Word Analysis, Etymology, and Orthography Flashcards
Word Analysis
Sound patterns (phonology) and inflection, derivation, compounding, and roots and affixes (morphology)
Phoneme
Smallest unit of sound. Combines with other units of speech sounds to form a word. Not the same as a syllable.
Ex: thrill /th/ /r/ /i/ /ll/ (4 phonemes)
Grapheme
Equivalent of a phoneme in writing. A letter or number of letters that represent a phoneme or sound.
Phonetics
Study of how speech sounds are made and understood. Dictionaries have phonetic spellings.
Morphology
Deals with internal structure and forms of words. Concerned with the rules for the use of morphemes.
Ex. Plural endings depend on the ending of words patch-> patches
Morpheme
Smallest unit of meaning in language
Context Clues
Words and sentences around the unfamiliar word that often provide clues to its meaning.
Morphemic Analysis
Identify parts of the word. Recognize prefixes, suffixes, and roots to understand meaning of unknown words.
Word Family
Category of words built around the same word part.
Ex. Chron and time
Compound Words
Words made up of two or more smaller words.
Ex. Sailboat
Borrows Words
Words imported from other languages
Ex. Taboo, avant-garde
Inflectional Affixes
Word endings that serve various grammatical purposes but don’t change the meaning of the word:
- s, es = plural
- ’s = possessive
- s = verb, present tense third person singular = thrives
- ing = verb present participle/gerund = going
- ed = verb past tense
- en = verb past perfect participle = tighten
- er = adjective comparative
- est = adjective superlative
Derivational Affixes
Alter the meaning of word by building on the base:
Prefixes:
anti- = against de- = undo ex- = former mis- = in a faulty manner re- = do again
Suffixes:
- ly = characteristic of
- er, -or = person or profession
- ion, -tion, -ation, -ition, -sion = process or action
- ible, -able = ability to do something
- al, -ial, -ical = with characteristics of
- y = characterized by
- ness = condition or state of
- ty, -ity = state of quality
- ment = action or process
- ic = having characteristics of
- ous, -eous, -ious = having the qualities of
- en = made of or like
- ive, -ative, -itive = adjective form of a verb
- ful = full of
- less = lacking or without
Syntax
Rules and principles for constructing sentences in language. It can be shown using a branch diagram.
Simple Sentence
Independent clause contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought
Compound Sentence
Contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinator such as for, and, nor, but, so, yet.
Complex Sentence
An independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. Always has a subordinator such as since, because, after, although, or when or a relative pronoun such as who, which, or that.
Semantics
Study of meaning in language, both oral and contextual. Can deal with word meanings, sentence meanings, and contextual understanding.
Pragmatics
Focuses 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. Concerned with a speaker’s intended meaning rather than the literal meaning of an utterance.
Ex. Get the pie out of the fridge… Are your legs broken?
Pragmatic Competence
When a reader understands the true meaning of a passage or utterance. An understanding of the us of figurative language and irony
Etymology
Word origins; be aware of word families
Orthography
Standardized system of writing words with proper letters according to accepted rules of usage. Includes the spelling rules for a language. Difficulties in spelling are due to unpredictable sound-symbol correspondences
