English Language -Study sheet

Graphology

The writing system

Grammar

Rule of organizing meaning

Orthography

The part of language concerned with letters and spelling

Phonology

The pronunciation and sound patterns which affect understanding of words

Pragmatics

How the context in which words and phrases are used affect their meaning

Morphology

The structure of words with their meaning

Lexis

The vocabulary of a language

Semantics

The meaning of words

Syntax

The order of words in a sentence

Derivation

New words are formed from existing words, borrowed and adapted from other languages

Conversion

The changing of the meaning or function of a word without a change to its form

Coinage

The creation of new words

Neologisms

Words that come from nothing

Eponyms

Words that are named after the inventors or discoverers

Telescoping

Words are changed using some sort of contraction to the word or words involved

Acronyms

Initial letters of a name can form completely new words

Compounding

Makes new words with an independent meaning from two complete words

Blending

Combining elements of two words to form a new one

Clipping

The shortening of longer words

Coalescence

When sounds are clipped from endings of words or between two words where the articulation merges

Back Information

A form of clipping where a long word or phrase is shortened and gives a new word in a different form

Onomatopoeia and reduplication

Are processes which replicate the sounds of a word

Archaisms

Words that are no longer used

Etymology

The ways in which words change their meaning

Specialisation

When more than one word means the same thing

Amelioration

The process by which the meaning of a word changes to become more positive.

Pejoration

The process by which the meaning of a word changes to become more negative

Broadening

The process by which a word expands from its original meaning and becomes more general

Narrowing

The process by which a word takes on a more restricted meaning