Linguistics and Language Teaching – Session 1 Review

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing essential terms and concepts from the Session 1 lecture on linguistics, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, language characteristics, and pedagogical principles.

Linguistics

The scientific study of language.

Phonetics

The science of human speech sounds.

Phoneme

An abstract minimal sound unit that distinguishes meaning.

Phone

A concrete human speech sound; physical realization of a phoneme.

Allophone

A nondistinctive variant of a phoneme.

Minimal Pair Technique

Method using two words differing by one sound to identify phonemes.

Articulatory Phonetics

Branch of phonetics that studies speech-sound production.

Acoustic Phonetics

Branch that examines physical properties of speech sounds as sound waves.

Auditory Phonetics

Branch that studies perception of speech sounds by the ear.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Standard transcription system for the world’s speech sounds.

Vowel

Voiced sound produced by shaping the oral cavity without obstruction.

Consonant

Sound produced with partial or complete restriction in the vocal tract.

Monophthong

Single, pure vowel sound.

Diphthong

Complex vowel glide consisting of two vowel elements.

Triphthong

Glide of three vowel qualities in one syllable.

Place of Articulation

Location in the vocal tract where a consonant is produced.

Bilabial

Articulated with both lips (e.g., /p, b/).

Labiodental

Articulated with lower lip and upper teeth (e.g., /f, v/).

Interdental

Articulated with tongue between teeth (e.g., /θ, ð/).

Alveolar

Articulated with tongue tip at alveolar ridge (e.g., /t, d/).

Palatal

Articulated with tongue against hard palate (e.g., /ʃ, j/).

Velar

Articulated with back of tongue against soft palate (e.g., /k, g/).

Glottal

Articulated at the vocal cords or glottis (e.g., /h/).

Plosive (Stop)

Consonant produced by complete blockage then release of airflow.

Fricative

Consonant with partial blockage causing turbulent airflow.

Affricate

Consonant starting as a stop and releasing as a fricative.

Nasal

Consonant produced with airflow through the nose.

Liquid

Consonant with some obstruction but not fricative (e.g., /l, r/).

Glide

Semivowel always followed by a vowel (e.g., /w, j/).

Deletion

Phonological process removing a weak segment in rapid speech.

Syncope

Deletion of a medial sound (e.g., handbag → hanbag).

Aphaeresis

Deletion of an initial sound (e.g., know → now).

Aposcope

Deletion of a final sound (e.g., Lacoste → Lacos).

Insertion (Epenthesis)

Process adding a sound within a word (e.g., hamster → hampster).

Prothesis

Insertion at the beginning of a word (e.g., star → estar).

Metathesis

Reordering of sounds within a word (e.g., ask → aks).

Morphology

Study of word formation and morphemes.

Morpheme

Smallest meaningful unit of language.

Lexeme

Basic root word or vocabulary item.

Morph

Physical realization of a morpheme.

Lexical Morpheme

Content word with independent meaning (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs).

Grammatical Morpheme

Function word expressing relationships (prepositions, articles, conjunctions).

Free Morpheme

Morpheme that can stand alone as a word.

Bound Morpheme

Morpheme that cannot stand alone; an affix.

Inflectional Morpheme

Suffix that marks grammar but does not change category (e.g., -s, -ed).

Derivational Morpheme

Affix that can change word meaning or category.

Allomorph

Alternate phonological form of a morpheme.

Lexical Conditioning

Allomorph selection determined by the specific lexeme (e.g., ox → oxen).

Category Extension

Word shifts from one syntactic category to another (chair N → chair V).

Back-formation

Creation of a new word by removing perceived affix (teacher → teach).

Clipped Form

Shortened version of an existing word (brassiere → bra).

Compounding

Combining two free morphemes to form a new word (coffee cup).

Blending

Merging parts of words (smoke + fog = smog).

Root Creation

Inventing a brand-new word (Kodak, Xerox).

Proper-name Derivation

Word formed from a name (hamburger from Hamburg).

Folk Etymology

Substitution of native form for foreign word (cucaracha → cockroach).

Acronym

Word from initial letters pronounced as a word (FEMA).

Abbreviation

Word from initial letters pronounced letter by letter (TV).

Graphophonology

Study of correspondences between spelling (graphemes) and sounds.

Syntax

Study of sentence and phrase structure.

Phrase

Constituent centered on a head word within a sentence.

Clause

Group of words containing a subject and predicate.

Sentence

Full grammatical unit composed of clauses and phrases.

Structure of Predication

Sentence pattern of subject plus predicate.

Structure of Complementation

Verb plus its complement pattern.

Structure of Modification

Head word with modifiers pattern.

Structure of Coordination

Combination of equivalent grammatical units.

Semantics

Study of meaning in language.

Lexical Decomposition

Representing word meaning via sets of semantic features.

Homonymy

Identical form with unrelated meanings (bank ‘river’ vs ‘money’).

Polysemy

One form with related multiple meanings (leg of man, leg of table).

Synonymy

Different words with same or nearly same sense (hide/conceal).

Hyponymy

Meaning inclusion relationship (oak is a hyponym of tree).

Antonymy

Opposite meanings differing in one semantic feature.

Gradable Antonym

Opposites on a continuum (hot vs cold).

Binary Antonym

Mutually exclusive opposites (dead vs alive).

Converse Antonym

Opposites describing the same relation from different views (above/below).

Referent

Real-world entity identified by a linguistic expression.

Extension

Set of all possible referents for an expression.

Prototype

Typical member of the extension of a term.

Stereotype

List of characteristic features of a prototype.

Coreference

Two expressions referring to the same entity.

Anaphora

Pronoun referring back to an antecedent expression.

Cataphora

Pronoun referring forward to a later antecedent.

Deixis

Expression whose reference depends on context (here, now, me).

Analytic Sentence

Sentence true by meaning alone (A bachelor is unmarried).

Contradictory Sentence

Sentence false by meaning alone (A bachelor is a married man).

Synthetic Sentence

Sentence whose truth depends on real-world facts.

Entailment

Proposition that logically follows from another sentence.

Presupposition

Background assumption required to assess a sentence’s truth.

Pragmatics

Study of language use in context and speaker meaning.

Implicature

Implied meaning not explicitly stated or entailed.

Cooperative Principle

Assumption that conversational partners cooperate to communicate.

Maxim of Quantity

Provide no more or less information than needed.

Maxim of Quality

Say only what you believe true with evidence.

Maxim of Relation

Be relevant in conversation.

Maxim of Manner

Be clear, brief, and orderly; avoid ambiguity.

Flouting

Deliberate violation of a maxim to convey an unstated meaning.

Speech Act

Action performed by uttering words.

Locutionary Act

The act of producing the utterance itself.