Korean Hangul: A Featural Alphabet

In 1444, King Sejong the Great, the king of Korea, announced a new alphabet called Hangul:

國之語音異乎中國與文字不相流通故愚民 有所欲言而終不得伸其情者多矣予爲此憫然新制二十八字欲使人人易習便於日用矣Because the speech of our country is different from that of China, Chinese writing does not match our language. Therefore, when commoners wish to communicate, many of them cannot express their feelings. Saddened by this, I have newly made 28 letters. It is my wish that every person may easily learn them and that they be convenient for daily use. 

King Sejong the Great

This alphabet is very special because:

1) Many consonant letters are simple pictures which show how these sounds are made.

2) Sounds made in the same place in your mouth (place of articulation) or made in the same way (manner of articulation) are written in a similar way. This is a "featural alphabet."

Here is a Hangul consonant chart:

Here is a Hangul vowel chart:

Notice how the consonant letter shapes for 'N' and 'G' are similar:

What a clever king!

Cards & Scissors for Learning!

On December 1st, please come to class with

1) A box of blank business cards (~100/box)
   If you don't know what a business card looks like (is that possible?), go here to take a look: http://www.flickr.com/photos/themandatepress/6345343060/in/pool-artofthebusinesscard

2) A small pair of scissors (please don't bring very large scissors) (or very small ones)

These scissors are a little bit too big (but very attractive) Peacock Brand (CC Meanest Indian Flickr)

Chinese Syllables

English syllables can start with 1, 2 or 3 consonants:

sit (CVC),

spit (CCVC) and

split (CCCVC). 

English syllables can also end with 1, 2 or 3 consonants: 

sit (CVC),

silt (CVCC) and

silts (CVCCC).

Chinese syllables can only start with one consonant (C) and usually end with a vowel (V): CV. Some Chinese syllables end with a consonant: CVC, and some start with a vowel and end with a consonant: VC. Chinese syllables (Mandarin syllables) are much simpler than English syllables.

The character 蔣 is pronounced 
jeang (Gwoyeu Luomaatzyh)/jiǎng (Hanyu Pinyin)/ㄐㄧㄤˇ(bopomofo)
Traditionally, Chinese syllables are divided into two parts: initials and finals.

ㄐ	ㄧ	ㄤ	ˇ
聲母	韻母
Initial	Final

Init- means the “beginning”

Fin- means “the end”

ㄐ	ㄧ	ㄤ	ˇ
聲母	介音	韻尾	聲調
Initial	Medial	(Coda)	Tone

Chinese syllables usually end with a vowel (= an open syllable). A few syllables end with a consonant, but there are only two choices: -n or –ng.

Summary:

English syllables can start or end with several consonants (CCCVCCC). 

Chinese syllables can only start and end with one consonant (CVC). 

This is why we say that syllables in Mandarin are much simpler than syllables in English.

IPA Symbols for Chinese Consonants

This chart was adapted from from Wikipedia's article on Spelling in Gwoyeu Romatzyh. 
Three spellings are included: National Romanization (國羅), Bopomofo (注音), and IPA.

國羅+注音+IPA	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar		Retroflex		Alveolo- palatal		Velar
Plosive (stop)	b ㄅ [p]   p ㄆ [pʰ]		d ㄉ [t] t ㄊ [tʰ]						g ㄍ[k] kㄎ[kʰ]
Nasal	mㄇ [m]		nㄋ [n]
Lateral approximant			lㄌ [l]
Affricate			tz ㄗ [ts] ts ㄘ [tsʰ]		j ㄓ [tʂ] chㄔ [tʂʰ]		jㄐ[tɕ] chㄑ[tɕʰ]
Fricative		fㄈ [f] vㄪ [v]	sㄙ[s]		shㄕ [ʂ] rㄖ [ʐ ~ ɻ]		Shㄒ [ɕ]		Hㄏ [x]

Midterm Topics

The midterm will be based on the following topics in articulatory phonetics

(LF = Language Files 10)


LF p. 43-44: IPA symbols for English

p. 49: Sagittal Section

LF p. 53 Chart (6): Place and Manner of articulation

LF p. 55 Chart (1): Monophthongs of English

LF p. 55 Chart (3): Diphthongs of English

LF p. 89: do all of the pictures
If you're stuck, ask Sammy to help you

LF p. 91: #16, 18

DI & MONO (Linguistics Words): Diphthongs/Monophthongs & Ditransitives/Monotransitives (More Greek "2")

Don't worry! You don't need to remember all of these words. If you ever see them in a linguistics book, just remember di = 1 and mono = 2.

A diphthong is a double vowel (your tongue moves from one vowel position to another position). The vowel sounds in bye /baI/ and cow /kaʊ/ are diphthongs.

A monophthong is a pure vowel (your tongue stays in one place; it doesn't move to another position): The vowel sounds in hat /hæt/ and taught /tɔt/ are monophthongs. 


A ditransitive verb is a verb with two objects (Vnn), such as words that mean "give" (give, pay, sell, etc.)

	V	n	n
Please	give	me	a book
I’ll	pay	you	$5
He	sold	me	his car

A monotransitive verb is a verb with one object (Vn), such as attack, kill and eat.

	V	n
The army	attacked	the town
My cat	killed	three mice
I	ate	a chocolate cookie

If you see these long, difficult words in a book, you will probably be able to guess these words from context. Don't waste time memorizing them: even your teacher almost never uses them.

Dioxide, Diploma, Dilemma: DI Means "2" in Greek

Latin and Greek word roots can help you learn and remember difficult English words: dioxide, diploma, dilemma.

Remember "Mono?" Mono- means "one" in Greek. So how do you say "two" in Greek? Di = 2

Carbon dioxide is "better" than carbon monoxide, but they can both hurt you.
Read about carbon dioxide on Wikipedia in English or Chinese

CO2 (Carbon dioxide)

CO (Carbon monoxide)

 
 




Frozen carbon dioxide is called "dry ice."
Dry ice keeps ice cream cold.

Dry Ice (frozen CO2)

A little carbon dioxide can make you feel bad, but it won't kill you. More than 5% carbon dioxide is toxic (= it can kill you).

Too much carbon dioxide can hurt you in these places (the colors show you how much: red is the worst)

Carbon monoxide is different. Even a little carbon monoxide can kill you!

Click below to learn more about diploma and dilemma

"Mono" might lead to cancer

"Mono" was in the news last week. Mono, a disease which makes you feel tired (the "kissing disease"), is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. Doctors are not sure yet, but later in life, EB might also cause cancer:


人類皰疹病毒第四型EB（Epstein-Barr virus）病毒會引起鼻咽癌、淋巴癌等。


優活健康網 provides more information:
http://www.uho.com.tw/hotnews.asp?aid=12789&HN_Yr=0&HN_Mon=0

Mono- means "one" in Greek

There are several words in English which start with mono-. Mono- is a Greek prefix which means "one."

1 monosyllables 單音節 （名詞）, monosyllabic 單音節 （形容詞）
Most Chinese characters （漢字）are monosyllabic

2 monolingual people only speak one (mono-) language (lingu-)

3 A monarchy is a country ruled by a monarch. A monarch is a king or a queen. Denmark is a monarchy. A monarch often wears a "hat" like this one. This crown belongs to the Queen of Denmark (丹麥). (Mono --> Mon-) Mon- = one; arch = rule

Danish crown -- Sunfox's photostream (Flickr)

The president of the US should never ever (絕對從來都不可以) bow to any monarch. Barack Obama made history by bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia (YouTube video) at a meeting of world leaders. Look carefully: the President of France seems to be laughing at the President of the US. Thinking people are not proud of this leader.

President Obama (US) is bowing to the Saudi king and kissing his hand. Does the king respect Obama? What does President Sarkozy (France) think?

Phonetics Review game

I have created a Jeopardy game to help students review basic phonetics. The questions cover five areas: alphabets, romanization, vowels & consonants, and phonetic descriptions (articulatory phonetics). Easy questions count for 10 points each, and the most difficult questions give you 50 points.

Go here to play the game.

Phonetics Study Suggestion

Use large index cards as a study aid. 

Make one card for each group of sounds. Put a heading at the top of each card.

Draw two columns on each card, one narrow, one wide. In the left hand column, write the sound you want to review. In the right hand column, write a description (add notes if necessary). Here is a sample for velar sounds:

	velar sounds
/g/	voiced v. stop
/k/	voiceless v. stop
/x/	Voiceless v. fricative (= ㄏ)

To review, cover the left-hand column with a blank card, and cover all but the top row with another blank card. You will see “voiced velar stop.” Which sound is that? Write your answer (actually writing it is more effective) on a piece of scratch paper. Check yourself by moving the left hand card down a little bit to reveal the correct answer. Try it the other way as well: cover the right hand side, and try to remember the description by looking at the IPA symbol alone.

Place and Manner of Articulation

Here is another website to play with. The Interactive Sagittal Section shows consonant articulation using a simplified animated diagram.

http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html

Consonants: Place & Manner of Articulation

When we study phonetics, we talk about consonants and vowels.

To describe consonants, we talk about voicing, place and manner of articulation.
Voicing = do your vocal cords vibrate?
Place = where do you make the sound?
Manner = how do you make the sound?


The Flash Animation Project shows vowels and consonants very clearly.
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics

Go online and play with this website.

姓名拼音: 威妥瑪拼音 Wade-Giles (WG) 對 國語羅馬字 Gwoyeu Luomaatzyh (GR) 對 漢語拼音 Hanyu Pinyin (HP)

台灣人姓名最常見的羅馬拼音法有三種: 威妥瑪拼音Wade-Giles (WG), 國語羅馬字Gwoyeu Luomaatzyh (Gwoyeu Romatzyh, GR) 和 漢語拼音Hanyu Pinyin (HP). WG 是最古老的一種，已經有150年的歷史，同時也是缺點最多的一種中文拼音法。天才語言學家 Chao Yuen Ren 趙元任（中國語言學之父）90年前所開發的 GR 國語羅馬字（由中華民國大學部頒佈為「國音字母第二式」）徹徹底底地解決了這些問題，聲調也都用字母來標。然而十年前由中國政府正式公佈的漢語拼音使用一般鍵盤無法輸入的附加符號，使得國語羅馬字原本區分得很清楚的姓名，像{盧 Lu, 魯 Luu, 陸 Luh}, 全部混在一起，沒有學過中文的外國人無法辨認：{盧魯陸驢呂律 = Lu}.

SC Unipad Phonetics Keyboard

After you install SC Unipad, please install my phonetics keyboard.

Phonetics: Symbols

In linguistics, speaking is more important than writing. Linguistics focuses on spoken language much more than written language.

Phonetics p. 38: what we will study (2.1~2.5, 2.8)

p. 43: phonetic symbols
Click on Quickstart, then click on SC Unipad

Download SC Unipad & Mr Matthews' Keyboard

Broad Transcription 寬式音標 uses slashes ／／

Phonetics: My name is Robert
/fəˈnɛtɩks maɩ neɩm ɩz ˈrɑbɚt/

The Speech Communication Chain

Language Files 1.2.2 (p.7)

1: IDEAS

2: semantics 語意學
      (ideas --> words)

3: morphology 構詞學 
      (how we make words and how words change shape) and 
    syntax 句法學  
      (= which words go where)

Chinese sentence: 
     浴缸      裡      有      鴨嘴獸
English words with Chinese syntax:
     Bathtub in  there is   platypus  -->  
English words with English syntax:
     There is A platypus in THE bathtub 

4. phonology 音系學

5. phonetics 語音學

威妥瑪式拼音 (WG) 的缺點

「威妥瑪（Wade-Giles) 羅馬拼音」的缺點甚多，絕對不適合拼姓名

中文羅馬拼音的方式很多，而所有羅馬拼音當中

「威妥瑪（Wade-Giles = WG) 羅馬拼音」

是最不合理的一種，大可不必推薦使用。 

WG的缺點主要是複雜的標點符號用得太多，

一般人都會忽略，使得許多發音不同的姓氏混在一起，

間接地加強外國人的錯誤成見：

「中國人都長得差不多，連姓名也都差不多！」

Chinese syllables; Gwoyeu Romatzyh

Syllables in Mandarin Chinese (國語 in Taiwan，普通話 in the rest of China) are traditionally split into two parts: initial and final (聲母 + 韻母). Finals can be subdivided into medial, main vowel, final consonant and tone:

	initial	final
	initial	medial	V+[C]	Tone
	聲母	介音	韻尾	聲調
蔣	ㄐ	ㄧ	ㄤ	ˇ

C = consonant (= con [with] + son [sound] + ant)

V = vowel

屈 ﹦ㄑ + ㄩ

        Ch  + iu = Chiu (Qu1)

徐    ﹦ㄒ + ㄩ + ˊ

        Sh + yu = Shyu (Xu2)

許﹦ㄒ  + ㄩ + ˇ

        Sh + eu = Sheu (Xu3)

Notice how GR (Gwoyeu Romatzyh / Gwoyeu Luomaatzyh 國語羅馬字) very cleverly shows 1st, 2nd and 3rd tone ㄩ (iu) by changing the 1st letter of the medial: iu, yu, eu. The second half of each letter shape matches the tone mark! People who have not studied phonology (音系學) and most foreign students of Chinese have trouble understanding why GR is superior to other romanizations.

Class Requirements

1      Language Files, 10^th edition

(+ optional zipper bag @ NT$20 for protection against water, dirt, creases etc.)

2     26-hole looseleaf binder

3      one pack of 26-hole graph paper

(5 mm squares)

4      one pack of index cards

(8 mm line gaps)

5      two pens: one black, one red (optional 3^rd pen: one green)

#4 and #5 are available in the department office. Ask your class rep to get them for you.

First Survey

On the first day of class, you should fill out this survey to help me learn who you are. ALL students must answer these questions, even if you have been in one of my other classes. If one of your classmates was absent on the first day, please send them a text message or an email with this URL:


tinyurl.com/CUTe-First-Survey