English Language

Spoken : PhoneticsWritten : Grammar

BYVaishnavi Upadhyaya

Spoken English•Phonology of English•44 Speech Sounds•Organs of Speech•Classification of Speech

Sounds

Organs of Speech• The Muscles of the chest, the lungs and the wind pipe –

Pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism• Trachea, Larynx : The vocal cords.• Vocal Cords Drawn Wide Apart, Vocal Cords Held

Loosely Together, Vocal Cords held Tightly Together.• The Pharynx, The Lips, The Teeth, The Teeth Ridge,

The Hard Palate, The Soft, Palate, The Uvula, The Tongue,

• Active and Passive Articulator

The Organs of Speech

• In the production of vowel sounds there is, in the pharynx and the mouth, no obstruction and no narrowing of a degree that would cause audible friction . In this way vowels are essentially a tone or a hum issuing from Glottis , with the vocal cords normally vibrating.

• Consonants are described in terms of their place of articulation, manner of articulation and whether the vocal cords are vibrating or not. In this way they can be Bilabial, Labio-dental, Dental, Alveolar, Post-Alveolar, Retroflex, Palato-alveolar, palatal, Velar, Uvular, Glottal.

• In accordance to manner of articulation they can be Plosives, Afffricate, Nasal, Roll, Tap, flap, lateral, Fricatives, Frictionless continuant,semi-vowel.

Phonetic Transcription• No one to one correspondence between spelling and sound.• A letter of alphabet may stand for different sounds or combinations of

sounds, in different words, and conversely, a given sound may be represented by different letters, or combination of letters, in different words.

• An example for the first type is the letter u in the words cut, put, rude, minute, bury and university. An example of second type may be the k-sound represented differently in different words : by the letter k in Kit, ck in rock, c in cut, cc in acclaim, ch in chemistry and qu in queen.

• To understand the correct pronunciation of words there arose the need of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), devised by the International Phonetic Association.

• Phonetic transcription is useful to represent the pronunciation of the word, or a longer sequence, unambiguosly.for ex. Take the word Tortoise and the transcription given is

• It is helpful in comparing different varieties of same language. Thus the English words last, fast and class are transcribed as

Words with transcriptionSell /sel/ See /siː/ Set /set/ Sat /sæt/ Pot /pɒt/

Pack /pæk/   Tell /tel/  Thick  /θɪk/ Kill /kɪl/ Leaf /liːf/ 

Feel /fiːl/  Deal  /diːl/ Rat /ræt/ Cat /kæt/ Top  /tɒp/

Seat /siːt/ Read /riːd/ Thief /θiːf/ Speak /spiːk/ Peck pek/

Sack /sæk/ Pat /pæt/  Tea /tiː/ Deaf /def/ Death /deθ/

Dress /dres/ Two /tuː/ Pea /piː/ Loss /lɒs/ Wrest /rest/

WRITTEN ENGLISHAlphabetsWordsClauseSentencesParagraphsChaptersCORRECT ORDER

Lexis• Study of Correct Order of Words• Morphology : forms of words• Evolution of Words : Root Words• Sociological Context• Grammatical Context• Study of Suffixes and Prefixes• Eg : Class+es +ify un+ classify + fiedFriend + ly + liness + un friendlilness

Syntactical Study

• Syntax : the way that words and Phrases are put together to form sentences in a language.

• Correct Order of Words• Parts of Speech• Form and Functions of Parts of Speech• Structure of a Clause : SVOCA• Sentence and Types of Sentences

Phrase, Clause and Sentence• Phrase : A group of Words without finite verb, especially one that forms

part of a sentence like “ the green car” or “ on Friday morning” in a sentence, which when alone do not convey a complete sense.

• Clause : A group of words which includes necessarily a subject and a finite verb, which is a part of sentence, and it all alone makes complete sense. There are two kinds of clauses : Subordinating Clause and Co-ordinating Clause.

Correct Clause = Subject+ Verb + Object + Compliment + Adverbial.• Sentence : A group of Clauses and Phrases makes a sentence.E.g. : My Uncle reads a novel everyday for four hours from 2:00 pm to

6:00 pm on the terrace of our house. Here My Uncle- Subject , Reads – verb, A novel – direct object, Everyday- complement to verb, For four hours- adverbial of time, from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm- adverbial of time,

on the terrace- adverbial of place, of our house – adverbial of place.

SVOCA• Subject : the main doesr of the action verb, or main

qualifier of the state verb, it denotes the one who is directly involved in the function. Eg. The Student asked me a question.

• Object : when asked what to the verb, the answer is direct object and it is almost always a thing, when asked, who to the verb, the answer is indirect object, and it is always a person.

• Compliment : a phrase that adds to noun, adjective or preposition

• Adverbial : a phrase that addssomething about an action, state i.e the verb of the sentence.

Parts of Speech• Noun : Name of a person, place, animal, thing, a quality or an activity. E.g. Ria,

Canada, Rabbit, Chair, Courage, Plant.• Adjective : a word that describes a person or a thing. For e.g. a big house, red wine,

and a clever idea.• Pronoun: A word that is used instead of a Noun or Noun phrase.• Verb: A word that expresses and action such as eat, an event such as happen, or a

state such as exist.• Adverb: a word that adds more information about place, time, manner, cause or

degree to a verb. For e.g. ‘speak kindly’, ‘incredibly deep’, ‘just in time’, ‘too quickly’.

• Preposition: word or a group of words such as in, from, to, out of and on behalf of, used before a noun or a pronoun to show place, position, time or method. E.g. in, on, at, under etc.

• Conjunction : a word that joins words, phrases or sentences, for e.g. and, but, or.• Interjection : a short sound, word or phrase spoken suddenly to express an emotion.

E.g. OH! Look out!.

Verb• Refer to an event, i.e. happening thought of as single occurrence , with a

definite beginning and end e.g. • become, get, come, leave, hit, close, take.• Refer to a state, i.e. a state of affairs, which continues over a period, and does

not need to have a well-defined beginning and end, e.g. be, remain, contain, know, resemble, seem.

She became unconscious. (event)

She remained unconscious (state) • The distinction between ‘state’ and ‘event’ gives rise to the following three

basic kinds of verb meaning (ask when to clarify the kind of verb)

(1) State : Napoleon was a Corsican

(2) Single Event : Columbus discovered America.

(3) Habit (Combines state and event) : Paganini played the

violin brilliantly.

(4) Use of adverbial of duration like “for sixty four years” to show habit

Forms of verb• Base Form, Infinitive, Present tense form, 3rd Person

singular present tense form, past tense, past participle, present participle.

• Regular verbs = base form, past tense with ed, past participle with ed.

• Irregular verbs : All three are same All three are different. Any two are same.

Functions of verb

• Auxilliary verbs : Modal and primary• Main Verb : Finite and Non finite

Time : Present Time(Simple Present tense)Present State : I am HungryDo you like my hat? Or general truths likeA cube has eight corners.Present Event : I declare the meeting closed.She serves- and it’s an ace!Present habitI work in two elementary schools.Do you drink beer?It rains a lot in this part of the world.

The Progressive AspectThe Progressive Aspect refers to activity in progress, and therefore suggests: (A) That the activity is temporary (B) that it does not have to be complete.For e.g.•He wrote a novel several years ago. (i.e. he finished it.)•He was writing a novel several years ago. (but I don’t whether he finished it).Verbs which most typically take the progressive are verbs denoting activities like walk, read, drink, write, work etc, or Processes like change, grow, widen, improve etc and certain verbs denoting a momentary events like Knock, jump, nod, kick, etc suggest repitition.

Verbs which normally do not take the progressive.Verbs of perceiving : Feel, hear, see, smell, taste. To express continuing perception we often use these verbs with can or could.•I can see someone through the window, but I cant hear what they are saying (Not : I am seeing … I am hearing) (activity verbs : look and listen can take progressive.)•You look ridiculous, in that hat. (not : you are looking ridiculous)•It sounds as if the concert’s already started. (not : it is sounding…)Verbs referring to state of mind or feeling : Believe, adore, desire, detest, dislike, doubt, forget, hate, hope, imagine, know, like, love, mean, prefer, remember, suppose, understand, want, wish, etc.•I suppose I’d better buy them a Christmas present.•I hope I haven’t kept you all waiting.•I doubt whether the standards of the schools are improving.•He seems/appears to be enjoying himself.Verbs referring to a relationship or a state of being : Be, belong to, concern, consist of, contain, cost, depend on, deserve, equal, fit, have, involve, matter, owe, own, possess, remain, require, resemble, etc. while think, imagine, hope, expect sometimes take ‘ing’. The verb ‘be’ takes ‘ing’ only when an adjective or a noun follows it like.. I am being nice to you. The verb have, when it is a state verb, does not go with the progressive: He has a good job. (Not : He is having a good job.) But have often goes with the progressive when it denotes a process or activity: They were having a Breakfast. Verbs referring to internal sensation (hurt, feel, ache, itch etc). These can be used either with the progressive with little difference of effect.•My back hurts/ is hurting.•I felt/was feeling ill.

Present Progressive (temporary present)• Look! it is snowing !• The children are sleeping soundly now.• They are living in a rented house(Use of temporary progressive with repetitive meaning of

the habitual present)• I am playing golf regularly these days.• She is not working at the moment• He is walking to work while his car is being repaired.

Past Time and Perfect Aspect• The past tense is used when the past happening is

related to a definite time, in the past, which we may call ‘then’. Hence the simple past tense means ‘past- happening-related- to-past- time’.

He was in prison for ten years. (this probably means ‘Now he is out’)

• In contrast, the perfect aspect is used for a past happening which is seen in relation to a later event or time. Thus the present perfect means ‘past-happening-related- to present time’. For example:

He has been in prison for ten years. (this probably means that he is still there.)

The Past Tense• Refers to definite time in the past which is shown by

past-time adverbial, the preceding language context or the context outside language.

a. Chandra came to England since 1955.b. The parcel arrived last week.c. Joan has became engaged; it took us completely by

surprise.d. Did you get any letters? (here we can use the past tense

without language context, because it is understood that the mail arrives at a given time in the day.)

The Present PerfectAction is just completed thus it is in past but leading up to present time. Uses :1.Past events with results in the present time. For ex. •The Taxi has arrived.•All police leave has been cancelled.•Her doll has been broken. 2. Indefinite events in a period leading up to present perfect. •Have you (ever) been to Florence?•All the family have suffered from the same illness.3. Habit in a period leading upto present time•She has attended lectures regularly (this semester)•He has played regularly at Wimbledon since he was eighteen.4.State leading up to the Present time.•That Supermarket- how long has it been open?•She has always had a vivid imagination.

The Present Perfect Progressive

• The activity continues till present.1)You have been fighting.2)I have been reading your book. (normally : I am still reading your book.)3) I have been studying for exams.4) She has been explaining to me.

The Past PerfectThe Past Perfect means ‘past in the past’; that is, a time further in the past as seen from a definite time in the past: oThe house had been empty for several months (when we bought it).oThe goalkeeper had injured his leg , and couldn’t play. oTheir relationship had been ideal until Claire’s announcement ‘I’m leaving – there’s someone else’.If we put the events described in (2) and (3) further into past, they both end up in the past perfect (2a, 3a)They tell me that . . . The parcel arrived on April 15th. (2) The parcel has already arrived. (3) They told me that .. . The parcel had arrived on April 15th. (2a) The Parcel had already arrived (3a)

Perfect aspect with infinitives and participles

• Infinitives and participles have no tense, and so cannot express the differences between past tense and perfect aspect. Instead, the perfect express general past meaning:

• He seems to have missed to point of your joke. Or It seems that he has missed the point. • More than 1000 people are said to have been arrested.• She is proud of having achieved stardom while still a

chid or She is proud that she has achieved stardom.

Adverbials in relation to the past and present perfect

• For Past I rang her parents yesterday (evening). A funny thing happened to me last Friday. In 2000 a new law was introduced. In the evening he attended an executive meeting of the tennis club

The fire started just after ten o’clock. The Present Perfect (a period leading up to present, or recent past

time) Since January, life has been very busy. I haven’t had any luck since I was a baby. Up to now her life hasn’t been altogether rosy.

To Show state or habit in the past : used to and would

“Used to” expresses a state or habit in the past, as contrasted with the present : •My uncle used to keep horses.•I used to know her well.Would can also express a past habit, with the particular sense of ‘characteristic, predictable behaviour’ •He would wait for her outside the office.

The Future Time• Shall and Will + base verb expresses future time reference1 Simple Future tense:• We Will know our exam results in May.• It will be Diwali in a week.2.Future Continuous tense:• It will be raining when we start.• I will be going to Shimla the coming Summer.3.Future Perfect Tense :• I shall have written my exercise by then.• By the end of this month I will have worked here for five years.4. Future Perfect Continuous Tense :• I will have been teaching for twenty years next July.• I will have been writing a novel after 4 years.

Other Future Markers• Usage of Be going to + Infinitive denotes future fulfulling from

present :1. Aren’t you going to put a sweater on? It is cold outside.2. It is going to rain. (there are black clouds in sky).• Usage of Simple Present tense especially with time adverbials

and conditional clauses.1. I will get her to phone you when/if/after she comes in.2. Tomorrow is Thursday.Usage of Present Continuous tense to show or talk about

something we have planned to do in future:1. We are eating out tonight.2. Mr. A.R. Rahman is arriving this evening for tomorrow’s concert.

Auxilliary Verbs

Helping Verbs. Primary Auxilliary : to be, to do, to have. Modal Auxilliary : can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to, used to, need to and Dare to.

• May : shows possibility of the fact• Can : Idea that is possible to be well executed. also shows an ability. Also used to question the ability.• Could/ Might: to express the possibility in past but was

not done. For hypothetical possibility also we use could or might.

• May have : shows possibility in the past• Would : hypothetical certainty.• Must/ have to : it shows certainty, or logical possibility• Ought to/should ; shows probability, weaker to must.• Need not : negation of certainty.• Will and shall : future prediction, with certainty.