Language Structure & Linguistics Flashcards

Approximately how many phonemes exist in the English language?

Answer: 40–44

English has approximately 40–44 phonemes, which is significantly more than its 26 letters of the alphabet.

What is a morpheme?

Answer: The smallest unit of meaning in language

A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning; for example, 'un-' in 'unhappy' is a morpheme that carries the meaning 'not.'

Which of the following is an example of a bound morpheme?

Answer: -tion

'-tion' is a bound morpheme because it cannot stand alone as a word and must be attached to another morpheme.

Phonological awareness is best defined as the ability to:

Answer: Recognize and manipulate the sound structure of spoken language

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structure of spoken language, including rhymes, syllables, and individual phonemes.

Which syllable type contains a vowel followed by a consonant followed by a silent 'e'?

Answer: Vowel-consonant-e (VCe) syllable

A VCe syllable has a long vowel sound produced by the vowel + consonant + silent 'e' pattern, as in the word 'cake.'

What is a phoneme?

Answer: The smallest unit of sound that distinguishes meaning in a language

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can change meaning; swapping one phoneme changes a word (e.g., 'cat' vs. 'bat').

Words of Anglo-Saxon origin in English typically feature which characteristic?

Answer: Simple CVC patterns and high-frequency function words

Anglo-Saxon words are often simple and monosyllabic with CVC patterns, and they include many high-frequency function words such as 'the,' 'and,' and 'is.'