Basic Linguistic Terms

You’ll probably know most of these terms, but it’s good idea to freshen up your mind a bit before moving on.

• letter – a graphic representation of a sound used to form words in written language.
  • The letters in the English alphabet are A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
• Consonants – letters that represent certain speech sounds, specifically sounds that involve blocking the air before it leaves the mouth, such as with the tongue, lips, or throat.
  • The consonants in the English alphabet are B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z (all letters except A, E, I, O, U).
• Vowels – letters that represent certain speech sounds, specifically sounds produced with an open vocal tract.
  • The consonants in the English alphabet are A, E, I, O, U.
• Words – single unit of language that means something and can be spoken or written.
  • In English, words are separated by spaces. In Thai, there are no spaces between words!
  • Example: This is one sentence with many words–but no spaces!  ครูไพลินเดินเข้ามาในห้องเรียน
• Syllables – a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word.
  • Single syllable word – a word that has one syllable (sound).
    • Examples: yes, no, last, duck
  • Two syllable word – a word that has two syllables (sounds).
    • Examples: airport (air – port) — baby (ba-by) — camel (cam – el) — honey (hon – ey)
  • Three syllable word – a word that has three syllables (sounds).
    • Examples: piano (pi – an – o) — basketball (bas – ket – ball) — energy (en – er – gy) — holiday (hol – i – day)
• Initial sounds – the first sound heard in a word (remember that the same initial sounds can be made with different letters).
  • Example: “Cat” (initial sound comes from the letter “C“). “Keep”  (initial sound comes from the letter “K“). There are 2 different letters making the same initial sound. Later you will see that there are 44 consonants in the Thai alphabet but only 21 initial sounds!
• Final sounds – the last sound heard in a word. Like initial sounds, different letters can make the same final sounds. In fact, while the Thai alphabet has 44 consonants, there are only 8 final sounds! You’ll learn more about this later.