Here are the coverage/pointers for the final examination on Saturday:

a. definition, characteristics, properties, & functions of language

b. subfields of linguistics / topics presented (the salient points)
Note: Just review the group presentations; three questions will be asked per topic except for
phonetics where items on transcription may be up to 10. 
c. discussion/evaluation

 defined language

What is the root meaning of language?

The English word language derives ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ ǵʰwéh₂s "tongue,
speech, language" through Latin lingua, "language; tongue", and Old French language.

What is the real meaning of language?

A language is a system of communication which consists of a set of sounds and written
symbols which are used by the people of a particular country or region for talking or writing.
 characteristics & properties

Language is verbal, vocal, Language is sound

Language is an organization of sounds, of vocal symbols, the sounds some message. Speech is primary to
writing but there are several languages in the world which have no writing systems but it enjoy the
status of languages because they are spoken. Music and singing are vocal sounds but they are not
languages.

Language is a means of Communication

Language is also a means of communication non-linguistic symbols such as signals of various kinds,
traffic lights, road signs, and flags are also means of communication, but language is the best means of
self-expression. With the help of language human beings express their thoughts, desires, emotions,-
feelings, happiness, sadness then human beings store knowledge, transmit message, transfer of
knowledge and experience from one person to another, from one place to another place, from one
generation to another generation. It is language which links present, past and future together.

Language is Social Phenomenon

Human beings express their thoughts, feelings and knowledge through language. Language is the first
source of communication. For better communication system it is necessary that language should be
used in a good manner. Language has to play a good role in mass communication. With the help of
language human beings interact with each other. Language is a social institution. Language is a means of
nourishing and developing culture and establishing human relation.

From the birth of human being the evolution of language was started. Man feels the necessity of
language from the very first day. It is worthwhile to mention here if a language is not used in any
society, it dies out and on the other hand if language is used in society, it alive.
Language is non-instinctive, conventional

Every language is the gift of evolution and convention. Each and every generation transmits this
convention on to the next generation. Languages change and die, grow and expand just like the other
human institutions. Nobody gets a language in heritage; man acquires it and he has been provided with
an innate ability to acquire language.

Language is Arbitrary

By the arbitrariness of language we mean that there is no inherent or logical relation or similarity
between any given feature of language and its meaning. That is entirely arbitrary, that there is no direct,
necessary connection between the nature of things or ideas in language. There are variation in different
languages of the world and have no uniformity.

Language is Symbolic

The symbolism of language is necessary. A symbol stands for something else. It is something that serves
as a substitute. We have sounds and words as symbols.

• identified the functions of language according to Halliday’s and Jakobson’s taxonomies;

• illustrated the implication to language teaching strategies

• enumerated the theories/ hypotheses on the origin of language; &

• Sketched the history of the English language and its major changes throughout time

 defined “Global Englishes” and “World Englishes”

• determined the legitimacy of Philippine English

• sketched Kachru’s concentric circles

• Illustrated the implications to language teaching

 defined phonetics and phonology

Phonetics is the study of the production and perception of speech sounds, and phonology
concerns the study of more complex and abstract sound patterns and structures (syllables,
intonation, etc.).
Phonetics is the study of human sounds and phonology is the classification of the sounds within
the system of a particular language or languages. • Phonetics is divided into three types
according to the production (articulatory), transmission (acoustic) and perception (auditive) of
sound
What is the difference between phonetics and phonology with examples?
To sum up, we may say that Phonetics is the study of how human beings
pronounce speech sounds; on the other hand, Phonology is the study of
significant speech sounds.
...
Difference between Phonetics and Phonology.

Phonetics Phonology

Phonological units are formed Whereas phonetical units may not form
contrastively. contrastively.
 Compared and Contrast this two

• identified consonants according to place and manner of articulation; and

How are consonants classified based on place and manner of articulation?

Consonants are usually classified according to place of articulation (the location of the stricture made in
the vocal tract, such as dental, bilabial, or velar), the manner of articulation (the way in which the
obstruction of the airflow is accomplished, as in stops, fricatives, approximants, trills, taps, and laterals

• differentiated the major phonetic classes

What are major phonetic classes?

There are four major class features:

syllabic.

vocalic.

approximant.

sonorant.

What are the major sound classes in speech?

Linguists divide speech sounds into three broad categories, vowels, consonants, and glides, according to
their sonority.
...

 Vowel.

 Glide.

 Voiced consonant.

 Voiceless consonant.
• transcribed the sound segments: consonants, vowels and diphthongs

 defined morphology and morpheme;

• differentiated the free from the bound morphemes

Free and Bound Morphemes

"Free morphemes" can stand alone with a specific meaning, for example, eat, date, weak. "Bound
morphemes" cannot stand alone with meaning. Morphemes are comprised of two separate classes
called (a) bases (or roots) and (b) affixes.

What is a bound morpheme example?

By contrast to a free morpheme, a bound morpheme is used with a free morpheme to construct a
complete word, as it cannot stand independently. For example, in “The farmer wants to kill duckling,”
the bound morphemes “-er,” “s,” and “ling” cannot stand on their own.

What does bound and free mean?

Morphemes are the smallest units in a language that have meaning. They can be classified as free
morphemes, which can stand alone as words, or bound morphemes, which must be combined with
another morpheme to form a complete word.

Morphemes are the smallest units in a language that have meaning. They can be classified as free
morphemes, which can stand alone as words, or bound morphemes, which must be combined with
another morpheme to form a complete word. Bound morphemes typically appear as affixes in the
English language.

Examples of Free Morphemes

Free morphemes are considered to be base words in linguistics. Base words that can stand alone (such
as “book”) are known as free bases, while bound bases (including Latin roots like “ject”) are not
individual words in English. Most free morphemes can be modified by affixes to form complex words.
Combining two free morphemes creates a compound word (like “mailbox”), while free morphemes
modified by affixes are complex words (like “runner”).

• identified the two types of free morphemes

There are two kinds of free morphemes based on what they do in a sentence: content words and
function words.

Content Words

Free morphemes that make up the main meaning of a sentence are content words. Their parts of speech
include nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Here are some examples of content words from everyday speech.
Nouns: girl, hat, house, fire

Verbs: walk, sleep, say, eat

Adjectives: quick, nice, fun, big

These words are the most important parts of a sentence. The meaning of content words might change
when combined with other morphemes, but their free morphemes will still make up the sentence’s
content.

Function Words

Free morphemes also include function words. These words consist of articles, demonstratives,
auxiliaries, quantifiers, prepositions, pronouns, and conjunctions. Here are some examples of free
morphemes as function words.

Articles: the, a, an

Demonstratives: this, that, those, these

Auxiliary Verbs: will, is, must, does

Quantifiers: some, many, few

Prepositions: under, over, to, by

Pronouns: he, she, his, her

Conjunctions: for, and, but, or

Function words serve as a grammatical connection between content words. They are not typically
combined with affixes that change their meaning.

Examples of Bound Morphemes

Bound morphemes have no linguistic meaning unless they are connected to a root or base word, or in
some cases, another bound morpheme. Prefixes and suffixes are two types of bound morphemes.
Depending on how they modify a root word, bound morphemes can be grouped into two categories:
inflectional morphemes and derivational morphemes.

Inflectional Morphemes

This type of morpheme alters the grammatical function of a word, whether it be the verb tense,
number, mood, or another language inflection. The eight inflectional morphemes are organized by
which part of speech they modify:
Modify a Noun: -s (or -es), -'s (or s')

Modify an Adjective: -er, -est

Modify a Verb: -ed, -ing, -en

These morphemes are suffixes that change a word’s condition, but not its meaning. When they modify a
base word, the rest of the sentence may need to change for proper subject-verb agreement. Some
examples of these changes are:

girl to girls

large to larger

smart to smartest

walk to walking

eat to eaten

Derivational Morphemes

A morpheme is derivational when it changes the semantic meaning of a word. Most derivational
morphemes have roots in Greek or Latin. Unlike inflectional morphemes, derivational morphemes can
change a word’s part of speech.

Prefixes:

pre-

un-

non-

anti-

dis-

Suffixes:

-ize

-ine

-ary
-ate

-ion

How you use morphemes also depends on the sentence context. Inflectional morphemes can be used in
derivational contexts (e.g., using -er to create teach-er), which could change their classification. Here are
some examples of the ways derivational morphemes can modify base words.

re- + start = restart (to start again)

un- + happy = unhappy (not happy)

register + -ion = registration (the act of registering)

kind + ness = kindness (the condition of being kind)

• illustrated morphological processes or word- formation processes

What is word formation process with examples?

Types of Word Formation Processes

Inflection Derivation

Modifies a word to express different grammatical Changes the word class (also called parts of
categories such as tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, speech; form class; lexical class; syntactic
number, gender and case. category).

What is morphological process example?

In English affixation is the primary morphological process in constructing words. For example, the prefix
'un-' attaches to stems in such words as unbelievable or unkind. The suffix '-s' attaches to the end of
noun roots to mark plurality as in languages or bugs.

What are morphological processes?

What are two morphological processes?

Morphological Process

Affixation.

Prefixation.

Suffixation.

Circumfixation.
Infixation.

Modification.

Reduplication.