Linguistic Glossary

LINGUISTIC GLOSSARY
PHONOLOGY:
The study of the pattern of speech sounds used in a particular language. E.g.
● Pidgins and Creoles do not have a single phonology and phonology remains the
least stable system in otherwise stabilized pidgins.
● While this research demonstrates that phonological previews aid in the processing
of the target word, evidence from individual difference studies suggests that
phonology is not used in the same manner by all readers.
● While these languages shared phonology and grammar, they had entirely different
vocabularies.
● An example of phonology is the study of different sounds and the way they come
together to form speech and words - such as the comparison of the sounds of the
two "p" sounds in "pop-up."
● An example of phonology is the study of the movements the body goes through in
order to create sounds - such as the pronounciation of the letter "t" in "bet," where
the vocal chords stop vibrating causing the "t" sound to be a result of the placement
of the tongue behind the teeth and the flow of air.
PHONEME:
An individual speech sound that makes one word different from another. For example, the
‘b’ and ‘f’ in ‘bill’ and ‘fill’.
● They can distinguish between any two sounds which represent distinct phonemes in
any of the world's languages.
● Whereas the five classic vowel letters match the five vowel phonemes of a language
like Spanish, they are insufficient to distinguish the much larger number of vowel
phonemes of English.
● He was able to complete items requiring deletion of syllables and initial phonemes
but had difficulty with items requiring deletion of final phonemes or phonemes
within a word.
● An example of a phoneme is "c" in the word "car," since it has its own unique
sound.
● An example of a phoneme is "c" in the word "cat," since it has its own unique
sound.
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PHONE:
It is a vibration or wave caused by an object.
● [k]
● [b]
● [f]
● [u]
● [d]
The word “cat” consists of three sounds and can be transcribed as follows: [kæt]
ALLOPHONE:
Any of the various phonetic realizations of a phoneme in a language, which do not

contribute to distinctions of meaning. For example, in English an aspirated p (as in pin) and
unaspirated p (as in spin) are allophones of p, whereas in ancient Greek the distinction was
phonemic. E.g.
● A phone is a realization in sound of a phoneme, and an allophone is one such

realization among others: for example, English /n/ is normally alveolar, but is
dental before the dental fricative in ‘tenth’.
● The allophone occurs in onset position of stressed syllables whereas the unaspirated
allophone [p] occurs after syllable-initial [s].
● [pʰ] as in “pin” and [p] as in “spin”
● [l] as in “lean” and [ɫ] as in “fill”
● (e.g. [l] at the end of words is usually pronounced as [ɫ]).
MINIMAL PAIR:
A pair of words that are different from each other in one sound only. For example pan and
can. E.g.
● In Jamaican Creole, tone is lexical in a few minimal pairs.
● A minimal pair in one language or dialect may not be a minimal pair in another
one.
● Phoneme, toneme or chroneme.
● "let" + "lit"
● "pat" + "bat".
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PHONOTACTIC:
The study of the rules governing the possible phoneme sequences in a language. E.g.
● These figures reflect French syllable structure constraints (phonotactics) more

closely than English, which does permit most consonants and even allows multiple
consonants at the ends of syllables.
● /ŋ/ cannot be preceded by long vowels or diphthongs
● /tʃ, dʒ, ð, z/ do not cluster
● /r, w, l/ only occur alone or as non initial elements in clusters
● /r, h, w, j/ do not occur in final position in Australian English, but /r/ can occur in
final position in rhotic dialects such as American English.
● In final position only /l/ can occur before non-syllabic /m/ and /n/.
SYLLABLE:
A unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants,

forming the whole or a part of a word; for example, there are two syllables in water and
three in inferno. E.g.
● The vowels of the stressed syllables in such words as father and fodder are
generally identical.
● Students in the low-level group were not reading words but were learning letter
names and sounds, and how to blend consonant and vowel sounds to make
syllables.
● After blending consonants and vowels, syllables are blended into words and words
are used in meaningful sentences.
● The word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter.
● The word car is composed of one syllable: car.
CONSONANT CLUSTER:
A group of consonants pronounced in immediate succession, as str in strong. E.g.
● Consonants regularly occur in strings or clusters without intervening vowels:

initially, as in stain and strip, finally, as in fetch and twelfth, medially, as in
dodging.
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● … If one chooses the Latin, French, or Italian language, since German is much
more difficult because of its many closed syllables and consonant clusters.
● Black.
● Bread.
● Trick.
ASSIMILATION:
The fact of a sound being made more like another in the same or next word: when p
is preceded by some Latin prefixes, it is doubled because of the assimilation of a consonant,
as in ‘apparent’ (ad-parent). E.g.
● Vowel harmony is a subclass of assimilation.

● Assimilation can be anticipatory; where a sound changes to resemble a sound that
follows it ('dog' becomes 'gog').
● "Many adults, especially in casual speech, and most children assimilate the place of
articulation of the nasal to the following labial consonant in the word sandwich:
● Sandwich /sænwɪč/ → /sæmwɪč/
● The normal form in colloquial speech would be /tem baiks/, not /ten baiks/, which
would sound somewhat 'careful.'
● The Latin prefix in- 'not, non-, un-' appears in English as il-, im-. And ir- in the
words illegal, immoral, impossible (both m and p are bilabial consonants), and
irresponsible as well as the unassimilated original form in- in indecent and
incompetent.
ELISION:
The omission of a sound or syllable when speaking (as in I’m, let’s): the shortening of

words by elision. E.g.
● Still others prefer a middle option that keeps the apostrophe for omission and
elision but drops it for plurality and possession.
● Isn't (is not),
● I'll (I shall/will),
● Who's (who is/has),
● They'd (they had, they should, or they would),
● Haven’t (have not).
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DELETION:
The process of deleting something. For example, the records have been marked for

deletion. The removal or obliteration of written or printed matter, especially by drawing a
line through it. E.g.
● We can agree the deletion of the second paragraph.
● Apheresis.
● Aphesis.
● Elision.
● Ellipsis.
EPENTHESIS:
The insertion of a sound or letter within a word, e.g. the b in thimble. E.g.

● This epenthesis often shows up even when Sicilians speak Italian.
● Data were categorized as accurately produced, produced with modifications
(epenthesis or feature change), or absent, which meant that one or more of the
consonants in the coda were not produced.
● My brother took hisself a small fall, M'am." Dove pleaded, "Would you allow him to
worsh up at yer pump?"
● "Whut he sayin'?" the woman looked to Kitty for help.
● "He wants to know can I wash up in your house."
● "Come in, child," the woman invited Kitty, holding wide the door.
BACK-FORMATION:
A word that is formed from an existing word which looks as though it is a derivative,
typically by removal of a suffix (e.g. edit from editor). E.g.
● The name ‘Troynovant’ is a back-formation from ‘Trinovantes’, the name of the

powerful British tribe that lived north and east of London.
● The verb ‘to wrong’ is more common than the noun, and indeed the noun probably
gets its enclitic meaning by back-formation from the verb.
● I go to the store and I bought milk. Go is a present tense verb. Bought is a past tense
verb. Bought should be buy milk since these two events both occur at the same time.
● I will eat fish for dinner and drank milk with my dinner. Will eat is a future tense
verb but drank is a past tense verb. Since the dinner is going to happen in the future,
it is not possible that the milk was drunk already.
METATHESIS:
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METATHESIS INTO ENGLISH: The transposition of sounds or letters in a word:
he attributes the metathesis of the last two sounds to the Creole tendency to end words with
a vowel. E.g.
● X sometimes alternates with sk by metathesis: Manx for earlier Mansk; piskey as a

variant of pixie; ax as a dialect form of ask.
● "Wasp used to be waps.
● Bird used to be brid.
● And horse used to be hros.
● Foliage > **foliage.
● Cavalry > **calvary.
METATHESIS INTO SPANISH:

● Al decir ‘dentrífico’ en lugar de ‘dentífrico’ se produce una metátesis de la ‘r’.
● Parabŏla > parabula > parabla > palabra.

● Animalia > alimaña
● Integrare > entregar
● Vidŭus/a > viudo/a.
DISSIMILATION:
Change (a sound or sounds in a word) to another when the word originally

had identical sounds near each other (e.g. in taper, which derives from papyrus, the p is
dissimilated to t). E.g.
● In pilgrim, from Latin peregrinus, the first r is dissimilated to l.

● If the stem ends in l, the ending -na is dissimilated to –da.
● Chimney as chimley.
● When a /r/ sound occurs before another in the middle of a word in rhotic dialects of
English, the first tends to drop out, as in "beserk" for berserk.
● "Supprise" for surprise, "paticular" for particular, and "govenor" for governor.

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LINGUISTIC GLOSSARY

It is a vibration or wave caused by an object.

Any of the various phonetic realizations of a phoneme in a language, which do not

● A phone is a realization in sound of a phoneme, and an allophone is one such

● [pʰ] as in “pin” and [p] as in “spin”

● [l] as in “lean” and [ɫ] as in “fill”

● (e.g. [l] at the end of words is usually pronounced as [ɫ]).

● In Jamaican Creole, tone is lexical in a few minimal pairs.

● Phoneme, toneme or chroneme.

The study of the rules governing the possible phoneme sequences in a language. E.g.

● These figures reflect French syllable structure constraints (phonotactics) more

● /ŋ/ cannot be preceded by long vowels or diphthongs

● /tʃ, dʒ, ð, z/ do not cluster

● /r, w, l/ only occur alone or as non initial elements in clusters

A unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants,

● The word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter.

● The word car is composed of one syllable: car.

A group of consonants pronounced in immediate succession, as str in strong. E.g.

● Consonants regularly occur in strings or clusters without intervening vowels:

● Vowel harmony is a subclass of assimilation.

The omission of a sound or syllable when speaking (as in I’m, let’s): the shortening of

The process of deleting something. For example, the records have been marked for

The insertion of a sound or letter within a word, e.g. the b in thimble. E.g.

● The name ‘Troynovant’ is a back-formation from ‘Trinovantes’, the name of the

● X sometimes alternates with sk by metathesis: Manx for earlier Mansk; piskey as a

METATHESIS INTO SPANISH:

● Parabŏla > parabula > parabla > palabra.

Change (a sound or sounds in a word) to another when the word originally

● In pilgrim, from Latin peregrinus, the first r is dissimilated to l.

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