Glossary (Version 8.4)

A language that is fact-based, measurable and observable, verifiable and unbiased. It does not include a speaker or writer’s point of view, interpretation or judgement.

Separate phonemes in a syllable can normally be broken into two parts. An onset is the initial consonant (for example, in ‘cat’ the onset is /c/); or consonant blend (for example, in ‘shop’ the onset is /sh/). Word families can be constructed using common onsets such as /t/ in ‘top’, ‘town’.