Question | Answer |
Phonetics | The sounds themselves. |
Phonology | Study of sounds and sound systems in a language. |
Lexicology | The study of the vocabulary in a language. |
Morphology | Forms that words take to provide meaning. |
Syntax | The arrangement of words |
Semantics | The meaning of language. |
Discourse | Conversation or text. |
Phoneme | Smallest unit of sound in a language. |
Diphthong | Compound vowels Glide from one vowel to another First part stronger than the second. |
Minimal pair | Pairs of words identical other than one phoneme. |
Assimilation | Two phonemes that occur together changing the way neighboring sounds are pronounced. |
Elision | Complete emission of a sound. |
Insertion | Addition of sounds where they don't usually exist. |
Liaison | Changes of pronunciation at boundary points. |
Prosodic Features | Features of speech apart from words (how things are said) |
Intonation | Variation in sound quality, changes in tone: level or moving (rising/falling) |
Stress | Emphasis placed on a particular syllable or word. |
Pitch | High or low pitch, similar to intonation. |
Volume | Level of sound in voice. |
Tempo | Also known as pace, the speed at which something is said. |
Stem | The core of the word, can stand by themselves. |
Affix | A morpheme that adds meaning when added to a stem (prefix, suffix) |
Prefix Suffix | An affix which precedes the stem. An affix which follows the stem. |
Inflectional morphemes | Give grammatical information |
Derivational morpheme | Changes the class of an existing word. |
Lexicon | A person's personal vocabulary. |
Main clause | Can stand on their own as a sentence. |
Simple Sentence | Formed from a single main clause. |
Compound Sentence | Made up of two or more simple sentences, joined by a conjunction or separated by a comma, semicolon or colon. |
Complex Sentences | Made up of a main clause with one or more subordinate clauses. |
Ellipsis | Omission of words from a sentence, either because they appear elsewhere or due to context. |
Declarative | Statements or sentences that state facts. |
Imperative | Commands or sentences that give orders or requests. |
Exclamative | Sentences that express a strong feeling or emotion. |
Interrogative | Questions or sentences that ask for an answer. |
Noun Phrase | Usually begins with a determiner and has a noun as the most important word. |
Adjective Phrase | Has an adjective as the main word. |
Verb Phrase | Lexical verb as main verb, one lexical verb or one or more auxiliary and a lexical verb. |
Prepositional Phrase | Preposition as the main word, normally followed by a noun phrase. |
Adverb Phrase | Adverb as its main word. |
Open Class Words | Content words which carry the meaning. |
Closed Class Words | Function words, function to connect the content words. |
Denotative Connotative | Literal Meanings of a word. Implied meaning based on context. |
Mode | Ways in which we communicate. |
Form | Structure of a text, format of a text. |
Context | Factors that can influence the language used in a certain situation. |
Audience | The people who are going to receive your message., direct or indirect. |
Function | Reason for communication; Persuade, inform, instruct, entertain. |
Register | The language appropriate to a specific situation, occupation or subject matter. |
Contraction | was not = wasn't |
Reduction | and = an' |
Colloquial Language | e.g. slang |
Commonisation | A name loses the capital letter and becomes a household word. |
Acronyms Abbreviations/Intialisms | Words formed from the initials of other words. Initials themselves which do not create new words. |
Compounding | Combination of two or more free morphemes. Created word has similar meaning. |
Affixation | Similar to compounding, except involving bound morphemes unable to stand alone. |
Blends (Portmanteau words) | Originate from the contraction and combination of two or more existing words. Incorporates meaningful characteristics of both. |
Conversion | Words are converted from one word class to another. |
Shortenings | Truncated versions of longer words. |
Backformation | A word is sometimes used to fill an apparent vacancy on the basis of existing words. |
Borrowings | Addition of words through drawing on other languages. |
Broadening | Expansion of the contexts a word appears in. |
Narrowing | When a word comes to mean only a part of what it originally meant. |
Elevation Deterioration | Unpleasant connotations cease to exist. A negative overtone is taken on. |
Etymology | The study of the history of words and the development of their meaning. |
Prescriptivism | Approach which tells us the appropriate way to speak. A list of do's and don'ts. |
Descriptivism | Based on the observation of language in use. Focuses on what is appropriate in a given context. |
Codification | The process of standardising a language, where a norm is developed. |
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