English Language Communication Skills

Introduction
Language

Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols which permit all people in a given
culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to communicate or
interact.

Components of a Language
i.

Grammar
It is the study of the classes of words, their inflections, and their functions and
relations in the sentence.
Sentence is a group of words strung together keeping complete meaning or a
sentence is a group of words which starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop
(.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!). A sentence contains or implies a predicate
and a subject.

ii.

Syntax
Syntax means chain and choice.
Chain is the structure of sentence i.e. the arrangement of words in sentences,
clauses, and phrases, and the study of the formation of sentences and the relationship
of their component parts.
Choice is the vocabulary.

iii.

Semantics

iv.

Semantics is the study of the meanings.

There are two types of meanings:
a) Connotative meaning is the emotions and associations connected to a
word.
b) Denotation meaning refers to the literal meaning of a word, the
"dictionary definition.
Phenology
Sir Abul Latif Definition: It is the study of sounds of a single language, their
comparison and contrasts in a systematic way.
Merriam-Webster Definition: The science of speech sounds including especially the
history and theory of sound changes in a language or in two or more related languages.

v.

Phonetics

Sir Abul Latif Definition: It is the study of sounds of all the world language, their
comparison and contrasts in a systematic way.
Merriam-Webster Definition: It is the system of speech sounds of a language or
group of languages.
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English Language Communication Skills

Phonology of English Language

English has 44 sounds (phonemes); 24 consonant and 20 vowel sounds.

Vowels
A sound made without any such restrictions in the airflow.
The 20 vowel sounds may be divided into 12 monothongs or 'pure' vowel sounds,
and 8 diphthongs.

Vowels
Sr. No.

Phonetic Symbol

Examples

i:
I
e

a:

u:
:

aI
a
eI

I
I
e

fleece /flis/

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

rabbit /rabIt/
ten /ten/
trap /trap/
cart /ca:t/
strut /strt/
board /b:d/
lot /lt/
good /gd/
suit /su:t/
skirt /sk:t/
again /gain/
time /taIme/
now /naw/
wait /weIt/
road /rd/
boy /bI/
near /nI/
hair /he/
pure /p/
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English Language Communication Skills

Consonants

Sounds made with a certain amount of temporary block of the airflow through the
mouth.
Some consonants involve the vibration of the vocal cords, they are voiced
consonants and others have no vocal cord vibration, they are called voiceless.
There are three sounds (p, t, and k) at the beginning of words (e.g., pat, top,
key) pronounced with an accompanying forceful expulsion of air, these sounds are called
aspirated sounds. Such sounds are not aspirated at the end of words or in combination
with certain consonants (e.g., in spot, stop).
Consonents
Sr. No.

Phonetic Symbol

Examples

pink / pk/

bear / /be(r)/

ten / ten/

day / de/

kick / kk/

go / /

choice / ts/

jump / dmp/

fast /fst/

10

valve /vlv/

11

throw /r /

12

this /s/

13

sing /s/

14

zebra /zebr/

15

shine /weIt/

16

leisure /li I /

17

hot /ht/

18

lamb /lm/

19

no /no/

20

pink /pik/

21

cool /kl/

22

red /red/

23

yes /jes/

24

wood /wd/

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