English Linguistics (WiSe 24 , SoSe 25)

Study of speech sounds

study of sound systems (phonemes)

studies which sounds / phones exist in a particular language and how phones can be combined. Phonetics is not the same as Phonology. Phonology focuses on the function of sounds 

Study of the creation of words and morphemes

Study of structual units (e.g phrases, clauses, sentences)

Study of word and sentence meaning

Study of meaning in context, study of discourse

speech sounds

phonemes

words

phrases and sentences (structural units larger than words) 

literal meaning of phrases and sentences

meaning in context of discourse

studies language at a certain point in time. Language constantly evolves. Understanding the synchronic state of a language

Studies language over time. Modern linguistics started as comperative diachronic science

Describes neutrally how people speak and write (appropirate / inappropriate, formal / informal, standard / non standard) 

Tells people how to speak / write properly (e.g wright / wrong, good / bad) 

The ability / knowledge a speaker has (about a language). Language as an abstract system. Definiton by Ferdinand de Saussure

the actual usage of language (speaking, writing, etc.) = concrete language useage by the individual. Definiton by Ferdinand de Saussure

= a branch of linguistics, that seeks to solve language related problems in the real world.

Subjects: language teaching, linguistic analysis of language disorders and planning of natinal language politics

Corpus = collection of authentic language material (nowadays in form of machine readable databases)

Linguists in this field search, for example a corpus for certain linguistic features (their number, the context, etc.) 

Structural linguists aim at the discription and analyisis of all elements of the language system and the relationships taht exist between them

the study of signs

Pairing of form and meaning

Icon, Index, Symbol

form-meaning relation is one of resamblance

(Example: most road signs)

form implies the concept inderectly, through a causal link (Example: Skull sign on substances = deadly / toxic on ingestion) 

form-meaning relation is arbitrary (Example: traffic light; red = stop; meaning is defined by humans / rules) 

signifier = Sound-Image (Example: /apl/ )

siginfied = Concept (Example: apple) 

= a word that imitates the sound it represents (e.g "buzz", "pop") 

= there is no internal link between the sound shape and the meaning of the linguistic sign (Example: dog; no link between the animals features and it's name)

Note: This concept does not apply to all expressions. onomatopoeic expressions (e.g "buzz") are exceptions. 

an arbitrary conventionalized sign (symbol); a form-meaning pairing (that is stored in the human mind = langue; and produced within a speech event = parole , in spoken, written or signed mode) 

• Reflexivity = we can talk about language itself
• Displacement = we can refer to different times (future or past)
• Arbitrariness = signifier is not (in general) in relationship with the signified
• Productivity / creativity / open-endedness = we can form unlimited amounts of sentences (phrases) with our limited amount of words / sounds
• Cultural transmission = we need social interaction to learn a language. We are not born with language (other than most animal communication systems)
• Duality / double articulation: both meaningless and meaningful elements = On one level we produce sequences of sounds or signs, On the other level we produce meaning by combining elements
• Recursion /embedding = we can endlessly embed statements into other statements (Example: you are a fool => I think you are a fool)

Humans learn language by imitating sounds they hear; Intial sounds might have come from emotional responses (pain, anger, joy, etc.) 

Humans learn language by interacting with other humans; Early humans might have communicated by grunts, moans or curses

Brain-functions that control movement are also involced in complex vocalisation

Language (speaking) might be hard-coded into our genes

letters used in spelling, writing e.g. <sh> (marked by arrows <>) 

sounds / pronunciation / phones used in transcription e.g. [apl] , /apl/ (marked by brackets [ ] or slashes / / ) 

smallest meaningful unit of a language

Morphemes are not a homogeneous group. Different types by three criteria:

• Autonomy (can it stand alone? e.g. "s" = plural morpheme can not)
• Function / meaning (what does the morpheme mean?)
• Position (where in a word does the morpheme belong? e.g. "s" = plural morpheme is always at the end)

Can appear on their own without any other morphemes attached to them (e.g. man) 

Can only appear in combination with other morhemes (e.g. unhappy) 

content words (if free) ; establish a relation between the word and the world (= nouns, verbs, adjectives => open classes) ; new items can be added quite easily ; new lexemes can be created quite easily 

= type of bound morpheme, that cannot be assigned a meaning or grammatical funtion, but distinguishes one word from another e.g. cranberry

function words (if free) ; establish a relation with other words of the sentence (= prepositions, articles, conjunctions, pronouns; plural, case, tense => closed classes) ; spontaneous neologisms are impossible 

is the smallest meaning-distinguishing units = the smallest meaningless units in language

A word con consist of one or more morphemes:

monomorphemic (simplex) = one morpheme (e.g. bride)

polymorphemic (complex) = more than one morpheme (e.g. brides) 

= bound morphemes ; can either be grammatical / inflectional or lexical / derivational 

Affix before the base (e.g. unhappy) 

Affix after the base (e.g. helpless)

Affix before and after the base (e.g. (german) gebunden) 

Affix within the base (e.g. unfreakingbelievable) ; often used (in English) for swear-words, or superlatives 

= grammatical information and catigories are expressed by affixes 

• stable form-meaning relationship 
• can not change the word class 
• suffixes attach to all possible bases
• only suffixes (in English) 

= new lexemes are created by adding an affix to a lexical base

• can change the word class 
• variable form-meaning relationship
• affixes attach to a subset of possible bases
• suffixes and prefixes in English

= (sound form of a morpheme) constitutes the formal realization of a morpheme. A morpheme may appear in different shapes (more than one morph)

= morphs which have been classified representations of a specific morpheme

= the shape of the allomorph depends on neighbouring sounds

the shape of the allomorph depends on the morpheme which precedes or follows

the shape of the allomorph depends on the word as a whole

• invent from scratch, root creation, coinage (e.g. "Google")
• language contact = borrow from another language (e.g. "Kindergarten")
• semantic change = give a new meaning to an existing word (e.g. "mouse" (computer)) 
• word-formation = Create a new word from already existing elements (e.g. "facebook") 

productive (high productivity)

• compounding
• affixation / derivation

less productive (low productivity)

• conversion
• shortenings (blending, acronyms, clipping, backformation) 

free lexical morphemes are combined to form a new lexical unit ; most compounds use nouns ("noun-noun compunds") ; The right-hand member contributes main meaning, determines word-class, carries inflection

(modififer) + (head) = right-headedness

left          right

(left-headedness is rare in English and are usually imported from French, or are used in ranks e.g. staff sergeant) 

Examples for compounding: wastebin , waste-bin (<= alternative spellings - variation) 

• Spelling is variable
• Stress normally on left-hand member
• Main meaning rests in right-hand member
• Not all word-classes equally involved

English noun compounds are usually stressed on their left-hand member

Example:

English STUdents = students from England (=noun phrase) 

ENGlish students = students who study english (=compound) 

The right-hand element contributes the main elements of meaning

Example:

plant house = is a type of house

house plant = is a type of plant

new words are created by adding an affix (prefix or suffix) ; sometimes a change in word class is involved 

Note:

prefixes rarely change word-class ; suffixes often change word class, create derivatives of a certain word class, attach to the base of a certain word-class

an affixation may be blocked, because a synonymous word already exists

Example: 

thief  not  stealer

= creation of a new word belonging to a new word class without any overt marking, therefore also called "zero-derivation"

Examples:

a gesture (noun)  >  to gesture (verb)

google (noun)   >  to google (verb)

linguistic material is deleted rather than added ; no change of word-class or meaning (exception: back-formation)

• Clipping
• Blends
• Abbreviations
• Back-formation

= part of a word is clipped off ; clipping = truncation

the retained word is enther the main stressed-, or the first -syllable

Examples:

Tobias  >  Tobi

doctor  >  doc

are formed by combining parts of two words 

Example:

smoke + fog = smog

are formed from initial letters / sounds of several words

• acronyms (are pronounced like a word) (e.g. UNESCO)
• initialisms (are pronounced letter by letter) (e.g. USA)

features of complex, older words are stripped away ; (usually) derivation that changes the word class

Example: 

editor  >  edit

in language, a word (linguistic form) doesn't represent the real thing itself, but rather a mental concept (a cognitive structure in our mind). The mental concept represents the real thing in world. 

Linguistic forms ar representations of a mental concept ; mental conceppts represent an object in the real world 

• concept => in our head / independent of language
• meaning => relates a linguistic form an concept 

sense is close to mental concept, but refers to something existing in language ; sense are conditions that a thing needs to meet in order for the application of a word to be appropriate

Sense happens in langue (the language system)

• Referent = object (in the real world) reffered by a used word
• Reference = relationship of an expression and the referent (stored in the speakers mind) . Reference is restricted by sense (e.g. "the dog" can't refer to a cat)

Reference happens in parole (language use) 

is equivalent to sense. We use it when we describe the sense of a word or phrase

Example: The intension of a bird 

[+wings] , [+feathers] , [+beak] , [+lays eggs]  

objects, that apply to the intension in principle

Example: 

doves, parrots penguins => birds 

= the set of objects to which a linguistic expression refers to

Example:

"the books" => the actual books, over there 

"books" => the set of all individual books

all associations / ideas / emotions that we link to a linguistic expression

Example: 

Coffee = plant

Coffee = a stimulant drink

method of word categorization ; takes multiple features and tries to categorize a word by them (3 features were used in the Examples)

Benefits: 

easy to understand ; easy to apply ; naturally defines relations 

Problems:

features are themselves concepts ; some objects are somehow better examples for a category 

Example:

woman: 

(+human , +female , +adult) 

girl:

(+human , +female , -adult)

man:

(+human , -female , +adult)

method of word categorization ; words are categorized by family resamblance

Example: game (tennis, soccer, roulette, candy crush)

• all of the are:
• done for entertainment
• somebody wins
• requires training or practice
• involves more than one person

Problem: not all games share all of the listed features

Solution (by Ludwig Wittgenstein): family resamblance = pairs of words (in a family) have some resamblances, but different pairs are similay in different features:

• tennis and soccer are both competitive
• tennis and solitaire are both practiced for entertainment 

members graded according to how typical they are ; Central members share many features with the prototype 

a word has multiple related meanings 

one form has multiple unrelated meanings 

Anwser: 1 and 2 and 3 = polysemy ; 3 with the other ones = homonomy

Awnsers can be subjective! ; all 4 = polysemy  can also be right 

• Homophony = same sound (=same phoneme sequence, same stress...) 
• Homography = same written form

multiple, different words have the same meaning 

on close inspection, there are no perfect synonyms, only "near-synonyms"

= substitution of a less offensive expression in place of an offensive ; subtype of synonymy

Example:

go to the toilet = use the bathroom

= are opposites, which share several componets of meaning

types of lexical opposites: 

• Gradable antonyms (gradable pairs) 
• Complementaries (complementary pairs) 
• Reversives 
• Converses

Examples:

dead - alive

big - small

= "be kind of" relation ; relation of (sub)types of objects 

Hyperonym = superordinate (type)  (e.g. color)

Hyponym = supordinate (subtype)  (e.g. red, blue, green, ...) 

= part-whole relation 

Example: 

page is a part of a book

= relations between words occuring togehter in the same sentence

= word partnerships (words that "like" to occour together) 

Example:

Tobias drinks black tea 

= connection between a lexical item and a grammatical structure ; subtype of collocation 

common collocations:

• looking forward to verb+ing (e.g. I am looking forward seeing you 
• the verb "present" + prepositional object construction (e.g. I would like to present you my project) 

some collocations can be predicted:

totally predictable collocations: 

rancid usually (exclusively) pairs with oils / butter 

less predictable collocations:

candle: burn, blow out, birthday 

unpredictable collocations:

have, be, there, ...

= meaning of a whole phrase is determined by the meaning of the components (words, morphemes) and the way they are combined

• Agent = "doers" who control the action
• Experiencers = "doers" to who the experience "simply happens" 

• Agent = "doer" who control the action
• Experiencer = "doer" to who the experience "simply happens" 
• Force / Natural Cause = non-animate (=non-alive) force which mindlessly performs the action
• Patient / Theme = entity undergoing an action 
• Beneficiary / Recipiant = element that experiences the consequences of the action
• Stimulus = entity that prompts seonsory or emotional experience 

less common roles:

• Instrument = entity used to carry out an action (e.g. wrote with a pen)
• Source = starting point of a movement, where the action originates
• Goal = end point of a movement, where the action is directed towards
• Location = place at which entity/action is located
• Path = trajectory that lies between the source and the goal
• Time = the time at which the action occurs
• Manner = the way in which an action is carried out

= words that indicate the action (verbs)

= linking of arguments to their predicate

= words that indicate the independent individuals / entities (usually nouns or nomunal pronouns) 

= the way the words are combined 

= two sentences, that share the same meaning