Comprehensive Guide to Linguistics: Terminology and Definitions

Phonetics: Defined as the study of speech sounds.
Phonology: Defined as the study of the sound system of a language.
Consonant: A specific speech sound produced through the obstruction of airflow within the vocal tract.
Vowel: A speech sound produced without significant obstruction of airflow.
Voiced: Refers to sounds produced with vocal cord vibration.
Voiceless: Refers to sounds produced without vocal cord vibration.
Bilabial: Sounds articulated using both lips.
Alveolar: Sounds articulated at the alveolar ridge.
Velar: Sounds articulated at the soft palate.
Nasal: A sound produced such that airflow is directed through the nose.
Phoneme: Considered the smallest distinctive sound unit in a language.
Allophone: A predictable variant of a specific phoneme.
Minimal p: Two words that differ in only one phoneme.
Assimilatio: A process where a sound becomes similar to a neighboring sound.
Elision: The omission of a sound in speech.
Stress: The relative emphasis or prominence placed on a syllable.
Intonation: The patterns of pitch movement within speech.
Syllable: A basic unit of pronunciation.
Onset: The initial consonant or consonants of a syllable.
Coda: The final consonant or consonants of a syllable.

Derivation: The process of creating a new word by adding affixes to a root or stem.
Inflection: The process of changing the grammatical form of a word without creating an entirely new word.
Compoun: The process of combining two words into a single new word.
Conversio: Changing the word class (part of speech) of a term without changing its form.
Blending: Combining parts of two different words to create a new one.
Clipping: The act of shortening a longer word.
Backforma: Creating a shorter word by removing what appears to be an affix from an existing word.
Borrowing: Taking words directly from another language.
Coinage: The act of inventing a completely new word.
Acronym: A word formed from the initial letters of a name or phrase.
Morphem: The smallest meaningful unit in a language.
Free morp: A morpheme that can stand alone as a word.
Bound mo: A morpheme that cannot stand alone and must be attached to another morpheme.
Root: The element containing the core meaning of a word.
Stem: The base form to which affixes are attached.
Prefix: An affix placed before a root.
Suffix: An affix placed after a root.
Lexeme: An abstract vocabulary item.
Affix: A bound morpheme that is attached to a base.
Morph: The actual physical form representing a morpheme.

Syntax: The study of sentence structure and how words combine to form phrases and sentences.
Phrase: A group of related words.
Clause: A unit that contains both a subject and a predicate.
Sentence: A complete grammatical unit.
Noun Phra: A phrase that is headed by a noun.
Verb Phras: A phrase that is headed by a verb.
Constituen: A structural unit identified in syntax.
Subject: The party that performs the action or the topic of the sentence.
Predicate: The part of the sentence that says something about the subject.
Compleme: An element that completes the meaning of a phrase or sentence.

Semantics: The study of literal meaning in language.
Reference: The relationship established between language and the real-world objects or concepts it describes.
Sense: The meaning relations that exist among words.
Denotatio: The primary or literal meaning of a word.
Connotati: The associated or suggested meaning of a word beyond its literal definition.
Synonym: A word with a similar meaning to another.
Antonym: A word with the opposite meaning of another.
Polysemy: A situation where one word has multiple related meanings.
Homonym: Different meanings that happen to share the same form.
Hyponym: A more specific word that falls within a broader category.

Pragmatic: The study of meaning as it relates to context.
Context: The specific situation in which language is utilized.
Deixis: Words whose meaning is entirely dependent on the context (e.g., "here," "there").
Presuppos: An assumption that is taken for granted in a conversation.
Implicatur: Meaning that is implied by a speaker but not explicitly stated.
Speech act: An action performed through the act of speaking.
Cooperati: The principle that conversation participants work together.
Maxim of: Give as much information as needed.
Maxim of: Tell the truth.
Politeness: Specific strategies employed to maintain social harmony during interaction.