Linguistic Branches
1. Phonology – how speech sounds are organised and used to convey meaning
Phonology is the study of sound systems or the way sounds function in language, while phonetics
involves the physical sounds themselves and the ways in which these sounds are created.
2. Morphology – how words are built (prefixes, suffixes)
unhappy = un + happy
"redo" = re + do
"player" = play + er
"misplace" = mis + place
"national" = nation + al
"friendship" = friend + ship
"kindness" = kind + ness
"hopeless" = hope + less
"prepaid" = pre + paid
"unlock" = un + lock
3. Syntax – sentence structure
“The cat sat on the mat” vs. “Sat cat the mat on”
Correct: "The dog chased the cat."
Incorrect: "Chased the cat dog the."
"I saw the man with a telescope."
"She gave him a book."
"They are playing outside."
"Is he coming today?"
"The boy kicked the ball."
"Did she go to the market?"
"We will eat after the movie."
"Books the students read
4. Semantics – meaning of words
“Bank” (money vs. river)
"Duck" (animal or action?)
"Bat" (sports equipment or animal?)
"Right" (correct or direction?)
"Light" (not heavy or illumination?)
"Cool" (temperature or trend?)
"Leaves" (foliage or departs?)
"Match" (sports or flame?)
"Rock" (stone or music?)
"Spring" (season or jump?)
"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" is a famous, intentionally nonsensical sentence created by
linguist Noam Chomsky to illustrate the distinction between syntax (sentence structure) and
semantics (meaning), in his 1957 book "Syntactic Structures" as an example of a grammatically
correct sentence that is semantically meaningless. The sentence is grammatically sound, following
the rules of English syntax (subject-verb-object structure), but the words themselves don't make
logical sense when combined.
5. Pragmatics – meaning in context
“Can you pass the salt?” – not a question
"It's cold in here." (might mean: close the window)
"I’m fine." (could mean the opposite)
"You’re welcome." (tone matters)
"Nice job." (can be sarcastic)
"Do you know what time it is?" (implying lateness)
"Well, that was fun." (after something clearly not fun)
"Sure, why not?" (may mean reluctant agreement)
"Thanks a lot." (can be genuine or sarcastic)
"I love that for you." (can be sincere or mocking)
Organs of Speech
1. Respiratory: lungs, trachea, diaphragm
2. Phonatory: larynx and vocal folds
3. Articulatory: lips, tongue, teeth, alveolar ridge, velum
Vowels & Consonants
1. Vowels: open sounds (A, E, I, O, U)
2. Consonants: involve some closure or friction (B, T, S)
Phonemic Transcription
International Phonetic Alphabet
(what is a phoneme:
"cat" = /kæt/
"book" = /bʊk/
"laugh" = /læf/ or /lɑːf/
"phone" = /foʊn/
"thought" = /θɔːt/
"phone" = /foʊn/
"thought" = /θɔːt/
"music" = /ˈmjuːzɪk/
"banana" = /bəˈnɑːnə/
"elephant" = /ˈɛlɪfənt/
"school" = /skuːl/
IPA Chart (Simplified for High School Use)
Consonants (some examples):
Sound Symbol Example
p /p/ pen
b /b/ bat
t /t/ top
d /d/ dog
k /k/ cat
g /g/ go
f /f/ fish
v /v/ van
s /s/ sit
z /z/ zoo
ʃ /ʃ/ ship
ʒ /ʒ/ measure
h /h/ hat
m /m/ mat
n /n/ no
ŋ /ŋ/ sing
l /l/ let
r /r/ red
w /w/ win
j /j/ yes
Vowels (some examples):
Sound Symbol Example
i /i/ seat
ɪ /ɪ/ sit
e /e/ say
ɛ /ɛ/ bed
æ /æ/ cat
ɑ /ɑ/ father
ʌ /ʌ/ cup
u /u/ food
ʊ /ʊ/ put
o /o/ go
ɔ /ɔ/ thought
ə /ə/ banana (the a)
Stress & Intonation
Demonstrate stress using: 'REcord vs. re'CORD
REcord vs. re'CORD
'PREsent vs. pre'SENT
'CONtract vs. con'TRACT
'OBject vs. ob'JECT
'PERmit vs. per'MIT
Show intonation patterns for:
Statements ↘
Questions ↗
Identify parts: Is it showing phonology, morphology, etc.?
/hɛloʊ/ (phonology)
"preheat" (morphology)
“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” (syntax)
“It's cold in here, isn't it?” (pragmatics)