CSET Spanish (145, 146, 147) key terms

The smallest unit of sound that can distinguish meaning in a language, such as the difference between /p/ and /b/ in Spanish 'pata' and 'bata'.

The smallest meaningful unit of language; it may be a free morpheme like 'sol' or a bound morpheme like the plural '-s' in 'soles'.

The rules and patterns that govern how words are arranged into phrases and sentences in a language, including word order and agreement.

The study of meaning in language, including how words, phrases, and sentences convey literal meaning and how meanings relate to one another.

The study of how context, speaker intention, and social conventions shape meaning beyond literal words, as when a question functions as a request.

A variety of language used for a particular setting, audience, or purpose, ranging from formal to informal and shaped by social norms.

A regional or social variety of a language with distinctive vocabulary, pronunciation, or grammar that remains mutually intelligible with other varieties.

The alternating use of two or more languages or language varieties within a conversation or sentence, often reflecting bilingual competence and social context.

A pronunciation pattern in which the letters 'z' and soft 'c' are pronounced like /s/ rather than the Castilian /θ/, common in Latin America and parts of Spain.

A pronunciation pattern in which 'll' and 'y' are pronounced the same, usually as a voiced palatal sound, rather than preserving the traditional distinction.

The use of 'vos' instead of 'tú' for singular informal address, with its own verb forms, common in parts of Latin America such as Argentina and Central America.

A verb mood used to express wishes, doubt, emotion, negation, or hypothetical situations rather than straightforward statements of fact.

The contrast between Spanish's two main copular verbs: 'ser' typically marks identity or inherent characteristics, while 'estar' often marks state, location, or condition.

The contrast between two past tenses: the preterite presents events as completed or bounded, while the imperfect presents them as ongoing, habitual, or background.

A short pronoun that attaches closely to a verb, such as 'lo', 'la', 'le', or 'se' in Spanish, often indicating object or reflexive relationships.

A noun classification system in Spanish that divides nouns into masculine and feminine categories, affecting articles, adjectives, and pronouns.

The use of an orthographic accent mark to show stress that does not follow the default rules, or to distinguish words otherwise spelled alike.

A word that resembles a word in another language but differs in meaning, such as Spanish 'embarazada' (pregnant) and English 'embarrassed'.

A suffix such as '-ito' or '-illo' that can indicate small size, affection, politeness, or emphasis depending on context and region.

The Spanish variety of the Río de la Plata region, especially Argentina and Uruguay, known for voseo, distinctive intonation, and lexical influences from Italian and indigenous languages.

The Spanish Golden Age, roughly the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a period of major achievement in poetry, drama, and prose including works by Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderón.

A narrative genre that follows a roguish lower-class protagonist, the 'pícaro', through episodic adventures that satirize society, exemplified by 'Lazarillo de Tormes'.

A late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Spanish American literary movement marked by musical language, exotic imagery, and artistic renewal, led by Rubén Darío.

A group of Spanish writers and thinkers shaped by Spain's 1898 defeat, concerned with national identity, regeneration, and Castilian landscape, including Unamuno and Machado.

A narrative mode in which supernatural or fantastic events are presented matter-of-factly within otherwise realistic settings, associated with Latin American fiction such as García Márquez's work.

The mid-twentieth-century surge of internationally celebrated Latin American novels by writers such as García Márquez, Cortázar, Fuentes, and Vargas Llosa.

A fourteen-line poem usually written in a fixed rhyme scheme and meter, often divided into an octave and sestet or three quatrains and a couplet.

A traditional Spanish ballad form of octosyllabic verses with assonant rhyme, often narrating historical, legendary, or frontier themes and transmitted orally.

A documentary or testimonial narrative that presents firsthand accounts of oppression or social struggle, often blending personal voice with collective experience in Latin American literature.

The mixing of Indigenous and European peoples and cultures in Latin America, often used to describe racial, cultural, and linguistic hybridity and national identity.

A social and literary movement that highlights Indigenous cultures, demands justice for Indigenous peoples, and critiques their marginalization in Latin American societies.

A concept describing how cultures interact and transform one another through contact, producing new cultural forms rather than simple assimilation or loss.

The blending of elements from different religious or cultural traditions, as seen in Latin American practices combining Catholic and Indigenous beliefs.

An Indigenous woman who served as interpreter and companion to Hernán Cortés during the Spanish conquest of Mexico, later a symbol of mestizaje and contested national identity.

The receptive mode of communication in which learners understand spoken, written, or visual texts without producing a response, such as reading or listening for meaning.

Two-way communication in which participants negotiate meaning through listening, speaking, reading, or writing, often in spontaneous conversation or correspondence.

One-way communication in which a speaker or writer prepares and delivers information, ideas, or stories to an audience, often with attention to organization and audience.

A framework describing language ability in interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes across levels from Novice to Distinguished, used to design instruction and assessment.

A communication strategy of describing or explaining a word one cannot recall, using definitions, examples, or comparisons to keep a message going.