A.+Language+Terms

Language Terms

The following terms are related to language acquisition and are meant to help students, parents, and teachers better understand the language acquisition process.

All definitions are from: Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2011). An Introduction to Language //(9th ed.)//. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth.

** accent: ** (1) Prominence. See stressed syllable; (2) the phonology or pronunciation of a specific regional dialect, e.g., Southern accent; (3) the pronunciation of a language by a nonnative speaker, e.g., French accent. Select the following link to explore the Speech Accent Archive from George Mason University. Speech Accent Archive

 **American Sign Language (ASL):** The sign language used by the deaf community in the United States. Select the link below to learn more about American Sign Language and see some free ASL dictionaries. @http://www.aslpro.com/

**base:** Any root or stem to which an affix is attached. Select the following links for base word practice and to play "Base Word Baseball." Base Word and Suffix Practice Base Word Baseball

 **bilingualism:** The ability to speak two (or more) languages with native or near native proficiency, either by an individual speak (individual bilingualism) or with a society (societal bilingualism). Select the link below to discover benefits of bilingualism. NY Times: Why Bilinguals are Smarter

 **blen****d:** A word composed of the parts of more than one word, e.g., //smog// from //smoke// + //fog//. Examples: //breakfast + lunch = brunch// //motor + hotel = motel// <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Check out the link below for a list of blend words. Montgomery College Blend Words

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> **codeswitching:** The movement back and forth between two languages or dialects within the same sentence or discourse. Select the link below for an article and discussion on codeswitching. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">What is Code-Switching and Why do Bilinguals do it?

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> **cognates:** Words in related languages that developed from the same ancestral root, such as English //man// and German //Mann.// Select the following links for example of cognates in English and Spanish. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Spanish-English Cognates from Colorín Colorado] <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Spanish Cognates

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**compound word:** A word composed of two or more words, which may be written as a single word or as words separated by spaces or hyphens, e.g., //dogcatcher, dog biscuit, dog-tired//. Select the following link to play a compound word game. EZ School Compound Words

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**context:** The discourse proceeding an utterance together with the real-world knowledge of speakers and listeners. Select the link below to play game with words in context. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Toon University Context Game

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**dialect:** A variety of a language whose grammar differs in systematic ways from other varieties. Differences may be lexical, phonological, syntactic, and semantic. See regional dialect, social dialect, prestige dialect. Select the following link for more information on North American English Dialects. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">North American English Dialects

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**morpheme:** Smallest unit of linguistic meaning or function, e.g., //sheepdogs// contains three morphemes, //sheep, dog,// and the function morpheme for plural, //s.// Click on the following link to go to Academic English Cafe's Hot Chocolate Morpheme game. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Hot Chocolate, Cool Quotes Academic Vocabulary Learning Game

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**phoneme:** A contrastive phonological segment whose phonetic realizations mare predictable by rule. Check out the link below for Game Aquarium's phonics and phoneme games. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Game Aquarium

Christina Ontiveros

Pre-K Teacher, Smithville Elementary

contiveros@k12tn.net