Key Linguistic Concepts: Bilingualism, Semantics, and More

Key Linguistic Concepts

• Bilingualism: The routine use of two languages in the same region or by the same person.
• Semantic Field: A set of words related by meaning.
• Connotation: The set of values associated with a term.
• Denotation: The basic semantic features of a word, its core meaning.
• Diglossia: A type of bilingualism where languages have unequal social prestige.
• Statements: The minimum unit of communication, which can be a sentence or a phrase.
• Phonemes: Minimal linguistic units of meaning, representing mental images and sounds.
• Phonetics: The study of the physiological and acoustic aspects of speech sounds.
• Phonology: The study of how phonemes function to distinguish meanings, including intonation.
• Lexical Family: A set of words linked by a shared lexeme.
• Speech: The concrete realization of language by speakers in a communicative situation.
• Homonymy: The relationship between words with the same form but different meanings.
• Hyponym: A term whose meaning is included within a more general term.
• Hyperonym: A term with a more general meaning than another term.

Language and Its Components

• Language: A structured system of signs that relate to each other following rules.
• Language: The human ability to communicate through shared symbols.
• Language: A structured system of verbal and combination rules common to a community of speakers (e.g., Spanish, Russian).
• Co-official Languages: Languages that coexist with Castilian in specific regions.
• Monemes: The smallest units of meaning, either lexemes or morphemes.
• Linguistic Rules: Accepted practices for speaking a language.
• Morphology: The study of word structure, parts, and classes.
• Polysemy: When a signifier has multiple meanings, often with the same origin.
• Loans: Words adopted from other languages.
• Words: Linguistic units written with blank spaces, carrying meaning.
• System: A set of interrelated units following specific rules.
• Phrases/Groups: Sets of words that combine to play a role in a larger unit, like a sentence or statement.