Two Subsys

Part Two
Preparing the Way: Teaching ELs in the

PreK-12 Classroom
The Subsystems of Language
Designed by: J. Govoni

References: E. Platt (2014)
Every educator must have an understanding of
the structure and organization of a language,
called its subsystems.
The subsystems of language:
I. Phonology
II. Morphology
III. Syntax Language
IV. Semantics
V. Pragmatics
Phonology: the sound system of a language
• Native speakers know how the sounds of their language
work together in a system.
• Native speakers acquire the underlying rules that govern

the production of these sounds from childhood without
being explicitly taught.
Phonology: the sound system of a language
• Phoneme - The smallest significant unit of sound in a

language.
• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents all

phones (sounds) using a unique symbol for each phone.
• Check out: http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/fullchart.html

Pause and Reflect
1. Refer to Figure 5.1 in your textbook, and with a partner,
produce each sound in order to become more familiar with
the English language system.
2. English sounds are produced using three articulators: the

lips, teeth, and tongue. The place of articulation from front
to back in the vocal tract is where an articulator touches a
location in the mouth. Pronounce each sound again and
describe its point of articulation.
Minimal Pairs
• When ELs have difficulty producing an English
sound, an experienced teacher analyzes the error in
comparison to the target pronunciation.
• Minimal pairs are two words having two minimally

contrastive sounds in the same position in a word.
• For example, in pig/pick the word-final sounds are

formed in the same place, and are both stops; they
differ only minimally—in voicing.
Pause and Reflect
1. Study the pairs of words in Figure 5.7 in your textbook.
2. Say them aloud and underline pairs that are minimally

contrastive. Remember, only one contrast in the same position in both
words constitutes a minimal pair.
buy/pie fan/vat catch/glitch Sue/zoo

rush/rouge bank/bag lip/lib than/thin
tan/Dan fuss/fuzz cheap/jeep red/rent
half/halve gum/come veal/feel puck/pug
Figure 5.7
Creating Minimal Pairs
1. To listen to speakers of different languages reading the
same passage in English, go to: www.accent.gmu.edu.
2. Click on browse.
3. Click on any language and find the list of speakers reading

the same paragraph.
4. In pairs, identify the errors you heard and create minimal

pairs to help the speaker(s) hear the difference between
the two sounds.
The study of phonology, or the sound
system of languages, assists all educators in
better understanding the challenges ELs face
in listening to and speaking English.
A kinesthetic activity to help ELs understand
the difference between two phonemes.
1. Study the vowel system of English with its tense and lax vowel
pairs, simple vowels, and diphthongs in Figure 5.10 in your
textbook.
2. Note the key words in each position; say each word, and listen
to the very subtle difference between the two phonemes
(sounds) in each tense/lax pair.
3. Holding one hand, palm up, and pretending that it is your
tongue, relax it, then tense it a few times. Pronounce the two
words in each tense and lax pair as you relax and tense your
hand.
Morphology
• It is the study of words and word forms and the
processes by which words become created and modified.
• The subsystem that explains words and their usage by

native speakers of a language.
• Explains how a speaker knows how to break up a stream

of sounds into words and how to break words down into
smaller parts that have meaning.
Morphemes are…
• the smallest units of meaning in a language.
• words or parts of a word that have meaning.
• either free or bound; e.g., dog (free) -dogs

(bound).
Two Types of Morphemes
Free Morpheme
A morpheme (or word element) that can stand alone;
e.g., dog.
Bound Morpheme
A sound or a combination of sounds that cannot stand
alone; e.g., the ‘s’ in dogs is a bound morpheme; it
does not have any meaning without the free
morpheme, dog.
Parts of Speech-Lexical Morphemes
• Lexical, also called content words, include nouns,
verbs, and adjectives; the traditional parts of
speech.
• Non-lexical or functional morphemes in English
include prepositions (of, to), determiners (the, a),
temporal adverbs (now, soon), conjunctions (but, and),
pronouns (we, them), auxiliaries (be, have), modals (can
should) and quantifiers (some, both).
Derivational and Inflectional Morphemes
• In English, derivational morphemes are prefixes and
suffixes. Thus, a new word with a new meaning is
created, e.g., re-design, establish-ment.
• An inflection is a change that signals the grammatical

function of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and
pronouns; e.g., boy-s, tall-er, walk-ed.
• Inflectional morphemes create a change in the

function of a word and are often more problematic for
ELs.
Inflectional Morphemes
Nouns Plural -s; the cars;
Possessive –’s; Mary’s car
Verbs 3rd Person Singular -s; Mary likes you.
Present Participle -ing; Mary is reading.
Past –ed; Mary liked the book.
Past Participle -ed/-en; Mary has cooked.
The eggs were broken.
Adjectives Comparative –er; big – bigger
Superlative –est; big – the biggest
Adverbs -ly ; slowly, quickly
Pause and Reflect
1. With a partner, pronounce the regular past tense
forms in Table 5.8. Note whether you produce /t/
or /d/ for the regular ‘-ed’ ending.
2. Place the verbs into either a /t/ or /d/ list and

explain your decision.
Hint: Note the voicing of /t/ and /d/.
3. Do you think native English-speaking children have
to learn how to pronounce these verb endings
correctly? Or does this come ‘naturally’ to them?
Syntax
• The relations of words in sentences.
• The subsystem that explain the rules that govern

sentence construction by native speakers of a
language.
• There is a difference between grammatical sentences

and ungrammatical sentences.
Pause and Reflect
1. Create sequences of words that do not constitute
a sentence, and other sequences that ‘obey the
rules’ of English, but do not make sense.
For example: Textbook Mary reads. Or Textbook reads Mary.
2. Explain at least two ways to correct ELs’ grammar

in English when the word sequencing does not
constitute a meaningful and appropriate sentence.
Semantics
• The subsystem that explains the complex web of
meanings in a language.
• Deals with the ability to determine the meaning

of words and sentences.
• Look at word Denotation and Connotation...

Denotation and Connotation
Platt explains (2014):
• Word denotation is presented in dictionary descriptions; e.g., the
word ‘rat’ is defined in Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary as
“any of numerous rodents (rattus and related genera) differing from
the related mice especially by considerably larger size.”
However, this does not constitute the variety of associations

the word ‘rat’ can evoke. For many people, a rat calls to mind
feelings of disgust, fear, or even plague.
• The word ‘rat’ connotes a variety of associations in one’s mind;

these are both culturally and individually influenced, or they may
be personal or restricted to small groups of people, such as a
family or a sub-culture.
Semantics helps determine if a word or a sentence
has more than one meaning.
An understanding of semantics is essential in

helping ELs to learn English and showing them how
meanings can change.
In addition, it is important for ELs to understand the

varieties of English and its social contexts.
Pragmatics
• The subsystem that underlies a native speaker’s
competence to understand the context and the
appropriateness of the sentences being said in
a particular language.
Platt reports (2014)…
• the field of pragmatics includes attention to the functions of
language, such as greeting, promising, requesting,
negotiating, asking and answering questions, talking back,
teasing, and lying.
• cross-cultural studies of child language development have
shown that even with a wide range of inputs, young children
grow up speaking the language spoken around them.
• child language socialization is a process of helping children
participate in various discourses of home and neighborhood.
• language socialization practices are part of the often hidden
aspects of culture.
What do you know when
you know a language?
• As a native speaker of a language, you know how to work
with all these attributes of language intuitively because you
are pre-programmed for language development.
• ELs need to develop competence in English and their

success depends on a variety of factors (i.e., age, motivation,
length of exposure, taught vs. acquired etc.).
In sum, every educator must be aware of the
characteristics of the English language and
be able to demonstrate an understanding of
its subsystems in order to effectively serve
ELs from diverse cultural backgrounds and at
varying English proficiency levels.

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Part Two

Preparing the Way: Teaching ELs in the

The Subsystems of Language

Designed by: J. Govoni

III. Syntax Language

• Native speakers acquire the underlying rules that govern

• Phoneme - The smallest significant unit of sound in a

• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents all

• Check out: http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/fullchart.html

2. English sounds are produced using three articulators: the

• Minimal pairs are two words having two minimally

• For example, in pig/pick the word-final sounds are

2. Say them aloud and underline pairs that are minimally

buy/pie fan/vat catch/glitch Sue/zoo

3. Click on any language and find the list of speakers reading

4. In pairs, identify the errors you heard and create minimal

• The subsystem that explains words and their usage by

• Explains how a speaker knows how to break up a stream

• words or parts of a word that have meaning.

• either free or bound; e.g., dog (free) -dogs

• An inflection is a change that signals the grammatical

• Inflectional morphemes create a change in the

2. Place the verbs into either a /t/ or /d/ list and

• The subsystem that explain the rules that govern

• There is a difference between grammatical sentences

2. Explain at least two ways to correct ELs’ grammar

• Deals with the ability to determine the meaning

• Look at word Denotation and Connotation...

However, this does not constitute the variety of associations

• The word ‘rat’ connotes a variety of associations in one’s mind;

An understanding of semantics is essential in

In addition, it is important for ELs to understand the

• ELs need to develop competence in English and their

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