English 336: Introduction to Linguistics

Main Topics For Linguistics Test II
Spring 2007

Dr. Tina L. Hanlon

Linguistics Home Page

Chapter 6. Phonetics:

• Be able to discuss and/or identify examples of inconsistencies in English spelling and attitudes about regularizing or reforming spelling.

• Understand general terms: orthography, articulatory phonetics, phonetic alphabet, diacritical marks.

• Know the terminology of articulatory phonetics well enough to be able to identify terms and generally what they refer to:

• Voiced vs. voiceless sounds (a manner of articulation); syllabic sounds;
• Place of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, interdental, alveolar, alveopalatal, palatal, velar
• Other manners of articulation: aspiration, nasals, stops, plosives, fricatives, affricates, liquids, glides.
• Ways of classifying vowels: schwa; high, mid or low tongue position; front, central or back areas of tongue and mouth; rounded or unrounded; long vs. short (also called tense vs. lax); monothongs vs. diphthongs.

• Be able to read words written in phonetic transcription (as in exercise 10) and transcribe a few words using the International Phonetic Alphabet for English in our textbook.

Chapter 7. Phonology:

• Understand general terms: phoneme, phone, allophone, minimal pairs or sets, allomorph. Be able to identify examples that illustrate these terms.

• Understand difference between phonetic transcription in square brackets and phonological transcription between slashes (parallel lines).

• Know the examples of phonological rules we discussed in class.

• Know general terms from prosodic phonology:

• Suprasegmentals = intonation (or pitch contour) and stress
• Stress involves pitch, length, and loudness
• Primary and secondary stress in words
• Ways stress patterns in phrases and sentences affect meaning.

Chapter 10. Language and Society

• Be familiar with terms idiolect, dialect, communicative isolation, dialect leveling, regional dialects, social dialects, accents, Standard American English, DARE (Dictionary of American Regional English, 1985-), dialect atlases & maps, Ebonics or African American English, Chicano English, code-switching,  taboo language, difficulty of conveying dialect differences in literary writing or film.

• Linguistic variables: pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax

• Social variables (studied by sociolinguists in recent decades):

  • Region (context for social variables)
  • Social status
  • Style (formal and informal generally; slang, for example, is very informal; professional jargon can be part of a formal style)
  • Age (cf. exercise on slang changing—some slang of older generation disappears)
  • Gender (recent research in discourse analysis shows men and women have different conversational styles)
  • Ethnicity
     
• Know some examples of linguistic variables from text, video American Tongues and class discussions or personal experience.
• Be familiar with attitudes about dialects discussed in class or in the film, including biases against regional or social variations and nonstandard features. 

03/28/2007