering of the larynx, each such modification affecting the quality of the sound produced.

Lips

The lips play an important part in the production of certain speech sound. The initial sounds in the words such as pot and boat for example are made by first closing the lips together and then releasing the closure abruptly. The initial sound in the word ‘men’ is produced by keeping the lips shut and allowing the air to escape through the nose. Many vowels and the initial sound in the words are produced by protruding the lips and sounding them. The lip position therefore is an important factor in the production of speech sounds.

Teeth

Certain consonants are produced with the help of teeth. Such are the initial sounds in the word like- think, that, fan and ban. Beyond the teeth, in the upper jaw, is a whole area called the roof of the mouth, comprising the teeth ridge, the hard palate, the soft palate and the uvula.

a)The teeth ridge: Also called the alveolar ridge, is in the convex part of roof of the mouth lying immediately behind the upper teeth. It can be easily felt by placing the tongue behind the upper teeth. Many consonant sounds are produced at the teeth ridge. By making a complete closure at the teeth ridge, followed by a sudden release of the closure, one can produced ‘/t/’and ‘/d/’ sound in the English words as in ‘ ten’ and ‘day’.

b)The Hard Palate: The line immediately behind the teeth ridge is a hard bony surface, called the hard palate. It is a curved surface leading to the highest point of the roof of the mouth. At the de beginning are small corrugation that facilitate the movement is food. They also provide obstacles to the outgoing air, thus causing a hissing noise, that characterises ex- //,// sounds as in ‘so’ and ‘show’.

c)Soft palate (velum): The soft portion of the roof is called soft palate or velum. It is located at the back, just behind the hard palate and is responsible for the production of a large number of sounds. The position of soft palate is responsible for oral, nasal and nasalized sounds. When the soft palate is raised, no air can escape through the nose, it can escape only through mouth and therefore the sounds produced in this state of soft palate are called oral sounds.

Example- take, play, radio, lecture. When lowered the air can escape through the nose. Here, two possibilities arise, one if there is a closure at some point in the oral passage, the air can escape through the mouth as well as the nose. The sounds produced in the former position are called nasal sounds. For example- Him, Hen. And those produced in the later position are called nasalized sounds(Vowel sounds in brick, breath).

d)Uvula: At the very end of the soft palate is a small fleshy pendent structure known as the uvula. The back of the tongue can articulate with this structure to produce sounds example Come.

Tongue: The tongue is by far the most important single organ of speech. Its importance can be judged from the fact that in many languages the word tongue, means language. It is the most flexible organ of speech, can assume a large no. Of shapes and take many different positions, most of which are significant from the point of view of speech production. To describe these shapes and positions, the tongue can be divided into different parts. When the tongue is in a state of rest, the part of it lying behind the lower lip is called the tip, and that lying against the teeth ridge, the blade, and the part against the hard palate is called the front, and that against the soft palate is called the back. The edges of the tongue are called ridge. Any part of the tongue can be raised to any height or be made to touch the roof of the mouth to bring about numerous articulation.

Active & Passive Articulators

Active articulators are those organs of speech which move from their position of rest to articulate against other organs of speech that donot move. This in the production of | t | , | d | , | n | , | s | sounds. For example, the tip and blade of the tongue move from their position of rest to articulate against the teeth ridge. The tip and the blade of the tongue are therefore the active articulators where as the teeth ridge, the passive articulator again. In the production of |f| sound as in the fan. The lower lip is the active articulator and the upper teeth becomes the passive articulator.

As the lower jaw is movable while the upper jaw is not the active articulators are mostly located in the lower jaw and tha passive articulator in the upper jaw with an exception of soft palate.

The space from the Larynx upwards which extends all the way to the lips is called the vocal tract. It consist of Pharynx, the oral cavity, the nasal cavity. The pharynx is the part that extends up from the larynx to the velum. The velum or the soft palate is the value which closes the entrance to the nasal cavity when it is pressed up but opens the cavity when it is allowed to hang down as in the normal breathing. The peer shaped little blob of flesh which can be seen hanging down at the back of our throat or at the extreme end of the roof of the mouth is called Uvula when soft palate is raised the uvula touches the back ball of a Pharynx and the passage into the nose is closed. The air then cannot escape through the nose at all sounds during the production of which the air escapes through the mouth are called oral sounds.

< Diagram >

If the soft palate is lowered, the passage into nose is opened and if the passage into the mouth is blocked. (Either by closing the lips or by making the tongue touch some part of the roof of the mouth ) The air from the lungs will escape only through the nose sounds during the production of which the air escapes only through the nose are called nasal sounds.

< Diagram >

There are certain sounds during the articulation of which the soft palate is lowered this opening the nasal passage of air but the oral passage of air is also not blocked thus both the oral and nasal passage are open. The air from the lungs, therefore escapes simultaneously through the nose and the mouth. Such sounds are called nasalized sounds.

< Diagram >

Phonology :

Phonology is study of how the speech sound of language are used in that language to distinguish meaningful units from each other and how sounds are pattern in a language. According to Bloomfield, Phonology is the organisation of sounds into patterns. In order to fulfil the communicative functions, languages organised their material, the vocal noises into recurrent bits and pieces arranged in sound patterns. It is the study of this formal organisation of languages which is known as Phonology.

Phonology takes two types of approach first is the syntagmatic and second is paradigmatic approach. Saussure said that words become a sentence only when they are linked. At the level of sentence formation, there is syntactic system consisting of word classes such as noun, verb, adjective, adverb.

To quote Saussure

"In the syntag, a term acquires its value because it stands in opposition to everything that precedes or follows it.

According to the same linguist, the paradigmatic relationship has an associative nature words having something in common are associated in memories. For example : the word learning brings to the wind, book, study , knowledge student etc. These words are not related in a linear manner. Thus syntagmatic approach is linear and paradigmatic approach to use Sassure  term vertical.

He says :

“They are a part of inner store house that makes up language of each speaker.”

When we come to analyse the difference of phonetics and phonology, we find that phonetics is the study of speech sounds, how they are produced, transmitted and received. It is a study of all the possible sounds that human apparatus can produce. By contrast phonologyystudies the way speaker speaks the language. 

Systematically use a selections of sands in order to express meaning. It is the study of how we find order within the apparent chaos of speech sound. The primary aim of phonology is to discover the princu=iples that governs the way. Sounds are organised in language. The area of phonetics is wide enough where as in phonology it is confined to certain languages. Phonetic is one and same for all language of the but phonology of one language may differ from phonology of others. Every languages has its own selections of words and of organises them into characteristic patterns. Such selections and organisation of the sound constitute the phonology of the language. R.H. Robin also remembers that phonology is the general, descriptive and classificatory and phonology is particular and function of speech sound in a language or languages. Phonology therefore has been called as functional phonetics. This implies that given a repertoire of all the possible sounds in all the languages of the world, it is a phonology which will help us decides which sounds out of all possible sounds belong to which language, if there are for example fifty times of constant sounds which human being can produce. The phonology of English help us in selecting 24  consonants out of the 50 consonants which human being can produce. 

It is a phonology of a language which also tell us which sounds are phonemes which are allophones. Phonemes are the minimal distinctive units of sound. By minimal we mean that they cannot be further subdivided chunks by distinctive it implies that each phonemes is distinct from the other for example a word like cap …. this word consist of three sounds…., when we say that each of them is a distinctive unit what we imply is that if we substitute the sound… by the sound… in the word cat then the meaning of the word change, it would become a different tap.

 Similarly if we substitute the middle sound with … then once again meaning will change. Cap will become cup. Again if we substitute the final sound… with … the meaning will change and will become a new word thus each sound is distinctive in nature because substitution of one sound with the other sound will bring about the change in the meaning. The word distinctive has a synonyms in phonology, it is also known as contrastive that is when we substitute one sound by another and the substitution brings about the change in the meaning. We can say that the two sounds are distinctive or contrastive in nature.

A phoneme is therefore defined as a minimal distinctive unit of language. The meaning in the aforesaid example changes only because they belong to one language, English. It is only in English that the meaning of cap and tap , cap and cup, cap and cat are different. Thus each language has a selection of consonant and vowel sounds which may be different from the selection of vowels and consonants found in other language. 

All languages have a set of phonemes and phonology as a discipline studies the selection and organisation of sounds in a given language.

However while analysing language is also found that sometimes in a given language some sounds are minimal but not distinctive. This implies that sometimes there are sounds which do not bring about the change in the meaning not distinctive ; such sounds are called allophones. It is one of the member of variants of phoneme. For example, native speakers of English pronounce words like come, take, past as …………. i.e. soon after the production of the first sounds of these words as they produce the sound which is similar to the sound ‘h’ before they move on to produce the vowel sound, the production of sound ‘h’ is called aspirations. In English these three sounds are aspirated. And they are aspirated only when they occur initially in a stressed syllable for example Potato the sound |p| and |t| in the initial position of a syllable, the rule for aspiration applies to the initial sound of a stressed syllable and not the initial position of a word, but only the sound |t| in second syllable is aspirational because only this sound meets both the requirements needed for aspiration in English. Another important point regarding allophones is all the allophonic variants of a phoneme belong to the same phoneme that is ….are allophones of phoneme……and |p| is voiceless by labial, plosives and so is p, h, t is voiceless alveolar plosives and so is…and k is voiceless velar plosives and so is …thus ….have phonetic similarity with……

and allophones may either be in a complimentary variation or in a free variation. As complimentary variation is determined by its environment ( that part of the mouth from which it is produced ). For example the ‘l’ sound in light is not the same as in table. In the first word light, it is a clear ‘l’ sound and in the second word we have a dark ‘l’ sound. These two variants of sound ‘l’ is called as complimentary allophones. They are so because where the light ‘l’ sound appears, the dark ‘l’ cannot appear. In RP the sound |r| is an example of allophones in free variation. It is called so because it cannot be pronounced in a number of ways for example the sound are in red, protect and terrible.