English Language Subsystems

Phonetics

Classification of speech sounds

Phonology

The way sounds are organised to make words

Phonetics and Phonology

Study of sounds

Prosodic features

Pitch, Stress, Volume, Tempo, Intonation

Assimilation

Two sounds that change each other

Elision

Two phonemes that are next to each other and one dominants over the other cancelling it out

Vowel Reduction

When the vowel isn't stressed and it becomes shorter

Insertion

Inserting sounds that wasn't there before

Morphology

Structure of words

Lexicology

Study of words

Morpheme

The smallest meaningful unit of language

Free Morpheme

A morpheme that can stand alone as a word

Root Morphemes

Morphemes that stand on their own as a unit of meaning, and comprise the main meaning of the word.

Bound Morpheme

Cannot stand alone but instead add or change meaning

Affixation

adding a prefix, suffix or infix to a word

Prefix

A word, letter, or number placed before another.

Suffixes

Letters added at the end of a base word that alters the meaning

Infixes

Morphemes that are inserted inside a root

Inflectional Morphemes

Change in grammar but does not create a new word

Derivational Morphemes

Prefixes and suffixes added to root words to create a new word

Nouns

A person, place, thing, or idea

Verbs

Action words

Auxiliaries

Subclass of a verb e.g. "Don't"

Prepositions

Words we use before nouns or pronouns to show their relationship with other words in the sentence.

Pronouns

Replaces a noun. Examples: I, he, she, they, it, his

Conjunctions (FANBOYS)

Link sentences together. For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

Determiners

In front of nouns to indicate if referring to something specific or something or a particular type. 3 types: definite articles (a, an, the); demonstratives (this, that, these, those); possessives (my, your, his, her, its, our, their)

Syntax

Sentence structure

Declaratives

Make statements

Imperatives

Commands

Interrogatives

Questions

Exclamatives

Express exclamations

Sentence Types (4)

declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamative

Finite Verb

A verb form limited in person and number; you can tell an implied subject from the ending.

Non-finite Verb

A verb found in a verbal, not having a tense indicator denoting specific time

Clauses

A group of words in a sentence that contains a subject and a verb.

Finite Clause

A clause where the verb is marked for tense and agrees with the subject.

Non-finite Clause

A clause which has a participle or infinitive as its verb and is not marked for person or tense.

Participles

Verbal that ends with -ing or -ed and serves as an adjective

Semantics

How language is used to produce meaning

Broadening

A lexeme acquires additional related meanings to those that it originally had

Narrowing

A lexeme changes such that it refers to only part of its original meaning

Elevation

Takes on a more positive meaning than it once had

Deterioration

Takes on a more negative meaning than it once had

Shift

When a meaning changes completely

Denotation

When a lexeme takes on an objective and agreed upon meaning

Changing Connotation

Negative or positive implication

IPA

International Phonetic Alphabet

Purpose of IPA

To understand how to read sounds internationally

Blends

Blending two different words together

Acronyms

A word that is read as the word. E.g. ANZAC

Initialism

A word that is read as the letters and have a meaning. E.g. PDA

Shortenings

Shortening a word but still has meaning

Contractions

Shortening a word by elision or by word combination. E.g. Don't

Collocations

Words that are associated with each other. E.g. Heavy rain

Neologisms

A new word that doesn't fall into the other categories

Borrowings

Stealing a word from another language

Commonisations

A brand (usually) that has become a verb. E.g. Google it

Archasims

A word that is so old we don't use it

Morphological Overgeneralization

Adding a morpheme in a place it shouldn't be

Discourse

written or spoken communication or debate

Code Switching

The practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of language in conversation.

Paralingustic Features

The nonword sounds and nonword characteristics of language, such as pitch, volume, body gestures, facial expressions etc.