Linguistic Terms

Front 1

Phonetics

Back 1

Study of sound across language. Includes the phonetic alphabet that has all the sounds that have been found in human language. Includes articulatory, auditory, and acoustic phonetics

Front 2

Phonology

Back 2

Study of sounds used by speakers of a particular language. Making sense of a language's sound system. Includes minimal pairs. One rule may be that a vowel becomes a nasal when a nasal is next to a consonant

Front 3

Morphology

Back 3

Study of words and word parts. Breaks up the words into smallest perceptual units of meaning. Includes the study of prefixes, suffixes roots, stems, infixes and circumfixes

Front 4

Syntax

Back 4

Study of the principals and rules for constructing sentences for example, make passives or questions in English

Front 5

Semantics

Back 5

Study of meaning in a language. Also refers to the extended or metaphorical meanings of words. Includes knowledge of synonyms, homonyms, antonyms, metaphors, idioms, and anomalies

Front 6

Sociolinguistics

Back 6

The study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society. Includes dialects, accents, lexical differences, and syntactic differences

Front 7

Second Language Acquisition

Back 7

The process by which people develop proficiency in a second or foreign language

Front 8

L1 Transfer/Interference

Back 8

Carrying over the principles of a first language into a second language. Can be positive which enhances language learning or negative which is interference, like tenjewberrymud.

Front 9

Nature vs. Nurture

Back 9

The ongoing discussion as to how much of language is innate vs. how much is learned from the environment (discourse)