Chapter One - Metalanguage Review

Question 1

Phonetics

Answer 1

Study of how we make speech sounds and how we organise these sounds

Question 2

Phonology

Answer 2

Study of the patterns that speech sounds form within a language

Question 3

Morphology

Answer 3

Study of words and their parts

Question 4

Morpheme

Answer 4

Smallest units of meaning within a word

Question 5

Lexicology

Answer 5

Study of words and how they behave within a language

Question 6

Syntax

Answer 6

Study of how words are ordered into phrases, clauses and sentences

Question 7

Discourse

Answer 7

Written or spoken texts that are longer than a sentence

Question 8

Pragmatics

Answer 8

Study of how language is used within a given context, and how context contributes to meaning

Question 9

Semantics

Answer 9

Study of understanding and meaning in communication, including both logical meaning and lexical meaning

Question 10

Connected speech processes

Answer 10

Assimilation, vowel reduction, elision and insertion

Question 11

Assimilation

Answer 11

Speech sounds change to be more like neighbouring sounds.

Question 12

How does assimilation occur?

Answer 12

Change of place of articulation, manner of articulation or voicing

Question 13

What is an example of assimilation?

Answer 13

‘handbag’ is often pronounced as ‘hambag’ where the /n/ sound assimilates to the following /b/ sound by becoming a bilabial nasal /m/

Question 14

Vowel Reduction

Answer 14

In unstressed syllables, vowels become less distinct and are reduced to a more central vowel, typically a schwa.

Question 15

What is an example of vowel reduction?

Answer 15

The vowel sound in the first syllable of ‘banana’ is reduced - not pronounced with the same quality as the stressed vowel in the second syllable.

Question 16

Elision

Answer 16

Omission of a sound or syllable in spoken language, such as the contraction of phrases.

Question 17

Examples of elision

Answer 17

‘I have’ is contracted to ‘I’ve’ in speech with the elision of the ‘h’ and ‘a’ sounds

Question 18

Insertion

Answer 18

Addition of sounds for ease of pronunciation

Question 19

What is an example of elision?

Answer 19

‘warmth’ often has an extra /p/ sounds making it sound like ‘warmpth’

Question 20

Prosodic Features of speech

Answer 20

Elements of our voices that affect whole sequences of syllables
Pitch, intonation, volume, tempo and stress

Question 21

Pitch

Answer 21

Relative height, ranging between high and low of auditory sound

Question 22

Intonation

Answer 22

Patterns of pitch variation across phrases, clauses and sentences

Question 23

Stress

Answer 23

Intensity placed upon a syllable within a word. Increase length, volume of pitch of a syllable compared to others to create emphasis

Question 24

Tempo

Answer 24

Relates to the pace with which an intonation unit is delivered

Question 25

Volume

Answer 25

Relative increase or decrease in decibels across an intonation unit Increasing volume on a single syllable can create stress.

Question 26

The international phonetic alphabet

Answer 26

System of symbols used to represent the sounds in human speech

Question 27

What are morphological patterns?

Answer 27

Word formation processes

Question 28

What is affixation (with an example)?

Answer 28

Use of affixes (including either prefixes or suffixes) to create neologisms. An example includes ‘government’ from ‘govern’ with the suffix ‘-ment’.

Question 29

What are abbreviations (with an example)?

Answer 29

Abbreviations are shortened forms of words or phrases. They can include shortenings, initialisms and acronyms. An example includes ‘VCAA’, where ‘V’ is said as a letter and CAA is pronounced ‘car’.

Question 30

What are shortenings (with an example)?

Answer 30

A shortening is the abbreviation of a word by reducing its length. Examples include ‘pram’ from ‘perambulator’ and ‘all caps’, where ‘caps’ is a shortening of ‘capitals’.

Question 31

What is compounding?

Answer 31

Compounding is the process of joining two or more whole words to create a single word. Examples include ‘bookcase’ and ‘swimsuit’. Some compounds are hyphenated, such as 'sister-in-law'.

Question 32

What is Blending?

Answer 32

Blending refers to the process of combining two or more words, where at least one word has undergone a form of abbreviation before being joined. An example includes ‘kidult’ (kid + adult).

Question 33

What is Backformation?

Answer 33

Backformation is the process of creating a new word by removing what is falsely perceived to be an affix from an existing word. An example includes ‘televise’, which was backformed from ‘television’.

Question 34

What is Conversion?

Answer 34

Conversion of word class involves changing the class or role of a word, without changing its morphology. An example includes ‘email’, which was once only a noun but it now also a verb.

Question 35

What are initialisms?

Answer 35

Formed by taking the first letters of words in a string of words and pronouncing them as letters or a combination of letters and other symbols. The initialism cannot be pronounced as a whole word. An example includes ‘VCE’.

Question 36

What is an acronym?

Answer 36

Formed by taking the first letter of each word in a string of words and pronouncing them as a new word. Examples include ‘ANZAC’ and ‘lol’.

Question 37

What is a contraction?

Answer 37

A contraction is word formed by removing some letters from words and marking the missing letter/s with an apostrophe. Examples include ‘she’s’ and ‘it’s’.

Question 38

Word Classes

Answer 38

Categorized based on how a word behaves grammatically

Question 39

Nouns

Answer 39

Words that name places, people, things, qualities, ideas or concepts

Question 40

Pronouns

Answer 40

Pronouns replace nouns and noun phrases within a sentence.

Question 41

Verbs

Answer 41

Verbs express actions, states or occurrences. Verbs can take on inflectional morphemes such as the suffixes ‘-ed’ and ‘-ing’ to indicate past and present tense. Future tense is not marked by inflecting a verb in English; instead, the modal auxiliary verb ‘will’ is often used to provide information about future tense

Question 42

Auxiliary Verbs

Answer 42

Two types: primary and auxiliary Supports the main verb of the sentence

Question 43

Primary Auxiliary Verbs

Answer 43

Construct tenses that cannot be conveyed by inflectional morphemes on the main verb alone to show expression of time, continuity or completion of an action. be, have, do

Question 44

Modal Auxiliary Verbs

Answer 44

Express possibility, ability, intent, obligation or necessity Can, could, will, would, should, shall, may, might, must, ought.

Question 45

Adjectives

Answer 45

Describe or modify nouns and pronouns, providing more information about them. Indicate qualities

Question 46

Adverbs

Answer 46

Modify verbs, adjectives