2015م - 1444هـ
Introduction to Linguistics

Marcus Kracht

Department of Linguistics, UCLA

3125 Campbell Hall

450 Hilgard Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90095–1543





Contents

Lecture 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Lecture 2: Phonetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Lecture 3: Phonology I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Lecture 4: Phonology II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Lecture 5: Phonology III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Lecture 6: Phonology IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Lecture 7: Morphology I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Lecture 8: Syntax I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Lecture 9: Syntax II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Lecture 10: Syntax III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Lecture 11: Syntax IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Lecture 12: Syntax V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Lecture 13: Morphology II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Lecture 14: Semantics I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Lecture 15: Semantics II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Lecture 16: Semantics III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Lecture 17: Semantics IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Lecture 18: Semantics V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Lecture 19: Language Families and History of Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194



Lecture 1: Introduction

Languages are sets of signs. Signs combine an exponent (a sequence

of letters or sounds) with a meaning. Grammars are ways to generate

signs from more basic signs. Signs combine a form and a meaning,

and they are identical with neither their exponent nor with their meaning.

Before we start. I have tried to be as explicit as I could in preparing these notes.

You will find that some of the technicalities are demanding at first sight. Do

not panic! You are not expected to master these technicalities right away. The

technical character is basically due to my desire to be as explicit and detailed as

possible. For some of you this might actually be helpful. If you are not among

them you may want to read some other book on the side (which I encourage you to

do anyway). However, linguistics is getting increasingly formal and mathematical,

and you are well advised to get used to this style of doing science. So, if you do

not understand right away what I am saying, you will simply have to go over it

again and again. And keep asking questions! New words and technical terms

that are used for the first time are typed in bold-face. If you are supposed to

know what they mean, a definition will be given right away. The definition is

valid throughout the entire course, but be aware of the fact that other people might

define things differently. This applies when you read other books, for example.

You should beware of possible discrepancies in terminology. If you are not given

a definition elsewhere, be cautious. If you are given a different definition it does

not mean that the other books get it wrong. The symbol