Language terminology

[blank_start]Analogy[blank_end] is the perception of similarity between two things. In spelling, we can use this to help learners develop their knowledge of selling patterns, e.g. night – right – sight – fright. Authors also use this to describe things, e.g. a heart compared to a pump.

The process of combining phonemes into larger elements such as clusters, syllables, words is a [blank_start]blend[blank_end]. This also refers to a combination of two or more phonemes, particularly at the beginning and end of words.

Two letters representing one phoneme (sound) is called a [blank_start]digraph[blank_end]. The word church has 3 digraphs; ch - ur - ch

The written representation of a sound (which may consist of one or more letters) is called a [blank_start]grapheme[blank_end]. A phoneme ('s') may be represented by different graphemes (e.g. ‘s’, ‘se’, ‘c’, ‘sc’ and ‘ce’)

[blank_start]Homophones[blank_end] are words which have the same sound as another but different meaning or different spelling. E.g. read / reed, pair / pear, right / write / rite

[blank_start]Homonyms[blank_end] are words which have the same spelling or pronunciation as another but different meaning or origin. E.g. peer = lord and peer = look, fine = cost and fine = well.

A [blank_start]mnemonic[blank_end] is a device to aid memory, for instance to learn spelling patterns or spellings. E.g. rhythm has your two hips moving for 'rhythm' or big elephants can always understand small elephants for 'because'.

The smallest meaningful unit of language forming part or all of a word is called a [blank_start]morpheme[blank_end]. E.g. unfairly has 3 morphemes 'un', 'fair' and 'ly'.

The smallest unit of sound within a word is called a [blank_start]phoneme[blank_end]. There are about 44 of these in English and they may be represented by 1, 2, 3 or 4 letters.

A [blank_start]prefix[blank_end] is a morpheme that can be added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning. The following words all contain examples of this: inedible, disappear, supermarket, unintentional.

A [blank_start]root word[blank_end] is a word to which prefixes and suffixes may be added to make other words.

To [blank_start]segment[blank_end] is to break a word or part of a word down into its component phonemes. E.g. c – a – t, ch – a – t, ch – ar – t.

A [blank_start]suffix[blank_end] is a morpheme that is added to the end of a word. E.g. the following words all contain examples of this: additional, worker, appointment.

Each beat in a word is called a [blank_start]syllable[blank_end].