LING 221 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Generative Grammar, Language Change, Phoneme
1 Nov 2017
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Social habits of speech sounds: what sounds go together and where can they be found. Mating habits of speech sounds: when sounds interact things happen and there are new sequences. Phonotactic constraints: constraints on sequences that are allowed or disallowed in a certain language. A speaker of a language does not only know the words of their language but also whether a string of sounds is possible. Possible words can become actual words if people start using them and they catch on. Many constraints are based on syllable structure. In many languages, nasals agree in place of articulation with a following stop: symphony, camp, hamper, window, intelligent. Ignoring the exceptions and assuming that they are unimportant. Studies have shown that people do not always judge sequences to possible or impossible but sometimes, better or worse, more or less possible. Words that are borrowed from another language change in order to fit the constraints of that language.
