affix: bound morpheme that attaches to another morpheme to form either a new word or a new form of the same word
base: morpheme that forms the foundation of a word and that holds the key to the meaning of the word
bound base: base morpheme that must attach to another morpheme to create a word
cognate: two words in two different languages that share a common ancestor
connecting vowel: interfix in the form of <e>,<i>, <o>, or <u> that joins together two morphemes
diachronic: over a period of time
digraph: grapheme that consists of two letters
doublet: two words in the same language that share common ancestor
etymological marker: grapheme that does not spell a sound but that preserves word history and relationships with other related words
free base: base morpheme that can stand on its own as a word
grapheme: one, two, or three letters that spell a sound or function as a marker
interfix: bound morpheme that connects two morphemes
interfixal construction: synchronically unanalyzable interfix that originates from a combination of other suffixes and connecting vowels
letter: written character or symbol in an alphabet
lexical marker: grapheme that marks a spelling as a content word rather than a function word
morpheme: smallest meaningful linguistic unit of a language
oblique stem: stem of a nominal form that forms all declensions except the nominative singular and vocative
parenthetical letter: letter within parenthesis that identifies an allomorphic morpheme
phonological marker: grapheme that marks the pronunciation of another grapheme
prefix: bound morpheme that attaches to the beginning of another morpheme
replaceable <e>: single final nonsyllabic <e> that prevents doubling of a preceding single consonant and that can function as a marker
root: ultimate source of a stem
stem: core of a word to which inflectional affixes attach
Structured Word Inquiry: framework for studying spelling that involves scientific inquiry to undercover the way in which orthography represents meaning through an interrelation of morphology, etymology and phonology
suffix: bound morpheme that attaches to the end of another morpheme
suffixal construction: synchronically unanalyzable suffix that originates from a combination of other suffixes
synchronic: at a particular point in time
trigraph: grapheme that consists of three letters
word sum: self-checking equation that shows how morphemes combine to form a word