{"id":530,"date":"2020-06-29T18:05:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T17:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/descriptive\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T00:35:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T23:35:04","slug":"descriptive","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/programmes\/disciplines\/linguistics\/descriptive\/","title":{"rendered":"Descriptive Linguistics"},"content":{"rendered":"<section>\n<div class=\"container-fluid\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-md-12\">\n<div class=\"lc-block\">\n<div editable=\"rich\">\n<h1>Descriptive Linguistics<\/h1>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"lc-block\">\n<div editable=\"rich\">\n<p> <u>Phonetics<\/u> \u2013 What exactly is it about an \u2018o\u2019 sound that makes it different from an \u2018oo\u2019 sound? Phonetics will teach you to characterise this and other differences by showing you the acoustic and articulatory properties of speech sounds.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-lg-4 mb-3 mt-3 mb-lg-0 mt-lg-0 order-2 order-lg-1\">\n<div class=\"lc-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/6\/60\/English_vowel_chart.png\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-lg-8 order-1 order-lg-2\">\n<div class=\"lc-block\">\n<div editable=\"rich\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<u>Phonology <\/u>\u2013 Why are <em>ving <\/em>and <em>blort<\/em> possible English words but <em>ngiv<\/em> and <em>tlorb<\/em> aren\u2019t? How is the <em>n<\/em> in <em>nap<\/em> different from the one in <em>snap<\/em>? Phonology studies sound inventories, patterns and distributions, allowing you to go beyond the descriptions of phonetics and to explain and analyse the sounds. Understanding phonetics and phonology is at the heart of teaching literacy.<\/p>\n<p> <u>Morphology<\/u> \u2013 Why do we say <em>innate<\/em> and <em>illogical<\/em> but <em>unnecessary<\/em> and <em><s>ulloved<\/s> unloved<\/em>? How do we know a <em>blackbird<\/em>&nbsp;is different from a <em>black bird<\/em>, but a <em>shoebox<\/em> and a<em> shoe box<\/em>&nbsp;are the same? Morphology teaches you about the building blocks of words, and how they come together in fascinating ways.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-md-12\">\n<div class=\"lc-block\">\n<div editable=\"rich\">\n<p> <u>Syntax<\/u> \u2013 Why can we say, <em>What did the man who John met sell?<\/em>, but not<em> What did John say he met a man who sold?<\/em> Syntax is at the core of understanding the human language ability, because it studies how words can (and cannot!) be arranged into phrases, clauses and sentences. This capacity allows us to express our deepest emotions and most crucial information in a variety of different ways.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-lg-8 order-2 order-lg-1\">\n<div class=\"lc-block\">\n<div editable=\"rich\">\n<p> <u>Semantics<\/u> \u2013 If <em>Clark<\/em> <em>Kent<\/em> and <em>Superman<\/em> refer to the same person, do they mean the exact same thing? Why is it unfair for a lawyer to ask a witness a leading question like <em>When did you stop beating your wife?<\/em> Semantics is the study of meaning in language. By studying semantics, you will develop a keen understanding of how meaning, the core of human communication, is constructed and manipulated.<br \/> Studying syntax and semantics helps you to identify logical structure in language, as well as to avoid the various forms of ambiguity, enabling you to greatly improve your writing and presentation skills.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-lg-4 text-center order-1 order-lg-2 mb-4 mb-lg-0\">\n<div class=\"lc-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-fluid wp-image-1989\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/Programmes\/Disciplines\/Linguistics\/distinctive-linguistics-aspects.png\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/Programmes\/Disciplines\/Linguistics\/distinctive-linguistics-aspects.png 225w, https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/Programmes\/Disciplines\/Linguistics\/distinctive-linguistics-aspects-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Descriptive Linguistics Phonetics \u2013 What exactly is it about an \u2018o\u2019 sound that makes it different from an \u2018oo\u2019 sound? Phonetics will teach you to characterise this and other differences by showing you the acoustic and articulatory properties of speech sounds. Phonology \u2013 Why are ving and blort possible English words but ngiv and tlorb [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":322,"featured_media":0,"parent":464,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/disciplines-linguistics-side-menu.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Descriptive Linguistics - Department of Language, Linguistics and Literature - The University of the West Indies at Cave Hill","description":"Descriptive Linguistics Phonetics \u2013 What exactly is it about an \u2018o\u2019 sound that makes it different from an \u2018oo\u2019 sound? Phonetics will teach you to characterise t"},"iawp_total_views":32,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-530","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1994,"href":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/530\/revisions\/1994"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cavehill.uwi.edu\/fhe-lll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}