Language Terms Flashcards
Phonology
the study of the sound system of a language
Phoneme
the smallest sound made
monophthong
vowel sound with one phoneme–bit or bee
diphthong
complex speech sound or glide that begins with one vowel and gradually changes to another vowel within the same syllable
stop
a consonant sound characterized by the momentary blocking (occlusion) of some part of the oral cavity.
(p, b, d, t, k, g)
fricative
a consonant produced by forcing the breath steam through a narrow channel formed by two separate articulators in the vocal tract
nasals
speech sound in which the airstream passes through the nose as a result of the lowering of the soft palate at the back of the mouth. (m, n, ng)
liquids
a consonant sound in which the tongue produces a partial closure in the mouth, resulting in a resonant, vowel-like consonant such as (l, r)
glides
speech sounds where the airstream is frictionless and is modified by the position of the tongue and the lips (w, j)
grapheme
symbol that represents a phoneme. More than one grapheme can be used to represent a single phoneme. (Ex: s can be represented as s and c)
consonant cluster
a group of consonants that appear together in a word without any vowels between them. Each letter in cluster is pronounced
digraph
two letters blended to make one new sound (ph, sh, ch, th, oa, ea, gh)
assimilation
refers to a phoneme being spoken differently when it is near another phoneme (example: cookies and cream- Cookies N Cream)
linking sounds
linking words together so that they share sounds (So I = SoWI or do all=doWall)
epenthesis
Adding one or more sounds to a word. I got to school =I go to eschool
Fossilization
to become permanently established in the inter-language of a second language learner in a form that is deviant from the target language norm and that continues to appear in performance regardless of further exposure to the target language (example: Dat for that)
Saturation Point
newly arrived second language learners can reach a saturation point of learning in the new language after 30-40 minutes of instruction. Students who have reached this saturation point will stop paying attention, act out in class, and become frustrated and discouraged.
homonyms
word forms that have two or more meanings
homographs
two or more words that have the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings. (Ex: read, stalk)
homophones
two or more words that have the same pronunciation but different meaning and spelling (ex: would and wood)