In this episode of LanGoPod, we talk about how understanding transitivity is useful for the language learner.
What is transitivity? Well, it’s unrelated to the concept from math! Transitivity is a property of the clause and an important concept in regard to the structure of human language. It provides a framework for classifying verbs and clauses with reference to the relationship of the verb to other structural elements. A transitive construction is one in which the verb is followed by a direct object; an intransitive construction is one in which the verb cannot take a direct object.
After introducing the notion of the phrase, clause, and core argument, we discuss three types of basic sentences: intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive. We point out that transitivity is not always binary, and that semantic components of transitivity should also be considered. We also note that there are cross-linguistic differences, e.g., reflexive action is transitive in some languages (like English), but intransitive in others (like Roviana). Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on how they are used. For our “Comparatively Speaking” section, we examine how transitivity works in English, Roviana, Korean, and Japanese. We end with some folk etymology and wordplay from the 치맥 “chi-maek” section of our forthcoming book on Sino-Korean compounds.
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In this episode of LanGoPod, we talk about how understanding transitivity is useful for the language learner.
What is transitivity? Well, it’s unrelated to the concept from math! Transitivity is a property of the clause and an important concept in regard to the structure of human language. It provides a framework for classifying verbs and clauses with reference to the relationship of the verb to other structural elements. A transitive construction is one in which the verb is followed by a direct object; an intransitive construction is one in which the verb cannot take a direct object.
After introducing the notion of the phrase, clause, and core argument, we discuss three types of basic sentences: intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive. We point out that transitivity is not always binary, and that semantic components of transitivity should also be considered. We also note that there are cross-linguistic differences, e.g., reflexive action is transitive in some languages (like English), but intransitive in others (like Roviana). Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on how they are used. For our “Comparatively Speaking” section, we examine how transitivity works in English, Roviana, Korean, and Japanese. We end with some folk etymology and wordplay from the 치맥 “chi-maek” section of our forthcoming book on Sino-Korean compounds.
In this episode fo LanGoPod, we investigate the phrase as a syntactic unit. We start off by attempting to define the word and then introduce the notion of word class. Phrases are labeled for the word class of the head of the phrase. For example, a noun is the head of a noun phrase. We can identify phrases through constituency tests, and in this episode, we employ one coined by Haj Ross as OCM (“Only Chunks Move”). For our “Comparatively Speaking” section, we examine plural suffix allomorphy in English, nouns and verbs in Portuguese, and discuss the notion of "adjectives" in Korean and Chinese.
In this episode of LanGoPod, we discuss the notion of the morpheme and how it can be very useful for language learners!
What even is a morpheme? A morpheme is the most fundamental unit with meaning in a language. We discuss, with examples from English:
- how to measure morphemes and transparent-to-opaque compounds
- the notion of free versus bound morphemes, affixes, and allomorphy
- some types of morphological processes
- phonesthemes and cran morphs.
This episode's mini-lessons focuses applying the notion of the morpheme to learning about Roviana infixes, the formation of the English plural and allomorphy in Japanese verbs.
We conclude the podcast with a challenge (what're your favorite "Widowords"/lost positives?), an exciting game of Frigatebird, and a timely selection of pundemic jokes and new words for these quarentimes.
In our third episode of LanGoPod, we discuss the notion of the syllable and how it can be extremely useful for language learners!
A syllable is a rhythmic unit of human language. We discuss the parts of the syllable and how there are often restrictions on what sound segments can occur in which part. After a cross-language survey of "legal" syllable shapes, we provide some cross-linguistic applications: a look at onset restrictions in Portuguese, syllable structure in Korean, and a different rhythmic system using morae in Japanese.
We conclude the podcast with a challenge (what's the biggest syllable you can make?), a hilarious Sasak joke, and more favorites from our second book of Konglish puns!
In our second episode of LanGoPod, In this podcast we discuss phonetic alphabets and how they can be useful tool for language learners. A phonetic alphabet is a convention of symbols that are associated with a series of phonetic features. In this episode we look at the consonants and vowels in English. Vowels are described in terms of front/back tongue position, jaw height, and lip roundedness. Consonants are described in terms of their place(s) of articulation, “manner”, and voicing or other special features (glottal states). We can determine the phonemic status of a vowel by building minimal sets. What’s the biggest minimal set you can build?
We conclude the podcast with some cross-linguistic lessons and some wordplay from our new book of Konglish puns!
In our first episode of LanGoPod, we discuss the distinction between written and spoken language. Spoken and signed languages are learned naturally by children as their first language. Writing is learned later in life, and not all languages are written. One example of the difference between sounds and letters can be seen in words that are spelled differently, but pronounced the same, such as “to, two,” and “too”. One of the reasons that words in English are often pronounced differently than they are spelled is that all languages change over time. In the case of English, some of the sounds have changed since the writing conventions were established. Finally, we discussed the nature of the sounds in the speaker’s mind. The sound that is the mental target of the speaker is called a “phoneme” in linguistics. We conclude the podcast with some cross-linguistic lessons and some wordplay from our new book of Konglish jokes and a collection of our favorite silent letters.
In this episode of LanGoPod, we talk about how understanding transitivity is useful for the language learner.
What is transitivity? Well, it’s unrelated to the concept from math! Transitivity is a property of the clause and an important concept in regard to the structure of human language. It provides a framework for classifying verbs and clauses with reference to the relationship of the verb to other structural elements. A transitive construction is one in which the verb is followed by a direct object; an intransitive construction is one in which the verb cannot take a direct object.
After introducing the notion of the phrase, clause, and core argument, we discuss three types of basic sentences: intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive. We point out that transitivity is not always binary, and that semantic components of transitivity should also be considered. We also note that there are cross-linguistic differences, e.g., reflexive action is transitive in some languages (like English), but intransitive in others (like Roviana). Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on how they are used. For our “Comparatively Speaking” section, we examine how transitivity works in English, Roviana, Korean, and Japanese. We end with some folk etymology and wordplay from the 치맥 “chi-maek” section of our forthcoming book on Sino-Korean compounds.
