Glossary: morphology and phonology

Said of notions such as noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and preposition.

The entry for a word in the mental lexicon, with all its phonological, morpho-syntactic, semantic and other information. Lexical entries are usually words but can also be affixes, particles, or idiomatic expressions.

See lexical entry.

The use of a small number of contrasting pitch patternsto distinguish words from each other.

See content word.

The collection of morphemes which a speaker knows: a mental dictionary, including phonological, morphological, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic information. Also mental lexicon.

A syllable that consist of only one mora (i.e. one weight unit). In phonological theory light syllables are syllables that contain a short vowel and no coda (as in the first syllable of the word beckon). Light syllables can have stress but usually only when there are no heavy syllables available (cf. heavy syllables).

Pertaining to the tongue.

Articulated with the tongue near or contacting the upper lip.

Liquids is the traditional term for the natural class of l plus r-sounds. Most languages have just one l-sound and one r-sound, and it is sometimes possible to show that they are a natural class (e.g. in Latin). In other languages (e.g. Korean) l and r are allophones of the same phoneme.