A connected speech process where one sound becomes more similar to a nearby sound for ease of articulation.
What is assimilation?
The process of creating words by combining two or more words into a single one
What is compounding?
This type of sentence contains two or more independent clauses connected by coordinating conjunctions.
What is a compound sentence?
The literal, dictionary meaning of a word
What is denotation?
The study of the origins of words and the historic development of their form and meaning.
What is etymology?
The system used to transcribe speech sounds
What is the International Phonetic Alphabet?
Categories such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions.
What are word classes?
Opposite ideas expressed in parallel structures, as in "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
What is antithesis?
This figure of speech involves giving human qualities to non-human things, such as "the wind whispered."
What is personification?
The literal meaning as it is defined in the dictionary.
What is denotation?
This distinct components of speech sounds are classified based on voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation.
What are consonants?
This type of morpheme cannot stand alone and must attach to a root word
What is a bound morpheme?
This grammatical structure allows for the action to be the focus, as in "The cake was eaten."
What is passive voice?
Language referring to topics considered inappropriate for polite conversation.
What is taboo language?
When a lexeme takes on a more positive meaning than it once had
What is elevation?
The weakening or omission of sounds, especially in unstressed syllables.
What is vowel reduction?
These are words that perform grammatical functions within a sentence but do not carry significant meaning on their own including determiners, prepositions and auxilliary verbs.
What are function words?
When a grammatical structure is repeated - often used for rhetorical effect
What is parallelism?
Words that are intentionally harsh, offensive or derogatory to make the concept or idea seem worse - for effect.
What is dysphemism?
When lexemes can be grouped with others that have interrelated meanings.
What is a semantic field or domain?
Aspects of speech, such as pitch, stress, volume, tempo, and intonation, that are not related to specific phonemes but affect meaning.
What are prosodic features?
The process of words changing to a different category, such as changing "email" from a noun to a verb.
What is conversion?
An example of this type of phrase is "on the table."
What are prepositional phrases?
A relationship between words where one term refers to a general concept or umbrella term and another refers to a more specific instance of that concept, like "flower" and "rose.
What is hyponymy?
When people (often children) make inferences that extend the meaning of a word beyond its accepted use.
What is semantic over-generalisation?