Download Faculty of Language Studies EL120: Introduction to English

Faculty of Language Studies
EL120: Introduction to English Linguistics
Course Book
Pre-Publication Edition
Prepared by
Lewis Mukattash Najib Al-Shehabi
Hayat Al-Khatib
Edited by Leila Lakhoua
© Arab Open University 2013
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Phonetic Symbol
Consonants
Vowels
1.
pen /pen
25
2.
book /b k/
26
sea /si:/
3.
tea /ti:/
27
good /g d/
4.
did /d d/
28
food /f d/
5.
chat /
29
cup /k p/
June /d u:n/
30
car /k /
7.
kick /k k/
31
not /n t/
8.
get /get/
32
saw /s /
9.
food /fu:d/
33
attack / 't k/
10.
voice /v s/
34
bird /b d/
11.
thin /
n/
35
head /hed/
12.
this /
s/
36
cat /k t/
13.
swim/sw m/
Diphthongs
14.
zoo /zu:/
37
near /n /
15.
sheep /
38
tour /t /
39
my /m /
mman /m n/
40
toy /t /
not /n t/
41
snow /sn /
42
hair /h /
6.
16.
17.
18.
19.
t/
p/
pleasure /ple
bring /br /
/
sit /s t/
20.
how / ha /
43
now /n /
21.
leg /leg/
44
say /s /
22.
red /red/
23.
wet /wet/
24.
yes /jes/
3
Preface
This is a short introductory course which aims to:
1. introduce you to linguistics, the scientific study of language.
2. introduce you to the major aspects of language study
.
In addition to the introductory unit [Unit1], which introduces you to linguistics, this
Course Book is divided into 5major blocks reflecting levels of linguistic description.
These blocks are spread over 12 units as follows:
BLOCK UNITS
THEME/TOPIC
DETAILS
I
2-4
Phonetics
the study of the production of sounds
II
5-6
Phonology
III
7-8
Prosody
Morphology
the study and identification of significant
sounds.
Word stress
the study of word structure
IV
9-11
Syntax
the study of sentence structure
V
12
Semantics
the study of meaning
The phonetic and phonological components of the course [units 2-6] are practical in
nature where you will be trained in:
1. identifying and recognising English sounds,
2. listening to English sounds produced by native speakers of the language,
3. looking up the pronunciation of words in pronouncing dictionaries,
4. using phonetic symbols to transcribe English words, and
5. marking stress on syllables.
Of particular relevance to this component are some important online resources. These are
useful sources that you should take seriously if you want to improve your listening and
pronunciation. After all, what is the point in your getting a university degree in English
language and literature if you do not possess the necessary skills in understanding English
spoken at normal speed by native speakers as well as in speaking English with a
reasonable accent. Furthermore, the sites that you will be referred to include a wealth of
information on English sounds that constitute an integral part of this course and thus will
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be included in your mid-term and final exam. We advise you to familiarize yourself with
these sites before you go to your first tutorial.
All in all, the course is meant to prepare you to the study of more advanced language and
linguistic courses which you will be required to study in upcoming years.
The Course Guide (CG) gives you detailed information about this course:






course aims,
course description,
course structure/organization,
course assignments, tutorials, and exams,
online resources, and
course calendar.
We advise you to read the CG before you go to your first tutorial.. Of special importance
to your starting the course is to know the Course Learning/Teaching Material. Please
make sure that you receive all materials before you go to your first tutorial.
There will be a two-hour tutorial every two weeks for this course. We would like to
advise you to take an active role in these tutorials. We would also like to advise you to
make use of the office hours which your tutor will set aside for meeting with you on
individual bases to help you with the course, answer your questions, and give you
guidance in preparing your assignment.
Tutorials and office hours provide excellent opportunities for you to listen to English and
most importantly to speak it. It is your duty, therefore, to practice your English by asking
and answering questions.
This revised edition of the course was carried out with the collaboration of the following
colleagues:



Dr. Leila Lakhoua Introduction and Unit 7
Ms.Hiba Tayarra Units 2-5
Dr.ManarShalaby 8-11
Dr. Leila Lakhoua is the chief editor responsible for overall revision and proofreading.
October .2013
The new amendments in this edited version focused on the following:


Avoid overlap, repetition , redundancies and any irrelevant input
Omit the unit on Discourse as this will be dealt with in detail in further ELL
courses

Add a few concepts in the introduction
5

Simplify and clarify the main difference between derivational and inflectional
morphemes

Move the section on word formations processes from semantics to morphology
where it is more appropriate
Omit the section on tenses in Syntax 1 as this is more related to pedagogic
grammar than to linguistics and syntax
Simplify the section on finite/non finite verbs in Syntax 2
Avoid confusion with Phrasal verbs in semantics by replacing the word adverb by
particle
Change the assessment system from one TMA to two in-class quizzes
Add some useful references





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Table of Contents
Unit No & Title
Page
Preface
3
Table of Contents
6
Online Resources
7
Unit 1: Introducing Linguistics
10
Unit 2: Phonetics 1
English Sounds and Letters
Unit 3: Phonetics 2
English Consonants
Unit 4:Phonetics 3
English Vowels and Diphthongs
Unit 5: Phonology
19
Unit 6: Prosody
61
Unit 7: Morphology
71
Unit 8: Word Classes
83
Unit 9: Syntax 1
What is Syntax?
91
Unit 10: Syntax 2
Sentence Types and Classes
111
Unit 11: Syntax 3
Sentence Structures and Patterns
121
Unit 12: Semantics
140
27
43
53
149
References
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ONLINE RESOURCES
You will be regularly referred to some free online resources, particularly when learning
about English sounds.
Below are details about these sites.
1. BBC Learning English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
This is a very useful site that provides recordings of all English sounds. It also compares
sounds that are similar to each other in pronunciation. You will be frequently referred to
this site in Chapters 2-4. In fact many of the exercises and activities in these chapters are
extracted/adapted from or this site.
The following is a list of the main topics discussed and exemplified [with exercises] on
the BBC Learning English:
-
-
Introduction
Resources
The sounds of English
Radio programmes 1-3
Similar sounds
o Unit 1: Key & Pin
o Unit 2: Book & Do
o Unit 3: Door & Coat
o Unit 4: Egg, Cat & Cup
o Unit 5: Sock & Coat
Sounds and spelling
Schwa
Connected speech
2. Cambridge Dictionaries Online
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=46411&dict=CALD.
[Search in: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary]
This online dictionary gives both meaning and pronunciation [in phonetic transcription]
of words. It also shows US pronunciation in case it is different from British
pronunciation.
8
The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary(CALD)containseasy-to-understand
definitions and guidewords to help you find the meaning you want fast. It also gives the
phonetic transcription of the word you look up.
You will be using the CALD throughout this course.
At this point do not worry about the phonetic symbols [transcription] which you are not
familiar with. You will be introduced to them gradually in units 2, 3, and 4 below.
All the phonetic transcriptions used as examples in this book are extracted from this free
site. The following is an example:
phonetics
noun :
the study of the sounds made by the human voice in speech
3. English Pronouncing Dictionary
[with instant sound]
http://www.howjsay.com.
Thisis a pronouncing dictionary. All you need to do is type in the word you want to
listen to and, after clicking submit, each time the cursor (arrow) is pointed at it, you can
hear how the word is spoken by native speakers.
4. English Language Pronunciation Practice
[with Minimal Pairs and Instant Sound] :
http://www.shiporsheep.com/
This is a free online ESL pronunciation practice using minimal pairs. It contrasts over 400
pairs of English vowels and consonants used in words.
5. Phonetics: The Sounds of Spoken Language:
The University of Iowa
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#
This site, housed on the University of Iowa official site, contains an interactive diagram
of the articulatory anatomy [organs of speech] which would be necessary for units 2-4
which deal with the production of English sounds.
For each consonant and vowel there is an animated articulatory diagram showing the
place and manner of articulation.
This is done through a step-by-step description accompanied by video-audio illustration
of the sound spoken in context.
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6. Speech Internet Dictionary (SID)
www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/sid/sidhome.htm
This is useful, not as a pronouncing dictionary, but as a glossary of phonetic terms. It is
arranged alphabetically for ease of access to various phonetic terms
7. Wikipedia Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics
Wikipedia is one of the largest reference Web sites. It is a multilingualfree
contentencyclopedia . As of today there are 2,307,823 articles in English.
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UNIT 1
INTRODUCING LINGUISTICS
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. Introduction
2. What is Linguistics?
3. What is Language?
Online Resources:
1. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics
2. Cambridge Dictionaries Online:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=46411&dict=CALD
 Unit Aims
This introductory unit aims to provide in a simple manner answers to the following basic
questions about language, phonetics, and linguistics:
1. What is Linguistics?
2. What is Language?
3. What is the relationship between linguistics and other fields of study?
1. Introduction
As pointed out above, this introductory unit aims to provide you with an overall view of
the contents of this course through asking and answering some basic questions which a
layman would usually ask.
In addition to the three questions listed under Unit Aims above, this chapter will also
introduce you briefly to:
 Main branches of linguistics
2. What is Linguistics?
2.1. Defining linguistics
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Linguistics is often defined as the “scientific study of language”. But what do we mean
by the two terms „language‟ and „scientific‟?
By the term „language‟, we mean either 'human language‟ as opposed to animal
communication or a „specific language‟: English, Arabic, Chinese, etc. The two terms are
explained in upcoming sections below.
Now, what do we mean by the term „scientific‟? Do we mean that linguistics is a pure
science like chemistry or biology? The answer is no. We mean that linguists employ
scientific methods and principles in their descriptions and analyses. This means that a
linguistic description or analysis should meet certain standards. The following are the
main characteristics of a scientific approach:
1. It must be objective [not subjective]: There is no room for personal liking or
disliking; no generalizations not supported by facts; etc. Consider the following
examples:
I like French, it‟s a beautiful language!
I think Arabic is a very rich language
Chinese is a difficult language!
Is there any scientific evidence to prove the above statements?
They are based on the subjective judgment of the speaker, they are, therefore
considered as fallacies and rejected by linguistics.
2. It must be consistent: This means using the same methodology throughout; using
the same terms; using the same symbols as in any other scientific discipline.
3. It must be explicit [clear]: Terms used in the analysis/description should be
clearly defined; the method used in the analysis should be defined in a clear
manner; nothing should be left to the intelligence of the reader, etc.
4. It must be comprehensive [complete]: For example, if a linguist gives a
description of “English sounds”, he should give a description of all sounds.
5. Wherever applicable, a linguistic description should be based on concrete
evidence [proof]. For example, if we describe a dialect variation between AmE
and BE we have to produce actual recordings of authentic speakers.
In the above sense, linguistics may be described as a social or human science like
sociology and psychology.
It must be pointed out, however, that certain aspects of linguistic investigation can be
conducted in the laboratory. For example, nowadays there are different types of
equipment that can give accurate visual details about human sounds; e.g. whether they are
short or long; whether they are produced with the air going out through the mouth or
through the nose; etc.
2.2. Online resources on linguistics
The following two sites provide essential information for this unit and for forthcoming
units. The two sites are accessible free of charge:
(i) Cambridge Dictionaries Online:
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http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=46411&dict=CALD
Search in: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary [CALD].
You will be using the CALD throughout this course. At this point, you should not worry
about the phonetic symbols [transcription] that you are not familiar with. You will be
introduced to them gradually in units 2, 3, and 4 below.
The following are examples extracted from the CALD. They relate to the new terms
introduced above: linguistics, linguistic, linguist, language:
 linguistics
[noun]
the systematic study of the structure and development of language in general or of
particular languages
 linguistic
[adjective]
connected with language or the study of language:
e.g. - I'm particularly interested in the linguistic development of young children.
 linguist
[noun]
someone who studies foreign languages or can speak them very well, or someone who
teaches or studies linguistics
 language
[noun]
a system of communication consisting of sounds, words and grammar, or the system of
communication used by the people of a particular country or profession: e.g.
- She does research into how children acquire language.
- Do you speak any foreign languages?
- I'm hopeless at learning languages.
- the English language
- legal/technical language
- the language of business
(ii) Wikipedia Encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics
The following is a sample list of the contents relating to the term „English Language‟:
1. History
2. Classification and related languages
3. Geographical distribution
3.1. English as a global language
3.2. Dialects and regional varieties
3.3. Constructed varieties of English
4. Phonology
4.1. Vowels
4.2. Consonants
4.3. Supra-segmental features
5. Grammar
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6.
7.
8.
9.
Vocabulary
Writing system
Formal written English
Basic and simplified versions
Activity (1):
Look up the following words and phrases in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics
All you need to do is type the word or phrase in the search box in the left-hand column
and clicks go.
 dead language
 lingua franca
 first language
2.3. Approaches to the study of language
As pointed out above, linguists employ scientific techniques/procedures in their analyses
and investigations .In doing so, linguists adopt different approaches determined by the
objectives of their investigations/analyses of different aspects of language.
The main approach to study language is theoretical linguistics briefly described below.
1. General (or theoretical) linguistics: Language knowledge
What do we mean when we say we know a language?
1. We mean that we know the sounds that make up this language. These sounds
differ from one language to another. This is why some speakers find it difficult to
pronounce some sounds in a foreign language.
For example, Arab speakers find difficulties in pronouncing [p] often pronounced
as [b]
Do you know why?
In the same way English speakers find it hard to pronounce some Arabic sounds.
Can you mention any?
The French pronounce this and that like [zis] and [zat]. Explain why?
The branch of linguistics which studies the description of sounds is called
phonetics: which sounds make up a language and how these sounds are produced.
You will know more about phonetics in chapters2-4
2. We also know that some sound combinations are possible in one language but not
in another. For example Arabic words can end with the sound [h] , can English
words do the same? Can *nma be an English word? Can you tell why?
The branch of linguistics which studies the meaning and combination of sounds is
called Phonology. You will know more about phonology in chapter 5.
3. Once we know the sounds and how they contribute to meaning we will put them
together to make up longer meaningful units or words. The study of how words
are formed to make meaning is called Morphology. This aspect of language study
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shows how words are structured and how they can be modified by adding more
meaningful units e.gun+ kind+ness .We shall return to discuss morphology in
chapters 7 and 8
4. Now that we know how to make words we combine words together to make up
sentences. The first rule we know about the English sentence is that it has the
following word order:
My mother watered the plants .SVO
But
The my watered the plants mother* is not accepted because it breaks the
above rule
We can also make a sentence longer by adding and combining more units together
Example: The man you saw waiting for the bus yesterday and who was
wearing a kepi hat is my cousin.
The study of the internal structure of sentences is called Syntax, which will be
discussed in detail in chapters 9-11
5. Some sentences can have a good syntax i.e. the appropriate word order but they
are still unacceptable:
My little brother ate an elephant*
Can you say that? Why not?
It does not make sense!
The study of the meaning of words [ lexical semantics] and how words combine to
make meaningful sentences is called semantics. You will know more about
semantics in Unit 12.
2. Other branches of linguistics
Linguistics as a science started to be considered as a discipline in its own since
the 1950s, and it has led to many types and subdivisions of linguistic approaches
and specializations. We will focus on the three main branches which you will
study further in your ELL BA programme:
 Sociolinguistics: the study of language use in society
 Corpus Linguistics: the study of language using a computer software
 Applied Linguistics: the application of linguistic knowledge to areas like
language teaching and learning, speech therapy, dictionary making and
translation.
3. Why is language unique to humans?
Language is often defined as a human faculty [mental ability] that distinguishes human
beings from animals. This means all normal human beings have at least one language
which they use to communicate with people in their community. In fact it is claimed that
by the age of 5 or 6 all normal children will acquire [learn] a human language if they are
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exposed to that language [live with people using the language and thus continually hear
people speaking it].
Read the following hypothetical situation and answer the questions that follow:
An English child was born in China and by the age of one his [English] parents
were killed in a car accident and he was looked after by a Chinese family, who
spoke Chinese only. By the age of six, the child, whose name is Bill, was sent to
London to live with his grandparents. There he began to learn English at home
and at school.
Questions:
1. Will Bill acquire Chinese in exactly the same way as Chinese children do?
2. Will he find difficulty in learning Chinese?
3. Will he find difficulty in learning English at a later stage [at the age of six]?
4. Which of the two languages would be easier for him to use later on in his life, let
us say, by the age of 15?
Discussion:
1. Bill will acquire Chinese exactly like Chinese children because he was exposed to this
language while living with the Chinese family. In this sense, Chinese is his first (mother)
language because most children master their first [or native] language by the age of five
or six. They learn the language unconsciously through listening to it used by other people.
2. Obviously Bill acquired Chinese in a natural and unconscious way in exactly the same
way Arab children learn Arabic.
3. When Bill started learning English at the age of six, he already had in his mind the
linguistic system [rules] of the Chinese language. Therefore, he found certain English
sounds difficult because they do not exist in Chinese. He also found certain English
structures difficult to learn.
4. The answer to this question is not easy as it depends on various factors like:
 Whether or not Bill continued to use Chinese after he settled down in Britain,
 Whether he learnt to read and write Chinese.
 Whether he continued his school education in Britain, etc.
 Whether he gained a native-like competence in English; i.e. use English as a
native speaker
The conclusions to be drawn from the above discussion are:
1. A child will learn any human language to which he is exposed regardless of his
race or origin and regardless of who his parents are. If a human is not exposed to
language , he/she will not learn any language ,e.g a savage boy. Unlike animals
which learn to communicate even if left alone. Put a new born bird in a cage. Will
it sing and fly like any other bird ?
16
The answer is yes because this is innate and genetically transmitted. Whereas
human language needs a social and cultural environment to be acquired. So
language is culturally transmitted.
2. It is deduced from the above that there are as many languages as there are varied
cultures. However, animals use the same „language‟ everywhere. Does a dog bark
differently in Egypt and in Malaysia?
3. Human languages are similar because children can learn them in a natural way.
No one teaches a child to learn his first language. The child learns his first
language unconsciously through listening to other people using it and through his
mother talking to him.
4. What do languages have in common?
Despite the diversity of languages, all human languages share some universal
features:
1. All languages are made of sounds that combine together to make meaning in the
following manner:




Sounds combine together to make small units of meaning [morphemes]
Morphemes combine together to make words,
Words combine together to make phrases and clauses,
Phrases and clauses combine together to make meaningful sentences.
This explains why we describe human language as a “system of sounds and a system
of meaning".
2. All languages have rules for:


Combining sounds together to make words [phonological rules],
Combining words together to make phrases, clauses, and sentences
[syntactic rules]1.
3. All spoken languages have consonants and vowels.
4. All languages have categories like: nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.
5. In any language, there will be distinct terms for BODY, HEAD, ARM, EYES, NOSE,
and MOUTH.
6. All human languages are used for communication as shown in the following
examples:
.
17

All languages are spoken except for some dead languages like Latin.

All languages are capable of serving the communicative needs of their speakers.
There is no language that cannot express the needs of its speakers.

New vocabulary items and expressions can be added [coined] to take care of
[accommodate] new social developments [e.g. advances in sciences, economy,
industry, etc. ]; e.g. the Arabic word tilfa:z for TV.

In communication, native speakers of any language can ask questions, express
likings and dislikings, deny rumours, agree/disagree, give orders, apologize, etc.

All languages have expressions that refer to actions/events as well as to time and
place.
Activities
1. Can you think of five English sounds that exist in Arabic?
2. Can you think of two Arabic sounds that do not exist in English?
3. English has passive sentences like: The window was broken by the children. Does
Arabic have passive sentences?
4. How do you react to the following statements:
 I think the first language spoken by humans is Arabic because it is the language of
Abraham the father of Islam?!
 Germans find English easier than Turkish
 Women talk more than man?!
Do the above assumptions meet the criteria of scientificness in linguistics?
5. Rounding Up
5.1. New Terms
New terms are contained in this unit. However, the following are the basic terms which
we expect you to understand and remember.
 applied linguistics
 dead language
 linguistics, linguist, linguistic
 morpheme
 morphology
 phoneme
 phonetic transcription
 phonetics
 phonology
 phrase
 semantics
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



sociolinguistics
speech therapy/pathology
syntax
theoretical linguistics
5.2. What You Have Learnt in This Unit:
We expect you to have learnt:
 proprieties/characteristics of human language
 definition and scope of linguistic science
 language levels/components [sounds, morphemes, words, sentences, meaning]
 levels of linguistic description: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax,
semantics
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UNIT 2
PHONETICS 1
ENGLISH SOUNDS & LETTERS
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. English Letters
2. English Sounds and Letters
3. Same Letter Having Different Pronunciations
4. Same Sound Represented by Different Letters
5. Rounding Up
Online Resources:
http://www.howjsay.com
 Unit Aims
The aims of this unit are to:
1. explain to you the difference between letters and sounds,
2. show you that English sounds outnumber English letters,
3. show you how the same sound can be represented by different letters,
4. demonstrate that the same letter or letter combinations may have different
pronunciations, and
5. train you to look up the pronunciation of English words in a pronouncing
dictionary.
1. English Letters
How many letters does the English language have?Make a guess:
a. 24 letters
b. 26 letters
c. 28 letters
The correct answer is: English has 26 letters as in the following table:
Small letters
Small letters
a
n
b
o
c
p
d
q
e
r
f
s
g
t
h
u
i j k
v w x
Notes:
1. The 26 letters make what is known as the English Alphabet.
l
y
m
z
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2. Quite often each LETTER STANDS for [represents] one SOUND in speech, but, as we
shall see below, this is not always true. For example, the letter Cmay be pronounced as a
/k/ sound as in the following words: cat, cattle, crop, cart, etc. On the other hand, it may
be pronounced as a /s/ sound as in the following words: city; cinema; centre; etc. We
shall return to discuss this phenomenon below.
Questions:
1) Can you think of another letter that can stand for more than one sound?
The answer to the first question is the letter s. This letter may be pronounced as /s/: e.g.
sand; sorry; person; etc., or as /z/: e.g. has; easy; bags; etc.
.
2. English Sounds and Letters
In writing we say that a word consists of [or is made up of] letters, whereas in speech we
say that a word is made up of sounds. For example, the word laughis made up of 5
letters: l; a; u; g; h. This is not the case in speaking. This word is made up of 3 sounds
only:
 /l/
 / /
 /f/
The symbols between slant lines or slashes [/ /] above are referred to as the SOUNDS.
Sometimes square brackets [ ] are used. We return to this matter below.
The first part of this course [Units 2-4] deals with the various types of English sounds.
This is what we refer to as English Phonetics. Notice that the word phonetics is derived
from the noun phone, which means “sound”. Thus “phonetics” may be defined as the
study of the sounds of language.
Question:
Are there more SOUNDS or LETTERS in English?
The English language has more sounds than letters. As you will see in the forthcoming
units, English has 44 sounds, whereas it has 26 letters only. What does this mean?
Below is a list of what is called consonant sounds [opposite vowel sounds]. Have a quick
look at this list. If you face any difficulty in pronouncing the words used as examples,
consult: http://www.howjsay.com.As pointed out in the introductory unit above, this is a
pronouncing dictionary. All you need to do is type in the word you want to listen to and,
after clicking submit, you can hear how the word is spoken by a native speaker.
Now look at the table again and try to find answers to the question that follows it. You
will find some unfamiliar symbols in the second column, but you should not worry. You
will begin to learn these symbols gradually as you proceed through this unit and the
forthcoming units.
21
No
Sound
Symbol
Letter(s)
Example
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
/b/
/p/
/d/
/t/
/f/
/v/
/g/
b
p
d
t
f
v
g
bank
park
day
tin
fat
vase
give
8.
/k/
k
Kuwait
q
quick
c
cat
chemistry
9.
/l/
10. /m/
11. /n/
12. /s/
13. / /
ch
l
m
n
s
j
14. /z/
z
zoo
/
s
leisure
/r/
/h/
/j/
/w/
/ /
/ /
/ /
/ /
r
h
y
w
th
ng
ch
rat
hat
yes
win
this
thin
bang
cheap
24. / /
sh
sheep
15. /
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
late
man
night
sin
judge
Additional Remarks
The letter G is sometimes pronounced as
/ /as in the first sound in giant
The letter x represents two sounds
/k/+/s/.
This sound can be represented by a
combination of two letters:dg as in judge
The /z/ sound can be represented by the
letter S as in the word bags.
This sound can be represented by the
letter Gas in beige [name of colour].
Ch can also represent the /k/sound as in
chemist.
This sound is sometimes represented by
the letter Sas in the first sound in sugar
and sure.
22
Question:
What is the difference between the sounds in the shaded part of the above able (nos: 2024) and those in the non-shaded part (nos. 1-19)?
The answer to this question is this:
The sounds in the shaded portion are commonly represented by a combination of letters,
that is to say they are not represented by a single letter:
1. / / and / / [t + h]: this ; thin
2. / / [c+ h] : chimney, church
3. / / [ s + h] : shirt ; wash
4. / / [n + g ]: sing; singing
If we look again at the above table, we observe that:
1. Some letters commonly stand for a certain sound. For example, the letter k
usually stands for the sound /k/. The same is true of the letters: b, l, and m.2
2. Some letters may be pronounced in more than one way. For example, the letter
s may stand for the sound /s/ as in sat, slim, kicks, etc., but it also stands for the
sound /z/ as in the following words; has; bags; etc.
3. There are certain consonant sounds in English that have no single letter to stand
for them. They are represented by a combination of two consonants as we have
seen above. For example, the sound / /,which is similar to the first sound in the
Arabic name Thabet, is generally represented by the two letters th as in the first
sound in the following words: thin, think, thing.
The conclusion to be drawn from this section is that there is no one-to-one
correspondence between letters and sounds in English.
Question:
Is there a one-to-one correspondence [agreement] between a letter and its sound in
Arabic?
3. Same Letter Having Different Pronunciations
The following table shows examples of letters and letter combinations that have
different ways of pronunciation in speech. We have referred to this phenomenon above.
Letter(s)
Sound
examples
c
/k/
/s/
cat
city
2
Remarks
consonant letters
Notice, however, that the letters k and b may be sometime silent [not pronounced] as in the following two
examples: knight ; lamb.
23
s
g
th
ch
slim
sugar
dolls
pleasure
give
giant
thin; Thursday
then; there
chemist
cherry
/s/
/ /
/z/
/ /
/g/
/ /
/ /
/ /
/k/
/ /
combination of
consonant sounds
Note:
Like the consonant letters in the above table, some vowel letters [like o; e; u; etc.] are
also pronounced in more than on way, depending on context. We shall return to discuss
vowel sounds in Unit 3 below.
4. Same Sound Represented by Different Letters
We have seen above several examples where the same letter or letter combination is
pronounced as different sounds in speech.
In this section we shall look at the letter-sound relationship from the opposite direction,
namely the representation of SOUNDS by LETTERS.
Generally speaking, a sound is represented by the same letter in all cases in which it
occurs. For example, the sound /b/ is generally represented by the letter b. There are,
however, several sounds that do not have a single [or unique] letter representation. The
following two tables show examples of sounds that are represented by different letters or
letter combinations. The first table deals with CONSONANT sounds whereas the second
deals with VOWEL sounds.
We shall discuss the difference between CONSONANTS and VOWELS in Unit 2 below.
For the time being, it is useful to remember that out of the 26 letters in the English
Alphabet, only five are vowel letters. These are: a, e, o, i , u.
4.1. Vowels and Consonants: sounds and letters
(i) Vowels: sounds and letters
Sound
Letter & Letter
Combination
examples
/i:/
e
he
Remarks
Vowel sound represented by
different vowel letters and
24
i
police
different combinations of vowel
letters
ea
sea
ee
seek
ei
receive
ey
key
ie
grief
(ii)Consonants: sounds and letters
Sound
Letter
&
Letter Combination
Examples
Remarks
/f/
f
ff
ph
gh
s
c
sc
ss
t
tt
d
k
c
ch
ck
q
sh
s
ss
z
s
ch
t
tch
fat
effort
photo
enough
sat
cinema
scene
class
tent
attain
walked
keep
cattle
mechanic
back
queen
shame
sugar
mission
zero
boys , rose
cheese, China
picture, lecture
Match, watch
consonant sounds
represented by different
consonant letters or
different combinations
of consonant letters
/s/
/t/
/k/
/ /
/z/
/ /
25
Exercise (1)
The letter combination ch can be pronounced as either /k/ or / /. In which word is the
letter combination pronounced differently? If uncertain, check the pronouncing dictionary
mentioned at the beginning of this unit.
1. chest; 2. chimney; 3. chair ; 4. channel; 5. challenge; 6. cherry; 7. cheese; 8. chorus.
Exercise (2)
Match the sounds of the underlined letters in the first column with the sounds in the
second column. Remember that, as pointed out above, some letters are silent; i.e. they are
not pronounced. The letter k in the word knight is a silent letter. If uncertain about the
pronunciation of some words, check the pronouncing dictionary mentioned at the
beginning of this unit.
1. watches
2. walked
3. smiled
4. write
5. paints
6. cereals
7. half
8. cough
9. tools
10. caught
/t/
/r/
/z/
/s/
/zero/ [not pronounced, silent letter]
/f/
/d/
/l/
5. Rounding Up
5.1. New Terms
 consonant
 correspondence between letters and sounds
 letter
 letter combination
 phonetic symbol
 phonetics
 silent letter
 sound
 vowel
5.2. What You Have Learnt in This Unit
In this unit, you have learnt that:
 English letters are different from English sounds,
 English sounds outnumber English letters,
 the same sound can be represented by different letters,
 the same letter or letter combinations may have different pronunciations,
 phonetics is the study of the sounds of language, and
26

the English alphabet consists of 26 letter: 5 vowel letters and 21 consonant
letters.
5.3. Answer Key
Ex. 1: The odd word is chorus
Ex. 2: 1. /z/ ; 2. /t/; 3. /d/ ; 4. /r/ ; 5. /s/ ; 6. /s/ ; 7. zero ; 8. /f/ ; 9. /z/ ; 10. /t/
27
UNIT 3
PHONETICS 2
ENGLISH CONSONANTS
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. Revisiting Sounds & Letters
2. Organs of Speech
3. Consonants: Manner of Articulation
4. Consonants: Place of Articulation
5. Rounding Up
Online Resources:
- BBC Learning English.http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
- Cambridge Learner's Dictionary: http://dictionary.cambridge.org
- Pronouncing Dictionary: http://www.howjsay.com:
- Speech Internet Dictionary: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/sid/sidv.htm.]
 Unit Aims
This unit aims to:
1. explain to you how speech sounds are produced,
2. show you the differences between consonants and vowels,
3. explain to you the manner in which consonants are produced,
4. explain to you the place at which consonants are produced,
5. give you more training in sound recognition and in phonetic transcription, and
7. acquaint you with the terms that are used in describing consonants.
1. Revisiting Sounds and Letters
As pointed out in the preceding unit, phonetics(from the Greek word phone =
sound/voice) deals with the study and description of human sounds; sounds which we
make when we speak our first language or a foreign language.
 Phonetics
,
- fundamental branch of Linguistics, is the study of the sounds made by the human voice
in speech.
 Linguistics
- (also linguistic science)is often defined as the scientific study of language.
28
Reminder:
As pointed out in Unit 1 above,
(i)
This course is primarily concerned with how and where speech sounds are
produced by the organs of speech; i.e. Articulatory Phonetics.3
(ii)
When we refer to writing, we say that words consist of letters, whereas when
we talk about the spoken language, we say that words consist of sounds.
Letters on their own do not have meanings. The following letters have no meaning
whatsoever: t, d, q, etc.4
However, although letters have no meaning on their own, when they combine with each
other, they make words that have meanings: e.g. r + a + t = rat.
Now, if we replace the first letter in this word by another letter, the meaning of the word
changes as in the following examples:
FIRSTLETTER
REPLACED
1
2
3
Word
by one letter
r
c
f
h
s
m
b
ch
th
a
t
rat
cat
fat
hat
sat
mat
bat
chat
that
by 2 letters having
one sound
Similarly, if we replace the last letter in this word [rat] by another letter, the meaning of
the word changes as in the following examples:
FINALLETTER
REPLACED
by one letter
3
1
2
3
WORD
r
a
t
m
n
g
k
rat
ram
ran
rag
rak
The adjective articulatory is derived from the verb articulate, which means to express ideas and
meanings in words [i.e. speech]; articulationmeans way of pronouncing words.
4
However, one letter has meaning when it stands alone. This is the letterI. [corresponding to plural pronoun
we].
29
y
w
sh
ck
ng
by 2 letters having one
sound
ray
raw
rash
rack
rang
Activity (1):
Check the pronunciation of the words in the above two tables in the English Pronouncing
Dictionary: http://www.howjsay.com
Activity (2):
Copy the phonetic transcription for the words listed in the above two tables from the
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary [CALD]
http:// dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=46411&dict=CALD.
Like letters, sounds have no meaning on their own. However, when they combine
together to form words, they become significant; that is to say, if we replace one sound by
another, the meaning is changed.
Study the words in the following table and see how the meaning of the word is changed if
the middle sound in the word is replaced by another. Note that the middle sounds in the
words listed in the table below are vowel sounds.
1
/h/
SOUNDS
2
/ /
/ /
/i:/
/ /
/ /
/ /
/ /
Word
3
/t/
Phonetic
Transcription
hit
hat
heat
hot
hut
heart
hurt
Activity (3):
Link to: BBC Learning English and listen to the seven vowel sounds in the above
table.http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
Follow the following steps:
Step 1: CLICK ON: The Sounds of English
Step 2: CLICKON: Sound Symbol Chart [Chart pops up]. The chart contains the
symbols representing all English sounds [phonemic alphabet].
30
Step 3: CLICKON: the phonetic symbol to hear the sound it represents.
Exercise (1) [from: BBC Learning English]
Look at the words below and put them into the correct column based on thenumber of
sounds each word has.Note thatthe number of letters and the number of sounds is always
different in these words.
No
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
Word
horse
caught
cow
carrot
heart
through
island
know
chemist
singer
judge
daughter
business
treasure
thorough
enough
knowledge
singing
thinking
door
sugar
cupboard
more
laugh
check
2 sounds
3 sounds
Check your answers at:BBC Learning English.
See:Pronunciation Exercise: Sounds and s pelling
4 sounds
5 sounds
6 sounds
31
2. Organs of Speech
Link to: The University of Iowa
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#
This is a very useful and interesting free site that contains an interactive diagram of the
articulatory anatomy [organs of speech] which is necessary for this section.
There is also an animated articulatory diagram, a step-by-step description, and videoaudio of the sound [spoken in context] for each consonant and vowel.
Although this site deals with the sound of American English, it is very useful as it will
give you a step-by-step description of how each vowel and consonant is produced.
It also shows both the place and manner of articulation for each sound.
2.1. Introductory notes
You know how to produce letters; you simply write them down on a peace of paper or on
a board or on your pc. But do you know how you produce speech sounds? The following
section provides an answer to this question.
Speech sounds are produced by air coming from the lungs and passing through the mouth
or through the nose. When air [the flow of breath] is pushed out of the lungs, it goes
through the wind pipe on its way out of the mouth or the nose.
We make speech sounds when we modify the air flow [or airstream] passing through the
mouth or nose by moving the tongue and other organs (e.g. lips) in and around the
mouth. The muscles and organs that take part in producing sounds are called organs of
speech.
1.2. Vocal tract
The term vocal tract refers tothe cavities in the head and neck associated with the
production of speech. These are:
- the oral cavity,
- the nasal cavity and
- the pharynx.
The following are the major/main organs of speech [ in addition to the lungs].
Link to: Phonetics: The Sounds of Spoken Language: The University of Iowa:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#. Click: Articulatory Anatomy. This
will show you an interactive diagram comprising all organs of speech.Do not feel upset if
32
you do not know the pronunciation or the meaning of some terms. Just try to have an
overall view of what is called the vocal tract.
1. Windpipe [Trachea]: It is the tube which carries air out from the lungs to the larynx
and the vocal tract [see below]. In breathing it carries the air that has been breathed in
from the upper end of the throat to the lungs:
2. The Larynx
: The larynx is known as Adam‟s apple or “voicebox”.
It is a box-like organ that is placed at the top of the wind pipe. The chief importance of
the larynx in speech is that it contains the vocal cords [see below].
3. Vocal Cords: They are a pair of folds [muscles] placed inside Adam‟s apple. Their
edges move quickly backwards and forwards and produce sound when air from the lungs
moves over them. Sounds produced when the vocal cords are vibrating are so-called
voiced sounds, as opposed to those in which the vocal cords are apart, which are said to
be unvoiced or voiceless sounds.
4. The Pharynx
: The Pharynx is the soft part at the top of the throat
which connects the mouth and nose to the larynx .
5. Oral Cavity [mouth]: The mouth contains the following organs that play an important
role in modifying the passage of the air flow coming from the lungs.
(i) The Tongue: active articulator
The tongue is the most important organ of speech because it can perform many
movements that modify the air flow and thus produce different sounds. It is very flexible:
it can be raised or lowered at different points: front part, centre, back part. This is why it
is called active articulator Different parts of the tongue articulate against other organs of
speech in the oral cavity: lips; upper teeth; different parts of the roof of the mouth. For
purposes of describing sounds the tongue is divided into five points/parts [when the
tongue is in rest position and the jaw is closed]:
 Tip
 Blade: lies below the alveolar ridge
 Front : lies below the hard palate
 Back: lies under the velum
 Root: the farthest point from the tip.
Any of these points can be moved to modify the air stream passage thus producing
different sounds.
(ii) Roof of the Mouth: passive articulator
The tongue may be raised towards different points in the roof of the mouth. This
movement modifies the air stream and thus controls the quality of the sound produced.
For purposes of describing sounds, the roof of the mouth is divided into three parts: point
at which the tongue articulates
 The alveolar ridge: immediately behind the upper front teeth
 The hard palate : the area behind the alveolar ridge
33
 The velum [or soft palate]: the back part of the roof of the mouth
 The uvula: a small soft muscle dangling from the velum
The roof of the mouth is fixed, the different parts do not move, this is why it is called
passive articulator
(iii) The Lips
Like the tongue, the lips play an important role in modifying and controlling the air flow:
they can be closed, spread, or rounded. These different shapes/positions of the lips greatly
affect the quality of the sound produced.
6. The Nasal
Cavity: The nasal cavity extends from the upper part of the
pharynx to the nostrils [nose openings]. When the velum [soft palate] is lowered, the
airstream can pass through the nose producing nasal sounds like /m/ and /n/.
Important Note:None of the speech organs is used exclusively for the production of
sounds; they have more basic functions as in the case of animals.
2.3. How do phoneticians describe sounds?
A phonetician is a person who studies and describes human sounds. But how does he do
that? In articulatory phonetics the phonetician describes HOW [Manner] & WHERE
[Place] the sound is made by the organs of speech described above. We shall return to
discuss the manner and place of articulation in Section 3 and Section 4 below
respectively. Before moving to discuss those two aspects, it is necessary to distinguish
between too major classes of sound, namely: (i) consonants, and (ii) vowels as well as
between (i) active articulators, and (ii) passive articulators.
(i)
Consonants
Consonants are pronounced by stopping the air from flowing freely through the mouth,
e.g. by closing the lips or touching the teeth with the tongue. For example, in producing
the following sounds the air is stopped completely by the two lips then released quickly:
/b/; /p/; /m/. Section 4 and Section 5 below present a detailed discussion of English
consonant sounds.
(ii) Vowels
:
A vowel is a speech sound produced when the air flows out through the mouth without
being blocked by the teeth, tongue or lips. The middle sounds in the following words are
vowel sounds: teach; books; pool; sun. Unit 4 below deals exclusively with the
description
and
classification
of
vowel
sounds
in
English.
 Active and Passive Articulators:
It is important to note that two articulators [organs] are generally involved in the
production of sounds: an active articulator and a passive articulator. It is the active
member that moves towards the passive one.
34
For example, when a certain part of the tongue is raised towards the roof of the mouth,
the tongue is the active articulator and the roof of the mouth the passive one.
3.Consonants: Manner of Articulation
Phoneticians recognize 24 English consonant sounds. These are divided into seven
classes according to the manner in which they are produced:
1. Stop/Plosive [6 sounds] p.b.t.d.k,g
2. Fricative [9 sounds], f, v, , ,s ,z, , , h
4. Nasal [3 sounds] m, n, / /
5. Approximant [or glide] [2 sounds] w, j
6. Lateral approximant[1 sound] l
7. Trill [1 sound] r
Below is a description with examples of these seven classes.
Link to: The University of Iowa: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# to see
how consonants are produced.
1. Stop/Plosive [6 sounds]
Stops or plosive sounds are produced when the air stream is completely stopped at certain
points in the vocal tract. In such a case there is a complete closure of two articulators. For
example in the production of the sounds /p/ and /b/, the two articulators [i.e. the upper
lip and the lower lip] are completely closed for a moment, then after air pressure builds
up, the airstream is released causing some sort of explosion.
There are other points of “closure” in the vocal tract, which result in producing other
consonant stops/plosives.
Question:
In English, there are six stop/plosive consonants. Can you list them?
2. Fricative [9 sounds]
In the production of fricative consonants there is no complete closure of the air passage; it
is rather narrowed so the air rubs against the organs of speech. This results in some
friction. e.g.
 When you rub your hands together, you can hear the friction.
For example, in producing the two sounds /f/ and /v/, the lower lip rubs against the upper
teeth, but notice that the airstream is not blocked or obstructed as in the case of
stops/plosives.
Questions:
35
1. There are other points in the vocal tract where fricative consonants are produced. In
fact there are 9 fricative consonants in English. Can you name two of them?
2. Which of the following two groups of sound contains fricative sounds and which has
stops/plosives?
1. /t/; //k/; /g/
2. /s/; /z/; / / [as in the first sound inshine]; / / [as in the first sound in these]
3. Affricate [2 sounds]
There are two affricate consonants in English. These are:

/ / as in the first and last sounds in the word church

/ / as in the first and last sounds in the word judge
/, and
In the production of these two sounds there is first a total closure [obstruction] of the
airstream and then it is allowed to pass out through a narrow passage, but it does so
slowly and not suddenly as in the case of stops/plosives. In other words, the production of
affricate consonants resembles the production of both (i) stops/plosives and (ii) fricatives.
3. Nasal
[3 sounds]
There are three nasal consonants in English:

/m/ as in the first and final sound in the word mum

/n/ as in the first and final sound in the word nine

/
/
as in the final sound in the word sing
In the production of nasal consonants, the soft palate is lowered so that the airstream
flows out through the nose [because the oral cavity is closed]. Sounds produced in this
manner are thus called nasal sounds.
5. Approximant [or glide] [2 sounds]
There are two approximant sounds in English:

/j/ as in the first sound in the word yesterday

/w/as in the first sound in the word water
In the production of these sounds the active articulator moves close towards the passive
articulator but without a point of contact. In other words, there is no closure; the air glides
in the space left [without friction]. The verb glide means „to move easily without stopping
and without effort or noise.‟
36
Question:
Which part of the tongue moves close to the roof of the mouth in the production of the
sound /j/? Check your answer in Section 4 below.
 Lateral
Approximant [1 sound]
The term “lateral” means relating to the sides of the tongue. This refers to the production
of the sound /l/ which begins and ends the word lull
where the air flows through
the two sides of the tongue.
7. Trill
[1 sound]:
A trill consists of a series of rapid closures between two articulators. There is one trill
sound in English, the alveolar [r] as in the second sound of the word trill.
Now study carefully the following table and see how the 24 consonant sounds are
grouped according to the manner in which they are articulated.
Consonants: Manner of Articulation
1. Stop/Plosive
p
2. Fricative
f
b
t
v
d
k
g
s
z
h
3. Affricate
4. Nasal
5. Approximant
m
n
w
j
6. Lateral
approximant
l
7. Trill
r
4. Consonants: Place of Articulation
Link to: The University of Iowa: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# to see
where in the vocal tract consonants are produced.
As pointed out above, consonants are described according to two parameters:
(i) Manner of Articulation, which we discussed in Section 3 above
37
(ii) Place of Articulation, which we shall discuss in this section.
A place of articulation refers to the point at which the two articulators meet or come
close to each other. Below is a list of the major points at which articulators meet to
produce English consonants. Obviously there are many other points where articulators
meet to produce consonants of other languages like the sound /X/ in Arabic as in the first
sound in the word Khalil.
1. Bilabial [the two lips]:
The two articulators that take part in producing bilabial sounds are the two lips.
Examples of bilabial sounds are: /p/; / b/; /m/.
2. Labiodental[lip and teeth]:
The active articulator is the lower lip and the passive articulator is the upper front teeth.
Labiodental sounds in English are are: /f/ and / v/.
3. Labial-velar [or Labio-Velar]:
In the production of labio-velar sounds, there are simultaneous strictures [closure of the
two organs at the same time] at the lips and between the back of the tongue and the soft
palate. The sound /w/ is labio-velar. See also the term Velar below.
4. Dental[dentl]:
The active articulator is the tongue tip and the passive articulator is the upper front
teeth. Dental English sounds are: /θ/ [the first sound in thick] and /ð/ [the first sound in
that].
5. Alveolar[ælviəʊlə]:
The active articulator is the tip or blade of the tongue and the passive articulator is the
alveolar ridge. Alveolar sounds in English are: /t/; /d/; /n/; /s/; /z/; /l/; /r/.
6. Post-alveolar:
The active articulator is the blade of the tongue, and passive articulator is the back part
of the alveolar ridge. Post-alveolar sounds in English are: /ʃ/ and /ʒ/.Post-alveolar
consonants are sometimes classed as Palato-alveolar.
7. Palatal:
The active articulator is the front of the tongue and the passive articulator is the hard
palate. The sound/ j/ as in the first sound in the word yesterdayis a palatal consonant
.
8. Velar/vi:l /:
The active articulator is the back of the tongue and the passive articulator is the soft
palate. The following are the velar sounds in English: /k/; /g/; /ŋ/.
9. Glottal[ɡlɒtl]:
38
The articulators that take part in producing glottal sounds are the vocal cords. The
sound /h/ is an example of a glottal sound. Remember that the adjective 'glottal' is
derived from the noun 'glottis', which is the opening between the vocal cords.
Reminder: Received Pronunciation [RP]:
Received Pronunciation refers to an accent of British English. RP has been thought to be
a high prestige accent, though less so in recent times. It is the accent which is most
frequently used as a model for teaching English as a second or foreign language. [from
Speech Internet Dictionary: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/sid/sidr.htm].
The following table shows the distribution of the 24 English consonants used in the
Received Pronunciation [RP] of British English according to the place of articulation.
Study it carefully and then do the activities and exercises that follow.
Bilabial
Place &
Manner
1. Stop/ plosive
Labio- LabioDental Alveolar
dental velar
p b
t d
s z
f v
2. Fricative
PostPalatal Velar
alveolar
Glottal
k g
h
3. Affricate
m
4. Nasal
n
w
5. Approximant
j
6. Lateral
approximant
l
7. Trill
r
[w]
Activity (4):
In the table below, provide two extra examples of words for each of the consonant sounds
listed in the table. The first sound /p/ is done for you.
No
Symbol
Example (1)
Example (2)
Example (3)
pot
park
1.
/p/
pit
2.
/b/
bit
3.
/t/
tin
4.
/d/
din
5.
/k/
cut
39
6.
/g/
gut
7.
/ /
cheap
8.
/ /
jeep
9.
/m/
map
10.
/n/
nap
11.
/ /
bang
12.
/f/
fat
13.
/v/
vat
14.
/ /
thin
15.
/ /
then
16.
/s/
sap
17.
/z/
zap
18.
/ /
she
19.
/ /
measure
20.
/h/
ham
21.
/w/
we
22.
/r/
run
23.
/j/
yes
24.
/l/
left
Exercise (2):
Write the manner and place of articulation of the RP consonants in the table below. Also
indicate whether the sound is voiced or voiceless.
40
Reminder:As pointed out above, in the production of voiced sounds like [b], the vocal
cords are vibrating whereas in the production of voiceless sounds, they are not.The first
sound is done for you.
No
Sound
Symbol
Example
Voicing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
/f/
/v/
/s/
/z/
fine
verb
sit
zoo
wish
voiceless
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
/ʃ/
/ /
/θ/
/ð/
/p/
/b/
/t/
/d/
/k/
/g/
/tʃ/
/dʒ/
/m/
/n/
/ŋ/
/l/
/h/
/r/
/j/
/w/
measure
thin
there
pin
/box/
master
drive
catch
bigger
watch
bridge
swim
name
sing
low
happy
read
yet
water
5. Rounding Up
5.1. New Terms
 Active articulator
 Affricate
 Alveolar
 Approximant
 Articulation/Articulator
 Articulatory phonetics
Place of
Articulation
labiodental
Manner of
Articulation
fricative
41















Bilabial
Dental
Fricative
Glottal
Labio-dental
Labio-velar
Lateral approximant
Manner of articulation
Nasal
Palatal
Passive articulator
Received Pronunciation [RP]
Place of articulation
Post-alveolar
Stop/plosive
 Trill
 Velar
 Voiced /Voiceless
5.2. What You Have Learnt in This Unit
In this unit, you have learnt:
 how speech sounds are produced,
 the differences between consonants and vowels,
 the manner in which consonants are produced (manner of articulation),
 the place at which consonants are produced (manner of articulation),
 to look up the pronunciation of words as well us to transcribe them, and
 the terms that are used in describing consonants.
5.3. Answer Key
Ex(2)
No
Consonant
Example
Voicing
Place of
Articulation
Manner of
Articulation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
/f/
/v/
/s/
/z/
fine
verb
sit
zoo
wish
voiceless
voiced
voiceless
voiced
voiceless
labiodental
labiodental
alveolar
alveolar
palato-alveolar
fricative
fricative
fricative
fricative
fricative
measure
voiced
palato-alveolar
fricative
thin
there
happy
voiceless
voiced
voiced/
voiceless
dental or interdental
dental or interdental
glottal
fricative
fricative
fricative
6.
7.
8.
9.
/ʃ/
/ʒ/
/θ/
/ð/
/h/
42
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
/p/
/b/
/t/
/d/
/k/
/g/
18.
19.
20.
21.
/tʃ/
/dʒ/
/m/
/n/
/ŋ/
/l/
22.
23.
24.
/r/
/j/
/w/
17.
pin
/box/
master
drive
catch
bigger
watch
voiceless
voiced
voiceless
voiced
voiceless
voiced
voiceless
bilabial
bilabial
alveolar
alveolar
velar
velar
palato-alveolar
plosive
plosive
plosive
plosive
plosive
plosive
affricate
bridge
voiced
palato-alveolar
affricate
swim
name
sing
low
voiced
voiced
voiced
voiced
bilabial
alveolar
velar
alveolar
read
yet
water
voiced
voiced
voiced
voiceless
alveolar
palatal
labio-velar
nasal
nasal
nasal
lateral
approximant
trill
approximant
approximant
43
UNIT 4
PHONETICS 3
ENGLISH VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. Defining Vowel Sounds
2. Classes of Vowel Sounds
3. Short Vowels
4. Long Vowels
5. Diphthongs
6. Rounding Up
Online Resources:
- BBC Learning English.http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
- Cambridge Learner's Dictionary: http://dictionary.cambridge.org
- Pronouncing Dictionary: http://www.howjsay.com:
- Speech Internet Dictionary: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/sid/sidv.htm.
 Unit Aims
This unit aims to:
1. define vowel sounds,
2. explain to you how vowel sounds are produced,
3. describe and classify vowel sounds in English,
4. give you more training in sound recognition and in phonetic transcription, and
5. acquaint you with the terms that are used in describing vowels.
1. Defining Vowel Sounds
A Vowel sound has three characteristics/qualities:
1. Unlike consonants sounds, which can be voiced or voiceless, vowel sounds
are commonly voiced.
2. A vowel occupies the nucleus of a syllable. [See Unit 5 below]
3. In the production of vowel sounds there is no complete closure and no
stricture [narrowing] close enough to cause friction [as in the case of
consonants]. In other words, in producing vowel sounds the airstream passes
out freely through the vocal tract.
44
Although there are only 5 vowel letters5 in the English Alphabet, phoneticians recognise,
as we shall see in this section, over 20 significant vowel sounds in speech.
Now let us return to the concept of “significant sound” , which we mentioned above.
What do we mean by it? A significant sound: is a sound that changes the meaning of the
word if it is used instead of another sound as in the following examples which we repeat
from Unit 3 above for convenience.
SOUNDS
2
1
/h/
/ /
/ /
/i:/
/ /
/ /
/ /
/ /
Word
3
/t/
Phonetic
Transcription
hit
hat
heat
hot
hut
heart
hurt
Sounds that affect meaning in words are called phonemes. All the vowel sounds in the
above table are phonemes: / /; / /; /i:/; / /; /; / /; / /. So we need to correct the
statement about the number of vowel sounds in English. It should read like this: English
has over 20 vowel phonemes [not vowel sounds].
Question: How can five letters give us over 20 vowel phonemes?
The answer to this question is very simple. First, the same letter may be pronounced in
different ways, depending on the phonetic context in which it occurs. For instance, the
letter U is pronounced in at least six different ways as in the examples in the following
table:
No
5
Sound
1.
Where ? / Context
medial sound
Example
hut
2.
initial sound
unit
3.
initial sound
upon
4.
initial sound
urgent
5.
medial sound
full
6.
medial sound
junior
The five vowel letters in English are: a, e, i, o, u.
Transcription
/ h t/
45
Secondly, the same vowel letter, for example the letter O, may combine with other vowel
letters to form different vowel phonemes as in the examples in the following table;
No
Letter(2)
o
foot
/u/
2.
o
food
/u:/
3.
o
door
4.
u
founder
5.
u
four
6.
u
soup
7.
u
tourism
8.
a
road
9.
a
board
10.
i
boil
11.
i
coiffure
1.
Letter(1)
o
Example
Sound
Transcription
/au/
/u:/
The examples in the preceding tables show that:
1. A vowel letter may have different pronunciations.
2. The same combination of two vowel letters (e.g. o + u) may have different
pronunciations.
The above facts explain why we have more vowel sounds than vowel letters in English.
Note: The following two symbols /u/and
refer to the same sound as in foot.
2. Classes of Vowel Sounds
In this section and the upcoming two sections we consider:
 how vowel sounds are produced,
 how they can be described, and
 how they are commonly classified.
2.1. IPA Chart
Our starting point for the discussion of how vowel sounds are made is the IPA Chart.
The abbreviation IPA stands for the International Phonetic Association or for
International Phonetic Alphabet.
46
The IPA Chart is a “reference chart” which phoneticians use to describe the sounds of
human languages. The points on the IPA are standard points according to which all vowel
sounds in any human language can be described.
IPA vowel chart
Central
Front
/i/ hit
/i:/ heat
High
/e/ bed
Mid
Low
/æ/ cat
Back
/u/ book
/u:/ good
Rounded
/ə/ above /o/ hot
/  :/ girl /ɔ:/ floor
/ʌ/ but
/a:/ star
The chart above represents the production of the most common English vowel sounds.
Vowels are produced in a relatively small area of the mouth. The tongue and the lips play
an important role in producing vowel sounds:
(i) The tongue may be further to the front or to the back of the mouth or in the
centre of the mouth
(ii) The tongue may be very high or very low in the mouth, or midway between
high or low.
( iii)The lips may be rounded or unrounded in the production of vowel sound
Rounded vowels mean that the lips take a rounded shape in the production of
those sounds. All the remaining vowels are unrounded [ lips spread.]
(iv)The colon [:] after a vowel indicates that the vowel is long
Vowels can thus be classified according to:
(i)
Tongue height in the mouth:
This refers the position of the highest point of the tongue in forming the vowel and here
phoneticians distinguish three positions:
 High: It is close to the roof of the mouth, as for [i:] in seen , i.e. with the
tongue as near the roof of the mouth as it can get without causing friction, or
47


Low: It is open as for [
] as in farm[with the tongue as low in the mouth
and the jaws as wide open as possible; or
Mid: It is intermediate [half-close or half-open] between these two as for [
] in bird
(ii)
Tongue position in the mouth:
This refers to how far forward or back the highest point of the tongue is. It can be :
 Front - corresponding to a palatal consonant - such as [i:] in seen,
 Back - corresponding to a velar consonant - such as [ ] in pool ; or
 Central, like the [
] sound in English bird .
(iii)
Lips position (or shape):
Here two major positions are recognised:
 Rounded : as in the vowel sound in horse [ ]
 Unrounded [or spread]: as in the vowel sound in ship [ ].
Thus, for example, we could describe the English /i:/ as in sleep as: High [or Close];
Front; and Unrounded.
Vowel sounds are further classified according to whether they are:
 Short, or
 Long, or
 Diphthong
3. Short and Long Vowels
There are 7 short vowel sounds in RP as in the following table:
symbol
FRONT
example
CENTRAL
symbol
example
BACK
symbol
Example
above
ship
head
foot6
U
cup
sock
hat
There are 5 long vowel sounds in RP as in the following table:
FRONT
symbol
6
example
CENTRAL
symbol
This symbol is also used for this sound:
example
BACK
symbol
Example
48
sheep
cool
BIRD
horse
farm
Link to: The University of Iowa : http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# to
see how short vowels are produced.
Activity (1):
Link toBBC Learning Englishand listen to the above vowel sounds
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
Follow the following steps:
 Step 1: CLICK ON: The Sounds of English
 Step 2: CLICKON: Sound Symbol Chart [Chart pops up].
 Step 3: CLICKON: the phonetic symbol to hear the sound it represents.
Activity (2):Vowel Contrast: Minimal Pairs
Visit Sounds of English: [http://www.soundsofenglish.org/index.html ] and listen to the
vowel contrasts in the following minimal pairs
Minimal Pairs
Simplified IPA Symbols
tin/ten
/
bet/bat
/
bet/bait
/
cat/cut
/
Activity (3):
Link toBBC Learning English and listen to the above vowel sounds
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
Follow the following steps:
 Step 1: CLICK ON: The Sounds of English
 Step 2: CLICKON: Sound Symbol Chart [Chart pops up] .
 Step 3: CLICKON: the phonetic symbol to hear the sound it represents.
Activity (4):Vowel Contrast: Minimal Pairs
Visit Sounds of English [http://www.soundsofenglish.org/index.html]and listen tovowel
contrasts in the following minimal pairs containing short and long vowels.
49
No
Minimal Pairs
Simplified IPA Symbols
1. sheep/ship
/
2. cat/cart
/
3. cart/cut
/
4. cut/curt
/
5. look/loop
/
6. cart/caught
/
7. caught/cot
/
8. caught/curt
/
4. Diphthongs
Link to: The University of Iowa: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#
A diphthong is a complex vowel sound, usually the combination of two vowels, which
changes its quality within a single syllable. A diphthong has an initial quality and a
different end quality. For example, in the production of the diphthong sound /e / [as in
the word eye] the tongue moves to the position of the sound [e] as in the word [head] and
before finishing the production of this sound, it moves to the position of the vowel [ ] as
in [ship].
There are 8 diphthongs in RP as in the following table.
1
/ /near/n /
2
/ /
tour/t /
3
/ /
my/m /
4
/ /
toy /t /
5
/ /
snow/sn /
6
/ /
hair/h /
7
/ /
now/n /
8
/ /
say/s /
50
Activity (5):Link toBBC Learning Englishand listen to the above vowel sounds
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
Follow the following steps:
 Step 1: CLICK ON: The Sounds of English
 Step 2: CLICKON: Sound Symbol Chart [Chart pops up].
 Step 3: CLICKON: the phonetic symbol to hear the sound it represents.
Exercise (1):
Which of the following statements is true and which is false;
1. All vowel sounds are voiced.
2. There is a complete closure in the vocal tract in the production of some English
vowel sounds.
3. Vowel sounds are less than consonant sounds in RP
4. There are no rounded vowels in RP.
5. The vowel sound in the word heat is long.
6. There is only one nasal consonant in RP.
7. The vowel sound in the word mile is a diphthong.
8. English letters outnumber English sounds
9. Most consonant sounds in English are fricative.
10. The difference between the /b/ sound in the word bark and the /p/ sound in the
word park has to do with place of articulation.
11. The Arabic word mashi [=walking] begins with a nasal consonants.
12. In producing lateral sounds the airstream passes through both sides of the tongue.
13. All the vowel sounds in the following words are identical [the same] : word;
world; girl; hurt; burn.
14. The following transcribed word
stands for the word
psychology.
15. In producing labio-dental consonants the lower lip articulates against the upper
teeth.
16. In producing back vowels the front of the tongue moves towards the soft palate.
17. Arab students have some difficulty with the consonant /p/ because it is not part of
the phonological system of Arabic.
18. The vowel sound [
] as in bird is a back vowel.
19. The consonant /g/in bigger is a voiced velar plosive/stop.
20. The vowel sound in the word boy is a short vowel.
Exercise (2): Online Exercise
i. Link to BBC Learning English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
ii. On the right hand menu, click Unit 1.
Unit 1: key /i:/ & pin /i/
This unit gives you good practice in pronouncing words having the sounds /i/ & /i:/ .
When you finish your practice, you will be given some short quizzes in sound
recognition.Yow will get immediate feedback as to whether your answer is “right” or
“wrong”.
51
Note: The two symbols /i/ and / / are used interchangeably as they stand for the
same vowel sound in hit.
Follow the following steps.
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
Step 1:Listen: Click on the two words shown on screen to listen to the contrast in the two
vowel sounds. Once you can identify the contrast, click next to listen to other minimal
pairs.
Step 2: Listen to the /i:/ sound as in key: Click the listen button to hear each word
shown on screen. They all have the same /i:/. When you think you can identify the sound
click the continue button.
Step 3: Listen to the /I/sound as in pin: Click the listen button to hear each word shown
on screen. They all have the same /I/ sound. When you think you can identify the sound,
click the continue button.
Step 4: Listen and compare the two sounds /i:/ & / I/ :Click the listen button to hear
each word on screen. The words on the left have the same /I/ sound as pin, and the words
on the right have the same /i:/ sound as key. Once you have listened to the words click the
continue button.
Step 5: Listen and identify word + Feedback: Now click the listen button to hear just
one of the words shown on the screen. Try and identify which word you heard by clicking
on it. Yow will get immediate feedback as to whether your answer is “right” or
“wrong”.Once you have done this activity, click the continue button.
Step 6: Listen & identify odd one + Feedback:One of the four words shown on the
screen has a different vowel sound from the others. Try and identify which one it is by
clicking on it. Yow will get immediate feedback as to whether your answer is “right” or
“wrong”. Once you have done this activity successfully, click the continue button.
Step 7: Listen & sort out words into two groups: In this activity you are asked to listen to
some words [shown on screen] and then to sort them into two groups? Group one has the
same sound as /I/ in pin and group two has the same sound as /i:/ in key. See how many
correct choices you have made. Once you have done this activity successfully, click the
continue button.
Step 8: Listen to sentences having the two sounds: Finally, click on the sentences
shown on the screen to hear them. Try and repeat the sounds you hear. Once you can
pronounce the sounds, click the finish button.
Exercise (3): Online Exercise
i. Link to BBC Learning English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
ii. On the right hand menu clickUnit 2.
Unit 2: book /u/ & do/u:/
Steps:As in Exercise (2) above.
Exercise (4): Online Exercise
i. Link to BBC Learning English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
ii. On the right hand menu, clickUnit 3.
Unit 3: door / / and coat / /
Steps:As in Exercise (2) above.
52
Exercise (5): Online Exercise
i. Link to BBC Learning English:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
ii. On the right hand menu, clickUnit 4.
Unit 4: egg, cat and cup
Steps:As in Exercise (2) above.
Exercise (6): Online Exercise
i. Link to BBC Learning English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
ii. On the right hand menu, clickUnit 5.
Unit 5: sock and coat
Steps:As in Exercise (2) above.
6. Rounding Up
6.1. New Terms
 back vowels
 central vowels
 high vowel
 diphthongs
 IPA Chart
 long vowel
 minimal pairs
 low vowel
 rounded vowels
 short vowel
 unrounded vowels
6.2. What You Have Learnt in This Unit
You have learnt in this unit:
 distinction between vowel and consonant sounds
 how to describe vowels and diphthongs
 classes of vowel sounds
 the spelling of vowel sounds
 how to listen to and identify/recognise vowel sounds
6.2. Answer Key
Ex. 1:
All statements with “odd number” are true, the rest (i.e. even numbers) are false
Exs. 2-6:
Answers on BBC Learning English
53
UNIT 5
PHONOLOGY
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. Introduction
2. Phonemic Analysis
3. Assimilation and Other Phenomena
4. Aspiration
5. Consonant Clusters and Syllable Structure
6. Rounding up
Online Resources:
http://www.howjsay.com:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=television&x=33&y=10
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
 Unit Aims
This unit aims to:
1. introduce you to phonology,
2. acquaint you with phonemic analysis,
3. explain to you the difference between phonemic and phonetic transcription,
4. explain to you minimal pairs,
5. define, describe and exemplify assimilation and aspiration, and
6. describe and classify consonant clustersand syllabic structure.
1. Introduction
While articulatory phonetics attempts to describe how isolated speech sounds are
produced and how they are classified, phonology studies how they are combined, or
merged into each other, to produce words and utterances. It also studies the functional
patterns of such merging. This is why phonology is sometimes called functional
phonetics.
Phonology deals with the rules governing how phonemes are combined in a given
language to produce words. It is amazing how a limited number of phonemes (44 in
English) can produce such a large number of words like what you have in dictionaries.
54
2. Phonemic Analysis
2.1. Phonemes and allophones
Phonemic analysis is concerned with phonemes and allophones.
Phonemes are meaningful sounds, i.e. if one is used instead of the other in a word, its
meaning will change. The actual number of possible speech sounds is very large, but the
number of sounds which are meaningful or significant in a certain language is relatively
small.
Allophones are the varieties of a phoneme. They do not change the meaning of a word if
one is used instead of the other (See the examples in the next section).
2.2. Phonemic vs. phonetic transcription
These are two different methods of transcribing sounds.
In phonemic transcription, only the phonemes (the 44 significant sounds of English) are
considered. To make things clear, look at the following examples of the clear and dark
„l‟. When you hear an RP speaker say the word little, /litl/, you feel that the /l/ sound at
the beginning (known as clear „l‟) is slightly different from the /l/ at the end (known as
dark „l‟). You will hear the difference if you listen carefully to little on the
howjsay(online English Pronouncing Dictionary). These two varieties of /l/ are
allophones not phonemes, because if one of them is replaced by the other, there will be
no change in the meaning of the word little. The rule for the two types is:
- The clear /l/ is heard before vowels (including word-initial positions),
- The dark /l/ is heard before consonants and in word-final positions.
In a phonemic transcription such differences which are not meaningchanging are not
represented. In other words the two allophones of /l/ will be represented as one sound.
However, these slightly different allophones will be represented when someone is
undertaking a phonetic transcription.
Questions:
1. Which /l/ in the following words is clear and which is dark?
1. enlighten, 2. layman, 3. animal, 4. while, 5. ailing, 6. slave, 7. milk.
Tips:
1. clear /l/ in: 1,2,5,6; dark /l/ in: 3,4,7.
2.3. Minimal pairs
The phonemes of a language are established through a process which uses a pair of words
that differ only in a single sound as you had seen in units 3 and 4 above. In a minimal
pairs test, we take off a sound in a word and replace it by other sounds. When the
meaning changes, we come to the conclusion that the replacement is a phoneme.
55
To make things clearer, consider the example site /saɪt/. If we replace the sound /s/ by /f/
we will have fight /faɪt/, a different word with a new meaning. Therefore, the two words,
/saɪt/ and /faɪt/, are a minimal pair. If we continue to substitute sounds for /s/, we will see
that several phonemes can be established:
1. /m/ as in might /maɪt/,
2. /k/ as in: kite /kaɪt/,
3. /h/ as in: height /haɪt/,
4. /w/ as in: white /waɪt/,
5. /b/ as in: bite /baɪt/,
6. /r/ as in: right or write /raɪt/,
7. /t/ as in: tight /taɪt/,
8. /n/ as in: night /naɪt/, and
9. /l/ as in: light /laɪt/.
Notice that each change produced a different word with a new meaning. Thus, with one
minimal pair we managed to establish/confirm the existence of eleven phonemes of
English. With different pairs the remaining phonemes (consonants, vowels and
diphthongs) can be established.
Exercise 1:
Choose a, b, or c
1. The function of the sound system of a particular language is the main focus of:
a) Phonetics
b) Phonology
c) Both types of study
2. A statement such as: “/p/ is a voiceless bilabial plosive.” is typically made in:
a) Phonetics
b) Phonology
c) Both types of study
3. A statement such as: “While the phonemes /str-/ appear at the beginning of an English
word, /trs-/ do not." is typically made in:
a) Phonetics
b) Phonology
c) Both types of study
4. The number of RP English phonemes is:
a) 24, b)44, c)54
5.A minimal pair of English words is:
a) Any two words
b) Two words from different languages
c) Two words made different by a single phoneme.
Exercise 2:
Choose a, b, or c [when applicable]:
1. In continuous (or connected) speech, sounds are
a) made one at a time.
b) made with an abrupt movement of the vocal organs.
56
c) made with a continuous movement of the vocal organs.
2. The following statement: The /k/ in keep is the same as the /k/ in school is
a. true
b. false
3. The following statement:The /l/ in leaf differs from the /l/ in cool is:
a. true
b. false
4. The sound that influences /k/ in keep is:
a) the sound /i:/
b) the sound /p/
5. The sound that influences /l/ in cool is:
a) the sound /k/,
b) the sound /u:/
Exercise 3:
Choose a or b:
1.The following statement: The two /k/ sounds in keep and school are allophones is:
a) true
b) false
2.The following statement: The two /l/ sounds in light and milk are phonemes is:
a) true
b) false
3. Assimilation and Other Phenomena
This section deals with the effect of neighbouring sounds on each other. These
phenomena are discussed briefly below.
3.1. Assimilation
All sounds, vowels, diphthongs and consonants are influenced by surrounding sounds.
This influence usually leads to sound changes. Such changes are examples of
assimilation. Thus, assimilation happens when a sound changes as a result of being next
to another sound. In other words, assimilation is defined as the changing of sound A into
sound B under the influence of a neighbouring sound C (which may be the same as B or
different from it).
Some of what follows are examples from the BBC Learning
website:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
English
Browse the material in Radio programmes 2 and 3. They are accessed from the right-hand
column under Resources on the Pronunciation Tips page of the site. The above link
takes you directly to this page. Access details for assimilation are: Radio Programme
3:Sounds change (assimilation)The following are two of the examples of assimilation
which you will find. Observe how the last sound /d/ in good becomes /g/ in the first
example, and becomes /b/ in the second example under the influence of the following
sound in both cases.
 Good girl. She's a goodgirl. /goog girl/
 Good boy. He's a goodboy. /goob boy/
57
3.2. The Linking „r‟
In connected RP speech, when a word ends in the schwa /ә/ and the next word begins
with any vowel, a linking /r/ sound is commonly heard between them as in the examples:
 later on /'leɪ.tər'ɒn/;
 dear Allen /'dɪər'a.lən/;
 higher up /'haɪ.ər'ʌp/.
More examples of the linking ‟r‟ are available at the same BBC website page described
above and accessed from the lower part of the right-hand column in the separate link
titled: connected speech, and also in Radio Programme 2 on the same page.
3. 3. The Intrusive „r‟
Sometimes the „r‟ is inserted even when the previous word does not end in [r], as in:
 idea of /aɪ.'dɪərəv /;
 Asia and Africa /'eɪ.ʃərənd'a.frɪkə/.
This „r‟ is called the intrusive „r‟.
4. Aspiration
Put a lit candle in front of your mouth and say key. The flame will start to flicker after /k/
is pronounced. This flickering, made with a puff of air, is called „aspiration‟ and /k/ is
thus termed „aspirated‟. The same happens when you say piece or tea. The rule is:
 A voiceless plosive [/k/, /p/ or /t/] is pronounced with a following puff of air
when it is used at the beginning of a stressed syllable and before a vowel.
Examples of aspiration are [where the [h] represents aspiration]:
- /p/ in peep, pronounced [phi:p];
- /t/ in tie, pronounced [thai]; and
- /k/ in keen, pronounced [khi:n],
You can hear this puff of air by listening to the examples on the Howjsayonline English
Pronouncing Dictionary. However, no aspiration occurs when the three voiceless plosive
consonants /p, t, k/ come after the /s/ sound as in speed, steed, skied, pronounced: /spi:d,
sti:d, ski:d/, respectively.
Examples of aspiration are found on the BBC Learning English website on the righthand column under Similar sounds.
Exercise 4:
1. Which of the following statements is true?
a. Aspiration occurs only in some voiceless RP consonants.
b. Aspiration occurs in all English varieties.
c. Aspiration can occur when /k/ is followed by a consonant.
2. In which word(s) is /p/, /t/, or /k/ aspirated?
key /ki:/, scheme /ski:m/, sleep /sli:p/, price /praɪs/, peace /pi:s/, Mike /maɪk/, meter
/mi:tə/, teacher /ti:tʃə/.
58
5. Consonant Clusters and Syllable Structure
5.1. Consonant clusters
As noted earlier, phonology deals with how sounds are combined together to form words.
In English words, two, three or more consonants may be grouped together to form
clusters or groups. Here are some examples,7 of consonant clusters in word-initial,
medial, and final positions:
(i) Two consonants: word initial position:
 /s/ + /p, t, k, f, m, n, l, w, / as in: spare, steam, sky, sphere, smile, sneer, slow,
swear
 /t/ + /r, w, j/ as in: trim, twin, tune
 /k/ + /l, r, w, j/ as in: Clive, crime, queen, queue
 /b/ + /l, r, j/ as in: blame, bright, beautiful
 /d/ +/r, w, j/ as in: dry, dwell, duty
 /g/ + l, r/ as in: glare, gross
 /f/ + / l, r, j/ as in: flare, frame, few
 /θ/ + /r, w/ as in: three, thwart
 /ʃ/ + /r/ as in: shrink , shrimp
 /v, m, n, h/ + /j/ as in: view, mute, news, huge
 /p/+/l, r, j/as in: play,pray, pew
Notice that 9 English consonants, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ŋ/, /l/,/r/, /w/, /ð/, /z/, /j/, do not come at the
start of consonant clusters.)
(ii) Three consonants: word initial position:
 /spr-/ as in: spray, spread, spring
 /str-/ as in straw, struggle, stress
 /skr-/ as in: scream, screen, script
 /stj-/ as in: student, steward, stew (pronounced /stu:/ in American English)
 /skj-/ as in: skew (rare cluster)
 /spl-/ as in: splash, splendid, split
 /skw-/ as in: squad, square, squash
Notice that that all the above examples begin with /s/.
(iii) Word medial position:
/-st-/ as in: instant /instənt/ (two consonants)
/-kstʃ-/ as in: exchange /ɪkstʃeɪndʒ/(three consonants)
/-kstr-/ as in: extract/ɪkstrækt/ (four consonants)
(iv) Word final position:
/-sp/as in: crisp /krɪsp/(two consonants)
7
Extracted, adapted and expanded from Ali A. Hajjaj, Phonetics and Pronunciation, Al Quds University:
2001.
59
/-ldz/ as in: fields /fi:ldz/ (three consonants)
Four or more consecutive consonants are heard across word boundaries, for example:
long street /lɒŋ.stri:t/ , twelfth strike /twelfθ.straɪk/ (the dot [.] marks a new syllable.)
5.2. Syllable structure
As you already know, English words are made up of one or more syllables and each
syllable consists of one or more sounds, generally consonants and vowels. As a rule, the
English syllable commonly contains a vowel or a diphthong regardless of the number of
consonants used in it. In fact one vowel or diphthong can be a whole syllable (called
minimum syllable) as in the word or /ɔ:/, or the word eye /ai/. This rule will make it
easy for you to find the beginning and end of a syllable in words that consist of more than
one syllable as in the examples cited below.
An exception to this rule can be seen in cases like the two words mutton /mʌtn/and cattle
/kætl/. Although there is one vowel in each word, the number of syllables is two: the final
/n/ in the first and the /l/ in the second are called syllabic, meaning that each one stands
for a syllable, i.e. they stand out as stronger and louder than consonants.
Question: which of the following words end in a syllabic consonant?
1. Team; 2. lone; 3.rotten; 4.fine; 5.fiddle; 6.hill; 7.sole; 8.shuttle
Tips 3, 5, 8
Can you state the rule for a syllabic consonant?
When /l/, /m/ and /n/ follow a consonant especially a stop consonant, it is not desirable,
according to RP English, to have a vowel in between. Therefore, /l/, /m/, and /n/ tend to
be produced for a longer period taking the place of the vowel in the syllable, e.g. bottom
/bɒtm/,little /lɪttl/, lesson /lesn/, cattle /kætl/. Although there is one
pronounced vowel in the words but each word includes two syllables. The final /n/, /m/,
and /l/ are syllabic because each one stands for a syllable, e.g. they stand out as stronger
and louder than consonants
Can you think of more examples in English?333
When a syllable consists of a vowel or a diphthong preceded and followed by one or
more consonants on each side, it is termed „closed‟ as in the first example below.
Meanwhile, in an „open‟ syllable [as in the second example below] the vocalic sound has
one or more consonants on one side only, e.g.
 bed (CVC), trim (CCVC), test (CVCC) (where C stands for consonant and V for
vowel or diphthong).
 way (CV), cry (CCV), up (VC), act (VCC).
A word which has a single syllable is called mono-syllabic as in the first set of words
below. When it has more syllables, it is termed multi-syllabic as in the second set of
words:
 rich, smart, soon, at, etc.

repeat /rɪ.pi:t/; understand /ʌn.də.'stænd/; happily /'hæ.pɪ.lɪ/; consequently
/'kɒn.sɪk.wənt.lɪ/.
Exercise 5
60
Mark the following statements as either true or false.
1. Sounds are influenced by surrounding sounds.
2. When we speak, we produce sound segments.
3. Assimilation is a puff of air.
4. At the beginning of a stressed syllable and before a vowel, /t/ is aspirated.
5. Aspiration can be heard after the voiceless plosives.
6. A linking „r‟ links consonants.
7. An intrusive „r‟ is an inserted sound.
8. A phoneme is a meaningful sound.
9. Minimal pairs are used to discover the phonemes of a language.
10. A syllable may consist of one vowel.
11. A syllabic sound is located at the beginning of a syllable.
12. Phonetics is called functional phonology.
Activity (1)
Transcribe the following words and mark the stressed syllable in them. Check your
answers inCALD: 1. phonetics; 2. phonology; 3. associate (verb); 4. associate (noun); 5.
association; 6. recognize; 7. recognition; 8. compose; 9. composition; 10. address (verb
Activity (2)
The following are place names whose pronunciation is not quite predictable. Mark the
stressed syllable in them with the primary stress mark ['], and mark each syllable with a
dot. They can be heard on the howjsay online dictionary: 1. Derby; 2. Edinburgh; 3. Los
Angeles; 4. Chicago; 5. Leicester; 6. Yorkshire; 7. Thames; 8. Worcester; 9. Durham; 10.
Warwick
6. ROUNDING UP
6.1. New Terms
 Allophone
 Allophonic transcription
 Aspiration
 Assimilation
 Intrusive „r‟
 Linking „r‟
 Minimal pair
 Minimum syllable
 Phoneme
 Phonemic transcription
 Syllabic consonant
6.2. What You Have Learnt in This Unit
In this unit you have learnt
 What phonology means.
 How to distinguish between phoneme and allophone.
 What assimilation and aspiration mean
 What a linking „r‟ is and what an intrusive „r‟ is.
 What consonant clusters are and how they are classified.
6.3. Answer Key
Ex. 1:1.b; 2. a;3. b; 4. b; 5. c
Ex. 2: 1. c; 2. b; 3. a; 4. a; 5. b;
61
Ex. 3:1. a; 2. b
Ex. 4:1. a; 2. In key /khi:/, peace /phi:s/, and /thi:tʃə/
Ex. 5:1. true; 2. false; 3. false; 4. true; 5. true; 6. false; 7. true; 8. true; 9. true; 10. true; 11.
false; 12. false.
62
UNIT 6
PROSODY
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. Introduction
2. Stress
3. Rhythm and Intonation
4. Rounding up
Online Resources:
1. English Pronouncing Dictionary: http://www.howjsay.com:
2. Cambridge Dictionaries Online
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=television&x=33&y=10
3. BBC Learning English: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
 Unit Aims
The unit aims to :
1. introduce you to prosody,
2. define and exemplify stress in words and in connected speech,
3. acquaint you with rhythm, and
4. define and exemplify intonation.
1. Introduction
Prosody is the name of the speech elements of stress, rhythm and intonation. These
elements extend over stretches of utterances longer than segments (phonemes). In some
studies, especially in the USA, prosodies are termed „suprasegmental features‟, or
features beyond the sound segment. In what follows, we will discuss the elements of
prosody.
Training in prosody requires a keen ear and a determined effort to listen to how words,
sentences and utterances are made, especially as we now have online material in the form
of specialized websites and pronouncing dictionaries. In discussing the issues of prosody,
we must place double emphasis on ear-training through continuous listening.
All the elements of prosody, stress, rhythm and intonation, are used in the spoken forms
of language to represent speakers‟ feelings or attitudes.
2. Stress
This section looks at stress with the intention of defining it, describing its basic types and
providing exercises whose purpose is to allow you to acquire the basic rules of stress.
There are two types of stress: (i) word stress (also called lexical stress) and (ii) stress in
connected utterances or connected speech (also called sentence stress). Below is a
discussion of the two types.
63
2.1. Word stress
Word stress may be defined as the degree of breath force placed on each syllable in a
word. Strong stress is represented by the ['] placed before the stressed syllable. Other
factors such as loudness and higher pitch are involved in making a stressed syllable
prominent. Here are some simple notions concerning word stress:
1. Each word has only one primary stress marked by the superscript marker [']. The
primary stress is what we mostly deal with in this unit.
2. Some longer words may have a secondary degree of stress usually marked by a
subscript [ֽ].
3. Unstressed syllables are not marked.
4. As a rule, the number of stressed syllables in a word corresponds to the number of
vowels and diphthongs in it. As pointed out in Unit 5 above, an exception to this
rule is that in limited cases syllabic consonants may stand for syllables.
The following are some word stress rules:
(i) Stress is placed on the first syllable of most nouns and adjectives consisting of two
syllables: e.g.
Nouns
Adjectives
absence
absent
object
windy
Cyprus
careful
India
final
(ii) The majority of verbs consisting of two syllables are stressed on the last syllable:
e.g.
Verbs
record
expect
protest
report
(iii) Stress is placed on the second from last syllable in words with –ic ; –tion; or
–sion at the end as in:
–ic at the end
–tion or –sion at the end
magic
division
fantastic
provision
syntactic
revision
semantic
exhibition
64
As you may have already noted, in many English words consisting of two syllables, the
changing of stress alters the grammatical classification ofthe word as in the following
table:
Word
contract
object
Verb
Noun
protest
consort
The table above shows clearly that when stress goes to a different syllable in all the
examples given, a change in the grammatical class of the word ensues – verb to noun or
noun to verb. There is also a change in some of the vowels/diphthongs.
In the following table, which also illustrates the same trend, the change of stress alters
grammatical classification but does not change any vowel or diphthong. In other words
the examples in the second and third column are pronounced in the same way except for
the stress.
Word
import
Verb
Noun
insult
discount
increase
incense
interchange
2.2. Stress in connected utterances
This type of stress is related to sentences (not words).It is also called sentence stress. It is
used in English where some words, normally content words (nouns, adjectives, main or
lexical verbs and adverbs), are stressed and other words, usually the smaller function
words, are not stressed. Function words are also called grammatical words. They are:
pronouns, definite and indefinite articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, and conjunctions8.
When a syllable is not stressed (i.e. weak) in English, the schwa /ə/ is a very likely sound.
The following are illustrative examples:
Word
but
can
could
was
8
See Unit 7 below.
Strong form
/bʌt/
/kæn/
/kʊd/
/wɒz/
Weak form
/bət/
/kən/, /kn/
/kəd/
/wəz/
65
must
not
shall
should
would
some
than
do (Aux)
/mʌst/
/nɒt/
/ʃæl/
/ʃʊd/
/wʊd/
/sʌm/
/ðæn/ (rare)
/du:/
does (Aux)
had (Aux)
/dʌz/
/hæd/
have(Aux)
of
them
and
has
us
/hæv/
/ɒv/
/ðem/
/ænd/
/hæz/
/ʌs/
/məst/
/nt/
/ʃəl/, /ʃl/
/ʃəd/
/wəd/, /əd/, /d/
/səm/, /sm/
/ðən/, /ðn/
/dʊ/, /də/, /d/
(Aux)
/dəz/, /z/, /s/(Aux)
/həd, /əd/, /d/
(Aux)
/həv/, /əv/, /v/
/əv/
/ðəm/, /əm/, /m/
/ənd, /nd/, /ən/, /n/
/həz/, /əz, /z/, /s/
/əs/, /s/
In the following table, the weak form has a shortened vowel:
Word
he
be
been
me
she
we
you
do
who
Strong form
/hi:/
/bi:/
/bi:n/
/mi:/
/ʃi:/
/wi:/
/ju:/
/du:/
/hu:/
Weak form
/hɪ/
/bɪ/
/bɪn/
/mɪ/
/ʃɪ/
/wɪ/
/jʊ/
/dʊ/
/hʊ/
Now, go to the BBC Learning English website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/
Firstly, accessschwaunder Building knowledge in the right-hand column. Then read the
material and do the exercises where you have listening material.
Secondly, access Radio programme 1 also in the right-hand column for illustrative
examples of this very common sound (the schwa /ə/) which neveroccurs in a stressed
syllable. However, unstressed syllables may have other vocalic sounds (vowels or
diphthongs).
66
2.3. Elision
Another feature of connected speech is elision. Elision is defined as the omission of a
final or initial sound across word boundary or in the same word. When the sound /t/ or /d/
is used between two consonants, it is often omitted. Representative examples are:
Elision across word boundary
bes(t) man
ol(d) farm
Elision in the same word
pos(t)man
win(d)mill
.
Activity (1)
Go to the BBC Learning English website, RadioProgramme 2. Click the Sounds
disappear link and browse the material in this link..
2.4. Sentence focus
When you want to emphasize a certain part of a sentence, perhaps for contrast or
inanswer to a previous question, you use extra stress or focus. In English, contrast is
realized by laying extra stress on the element/word which the speaker wishes to
emphasize. For example, in a sentence such as:
 John found the key,
you can emphasize any of the three elements John, found, or key. This is done by making
the required element prominent or stressed. But this will depend on the meaning you
intend to convey: e.g.
 If you overstress John, this will normally be understood as meaning that John,
not someone else found the key.
 If you lay extra stress on found, it will be in contrast with another action such as
lost.
 If the word car is overstressed, the meaning will become different: it will imply
that the key, not something else, was found by John.
Exercise 1:
1. Mark the stressed syllable in the following words with the stress mark [' ] placed before
it:
1. render; 2. artist; 3. reveal; 4. announce; 5. reduce; 6. rector; 7. derive;
8. diction; 9. doctor
2. Transcribe into phonetic symbols the words: render, announce, rector, and doctor
from the above list,and mark the stressed syllable in them.
3. What do you conclude about the occurrence of the schwa (ə) in them?
Exercise 2:
Listen to the words below on the online dictionary http://www.howjsay.com and mark
the strongly stressed syllable in the following words. Write X in the right box
stress
word
1st
syllable
2nd
syllable
3rd
syllable
4th
syllable
67
photograph
photography
photographic
photographer
Exercise 3:
Look again at the examples in Exercises 1 and 2 and browse their answer at the end of the
unit. How do you describe the nature of stress in English words? Is it fixed or free? Now,
look up the answer to this exercise.
Exercise 4:
Match the sentences in the first column with the sentencefocus in the second column.
Words in italics are emphasized.
Sentence
1. My father repaired the car
2. My father repaired the car
3. My father repaired the car
Focus
a. as opposed to doing something else
b. as opposed to repairing something else
c. as opposed to someone else
3.Rhythm and Intonation
3.1. Rhythm defined
Rhythm can be defined as a regular pattern of stress beats. This pattern is repeated in a
tempo-like fashion. It is achieved in English chiefly through the patterning of stressed and
unstressed syllables as in poetry. For example, when we say: My 'sis.ter had been
'off.ered a 'good 'job 'ear.lier, the syllables which are given strong stress are:
 the first syllable in sister,
 the first syllable in offered,
 the syllable in good,
 the syllable in job and
 the first syllable in earlier.
Observe that the stressed words are what we call „content words‟ meaning major words:
nouns (like sister), main verbs (like offer), adjectives (like good), and adverbs (like
earlier). Also observe that non-content words (called „function words” or „grammatical
words‟) such as pronouns (like my), auxiliary verbs (like had and been) and articles (like
a and the) are unstressed. Note that the dot (.) marks syllable boundary in words
consisting of more than one syllable.
English is classified as a stress-timed language because in speech roughly the same time
is needed for a native speaker to proceed from each stressed syllable to the next one, no
matter how many unstressed syllables exist between them. Thus, in the example given
above it takes a native speaker the same time to go from offered to good, as from good to
job, although between good and job there are no intervening syllables.
68
Similar examples are:
 I don‟t 'know e.'nougha.bout why this 'sto.ry'makes me 'sad
 The 'book you have been 'read.ing is 'rea.lly out.'da.ted
Exercise 5:
Which words are stressed in the following sentence: The best jewel in the world has been
stolen.
3.2. Intonation defined
When a person speaks, not only does he/she stress syllables, but the pitch of his/her voice
continues to rise and fall. Pitch changes when the vocal cords change the frequency of
their vibration. This means when the vocal cords vibrate faster, the pitch rises and when
their vibration slows down the pitch falls. Intonation deals primarily with the rise and fall
of voice pitch.
Changes in intonation are used for expressing numerous shades of meaning. Spoken with
falling intonation on the word coming, the sentence:
 He‟s coming,
has a completely different meaning than when coming is said with rising intonation or
rising pitch. In the former case, the meaning of the sentence is that of a statement, but in
the latter case, the meaning is that of a question.This means that in such examples, the
intonation not only reveals the attitude of the speaker, but also determines the
grammatical classification of the sentence: declarative or interrogative.
Personal attitudes are frequently mirrored by the intonation contour: the attitude of the
speaker who says fine with falling intonation is that of satisfaction or appreciation. But
the same word pronounced with a fall followed by a rise reflects a disbelieving attitude.
The basic unit of intonation is a tone unit (also called intonation unit, or tone group).
Each tone unit corresponds to a unit of information, marked by a pause, a change of
tone or both.
3.3. Intonation groups
An intonation group generally corresponds to a clause. This means that the boundary of
an intonation group or tone group is usually the boundary of a clause. Each group is
normally marked by this bar marker:\ placed before and after the clause. The term „tone
group‟ is sometimes used instead of the term intonation group. The main pitch movement
(fall/rise/fall-rise/rise-fall) is normally carried by the last stressed syllable in the
intonation group. It is called the nuclear tone (or nucleus).
An utterance like the following consists of one intonation group:
 \What are you reading?\
However, if one says:
 \What?\\Are you reading?\, ,
the same string of words now consists of two intonation groups, each represented by a
separate clause asking a different question.
 \What?\
69

\Are you reading?\,
Exercise 6
1. Which syllable in an intonation group carries the main pitch movement?
2. What is it called?
3. Choose a, b, or c:
What are the functions of prosody like?
a) They are like marks on paper.
b) They are like punctuation marks.
Exercise 7
Underline the nucleus in the following utterances: (Tip: it is the last stressed syllable)
1. We‟ve done this together.
2. The story is not over.
3. What I like to do is find a good dictionary.
4. No harm is meant to you.
Exercise 8
1. Which of the following statements is true or false?
1. Prosodies can be used to signal given and new information.
2. Prosodies can be used to represent animals.
3. Prosodies can be used to signal persons.
4. Prosodies can be used to signal a question.
5. Prosodies can be used to represent our attitude.
2. Mark as either true or false.
1. lexical (or syllable) stress is the only type of stress.
2. A syllable receiving main stress is represented by a superscript.
3. A syllable receiving secondary or weak stress is represented by a subscript.
4. Intonation deals mainly with connected speech.
5. English is not a stress-timed language.
6. Intonation is not concerned with stress.
7. Prosodies are also called suprasegmental features.
8. There are different systems for representing prosodic features.
4. Rounding Up
4.1. New Terms
 Content (word)
 Elision
 Function (word)
 Intonation
 Nucleus/ Nuclear tone
 Pitch
 Prosody
 Rhythm
 Sentence focus
 Sentence stress
70







Stress-timed (language)
Strong form
Suprasegmental
Syllable-timed (language)
Tone unit/group
Weak form
Word stress
4.2. What Have You Learnt in This Unit?
In this unit you have learnt
 What prosodies are.
 How to use word and sentence stress patterns.
 What stress in connected speech is.
 How to distinguish rhythmic patterns.
 How intonation patterns operate.
4.3. Answer Key
Ex. 1:
1.
1. 'render; 2. 'artist; 3. re'veal; 4. a'nnounce; 5. re'duce; 6. 'rector; 7. de'rive;
8. 'diction; 9.'doctor
2. /'rendə/; /ə'naʊns/; /'rektə/; /'dɒktə/
3. The conclusion is that the schwa does not occur in a stressed syllable.
Ex. 2:
stress
word
photograph /'fəʊtəgrɑːf/
photography /fə'tɒgrəfɪ/
photographic
/ֽfəʊtə'grɑːfɪk/
photographer /fə'tɒgrəfə/
1st
syllable
2nd
syllable
3rd
syllable
X
X
X
X
4th
syllable
71
Ex. 3:
English is known to have a free type of stress placed on different syllables in different
words, and sometimes in the same word when its function changes, e.g. / 'ɪnsʌlt/ (noun),
/ɪn'sʌlt/ (verb).
Ex. 4:
1. c; 2. a; 3. b
Ex. 5
The
'best
'jewel
in
the
'world
has
been
'stolen
Not
Stressed;
Stressed;
Stressed;
Not
Stressed;
Not
Stressed;
Stressed;
Not
Stressed;
Not
Stressed;
Stressed;
article
adjective
Noun
preposition
article
noun
auxiliary
auxiliary
main/
lexical
verb
Explanation: To proceed from 'best to 'jewel
takes roughly the same time as
from'jewel to 'world, although in the first case there are no intervening unstressed
syllables, while in the second one there are three intervening unstressed syllables: the
second syllable –el in jewel and the two unstressed syllables represented by the function
words in and the. Also, roughly the same time is needed to go from 'world to 'stolen .
Ex. 6:
1. last stressed syllable
2. nuclear tone or nucleus
3. b
Ex. 7:
1.
2.
3.
4.
We‟ve done this together.
The story is not over.
What I like to do is find a good dictionary.
No harm is meant to you.
Ex. 8:
1. // 1. true; 2. false; 3. false; 4. true; 5. true
2. // 1. false; 2. true; 3. true; 4. true; 5. false; 6. false; 7. true; 8. true
72
UNIT 7
MORPHOLOGY
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. What is Morphology?
2. Morpheme Types
3. Affixing, Prefixing, and Suffixing
4. Function of Affixes
5. Rounding Up
Unit Aims:
This unit aims to:
1. introduce you to basic morpheme types and the difference between them,
2. explain the functions of morphemes, and
3. identify the difference between inflectional and derivational affixes.
1. What is Morphology?
Morphology is the study of word formation. The basic unit in the study of morphology is
the morpheme. As explained in Unit One above, the relationship between words and
morphemes is like this:
 A word consists of at least of one morpheme as in friend, but it may consist of
three or more morphemes as in the word uninteresting , which consists of three
units [morphemes]: [un + interest + ing]
In terms of structure, words in English are of two types:
(i) a free single (basic) unit that has meaning as in the word house
(ii) a free unit that can be divided in smaller units as in the word houses
[house + es] or classroom [class + room].
Units that form words are called morphs or morphemes. These two terms are used
interchangeably.
2. Morphemes Types
A morpheme or morph is often defined as the minimal meaningful unit. This definition
means two things:
1. The morpheme/morph has meaning. For example, the word impossible consists
of two morphs im + possible. Each of these two morphs has meaning. What is the
meaning of the prefix im-?
73
2. It is a minimal meaningful unit. This means that it cannot be subdivided into
any more meaningful units. This is true of the two morphemes in the word
impossible. Neither of them can be subdivided into more units.
Morphemes are two types: free and bound morphemes.
(i) Free Morphemes: like the word possible in the above example, which has meaning
and can stand on its own. A free morpheme is also called a stem or a root word. It is
usually a lexical word, that is, a word with lexical meaning: a noun , a verb, an adjective,
or an adverb: e.g. run , cat, possible, quickly.
(ii) Bound [not free] Morphemes: [like the prefix im- in the word impossible. These are
morphemes that cannot stand on their own., e.g. -s, -ed. These have to join another morph
to become meaningful.
Words in English can be structured in one of the following ways:




free morph + free morph: e.g. black + bird = blackbird
free morph + bound morph: e.g. cat + s = cats
bound morph + free morph: e.g. un + happy = unhappy
bound morph + free morph+ bound morph: e.g. un + kind + ness =
unkindness.
.
Exercise 1
Categorize the following words into free or bound morphemes:
A. Camels
B. Player
C. Plant
D. Book
E. Truthful
F. Dreaming
Exercise 2
Divide the following morphemes into their free and bound morphs and state the type of
combination, for example : going = go [free] + ing [bound]
A. Housewife
B. Unpleasant
C. Recall
D. Boys
E. Painter
F. Something
3. Affixing, Prefixing, and Suffixing
As we have seen above, bound morphemes are units that need to attach to a root to
become meaningful. This process is called affixing.
74
Affixing can come at the beginning of a root word [un + kind] or at the end of it [kind +
ness]. These are called "prefixes" and "suffixes" respectively.
(i) Prefixes: An Affix [bound morpheme] that is added at the beginning of a root word
[e.g. unhappy, unseen] is called a prefix.
(ii) Suffixes: An Affix [bound morpheme] that is added at the end of a root word [e.g.
kind +ness = kindness; teach + er = teacher] is called a suffix.
Sometimes a bound morpheme is affixed at the beginning of a root word and at the end,
at the same time e.g. un + kind + ness.
Exercise 3
Look at the sets of words and identify the odd one out of each pattern:
A. cat, player, train, land
B. happiness, forgetfulness, unpleasant
C. illiterate, irresponsible, studied
Exercise 4
Describe the type of affixing, whether prefixing or suffixing or both in the following
words:
A. Unaware
B. Immobile
C. Truthful
D. Planted
E. Incomprehensible
F. Atypical
4. Functions of Affixes
4.1. Inflectional Affixes
As we have seen above, the bound morphemes that are affixed to a root word are not part
of the original word form. They are prefixed or suffixed to it. They do not have a lexical
(meaning) value on their own as in, for example, the plural suffix [“s”] added to singular
nouns [boy + s = boys] , or the past tense suffix [“ed”] added the base form of the verb
[clean + ed = cleaned]. These are called inflectional affixes. Consider the following
examples:
(i) Number in Nouns:
The regular plural9 of the noun is always associated with the presence of the suffix “s”
[cat + s = cats] or "es" [wish + es = wishes].
Important Notes on Plural Suffixes:
The plural form is derived from the singular form through the addition of the
suffix “s” or “es” (e.g. boy --> boys; cat --> cats; match --> matches).
9
There are irregular categories that will be discussed in the following section of this unit.
75
In phonetic terms this regular process can be illustrated as follows:
 /s/: Add the suffix /s/ if the base (i.e. singular form) ends in a voiceless sound
(except sibilants). e.g.: lip - -> lips; book --> books
 /z/: Add /z/ if the base ends in a voiced sound (except sibilants), e.g. dog -->
dogs; boy --> boys
 /iz/: Add /iz/ if the base ends in a sibilant, e.g. church --> churches; wish -->
wishes
Reminder: Sibilant sounds are /s/; /z/; /
/;/ /; / /; / /.
(ii) Tense in Verbs:
The regular past tense of the verb10 is always associated with the presence of the past
tense marker, "d" [smile + d = smiled] OR “ed” [paint + ed = painted].
(iii) comparative and superlative markers
big + er= bigger
great + est= greatest
So an inflectional morpheme is a bound morpheme that does not change the
meaning nor the grammatical category of the root. It has only a grammatical
function to indicate: plural, past, aspect: progressive( -ing) perfecrt (-ed) ,
comparative and superlative.
Note: all inflectional morphemes in English are suffixes. How about Arabic?
4.2. Derivational Affixes
In contrast some affixes change the class of the root word to which they are added. These
are called derivational affixes (deriving one word from another). The following are some
examples:
(i) Suffixes added to nouns and adjectives change the noun or adjective into an adverb as
in the following examples:


Noun into Adverb :hour → hourly, week → weekly
Adjective into Adverb: quick → quickly , intelligent → intelligently
(ii) Suffixes added to verbs or adjectives change the verb or adjective into a noun as in the
following examples:


10
Verb into Noun : teach → teacher, argue → argument
Adjective into Noun: wise → wisdom ,kind → kindness
The marker of continuous tense is “ing”, [paint +ing = painting].
76
(iii) Suffixes added to adjectives change the adjective into a verb as in the following
examples:
 length→ lengthen; wide→widen
Negating Adjectives:
Other prefixes indicate the opposite meaning of the root word as in the following
examples:
 The prefix un- : e.g. happy → unhappy, lucky → unlucky,
 The prefixes in- &im- : direct → indirect; possible → impossible
 The prefixes il-&ir-: literate → illiterate; regular → irregular
So a derivational morpheme is a bound morpheme that changes the grammatical
category of the root or its meaning
Note: derivational affixes can be prefixes or suffixes in English. How about Arabic?
The diagram below sums up the different morpheme types in English
Word
1 or more morphemes
Morpheme
Free
bound
Affix
Prefix
derivational
suffix
derivational
inflectional
Exercise 5
Prefix the following root words with the appropriate derivational morph:
A. Happy
B. Lucky
C. Literate
77
D. Do
E. Sincere
F. Mobile
Exercise 6
Suffix the following root words with the appropriate inflectional morpheme:
A. Quick
B. Lion
C. Beauty
D. Happy
E. Plant
F. go
Exercise 7
The following list has free and bound morphemes. Determine the function of the bound
morpheme:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Free
+Bound
Cat
Play
Eat
Happy
Train
Swim
Cats
Played
Eats
Unhappy
Trainer
Swimming
bound morpheme Function:
Derivational
inflectional
s
ed
s
un
er
ing
Exercise 8
Look at the following words and determine the type of affixing whether inflectional or
derivational:
A. bound  unbound
B. truck  trucks
C. Legal  illegal
D. Arrive  arrival
E. Deal  dealer
F. speed speedy
Exercise 9
Read the information and decide whether true (T) or False (F)
A. Morphemes are parts of a word.
B. Bound morphemes can exist on their own.
C. Suffixes come at the beginning of a word
D. Prefixes come at the beginning of a word
E. Inflectional morphemes change the meaning of the word when affixed to it.
F. Derivational morphemes work by changing word meaning or word class category.
78
Exercise 10
Break down the following words into their constituent morphemes. Identify the free
morph.
A. Unsuccessful
B. Presentable
C. Humorous
D. Childish
E. Manageable
F. Luckily
5 . Word formation processes
English words acquire new forms and new meanings in a variety of word formation
processes/methods. The most common of these are: compounding, affixation, clipping,
blending and acronyms. Below is a brief discussion of each of these processes together
with examples.
(i) Compounding
Compounds are made up of more than one word element [more than one root]. They are
written in three ways:
a) solid: written as one word, e.g. bedroom,
b) hyphenated: linked by a hyphen, e.g. tax-free,
c) open: written as separate words, e.g. reading material.
American English (AmE) tends not to use hyphenated compounds. In AmE, a new
compound remains open until it is commonly used, in which case it becomes solid or
written as one word.
It is worth pointing out that the meaning of a compound is not always predictable from
the meanings of its parts [constituents]. For example hotdog cannot be predicted from the
parts forming it: hot or dog. Similar examples are:
 wildgoose in „a wildgoose chase‟, meaning a chase getting nowhere,
 dogfight in „the two fighter jets were locked up in a dogfight‟, meaning they were
trying to shoot down each other.
(ii) Affixation
English uses this method frequently for coining words. As you already know from Units 5
and 6 above, affixes in English are two types: prefixes and suffixes.
Reminder:
(a) A prefix is a word or a syllable added at the beginning of a word to form a new word
or to change its meaning.
(b) A suffix is a letter or a group of letters added at the end of a word also to form another
word. Some examples are:
a) Prefixes:un- (unacceptable), im- (improper) inter- (intercontinental), pan- (panArab), anti- (anti-clockwise), re- (reassure).
b) Suffixes: -ist (industrialist), -hood (childhood), -less (careless), -ism (realism), ify (classify), -some (troublesome).
79
Activity I
Access the Cambridge Dictionaries Online to find how the meanings of the following
entries are organized: get, point, record, turn, and run.
Exercise 1
What is the meaning of the underlined prefix?
1. restart
2. unjust
3. inactive
4. misinterpretation
5. co-exist
6. overestimate
7. underestimate
8. anti-racism
9. pro-Arab
10. subway
11. pre-school
12. postgraduate
13. monotone
14. auto-drive
Exercise 2
Add a suffix to the following words. Notice that some words have different suffixes.
1. hope
2. man
3. relation
4. king
5. China (language)
6. Kuwait (citizen)
7. work (person)
8. state (noun)
9. happy (adverb)
10. clock (adverb)
(iii) Clipping
Clipping means removing one or more parts of a word. In a word like phone, the removed
(or clipped) part is (tele-) which stands at the beginning of the original word telephone.
However, in an example like lab, the clipped part is at the end of laboratory. In some
special cases, clipping is made of the first and last parts of a word, e.g.
 fridge in which the clipped parts are re- and -rator from the original word
refrigerator.
(iv) Blending
Blending is achieved when two words are merged together (or blended) in order to coin a
new word. This is normally done by using a part of each word. Here are some examples:
 smog is made up of the two words smoke and fog.
 brunch is a blend of breakfast and lunch.
80
(v) Acronyms
Acronyms are words formed from the initials of two or more words such as:
 VIP which is made up of the initial letters of the words: very important person.
Acronyms are classified into two types according to how they are pronounced:
1. The acronym is pronounced as one word: e.g.
 UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization)
 ALECSO (Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization)
2. The acronym is pronounced letter by letter, e.g.
 IMF (International Monetary Fund) pronounced as: /aɪemef/
 GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) pronounced as:
/dʒi: si: si:/
 AOU (Arab Open University)pronounced as: /eɪəʊju:/
There are many types of acronyms for different specializations. A glossary of common
acronyms prepared especially for you appears at the end of this Unit.
6. Rounding Up
This unit has introduced you to the study of morphology.
5.1 New Terms
 Affix
 Bound morpheme
 Derivational affixes
 Free morpheme
 Inflectional affixes
 Lexical words
 Morph
 Morphology
 Prefix
 Root word
 Stem
 Suffix
 Acronym
 Blending
 Clipping
5.2 What you have learnt in this unit
In this unit you have learnt:
 Basic morpheme types and the difference between them.
 The functions of bound morphemes
 The difference between inflectional and derivational morphemes.
 The different processes in word formation
81
5.3 Answer Key
Ex. 1
A. Camel (free) + s (bound)
B. Play (free) + er (bound)
C. Plant (free)
D. Book (free)
E. Truth (free) + ful (bound)
F. Dream (free) + ing (bound)
Ex. 2
A. house wife : house (free) + wife (free)
B. un pleasant : un (bound) + pleasant (free)
C. re call : re (bound) + call (free)
D. boys : boy (free) + s (bound)
E. painter : paint (free) + er (bound)
F. something : some (free) + thing (free)
Ex. 3
A. Player (different word class category)
B. Unpleasant (prefix)
C. Studied (suffix)
Ex. 4
A. Prefix
B. Prefix
C. Suffix
D. Suffix
E. Prefix and suffix
F. Prefix
Ex 5
A. Unhappy
B. Unlucky
C. Illiterate
D. Undo
E. Insincere
F. Immobile
Ex. 6
A. quicker
B. lions
C. beauties
D. happier
E. plants or planted
F. goes or going
82
Ex. 7
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Inflectional
Inflectional
Inflectional
Derivational
Derivational
Functional
Ex. 8
A. derivational
B. inflectional
C. derivational
D. derivational
E. derivational
F. derivational
Ex. 9
A. T
B. F
C. F
D. T
E. F
F. T
Ex. 10
A. Un / success (free) /ful
B. Present (free) / able
C. Humour (free) / ous
D. Child (free) / ish
E. Manage (free) / able
F. Lucky (free) / ly
83
APPENDIX I: Glossary of Useful Acronyms
abbr
Abbreviation
AD
anno Domini [after Christ]
AM
ante meridiem [before noon]
AOU Arab Open University
ASAP As soon as possible
Assn
Association
BA
Bachelor of Arts
BBC
British Broadcasting Corporation
BC
Before Christ
BS
Bachelor of Science
C
Celsius (centigrade)
cm
Centimeter(s)
Corp
Corporation
CV
Curriculum Vitae
Dip
Diploma
Dr
Doctor
e.g.
exempli gratia [for example]
ed
Edited, Edition, Editor
et al.
et alia/et alii [and others]
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
i.e.
id est [that is]
in
Inch(es)
kg
Kilogram(s)
km
Kilometer(s)
lb
libra [pound]
MA
Master of Arts
MD
Medicinae Doctor [Doctor of Medicine]
Mr
Mister (always abbreviated)
Mrs
Mistress (always abbreviated)
84
UNIT 8
WORD CLASSES
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1.Introduction
2.MainWord Class Categories
3. Criteria for Classification
4. Lexical and Grammatical Word Classes
5. Rounding up
 Unit Aims
This unit aims to:
1. explain to you categories of word classes and ways of grouping them
2. identify lexical word classes and their characteristics
3. discuss grammatical word classes and their function
1. Introduction
In unit 7 we saw how morphs are grouped into categories of bound and free morphemes
and how these constitute words. In this unit we are going to look at the second upper
category of words.
Words are language units that can occur on their own in both speech and writing. One of
the functions of grammar is to group similar items together to help the learners notice
their characteristics and function.
Words are grouped, therefore, into categories of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
prepositions, pronouns, articles, demonstratives, conjunctions, etc. This grouping is called
grouping of word class, i.e. words that have the same function or the same meaning or
the same form are grouped together as belonging to the same word class. Word classes
are also labelled “parts of speech”.
Exercise 1
Can you group the following words into useful classes?
house; apple; went; school; found; juice; eat; car
Exercise 2
Select the odd one out of the following list of word classes
a. • boy
• driver
• painted
• month
b. • carrot
• fish
• road
• shut
c. • went
• scored
• played
• city
d. • dived
• player
• farmer
• manager
85
Activity11
The word round can be a member of five different parts of speech as follows:
1. N ..........................................................................
2. V ...........................................................................
3. Adj .........................................................................
4. Adv ........................................................................
5. Prep ........................................................................
Use your dictionary to find the different uses and meanings of round. Find an example
for each use and write it down. Please remember that it is not easy to determine which
part of speech a given word (or word group) belongs to without seeing how it functions,
how it is used in a sentence12.
2. Main Word Class Categories
As we have seen above, word classes are groups of words that have the same function, or
the same meaning, or the same form.

Nouns: refer to a class of words that identify people, things, places, animals or
abstractions. Nouns are grouped into two major categories: common nouns e.g.
coffee, table, rabbit, boy and proper nouns, e.g. Lebanon, Rula, The Red Sea. Proper
nouns start with a capital letter.

Verbs: refer to a class of words that identify actions or events e.g. drive, play or
states of affairs, e.g. like, hate.

Pronouns: refer to a class of words that may replace a noun, e.g. he, she, it, them, I,
etc.

Adjectives: refer to a class of words used to describe something or someone, e.g. the
heavy bag, the bag is heavy.

Adverbs: refer to a class of words used to describe a verb or add information to
other categories. The form of the adverb is distinguished by the –ly ending, e.g.
hourly, beautifully, basically, slowly. Some adverbs of place and adverbs of time do
not end with -ly, e.g. now, often, here, there. Adverbs that add information on
manner (how things are done) are called adverbs of manner, e.g. carefully, slowly.
Adverbs that add information on place (where things are) are called adverbs of
place, e.g. here, there, near. Adverbs that add information on time (when things are
done) are called adverbs of time, e.g. now, then, before.

Prepositions: refer to the class of words that function to link lexical words in the
sentence, e.g. in, on, up, down, under, at, before, etc.

Articles: refer to the class of words used with the nouns to show if they are definite
or indefinite, e.g. the, a, an.
11
This activity is adapted from Mukattash, L. (1995). Structure I, Al Quds Open University. Amman.
Mukattash, L. (1995). Structure I, Al Quds Open University. Amman.
12
86

Demonstratives: refer to the class of words which indicate the distance of
something or someone, from the speaker. English demonstratives are: this, these
(near) that, those (far).

Conjunctions: also known as connectives, refer to the class of words which connect
words, phrases or sentences together, e.g. and, but, because, nevertheless, however,
as, or …
Exercise 3
Adjectives are ways of describing people and things. We can use them in comparative
(+er) and superlative forms (+ est). Fill in the blank with the appropriate adjective:
• taller • empty • clever
• longest
•darkest
• greener
A. She is a _____________ student.
B. This road is the _____________ .
C. My friend is _____________ than me.
D. The grass is _____________ in Europe where there is more rain.
E. The _____________ cup was washed.
F. She loves the ___________ colours.
Exercise 4
Identify words that belong to the adverb word class and state whether they are adverbs of
time, adverbs of place, or adverbs of manner.
A. We walked home slowly.
B. Tutorials are given weekly
C. He went there
D. Her birthday was two weeks ago
E. Suddenly, it stopped raining.
F. She lives nearby.
3. Criteria for Classification13
When we assign words like boy, John and friendship to the same class, we imply
that they share a number of properties. Grammarians usually depend on three types of
criteria in grouping a word or a group of words to form a certain class. These are (i)
semantic criteria, (ii) morphological criteria, and (iii) syntactic criteria.
In what follows we shall define these three types of criteria and cite examples to
illustrate the issues that will be raised in the course of discussion. Our discussion in this
section will be restricted to nouns.
3.1. Semantic Criteria
By semantic criteria we mean depending on meaning in classifying word classes or parts
of speech. Thus a noun has been traditionally defined as a word that names a
person, a place, an idea, or a thing, (object, action, quality, condition, etc.). This
13
This section is adapted from Mukattash, L. (1995). Structure I. Al Quds Open University.Amman.
87
type of definition has been criticized as being inaccurate. For instance the word blue
in the phrase a blue tie is the name of a colour (thing), but we do not call it a noun;
it is called an adjective. Similarly, a word like jump, which is a verb, is the name of an
action. Observations like these made linguists conclude that semantic criteria are not
reliable.
3.2. Morphological Criteria
As we have seen from the preceding unit, morphology is the study of the internal
structure of words. It deals with derivational and inflectional affixes which are
added to the beginning of the word (i.e. prefixes) or to the end of a word (i.e.
suffixes).
Linguists argue that words can be grouped together in the same class if they have
similar morphological characteristics, that is to say, words that belong to a certain
class have some morphological properties in common. Let us now see if nouns in
English share common morphological properties:
1.
Most (not all) nouns in English take an inflectional suffix to mark
NUMBER:most English nouns have two forms, a singular form and a plural one.
The plural form is derived from the singular form through the addition of the
suffix s or es (e.g. boy --> boys; cat --> cats; match --> matches). As seen in the
previous unit, this regular process can be illustrated in phonetic terms as follows:
 /s/: Add the suffix /s/ if the base (i.e. singular form) ends in a voiceless sound
(except sibilants). e.g.: lip - > lips; book --> books
 /z/: Add /z/ if the base ends in a voiced sound (except sibilants). e.g.: dog -->
dogs; boy --> boys
 /iz/: Add /iz/ if the base ends in a sibilant. e.g.: church --> churches; wish -->
wishes
2. The second morphological property of English nouns is that they take some
derivational affixes, which are typical of nouns. The following are some typical
derivational suffixes of English nouns. One can guess the class membership of a word
even if he does not know its meaning.
a. -age: postage; mileage; drainage,
b. -ation: information; realization; organization,
c. -er: teacher; boiler; receiver;
d. -al: arrival; refusal; dismissal,
e. -ness: goodness; happiness; carelessness,
f. -ship: friendship; dictatorship; fellowship.
As we have seen above, nouns do have certain morphological properties which
distinguish them from other word classes.
However, like semantic criteria,
morphological criteria are not always helpful for two reasons. First, a word may belong
to more than one class, and we cannot assign it to a certain class on the basis of its
morphological shape (e.g. book (N+V); hard (Adj. + Adv.). Secondly, there are certain
suffixes that are typical of more than one class. For example, many adjectives inflect
for the comparative and superlative: e.g. small: smaller: smallest. But some adverbs are
also inflected in the same way: (He drives fast/fast: faster: fastest).
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The conclusion that can be drawn from the above discussion is that although
morphological criteria are revealing, they are not wholly reliable.
3.3. Syntactic Criteria
As we shall see in the upcoming unit, the term syntax is a technical term used in
linguistics to refer to the study of sentence-construction: the arrangement of words
and phrases in sentences or syntactic rules and relations.
As we shall see in Units 9-11 below nouns, possess certain syntactic properties; that is
to say, they generally function in the same way in sentences and phrases. The most
typical functions of nouns in the sentence are the following14:





Subject: Bill is an engineer.
Direct Object: I don't like Bill.
Indirect Object: I taught Bill a new song.
Subject Complement: The man I respect most is Bill.
Object Complement: The Burtons named their baby Bill.
.
4. Lexical and Grammatical Word Classes
As we have seen above, words classes can be grouped into two main categories:
1. Lexical words
2. Grammatical/Function words
(i) Lexical Words
Lexical words are both meaningful and can be used on their own. These are also called
content words. The main four lexical word classes are: nouns, verbs15, adjectives and
adverbs [see below].
(ii) Grammatical Words
Grammatical word classes have little or no lexical meaning on their own. Word classes in
this category are also called function words. Words that belong to this category are:
pronouns, prepositions, articles, demonstratives and conjunctions, interjections [see
below]
Words are also classified as either (i) open word classes, or (ii) closed word classes.
(i) Open word classes: These are word classes that are open to the addition/creation of
new items, through suffixing or prefixing, e.g. friend → friendship. New words can be
added to these classes to match new changes in the society. Open word classes are
14
You will learn more about these terms in Units 9-11, which deal with Syntax
Verbs are divided into two types: (i) Lexical verbs or full verbs, and (ii) Auxiliary verbs or helping verbs.
These will be discussed in Unit 9 below.
15
89
defined as 'major' because they carry most of the content or meaning of the
sentence16. Open word classes include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Nouns (N): John, boy, Ali, tree, idea, Cairo,
Verbs (V): write, drive, remember, eat,
Adjectives (Adj): nice, lazy, tall, lucky,
Adverbs (Adv): wisely, , soon, frequently,
(ii) Closed word classes: They are word classes that are closed to addition of new items.
They cannot be affixed i.e no morpheme can be added to the base . Closed word classes
are defined as 'minor' because their structural role is more important than their meaning,
and this explains why some grammarians refer to them as Structural/Function Words.
Closed word classes include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Articles (Det): the, a, an
Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
Pronouns (Pro): he, we, they, him, yours , etc.
Prepositions (Prep): of, at, by, according to, etc.
Conjunctions (Conj): and, because, but, so that,
Interjections (Inter): ah, oh, aha, ouch.
Exercise 5
Assign the underlined words below to classes on the basis of their morphological and
syntactic properties. Say if the word is lexical/open or function/
closed. Consult your dictionary if you are not certain about the class membership of a
word.
1. Home is where your friends and family are.
2. Someone who is deaf is unable to hear.
3. A linguist is someone who studies languages.
4. Cold food is not intended to be eaten hot.
5. They can can food in a can.
6. They are cooking apples.
7. The plane will be arriving soon.
8. His brother grew happier.
9. His brother grew a beard.
10. The fire burnt furiously.
11. This castle was built during the twelfth century.
12. Many people enjoy walking in the rain.
13. It doesn't rain frequently in the summer.
14. I'm going to see Roy on Tuesday.
15. Sometimes I am neat, sometimes I am messy.
16. I saw Jim and Suzy.
17. She is really nice, but she can be nasty occasionally.
16
Mukattash, L. (1995). Structure I, Al Quds Open University. Amman.
90
18. Who takes care of the baby?
19. They pulled the rope tight.
20. The following examples are explanatory.
5. Rounding up
5.1. New Terms
 adjective
 adverb
 adverb of manner
 adverb of place
 adverb of time
 article
 auxiliary verb
 closed word class
 conjunction
 content word
 demonstrative
 function word
 grammatical word class
 lexical word class
 open word class
 parts of speech
 preposition
 word classes
5.2. What You have Learnt in This Unit
In this unit you have learnt:
 Categories of word classes
 Criteria for classifying them.
 Lexical and grammatical word classes and their function.
 Differences between open and closed sets of word classes.
5.3. Answer Key
Ex. 1
 Noun word class: house, apple, school, juice, car
 Verb word class: went, found, eat.
Ex. 2
A. painted
B. shut
C. city
D. dived
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Ex. 3
A. clever
B. longest
C. taller
D. greener
E. empty
F. darkest
Ex.4
A. slowly (manner)
B. weekly (time)
C. there (place
D. ago (time)
E. suddenly (time)
F. nearby (place)
Ex.5
Use your dictionary to do this exercise.
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UNIT 9
SYNTAX 1
WHAT IS SYNTAX?
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. What is Syntax?
2. What is a Sentence?
3. Subject and Predicate
4. The Noun Phrase
5. The Verb Phrase
6. Rounding Up
 Units Aims
Upon completing units 9-11, you should be able to:
1. distinguish sentences from non-sentences,
2. analyse sentences in terms of subject and predicate,
3. recognize optional and obligatory elements (constituents) of a sentence,
4. identify functions of sentence constituents,
5. recognize word-classes and their formal/functional characteristics.
6. recognize sentence types and classes and use them appropriately,
7. recognize grammatical terms and use them correctly, and
8. know how noun phrases and verb phrases are constructed.
This unit consists of the following five sections:
Section 1:(What is Syntax?) gives you a brief idea about the scope of syntax as well as
about constituents and layers of language units.
Section 2:(What is a Sentence?) deals with the sentence as the major unit of
grammatical description. In particular, it will help you distinguish sentences from nonsentences.
Section 3: (Subject and Predicate): deals with how sentences are divided into subjects
and predicates and with the syntactic and semantic characteristics of subjects and
predicates.
Section 4 & Section 5: (The Noun Phrase (NP) and the Verb Phrase (VP) ): deals
with how verb phrases and noun phrases are constructed and described.
Unit 10: (Sentence Types and Classes) deals with types of English sentences according
to (i) grammatical form, and (ii) structural complexity.
93
Unit 11:(Sentence Structure) deals with basic sentence structures (patterns); the forms
and functions of the elements that make up the sentence and whether they are
optional or obligatory. 17
1. What is Syntax?
Syntax may be defined as the study of the ways in which sentences are constructed from
smaller units called constituents and how they are related to each other.
It is important at this point to remind you of the fact that a sentence is not a string of
words that follow each other like beads in a rosary [string of beads]. Sentences are made
up of blocks or constituents. What does that mean?
Let us exemplify the concepts of blocks/constituents by looking at a concrete example
like this:
(i) This building has three floors that consist of 12 rooms.
(ii) This building [MAJOR BLOCK] consists of three floors [BLOCK 2]. On each
floor, there are two flats [BLOCK 3]. Each flat has four rooms [BLOCK 4].
Obviously, the description in (ii) is far more revealing than that in (i). The information in
(ii) can be represented in the following table showing layers of constituents/blocks.
Level
Building
Floors
Flats
Rooms
Floor 1
F1
F2
R1 R2
R3 R4
Constituents
1 Building
Floor 2
F3
F4
R5 R6
R7 R8
Floor 3
F5
F6
R9 R10
R11 R12
Recapitulation:
We have seen in previous units that:
1. Words are made up of smaller units/constituents called morphemes: e.g.
- Class + room = classroom
- boy + Plural = boys
- possible + Negative = impossible
2. Morphemes are made up of smaller constituents called phonemes:
- /r/ + /ai/ + /t/ = write OR right
17
Units 9-11 are adapted from Mukattash, Lewis (1994): English Structure I , Al-Quds Open University , Amman.
94
Constituents form layers or a hierarchy as in the following diagram:
Layers
Word
Constituents
1 word : classmates
Morph-1: class
Morphemes
Phonemes
1
k
2
l
3
a:
+
4
s
Morph-2: mates
Morph-3
+ Morph-4
[plural s]
mate
5
6
7
8
m ei
t
s
.
The information in the above table can be paraphrased in the following way:
(i)
The word classmates consists of two free morphemes: class and mates and the
morpheme mates consists of two morphemes mate and the bound morpheme –s.
In other words, the word classmates consists of four morphemes.
(ii)
The four morphemes consist of 8 phonemes:
The same analysis applies to sentence structure.
 Sentences consist of Clauses
 Clauses consist of Phrases
 Phrases consist of Words
Let us see the constituents of the following sentence:
 The girls cooked and the boys washed the dishes
Sentence
One Sentence
Clauses
Clause-1
and
Phrases
Phrase-1
Phrase-2
Phrase-3
Words (W) W1 W2
W3
W4 W5 W6
the girls
cooked
the boys
Clause-2
Phrase-4
W7
washed
Phrase-5
W8 W9
the dishes
Activity:
Show the constituents of the following sentence: Our tutor has explained this unit very
carefully.
This sentence consists of one clause that consists of four phrases:
 Our Tutor : Noun Phrase
 Has explained: Verb Phrase
 This unit: Noun Phrase
 Very carefully: Adverb Phrase
2. What is a Sentence?
In analyzing and describing the structure of a language, it is customary to begin with the
sentence. It is also the tradition in grammar books to begin by providing a
definition of the sentence and by listing the various types and classes of sentences.
95
The following are some typical definitions that are extracted from different grammar
books and dictionaries:
(1) a. A sentence is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate
and expressing a complete thought.
b. A sentence is a complete unit of meaning.
c. A sentence is the largest grammatical unit consisting of phrases and/or
clauses, used to express a statement, question, command, etc.
d. A sentence is a set of words complete in itself, containing subject and
predicate ... and conveying a statement, question or command.
e. A sentence is a group of words which express a statement, question, or
command.
f. A sentence is a group of words beginning with a capital letter, and ending
with a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark.
Note: You should not worry about the above definitions. Nor should you try to learn them
by heart. Simply try to see what these definitions have in common.
2.1. Meaning
A sentence is often defined as a group of words expressing a complete thought.
Obviously, it is not easy to define what we mean by "compete thought". Suffice if
for the moment to say that a sentence must be meaningful(make sense). All the following
examples convey clear meanings, even out of context:
(2) a. The Nile is the longest river in the world.
b. Kuwaitis an oil-producing country.
c. Still waters run deep. (proverb)
d. My friend told me that he had a terrible dream last night.
e. If you want to win, you should work harder.
f. English is the world's most widely used language.
Now consider the following examples. Notice that all examples are preceded by a
question mark (?). A question mark is used in front of a sentence to indicate that the
sentence is odd; there is something wrong with it. Try to explain why these sentences are
odd.
(3)?a. My cat loves grammar but hates milk.
? b. Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.
?c. Bill grew stones in his office.
Notice that these examples look like English sentences in structure and punctuation;
(i) They are made up of meaningful English words;
(ii) The words occur in the right position (i.e. word order is right);
(iii) All examples begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop.
However, none of these examples makes sense. What is wrong with the above examples?
2.2. Sentence constituents
Most of the definitions in (1) above describe (define) the sentence in terms of the
constituents (elements) that must be present in its structure. In other words, sentences
are made up of smaller units, which combine in some specific ways to convey
96
meaning. The constituents that are mentioned in the definitions in (1) above are:
(i) subject,
(ii) predicate,
(iii) clause,
(iv)phrase, and
(v)word.
We shall return to discuss these terms below. It is important at this point to remember
that, as pointed out in Section 1 above, sentences are made up of clauses, and clauses
are made of phrases and phrases are made up of words as in this diagram:
(4)
Sentence
Clauses
Phrases
Words
2.3 Communicative function
We communicate with each other by means of utterances. Such utterances may be
short or long, phrases or sentences, statements or questions, etc. The following brief
exchanges (pieces of conversation) clearly show that native speakers do not always use
sentences in speaking to each other:
(5) A. Seen the accident?
B. Where?
A. Downtown?
B. Not really.
(6)A. Good morning. Midland Bank.
B. Good morning. My name is Smith. Harry Smith. I am calling from London.
A. Yes, Mr. Smith. What can I do for you?
B. I am wondering whether it would be possible for me to make an appointment for
tomorrow with Mr. Lyons, the bank manager.
A. I am afraid you cannot see Mr. Lyons tomorrow. He will beout of town all day.
B. In this case I'd like to leave a message. Please, tell him that I've lost my cash card.
2.4 Orthographic criteria
As pointed out above, when we speak, our utterances may be short and we may use
incomplete sentences. Yet we can still convey meaning through intonation, pauses, stress,
facial expressions and gestures. In writing, these devices are not available, so our
sentences must be structured and punctuated properly. This is why some grammarians
define the sentence from an orthographic point of view: cf.
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
A written sentence must begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop (.), a
question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!).
Exercise 1
Decide whether the following examples are sentences or non-sentences. Write S in front
of a sentence and NS in front of a non-sentence.
1. I have bought a raincoat.
2. Defeated the other great champions.
3. This flower smells nice.
4. A reference grammar for students of English as a foreign language.
5. Staying up all night to finish an article.
6. Put the rest in the tin.
7. Cabinet minister to resign soon.
8. No news good news.
9. The fact that Bill has failed the exam.
10. The idea of spending his life in prison.
2.5. Word order
In English the order of words is essential to the meaning of the sentence. A
change in word order in English sentences brings with it a basic change in meaning.
Notice the difference in meaning in these two examples:
(7) a. The hunter / has killed / the lion.
b. The lion / has killed / the hunter.
The difference in meaning results from the reordering of the two noun phrases (the
hunter and the lion). Now see what happens if the order of the verb phrase has killed is
changed: cf.
(7) *c. Has killed / the hunter / the lion
*d. The hunter / the lion / has killed
Neither of the above strings of words is an English sentence although we
understand the meaning of the individual words in these strings. Note that the asterisk *
indicates an ungrammatical structure.
The problem with (7.c) and (7.d) is that they violate [do not follow] the rules of word
order in English. For example, in declarative sentences in English the positions of subject
(S), verb (V) , and object (O) are relatively fixed; they normally occur in the following
order: S+V+O. This is why English is referred to as an S-V-O language.
In the two examples in (7.c) and (7.d) above we have moved the phrases (the
hunter, has killed and the lion) from their original positions. Obviously, some
phrases are mobile, that is they can be moved. Consider, for example, the variation in the
position of the adverb phrase last night in the following two sentences:
(7) e. The hunter / killed / the lion / last night /.
f.Last night / the hunter / killed / the lion /.
98
Similarly, words occur in a fixed order in phrases. Let us return to sentences (7.a) and
see what happens if we change the position of words (within phrases) without changing
the position of the phrase: cf.
(7) *g. hunter the / killed has / lion the / night last.
Question:
Which is worse (7.g) or (7.c)?
We shall return to elaborate on this issue below. It is sufficient at this point to remember
that:
(i) Phrases have a relatively fixed order within the clause.
(ii) Words have a very strict order within the phrase.
Activity:
Which of the following two sentences do you prefer to use? Why?
 She decided to resign on Monday.
 On Monday, she decided to resign.
The second sentence is better, because the meaning is clear. In the first
sentence we do not know whether the decision was made on Monday or
whether the resignation will take place on Monday.
2.6. General criteria
Based on the above discussion, we can establish the following general criteria by which
we can judge whether a string of words is a sentence or not.
1) A sentence is made up of units (i.e. clauses and phrases) that have a relatively
fixed order.
2) Words have a fixed word order within phrases.
3) A sentence must have a subject and a predicate. (This issue will be discussed
in detail below).
4) A sentence must be meaningful.
5) A written sentence must begin with a capital letter and end with a full
stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark.
Exercise 3
Fill in the blanks in the following statements, which occur in this unit. Use one word for
each blank.
1. A ............ is the largest grammatical unit (for descriptive purposes).
2. A sentence must have a subject and a ............... .
3. A ......... sentence must begin with a capital letter and end with a ........., a
.............. mark or an ...................... mark.
4. ..................order is essential to the meaning of the sentence.
5. ..................have a very strict order within the phrase.
6. A sentence is not just a ................. of words.
7. Phrases consist of ................ .
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3. Subject and Predicate
As pointed out above, a sentence normally has a subject and a predicate. If you look at the
six sentences in example (2) above, you will notice that each sentence has a subject. These
examples are repeated here for convenience:
(2) a. The Nile is the longest river in the world.
b. Kuwaitis an oil-producing country.
c. Still waters run deep. (proverb)
d. My friend told me that he had a terrible dream last night.
e. If you want to win, you should work harder.
f. English is the world's most widely used language.
The subject in each sentence has been underlined on purpose. Now, what happens if we
delete the subject in any of these sentences? Obviously, we will be left with a string
of words that does not constitute a sentence either in terms of meaning or in
terms of structure.
Exercise 4:
Divide each of the following sentences into two parts (a subject and a predicate). Write S
above the subject and P above the predicate.
1. John has no job.
2. I posted the letter yesterday.
3. This is the introductory unit.
4. Leonardo da Vinci was a great artist.
5. Smoking is bad for your health.
6. Half a loaf is better than no bread.
7. The book which you bought yesterday is rather expensive.
8. To learn a foreign language would be an advantage.
9. That Bill doesn't visit his parents is odd.
10. Both my father and grandfather prefer buses to trains.
3.1. Subject [S]
How can we tell that a certain word or group of words is the subject of a sentence? Most
people are taught in school that the subject of a sentence represents either what the
sentence is about (i.e. the theme/topic) or the doer of the action (i.e. the agent). This can
be true of many but not all sentences. For instance, the subject in each of the following
sentences is both the topic/theme and the agent (doer of action):
(1) a. Professor Smith has written a new book.
b. My brother parked the car in the car park.
c. Our new boss painted his office by himself.
Now, let us consider the following example:
(2) Professor Smith has been attacked by a stranger.
Sentence (2), like sentence (1.a), is about Professor Smith, but while Professor Smith is
the agent (doer of the action) in (1.a), he is not so in (2). In fact, he is the affected person
(i.e. the object). Some people might wish to argue that this is so (i.e. Professor Smith
being the person affected by the action) because sentence (2) is passive. However, we
100
can find numerous examples of active sentences where the subject of the sentence is not
the agent. In the following examples, which are active sentences, the subject is the
"affected" participant:
Here are some more examples that demonstrate beyond any doubt that the subject
is not always the agent (i.e. doer of the action) in an active sentence:
(3)
a. Glass breaks easily.
b. This shirt washes easily.
c. This essay reads clearly.
Finally, notice that there are many sentences in English do not refer to actions or events.
In such cases as in the following examples, it would not be logical to talk about an agent
(or doer of action).
(5) John is sick.
(6) Mary resembles her mother.
(7) This carpet costs $500.
The examples cited above demonstrate that it is not always easy to define the
subject of the sentence in terms of notions such as topic and agent. This does not,
however, mean that we cannot identify the subject of a given sentence. In fact, we can,
but we have to rely on structural/syntactic criteria.
First, as pointed out above, the subject is an obligatory constituent of the sentence18, i.e. it
is an element that cannot be omitted. Indeed, all sentences, except imperative19 sentences,
must have a subject.
Secondly, the subject of the sentence, which usually goes before the verb, controls
(determines) the form of the verb. In other words, the verb must agree with the subject.
This subject-verb agreement is often called concord. The following examples are selfexplanatory.
(8) a. I like cheese.
b. My wife likes cheese.
(9) a. I am the author of this book.
b. You are the reader of this book.
c. The Arab Open University is the publisher.
Activity:
Translate these two sentences into Arabic. Do they have the same meaning? Notice the
form of the verb in each sentence.
(i) Visiting relatives are boring.
(ii) Visiting relatives is boring.
18
Notice that the subject is not necessarily the first word in the sentence: cf. Yesterday, Jane cooked a
delicious meal.
19
In imperative sentences the subject is not mentioned directly (expressed), but it is implied (i.e. the
pronoun you): e.g. (You) open the door.
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The third structural/syntactic characteristic of the subject is that it changes its position as
we go from statement into question. This process is often called subject-verb inversion
or subject-auxiliary inversion:
(10) a. Frank
is
a clever engineer.
Is Frank a clever engineer?
b. The children
are playing in the garden.
Are the children playing in the garden?
3.2. The Predicate [Pred]
The predicate is the part of the sentence that tells something about the subject. It may
consist of just one verb or a verb preceded by auxiliaries as in (11) and (12) respectively:
(11) a. Birds fly.
b. We all breathe.
c. The moon rose.
(12) a. The taxi has arrived.
b. The wind is blowing.
c. I don't care.
Verbs like shine, laugh, disappear, arrive, etc., which do not take an object are called
intransitive verbs (V-intrans.). Thus we may define an intransitive verb as a verb that
does not require an object as in the examples in (11) and (12) above.
There are verbs that require one object or more.
(V/trans) and fall into three classes:
These are called transitive verbs
(i)Monotransitive [v/mono-trans]: A monotransitive verb requires a direct object. This
means that the direct object (Od) is normally an obligatory element. Consider the
following examples, and notice that some examples are preceded by an asterisk
(*).
The asterisk indicates that the sentence is ungrammatical.
(13)
S
a. Bill
b. * Bill
V/mono-trans
loves
loves
Od
Mary.
(14)
S
V/mono-trans
a. Mr. Jones
repaired
b. *Mr. Jones
repaired
Od
the car.
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(ii)Ditransitive[V/di-trans.]: A di-transitive verb takes two objects, a direct object (Od)
and an indirect object (Oi). Study the examples in the following table:
(15)
S
a. Bill
b. Sam
c. Carl
d. I
V/di-trans.
gave
lent
has bought
will tell
Oi
Od
an apple.
some money.
a present.
the truth.
Mary
me
Jane
you
NOTE: The indirect object is usually (though not always) a noun referring to a person or
to a living (animate) being as in the examples in (15) above.
(iii) Complex transitive [V/comp-trans.]: A complex transitive verb (comp-trans)
requires both (i) a direct object and (ii) an object complement (Co). The object
complement may be defined as a word or a group of words that follows a direct
object and identifies or describes it. Consider these examples:
(16)
S
a. They
b. The class
c. Mary
d. His jokes
V/comp-trans.
appointed
elected
made
drive
Od
Bill
Mary
her husband
me
Co
chairman.
president.
miserable.
crazy.
Notice that the object complement is either a noun or an adjective.
So far, we have distinguished between transitive and intransitive verbs. The major
distinction between the two is that while the former requires one object (at least), the latter
cannot be followed by an object.
There is yet a third type of English verb, namely the linking verb. A linking verb (Vlink) is followed by a word or a phrase that identifies, classifies or describes the subject.
This word or phrase is called a subject complement[Cs] because it completes the
meaning of the subject and the linking verb. The following are representative
examples:
(17)
S
a. Some snakes
b. Mary
c. I
d. Chomsky
V/link
are
is
am
is
Cs
poisonous.
a secretary.
hungry.
a linguist.
The sentences in (17) above show that a linking verb requires a subject complement
(Cs). This means that the subject complement is an obligatory constituent. Notice
further that the subject complement is either a noun (e.g. secretary and linguist in
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17.b and 17.d) or an adjective (e.g. poisonous and hungry in 17.a and 17.c).
Sometimes a linking verb is followed by an obligatory adverbial (ADV), in particular an
adverb of place as in the following examples:
(18)
S
Bill
Mary
a.
b.
V
is
was
ADV
in London.
in Hong Kong.
So far we have been describing verb classes and the compulsory constituents that follow
them. Before proceeding to discuss optional elements that can occur in the predicate, it is
convenient to present the above information diagrammatically. Diagram (19) below
shows the various types of verbs that occur in the predicate:
(19)
+
……..
monotransitive
+
Od
ditransitive
+
Oi + Od
Complex-transitive
+
Od + Co
+
+
Cs
ADV
Intransitive Verb
Transitive
Verb
V
Linking Verb
Exercise 5
Underline the predicate in the following sentences. Circle the verb and identify its class.
1. The eggplants were purple.
2. Jimmy has lost his ticket.
3. Mother telephoned the neighbours.
4. It grew darker and darker.
5. Our cat had eaten our sandwiches!
6. She is teaching her dog many tricks.
7. Bill chopped the firewood.
8. Robots are helpful.
9. People find robots fascinating.
10. The show was a great success.
11. That bench in the garden looks comfortable.
12. Janet wrote me a letter.
13. I call this stupidity.
14. Interest rates are falling.
15. The mist has evaporated.
3.3. Expanding subject and predicate
As can be seen from the examples above, the subject may consist of one word
only (a noun or a pronoun) or it can consist of a group of words. Consider these
examples:
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(20)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
S
Professors
Some professors
Some old professors
Some old literature professors
Professors of literature
Some old literature professors whom
I know
V
are
"
"
"
"
Cs
absent-minded.
"
"
"
"
"
"
As you can see, the subject can be expanded in different ways. In theory, there is
no limit on the number of elements that can be inserted in the subject position. Notice,
however, that not all elements in the subject position in (20) above are obligatory. Some
elements can be deleted.
Questions:
1. What elements can be deleted from (20.f)?
2. What is the most important word in the subject position in (20.d)?
The word group in the subject position in (20.f) [some old literature professors whom I
know] is called a noun phrase (NP), because the most important word (headword) in this
phrase is a noun20. This is the reason why we cannot delete it.
The examples in the subject position in (20) above show that the subject may be expanded
in three different ways through:
(i)
adding words before the headword as in (20, b, c, d).
(ii)
adding words after the head word as in (20.e)
(iii) adding words before and after the headword as in (20.f).
We have looked at some ways in which the subject of a sentence can be expanded. The
predicate of a sentence can also be expanded in various ways. Quite often, the predicate
can be expanded through the addition of adverbs (adv.) andprepositional phrases
(Prep P), which have an adverbial function (ADV). In most cases, such adverbs and
prepositional phrases are optional; this explains why they are placed between brackets in
the following examples:
Reminder: Remember these abbreviations:
 ADV/P Place Adverbial
 ADV/T Time Adverbial
 ADV/M Manner Adverbial
 ADV/F
Frequency Adverbial
(21)
S
20
V
Od
ADV/M
ADV/P
ADV/T
We shall return to give more details about the expansion of the Noun Phrase (NP) in Section 4 below.
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a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
I
I
Bill
John
S
Gill
It
wrote
meet
lost
greeted
V
stood
is
some letters
my clients
his wallet
me
ADV/M
(quietly)
-
(warmly)
(in my office).
(on the bus)
(in the corridor).
ADV/P
(behind the door).
-
(yesterday).
(last week).
-
ADV/F
Cs
(always)
hot
ADV/T
(in the summer).
We shall return to give more details about the construction and expansion of the Verb
Phrase (VP) in Section 5 below.
Exercise 6
Underline the words or word groups that have an adverbial function. Mention what kind
of adverbial it is. Write P, T, M, F. Place optional adverbials between brackets.
1. She dances gracefully.
2. Larry flew to Alexandria.
3. You should always speak naturally.
4. They searched the room carefully last night.
5. I'll see you at the Hilton tonight.
6. He died in Canada when he was sixteen.
Exercise 7
Fill in the blanks in the following statements. Use one word for each blank. The
statements occur in this section.
1. A ...... verb is followed by Cs or ADV/P.
2. An .......... verb cannot take an object.
3. A di-transitive verb requires a ...... ....... and an ...... ....... .
4. A ....... verb requires a direct object and an ....... complement.
5. The function ....... is an obligatory element in sentence structure. It determines
the form of the verb.
4. The Noun Phrase (NP)
The NP is a word (noun or pronoun) OR a GROUP OF WORDS whose HEAD is
commonly a NOUN. The HEAD NOUN (HN) may be preceded by other elements (e.g.
articles, adjectives, etc.). These elements are called pre-modifiers.
All the underlined constructions in the following examples are NOUN PHRASES. Notice
that the Head Noun is in italic type.
1. John is happy.
2. This is my wallet.
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The tall boy is my nephew.
I have never met your youngest son.
I like that little striped kitten.
A large Egyptian trade delegation has arrived in London.
We need a very long sharp knife.
My wife has bought an elegant Persian carpet.
The HN in a noun phrase may also be followed by different types of elements that
become part of the phrase as in the following table. These elements are called postmodifiers. Note that the main verb has the –s inflection if the HN is singular as in the
first two examples.
Pre-Modifiers
The tall
That little dark
The
All the
Subject
HN
man
kitten
fact
documents
A
person
Predicate
Post- Modifier
in the corner
playing in the garden
that Bill lost the race
which
you
have
prepared
who cannot be kind and
understanding
Main Verb
speaks
doesn‟t like
surprised
are
should
become
five languages.
milk.
us.
faulty.
not a doctor.
Note:A NP can be expanded in all grammatical positions, not only in the subject position
as in the following table:
Subject
We
Ali
I
Verb
regret
bought
don‟t
accept
Pre-Modifiers
the
a new
the
HN
fact
book
idea
NP
Post-Modifier
that Bill has lost the race.
which deals with English syntax.
that women are inferior to men.
Exercise 8:
Circle the HN in the underlined NPs in the following sentences:
1. The rumor that the university rector has resigned is unfounded.
2. The idea of spending his life in prison horrified him.
3. Do you know the boys sitting in the garden?
4. They made him a boss that does not rule.
5. I ignored all the remarks that he made during our meeting.
6. Get me those books on the table, please.
7. Lying is the thing that I hate most.
8. The fact that the manager has not accepted our offer should not bother you.
9. A large Egyptian trade delegation has arrived in London
10. Syntax is a level of language description that deals with sentence formation.
107
5. THE VERB PHRASE
5.1. Verb Forms
Most regular English verbs have five distinct forms, each having its function/functions
The following table shows these forms and their basic functions:
Form
1. base
2. –s form
3. past
4. –ing form:
present participle
5. –en form:
past participle
Function
A. Simple present
B. Infinitive form
Simple present
Simple past
in Progressive tenses
A. in Perfect tenses
B. in Passive verb phrases
Examples
I speak English.
He wants to speak English.
He/Shespeaks English.
Bill painted the house.
Bill is speaking English.
We were watching TV.
Bill has done his homework.
I have finished my task.
The car has been repaired.
Ali was given a present.
Notice that in several cases the past form and the past participle form of the verb are
identical. For instance, in the following two examples the verb painted is simple past in
the first example and past participle in the second and third examples:
 We painted the house yesterday. (simple past)
 He has already painted the house. (past participle)
 The house has already been painted. (past participle)
5.2. Lexical Verbs & Auxiliaries
Verbs in English fall into two distinct categories, (i) Lexical (Full/Main) Verbs, and (ii)
Auxiliary (Helping) Verbs.
5.2.1. Lexical Verbs:
Examples of lexical verbs are :
 base : eat, listen, walk, watch, write
 -s form: eats, listens, walks, watches, writes
 past: ate, listened, walked, watched, wrote
 present participle: eating, listening, walking, watching, writing
 past participle: eaten, listened, walked, watched, written
Auxiliaries, on the other hand, are words that precede (come before) lexical verbs. They
are usually divided into two classes:
(i) basic (or primary) auxiliaries: These are be, have, and do
(ii) secondary (or modal) auxiliaries : These include can, could, will, would, may,
might, shall, should , must, ought to, etc.
Lexical verbs occur without an auxiliary in the following examples:
 Ali likes English grammar.
108



I work in a very spacious office.
We missed our train this morning.
Both of them sat quietly.
On the other hand, there are contexts where lexical verbs can or must be preceded by one
auxiliary or more than one auxiliary as in the following examples ( in bold type):
 Bill has written a new short story. (1 auxiliary)
 When we arrived, they had left. ( 1 auxiliary)
 We are planning to invest in agriculture. (1 auxiliary)
 The children were singing when the electricity went off. (1 auxiliary)
 We have been waiting at this bus stop for over half an hour now. (2 auxiliaries)
 They will be driving into Beirut tomorrow morning. (2 auxiliaries)
 All mail will have been posted by the time you return. (3 auxiliaries)
5.2.2.BE, HAVE & DO:
The verbs BE, HAVE & DO can be used both as lexical verbs and as auxiliaries.
1. In the following examples BE, HAVE & DO are used as lexical verbs:
 This man is too fat. He must be a great eater.
 I was sick yesterday. Today I am much better.
 She has been a nurse for twenty-five years.



I do my homework every day.
We did quite a lot of work yesterday.
We expect all students to do their TMAs on time.



I usually have a bath every morning.
She has several bank accounts in hard currency.
We were having our dinner when suddenly the lights went off.
2. In the following examples BE, HAVE & DO are used as auxiliaries:
 Bill is watching TV in the sitting room.
 Your car was repaired yesterday.
 We were driving towards the racetrack when a police officer stepped in front
of our car.



I have visited Cairo several times so far.
She had been a nurse for several years when she decided to study music.
I have been working for a Japanese company since 1999.



He says that he does not like talkative people.
Did you manage to see the boss yesterday?
We do appreciate your sincere efforts.
6. Rounding Up
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6.1. What You have Learnt in This Unit
In this unit you have learnt:
 The various definitions of the term „sentence
 How sentences are structured
 Classes of verbs and phrases
 How the subject and predicate can be expanded
 Relevant syntactic terminology [listed below]
 How VPs and NPs are constructed
6.2. New Terms
 Adjective Phrase
 Adverbial Phrase
 Agent / Actor
 Auxiliary Verb
 Clause
 Complex-Transitive Verbs
 Constituents
 Ditransitive Verbs
 Head Word
 Intransitive Verbs
 Lexical Verb
 Linking Verbs
 Modal Auxiliaries
 Monotransitive Verbs
 Noun Phrase
 Object
 Phrases
 Post-Modifier
 Predicate
 Pre-Modifier
 Prepositional Phrase
 Primary Auxiliaries
 Subject
 Subject - Auxiliary Inversion
 Syntax
 Verb Phrase
6.3. Answer Key
Ex. 1:
1. S
4. NS
7. NS
10. NS
2. NS
5. NS
8. NS
3. S
6. S
9. NS
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Ex. 2:
1. Will you be at home on Saturday afternoon?
2. Do you know where Bill lives?
3. What a noisy train this is!
4. I asked John where he preferred to have lunch.
5. In Scotland the largest city is Glasgow.
6. Is the highest mountain in the world Everest?
7. The men go to work at 6 o'clock in the morning on Mondays and Thursdays, don't
they?
8. It is believed that Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice in Italy.
9. Susan wouldn't play the piano on Friday.
10. The Grays do not live in Cairo, neither do the Hudsons.
Ex. 3:
a. Sentence
b. Predicate
c .Written, full stop, question, exclamation.
d. Word or phrase
e. Words
Ex. 4:
1. S
/ P
John / has no job.
2. S /
P
I / posted the letter yesterday.
3. S
/ P
This / is the introductory unit.
4. S
/P
Leonardo da Vinci / was a great artist.
5. S
/
P
Smoking / is bad for your health.
6. S
/
P
Half a loaf / is better than no bread.
7. S /
P
The book you bought yesterday / is rather expensive
8. S /
P
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To learn a foreign language / would be an advantage.
9. S
/ P
That Bill doesn't visit his parents / is odd.
10.
S/
P
Both my father and grandfather / prefer buses to trains.
Ex. 5:
1. The eggplants (were) purple.
2. Jimmy (has lost) his ticket.
3. Mother (telephoned) the neighbours.
4. It (grew darker and darker>
5. Our cat (has eaten) our sandwiches!
6. She (is teaching) her dog many tricks.
7. Bill (chopped) the firewood.
8. Robots (are) helpful.
9. People (find) robots fascinating.
10. The show (was) a great success.
11. That bench in the garden (looks) very comfortable.
12. Janet (wrote) me a letter.
13. I (call) this stupidity.
14. Interest rates (are) falling.
15. The mist (has evaporated).
(V/link)
(V/mono-trans.)
(V/mono-trans.)
V/link)
(V/mono-trans.)
(V/di-trans.)
(V/mono-trans.)
(V/link)
(V/comp-trans.)
(V/link)
(V/link)
(V/di-trans.)
(V/comp-trans.)
(V/intrans.)
(V/intrans.)
Ex. 6:
1. She dances (gracefully).
2. Larry flew to Alexandria.
3. You should (always) speak (naturally).
4. They searched the room (carefully) (last night).
5. I will see you (at the Hilton) (tonight).
6. He died (in Canada) (when he was sixteen).
M
P
F; M
M; T
P; T
P; T
Ex.7
1.
2.
3.
4.
Linking verb
Intransitive
Direct object and an indirect object
Complex transitive – object
Ex. 8:The HN is in bold type.
1. The rumor that the university rector has resigned is unfounded
2. The idea of spending his life in prison horrified him.
3. Do you know the boys sitting in the garden?
112
4. They made him a boss that does not rule.
5. I ignored all the remarks that he made during our meeting.
6. Get me those books on the table, please.
7. Lying is the thing that I hate most.
8. The fact that the manager has not accepted our offer should not bother you.
9. A large Egyptian trade delegation has arrived in London
10. Syntax is a level of language description that deals with sentence formation.
113
UNIT 10
SYNTAX 2
SENTENCE TYPES AND CLASSES
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. Sentence Complexity
2. Grammatical Form
3. Communicative Function
4. Rounding Up
Sentences are divided according to three parameters, namely:
(i) complexity,
(ii) grammatical form, and
(iii) communicative function.
In what follows we shall discuss the various types of English sentences and the syntactic
and communicative properties of each type.
1. Sentence Complexity
According to complexity, sentences are divided into four classes;
(i) the simple sentence,
(ii) the complex sentence,
(iii) the compound sentence, and
(iv) the compound-complex sentence.
Before we proceed to define and explain each type, let us consider the following
examples:
(i) Simple Sentences
(1) a. Mary lives in London.
b. John and Mary study at the University of Wales.
c. Susan is an efficient nurse.
d. My father answered the phone.
e. Professor Sharp explained the situation to me.
(ii) Complex Sentences
(2) a. I know [that Bill likes Mary].
b. Bill told me [that he was sick].
c. He will give her the money, [when she signs the contract].
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d. They will retire [when their children are older].
(iii) Compound Sentences
(3) a. You can wait here, and [I will get the key].
b. Take this medicine one time and [you'll be fine].
c. Sit still or [I'll hit you].
d. John left school, but [Mary continued her studies].
(iv) Compound-Complex Sentences
(4) a. The students line up at 7:45 a.m. and[their teachersmonitor them
[while they go to their classrooms]].
b. He gave her everything, and[she left him [as soon as she found a new
job]].
Questions:
1. What do the simple sentences in (1) have in common?
2. How do they differ from the sentences in (2) and (3)?
3. What do the sentences in (3) above have in common?
1.1. The Simple Sentence
A simple sentence consists of one and only one independent clause. It normally has one
finite verb. Before we elaborate on this definition, let us explain the terms used in this
definition, namely the terms (i) finite and (ii) clause.
As pointed out above, most verbs in English have five forms as in the following table:
(5)
Form
1. base
2. -s form
Symbol
V
V-s
Examples
I walk to work.
Bill walks to work.
3. past
V-ed
Bill walked to work.
4. present participle
5. past participle
V-ing
V-en
Bill is walking to work.
Bill has walked to work.
Verb forms are customarily divided into two classes: (i) finite (F) , and (ii) non-finite
(NF).
Finite Verbs:
A finite form has the following properties:
(i) It must show tense (i.e. present or past). All the underlined verbs in the following
examples are finite.
(6) a. I take a shower everyday. (present tense).
b. Bill speaks English fluently. (present tense).
c. We painted the house last week. (past tense).
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(ii) It has person and number concord with the subject. This is obvious with the verb be.
(7) a. I speak English. (first person singular).
b. He speaks English. (third person singular).
(8) a. I am a professor.
b. He/She is a professor.
c. We/They/You are professors.
d. I was in London last week.
e. You were in London last week.
f. They were in London last week.
Non-Finite verbs
A non-finite verb has no tense and no direct preceding subject. Consider these
examples: the NF V is in bold and italics
a. Walking along the beach, I was admiring the sunset
b. Bill took the first flight offered to him, so excited to be
home soon
c. The teacher was so angry that he thought to resign
So in English there are three NF V: present participle (a), past participle (b) and
infinitive
A NF V is of course used in a NF clause
What is a clause?
A clause can be defined as a group of words (i.e. unit) that can be analyzed into the
elements: S, V, O, C, and ADV.
As pointed out in Section 2 above, sentences consist of clauses. A sentence that consists
of just one clause is a simple sentence. Thus all the examples in (1) above, which we
repeat here for convenience, are simple sentences.
(10) a. Mary lives in London.
b. John and Mary study at the University of Wales.
c. Susan is an efficient nurse.
d. My father answered the phone.
e. Professor Sharp explained the situation to me.
As we shall see below, there are sentences that consist of two or more clauses. It is
sufficient at this point to remember that a simple sentence consists of just one clause and
that it has a finite verb. We are assuming, of course, that a clause must have a subject21
and a verb.
1.2. The Complex Sentence
21
As pointed out above, some imperative sentences do not contain an expressed (overt) subject. The subject
is suppressed, (implied) but it is understood to be the pronoun you.
116
A complex sentence is a sentence that contains more than one clause, an
independent(main) clause and a dependent (subordinate) clause. Consider the following
complex sentences. Notice that the dependent clause is in italics.
(11) a. He will give her the money when she signs the contract.
The sentence above contains two clauses: a main clause and a subordinate clause.
Each clause can be analyzed into these (functions) elements: S, V, O, C, and ADV.
Obviously, some of these elements (functions) are obligatory and some are optional.
Thus, the main clause/independent in (11.a) can be analyzed as: S + V + Oi + Od: cf.
(11) b.
S
He
V
will give
Oi
her
Od
the money.
Similarly, the subordinate/dependent clause in the same sentence can be analyzed as: S
+ V + Od:
(11) c.
When
S
she
V
signs
Od
the contract.
.
The function of the dependent clause in (11.a) above is obviously adverbial. It indicates
the time of the action expressed by the verb in the main clause, so it is a time
adverbial (ADV/T). The complex sentence can thus be analyzed in this way:
(11) d.
S
He
V
will give
Oi
her
Od
the money
when
ADV/T
S
V
Od
she signs the contract.
This analysis demonstrates that one of the functions in this sentence, namely ADV/T is
realized by a clause.
It further demonstrates that this complex sentence contains two
structures:
(i) the structure of the sentence as a whole (overall structure), which is:
S + V + Oi +Od + ADV/T, and
(ii) the structure of the subordinate clause, which is:
S + V + Od.
Reminder:
1. A complex sentence contains a main clause and at least one dependent
(subordinate) clause, where the dependent clause has a function in the overall
structure of the sentence in which it is contained.
2.The dependent/subordinate clause cannot stand on its own:
cf. *when she signs the contract.
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Exercise 1
Underline the dependent (subordinate) clauses in the following complex sentences and
mention their functions.
1. I'll see you when I come back.
2. Since you can't use your car, I'll take you home.
3. If you work hard, you will pass.
4. Although he is five years old, Bill speaks five languages.
5. He can't go to work today because he is sick.
1.3. The Compound Sentence
A compound sentence consists of two or more coordinated independent clauses. In
other words, a compound sentence does not contain any dependent or subordinate
clauses. Consider the following example:
(12) a. You can wait here, and I will get the key.
This sentence contains two independent clauses coordinated by means of the
coordinator and: cf.
(12) b. You // can wait// here. (Clause-1): [S –V – ADV]
c. I // will get // the key. (Clause-2): [S-V-Od]
As can be seen from the above examples, each of these two clauses can be analyzed
into the functions: S, V, O, C, ADV: cf. The main coordinators that join two (or more)
independent clauses together are:and, or, but.
1.4. The Compound-Complex Sentence
A compound-complex sentence is both compound (i.e. containing at least two coordinated
independent clauses) and complex (i.e. containing at least one subordinate clause).
Consider the following example which contains two coordinated sentences: a simple
sentence and a complex one:
(13) a. [The students line up at 7:45], and [their teachers monitor them
while [they go to their classes]].
The two coordinated sentences are:
b. The students line up at 7:45. AND
c. Their teachers monitor them when they go to their classes.
The first is a simple sentence (containing one independent clause) which can be
analyzed in terms of: S, V, O, C, ADV, as follows:
d
S
The students
V
line up
ADV/T
at 7:45.
The second sentence (i.e. c) is a complex sentence containing an independent clause
and a dependent (subordinate) clause, both of which can be analyzed in terms of: S, V, O,
C, ADV, as follows:
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e.
S
V
Od
Their teachers
monitor
them
when
S
they
ADV/T
V
ADV/P
go
to their classes.
Notice that the function ADV in the complex sentence is realized by a clause (i.e.
They go to their classes).
Activity:
Which of the following sentences is: (a) simple, (b) complex, (c) compound, or (d)
compound-complex? Check your answers in the above sub-sections.
1. Professor Jones explained the situation to me.
2. My sister answered the phone.
3. If you do this, I'll tell the police.
4. Although my father is seventy years old, he still works hard on his farm.
5. Mary left school, but John continued his studies.
6. Bill does the cooking at night, and Mary does the washing up while she
watches the news in the kitchen.
7. She will give you the money as soon as you sign the agreement.
8. Bill washed the car but he didn't polish it.
2. Grammatical Form
According to grammatical form sentences are divided into four major syntactic classes:
(i) declarative sentences,
(ii) interrogative sentences,
(iii) imperative sentences, and
(iv) exclamatory sentences.
2.1. Declarative Sentences
In declarative sentences the subject normally precedes the verb: cf.
(14) a. The lion / is / a strong animal.
b. Larry / stayed / at home.
c. Chomsky / wrote / Syntactic Structures in 1957.
Notes:
(i) The subject in a declarative sentence can be preceded by adverbials: cf.
(15)
ADV
a. In three years time
S
I
V
will have saved
$3,000.
b. In London
people
prefer
trains.
ADV
c. Luckily
S
the police
V
arrived
Od
ADV
in good time.
(ii) Sometimes an adverb may intervene between the subject and the verb in declarative
sentences: cf.
119
(16)
S
a. Jim
ADV
angrily
V
slammed
the door behind him.
b. We
still
haven't heard
from them.
2.2. Interrogative Sentences
Interrogative sentences begin with an auxiliary verb or with a question word(e.g. when,
where, what, how, etc.). Like declarative sentences, interrogative sentences contain a
subject, which in most cases follows the auxiliary verb: cf.
(17)
Wh-word
a. .......
b. .......
c. Where
d. Why
e. When
Aux
Can
Has
does
did
will
S
Bill
he
he
they
you
speak English?
eaten yet?
live?
leave so early?
arrive in London?
2.3. Imperative Sentences
Imperative sentences do not normally contain a subject. The subject of an imperative
sentence is often implicit, though it is understood to be the pronoun you. This explains
why imperative sentences contain one form of the verb (i.e. the base): cf.
(18) a. Open the door, please.
b. Do your homework at once.
c. Don‟t interrupt me, please.
In some cases, the subject of an imperative sentence is overtly expressed: cf.
(19) a. You go in first.
b. You do what I say.
2.4. Exclamatory Sentences
In exclamatory sentences the subject always precedes the verb.
Furthermore,
exclamatory sentences characteristically begin with the words how or what. Consider the
following examples:
(20)
Wh-word
How
What
What
Adj/N
beautiful
a mess
a slow bus
S
she
you
this
V
is!
are making!
is!
3. Communicative Function
The four syntactic classes of a sentence defined above correlate with different
communicative functions.
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i. The typical function of a declarative sentence is to make a statement.
ii. The typical function of an interrogative sentence is to ask a question.
iii. Imperative sentences are typically used to make a command or give an order.
iv. Exclamatory sentences express a sudden feeling such a surprise, anger, etc.
It should be pointed out, however, that it is not always the case that a certain class of
sentence expresses always the same meaning.
First, a declarative sentence may be used in the spoken language to ask for information
(i.e. to ask a question), in which case it ends with rising intonation (in speech) and a
question mark (in writing): cf.
(21) a. He has not arrived yet?
b. They‟ve spoken to you?
Declarative questions are identical in form to statements, but like questions, they end with
a rising tone.
Secondly, certain types of interrogative sentences are used not to ask a question or to
inquire about something, but to express annoyance or disappointment: cf.
(22) a. Can't you listen for a moment?
b. Aren‟t you ashamed of yourself?
Thirdly, some interrogative sentences function like an exclamation. This is typically a
yes/no question with a falling (not rising) intonation. Consider the following examples.
(23) a. Wasn't that a splendid party!
b. Isn‟t that wonderful!
Fourthly, a declarative sentence can be used to make a command: cf.
(24) You will leave the classroom at once.
Exercise 2
Join the following pairs of simple sentences to make a compound sentence, by converting
the second sentence into a subordinate clause having an adverbial function as in the first
example:
1.a. I met Bill
b. He was working in the library.
c. I met Bill while he was working in the library.
2. a. Bill went to bed.
b. He felt ill.
c. .................................. because............................. .
3. a. Susan became ill-tempered.
b. She got married.
c. After ..................................... , ............................. .
4. a. You should inform the Police.
b. Your family is in trouble.
c. .................................... whenever............................
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Activity:
Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with words, which occur in this unit:
1. A finite verb must show......................... .
2. A ............ verb can occur alone as the verb element in a simple sentence.
3. In a ................. sentence, one of the functions is always realized by a clause.
4. According to grammatical form sentences are divided into four classes……………
5. According to complexity sentences are divided into four types: ……………….
4. Rounding Up
4.1. What You have Learnt in This Unit
In this unit you have learnt
 how to identify and distinguish various syntactic classes of sentences
 characteristics of different classes of sentences
 classes of verbs
 classes of clauses
 how to construct complex and compound sentences
4.2. New Terms
 Auxiliary Verb
 Communicative Function
 Complex Sentence
 Complex-Compound Sentence
 Compound Sentence
 Conjunction
 Coordinator
 Declarative Sentence
 Dependent Clause
 Exclamatory Sentence
 Finite/Non-Finite Verb
 Grammatical Form
 Imperative Sentence
 Independent Clause
 Interrogative Sentence
 Main Clause
 Obligatory/Optional Constituents
 Question Word
 Simple Sentence
 Subordinate Clause
 Verb Forms ( base ; -s form; past ; present participle; past participle)
Ex. 1
1. ...... When I come back.
(ADV)
2. Since you can't use your car ....... .
(ADV)
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3. If you work hard ....
(ADV)
4. Although he is five years old, .... (ADV)
5. ....... because he is sick.
(ADV)
Ex. 2
1. Bill went to bed because he felt ill.
2. After she got married, Susan became ill-tempered.
3. You should inform the police whenever your family is in trouble.
4. Since your secretary is not here, I'll type this letter for you.
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UNIT 11
SYNTAX 3
SENTENCE STRUCTURE AND PATTERNS
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. Grammatical Units and Functions
2. Sentence Patterns
3. Optional Adverbials
4. Categories and Functions
5. Functions: Realizations and Characteristics
6. Multiple Class Membership
7. Rounding Up
1. Grammatical Units and Functions
The structure of a sentence can be described in two different ways:
I.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
According to the categories (classes) to which the constituents (phrases) of
the sentence belong. This type of description is called a categorial description.
There are five phrases in English:
NP: Noun Phrase,
VP: Verb Phrase,
Adv-P: Adverb Phrase,
Adj-P: Adjective Phrase, and
Prep-P: Prepositional Phrase.
II. According to the functions, which the constituents of the sentence have (in that
particular sentence). This type of description is called a functional description. As you
already know, five basic functions are used to describe sentences:
1. S: Subject,
2. V: Verb,
3. Object: (i) Od: Direct Object, and (ii) Oi: Indirect Object,
4. Complement: (i) Cs: Subject Complement, and (ii) Co: Object Complement, and
5. ADV: Adverbial.
In the categorial description of sentences, we make uses of phrases not words. This
follows from the fact that a simple sentence like:
(1)a. The police have searched the room very carefully,
consists of one finite main clause. This is why we call this sentence simple. The clause in
this sentence is made up of four phrases: cf.
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(1)b.
NP
The police
VP
have searched
NP
the room
ADV-P
very carefully.
Each of the four phrases is made up of two words. Thus, it is necessary to describe a
simple sentence with reference to the phrases (not words) it contains.
As pointed out above, In English we distinguish five types of phrases that correlate with
five word classes (parts of speech). A phrase is named after the class of the most
important word it contains (i.e. headword, or governing word). The head word (or
governing word) is an obligatory element in phrase structure.
Phrase
1. Noun Phrase (NP)
2. Verb Phrase (VP)
3. Adjective Phrase (ADJ-P)
4. Adverbial Phrase (Adv-P)
5. Prepositional Phrase (Prep-P)
Headword
N
V
Adj
Adj
Prep
Example
the tall boy
has been eating
so very important
very carefully
in the garden
Let us return now to sentence (1.a) above, and see how its structure can be described
(represented) in two ways (i.e. categorial and functional:
i. categorial description (CD)
(1)c.
NP
The police
VP
have searched
NP
the rooms
ADV-P
very carefully.
ii. functional description (FD)
(1)d.
S
The police
V
have searched
Od
the rooms
ADV
very carefully.
Notice that it is always possible to apply the two types of description to the same
sentence. Thus, the descriptions in (1.c) and (1.d) above can be combined together as in
(1.e): cf.
e.
S
The police
NP1
V
have searched
VP
Od
the rooms
NP2
ADV
very carefully.
Adv-p
As can be seen from the above table, the number of the constituents in a sentence is
the same regardless of the description we apply to the sentence. In the above example
the sentence is made up of four constituents.
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Exercise 1:
Describe the structure of the following sentences functionally and categorically as in
(1.e.) above. Notice that the constituents of the sentence are separated from each other by
means of slant lines to help you in your analysis.
1. / The boys / will cook / the dinner / in the tent.
2. / Mr. Smith / has bought / his daughter / a new car.
3. / His reports / have been / very poor.
4. / John and Mary / are flying / to Damascus / next week.
Some grammarians believe that the best way to describe sentence structure is to combine
both functional and categorial descriptions as we did in sentence (1.e) above. This twoway description is both explicit and revealing. Now let us consider the following cases
and examples:
(i) Two sentences that have an identical categorial representation may have
different functional representations: cf.
FD
(3)
CD
FD
(4)
CD
S
The student
NP1
V
didn't understand
VP
S
That man
NP1
is
V
VP
Od
the lesson.
NP2
Cs
my supervisor.
NP2
The two sentences above have an identical categorial representation (i.e. NP1 + VP +
NP2), but they have two distinct functional representations: S+V+Od, and S+V+Cs
respectively.
(ii) Two sentences that have an identical functional representation may have two
different categorial representations. The following two examples are self-explanatory:
FD
5.
CD
FD
6.
CD
S
My father
NP (1)
V
rented
VP
Od
a new office
NP (2)
ADV
in London.
Prep-P
S
My father
NP (1)
V
rented
VP
Od
a new office
NP (2)
ADV
last week.
NP (3)
The two sentences above have an identical functional description, namely,
S+V+Od+AdV, but they have distinct categorial descriptions. The categorial description
126
of the first sentence is: NP1+VP+NP2+Prep-P, whereas that of the second sentence is:
NP1+ VP + NP2 + NP3.
2. Sentence Patterns
Following Quirk, et al. in A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985) we
distinguish seven simple sentence patterns in English. Notice that the patterns described
below do not include optional elements.
Pattern 1: S + V-Intrans.
7
a.
The sun
is shining.
b.
The child
was laughing.
c.
d.
My head
aches.
won't start.
S
The car
V-Intrans
Reminder: An intransitive verb cannot take an object. The following verbs are always
intransitive: come, disappear, go, die, etc.
Pattern 2: S + V-mono-trans. + Od
8
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
S
That lecture
Somebody
I
The workmen
We
V/ mono-trans
bored
caught
have seen
dug
know
Od
me.
the ball.
a horrible accident.
a deep hole.
that he is honest.
Notes:
(i) Some verbs are always transitive; they require a direct object. Amongst the verbs
that are always transitive are: like, love, respect, mention, say, describe, prove, suggest,
want, cut, clean, lose, produce, etc.
(ii) Some transitive verbs can be used intransitively, that is, they do not require an
object. Amongst these verbs are: eat, smoke, drink, ring, break, open, move, fly, burn, etc.
Consider the following pairs of sentences:
(9) a. I rang the bell.
b. The phone rang.
(10) a. He broke the window.
b. The window broke.
(11) a. Bill opened the door.
b. The door opened.
127
(iii) Some transitive verbs take a noun clause as an object (see example 8.e above).
Pattern 3: S +Linking V + ADV
(12)
S
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
My office
Bill and Mary
He
I
They
Nick
V-link
is
are
got
stole
are living
is staying
ADV
in the next building.
with me.
through the window.
into the manager's office.
in a small village.
at a nearby hotel.
Pattern 4: S + Linking V+ Cs
(13)
a.
b.
c.
d.
S
Your dinner
Mary
He
His father
V-link
seems
is
is getting
is
Cs
ready.
kind.
angry.
a lawyer.
Note: The subject in this pattern may be a noun clause as in the following examples:
(14)
a That Bill is an outstanding student is obvious.
b That Bill lost the game
is a pity.
Pattern 5: S + monotransitive V+ Od + ADV
(15)
a.
b.
c.
d.
S
You
He
You
They
V
can put
got
should have
kept
Od
the dish
himself
your hands
the child
ADV
on the table.
into trouble.
on the wheel.
indoors.
Note: The use of the ADV is obligatory in all the above examples. The sentence will be
128
incomplete (unacceptable) if the ADV is omitted: cf.
(16) * You can put the dish.
(17) * He got himself.
Pattern 6: S + complex-transitive V+ Od + Co
(18)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
S
Most students
We
They
They
The company
Loud music
V
have found
have proved
appointed
called
made
drives
Od
her
him
him
him
Bill
me
Co
helpful.
wrong.
chairman.
a fool.
redundant.
crazy.
Pattern 7: S + ditransitive V + Oi + Od
(19)
S
a. He
b. She
c. I
d. I
e. We
V
showed
gives
must send
will read
wished
Oi
me
him
my parents
you
him
Od
the photo.
expensive presents.
an anniversary card.
the letter.
a safe journey.
Activity:
What patterns do these sentences belong to? You can find the answers in this unit. Write
the structure above the sentence. Use symbols only,
(1) I put the plate on the table.
(2) My office is near the station.
(3) He is getting angry.
(4) The secretary showed me into the manager's office.
(5) We know that he is honest.
3. Optional Adverbials
As pointed out above, the seven patterns listed in the preceding subsection contain
obligatory elements only: they do not contain optional elements. But all of these patterns
can be expanded by the addition of various optional adverbials. Consider the following
examples from the patterns listed above. Note that optional adverbials are placed between
brackets.
(20) a. Pattern 1: The sun is shining (this moment).
b. Pattern 2: The lecture bored me (last night).
c. Pattern 3: Mary is here (this morning).
d. Pattern 4: His father is a lawyer (in Damascus).
129
e. Pattern 5: (As soon as I arrived), Sue showed me into the manager's office.
f. Pattern 6:They (always) called him a fool (when he worked for the company)
g. Pattern 7:He (reluctantly) showed me the photo ( a week ago).
4. Categories and Functions
The five functions that we have been using to represent (describe) sentence patterns are:
1) Subject: S
2) Verb: V
3) Object: (i) Direct Object: Od, and (ii)Indirect Object: Oi
4) Complement: (i) Subject Complement: Cs, and (ii) Object Complement: Co
5) Adverbial: ADV
On the other hand, we have distinguished so far five categories (classes) of phrases:
1) noun phrase [NP]
2) verb phrase [VP]
3) adjective phrase [Adj-P]
4) adverb phrase [Adv-P]
5) prepositional phrase [Prep-P]
On the level of the word, as shown in Unit 8 above, we distinguished nine classes:
1) Noun: N
2) Verb: V
3) Adjective: Adj
4) Adverb: Adv
5) Determiner: Det
6) Pronoun: Pro
7) Preposition: Prep
8) Conjunction: Conj
9) Interjection: Inter
Before we proceed any further, it would be convenient to remind you of some of the
assumptions that we made earlier: (i) Sentences consist of clauses; (ii) clauses (Cl)
consist of phrases; and (iii) phrases consist of words. For instance, the following sentence
consists of two clauses: cf.
(21) The girls will cook and the boys will eat.
(22)
Sentence
Cl1
Cl2
The girls will cook and the boys will eat.
The two clauses (the girls will cook and the boys will eat) are immediate constituents of
the sentence (21). The first clause (CL1) consists of two phrases: cf.
130
(23)
CL1
NP
VP
The girls
will cook
Thus the two phrases the girls and will cook are immediate constituents of the clause The
girls will cook. On the phrase level, we notice that each of the two phrases in (23)
consists of two words: cf.
NP
(24)
Det
N
the
girls
(25)
VP
Aux
cook
will
V
This hierarchic relationship in sentence (21) can be represented by means of a treediagram as follows:
(26)
SENTENCE
CL1
NP
CL2
VP
NP
VP
Det
N
Aux
V
Conj
Det
N
Aux
V
The
girls
will
cook
and
the
boys
will
eat
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Activity
Consider the following sentence
Mary put the cake in the cupboard
This sentence has the following PS structure ( Phrase Structure)
S NP VP
NP Mary
VP V NP PP
VP put
NP det. N the cake
PP P NP in the cupboard
The corresponding tree diagram will be
S
NP
VP
V
NP
PP
Det N P
NP
Det
Mary
put
the cake in the
N
cupboard
Now try to do the same with the following sentences
a. The little mouse ran across the kitchen
b. The small boy saw George in the crowded park recently
Try on your own first then check with your peer and tutor
Function Vs Category
Other important assumptions that we made or alluded to earlier are:
(27)The structure of a sentence can be represented in terms of functions (S, V, O,
C, and ADV) or in terms of categories (classes) (NP, VP, Adj-P, Adv-P, and
Prep-P).
(28) There is no one-to-one correspondence between functional and categorial
representations of sentences.
In the ensuing subsection, we shall see how a certain function can be realized by different
categories. We shall also discuss, albeit briefly, the major syntactic characteristics of the
functions: S, V, O, C, and ADV.
132
5 Functions: Realizations and Characteristics
5.1. Subject (S)
(i) Realizations
The function S is typically realized by a noun phrase or by a noun clause. Consider the
following examples:
(29) NP
a. Ali enjoys reading history books.
b. This stupid brother of yours gets on my nerves.
c. The idea of spending his life in prison horrified him.
d. This is not yours.
e. It is raining.
(30) CL
a. That he wants to blackmail you is quite obvious.
b. That the proposal will pass seems very likely.
c. That I had had to wait for such a long time bored me.
d. Bill's losing the race surprised us.
e. For you to learn another language would be an advantage.
(i) Syntactic Characteristics
We have already mentioned some of the syntactic features that characterize a subject, but
we shall repeat them here for convenience.
 The subject is an obligatory constituent of the sentence.
 It precedes the verb phrase in declarative sentences.
 It occurs immediately after the auxiliary in interrogative sentences.
 Where applicable, a subject determines concord in the verb phrase
 A subject of an active sentence occurs in the by-phrase of the corresponding
passive sentence: cf.
(31) a. Professor Smith has evaluated these reports.
b. These reports have been evaluated by Professor Smith.
5.2. Direct Object (Od)
(i) Realizations
The function direct object (Od) is typically realized by a noun phrase or a noun clause.
Consider the following examples:
NP
(32) a. I have known Larry for ten years now.
b. Larry speaks five languages fluently.
c. Men usually don't like women who gossip.
d. I can't eat this steak.
CL
(33) a. I know that she will try again.
b. Do you remember where he lives?
c. He mentioned that he had applied for a grant.
133
d. She can't bear seeing children treated cruelly.
e. Who doesn't enjoy having a good breakfast in bed?
(ii) Syntactic Characteristics
A direct object has the following characteristics:
(a) It is an obligatory constituent in a sentence that contains a transitive verb.
(b) It normally follows the subject and the verb phrase.
(c) It can be the surface subject of a corresponding passive sentence
as in the following pair of sentences:
(34) a. We have painted the house white. [active]
b. The house has been painted white. [passive]
5.3. Indirect Object (Oi)
(i) Realizations
The function indirect object (Oi) is characteristically realized by a noun phrase: cf.
(35) a. They have not paid me the money yet.
b. Will you please pass me the salt.
c. He handed his wife the letter.
d. Will you give the boy in the corner some fruit?
(ii) Syntactic and Semantic Characteristics
The following are the major characteristics of the function Oi:
 The indirect object normally precedes the direct object.
 The indirect object normally corresponds to a prepositional phrase, which
generally comes after the direct object.
(36) a. I will send Jack a letter.
b. I will send a letter to Jack.
(37) a. He bought Jane a present.
b. He bought a present for Jane.

The indirect object normally refers to a human being or to an animate being, that
is, the recipient of the action. There are, however, cases where the indirect
object does not refer to an animate being (Quirk, et al., 1972):
(38) I should give my car a good wash.

The indirect object can function as (surface structure) subject in a
corresponding passive sentence: cf.
(39) a. They have not paid me the money yet.
b. I have not been paid the money yet.
5.4. Subject Complement (Cs)
(i) Realizations
The subject complement (Cs) can be realized by (i) a noun phrase, (ii) an adjective
(phrase), or (iii) a clause. Consider the data below:
134
NP
(40) a. Bill is my cousin.
b. Susan will make a good wife.
c. This is certainly the man whom I saw yesterday.
Adj-P
(41) a. Martha is quite funny.
b. This coffee smells nice.
c. He is getting angry.
CL
(42) a. The fact is that Bill doesn't like Mary.
b. His hobby is collecting foreign stamps.
c. Her ambition is to become a pilot.
(ii) Syntactic Characteristics
A subject complement has the following characteristics:
(a) It normally follows the subject and the verb phrase.
(b) It is an obligatory element.
(c) It cannot be the subject of a passive sentence.
(d) It can be realized by an adjective phrase.
5.5. Object Complement (Co)
(i) Realizations
The function object complement (Co) is typically realized by: (i) a noun phrase, and (ii)
an adjective phrase. The following are some representative examples:
NP
(43) a. She called Jimmy a beast.
b. Mary made Bill a servant.
c. They appointed him chairman.
Adj-P
(44) a. I find your suggestion quite unacceptable.
b. This music drives me crazy.
c. We painted the house navy blue.
(ii) Syntactic Characteristics
The following are the major syntactic characteristics of the function Co:
(a) It normally follows the direct object.
(b)The relationship between the object complement and the object is similar to the
relationship between the subject complement and the subject: cf.
(45) I find your suggestion quite unacceptable.
(46) Your suggestion is quite unacceptable.
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5.6. Adverbial: (ADV)
(i) Realizations:
The functions ADV can be realized by: (i) an adverb (phrase), (ii) a prepositional phrase,
(iii) a noun phrase and (iv) a clause. Below are some representative examples of each
category.
Adv-P
(47) a. He walks very slowly.
b. I will park the car over there.
c. He is waiting outside.
d. They will come soon.
Prep-P
(48) a. He left in a hurry.
b. I came here by bus.
c. We stayed at a small hotel.
d. They usually meet in the evening.
NP
(49) a. We discussed your application last week.
b. He might arrive any moment.
c. They left last month.
d. We have met many times.
CL
(50) a. If you work hard, you will pass.
b. I will give you the money as soon as you sign the contract.
c. Bill went to Londonto visit his mother.
d. Having done his homework, Bill went for a walk.
(ii) Syntactic Characteristics:
The following are the major syntactic characteristics of the function ADV:
(a) In most cases an ADV is an optional element [But see Patterns 3 and 5 above].
(b) It can often occupy more than one position in the sentence (initial, medial,
final). cf:
(51) a. Bill left the room quietly.
b. Bill quietly left the room.
c. Quietly, Bill left the room.
Exercise 2:
Which of these sentences is true and which is false. Write (T) in front of a true statement
and (F) in front of a false one and correct it.
1. The number of constituents in a sentence will be the same in both functional and
categorial descriptions.
2. The best way to describe a sentence is to combine both functional and categorial
description.
3. There is no one-to-one correspondence between functions and categories.
4. A function may be realized by different categories.
5. A category may perform different roles (functions) in sentence structure.
6. NP and VP are categories.
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7. S and Cs are functions.
8. An intransitive verb cannot be followed by an object.
9. A transitive verb cannot be used intransitively.
10. A transitive verb cannot take a noun clause as an object.
11. The use of ADV is always optional in English.
12. An object complement can be realized by an NP only.
13. Sentences are made up of clauses.
14. An indirect object is typically realized by an Adj-P.
15. A phrase can be identified on the basis of the (word) class of its most important
constituent.
6. Multiple Class Membership
Before closing this unit, it is convenient to remind you that there is no one-to-one
correspondence between form (category) and function. Even within the same class, a
certain item may have different uses in different linguistic contexts. For instance, how do
we categorize the verb make? Is it mono-transitive or a di-transitive verb, or a complextransitive verb? Let us consider the following examples:

Monotransitive: followed by Od:
(52) You have made a mistake. (mono-transitive),

Di-transitive : followed by Oi& Od:
Oi
Od
(53) I'll make you a cup of tea. (di-trans.)

Complex-transitive: followed by Od & Co
Od
Co
(54) Mary made her husband miserable. (complex-trans.)
The situation gets more complicated when we realize that the verb make can also be used
as a linking verb that requires a subject complement as in the following example:
Cs
(55) She will make a good teacher. (linking V)
The examples with the verb make show that it is probably better to talk about different or
multiple uses of this verb, although some grammarians prefer to talk about multiple class
membership because this difference in use entails, as we have seen above, difference in
the structure of the sentence in which the verb is used.
By way of further exemplification, consider the following sets of examples with the verbs
grow; get; die; smell; go; break:
(56) a. Their influence is steadily growing. (intrans)
b. He grew a moustache. (mono-trans.)
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c. Some students were growingimpatient. (linking)
(57) a. Don't get angry. (linking)
b. He got a prize. (mono-trans.)
c. He got mean Italian tie. (di-trans.)
d. He got his pyjamas wet. (complex-trans.)
(58) a. The old man is dying. (intrans.)
b. He died a bachelor. (linking)
(59) a. The dinner smells good. (linking
b. The dog is smelling the bone. (mono-trans.)
(60) a. They have gone. (intrans.)
b. The meat has gone bad. (linking)
(61) a. The glass broke. (intrans.)
b. He broke the window. (mono-trans.)
c. One of the lions broke loose. (linking)
Multiple class membership can lend to ambiguity. Consider the following sentences:
(62) a. I found her an entertaining partner.
This sentence is two-ways ambiguous. That is to say, it can be interpreted as having two
different structures and thus two different meanings as below.
(62) b.
S
I
V
found
Oi
her
Od
an entertaining partner.
(62)c.
S
I
V
found
Od
her
Co
an entertaining partner.
Under one interpretation (62.a) has the structure shown in (62.b) in the above table where
the verb found is di-transitive and takes two objects. In this sense, this sentence can be
paraphrased by:
 I found an entertaining partner for her.
Under the second interpretation the structure of (62.a) has the structure shown in (62.c) in
the above table where the verb found is complex-transitive requiring an object and an
object complement. Under this interpretation the sentence can be paraphrased by either
of the following two sentences:
(62) d. I / found / that she was an entertaining partner,
e. I found her to be an entertaining partner.
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Now let us consider briefly other examples of ambiguity that arise from the fact that a
word or a phrase may belong to two different classes (i.e. multiple class membership).
(63)
Remarks
S
V-link
a
They
are
b
S
V-Trans
They
are cooking
Cs
cooking apples
Od
apples
- 'cooking apples' are apples used for
cooking to make pies; they are not 'eating
apples' .
- The word 'cooking' is an adjective.
- the word 'are' is a lexical verb.
- The word 'cooking' is a lexical transitive
verb.
- the word 'are' is an auxiliary verb.
Exercise 3
Each of the following two sentences is two-ways ambiguous. Resolve the ambiguity by
assigning two different structural descriptions to each sentence as in (63) and (64) above.
1. They can fish.
2. Terry finally decided on the boat.
Exercise 4:
Give examples of the following.
1. S realized by a clause.
2. Od realized by a clause.
3. Cs realized by a clause.
4. Adv realized by a clause.
Exercise 5:
Give examples of NP realizing the following functions: S; Od; Oi; Cs; Co; ADV:
7. Rounding UP
7.1. What You have Learnt in This Unit
This unit has dealt with the following topics:
 Sentence properties
 Sentence constituents
 Sentence structure
 Sentence patterns.
 Syntactic Analysis
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7.2. New terms
 Adjective Phrase (ADJ-P)
 Adverbial Phrase (Adv-P)
 Ambiguity
 categorial description
 functional description
 Headword
 multiple class membership
 Noun Phrase (NP)
 Prepositional Phrases (Prep-P)
 Sentence Patterns
 Syntactic Characteristics:
 Syntactic Realisation
 Verb Phrase (VP)
7.3. Answer Key
Ex. 1:
S
1. The boys
NP1
V
will cook
VP
Od
ADV
the dinner in the tent.
NP2
Prep-P
S
2. Mr. Smith
NP1
V
has bought
VP
Oi
Od
his daughter a new car.
NP2
NP3
S
3. His reports
NP
V
Cs
have been very poor.
VP Adj-P
S
V
ADV/P
ADV/T
4. John and Mary are flying to Damascus next week.
NP1
VP
Prep-P
NP
Ex. 2:
1. T
2. T
3. T
4. T
5. T
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6. T
7. T
8. T
9. F/ It can be used intransitively (e.g. I don't drink.).
10. F/ It can (e.g. I know that Bill is honest.).
11. F/ Adverbs are sometimes obligatory (e.g. Mary is here.).
12. F/ It can be realized by an Adj-P (e.g. Mary made Bill miserable.).
13. T
14. F/ Oi is typically realized by NP.
15. T
Ex. 3:
S
1.A.
B.
2.A.
B.
V-intrans.
can fish.
(Aux) (V)
(i.e. they are able to fish)
They
S
V-trans.
Od
They
can
fish
(i.e. they put fish in cans)
S
ADV
V-intrans ADV/P
Terry finally decided
on the boat.
(i.e. He took his decision while he was on the boat)
S
Adv
Terry finally
V-trans.
decided on
(=chose)
(i.e. He chose the boat)
Od
the boat.
Ex. 4:
Give examples of the following.
1. S realized by a clause:
That Ali has failed the exam is surprising.
2. Od realized by a clause.
I know that Ali has failed the exam.
3. Cs realized by a clause:
The problem is that Ali has failed the exam.
4. Adv realized by a clause:
We shall cancel our party because Ali has failed the exam.
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Ex. 5:
Give examples of NP realizing the following functions:
1. S:This book is quite useful.
2. Od: I‟ve bought a new book.
3. Oi:I gave my brother the new book.
4. Cs: This man is a professor.
5. Co: We elected Ali a president.
6. ADV: I‟ll see you tomorrow
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UNIT 12
SEMANTICS
Study Weeks: 1
Unit Sections
1. Introduction
2. Word/Lexical Meaning
3. Meaning beyond the Word
4. Rounding up
Appendix I: Glossary of Useful Acronyms
Online Resources:
Cambridge Dictionaries Online: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
 Unit Aims
This unit aims to:
1. introduce you to semantics.
2. describe and exemplify word/lexical meaning.
3. show you how new words are formed.
4. describe and exemplify meaning beyond the word.
5. acquaint you with collocation and phrasal verbs.
1. Introduction
The study of meaning in linguistics is called semantics /se'mæntɪks/. A specialist in
semantics is a semanticist.
Our aim in this unit is to provide you with an understanding of what semantics is and
what it encompasses.
It is customary and useful in semantics to begin with word/lexical meaning. This is
detailed in Section 2 below. In section 3, there will be an account of meaning beyond the
word.
2. Word/Lexical Meaning
2.1. Introduction
This section deals with the meaning of words (also called lexical meaning).
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In discussing word meaning, one is bound to start by talking about how words are used in
dictionaries. The basic unit used for a dictionary entry is the called a „lexeme‟. Lexemes
are like word families usually represented by capital letters.

Example: FIND represents a number of words derived from it such as: find, finds,
finding, found.
All of the members of the family of FIND will be in the same dictionary entry, which
will also provide the different senses or meanings of a word in the entry of this lexeme.
The common term for lexeme used in many dictionaries is „headword‟.
It is perhaps useful at this point to indicate that the theory and practice of compiling
dictionaries is termed lexicography (lexis means words). The person who undertakes this
task is a lexicographer.
2.2 Word meaning
The following categories of words are distinguished in lexical, semantic and dictionary
studies: homonymy, polysemy, synonymy, antonymy and homography. Advanced
dictionaries provide entries, especially for synonyms and antonyms, besides word
meanings.
Below is a brief discussion [with examples] of each of these categories.
2.3. Homonymy, Polysemy, Synonymy, Antonymy, Homography
(i) Homonymy
When two or more words are spelt and pronounced in the same way, they are termed
„homonyms‟. (homo- is a Greek prefix which means the same.) For example:
 The two words left (meaning opposite of right),and left (past tense of leave) are
considered homonyms.
 Other examples are words with different spelling but the same pronunciation: sail
and sale, alter &altar, ate &eight, and aisle &isle.
(ii) Polysemy
This is another semantic category used to name the phenomenon of attaching more than
one meaning closely related to each other to a single word. Poly- is a Greek prefix which
means much, many. For example, consider the ambiguity of the noun school, which
means either a building or an institution as the following two examples show
respectively:
 I'll see you tomorrow at school. [building]
 Although he is very tall, he still goes to school. [institution]
Activity
Can you find out the different meanings of the word head?
Consult a dictionary for help
(iii) Synonymy
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When two or more words are considered to have the same or nearly same meaning, they
are termed „synonyms‟. For example the two words in each of the following pairs are
considered synonyms.
 wish & desire
 gift & present
 bright& intelligent
 community & society
There are some dictionaries that are specialized in giving synonyms. A dictionary of this
type is called a Thesaurus.22
(iv) Antonymy
Two words are considered antonyms if they express opposite meanings, e.g.
 front &back
 young & old
 buy & sell
Observe that many dictionaries provide antonyms and so does Microsoft word. Both
synonyms and antonyms are available as described above.
(v) Homography
Homography comes from homo (the same) + graph (written material). It means two
words which have the same spelling but which are pronounced differently and have
different meanings. e.g.
 bow (N, pronounced /bəʊ/) meaning „a weapon for shooting arrows‟, and bow (V,
pronounced /baʊ/) meaning „to move the head down or to bend‟.
 lead (V, simple present pronounced as [li:d]) as in Professor Smith leads the
discussion every morning,&lead (N, pronounced /led/: the name of a metal.)
Exercise 3
Read the following pairs of words and mark: (a) for homonym; (b) for antonym; (c) for
synonym; and (d) for homograph:
1. watch (look)/watch (small clock)
2. single/sole
3. come/go
4. right (side)/right (true)
5. prefix/suffix
6. close (verb)/close (adjective)
7. watch/observe
8. right/left
2.4. Metaphor
22
In Microsoft Word, synonyms are provided by the thesaurus accessed from Tools→Language→Thesaurus (the word
you need synonyms for should be highlighted first). Another route is to right-click on a highlighted word. A drop-down
list appears with the word synonyms. Point the cursor at this word and a list of synonyms appears. The one you click
will automatically replace the highlighted word in your text.
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The meaning of words is not always literal. They acquire metaphoric or figurative
meanings as the language user wishes. When a mother says to her daughter: “you are the
sunshine of my life”, this is metaphor. Metaphor is defined in the American heritage New
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy – Third Edition – as follows:
The comparison of one thing to another without the use of like or as.
Metaphor is a very common figure of speech used by literary writers. An enlightening
example of how life is described metaphorically in Shakespeare‟s play Macbeth is the
following (said by King Macbeth immediately after he was informed that his wife had
died):
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Here we observe that life is described metaphorically as: “a brief candle”, “a walking
shadow”, “a poor player”, an “hour”, and “a tale”.
Another common figure of speech is „simile‟ (pronounced /'sɪməli:/) which is
distinguished from metaphor by expressing the likeness directly through using words
such as like or as. The following are illustrative examples:
Metaphor
Life's but a walking shadow.
It is a strange tale.
Simile
Life‟s like a walking shadow.
It is as strange as a tale.
2.5 Denotation and connotation
A word has usually one meaning/ literal meaning which is the first meaning provided in
the dictionary e.g cat means literally a furry pet animal. This is the denotative meaning.
But it can also mean a woman with bad reputation. Thus the word cat will have a
connotative meaning in another social context
Connotation is frequently used in metaphors and idiomatic expressions
Can you think of the different connotations for the word home?
3. Meaning beyond the Word
3.1. Introduction
In this section, we shift our attention from the meaning of words to the meaning of the
larger structures of the phrase, the utterance and the sentence.
We begin with phrasal verbs and move on to discuss collocation, and thematic
structure.
3.2. Phrasal Verbs
In writing up a dictionary, the lexicographer encounters more problems with function
words than with lexical words. In different constructions, function words have different
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meanings and are thus difficult to classify. For example up in the following sentence is a
preposition signifying the direction of the action of running:
 He ran up the street.
However, up in the following sentence is a particle [part of the verb] and it does not
signify the direction of the action:
 keep up!
A similar difference can be seen between in and on in the following pair of examples:
 Sit on the chair [preposition of place]
 Turn on the light [ particle not referring to place]
.
This verb + particle/ preposition structure is called phrasal verb, the topic we discuss next
.When a verb is used with a particle or a preposition, or both, it is called a phrasal verb.
Some function words like up, down, in, after can be used as particles or as prepositions.
To differentiate between them, remember that a particle is related to the verb used before
it, while a preposition is related to the noun/pronoun used after it. The following are
examples:
1. Verb + particle:
 I looked up the new word. (look + up mean try to find, i.e. a meaning different
from the meaning of look.)
2. Verb + preposition:
 John is running after the cat. (after here is a preposition and is part of PP after the
cat with an adverbial function i.e where)
Now compare with:

John is looking after the cat (after here is part of the verb and means take care of. If
we change it with another particle the verb will change meaning e.g looking at
3. Verb + particle + preposition:
 The team will catch up with the bus. (catch + up + with mean reach soon, i.e.
something different from catch.)
In the above examples, the phrasal verbs express a new meaning called „idiomatic‟.
Observe that sometimes phrasal verbs do not provide a new or idiomatic meaning. Thus
in: He walked up the road, the phrasal verb walked up (similar to type 3 above) has a
literal meaning, not a new meaning.
In cases like sentence 3 above, the particle always precedes the preposition. This rule
makes it easy to distinguish the particle from the preposition when they occur together.
In sentences 1 and 2, we need a test to discover whether the function word is a
preposition or a particle. The test is the following:
Sentence 1 above can be rewritten as:
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
I looked the new word up, [where up has moved around the object].
This mobility is a feature of particles, not of prepositions.
The same cannot be done in the case of sentence 2 above. Notice the unacceptability of:
 *John is running the cat after
Thus, after is a preposition.
Exercise 4
To which sentence type 1, 2, or 3, do the phrasal verbs in the sentences (1-10) below
belong?
Sentence Types
a) Verb + particle: I looked up the new word.
b) Verb + preposition: John is running after the cat.
c) Verb + particle + preposition: The team will catch up with the bus.
1. Stay with the guests.
2. Watch out!
3. The tutor brought up an important topic.
4. You must wait up for them.
5. Would you please stand in for me tomorrow?
6. She burst into tears when she saw her baby.
7. Please hold on to this rope.
8. The Smiths woke up to a big bang.
9. Little Liz made up her own bed.
10. Do stay out of it.
3.3. Collocation
Here is how collocation is defined in the Cambridge Dictionaries Online:
a word or phrase which is frequently used with another word or phrase, in a way that
sounds correct to people who have spoken the language all their lives, but might not be
expected from the meaning: in the phrase 'a hard frost', 'hard' is a collocation of 'frost'
and 'strong' would not sound natural.
Meaning is determined not only by what a word refers to, but also by the company it
keeps with neighbouring words, i.e. its linear relations with these words. For example, in
English the word night collocates with the adjective dark. Thus, while „dark night‟ is a
common collocation, „black night‟ isn‟t. Conversely, observe that black collocates with
coffee, so we say „black coffee‟, not „dark coffee‟.Other examples are:
CORRECT
bits and pieces
bread and butter
cats and dogs (It‟s raining cats
and dogs)
cuts and bruises
WRONG
*pieces and bits
*butter and bread
*dogs and cats
*bruises and cuts
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food for thought
likes and dislikes
nice and easy
on and off
once and for all
pick and choose
sweet and sour
time and again
tip top (shape)
up and down
*thought for food
*dislikes and likes
*easy and nice
*off and on
*for all and once
*choose and pick
*sour and sweet
*again and time
*top tip (shape)
*down and up
Exercise 5
The following are good collocations in English. Mark either true or false.
1. heavy meal // 2. fat meal // 3. data bank // 4. launch a missile // 5. shoot a missile // 6.
make a verdict // 7. reach a verdict // 8. score a goal // 9. shoot a goal // 10. school of
fish// 11. school of whales // 12. dark tea // 13. black tea
3.4. Thematic Structure (Theme and Rheme)
The two terms „theme‟ and „rheme‟ are used to organize the clause as a message. The
theme of a clause is the idea signified by the element at the start of the clause. For
example in:
(1) My sister received a useful SMS message,
the theme is “my sister” and the rest is the rheme. Here, the theme is the „given‟, or
known, part of the message and the rheme is the „new‟ part; it is as if the author wants to
say:
 “This message is about my sister (whom you know) and the news is
that she received a useful SMS message.”
The theme/rheme distinction is not the same as the subject/predicate distinction in
grammar. For example in traditional grammar the sentence:
(2) Well, my friends, the bank is closed,
has only one subject: the bank. In thematic structure it has three themes:
 well,
 My friends, and
 the bank.
Moreover, a theme is simple when it is not accompanied by any other themes in a clause
(as in My sisterin (1) above). When it is accompanied by one or more themes, it is called
complex, as in example (2) above where we have three themes, a phenomenon quite
common in speech
Exercise 6
Write A for simple theme or B for complex theme next to the following examples:
1. Last night, Steve had a bad dream.
2. The policeman was seen by John.
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3. Aren‟t you ready?
4. Perhaps Martha can do it.
5. Once, we almost had a car accident.
6. There is no one in the bus.
7. Well, my friends, I am really happy to see you again.
8. Oh no, dear, we can‟t afford it.
4. ROUNDING UP
4.1. New Terms
 Antonymy
 Collocation
 Complex theme
 Conjunction
 Ellipsis
 Homography
 Homonymy
 Lexicographer / Lexicography
 Metaphor
 Phrasal verb
 Polysemy
 Rheme
 Simile
 Simple theme
 Synonymy
 Theme
4.2. What Have You Learnt in This Unit?
In this unit you have learnt
 What semantics is.
 How homonymy, polysemy, synonymy, antonymy, and homography are
differentiated.
 What metaphor is.
 What phrasal verbs and collocations are.
 What thematic structure is.
4.3. Answer Key
Ex. 1:
Meaning of the prefix is underlined.
1. start again; 2.opposite of just; 3.opposite of active; 4.wrong interpretation;
5. exist together; 6.estimate more 7. estimate less; 8. against racism; 9. for/supporting
Arabs; 10. under the road (tunnel); 11. before school; 12. after graduation (after first
University degree); 13. one tone (repeated tone); 14. self-drive
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Ex. 2:
1. hopeful/hopeless; 2. manhood/manly; 3. relationship; 4. kingdom/kingly/kingship; 5.
Chinese; 6. Kuwaiti; 7. worker; 8. statement/statehood; happily; 9. clockwise
Ex. 3:
1. a; 2. c; 3. b; 4 a.; 5. b ;. 6. d; 7. c; 8. b.
Ex. 4:
1. b; 2. a; 3. a; 4.c; 5. c; 6. b; 7. c; 8. c; 9. a; 10. c.
Ex. 5:
1. true; 2. false; 3. true; 4. true; 5. false; 6. false; 7. true; 8. true; 9. false; 10. true;
11. true; 12. false; 13. true.
Ex. 6:
1. B; 2. A; 3. A; 4. B; 5. B; 6. A; 7. B; 8. B.
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Recommended references
In addition to all on-line materials mentioned in different sections of the book the
following sources are highly recommended for such an introductory course
Crystal.D (2007) A Dictionary of Phonetics and Linguistics. Oxford ; Blackwell
Fromkin.V & Rodman.R (2005) An Introduction to Language. Collins
Ohio State University (2004) Language Files. Ohio University Press