1A) For the grand finale, match the following. These are the key components you will be working with to analyze going forward, for those of you who are pursuing the TESOL Cert, MAT ESOL or M.Ed. ESOL. It’s really important to ground yourselves in these domains of language and have a good quick example in your mind to help focus.
Term
Description
c
Syntax
a. “sat” not “sitted” (In other words, words in languages are composed of smaller parts that combine to express various meanings. For example, in English, there are a couple of ways to express verb tense.)
e
Phonetics
b. /t/ > [th]/ #____V
(Or, expressed in a rule format: /t/ is aspirated word-initially in front of vowels…)
b
Phonology
c. Up with this I will not put unless it is absolutely necessary. (In other words, there are rules that govern the word order in languages. For example, some dialects of English maintain that it is incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition and that can create some complicated statements at times.)
a
Morphology
d. A man is handsome, but a woman is beautiful. (In other words, languages often have terms that may share some elements of meaning but may also have distinct distributions in the language depending on broader context.)
d
Semantics
e. English has 13 vowel sounds (but only 5 letters). (In other words, as with all languages, there is an inventory of sounds that native speakers will recognize across dialects of that language.)
1B) Look at the description of the basic first language inventory and explanation at each link provided. Based on the sounds and explanations in the inventories, choose the word a native speaker of that language would be MOST LIKELY to articulate accurately. Briefly explain why, following the explanation provided in the sample below. Remember, it’s important to compare the phonemic inventory (the list of sounds) as well as look over the notes on distribution (where each sound occurs in context in the language).
Sample Analysis
i) shy
ii) date
iii) team
(i) Spanish has neither the fricative /ʃ/ nor the diphthong /aɪ/. Therefore, “shy,” pronounced [ʃaɪ] in U.S. English dialects, would probably be articulated as [si] by a native Spanish speaker.
(ii) The Spanish speaker would be most likely to articulate (ii) accurately. The word ‘date,’ which is pronounced [deɪt] in U.S. English dialects, has sounds that overlap with the Spanish sound inventory.
Because the Spanish vowels are monophthongs (single articulation point), whereas many vowels in English dialects have a secondary articulation, there might be some confusion between [det] and [dɛt] in the Spanish speaker’s articulation. However, it would be the least problematic of the three words here.
(iii) The sound /i/ doesn’t exist in the Spanish vowel inventory. Assitionall, the sound /m/ rarely occurs word-finally in Spanish. Therefore, “team” might be articulated as [tin] by a native Spanish speaker.
1C) Include a P(honeme) or an A(llophone) to indicate which version of sounds the description or example illustrates. The first two are completed for you as examples.
P or A
Description, examples, etc.
P
/p/ vs /b/ in English
A
/ph/ vs /p/ in English
Actual articulations of sounds determined by the environment in which they occur
Core sounds in the inventory of a language (abstractions)
A native speaker of a language pronounces all /ɪ/ sounds in English as /i/ sounds in all contexts.
A native speaker of a language pronounces /s/ sounds in English words as [ʃ] in front of the high, tense, front vowel [i] but correctly as [s] in all other contexts. That is, he articulates “she” and “see” identically as [si].
1D) Analyze the following short language samples and identify the key issues in play across morphology, syntax, and semantics. For this section, remember to be precise. Note morphology issues (and be specific), syntax issues, and/or semantic issues.
Sample:
A nonnative speaker says: Mrs. Jones teacher. Her nice. Her funny.
Morphology: The evidence for morphology use is very limited. The informant is using object pronouns where subject pronouns are needed (Her nice… Her funny). We have no evidence regarding adjective, adverb, or verb morphology.
The word ‘teacher’ does evidence the use of derivational morphology (teacher + er).
Syntax: The overall order at the sentence level seems correct. However, the student omits the “be” verb needed in each statement: “Mrs. Jones is a teacher. She is nice. She is funny.” To this point – we don’t have evidence on whether the student could handle the morphological rules generating ‘is.’
At the phrase level, the student omits the article “a,” which should be included in the noun phrase “a teacher” in the first sentence.
Otherwise, we don’t have any evidence for phrase or clause or compound/complex sentence syntax.
Semantics: The words used are viable. Without an image or some context, we don’t know whether a peer might include more detail or richer vocabulary.
1) A nonnative speaker says: Thomas goed to company yesterday and buyed a flour, a milk, eggs and a bread.
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
2) A nonnative speaker says: The woman failed the test because he didn’t to study. He needs reviewing the material and going to the tutoring center for helping.
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
3) A nonnative speaker says: He bought she a sweater black, but it is very more bigger for she.
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
Section 2: English through the Ages…
2A) True/False. Indicate whether each of the following is a true or false statement. If the statement is false, explain why and how it should be changed to render the information true.
______ Although Modern English has a larger vocabulary than Old English, all of the words that existed in Old English have the same meanings they had over 1,000 years ago.
______ Old English relied heavily on morphology to organize phrases and clauses whereas Modern English relies heavily on word order (syntax) to accomplish the same job.
______ Modern English is an improvement over Old English – as are standard dialects over non-standard dialects.
______ The sound inventory of Modern English is identical to that of Old English.
______ The differences that emerged over the centuries between Old English and Modern English provide evidence that language changes in response to multiple pressures, including: linguistic, sociocultural, political, and economic.
2B) Using the two examples of The Lord’s Prayer (below), highlight at least two examples of (a) morphological change and (b) syntactic change that are typical of the kinds of changes that happened from Old English into the Modern English period. (I include Middle English in case it helps you walk things across 🙂
Fæder ure şu şe eart on heofonum,
si şin nama gehalgod.
to becume şin rice,
gewurşe ğin willa,on eorğan swa swa on heofonum.
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg,
and forgyf us ure gyltas,
swa swa we forgyfağ urum gyltendum.
and ne gelæd şu us on costnunge,
ac alys us of yfele soşlice.
Oure fadir şat art in heuenes
halwid be şi name;
şi reume or kyngdom come to be.
Be şi wille don in herşe as it is dounin heuene.
yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred.
And foryeue to us oure dettis şat is oure synnys
as we foryeuen to oure dettouris
şat is to men şat han synned in us.
And lede us not into temptacion
but delyuere us from euyl.
Our father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil
Morphological changes
Syntactic changes
Section 3: Language change and development
3A) Language change
We’ve discussed change in multiple ways over the semester, and you probably already have some good examples in mind for this one! Revisit one more time through the following scenario.
A colleague/family member bemoans the unfortunate decline of English in this 21st century of texts and emails and Twitter. Referencing your awareness of the changes English has undergone over the past 1,000 years, help him/her understand that change is an integral part of language communities and the systems through which they communicate with one another. Include examples that will help him/her understand, as well, that change in language is not limited to the realm of vocabulary but also impacts pronunciation, which – in turn – can impact morphology and syntax. You are welcome to build on the examples from the Lord’s Prayer above, as well. Effectively, the point is to provide evidence to illustrate the (inevitable?) changes through which languages will go across their lifespan, using English as an example.
The response to this item should reflect your own voice and understanding of the breadth and relevance of language change as a language student, user, researcher, and/or teacher.
3B) Language acquisition/development
You hear a young child make the following utterances. You can assume they are a native speaker of English.
To his mom (holding his arms up): Pick you up? Pick you up!!
To his friend: No you toy! Me toy!
To his puppy: No go. Stay. Stay! No go!
What do these utterances tell you about the child’s age (range) and stage of syntactic development? Which specific features of the language are evidenced in the example utterances, and where would you say the child is, overall, in his/her linguistic development as a native speaker of English? Briefly summarize the key morphological and syntactic forms/functions evidenced herein, and explain why you wouldn’t be worried if (a) the child is two-three years old but would be worried if (b) the child is seven years old.
3C) Additional language acquisition/development
Two students produce the following writing sample to describe the images. Choose one sample (either Level 1 or Level 2.5), and walk me through the issues you notice in each across morphology, syntax and semantics. (Do NOT worry about assumptions in pronunciation for this activity.)
Level 1
She is eatting the ice cream.
She was spriz. She drop hr ice cream.
and She is so sad.
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
Level 2.5
Layla is a girl. She very like to eat ice cream. Today her mambuy a ice cream to Layla.
Layla got a shok. Then the ice cream that she had drop on the floor.
After the ice cream fall down,Layla was not happy. She was crying for her ice cream.
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
3D) Pragmatics/Politeness
A student walks into a professor’s office and says “You need to give me an extension on the paper due on Friday.”
The statement is clearly grammatical. What’s the crux of the issue – and what does it suggest about the student’s proficiency in the English language versus his proficiency in the pragmatics of English? Talk about directness in your explanation.
Section 4: Language contact and variation
4A) Look at the Pidgin (translated into standard English) and point out features that are typical of pidginization in language contact situations. What do you notice about the words in the pidgin and how do you see their relationships to the translated version? What do you notice about the syntax in the pidgin versus the translation?
“Sapos yu kaikai planti pinat, bai yu kamap strong olsem phantom.” “Fantom, yu pren tru bilong mi. Inap yu ken helpim mi nau?”
Translation:
“If you eat plenty of peanuts, you will come up strong like the phantom.’ ‘Phantom, you are a true friend of mine. Are you able to help me now?’
