Essay: Airstream Mechanism

What does it mean by airstream mechanism?

Airstream mechanisms are the methods of lung air movement in which airflow from the lungs or mouth facilitates speech sounds. It is one of the basic components of speech production. Generally, there are three types of airstreams including pulmonic which is initiated by the respiratory muscles of the lungs, glottalic which is initiated by the upward or downward movements of the glottis; and velaric which is initiated by the backward and downward movement of the tongue to the velum.

There are two types of airflow directions: egressive (air is pushed out of the mouth thorugh the vocal tract) and ingressive (air is sucked into the vocal tract through the mouth during part of the articulation). The principle airstream mechanisms are listed in the following:

1. Pulmonic
Airstream: Pulmonic
Direction: egressive
Brief description: lung air pushed out under control of the respiratory muscles
Specific name for stop consonant: plosive
Examples: p,t,k,b,d,g
Vocal cords: voiceless (p,t,k) or voiced (b,d,g)

2. Glottalic
Airstream: Glottalic
Direction: egressive
Brief description: pharynx air compressed by the upward movement of the closed glottis
Specific name for stop consonant: ejective
Examples: p't'k'
Vocal cords: voiceless

3. Glottalic ingressive
Airstream: Glottalic
Direction: ingressive
Brief description: downward movement of the vibrating glottis; pulmonic egressive airstream may also involved
Specific name for stop consonant: implosive
Vocal cords: usually voiced by pulmonic airstream

4. Velaric
Airstream: Velaric
Direction: ingressive
Brief description: mouth air rarefied by backward and downward movement of the tongue
Specific name for stop consonant: click
Vocal cords: combine with pulmonic airstream

Source: Ladefoged, P. (1993). A course in phonetics. USA: Harcourt Brace.

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Essay: Phonology and its content

What is Phonology?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Phonology is one of branches of linguistics which concerns about the sound system in particular language. It derives from the Greek 'phone' and 'logos'. 'Phone' means sounds or voices, while 'logos' means words or speech. It is a subfield of linguistics closely associated with phonetics. Whereas phonetics is about the physical production and perception of sounds of speech, phonology describes the way sounds function - within a given language or across languages. For example, /p/ and /b/ in English are distinctive units of sound, (i.e., phonemes.) We can tell this from minimal pairs such as "pin" and "bin", which mean different things, but differ only in one sound. On the other hand, /p/ is often pronounced differently depending on its placement relative to other sounds or its position within a word, yet these different pronunciations are still considered to be the same phoneme.

In addition to the minimal meaningful sounds—the phonemes—phonology is concerned with how sounds alternate, as well as issues like syllable structure, stress, accent, and intonation. One example of what a phonologist might study is how the /t/ sounds in the words tub, stub, but, and butter are all pronounced differently, yet are all perceived as "the same sound."

The principles of phonological theory have also been applied to the analysis of signed languages, with gestures and their relationships as the object of study.

Phonemes and spelling

The writing systems of some languages are based on the phonemic principle of having one letter (or combination of letters) per phoneme and vice-versa. Ideally, speakers can correctly write whatever they can say, and can correctly read anything that is written. (In practice, this ideal is never realized.) However in English, different phonemes can be spelled the same way (e.g., good and food have different vowel sounds), and the same letter (or combination of letters) can represent different sounds (e.g., the "th" consonant sounds of thin and this are different). In order to avoid this confusion based on orthography, phonologists represent phonemes by writing them between two slashes: " / / " (but without the quotes). On the other hand, the actual sounds are enclosed by square brackets: " [ ] " (again, without quotes). While the letters between slashes may be based on spelling conventions, the letters between square brackets are usually the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) or some other phonetic transcription system

Looking for minimal pairs forms part of the research in studying the phoneme inventory of a language. However, with this method it is often not possible to detect all phonemes, so other approaches are used as well. A minimal pair is a pair of words, both from the same language, that differ by only a single phoneme, and that are recognized by speakers as being two different words.

When there is a minimal pair, then those two sounds constitute separate phonemes, otherwise they are called allophones of the same underlying phoneme. For instance, voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/) can be aspirated. In English, word initial voiceless stops are aspirated, whereas non word-initial voiceless stops are not aspirated (This can be seen by putting your fingers right in front of your lips and notice the difference in breathiness as you say 'pin' and 'spin'). There is no English word 'pin' that starts with an unaspirated p, therefore in English, aspirated [pʰ] (the [ʰ] means aspirated) and unaspirated [p] are allophones of an underlying phoneme /p/.

Syllable structure
The general structure of a syllable consists of the following segments:

Onset (obligatory in some languages, optional in others)
Rime
Nucleus (obligatory in all languages)
Coda (optional in some languages, highly restricted or prohibited in others)

In some theories of phonology, these syllable structures are displayed as tree diagrams (similar to the trees found in some types of syntax).

The syllable nucleus is typically a sonorant, usually a vowel sound, in the form of a monophthong, diphthong, or triphthong, but sometimes including consonants like [l] and [r]. The syllable onset is the sound(s) occurring before the nucleus, and the syllable coda is the sound(s) occurring after the nucleus. A rime consists of a nucleus and a coda.

Generally, every syllable requires a nucleus. A coda-less syllable of the form V, CV, CCV, etc. (i.e. a sequence of any number of consonants + a syllabic sonorant, usually a vowel) is called an open syllable, while a syllable that has a coda (VC, CVC, CVCC, etc.) is called a closed syllable (or checked syllable). All languages allow syllables with empty codas (open syllables).

A heavy syllable is one with a branching rime or a branching nucleus. In some languages, heavy syllables include both CVV (branching nucleus) and CVC (branching rime) syllables. In other languages, only CVV syllables (ones with a long vowel or diphthong) are heavy, while CVC and CV syllables are light syllables. In moraic theory, heavy syllables are said to have two moras, while light syllables are said to have one.

In some languages, including English, a consonant may be analyzed as acting simultaneously as the coda of one syllable and the onset of the next, a phenomenon known as ambisyllabicity.

Stress

In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis given to certain syllables in a word.

The ways stress manifests itself in the speech stream is highly language dependent. In some languages, stressed syllables have a higher or lower pitch than non-stressed syllables — so-called pitch accent (or musical accent). There are also dynamic accent (loudness), quantitative accent (full vowels), and qualitative accent (length, known in music theory as agogic accent). Stress may be characterized by more than one of these characteristics. For instance, stressed syllables in English have higher pitch, longer duration, and typically fuller vowels than unstressed syllables, as well as being dynamically louder. Stressed syllables in Russian are broadly similar, but have lower rather than higher pitch. Contrasting with these, stressed and unstressed vowels in Spanish share the same quality, and the language has no reduced vowels like English or Russian.

The possibilities for stress in tone languages is an area of ongoing research.

Stressed syllables are often perceived as being more forceful than non-stressed syllables. Research has shown, however, that although dynamic stress is accompanied by greater respiratory force, it does not mean a more forceful articulation in the vocal tract.

Intonation (linguistics)

Intonation, in linguistics, is the variation of pitch when speaking. Intonation and stress are two main elements of linguistic prosody.

Many languages use pitch syntactically, for instance to convey surprise and irony or to change a statement to a question. Such languages are called intonation languages. English is a well-known example. Some languages use pitch to distinguish words; these are known as tonal languages. Thai is an example. An intermediate position is occupied by languages with tonal word accent, for instance Norwegian.

Rising intonation means the pitch of the voice increases over time; falling intonation means that the pitch decreases with time. A dipping intonation falls and then rises, whereas a peaking intonation rises and then falls.

The classic example of intonation is the question/statement distinction. For example, northeastern American English has a rising intonation for echo or declarative questions (He found it on the street?), and a falling intonation for wh- questions and statements. Yes/no questions often have a rising end, but not always. The Chickasaw has the opposite pattern, rising for statements and falling with questions.

Dialects of British and Irish English vary substantially (Grabe 2004,[1]), with rises on many statements in urban Belfast, and falls on most questions in urban Leeds.

Transcription

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, "global" (that is, clause-level) rising and falling intonation are marked with the arrows [↗] and [↘]:

He found it on the street?
[hi faʊnd ɪt ɑn ðə stɹit↗ ‖ ]
Yes, he found it on the street.
[jɛs↘ ‖ hi faʊnd ɪt ɑn ðə stɹit↘ ‖ ]

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Essay: Conjunction in English

Grammatical conjunction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, phrases, or clauses together. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" should be defined for each language. In general, a conjunction is an invariable grammatical particle, and it may or may not stand between the items it conjoins.

The definition can also be extended to idiomatic phrases that behave as a unit with the same function as a single-word conjunction (as well as, provided that, etc.).

Types of conjunctions:
1. Conjunctions, also called coordinators, are conjunctions that join two items of equal syntactic importance. For example, for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. These form the mnemonic fanboys. When used to join two independent clauses, a comma or semicolon is placed before the conjunction.

2. Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions which work together to coordinate two items. For example, both... and, either... or, not only... but, whether... or.

3. Subordinate conjunctions, also called subordinators, are conjunctions that join a dependent clause and an independent clause. In English, a subordinate conjunction appears at the beginning of, and establishes the nature of, a subordinate clause. For example, after, although, if, unless, because.

Clause
A clause is a group of words consisting of a subject and a predicate, although, in non-finite clauses, the subject is often not explicitly given. A clause is either a whole sentence or in effect a sentence-within-a-sentence.

Clauses are often contrasted with phrases, which do not express complete thoughts through combinations of subjects and predicates. Phrases generally do not contain verbs except as verbals (gerunds, participles, and infinitives).

Example:

1. I didn't know that the dog ran through the yard.
Through the yard is not a clause, but a phrase, since it has no subject or verb.
the dog ran through the yard is a clause; it is a whole sentence contained within a larger sentence.

Independent and dependent clauses
There are two basic categories of clauses: independent clauses and dependent clauses.

Independent clauses
An independent clause (or main clause, or coordinate clause) can stand by itself as a grammatically viable simple sentence. Multiple independent clauses can be joined (usually with a comma and a coordinating conjunction) to form a compound sentence.

Examples:

1. I am a bus driver and I drive a bus. (simple sentence)
2. I want to be an astronaut but I haven't gotten my diploma. (simple sentence)
3. I am a bus driver, but I want to be an astronaut. (compound sentence)
4. Go to the store and get me a copy of Counter-Strike: Source. (simple sentence) (Though a subject is not visible, in English the subject of an imperative is considered to be the pronoun 'you')

Dependent clauses
A dependent clause (or subordinate clause) cannot stand alone as a sentence. It usually begins with a subordinating conjunction or, in the case of an adverb or adjective clause (see below), a relative pronoun. A sentence with an independent clause and any number of dependent clauses is referred to as a complex sentence. One with two or more independent clauses and any number of dependent clauses is referred to as a compound-complex sentence.

Examples:

1. My sister cried because she scraped her knee. (complex sentence)
Subjects: My sister, she
Predicates: cried, scraped her knee
Subordinating conjunction: because

2. When they told me I won the contest, I cried, but I didn't faint. **(compound-complex sentence)
Subjects: they, I, I, I
Predicates: told me, won the contest, cried, didn't faint
Subordinating conjunctions: When, that (understood)
Coordinating conjunction: but

The above sentence actually contains two dependent clauses. "When they told me" is one; the other is "(that) I won the contest." The "that" is understood to precede the "I won" and functions as a subordinating conjunction.

Types of dependent clauses
Dependent clauses are often classified by their part of speech: a noun clause functions as a noun, an adjective clause functions as an adjective, and an adverb clause functions as an adverb.

Examples:

1. That the kid was making so much money bothered me. (A noun clause is the subject of bothered.)
2. Her eyes were a shade of blue that reminded me of the sea. (An adjective clause is modifying a shade of blue.)
3. I have a tendency to hyperventilate when I'm upset. (An adverb clause is modifying the entire main clause.)

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Essay: Sentences in English

Sentences in English

In Linguistics, sentence is a group of words which carries a sense of meaning. It consists of subject and a verb. Sentences can be divided based on two categories, that is based on its structure and its purpose. Based on its form it can be divided into four types: Simple Sentences, Compound Sentences, Complex Sentences, and Complex-compound Sentences. Meanwhile, based on its purpose, sentence can be divide into five types: Declarative sentences, Interrogative sentences, Imperative sentences, Exclamatory sentences, and Rethorical sentences.

Types of Sentences
As stated above, types of sentences can be lied on two categories that is based on its structure and its purpose. Here are the following explanation.

1. Based on its structure
Based on its structure, types can be divided into four, i.e.:

a. Simple Sentence
Simple sentence is a type of sentences which has only one main or independent clause. It has one subject and one verb. The subject (sometimes called the object) comes before the verb. The verb comes after the subject to describe what the subject is doing or has done. The object is an optional. If the verb is an intransitive verb, the object does not necessary. But, if the verb is a transitive verb, you must place the object after the verb.

Examples:
1. She walks.
'She' is the subject of the sentence which has function as the doer of the verb 'walks'. In this sentence, the object does not necessary as 'walks' is an intransitive verb that is a verb which does not need any object. But, if you want to add any other word, you can add an adverb to it, e.g. 'in the garden'. So, the sentence becomes "She walks in the garden."

2. I write a letter.
This sentence is almost similar to the first sentence. The difference is only on the verb. The verb in this sentence 'write' is a transitive verb. That's why, it needs any object. But, if you want to add any adverb, you can also do it. For example you want to add 'yesterday', you can also add it thought the verb is transitive. You put 'yesterday' after the object or before the subject. But remember! If you put the adverb before the subject, you must put a comma after it. It will become "I write a letter yesterday" or "Yesterday, I write a letter."

b. Compound Sentences
In the English language, a compound sentence is composed of at least two independent clauses, but no dependent clauses. The clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction (with or without a comma), a correlative conjunction (with or without a comma), or a semicolon with no conjunction.

For example:
1. He finally bought the book, or so I thought.
The two independent clauses are joined by a comma and the coordinating conjunction "or".

2. Either he goes or I go.
The compound sentence is held together by the correlative conjunction "either…or".

3. Mary understands math; she has studied it for years.
Here the two are joined by a semicolon with no conjunction.

c. Complex Sentences
In syntax, a sentence with an independent clause and at least one dependent clause (subordinating clause) is referred to as a complex sentence. The dependent clause is often introduced by a subordinate conjunction such as "which", "while" or "because".

For example:
1. When I saw what you had done, I was happy.
It consists of two dependent clauses and one independent.

2. That you love me makes me happy.
It is a complex sentence with a sub-clause functioning as a subject.

3. It makes me happy that you love me.
It is a clefted complex sentence with a sub-clause indicating what the dummy pronoun "It" refers to.

4. The book is where you have put it.
It is a complex sentence with a sub-clause functioning as subject complement. "Be" is a copula verb; it links the sub-clause to the subject.

d. Complex-compound Sentences
In syntax, a sentence with at least two independent clauses and one or more dependent clause is referred to as a complex-compound sentence.

For example:
1. The dog lived in the backyard, but the cat, who thought she was superior, lived inside the house.
This sentence consists of two independent clause and one dependent clause. The following is the description of them:

Independent clauses:
The dog lived in the backyard.
The cat lived inside the house.
Dependent clause:
who thought she was superior

2. Though the movie had been tested on the market, The Last Shadow did not fare well in the United States, but it did develop a huge following in Europe which usually does not go for this movie genre.
This sentence consists of two independent clause and two dependent clause. Here are the following description about it:

Independent clauses:
The Last Shadow did not fare well in the United States.
It did develop a huge following in Europe.
Dependent clauses:
though the movie had been tested on the market
which usually does not go for this movie genre


2. Based on its purpose
Based on this category, sentences can be divided into five, i.e.:

a. Declarative sentences
A declaration is a form of statement, which expresses (or declares) some idea; declarations attempt to argue that something is true. Some types of written text are said to be declarations, such as the US Declaration of Independence or the proposed Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Quebec. The declerative sentence is the most common type, commonly makes a statement, e.g.: I am going home.

b. Interrogative sentences
An interrogative sentence is commonly used to request information. A question is any of several kinds of linguistic expressions normally used by a questioner to request the presentation of information back to the questioner, in the form of an answer, by the audience. For example: When are you going to work?. The question needs an answer as the information which is given by the audience.

c. Imperative sentences
An imperative sentence is a sentence which carries any request or demand to the audience. For example: Go do your homework. This sentence means that anyone to whom the speaker talks to, have to do it.

d. Exclamatory sentences
An exclamatory sentence is a sentence which is generally a more emphatic form of statement. For example: What a wonderful day this is!

e. Rhetorical sentences
A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer. ("How many times do I have to tell you to stop walking into the house with mud on your shoes?").

A rhetorical question seeks to encourage reflection within the listener as to what the answer to the question (at least, the answer implied by the questioner) must be. When a speaker declaims, "How much longer must our people endure this injustice?" or "Will our company grow or shrink?", no formal answer is expected. Rather, it is a device used by the speaker to assert or deny something.

Examples:
1. "How can people have hope when we tell them that they have no recourse, if they run afoul of the state justice system?" Edward Kennedy Senate debate on the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 1968

2. "Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? / When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: / Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: / Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; / And Brutus is an honourable man. / You all did see that on the Lupercal / I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?" William Shakespeare Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene 2.

Some rhetorical questions become idiomatic English expressions:

"What's the matter with you?"
"Don't you know any better?"
"Have you no shame?"
"Is the Pope Catholic?"
"Do fish swim?"
"Are you crazy?"
"Who cares?"
"How should I know?"
"Are you kidding me?"


Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedia

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Essay: Phonetics and Phonology

The Difference Between Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). It is concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds (phones) as well as those of non-speech sounds, and their production, audition and perception, as opposed to phonology, which operates at the level of sound systems and abstract sound units (such as phonemes and distinctive features). Phonetics deals with the sounds themselves rather than the contexts in which they are used in languages. Discussions of meaning (semantics) therefore do not enter at this level of linguistic analysis.

While writing systems and alphabets are in many cases closely related to the sounds of speech, strictly speaking, phoneticians are more concerned with the sounds of speech than the symbols used to represent them. So close is the relationship between them however, that many dictionaries list the study of the symbols (more accurately semiotics) as a part of phonetic studies. On the other hand, logographic writing systems typically give much less phonetic information, but the information is not necessarily non-existent. For instance, in Chinese characters, a phonetic refers to the portion of the character that hints at its pronunciation, while the radical refers to the portion that serves as a semantic hint. Characters featuring the same phonetic typically have similar pronunciations, but by no means are the pronunciations predictably determined by the phonetic due to the fact that pronunciations diverged over many centuries while the characters remained the same. Not all Chinese characters are radical-phonetic compounds, but a good majority of them are.

Phonetics has three main branches:

1. Articulatory phonetics, concerned with the positions and movements of the lips, tongue, vocal tract and folds and other speech organs in producing speech

2. Acoustic phonetics, concerned with the properties of the sound waves and how they are received by the inner ear

3. Auditory phonetics, concerned with speech perception, principally how the brain forms perceptual representations of the input it receives.

Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedy

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