Morphology

Morphology as a subfield of linguistics studies the internal structure of words. It to describe which meaningful pieces of language can be combined to form words and the consequences of such combinations are on the meaning

or the grammatical function of the resulting word. For example, the addition of re-to wind modifies the meaning of wind. In  a certain way, and in fact, it does so in the same way when added to unite (reunite), or play· (replay).

Morphemes is the minimal unit of grammatical analysis/function.

The word “happy” is the original morpheme, with its grammatical function as an adjective. Taking the word ”unhappy” we know that it is made up of  “un+happy”, where “un” has the grammatical function of “not” (showing negation), whilst “happy” has the grammatical function of an adjective( a describing function). “happy” is the basic morpheme which can occur on its own but “un” is the added morpheme which cannot stand on its own. Such morphemes are called free and bound morphemes respectively.” Happy, live, please, and man” are free morphemes, whereas all others, “un, ness, ly,hood,dis, and ant” are all bound morphemes.

§  Allomorphs

morphemes having the same function but different form. Unlike the

synonyms they usually cannot be replaced one by the other.

(1) a. indefinite article: an orange

      a building

      b. plural morpheme: cat-s[s] , dog-s[z],  judg-es [@s]

(2) a. matk-a `mothernom’   - matek `mothersgen'  - matc-e`motherdat' - matc-in`mother's'.

·        Zero allomorphs

Zero allomorphs is the term given to the unit involved when a morpheme changes status from one type of morpheme to another without any addition or subtraction of any of its parts. Zero allomorphs is spoken of, therefore, in situation where there is no overt change in the item. It is indicated by the sign Ø. For example:

Sheep(singular)               sheep(plural)

Sheep( singular) +Ø                  sheep(plural)

A.   Inflectional and derivational morphology.

1.Inflectional is the term an affix used to change form and function only from the grammatical point with no change in part of speech of the word as seen in the paradigms below.

Walk(s)       ring(s)                   sing(s)         talk(s)

Walk(ed)      rang(‘            )      sang (‘  )      talk(ed)

Walk(ing)     ring(ing)      sing(ing)      talk(ing)

All morphemes in brackets () are bound morphemes which only have separate grammatical functions but which do not change the meaning of the original morpheme(the root). Likewise, the part of speech too remains the same (verb remains a verb,etc) the examples: “ring’!rang” and “sing’!sang” undergo what is known as suppletion.

Other common examples of inflections in English are:

Part of speech	Morpheme	function	Example
Verb:	(s) (ed) (en) (ing)	3rd person singular Present tense Past tense Past participle Progressive aspect	Proves Proved Was proving
Noun:	(s) (s)	Plural Possessive	Boys Girls
Adjective:	(er) (est)	Comparative superlative	Bigger Biggest

2.Derivations(derivational morphology)

A derivation is an affix used to change form and meaning from a lexical point with a change in part of speech sometimes as seen bin the paradigms below:

Universe (noun)              ambition(noun)                          protect(verb)

Universal(adjective)        ambitious(adjective)                  protective(adjective)

Universality(noun)           ambitiousness(noun)                 protection(noun)

University(noun)                                                              protectiveness(noun)

Other examples of derivations are:

Mis- (wrong)- misjudge, misconstrue, and misbehave

Let-(small)- booklet,rivulet

Ish-(like)- mannish, bookish

Un-(reverse,not)- undo,untrue.

Reference: A linguistic primer for Malaysian book.

phonology

What is phonology? Phonology can be described as an aspect of language that deals with rules for the structure and sequencing of speech sounds. Every language has a wide variety of speech sounds (phonemes). For example in English, the ng sound, as in ring, will never appear at the beginning of a word. Phonology rules also determine which sounds may be combined. For

example, the combination of dn will not appear in sequence in the same syllable.

What are phonological Processes?

Phonological processes are patterns of speech found in many typically developing children. For example, weak syllable deletion is when a child deletes syllables from a multisyllabic word. A child may say, nana rather than saying, banana, a child may also delete final consonants from words,

Cu for cup. Phonological processes become problematic when they do not disappear by a certain age. There is developmental data that indicates when phonological processes typically disappear. There are different norms for different processes.

What is the difference between an articulation disorder and a phonological disorder?

Most professionals characterize a child with an articulation disorder as someone who has difficulty producing a few phonemes and the child’s errors may be linked to oral motor weakness and/or normal development. A phonological disorder may be characterized as a child who has numerous phoneme errors that can usually be grouped into categories (phonological processes), and they are usually not linked to oral motor difficulties and/or normal development.

What may speech therapy be like for a child with a phonological disorder?

There are various therapy approaches for phonological disorders. One approach is to focus on the phonological processes rather than focusing

therapy on remediating errors phoneme-by-phoneme. For example, if a child presents with final consonant deletion, then all final consonants may be targeted during therapy. The goal is to teach the child that the meaning

changes when final consonants are left off. This may be done through play, using pictures, and/or using minimal word pairs. Minimal pair therapy is when you show a child two pictures representing words that differ by only one sound. If you are targeting the phonological process of final consonant deletion, then the target pictures would be one picture of an object ending in a

vowel and one picture of an object ending with a final consonant. For example, toe/toad, my/mile, ray/rain etc. The clinician would show the child the 2 pictures and ask the child to point to toe and then point to toad. The clinician would be looking to see if the child understands that the two words have different meanings. The clinician would then move on to have the child

practice saying the words appropriately.

What is phonological awareness?

Phonological awareness can be described as an understanding of the ways in which speech can be manipulated and divided into smaller parts. This includes: rhyming; segmenting words and syllables; along with blending sounds and syllables. Improving phonological awareness skills

has been shown to help with reading readiness skills and improve literacy development. If you suspect your child has a phonological disorder, you may

want to contact a speech-language pathologist for a full evaluation.

http://www.speechtherapyct.com/whats_new/phonology.pdf

phonology

phonetics

phonetics is defined as the study of the sounds of human speech using the mouth, throat, nasal and sinus cavities, and lungs and can be defined as the study of speech sounds, their production and combination, and their representation by written symbols

Analytical Areas of Phonetics

·         Auditory Phonetics: The study of speech perception and how the brain forms perceptual representations of the input it receives during the course of communication.

·         Articulatory Phonetics: The study of the positions and movements of the lips, tongue, vocal tract, and other speech organs.

·         Acoustic Phonetics: The study of the properties of the sound waves and how they are perceived by the inner ear.

An example of phonetics is how the letter "b" in the word "bed" is spoken - you start out with your lips together. Then, air from your lungs is forced over your vocal chords, which begin to vibrate and make noise. The air then escapes through your lips as they part suddenly, which results in a "b" sound.

Place of Articulation

 

·        Bilabial

 

Bilabial consonants occur when you block/constrict airflow out of the mouth by bringing your chapped and/or dry lips together*. 

English contains the following three bilabial consonants:

• /p/ as in "purse" and "rap"
• /b/ as in "back" and "cab"
• /m/ as in "mad" and "clam"

• Labio-dental

Labiodental consonants occur when you block/constrict airflow by curling your lower lip back and raising it to touch your upper row of jagged teeth*.

English contains the following two labio-dental sounds:

• /f/ as in "fro" and "calf"
• /v/ as in "vine" and "have".

• Dental

Dental consonants occur when you block/constrict airflow by placing your slimy tongue against your upper teeth*.  

English contains the following two labio-dental sounds:

• /θ/ as is "thick" and "bath"
• /ð/ as in "the" and "rather"

• Alveolar

The alveolar ridge is where your jagged teeth meet your bloody gums*.  Alveolar consonants are created when you raise your tongue to the alveolar ridge so as to block/constrict airflow.  

The English alveolar consonants are as follows:

• /n/ as in "no" and "man"
• /t/ as in "tab" and "rat"
• /d/ as in "dip" and "bad"
• /s/ as in "suit" and "bus"
• /z/ as in "zit" and "jazz"
• /l/ as in "luck" and "fully"

• Post-alveolar

When you retract your tongue back just a bit from the alveolar ridge, the sounds change enough to be recognized as distinct consonants.  

So post-alveolar consonants are those that occur when the tongue blocks/constricts airflow at the point just beyond the alveolar ridge.  The post-alveolar english consonants are as follows: 

• /ʃ/ as in "shoot" or "brash"  
• /ʒ/ as in "vision" or "measure"
• /tʃ/ as in "chick" or "match"  
• /dʒ/ as in "jam" or "badge"

• Palatal

The roof of your mouth is known as the hard palate.  You may know it as: "The place that burns like hell all day when I drink my coffee too fast."  

Palatal consonants are created here when you raise the tongue to this point so as to block/constrict airflow.  

English has only one palatal consonant: 

• /j/ as in "yes" and "bayou"

• Velar

Behind your hard palate you have the velum or soft palate.  Unlike the bony hard palate in front of it, the velum/soft palate consists of soft, mucousy tissue.  
Velar Consonants are created when you raise the back of your tongue to the velum so as to block or restrict airflow.  

English has the following velar consonants:

• /ŋ/ as in "going" and "uncle" (note that the 'n sound' in these words is NOT made at the alveolar ridge, which is why it is distinct from /n/).  
• /k/ as in "kite" and "back"
• /g/ as in "good" and "bug"
• /w/ as in "wet" and "howard"

Glottal

The glottis is made up of your two vocal folds (i.e. vocal cords), and it acts as a sort of bottle cap to your windpipe.  Inhale and then hold your breath for a few seconds while keeping your mouth open.  What you are actually doing to keep the air from expelling out of your lungs by closing your glottis.  

Glottal consonants aren't really consonants; they just play consonant roles in the language.  In English the following things happen at the glottis:

• /h/ as in "hi" and "Bahamas".  Say these words and notice how you're not really constricting or blocking airflow for this /h/ sound, you're just sort of exhaling a little bit harder than you would for a normal vowel sound in transition to the following vowel sound.
• /?/ - This is actually the culprit behind many of the "silent syllables" we discussed in the first lesson. For example, in the phrase "wha(t) time is it?" the /t/ in "what" is dropped and the vowel sound before it is closed at the glottis.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/phonetics

http://www.mimicmethod.com/place-of-articulation.html