Language Development Terms - Mid Term

Semantics

vocabulary depth, word meanings, synonyms, and categories, word meaning and vocabulary

Syntax

the rules for word order and how sentences are built, sentence structure and grammar

Phonology

sound system of language, how it is sounded or pronounced and combined, speech sounds

Morphology

smallest unit of meaning in words, including prefixes, suffixes, and root words; may not stand alone, word structure

Orthography

how spoken sounds and word parts are represented in written letters and spelling patterns, spelling and written symbols

Utterance

expression or statement; uninterrupted by pauses

MLU

Mean Length of Utterance (in morphemes)

Prosody

rate, rhythm, intonation, pitch, stress, pauses, etc.

Consonants

articulated with some closure of airway, can be voiced or unvoiced, most one sound

Vowels

articulated with flow of air and vibration of the vocal cords, two common sounds

Syllables

word or word part containing one vowel sound; a individual beat, stressed or unstressed

Phoneme

smallest unit of spoken language that determines the identity of words; individual sound

Grapheme

a unit of writing that represents a phoneme in a language, such as a letter, combination of letters, or character

Word

a single, distinct, meaningful element of speech or writing; stand-alone, minimal response

Segment

breaking spoken words into parts to build spelling and reading fluency

Blend

a consonant sequence before or after a vowel within a syllable

Onset

first sound of a word, a consonant

Rime

the vowel plus the ending

Placement

physical location in the mouth where speech sounds are produced

Voicing

process where your vocal cords vibrate or don’t vibrate as air passes through them from your lungs

Manner of Articulation

describes how the speech organs interact to restrict or modify the airflow coming from the lungs when producing a consonant sound

Letter

individual printed character, alphabet