Human Language Structures – Flashcards
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antonym
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two words that express opposing concepts
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borrowed words
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word taken from other languages and adapted to the language's own uses
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complex sentences
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a sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause
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compound-complex sentences
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sentence that contains two or more independent clauses and at least one subordinate clause.
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compound sentences
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has two independent clauses and is joined by a conjunction
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confused words
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Words that are commonly misused or confused. Example: affect, effect; who's, whose
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misused words
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Words that are commonly confused or misused such as affect/effect.
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connotation
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refers to the implied or suggested meanings associated with a word beyond its dictionary definition
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content vocabulary
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The specific vocabulary related to the particular concepts of various academic disciplines
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context clues
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A vocabulary strategy in which the reader looks at the words around an unfamiliar word to find clues to its meaning.
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coordinating conjunction
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connects word or word groups that have equal importance in a sentence (and, but , or, for, so, yet, nor)
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decode
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to break down words or sentences to read
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denotation
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the dictionary definition of a word
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etymology
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the study of word origins
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generativist
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universal grammar is innate, language experience triggers innate knowledge and set language specific parameters, the language learning mechanism is specific to target language
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generative grammar
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Chomsky's theory that says it is an attempt to develop a small set of rules that could be used to produce any sentence in a language
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great vowel shift
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A change in the pronunciation of the long vowels of English, which happened in the centuries around 1500. Most long vowels were raised, but the high vowels became diphthongs.
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homonymns
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2 or more words that have same pronunciation and spelling but different meaning
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homophone
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One of two or more words pronounced alike, but different in spelling or meaning (e.g., hair/hare, scale (fish)/scale (musical)).
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inflectional endings
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suffixes that express plurality or possession when added to a noun (e.g. girls, girl's), tense when added to a verb (e.g. walked, walking), or comparison when added to an adjective (e.g. happier, happiest).
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linguistics
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the study of the nature, structure, and variation of language
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Middle English
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Transitional period between Anglo-Saxon and modern English. 1066-1500. Chaucer is a good example of this period's work.
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Modern English
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The English language as spoken between about 1450 and the modern day.
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modifiers
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A word or word group that makes the meaning of another word or word group more specific.
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morphology
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the formation and composition of words
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Old English
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The Anglo-Saxon language spoken from approximately 450 to 1150 A.D. in what is now Great Britain
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orthography
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the art or study of correct spelling according to established usage
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philology
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the humanistic study of language and literature
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phoneme
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(linguistics) one of a small set of speech sounds that are distinguished by the speakers of a particular language
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phonology
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the study of the sound system of a given language and the analysis and classification of its phonemes
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pragmatics
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the study of language use
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predicate
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one of the two main constituents of a sentence
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prefix
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an affix that added in front of the word
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semicolon
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This is a punctuation mark that is used between clauses of a compound sentence when a conjunction is not used, before conjunctive adverbs that join independent clauses, and in a series when the series already contains commas.
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semantics
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the study of language meaning
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sentence structure
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the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences
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simple sentences
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one independent clause
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subject
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(grammar) one of the two main constituents of a sentence
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synonym
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two words that can be interchanged in a context are said to be synonymous relative to that context
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syntax
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the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
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sight words
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Memorized words that are recognized on sight. This is what irregular words tend to be learned as
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suffix
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an affix that is added at the end of the word
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word analysis
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the process readers use to figure out unfamiliar words based on written patterns
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word families
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groups of words that have the same ending soudn (rime) but a different beginning sound (onset), such as can, man, fan.
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word origins
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history or etymology of words; the meanings of roots and affixes
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word wall
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an alphabetized chart posted in the classroom listing words students are learning
