- Syllable [r]: Unit of organisation in phonology that divides speech sounds or sign language movements into groups to which phonological rules may apply. [e]
- Word (language) [r]: A unit of language, often regarded as 'minimally distinctive' and used to build larger structures such as phrases; languages vary in how distinctive word units are and how much they may be modified. [e]
- Vowel [r]: Speech sound with relatively unhindered airflow; different vowels are articulated mainly through tongue movements at the palatal and velar regions of the mouth, and are usually voiced (i.e. involve vocal fold movement). [e]
- Consonant [r]: Unit of language, defined in phonetics as a speech sound that involves full or partial 'closure' of the mouth, and in phonology as a segment that cannot occupy the nucleus or 'peak' of a syllable. [e]
- Voicing (linguistics) [r]: Either the physical production of vibration by the vocal folds as part of articulation, or the potential phonological distinction this allows, i.e. the distinct difference between units such as [b] and [p] in many languages. [e]
- The Sound Pattern of English [r]: A landmark work on the rules of English phonology by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle, which importantly rejected the phoneme as a true phonological unit; subsequently built upon by other analyses that recognised the syllable and other units of prosodic organisation. [e]
- Language acquisition [r]: The study of how language comes to users of first and second languages. [e]
- Second language acquisition [r]: Process by which people learn a second language in addition to their native language(s), where the language to be learned is often referred to as the 'target language'. [e]
- Semantics (linguistics) [r]: The subfield of the study of language which focuses on meaning. [e]
- Dialect [r]: Regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists. [e]
- Language planning [r]: In sociolinguistics, the name for any political attempt to change the status of a language in some way or develop new ways of using it, e.g. a government devising laws to promote a language, or scholars producing an official dictionary; the former is status planning (changing the political recognition of a language), the latter corpus planning (changing the way a language is used). [e]
- Multilingualism [r]: The state of knowing two or more languages, either in individuals or whole speech communities. [e]
- Official language [r]: one given political recognition in a region, usually a state, and typically used in politics and law. [e]
- Lingua franca [r]: Any language used for widespread communication between groups who do not share a native language or where native speakers are typically in the minority; name from 'Lingua Franca', a pidgin once used around the Mediterranean. [e]
- Critical period [r]: Limited time in which an event can occur, usually resulting in some kind of transformation. [e]
- Critical period hypothesis [r]: Hypothesis which claims that there is an ideal 'window' of time to acquire language in a linguistically rich environment, after which this is no longer possible. [e]
- Monitor theory [r]: Hypotheses developed by the linguist Stephen Krashen to explain and predict the process of second language acquisition. [e]
- Comprehension approach [r]: several methodologies of language learning that emphasise understanding of language rather than speaking. [e]
- British Association for Applied Linguistics [r]: academic society for professional applied linguists, language teachers and other interested parties, based in the United Kingdom. [e]
- LESLLA [r]: (LESLLA) forum for research into the development of second language acquisition skills by adult immigrants with little or no formal education. [e]
- Sue Savage-Rumbaugh [r]: (b. 1946) American primatologist most famous for her work with two bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha, investigating their apparent use of language via lexigrams and computer-based keyboards. [e] sourced from Wikipedia, but much originally mine
- Contact language [r]: any language which is created through contact between two or more existing languages; may occur when people who share no native language need to communicate, or when a language of one group becomes used for wider communication. [e]
- Creole (language) [r]: Native language, such as Haitian Creole, which under most definitions originated as a pidgin (a rudimentary language without native speakers, created by at least two groups of speakers as a contact language. i.e. to allow immediate communication) but became as complex as any other language through being acquired by children as a first language. [e]
- Historical linguistics [r]: The study of how languages change over time, and linguistic patterns within that change. [e]
- Comparative linguistics [r]: (also known as comparative philology) A branch of historical linguistics that uses a number of methods of comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. [e]
- Writing system [r]: A set of signs used to represent a language, such as an alphabet, or a set of rules used to write a language, such as conventions of spelling and punctuation. [e]
- Orthography [r]: Art or study of correct spelling and grammar according to established usage. [e]
- Romansh language [r]: Romance language spoken in the Graubünden canton of eastern Switzerland; one of the official languages of the country, with about 35,000 speakers. [e]
- Grammar [r]: Please do not use this term in your topic list, because there is no single article for it. Please substitute a more precise term. See Grammar (disambiguation) for a list of available, more precise, topics. Please add a new usage if needed.
- Sign language [r]: A system of language in which expressions are conveyed using body movements rather than the human voice. [e]
- Mandarin language [r]: (traditional Chinese 官話, simplified 官话; pinyin Guānhuà) Sino-Tibetan language, the standard form of which constitutes 'Standard Chinese'; world's largest language by speakers, with approximately 900,000,000 users. [e]
- Chinese characters [r]: (simplified Chinese 汉字; traditional Chinese: 漢字) are symbols used to write varieties of Chinese and - in modified form - other languages; world's oldest writing system in continuous use. [e]
- Welsh language [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Jamaican Creole [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Hawaiian Creole [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Pidgin Hawaiian [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Noun class [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Romance languages [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Written language [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Claude Lévi-Strauss [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Nativism (psychology) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Linguistics template
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