Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Concepts, Contexts and Practices

by Jeong-Bae Son

Classroom Teaching Methods: How to Lecture without Losing Control of the Class

“This year I have an Asian TA and he’s very good but sometimes you can’t understand some of his words–but he’s good, you know. He writes everything on the board. One of my TAs last year was very hard to understand but she wrote everything on the board so it was all right.”

When a TA is unsure about the pronunciation of certain words, those words should also be written on the board. The importance of writing words on the board is illustrated in the following experience of an undergraduate student.

“I had a biology professor from Latin America. He gave a lecture on hung trees. I had never heard about that kind of tree before… After class a bunch of us students were talking about the hung trees. The American TA heard us and asked us what we were talking about. It was really funny. He said the lecture was about young trees, not hung trees!”

This example of miscommunication points out the necessity for student participation in the international TA’s classroom. By setting aside class time for students to explain and discuss their understanding of the course material and the TA’s lecture or explanations, many communication errors can be corrected before they interfere with student learning.

Of course, some difficulties may be assumed to result from language problems when in fact the problem lies elsewhere.

“For the foreign TA, we have a problem with the language. When students don’t understand, it could be a language problem, but it also could be that the TA doesn’t have good teaching skills. It also could be a personality problem. So it’s important to communicate with students to find out what the problem is.” (TA, China)

Using effective teaching methods does facilitate classroom communication. As TAs with teaching experience in their native countries already know, when lecturing, it is important to clearly state each point before speaking about it, make the point and then summarize what has been said. Before beginning another idea or point, it’s necessary to inform students of this change or transition. (See “Useful Phrases for Classroom Communication” at the end of this section.)

Students are reluctant to continually ask TAs to repeat what they’ve said, even when they haven’t completely understood the TA. Thus, it is important for TAs to frequently stop to ask if students have any questions. An even better method is to ask questions of the students in order to check their understanding before going on to another topic. Another method often used by both international and American TAs is presenting the same idea in more than one way.

“As a foreigner and since I don’t speak the language as well as an American, I repeat very often the same thing in different ways. So they may pick it up the way they want during the many times I say it in different ways. It’s a technique I am spontaneously using. I guess it helps them to understand me as a foreigner speaking. And certainly it’s useful for understanding certain things that are very hard to understand…if you say it one time, it’s not enough, so repeating it several ways from different aspects – even making some language mistakes – will help them to pick up the idea.” (TA, France)

When giving multiple explanations or examples of the same idea, the TA should preface each explanation to indicate that the same idea is being explained, only in a different way. Common phrases used to indicate that a different explanation of the same idea is about to be given are:

* “Stated another way…”
* “A simpler explanation of the same idea is…”
* “Said another way…”
* “Let me present another way of understanding this…”
* “The same idea can be explained in this way…”
* “Another example of this is…”
* “I’ll repeat that in a different way…”

Although TAs who have had extensive lecture experience in their home countries may already use the lecture techniques described here, it may be necessary to exaggerate these methods to ensure adequate communication.

Many effective TAs learn to elicit the help of their students. If the TA and students have a friendly relationship, students usually are more willing to help facilitate communication in the classroom. In the following statement a TA from Iran described how he uses certain teaching methods to be sure his students understand him.

“I’ve been trying hard to be clear, to say the words separate so that students can understand. Once in a while I stop and ask, ‘Do you follow?’, or ‘Am I clear?’, and pretty much make them feel that any time they can stop me. Anytime they want they can stop me and say, ‘I didn’t get that point’. Then I explain. You have to encourage their questions… say, ‘Good question’, ‘Interesting’, or ‘Who else has a question?’. You have to make them feel comfortable in the class…”

International TAs often find out that seemingly innocuous critical comments they make in class have a devastating effect on their students’ morale. In many countries, negative criticism is viewed as a tool helping the student to reach perfection. On the contrary, American students expect praise when they do well, and encouragement when they do not.

Getting students to participate in the class by being friendly and supportive of their comments, ideas, and questions can help both the TA and the students feel more comfortable in the classroom. When students feel comfortable enough to participate in class, they may be more tolerant of the TA’s language difficulties and be willing to cooperate with the TA in solving communication problems. For instance, students can often be helpful in restating another student’s poorly formed question that the TA is having difficulty understanding.

Each TA will discover ways to enhance communication in the classroom that fit the particular TA, students and situation. The suggestions in this booklet are offered as a starting point. By endeavoring to understand communication problems that can occur in the international TA’s classroom, the TA can take action to minimize these problems.

Lyrical Ballads written and published in 1798  hold a special place in the world of literature. It was a joint venture by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge; a result of their close friendship. It is remarkable in establishing Romantic Movement, which broke away from the prevailing norms of the contemporary era.

The poems in ‘Lyrical Ballads’ hold an important place because they had different subjects, a new poetic style, simple diction and easy to understand verses. They were a revolution in themselves. In the ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads’, also a remarkable production of Wordsworth Nature-loving soul, also called the ‘manifesto’ of English criticism, Wordsworth has commented on ‘Lyrical Ballads’ as ‘experimental’:

“The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purpose of poetic pleasure.”

Coleridge and Wordsworth did not consider the classical and contemporary poems to be the true depiction of life. They thought that usage of high sounding and pompous words, and intricate metaphors can only be understood by a specific class, and thence they discuss the people of that class only. He condemned the contemporary literature as “a mechanical adoption of… figures of speech, … sometimes with propriety, but much more frequently applied… to feelings and ideas with which they had no natural connection whatsoever”.

To advocate his case, Wordsworth writes, “its influence in impressing a notion of the peculiarity and exaltation of the Poet’s character, and in flattering the Reader’s self-love by bringing him nearer to a sympathy with that character.”

The purpose behind the composition of ‘Lyrical Ballads’ was to make literature a true depiction of life; life of a common man. They worked for a simple style so that poetry could be read and understood by everyone easily. The reaction of critics at that time was modest, but many today comment that it is unfair to call these writings ‘lyrical’.

Poetry is ‘a spontaneous over flow of powerful feelings’ and that is what Wordsworth has done to compose his ballads. He chose to write whatever influenced Wordsworth from his surroundings came to paper. He was in love with Nature from his early child hood. His ‘lyrical Ballads’ comprises of poems that hold picturesque qualities. He has chosen incidents and happening from everyday life, so that anyone and everyone can relate himself to them.

The use of ‘rustic’ and rural description is again a reference of Wordsworth love of Nature. His simple language contains in it real and great values of life. His diction emphasizes that feelings no matter how delicate, can be easily described in a simple and plain language.

This article describes English teaching by native Anglophones working outside their own country, a small subset of English taught worldwide. To learn about other aspects of English teaching, see English language learning and teaching, which explains methodology and context, and explains abbreviations (e.g., the difference between ESL and EFL, or TESOL as a subject and an organization). For information on foreign language teaching in general, see language education and second language acquisition.

[edit] Teaching techniques used today

See also: Language education

[edit] Reading

TEFL that uses literature aimed at children and teenagers is rising in popularity. Youth-oriented literature offers simpler material (“simplified readers” are produced by major publishers), and often provides a more conversational style than literature for adults. Children’s literature in particular sometimes provides subtle cues to pronunciation, through rhyming and other wordplay. One method for using these books is the multiple-pass technique. The instructor reads the book, pausing often to explain certain words and concepts. On the second pass, the instructor reads the book completely through without stopping.

[edit] Communicative language teaching

Communicative language teaching (CLT) emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. Despite a number of criticisms,^[1] it continues to be popular, particularly in Japan, Taiwan,^[2] and Europe.

The task-based language learning (TBLL) approach to CLT has gained ground in recent years. Proponents believe CLT is important for developing and improving speaking, writing, listening, and reading skills, and that it prevents students merely listen passively to the teacher without interaction. Dogme language teaching shares a philosophy with TBL, although differs in approach.^[3] Dogme is a communicative approach to language teaching and encourages teaching without published textbooks and instead focusing on conversational communication among the learners and the teacher.^[4]

[edit] Blended learning

Blended learning is a combination of face-to-face teaching and online interactions (also known as CALL or computer-assisted language learning), achieved through a [[virtual learning environment] (VLE).

VLEs have been a major growth point in the ELT industry over the last five years. There are two types:

• Externally-hosted platforms that a school or institution exports content to (e.g., the proprietary Web Course Tools, or the open source Moodle)

• Content-supplied, course-managed learning platforms (e.g. the Macmillan English Campus)

The former provides pre-designed structures and tools, while the latter supports course-building by the language school—teachers can blend existing courses with games, activities, listening exercises, and grammar reference units contained online. This supports both classroom, and self-study or remote practice (for example in an internet café).

[edit] Qualifications for TEFL teachers

Teachers can earn English teaching certifications through an intensive 4-week program, or a longer part-time program, either of which provide an internationally-recognized qualification. CertTESOL and CELTA certifications are internationally-recognized and accredited in the UK on the National Qualifications Framework. Both qualifications are externally assessed and accepted by the British Council in their accredited teaching organizations worldwide in over a 100 countries. Internet-based TEFL courses often claim to be internationally recognized, but recognition varies along with price and content of the programs. Private institutions often desire that course be face-to-face, or at least include an element of observed teaching.^[5]

Schools around the world run international certificate programs. Qualification requirements vary considerably, from country to country and among employers within the same country. In some cases, it’s possible to teach without a BA degree or without a teaching certificate. However, private language schools in some countries are likely to require a certificate based on successful completion of a course consisting of a minimum of 100 hours, usually including about 6 hours of observed teaching practice.

Many language schools accept any certificate that fulfills these criteria, while others look for teachers with specific certificates. It’s also possible to gain certificates by completing shorter courses, or online courses, but these certificates do not always satisfy employer requirements due to lack of teaching practice. Also, some private language schools require teachers to complete in-house training programs even if they have a certification from elsewhere. Where there is a high demand for teachers and no statutory requirements, employers may accept otherwise unqualified candidates. Each country is different, and acceptance depends on demand for English teachers and the teacher’s previous teaching and life experiences.

[edit] Pay and conditions worldwide

As in most fields, the pay depends greatly on education, training, experience, seniority, and expertise. As with much expatriate work, employment conditions vary between countries, depending on the level of economic development and how much people want to live there. In relatively poor countries, even a low wage may equate to a comfortable middle class lifestyle.

There is a danger of exploitation by employers. This increases in countries with labor laws that may not apply to foreign employees, or which may be unenforced. An employer might ignore contract provisions, especially regarding working hours, working days, and end-of-contract payments. Difficulties faced by foreign teachers regarding language, culture, or simply limited time can make it difficult to demand pay and conditions that their contracts stipulate. Some disputes arise from cross-cultural misunderstandings. Teachers who can’t adapt to living and working in a foreign country leave after a few months. Discussion forums tend to avoid the controversy because they lack complete information and fear potential liability issues.

[edit] TEFL region and country locations

[edit] Europe

Opportunities vary considerably across Europe.

[edit] Western Europe

Most cities in Western Europe have established language schools. These can be on-site, or operated as agencies that send teachers to various locations. September is the peak recruiting month, and many annual contracts last October through June. Employers prefer those with graduate-level academic qualifications, experience in Business English, or experience with younger learners.

Instructors from the United Kingdom and Ireland, countries within the European Union, do not need work visas to work in the EU, which reduces demand for teachers from outside. Immigration laws require that non-EU job applicants submit documents from their home countries in person after the European employer files an officially documented job offer. If the worker has traveled to Europe to find the job, this means they must return home and wait for some time. Even if they follow the process correctly, visa rejection rates are high. Many private-sector employers don’t sponsor them at all, because they can meet staffing needs more easily from nearby countries.

International schools hire some non-EU teachers. These are more desirable positions that require significant experience and qualifications. Various countries’ education ministries, such as those of France and Spain, offer opportunities for assistant language instructors in public schools. Part-time employment is usually allowed under an education visa, but this visa also requires proper attendance at an accredited EU college or university, institute, or other educational program. Other teachers work illegally under tourist visas, since the “don’t ask, don’t tell” method is the only viable solution to avoiding impossible bureaucracy and eventual job rejection.

[edit] Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, and Scandinavia

Demand for TEFL is stronger in certain Eastern European countries because of the expansion of the European Union. Such locations also tend to have lower costs of living. Non-EU teachers usually find legal work here with less difficulty. The Balkan former Yugoslav countries have seen recent growth in TEFL—private schools have recruited Anglophone teachers there for several years.

Far fewer instructors work in Scandinavia, which has stricter immigration laws and a policy of relying on bilingual local teachers.

[edit] Asia

[edit] Cambodia

Demand for English teachers in Cambodia has grown over the past decade, though the country has a small population and is dependent on foreign aid for much of its economic development, limiting growth.

[edit] China

Many opportunities exist within the People’s Republic of China, including preschool, university, private schools and institutes, companies, and tutoring. The provinces and the Ministry of Education in Beijing tightly govern public schools, while private schools have more freedom to set work schedules, pay, and requirements. Outside of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, salaries range between 3800 to 6000 yuan per month with an average of 4500 yuan.^[6] Public schools tend to offer fewer hours per week (12 to 18) with low pay but free on-campus housing, while private schools usually require more than 22 hours a week and may offer higher pay without free housing. Preschool and elementary schools may ask the teacher to work more hours, just as the Chinese teacher would do.

Most schools pay for some travel expenses to and from Asia, and typically pay round-trip for a one-year contract (usually 10 months), and one-way for a six-month contract. Public schools usually pay during vacations, but not for summer break unless the teacher renews the contract,^[7] while many private schools have shortened vacation schedules and may pay for whatever short number of days is allowed for vacation. Private schools may also require that teachers work weekends and evenings, which public schools seldom do. Both may have off-campus classes that require extra transportation time. Public schools provide an apartment with some extras. Most, but not all, private schools outside Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou also provide housing.

Company jobs vary, depending on the number of employees they want to train. They may employ a teacher for one or two classes, or a complete set of 14 to 16 hours a week. Tutoring also varies, as in some cases a whole family of students or just one family member.

Some teachers work successfully on an independent basis with several contracts for tutoring, individual college classes, and some company work. The majority of teachers accept contracts with schools. Public school contracts are fairly standard, while private schools set their own requirements. Schools try to hire teachers from Anglophone countries, but because of demand, others with good English language skills can find positions.

[edit] Hong Kong

Once a British Crown Colony, English language education in Hong Kong is taken seriously, as demonstrated by recent government-funded research.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Laos

English language has been increasingly important in education, international trade and cooperation in Laos since 1990s. There were some factors on the rise of English in Laos. One of those was that because Laos was marked as a market economy country, and then the government started to open and promote foreign direct investment. The introduction of Laos as an observer in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1992 was also the factor increasing the necessity of English language in the country because among the ASEAN nations English had been considered a common language to communicate for exploring understanding and potential areas of cooperation. Laos was considered as a full member of ASEAN in 1997. During five years until 1997, the government had to prepare human resources to have English knowledge and skills and ability to use it. This was an obligation to Lao government in order to be able to work with other countries in the fields of cooperation effectively. Later, high-ranking officials, business people and shareholders, key persons in administrative level eagerly have started to upgrade their knowledge and skills in English. English have been a language of interest for Lao society ever since Laos opened the country to the world market economy and became a member of ASEAN. The trend of the interest will be increased as English is considered and developed in the field of education as well.

[edit] Japan

In Japan, the JET Programme employs assistant language teachers to work in Japanese high schools and elementary schools. Other teachers work in private language schools, eikaiwa. The largest of these chains are Aeon, GEOS, and ECC. The industry is not well regulated. Nova, one of the largest chains with over 900 branches, collapsed in October 2007, leaving thousands of foreign teachers without money or a place to live. Other teachers work in universities. Agencies are increasingly used to send English speakers into kindergartens, primary schools, and private companies whose employees need to improve their Business English. Agencies, known in Japan as haken, or dispatch companies, have recently been competing among themselves to get contracts from various Boards of Education for Elementary, Junior and Senior High Schools, so wages have decreased steadily in the last four years.

[edit] Middle East

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the main locations for instructors to work in this region. Positions in these countries have a reputation for often paying very high salaries but also require more qualifications and experience. Private academies and university programs are the main venues of instruction. More primary and secondary schools have begun to recruit foreign English instructors.

[edit] South Korea

There is great demand for native English speakers willing to teach in South Korea. The U.S. Embassy, however, reports that teachers have sometimes come to Korea under contracts that promised generous salaries and benefits, but found actual conditions drastically different, and in some cases ended up with insufficient funds to return home.^[8] The expatriate English teachers in Korea have formed the Association for Teachers of English in Korea to provide support for teachers. As with Japan, Korea is also nurturing a government-run program for teacher placement called English Program in Korea (EPIK). In March 2009 EPIK reported that it recruited 3,377 foreign teachers into Korean public schools.

Institutions commonly provide round-trip airfare and a rent-free apartment for a one-year contract. Note that since March 15, 2008, visa rules have changed. Prospective teachers must now undergo a medical examination and a criminal background check, produce an original degree certificate, and provide sealed transcripts. On arriving in South Korea, teachers must undergo a further medical check before they receive an ARC card.

Though contracts usually include return flights, some schools offer cash instead. Severance pay equivalent to one month’s salary is paid at the end of a contract as well. Citizens of the USA, Canada and Australia^[9] also receive back their pension contributions and their employers’ part of the pension contributions on leaving the country.

There are four main places to work in South Korea: universities, public schools, private language academies (known in South Korea as hagwon), and private company Business English classes. Recently, small private schools have been opening after-school programs.

[edit] Taiwan

In the Republic of China (Taiwan), most teachers work in cram schools, known locally as bushibans or buxibans. Some are part of chains, like Hess and Kojen. Others operate independently. Such schools pay around $2,000 USD a month. End-of-contract bonuses equivalent to an extra month’s pay are not mandated by law as in South Korea, and are uncommon in Taiwan.

[edit] Thailand

Thailand has a great demand for native English speakers, and has a ready-made workforce in the form of travelers and expatriates attracted by the local lifestyle despite relatively low salaries. Because Thailand prohibits foreigners from most non-skilled occupations a high percentage of foreign residents teach English for a living, and are able to stay in the country.

Poorly regulated recruitment made it relatively easy for native English speakers to find teaching jobs. However, the revelations in 2006 that John Mark Karr, the man arrested in connection with the murder of JonBenét Ramsey and subsequently released without charge, had been working as a teacher for a school in Bangkok prior to his deportation to the USA, put the profession in the spotlight. Thai authorities cracked down on schools that employed illegal workers, and tightened visa and work permit regulations. In recent months, however, it has become simpler for legitimate workers to obtain visas in-country.

[edit] Americas

There has been significant growth in TEFL within the wealthier non-Anglophone countries of North, Central, and South America as well as the Caribbean. In particular, many teachers work in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.

[edit] Africa

TEFL in Africa has historically been linked to aid programs such as the US Peace Corps or the multinational Voluntary Service Overseas organization, as well as other aid programs. Most African countries employ bilingual local teachers. Poverty and instability in some African countries has made it difficult to attract foreign teachers. There has been increasing government investment in education and a growing private market for English instruction which has created more opportunities.

[edit] See also

• English language learning and teaching
• Language education
• Second language acquisition
• Applied linguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• List of countries by English-speaking population

Analysis means breaking down a subject to understand it in details and discover its essential features. Psychological critical analysis of literature means to break down literature in order to understand it on psychological grounds. This has helped out the critics to present various interpretations of a single phrase apparently looking simple and uncomplicated.

Literary criticism dates back to Aristotle with his publication of Poetics, in which he describes the meters of criticism. Plato also marked the criticism by calling poetry an imitative form of art. Most of the classical and medieval criticism; the birth period of literary criticism, is marked with criticism of religious texts.

With the passage of time, literature saw many developments and criticism as well. Going through medieval to renaissance, and then 19th century, literature was not spared from criticism. In the 20th century, however, criticism took a new shape and form from merely referring to the classical literary works or detailed descriptive analysis of the literary diction.

The early 20th century is marked with ‘Anatomy of Criticism’ by Northrop Frye, in which he criticized the style of critics who adhered to their own ideologies to analyze a literary piece. In this period, the criticism became a more subject based criticism than looking into an author’s personality. In psychoanalytic criticism of literature, literature is taken on psychological grounds. It is read as if it is not latent, a manifest, and a dream work.

Psychoanalytic literary criticism started with the development of psychoanalysis itself, and induced into literature by Sigmund Freud. This form of criticism essentially requires displacement and deep concentration operations. It is a keen study of symbolism and diction. Freud’s works include several extensive literary essays that explain the psychic exploration of the characters, texts and authors themselves.

Freud’s theory was acclaimed and followed by many like Jacques Lacan and Carl Jung. Though, Freud’s concepts of psycho analysis of literature circles around characters and authors’ psyche reading to explore the mysteries of literary narratives. It can have a wide scope by analyzing the diction and dialect, baffling symbols, actions, scene settings and content resemblance and reference. Psychological critical analysis of literature can also be divided into several branches as was done by Karen Horney’s approaches including womb envy.

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Wordsworth was born at Cockermouth in Cumberland on 7 April 1770. His parents were John Wordsworth and Ann Cookson. He was a second child to his parents amongst five children. His father was Sir James Lowther’s attorney, the 1st Earl of Lonsdale. His mother died when he was 8, and five years later, his father died too.

He was very close to his younger sister Dorothy Wordsworth, who too became a famous poetess and diarist. His elder brother Richard Wordsworth became a lawyer, John, younger than Dorothy died in a ship wreck in 1805. The youngest one, Christopher became a scholar. William Wordsworth was very close to his sister, but he couldn’t stay in her company for long due to domestic problems after his father’s death.

His early education was at a low level school at Cockermouth and was taught by his mother. He was taught poetry by his father. He taught him works of famous poets like Milton, Shakespeare, and Spenser. He was influenced from his child hood by his surroundings, which were picturesque. His father also allowed him to take benefit from his library. He also spent a lot of his time at his mother’s paternal home in Penrith.

At Penrith, after his mother’s death he was sent to a school meant for the children of upper class. There he was taught by a lady Ann Birkett who used to teach her students the traditional and classical aspects of literature. This proved to be an important influence on his literary work.

In 1787, he published his first sonnet in “The European Magazine”, starting his journey as a poet. In 1791, he went on summer vacations, visiting places famous for their picturesque beauty. These included Switzerland, France, Europe and Italy. In France he fell in love with a French girl named Annette Vallon, who bore him a baby girl in 1792. Due to critical circumstances he didn’t marry her, but kept on supporting her and her daughter throughout his life.

French Revolution proved influential for his ideas and mental growth. He started understanding politics and its influences on common people, evoking sympathy for common people. After getting these experiences he composed his most remarkable poem “Descriptive Sketches”. Though, he calls his early work as “experimental”. His renowned poems include “An Evening Walk”, “Guilt And Sorrow”, “Lyrical Ballads” and “Tintern Abbey”. “Lyrical Ballads” was a joint venture of Wordsworth and S.T Coleridge, which was a result of their close friendship.

Most of Wordsworth’s work emphasizes on depth and sensitivity of human nature. His “Lyrical Ballads” were regarded as “the gaudiness and inane phraseology of many modern writers”. His diction in all his poems is simple, and he dealt the subject with realism. His other famous poems are: “To The Cuckoo”, “The Rainbow”; “To a Butterfly”, “Ecclesiastical Sonnets”, and “The Prelude”. His poems in “Lyrical ballads Vein” project “the still, sad music of humanity”.

In his later life, Wordsworth developed an estrangement with Coleridge. This deprived him of his powerful imaginative and mental sharpness, leaving him alone. In 1843 he got appointed as England’s poet laureate, and he died on April 23, 1850.

The online American Heritage Dictionary pronunciation of “duh” is a subdued rendition of the word.1 In common usage the vowel is more prolonged. The inflection is also more pronounced with the tone falling a full 7th, in musical terms.2 Transcribed into the alphabet of the International Phonetics Association (IPA), the word “duh” would be

The transcription is put inside slash marks to indicate this is a phonetic spelling. The large upside-down “v” indicates a sound like “u” in the word “butt”.

Long vowels

The colon following this vowel indicates that the vowel sound should be prolonged. It is a genuine “long vowel.”

Teachers mis-speak when they refer to “long vowels” like “a” in “name” as opposed to “short vowels” like “a” in “hat.” More precisely, according to phonologists, that “a” in “name” is a mid-frontal vowel without rounded lips, while the “a” in “hat” is a low, front-to-central vowel without rounded lips. The terms about “mid” and “low” refer to how high the tongue is when the vowel is said. The “frontal” and “front-to-central” descriptions refer to the part of the tongue moved.

A “long vowel” is, in fact, a vowel with the sound prolonged. English had genuine “long vowels” until the Great Vowel Shift between 1400 and 1600. 3

Is it possible that is ushering in a gradual return to prolonged vowels? In addition to this word with a prolonged vowel, we can hear young people say /bæ:d/ as distinguised from /bæd/. While “bad” may be used as a negative adjective, the prolonged “ba-a-a-d” will often indicate a positive adjective.

Tone Language

In English we would not normally see the small upside-down “v” since this is a diacritical mark indicating a tone falling from high to low. The majority of languages in the world are tonal languages.4 English, however, does not use tones to differentiate words. Because of this, some fussy phonologists might say the IPA transcription should be inside [brackets] instead of /slash/ marks. Brackets would indicate that the transcription is an allophone, that is, an acceptable phonetic variant of the word.

However, in the case of “duh,” any loss of the falling tone significantly alters the word’s meaning. If a person says “duh” without the falling tone, most listeners will assume this is simply a sound to fill the pause while thinking, similar to the utterances common in American English, “umm” or “uhh.” In contrast, “duh” said with the falling tone is a word expressing contempt for foolishness.

In this way, “duh” as cultivates the phonemic sensitivity of American English speakers.

Retroflex

Homer Simpson’s “Doh!” should be transcribed with the IPA alphabet as:

The normal “d” sound in American English is pronounced by putting the tip of the tongue at the bony base of the teeth and pushing a burst of air through while letting the voice flaps in the larynx vibrate. (Phonologists would say the sound is a “voiced alveolar oral stop”.) For this particular word, however, instead of just using the tip of the tongue, the back of tongue tip curls up and lays across the base of the teeth. This produces a retroflex “d.” Throughout these pages I have written “Doh!” with a capital “D” to express the retroflex.

Glottal Stop

The question mark with a base replacing the dot indicates a glottal stop. This is the sound made when saying “ah-ah-ah-ah” in a sharp staccato manner.

Again, this glottal stop is not merely an acceptable variant of the word. Without the glottal stop a person may be saying “doh,” the word used for music when singing “do-re-mi”. Or the person might be refering to “dough”. Homer Simpson’s “Doh!” usually is written with an exclamation mark to express this glottal stop. Even the OED Online newsletter about the inclusion of the word spells the word with the exclamation mark, although the entry for “Doh!” itself does not do so.

Notes:

1. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is online at http://www.bartleby.com/61/ For many entries it provides a link to an audio pronunciation.

2. This assertion about the musical equivalent is a gross overgeneralization and wild speculation on my part. A friend and I tried listening to several “duh”s to figure out how great the gap is in musical terms. I liked the idea of it being a 7th since that is so dissonant, and dissonance characterizes the sarcasm expressed by the word “duh.”

Lou Bispo is far more expert on this and has sent an e-mail note:

the interval used to express the duh! sound musically varies greatly. it can be as small as a minor third; perfect fourth i think would be the most common; augmented fourth or diminished fifth (tritone – this would be a good one if you want to indicate dissonance in expressing contempt); the seventh, when used, would be a minor seventh and sounds to me like extreme emphasis–i would think the use of the major seventh in speech is rare in western languages.

3. Please see the excellent web site about The Great Sound Shift by Melinda J. Menzer. The site includes an opportunity to hear the changes that happened.

4. On page 241 of An Introduction to Language (sixth edition), Fromkin and Rodman write that there are more than one thousand tone languages in Africa. In addition, Chinese (spoken by more people than any other single language), Burmese and Thai all require tones. Many Native American languages also are tonal.

Theoretical linguistics is the branch of linguistics that is most concerned with developing models of linguistic knowledge. The fields that are generally considered the core of theoretical linguistics are syntax, phonology, morphology, and semantics. Although phonetics often informs phonology, it is often excluded from the purview of theoretical linguistics, along with psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. Theoretical linguistics also involves the search for an explanation of linguistic universals, that is, properties all languages have in common.

Major fields

Phonetics

This section requires expansion.

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds with concentration on three main points :

• Articulation : the production of speech sounds in human speech organs.
• Perception : the way human ears respond to speech signals, how the human brain analyses them.
• Acoustic features : physical characteristics of speech sounds such as color, loudness, amplitude, frequency etc.

According to this definition, phonetics can also be called linguistic analysis of human speech at the surface level. That is one obvious difference from phonology, which concerns the structure and organisation of speech sounds in natural languages, and furthermore has a theoretical and abstract nature. One example can be made to illustrate this distinction: In English, the suffix -s can represent either /s/, /z/, or can be silent (written Ø) depending on context.

Orthographic representation : S, s
Phonetic features:
  Phonetic representations: [s], [z], Ø
  Perception through the ear: high frequency sounds accompanied by a hissing noise.
  Acoustic features:
    Frequency : 8000 - 11000 Hz
    Color : similar to the hissing noise made by snakes.
Phonological characteristics :
  Occurrence : beginning, middle or end of words.
  Accompanied by vowels or consonants.
  Distinguishes meanings of words depending on context: s''low ≠ g''low

Articulatory phonetics

The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield of phonetics. In studying articulation, phoneticians attempt to document how humans produce speech sounds (vowels and consonants). That is, articulatory phoneticians are interested in how the different structures of the vocal tract, called the articulators (tongue, lips, jaw, palate, teeth etc.), interact to create the specific sounds.

Auditory phonetics

Auditory phonetics is a branch of phonetics concerned with the hearing, acquisition and comprehension of phonetic sounds of words of a language. As articulatory phonetics explores the methods of sound production, auditory phonetics explores the methods of reception—the ear to the brain, and those processes.

Acoustic phonetics

Acoustic phonetics is a subfield of phonetics which deals with acoustic aspects of speech sounds. Acoustic phonetics investigates properties like the mean squared amplitude of a waveform, its duration, its fundamental frequency, or other properties of its frequency spectrum, and the relationship of these properties to other branches of phonetics (e.g. articulatory or auditory phonetics), and to abstract linguistic concepts like phones, phrases, or utterances.

Phonology

Phonology is the study of language sounds.^[1] Phonology is divided into two separate studies, phonetics and phonemics. Phonetics is what depicts the sounds we hear. It calls attention to the smallest details in language sounds. There are three kinds of phonetics: acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics, and articulatory phonetics. Acoustic phonetics deals with the physical properties of sound, what sounds exactly are coming from the person speaking. Auditory phonetics deals with how the sounds are perceived, exactly what the person hearing the sounds is perceiving. Finally, articulatory phonetics studies how the speech sounds are produced. This is what describes the actual sounds in detail. It is also known as descriptive phonetics.^[2]

Phonemics studies how the sounds are used. It analyzes the way sounds are arranged in languages and helps you to hear what sounds are important in a language.^[3] The unit of analysis for phonemics is called phonemes. “A phoneme is a sound that functions to distinguish one word from another in a language.”^[4] For example, how we distinguish the English word tie from the word die. The sounds that differentiates two words are [t] and [d].^[4]

Morphology

Morphology is the study of word structure. For example, in the sentences The dog runs and The dogs run, the word forms runs and dogs have an affix -s added, distinguishing them from the bare forms dog and run. Adding this suffix to a nominal stem gives plural forms, adding it to verbal stems restricts the subject to third person singular. Some morphological theories operate with two distinct suffixes -s, called allomorphs of the morphemes Plural and Third person singular, respectively. Languages differ with respect to their morphological structure. Along one axis, we may distinguish analytic languages, with few or no affixes or other morphological processes from synthetic languages with many affixes. Along another axis, we may distinguish agglutinative languages, where affixes express one grammatical property each, and are added neatly one after another, from fusional languages, with non-concatenative morphological processes (infixation, umlaut, ablaut, etc.) and/or with less clear-cut affix boundaries.

Syntax

Syntax is the study of language structure and word order. It is concerned with the relationship between units at the level of words or morphology. Syntax seeks to delineate exactly all and only those sentences which make up a given language, using native speaker intuition. Syntax seeks to describe formally exactly how structural relations between elements (lexical items/words and operators) in a sentence contribute to its interpretation. Syntax uses principles of formal logic and Set Theory to formalize and represent accurately the hierarchical relationship between elements in a sentence. Abstract syntax trees are often used to illustrate the hierarchical structures that are posited. Thus, in active declarative sentences in English the subject is followed by the main verb which in turn is followed by the object (SVO). This order of elements is crucial to its correct interpretation and it is exactly this which syntacticians try to capture. They argue that there must be such a formal computational component contained within the language faculty of normal speakers of a language and seek to describe it.

Semantics

Semantics is the study of intensive meaning in words and sentences.

Semantics can be expressed through diction (word choice) and inflexion. Inflexion may be conveyed through an author’s tone in writing and a speaker’s tone of voice, changing pitch and stress of words to influence meaning.

See also

• Journal of Language and Linguistics
• Applied linguistics

References

• Ottenheimer, H.J. (2006). The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology.Canada: Thomas Wadsworth.