What is GRAPHETICS?
The study of the physical properties of the symbols that constitute writing systems. It deals with the range of implements and associated human skills required for the production and reception of linguistic marks on surfaces in any language.
What is GRAPHOLOGY?
The study of the linguistic contrasts that writing systems convey
What are GRAPHEMES?
The smallest units in a writing system capable of causing a contrast in meaning. There are abstract units that can have multiple similar forms. Each possible form is known as a graph.
What are the main graphemes of English?
The 26 units that make up the alphabet. Other graphemes may include special symbols such as $, %, &, … and the pronunciation marks.
What are the two functions of the punctuation system?
- To enable stretches of written language to be read in a coherent way
- To use suprasegmental features effectively by giving an indication of the rhythm and color of speech.
What are the two types of suprasegmental features?
Features that separate and features that convey meaning
What are the features that separate? (Types of suprasegmental features)
Features that separate include the space, the period or full-stop, the semi-colon, the colon, the comma, the parentheses and brackets, the dash, the hyphen and the quotation marks.
What are the features that convey meaning? (Types of suprasegmental features)
Features that convey meaning include the question mark, the exclamation mark and the apostrophe.
How can we classify different writing systems?
The most useful approach is to distinguish between those which show a clear relationship between the symbols and sounds of the language (phonological systems) and those that do not (non-phonological systems).
What are the similarities and differences between English and Spanish in terms of type of writing systems?
Both English and Spanish use phonological alphabetic systems. They show a direct correspondence between graphemes and phonemes. But these languages vary greatly in their graphemic/phonemic regularity. Spanish has a very regular system; English shows a marked degree of irregularity.
Describe the earliest English alphabet and its evolution
The earliest English alphabet was devised by missionaries in Britain, who used the Irish forms of the Latin alphabet to present the sounds of Anglo-Saxon as phonetically as possible. They had difficulties with four sounds which had no counterpart in the Latin alphabet. Consequently, they replaced the way in which those sounds were written with other graphemes from the Latin alphabet.
What was the drawback of the earliest English alphabet?
An alphabet of twenty-seven graphemes had to cope with a sound system of nearly forty phonemes. Many sounds still had to be signalled by combinations of letters (diagraphs).
What was the second great change endured by the English alphabet?
The second great change was largely due to the fact that the French-trained scribes, who now replaced those trained in the Old English tradition, introduced new orthographic conventions. In doing so, they were responsible for much of the inconsistency of English. New characters such as <k , g, q, v, w, z> were brought into use. As a result, some characters were used to represent more than one sound, which can be confusing.
Describe the problem that the English alphabet had in relation to the printing process.
Many early printers were foreign and they used their own spelling norms. English printers, especially Caxton, sought to replace the largely idiosyncratic practices which were common. However, this failed because the writing system did not keep pace with the sound changes that were affecting the language. The Great Vowel Shift, a major series of sound changes in the pronunciation of English vowels that occurred primarily between the 15th and 18th centuries, and the fact that some letters became silent added to the confusion.
What happened to the English alphabet as a consequence of Latin and Greek etymology becoming fashionable in the 16th century?
Many new loans appeared in English from Spanish, Italian, French, etc.; and new patterns of spelling were introduced. The result of this was an amalgam of different traditions: Anglo-Saxon, French and Classical spelling patterns are used. The system is basically a phonemic one, but the phonemes are represented by letter patterns (digraphs) as well as by single letters.
What are the seven main spelling differences between BrE and Ame?
-re/-er
-our/-or
-ize or -ise/-ize
-yse/-yze
words ending in a vowel + L double the L/the L is not doubled
-ence (nouns)/-ense (nouns)
some nouns -ogue/either -og or -ogue
What are the differences between BrE and AmE when it comes to grammar to talk about an event in the recent past
BrE uses the present perfect tense to talk about an event in the recent past and with the words already, just and yet. In American usage, these meanings can be expressed with the present perfect (to express a fact) or the simple past (to imply an expectation).
What are the differences between BrE and AmE when it comes to grammar (subjunctive mood)
The subjunctive mood is more common in AmE expressions such as “They suggested that he apply for the job”. BrE would have “They suggested that he should apply for the job”.
Give two examples of the differences between BrE and AmE with regards to the prepositional system
In the United States, the word through can mean “up to and including” as in Monday through Friday. In the UK, Monday to Friday, or Monday to Friday inclusive is used instead; Monday through to Friday is also sometimes used. British athletes play for a team or in a team; American athletes play on a team. The preposition used with the word weekend is on in the US and at in Britain.
What are the differences between BrE and AmE with regard to the lexical choice?
Most of the differences are in connection with concepts originating from the 19th century to the mid 20th century, where new words were coined independently. Other sources of difference are slang or vulgar terms, and idiomatic phrases, including phrasal verbs. The differences most likely to create confusion are those where the same word or phrase is used for two different concepts. Regional variations even within the US or the UK can create the same problems.
Give examples of “Briticisms” that are understood and used in the US
Words such as book (meaning “to reserve”), queue (a waiting line), and roundabout (traffic circle or rotary). Some others such as go missing (as an alternative to disappear), bespoke (for custom-made or made-to-order), or run-up (period preceding an event) are increasingly used in AmE, and a few (for instance, early on) are now completely standard.
Summarize the most important spelling rules of the English language (plurals)
- Most nouns add -s
- Nouns that end in -s, -sh, -ss, -z, -x, or -ch add -es to facilitate pronunciation
- Nouns ending in -y preceded by a consonant change the -y to an -i and then add -es
- Long established nouns ending in -f or -fe (but not -ff or -ffe) change the -f to a -v and then add -es
- Imported nouns ending in -o and long established in English add -es (For less naturalised nouns ending in -o, add -s)
- Irregular forms (deer, sheep, ox-oxen, man-men, woman-women, child-children)
Summarize the most important spelling rules of the English language (dropping and doubling letters)
A final silent -e is usually dropped before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel (e.g., -able). However, words ending in -ce and -ge usually keep their e to clarify the pronunciation of a preceding consonant sound (e.g., noticeable, manageable). When a suffix beginning with a vowel is added to a stressed syllable ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, the consonant is usually doubled (.e.g, stop-stopped). Instead of doubling a final consonant c, which only occurs in unstressed syllables, it becomes ck before the addition of a suffix (e.g., traffic-trafficking). In BrE, a final letter L following a single vowel is doubled even if the syllable is unstressed (e.g., travel-travelled).
What are the five aspects of writing that learners must cope with? (Matthews, 1991)
Grammatical skills, stylistic skills, rhetorical skills, organizational skills and graphical or visual skills
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