English Language SAC 1

Morphology

The study of the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning

Smallest meaningful unit

A word that can't be split up further without altering the meaning significantly

Content (or lexical) morphemes

Morphemes carrying the main meaning of a word

Function morphemes

Morphemes with purely grammatical meaning to modify other words

Free morphemes

Morphemes that can stand alone as words

Bound morpheme

A morpheme that must be attached to another morpheme to form a word

Structure of a word

Prefix, root, suffix

Discreteness

Languages consist of discrete, repeatable units creating meaning when combined

Duality of Patterning

Words are made of smaller, meaningless units

Displacement

Language communicates things not immediately present in space or time

Arbitrariness

Sounds or gestures of a word are not rationally related to meaning

Productivity

Infinite linguistic constructions can be made and understood

Semanticity

Language parts have specific meanings

Affixes

Prefixes, suffixes, and infixes

Inflectional morphemes

Affixes indicating grammatical information like tense or number

Derivational morphemes

Affixes changing the meaning of a word

Affixation

Process of constructing words by adding affixes

Neologism

Creation of new words

Word Classes

Open/Content Class and Closed/Function Class

Nouns

Person, place, thing, idea

Verbs

Doing words expressing actions or states

Adjectives

Describe something

Adverbs

Describe how, when, where, how much, or how often

Modes of Language

Spoken, Written, Signing

Differences between spoken and written language

Tone, acronyms, formality, editing, immediacy, nonverbal cues, accents, permanence

Standard vs non-standard language

Written language adheres more to standard, spoken language is often non-standard

Phrases

Single word/group of words acting together

Clauses

Main structures in sentences

Sentences

Make sense on their own, start with a capital letter, end with punctuation

Sentence Types

Declarative, Imperative, Interrogatives, Exclamative

Affixation

Addition to a base word to change its meaning

Neologism

Creation of new words

Mode

Refers to speech, writing, and signs as ways of communication

Setting

Refers to the time and place of communication

Relationships between participants

Connection between speakers/writers and listeners/readers

Function vs content words

Content words have meaning, function words are grammatical

Standard English

Adheres to grammar rules taught in school

Non-standard English

Slang or unofficial words

Interrogative tag

Turns a sentence into a question

FANBOYS coordinating conjunctions

For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

Referential

Transmitting information through language

Emotional

Expressing feelings or desires

Conative

Using language to direct or command

Phatic

Language for social relationships

Poetic

Aesthetic functions of language

Metalinguistic

Language to talk about language itself

Vocal effects

Creaky voice, whispering, tone, laughing

Prosody effects

Stress, pitch, intonation, tempo, volume

Code switching

Adapting language to fit in with others.