Language Sound Systems: Phonetics, Phonology, and Syntax

Phonetics: The Study of Language Sounds

Phonetics is the linguistic discipline that studies language sounds analyzed by their physical characteristics. There are three main domains within phonetics:

  • Articulatory Phonetics: Addresses how language sounds are produced in the speech apparatus.
  • Acoustic Phonetics: Studies how sounds spread through the air.
  • Auditory Phonetics: Studies how sounds are perceived by hearing.

Phonology, on the other hand, studies the abstract mental aspects of language sounds.

Phonemes

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Mastering ‘Que’ in Spanish Grammar: Functions & Errors

The Spanish word “que” is highly versatile, serving numerous grammatical functions. This document details its various uses, from pronouns and conjunctions to adjectives and adverbs, along with common errors to avoid.

1. Relative & Interrogative Pronouns

Relative Pronoun

A relative pronoun introduces a relative clause and always maintains its corresponding syntactic function within the clause (not merely as a link). For example: “The Indonesian restaurant that I mentioned.” (= which…). You can

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Mastering Compound Sentence Structures

Classification of Compound Sentences

According to the syntactic relations between propositions, compound sentences are classified as:

Coordinated Clauses

  • Maintain a relationship of equality (neither depends on the other).
  • If separated, they function as independent sentences.
  • They are joined by a non-coordinating link (not part of either of the two sentences).

Subordinate Clauses

  • They consist of two clauses that have a relation of dependence: a main clause and a subordinate clause.
  • A subordinate clause lacks
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Pragmatics and Applied Linguistics: Language in Context and Practice

Pragmatic Linguistics: Language in Context

“Pragmatics studies the factors that govern our choice of language in social interaction and the effects of our choice on others.” — David Crystal

In contrast to Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, and other fields that describe different levels of language structure, Pragmatics deals with language use. Pragmatics primarily focuses on the relationship between linguistic signs and their users. It investigates how context (both situational and linguistic)

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Understanding Word Categories and Noun Structure

1. Categories and Functions of Words

Words are grouped into different classes or grammatical categories: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, determiners, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. However, these same words can form larger units (phrases or clauses) that perform specific syntactic functions within a sentence. A phrase is a syntactic unit consisting of a word or group of words clustered around a central element called the nucleus. Phrases are classified as:

  • Noun Phrases
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Complementos del Nombre y Relativos en Gramática Española

Complementos del Nombre en Gramática Española

Los complementos del nombre (CN) son adyacentes que se caracterizan por tener significado y función sintáctica plena, la de complementar al núcleo nominal. Pueden aparecer antes o después del núcleo sustantivo.

En castellano, el sustantivo puede tener, entre otras, las siguientes estructuras complementarias:

  • Sustantivo + Adjetivo o Adjetivo + Sustantivo

    Ejemplos: la casa bonita / una bonita casa. El adjetivo concuerda en género y número con el sustantivo

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