A Brief Introduction to Phonology, Morphology, Lexicology, and Semantics

林揚潔

Phonetics is a fundamental branch of linguistics and itself has three different aspects. Articulatory Phonetics—describes how vowels and consonants are produced or “articulated” in various parts of the mouth and throat. Acoustic Phonetics—a study of how speech sounds are transmitted： when sound travels through the air from the speakers mouth to the hearers ear. It does so in the form of vibration in the air. Auditory Phonetics—is a study of how speech sounds are perceived： looks in the way in which the hearers brain decorates the sound wave back into the vowels and consonants originally intended by the speaker. The sounds corresponding to the letter “t” in the English words “toy” and “travel” are not quite the same because the position of the tongue is slightly different.

1. Phonology

Phonology is a branch of linguistics linked to the systematic organization of sounds in language. It has traditionally focused largely on the study of the systems of phonemes in particular language （and therefore used to be also called phonemics）， but it may also cover any linguistic analysis either at a level beneath the word （including syllables， onset and rime） or at all levels of language where sound is considered to be the structured for conveying linguistic meaning. Phonology also includes the study of equivalent organizational systems in sign languages. For example， a native speaker may combine some words and say：“Im gonna to buy some stamps this afternoon.”， which means “Im going to buy some stamps this afternoon”.

2. Morphology

Morphology is the study of words： how the words are formed， and what their relationship is to other words in the same language. Morphology has two main branches： inflectional morphology， and derivational morphology. Inflectional morphology treats the realization of grammatical categories as parts of words， such as plural number （student-s） or past tense （perform-ed）. Derivational morphology is related to the processing of words， and the identification of parts of words used in the creation of new lexical items， such as -ness to derive an noun from an adjective （careful-ness， carelessness）.

3. Lexicology

Lexicology is the part of linguistics with the study of words. It may consider word nature and function as symbols and the relationship of their meaning to epistemology in general. It also focuses on rules of their composition from smaller elements （morphemes such as the English–s marker for plural or im-for negation. Lexicology also includes relationship between words， involving semantics （for example write down vs. set down）， derivation （for example lucky vs. unluckily）， use and other uses in analyzing the word formation of a language.

4. Semantics

Semantics is probably defined as the study of meaning. It is the study of meaning in linguistics and philosophy. It refers to the relation between the forms of a linguistic sign， such as words， phrases， and symbols—and what they represent. The formal study of semantics includes many other sections of inquiry， which includes vocabulary， sentences， etymology， pragmatics， and so on. As a matter of fact， semantics can be well defined with synthetic properties. In the essence of language， semantics is closely linked to reference. Further related fields will take communication， philosophy， and semiotics into consideration. The study of semantics may therefore be varied and complicated. For example， as native speakers of Chinese， we are able to distinguish “你等著” spoken by a girl to her boyfriend in the sentence “你到，我還沒到，你等著” and the other sentence“我到，你還沒到，你等著.”

Language plays a very important part in studies and lives， especially between different cultures. As a consequence， it deserves further and close study.

Reference

Dai， W & He， Z. A New Concise Course on Linguistics for Students of English， 2008.

（作者單位：廣西北海市北海七中）