Showing posts with label Contrastive Analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contrastive Analysis. Show all posts

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Contrastive Analysis - Syntax

 
Syntax is the way words are arranged to form sentence. Languages around the world have different ways to arrange words to form sentences. For example in the English, using the example,

David walked to Jerusalem.

David is the subject (S), walked is the verb (V) and to Jerusalem is the object (O) (or "others" as the Korean students say, i.e., other parts of a sentence besides the subject and the verb). (Here, "object" is used to answer the "argument" of the verb walked: to where did David walk?)Therefore, English syntax is said to be S-V-O" subject-verb-object. It can also be observed that in English, a prepositional phrase is composed of a preposition + noun.


Using the regular word order in Tagalog, David walked to Jerusalem is rendered as Naglakad si David papuntang Jerusalem. Here we observed that in the regular Tagalog sentence, the verb (Naglakad) precedes the subject (David) which in turn precedes the object (papuntang Jerusalem), thus the regular Tagalog word order is V-S-O: verb-subject-object. It can also be observed that Tagalog uses an article (si) for names but English does not (it is generally not allowed in English to place an article in English, e.g., *The David but there are a few examples, e.g., The Philippines, The Ukraine, The Hague). The construction article + noun Si David can be substituted with a similar construction ang bata ('the child') as seen above.

In O-S-V, Yoda speaks.

The "inverted" Tagalog word order is S-V-O, the same as with English: Si David ay naglakad papuntang Jerusalem. But this is seen as "poetic" in Tagalog (much like the O-S-V construction in English To Jerusalem, David walked). There is also a "problem" in the copula ay in Tagalog. It is often rendered as a form of the verb to be (am, is, are) in English, as in David is walking to Jerusalem. But in Tagalog, ay can be substituted with a pause (represented by a comma) and the sentence will still make sense: Si David, naglalakad papuntang Jerusalem (progressive aspect). But in English, the copula be can never be removed: *David, walking to Jerusalem (present tense, progressive aspect).



Korean demonstrates an S-O-V order: Dawison (S) Yerusalemuro (O) georeotda. Here we see clitics at the ends of words: 1) -son is a "subject marker" (Dawid + -son = Dawidson; the last consonant of  the noun was "clipped" to make pronunciation easier) (one Korean student pointed out that -son is like the Tagalog si); and -uro is a preposition (Yerusalem + -uro).


Hebrew has a similar word order with Tagalog: V-S-O: Halak David b'Yerushalayim. (Note that Hebrew is written from right to left, as seen above). It can also be noted that in Hebrew, while the preposition precedes the noun as in English, it is a clitic attached to the front of the word: b' + Yerushalayim = b'Yerushalayim ('to Jerusalem').

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Notes in Contrastive Analysis: Words and Word-Formation Processes

The following excerpts of a lecture of words and word-formation processes. Language input are from respondents who speak Tagalog, Korean, and English.

MORPHOLOGY is a branch of Linguistics that deals with the study of the formation of words and word formation processes.


1. Etymology is the study of the origin and history of a word; e.g., Etymology = (Greek, etymon 'original form' + logia 'study of')

Tagalog derived the names of subjects from English (see Borrowing below) like Sikolohiya (Psychology) and Bayolohiya (Biology); whose etymologies can be traced as in English. In Korean, however, the names of subjects are compounds of Korean words that are calques from English (see Borrowing below).

2. Coinage is the invention of totally new words; e.g., Kleenex, Teflon, Tylenol, Xerox, etc.

3. Borrowing is the process of getting loan words from other languages. For example, in Tagalog and Korean, chocolate and hotel are both loan words from English. Carabao ('water buffalo') and boondocks ('a place far away from civilization'; not 'mountain') are Tagalog words in English; and kimchi and taekwondo ('the way of the legs and fist') are Korean words in English.

Another form of borrowing are loan phrases or calques, which are phrases translated word-for-word from the donor language to the borrowing language.

An example are the Korean words for boyfriend and girlfriend. According to our Korean informants, these words are "new"; they are not used by older generations of Koreans.



Another example of loan translations are names of subjects in Korean: 

The names of subjects in Korean (above) are calques of the etymologies of the English words: Simlihak ('mind' + 'study' = Psychology) and Sengmulhak ('life' + 'study' = Biology). Both are also examples of Compounding in Korean. Below, the Tagalog Bahay-bata ('house' + 'child' = Womb) is an example of Compounding in Tagalog.

4. Compounding is the process of combining two or more whole morphemes together to form a new word. This is a very common process in English. An example in Tagalog is bahay kubo or 'nipa hut' (but literally, 'cube house') and bahay-bata ('house' + 'child' = womb)


Examples of Compounding in Korean.

5. Blending is the process of forming a new term by using only parts of morphemes (see Clipping) below. Examples in English include motel (motorist + hotel) and brunch (breakfast + lunch).


6. Clipping is the process of reducing a word into it's brief (abbreviated) form; e.g., doctor --> doc and veterinarian --> vet.

7. Acronymy is the formation of words using the initial letters (e.g., Department of Science and Technology -- > DOST) or syllables (e.g., Department of Education --> DepEd) of a group of words. An example in Tagalog is the KKK, or Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan ('Highest and Most Respected Society of Children of the Nation').



Examples of Acronymy in Philippine English, Tagalog, and Korean. According to our Korean informant, Koreans only use English for acronyms and that English acronyms can be "spelled" in the Korean syllabary.

8. Inflection is the process of giving the different "forms" of a word (allomorphs). This does not change the part of speech or the meaning of a word. For example, English noun plurals: pencil --> pencils and verb tenses: to walk --> walked (past) and walks (present singular) and walk (present plural). (The form will walk is NOT an inflection; but the use of the modal will). Note that the English plural and the tenses of the verb are formed using suffixes.


Korean noun plurals (above) and possessives (below). In Korean, "dl" is the plural morpheme (that can be used with any class of noun) and "ui" is the possessive morpheme.

Tenses of the verb in Tagalog (above) and Korean (below). Tagalog uses prefixes (and reduplication in present and future) while Korean uses suffixes like English. "Geot" becomes "Geol" in the past and future because the latter is easier to say with the suffixes "ut da" and "ul geot i da". (The "geot" in the future suffix "ul geot i da" is a different "word" from geotda, 'to walk'.
Two unique affixes in Tagalog are infixes (gitlapi) within a word and circumfixes (kabilaan) on both the front and after the word (and cannot be treated as separate affixes like the English international).


9. Derivation is the process of forming words by changing the part of speech of a word. In English we have the noun ease, the verb to ease (and it's inflections eased, eases, and ease), the adjective easy and the adverb easily.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Syllabus in Contrastive Analysis


Course Code/Title                                                      : CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
Prerequisite                                                                : Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics
Course Credit                                                             : 3

Course Description:

A course on the comparison and contrast of different languages in terms of sound, word-formation processes, grammar, meaning-giving, and use in society.

The PCU vision/mission and the CASTE values are integrated in the course.

Course Objectives:

At the end of the semester, the students should be able to:
  1. recall and define the terminology in the field of linguistics;
  2. compare and contrast sounds and phonotactics between and among languages;
  3. compare and contrast morphological processes between and among languages;
  4. compare and contrast phrase and sentence syntax between and among languages;
  5. analyze the process of semantics and pragmatics among and between languages;
  6. express appreciation for the unity and diversity for the world’s different languages; and
  7. have integrated the PCU and CASTE values.

Course Outline:

TIME FRAME
CONTENT/SUBJECT MATTER
Week 1
I.    Introduction to the Course
      A. Getting to know the instructor, the students, and the course
      B.   Distribution of course syllabus
      C.   Introduction to Contrastive Analysis
Week 2-3
II.   Phonetics and Phonology
A.     Review of articulatory phonetics
B.     Review of phonology
C.     Analysis of the phonology of different languages
Week 4-5
III. Morphology
A.     Review of word-formation processes
B.     Analysis of the morphology of different languages
Week 6
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION
Week 7-9
IV. Syntax
A.     Review of grammar
B.     Review of syntax
C.     Analysis of the grammar of different languages
D.     Analysis of the syntax of different languages
Week 10-11
V.  Semantics and pragmatics
      A.  Review of semantics
      B.   Review of pragmatics
      C.   Analysis of idiomatic expressions of different languages
 
Week 12
MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Week 13-15
VI. Sociolinguistics
A.     Review of sociolinguistics
B.     Analysis of sociolinguistic situations in different cultures
Week 16-17
VII. Discourse Analysis
 
Week 18
FINAL EXAMINATION

Textbooks/Materials:
Yule, G. (2006). The study of language (3rd ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

--Updated November 29, 2013

Friday, July 5, 2013

Contrastive Analysis - Phonology



Activity in Contrastive Analysis:
 
A. Give minimal pairs for the following consonants in English.

1. /k/ - /g/

2. /m/ - /n/

3. /l/ - /r/

4. /b/ - /v/

5. /b/ - /m/

6. /p/ - /f/

7. /s/ - /ʃ/ (“sh”)

8. /t ʃ/ - /dʒ/ (“ch” – “j”)

9. /s/ - /z/

B. Find minimum pairs for the above consonants in your language (Tagalog, Korean)

If the sound phones happen not to exist in your language, write “Does not exist as phones”.

If one of the phones produces an “understandable but odd” word, use the symbol “?” as in vul - ?ful

C. Briefly explain, if prose, why you came to the conclusion why those phones do not exist or sound “understandable but odd”.


Post your answers in the comments below. I look forward to your answers.