Introducing English Linguistics

Word classes
(e.g. articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs) to which new
members are never added. Compare with open class.
closed register:
A register with a very fixed structure that varies very little. For instance,
buying lunch meat in a delicatessen (a service encounter) involves a series
of exchanges between the seller and the customer that are highly pre-
dictable (e.g. “What can I get you?”).
closed syllable:
A syllable ending in a consonant, as in run and the two syllables in mis. fit.
cognate vocabulary:
Vocabulary that languages share having a common origin in an ancestral
language. For instance, words for father in languages such as Spanish
(padre), French (père), and German (Vater) are all cognates because they
originated in a common ancestral language that Spanish, French,
German, and English share: Indo-European. Compare with borrowings.
coherence:
A text that is meaningful and that makes “sense.” The two sentences It
was sunny and warm today. Therefore, I wore a winter coat do not form a
coherent sequence because wearing a winter coat is not a logical conse-
quence of the weather being sunny and warm. A more coherent alter-
native would be Therefore, I wore a short-sleeve shirt. Compare with