Linguistics – Session 1 (Falculan Twins’ Review Center)

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from Session 1, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and related linguistic concepts.

Linguistics

The scientific study of language.

Phonetics

The science of human speech sounds.

Phonology

Study of a language’s sound system and its pronunciation rules.

Morphology

Study of word formation, morphemes, and words.

Syntax

Study of sentence and phrase structure.

Semantics

Study of word and sentence meaning.

Pragmatics

Study of language use in context and intended speaker-meaning.

Phoneme

Abstract minimal sound unit that distinguishes meaning.

Phone

Concrete physical realization of a phoneme.

Allophone

Non-distinctive variant of a phoneme.

Minimal Pair Technique

Method using two words differing by one sound in the same position to identify phonemes.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Transcription system containing symbols for all distinguishable human speech sounds.

Articulatory Phonetics

Branch examining how vocal organs produce speech sounds.

Acoustic Phonetics

Branch studying physical properties of speech as sound waves in air.

Auditory Phonetics

Branch investigating how humans perceive speech sounds via the ear.

Vowel

Sound produced with an open vocal tract; always voiced.

Consonant

Sound produced with partial or complete restriction of the vocal tract; may be voiced or voiceless.

Monophthong

Single, pure vowel sound (e.g., /i/ in seen).

Diphthong

Complex two-vowel glide within one syllable (e.g., /aɪ/ in hi).

Triphthong

Three-vowel glide made of a diphthong plus a monophthong (e.g., [aʊə] in hour).

Plosive (Stop)

Consonant made by blocking then releasing airflow.

Fricative

Consonant made by impeding but not blocking airflow, creating friction.

Affricate

Consonant beginning as a stop and released as a fricative.

Nasal

Sound made with airflow through the nose.

Liquid

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

Glide

Semivowel always followed by a vowel and never word-final (e.g., /w/, /j/).

Bilabial

Place of articulation using both lips.

Labiodental

Place of articulation using lower lip and upper teeth.

Interdental

Place of articulation with tongue between upper teeth.

Alveolar

Place where tongue contacts the alveolar ridge.

Palatal

Place where tongue approaches the hard palate.

Velar

Place where tongue contacts the velum (soft palate).

Glottal

Sound produced at the vocal folds (glottis).

Syllable

Phonological unit consisting of one beat of sound.

Onset

Consonant(s) before the rime of a syllable.

Rime (Rhyme)

Nucleus plus any following consonants within a syllable.

Nucleus

Usually the vowel core of a syllable.

Coda

Consonant(s) following the nucleus of a syllable.

Blend

Two or more consonants where each sound is heard (e.g., /bl/).

Digraph

Two letters representing one sound (e.g., ‘sh’).

Sibilant

Hissing fricative sound such as /s/ or /ʃ/.

Aspirated

Pronounced with a burst of [h]-like air; initial voiceless stops.

Unaspirated

Stop produced without an audible burst of air.

Phonological Conditioning

Allomorph variation caused by surrounding sounds.

Assimilation

Process where a sound becomes more like a neighboring sound.

Dissimilation

Process where similar sounds become less alike.

Deletion

Removal of a weak segment in certain contexts (e.g., ‘handbag’ → ‘hanbag’).

Insertion

Addition of a segment within a string (e.g., ‘hamster’ → ‘hampster’).

Metathesis

Reordering of sound segments (e.g., ‘ask’ → ‘aks’).

Morpheme

Smallest meaningful linguistic unit.

Lexeme

Basic root or dictionary form of a word.

Morph

Physical realization of a morpheme.

Free Morpheme

Morpheme that can stand alone as a word.

Bound Morpheme

Morpheme that cannot stand alone; an affix.

Lexical (Content) Morpheme

Morpheme with independent meaning (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs).

Grammatical (Function) Morpheme

Morpheme expressing relationships between words (articles, prepositions, etc.).

Inflectional Morpheme

Suffix that marks grammatical information without changing category (8 in English).

Derivational Morpheme

Prefix or suffix that can change a word’s category or sense.

Null/Zero Morpheme

Meaningful morpheme with no overt phonological form (e.g., singular ‘sheep’).

Empty Morpheme

Form present in a word but carrying no actual meaning (e.g., ‘fact-ual’).

Allomorph

Variant pronunciation of a morpheme.

Lexical Conditioning

Allomorph selection determined by the particular lexeme (e.g., ‘ox’ → ‘oxen’).

Category Extension

Using a lexeme in a new syntactic category (noun ‘chair’ → verb ‘chair’).

Derivation (Word Formation)

Creating a new word by adding a derivational affix (e.g., ‘beauty’ → ‘beautiful’).

Back-Formation

New word made by removing perceived affix (e.g., ‘teacher’ → ‘teach’).

Clipped Form

Shortened version of an existing word without category change (e.g., ‘bra’).

Compounding

Combining two free morphemes to form a new word (e.g., ‘coffee cup’).

Blending (WF)

Merging parts of two words (e.g., ‘smoke’ + ‘fog’ = ‘smog’).

Root Creation

Coining an entirely new word (e.g., ‘Kodak’).

Proper Name (WF)

Word derived from a name (e.g., ‘hamburger’ from Hamburg).

Folk Etymology

Substitution of a familiar form for an unfamiliar one due to similar sound (e.g., ‘cockroach’).

Acronym

Word formed from initial letters pronounced as a word (e.g., ‘FEMA’).

Abbreviation

Short form using initial letters pronounced individually (e.g., ‘TV’).

Graphophonology

Awareness of matching graphemes to phonemes in spelling and pronunciation.

Phrase

Constituent headed by a keyword; may be one word or more.

Clause

Group of words containing a subject and predicate; part of a sentence.

Sentence

Full structure built from phrases and clauses expressing a complete thought.

Noun Phrase (NP)

Phrase headed by a noun, may include determiners, adjectives, and complements.

Adjective Phrase (AdjP)

Phrase headed by an adjective, possibly modified by adverbs or intensifiers.

Prepositional Phrase (PP)

Preposition followed by a noun phrase.

Adverbial

Clause, phrase, or PP functioning like an adverb.

Structure of Predication

Pattern of subject plus predicate in a sentence.

Structure of Complementation

Verb plus its complement(s).

Structure of Modification

Head word accompanied by modifiers.

Structure of Coordination

Linking of equivalent grammatical units (e.g., ‘bread and butter’).

Lexical Decomposition

Representing word meaning via bundles of semantic features.

Homonymy

Different lexemes identical in form but unrelated in meaning.

Polysemy

One lexeme with multiple related senses extended metaphorically.

Synonymy

Words sharing the same or nearly the same sense (rarely absolute).

Hyponymy

Meaning relation in which one word’s sense includes that of a superordinate (e.g., ‘oak’ vs ‘tree’).

Antonymy

Words differing in only one semantic feature.

Gradable Antonyms

Opposites along a continuum (e.g., hot/cold).

Binary Antonyms

Pairs with two mutually exclusive states (e.g., dead/alive).

Converse Antonyms

Pairs expressing a relationship from opposite viewpoints (e.g., above/below).

Referent

Actual entity identified by a referring expression.

Extension (Semantics)

Set of all possible referents of an expression.

Prototype

Typical member of an expression’s extension.

Stereotype

List of characteristics describing a prototype.

Coreference

Two expressions referring to the same entity.

Anaphora

Pronoun referring back to an earlier antecedent.