Subtest II - Language Analysis

Question 1

Phonology

Answer 1

The study of how sounds are organized and used in languages.

Question 2

Phoneme

Answer 2

The smallest unit of speech sound. It combines with other units of speech sound to form a word. Ex: The word tray contains three phonemes - /t/, /r/, and /a/.

Question 3

Grapheme

Answer 3

A letter or number of letters that represent a phoneme or sound.

Question 4

Phonetics

Answer 4

The study of how speech sounds are made and understood. Dictionaries include phonetic spellings for words to show the correct pronunciations (Ex: explicit = /ik SPLI sit/.

Question 5

Morphology

Answer 5

The branch of linguistics that deals with the internal structure and forms of words. It is concerned with the rules for the use of morphemes in a language. Ex: the morphology of English allows its speakers to know that plural endings depend on the last sound of the word stem (spatula/spatulas; patch/patches).

Question 6

Morphemes

Answer 6

The smallest unit of meaning

Question 7

Context clues

Answer 7

The words and sentences around the unfamiliar word that often provide clues to its meaning.

Question 8

Morphemic analysis

Answer 8

Recognizing prefixes, roots, and suffixes and their meanings. (Prefixes and suffixes are also called affixes).

Question 9

Word family

Answer 9

A category of words built around the same word part. Ex: anachronism, chronicle, chronometer and chronological all include the word part chron-, which comes from the Greek word for “time”.

Question 10

Compound words

Answer 10

Words made up of two or more smaller words. Students can decode compounds by noticing the meanings of the smaller words, as in sailboat (a boat with a sail).

Question 11

Borrowed words

Answer 11

Words imported from other languages.

Question 12

Inflectional affixes

Answer 12

Word endings that serve various grammatical purposes but don’t change the meaning of a word. (Ex: “-s” and “-es” make words plural, and “-ed” make words past tense)

Question 13

Derivational affixes

Answer 13

Alter the meaning of a word by building on a base. (Ex: “anti-“ = against, “de-“ = undo, and “-er”, “-or” = person or profession)

Question 14

Syntax

Answer 14

The rules and principles for constructing sentences in a language. (Features of simple, compound, or complex sentences)

Question 15

Simple Sentence

Answer 15

(aka independent clause) contains a subjet and a verb and expresses a complete thought. (Ex: Apples and pears make a refreshing snack on hot days)

Question 16

Compound Sentence

Answer 16

Contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinator, such as for, and, nor, but ,or, yet, so. (Ex: I hoped to finish first or second, but Joel won the race.)

Question 17

Complex Sentence

Answer 17

Contains an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as since, because, after, although, when or a relative pronoun such as who, which, that.
(Ex: WHEN I saw the dark clouds, I knew a storm was on its way. People are stocking up on food BECAUSE of the storm)

Question 18

Semantics

Answer 18

The study of meaning in language, both oral and contextual.

Question 19

Pragmatics (Pragmatic Theory)

Answer 19

Focus on language as a tool for communication and is concerned with how different types of sentences or phrases are used in different contexts and for different purposes. Pragmatic theory is concerned with a speaker’s intended meaning rather than the literal meaning of an utterance.

Question 20

Pragmatic competence

Answer 20

When a reader understands the true meaning of a passage or utterance. (Ex: When Mark Atony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar claims repeatedly that Brutus is “an honorable man,” the reader knows that Antony means the opposite.

Question 21

Etymology and Word Families

Answer 21

Word origin. Word families illustrate how words may share a common etymology (Ex: diction shares an entymology with dictate and dictionary).

Question 22

Orthography

Answer 22

A standardized system for writing words with the proper letters according to accepted rules of usage. It includes the spelling rules for a language. (Ex: “i” before “e” except after “c”).