Linguistics terms
morphology is the identification, analysis and description of the structure of morphemes and other
units of meaning in a language like words, affixes, and parts of speech and intonation/stress,
implied context
morpheme is the smallest component of word, or other linguistic unit, that has semantic
meaning.
affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational,
like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound
morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes. Affixation is, thus, the
linguistic process speakers use to form new words (neologisms) by adding morphemes (affixes) at the
beginning (prefixation), the middle (infixation) or the end (suffixation) of words.
Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the
field of linguistics studying this use.
syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing sentences in natural languages.
lexis is the total word-stock or lexicon having items of lexical rather than grammatical
Semantics is the study of meaning. It typically focuses on the relation between signifiers, such
as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata.
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning.
Diphthong, gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable.
monophthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively
fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation.
