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Language and Linguistics

BA Semester -II

UNIT -4

Phoneme

Definition of Phoneme

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word that

makes a difference in its pronunciation, as well as its

meaning, from another word. For instance, the /s/ in ‘soar’

distinguishes it from /r/ in ‘roar’, as it becomes different

from ‘soar’ in pronunciation as well as meaning.

There are a total of 44 phonemes in the English language,

which include consonants, short vowels, long vowels,

diphthongs, and triphthongs. Phonemes have distinct

functions in the English language, such as the /b/, /t/, and

/d/ consonant sounds that are missing in some languages.

The written representation of a sound is placed in slashes,

as in this example where /b/ is placed in slashes on both

sides.

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Examples of Phoneme in Literature

Example #1: To Kill a Mockingbird (by Harper Lee)

“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm

badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of

never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom

self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat

shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his

hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his

thigh. He couldn’t have cared less, so long as he could pass and

punt.”

A few of the letters in this passage have been underlined

for understanding. The first three underlined examples of

phonemes are the sounds /wh/ /th/ and /j/ respectively.

Example #2: 1984 (by George Orwell)

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking

thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an

effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass

doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to

prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.”

The underlined letters are sounds of /i/ /b/ /d/ /s/ /ie/ /w/ /s/

and /v/ respectively. However, two phonemes have used

aspirated diphthong sounds /th/ in “Smith” and /th/ in

“though.”

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Example #3: Great Expectations (by Charles Dickens)

“All this time, I was getting on towards the river; but however

fast I went, I couldn’t warm my feet, to which the damp cold

seemed riveted, as the iron was riveted to the leg of the man I

was running to meet. I knew my way to the Battery, pretty

straight, for I had been down there on a Sunday with Joe, and

Joe, sitting on an old gun, had told me that when I was

‘prentice to him, regularly bound, we would have such Larks

there!”

In this example, different phonemes are highlighted as /g/ i/

/b/ /w/ /m/ /ie/ /d/ /s/ /f/ /h/ /j/ and /l/.

Example #4: Ode to Nightingale (by John Keats)

“My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains

My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One

minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:

‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,

But being too happy in thine happiness,— That

thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees

In some melodious plot

Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, Signets

of summer in full-throated ease.”

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In this stanza, Keats has used mostly diphthongs, including

sounds like /ow/ /ou/ /ia/ /oo/ and /sh/. All of them are

giving distinct sounds of their respective phonemes.

Example #5: Tyger Tyger (by Charles Dickens)

This example also has used short vowels, long vowels,

consonants and diphthongs. The first word contains six

phonemes or sounds as /b/ /u/ /r/ /n/ /i/ /n/ /g/. The last

word “fearful” contains six sounds /f/ /ea/ /r/ /f/ /u/ and /l/,

where the second sound is a diphthong.

Function of Phoneme

Phonemes carry distinct sounds that differentiate one

word from another. Counting them could be challenging,

for sounds are made of different ways and variations.

Through phonemes, readers learn pronouncing words

correctly and comprehending their meanings. Phonemes

are an integral part of reading and listening, specifically in

poetry, where they are very important to understand,

meter which is solely based on stress patters and

phonemes. That is the reason that poets stress upon each

phoneme to understand poetry, for it is a sure way to

understand a word by pronouncing it loudly.

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Syllable

What is a Syllable? Definition, Examples of

English Syllables

Syllable definition: A syllable is a unit of sound that creates meaning in

language. Consonants join vowels to create syllables.

What is a Syllable?

A syllable is one unit of sound in English. Syllables join consonants and vowels

to form words.

Syllables can have more than one letter; however, a syllable cannot have more

than one sound.

Syllables can have more than one consonant and more than one vowel, as well.

However, the consonant(s) and vowel(s) that create the syllable cannot make

more than one sound.

A syllable is only one sound.

Examples of Syllables in English

Syllables are formed when

a vowel pairs with a consonant to create a unit of sound.

Some words have one syllable (monosyllabic), and some words have many

syllables (polysyllabic).

New vowels sounds create new syllables.

• long

• This word has one syllable. There is only one vowel sound, created by

the “o.”

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• shame

• This word has one syllable. Even though there are two vowels, only one

vowel makes a sound. The long “a” sound is the vowel sound; the “e” is a

silent “e.”

• silent

• This word has two vowels sounds; therefore it has two syllables. The first

syllable is “si” with the long “i” sound. The second syllable includes the

letters “lent.”

Open Syllable vs. Closed Syllable There are two ways that syllables formed in English words: open and closed

syllables. Here is a brief discussion of both of those topics.

Open Syllable

What is an open

syllable? An open syllable is a syllable that has only one vowel and only one

vowel sound. The single vowel in the open syllable occurs at the end of the word.

Examples of Open Syllables:

• wry

• try

• no

• go

• a

• chew

• brew

Closed Syllable

What is a closed

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syllable? A closed syllable is a syllable that has only one vowel and only

one vowel sound. A closed syllable ends in a consonant. Examples of

Closed Syllables:

• clock

• truck

• ask

• bin

• trim

• gym

• neck

• if

How Many Syllables Are in a Word?

A syllable starts with a vowel sound. That vowel most often joins with a

consonant, or consonants, to create a syllable. Syllables will sometimes consist

of more than one vowel but never more than one vowel sound.

Syllables create meaning in language. When vowels and consonants join to

create sound, words are formed.

A single syllable makes a single sound. Some words have one unit of sound,

which means they have one syllable. More than one sound means the word has

more than one syllable.

Monosyllabic Words

Words with one syllable

(monosyllabic)

Single vowel sound

• man

• This word has two consonants and one vowel

• The one vowel sound (the short “a”) joins with the two consonants to

create one syllable

• cry

• This word has two consonants and one vowel

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• The one vowel (the long “i” sound formed by the “y”) joins with the two

consonants to create one syllable

Double vowels with single sound

• brain

• This word has three consonants and two vowels

• The two vowels create one vowel sound (a long “a” sound)

• The single vowel sound joins with the three consonants to make one

syllable

• tree

• This word has two consonants and two vowels

• The two vowels create one vowel sound (a long “e” sound)

• The single vowel sound joins with the two consonants to make one

syllable

Words ending with a silent “e”

• lane

• This word has two consonants and two vowels

• The “e” and the end of the word is silent to represent a long “a” sound

• The single vowel sound in this word is a long “a” sound

• The single vowel sound joins with the two consonants to make one

syllable

• tile

• This word has two consonants and two vowels

• The “e” and the end of the word is silent to represent a long “i” sound

• The single vowel sound in this word is a long “i” sound

• The single vowel sound joins with the two consonants to make one

syllable

Polysyllabic Words

Words with more than one

syllable (polysyllabic)

• baker

• two syllables

• This word has three consonants and two vowels

• “bak”: two consonants “m” “k” plus one vowel “a”

• “er”: one vowel “e” plus one consonant “r”

• growing

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• two syllables

• This word has five consonants and two vowels

• “grow”: three consonants “g”, “r”, and “w” plus one vowel “o”

• “ing”: one vowel “i” plus two consonants “ng”

• terrible

• three syllables

• This word has five consonants and three vowels

• “ter”: two consonants “t” and “r” plus one vowel “e”

• “ri”: one consonant “i” plus one vowel “i”

• “ble” : two consonants “b” and “l” plus one vowel “e”

Note: The last “e” in “terrible” is not silent. The “e” and the end creates more of a

“bull” sound when joined with the “b” and “l” than an “e” sound would normally

make.

Summary: What are Syllables?

Define syllables: the definition of syllables is a phonological unit consisting of one

or more sounds, including a vowel sound. To sum up, a syllable:

• is a unit of sound in language

• joins vowels with consonants to create meaning

• will always contain only one vowel sound

What is the difference between Phoneme and Syllable

The following is a simple but useful way to understand phonemes and

syllables.

A phoneme is a unit of sound used by a language speaking community.

Phonemes include all the distinct units of sounds used by the speakers of a

language. They include vowels and consonants. A syllable is a cluster of

sounds with at least one vowel. In general there cannot be a syllable

without a vowel. Words are made of syllables. A word is the smallest

meaningful unit. In other words, the syllables forming a word do not mean

anything individually. Only a meaningful cluster of sounds alone is called a

word. A word may have one or more syllables. The number of syllables in a

word is equivalent to the number of vowels in that word.

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For example, in the word 'beautiful', there are three syllables: 1.beau 2.ti

3.ful. one can easily find that there is a vowel in each of the three syllables.

Similarly, in 'fate', there is only one vowel and hence only one syllabl

What is the difference between Stress sand

Intonation

Stress vs Intonation

If you are to speak a language clearly, paying attention to the difference between

stress and intonation is essential. Stress and intonation are two terms that come in

linguistics and play a vital role in communication as it allows us to get through to

the others by being comprehensive. As we articulate syllables, the energy used or

else the force that we used is considered stress. Intonation, on the other hand, refers

to the manner in which we speak, to be more specific, it concentrates on the

variation of pitch when speaking. This article attempts to provide a basic

understanding of the two terms enabling the reader to grasp the differences between

the two terms.

What is Stress?

Stress refers to the emphasis laid on specific syllables of a word or a specific

word in a sentence. This highlights that there are two types as word stress and

sentence stress. Word stress is when we pronounce a particular syllable with more

emphasis or force in comparison to the other syllables. For example, let us take the

word ‘garden’. As we pronounce it, the stress is on ‘gar’ , and the rest are

unstressed. Sentence stress, on the other hand, refers to a particular word that is

given prominence in comparison to the rest of the words. For example, when we

say:

It was awesome.

The main stress is laid on the word ‘awesome‘. This highlights that the stress can

be used to emphasize a particular fact in a sentence or else to bring out the meaning.

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What is Intonation?

As we express our thoughts, the way in which our voice changes as the pitch

rises and falls allows the others to understand our stance of various things. This is

referred to as intonation. Intonation consists of tone units and a pitch range. Tone

units refer to the phrases that we divide as we speak. In each tone unit, there is a

combination of rise and fall of the pitch. Pitch range, on the other hand, focuses

specifically on the highs and lows of the pitch. This allows us to understand how a

person feels about a certain thing through the manner in which he expresses it. For

example, let us take a very ordinary occurrence.

You trust him.

You trust him.

With the change of the pitch, this can express different meanings such as disbelief,

satisfaction, acknowledgement, etc. So, intonation assists in effective

communication through the rise and fall of the voice. If people spoke in the same

pitch without any changes , it would certainly be very difficult to grasp the exact

meaning.

What is the difference between Stress and Intonation?

• Stress refers to the emphasis laid on specific syllables or words of a sentence.

• Intonation refers to the variation of the pitch as an individual speaks.

• The difference between the two is that while stress pays particular attention to syllables and words, intonation can create an entire variation of the meaning

through the usage of stress.

Difference Between Morpheme and

Allomorph

Morpheme vs Allomorph

Difference between morpheme and allomorph is a subject that falls under the

field of linguistics. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a language. In

this sense, a morpheme conveys a meaning. An allomorph, on the other hand,

refers to the different forms of a single morpheme. These different variants can

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be noted in the morpheme plural, the past participle ending, etc. The specialty is

that an allomorph has the ability to bring about changes in the pronunciation and

the spellings. This article attempts to provide a basic understanding of

morphemes and allomorphs while elaborating the difference between the two.

What is a Morpheme?

A morpheme is the smallest meaningful elements of a language. It cannot be

further broken into smaller parts. The specialty is that a morpheme has a meaning.

For example, when we say bag, cat, dog, elephant, these are all morphemes as

they cannot be segmented into smaller parts any further. Mainly, in linguistics, we

identify two types of morphemes. They are,

• Free morphemes

• Bound morphemes

If a morpheme has the ability to stand on its own without the support of another

form, we identify it as a free morpheme. But, if it cannot stand on its own and

requires the assistance of another form, we identify it as a bound morpheme.

Prefixes and suffixes are some examples for bound morphemes. If a bound

morpheme wishes to convey a meaning, it needs to be intertwined with another

form. For example, the morpheme ‘ness’ conveys no meaning, but when

connected with another morpheme such as ‘attractive’, it conveys a meaning as

it becomes ‘attractiveness’.

.What is an Allomorph?

Allomorphs are the different varieties that exist of the same morpheme. Based on

the context, these can bring about changes in the spelling and also in

pronunciation. When one allomorph of a morpheme is replaced with another it

can change the meaning completely. Let us attempt to understand the function of

the allomorph through an example of the morpheme plural. Under this single

morpheme, there are 3 variant allomorphs. They are,

• /s/ – cats

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• /z/ or – dogs

• /iz/ – matches

Note how the pronunciation defers in each case. Even though a single morpheme

is in play, it has different allomorphs that bring about changes not only in the

pronunciation, but also in the spellings. It has to be remembered in mind that the

allomorph is always conditioned by its phonetic environment. Also, in some cases,

the morpheme plural takes a complete different turn.

• Ox- oxen

• Man- men

• Sheep –sheep

In each case, the morpheme plural is different. This highlights that even though it

is a single morpheme plural, it has a variety of allomorphs. Not only in the

morpheme plural, but in the past participle also the varied allomorphs can be

identified.

What is the difference between Morpheme and

Allomorph?

The difference between the morpheme and allomorph can be summarized in the

following manner.

• A morpheme is the smallest meaningful elements of a language.

• There two types of morphemes as free morphemes and bound morphemes.

• An allomorph can be defined as a single variety of a morpheme.

• A single morpheme can have different allomorphs.

• These can be noted when studying the morpheme plural, the past participle endings,

etc.

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