7 SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS ONLY Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

7 SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS ONLY - Assignment Example (PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE YOUR OWN RESOURCES) 1. What is orthography and how does it differ from phonetic spelling? Explain why linguists use a phonetic alphabet to represent speech sounds instead of regular spelling. Include specific examples in your answer. (125 WORDS) Orthography means literally correct writing and it refers to the rules and conventions of the written language. It includes the way that letters are used to spell out a word, punctuation, and the use of capitals and lower case letters, as for example the use of capital letters for all nouns in German, but only for proper nouns in English. Orthography alone is not a good system for linguists because it does not represent accurately the actual sounds that are produced in spoken language. Two speakers from different parts of the United States might pronounce the same word differently and this is not recorded in orthography. A phonetic alphabet has one symbol for each sound and this allows accurate analysis of sounds. Suprasegmentals are a linguistic feature that can be found in the spoken language. Linguists look at the small segments of speech, such as vowels, consonants and syllables and analyze how these are formed and how they fit together into words and phrases. Suprasegmentals are features that transcend these tiny pieces and range over several syllables. An example of a suprasegmental is the way that intonation and stress patterns operate. It is important to identify these features because they can change the meaning of an utterance, for example a rising intonation can mean a question in English whereas a flat or falling intonation is a statement. Stress on a word can mean emphasis. The word â€Å"desert† has different meanings, depending on which syllable is stressed. Answer the following questions in your own words. Your answers need to be complete enough to demonstrate mastery of the lesson objectives. A brief paragraph (5 sentences)