ALTA Certification Exam Study Guide Practice Questions | CALT &
CALP Prep 2025
1. Vowel A class of open speech sounds produced by the easy passage
of air through a relatively open vocal tract. A, E, I, O, U
2. Consonant One of a class of speech sounds in which sound moving through
the vocal tract is constricted or obstructed by the lips, tongue or
teeth during articulation.
3. Accent Stress or emphasis on one syllable in a word or on one or more
words in a phrase or sentence. The accented part is spoken
louder, longer, and/or in a higher tone. The speaker's mouth
opens wider while saying an accented syllable.
4. Syllable a spoken or written unit that must have a vowel sound and
that may include consonants that precede or follow that vowel.
Syllables are units of sound made by one impulse of voice.
5. Open Syllable A syllable ending with a long vowel sound. (labor, freedom)
6. Closed Syllable A syllable ending with one or more consonants. The vowel is
usually short.
7. Base Word A word to which aflxes are added. A base word can stand alone.
8. Derivative A word made from a base word by the addition of one or more
aflxes
9. Affix A letter or a group of letters attached to the beginning or ending
of a base word or root that creates a derivative with a meaning
or grammatical form that is ditterent that the base word or root.
10. Prefix An aflx attached to the beginning of a word that changes the
meaning of that word.
11. Suffix
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A morpheme attached to the end of a word that creates a word
with a ditterent form or use. Suflxes include inflected forms
indicating tense, number, person and comparatives.
12. Macron The flat diacritical mark above a vowel in a send picture or
phonic/dictionary notation that indicates a long sound.
13. Breve The curved diacritical mark above a vowel in a sound picture or
phonic/dictionary symbol notation that indicates a short sound
in a closed syllable in which at least one consonant comes after
the vowel in the same syllable.
14. Tilde A diacritical marking. A wavy line placed over any vowel before
r in a combination to indicate the unaccented pronunciation eg
letter. The tildes used both in coding words and in a sound
picture. When the pronunciation of any unaccented vowel-r
combination is respelled in the dictionary sound picture, the
symbol (er) is used
15. Cedilla The curved line placed beneath c to indicate its "soft" or (s)
pronunciation, as opposed to its hard or (k) pronunciation.
Students use the coding on c before the letters e, i, or y (the
softeners), to remind themselves to pronounced the (s) sound
eg mice.
16. Digraph Two adjacent letters repressing a single consonant sound
17. Consonant Digraph Two adjacent letters repressing a single consonant sound
18. Vowel Digraph To adjacent letters representing a single vowel sound
19. Trigraph Three adjacent letters which represent one speech sound (tch)
20. Quadrigraph Four adjacent letters representing one sound (eigh)
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21. Combination A pattern of letters (found in a single syllable) which occurs
frequently together. The pronunciation of at least one of the
component parts is unexpected or the letters stand in an un-
expected sequence ( ar, er, ir, or, us, qu, wh)
22. Diphthong Two vowels standing adjacent in the same syllable whose
sounds blend smoothly together in one syllable. There are only
four diphthongs in English. These are ou/out, ow/cow, oi/oil,
oy, boy
23. Grapheme A significant unit of visual shape. We use the visual shape as to
cover not only writing, but also any other shape perceived by the
eye which is a visible representation of a unit of speech. A single
graphic letter or letter cluster which represents a speech sound.
24. Phoneme A single functioning or signaling unit of our word patterns. The
separate sound units of spoken words.
25. Morpheme A base word or meaningful unit in there terminology of struc-
tural linguistics.
26. Orthography The writing system of a language. Correct or standardized
spelling according to established usage.
27. Ability An ability test is designed to measure either your general intelli-
gence or your mental aptitude in a particular area. For example
28. Achievement test A standardized test designed to eflciently measure the amount
of knowledge and/or skill a person has acquired, usually as a
result of classroom instruction. Such testing produces a statisti-
cal profile used as a measurement to evaluate student learning
in comparison with a standard or norm.
CALP Prep 2025
1. Vowel A class of open speech sounds produced by the easy passage
of air through a relatively open vocal tract. A, E, I, O, U
2. Consonant One of a class of speech sounds in which sound moving through
the vocal tract is constricted or obstructed by the lips, tongue or
teeth during articulation.
3. Accent Stress or emphasis on one syllable in a word or on one or more
words in a phrase or sentence. The accented part is spoken
louder, longer, and/or in a higher tone. The speaker's mouth
opens wider while saying an accented syllable.
4. Syllable a spoken or written unit that must have a vowel sound and
that may include consonants that precede or follow that vowel.
Syllables are units of sound made by one impulse of voice.
5. Open Syllable A syllable ending with a long vowel sound. (labor, freedom)
6. Closed Syllable A syllable ending with one or more consonants. The vowel is
usually short.
7. Base Word A word to which aflxes are added. A base word can stand alone.
8. Derivative A word made from a base word by the addition of one or more
aflxes
9. Affix A letter or a group of letters attached to the beginning or ending
of a base word or root that creates a derivative with a meaning
or grammatical form that is ditterent that the base word or root.
10. Prefix An aflx attached to the beginning of a word that changes the
meaning of that word.
11. Suffix
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A morpheme attached to the end of a word that creates a word
with a ditterent form or use. Suflxes include inflected forms
indicating tense, number, person and comparatives.
12. Macron The flat diacritical mark above a vowel in a send picture or
phonic/dictionary notation that indicates a long sound.
13. Breve The curved diacritical mark above a vowel in a sound picture or
phonic/dictionary symbol notation that indicates a short sound
in a closed syllable in which at least one consonant comes after
the vowel in the same syllable.
14. Tilde A diacritical marking. A wavy line placed over any vowel before
r in a combination to indicate the unaccented pronunciation eg
letter. The tildes used both in coding words and in a sound
picture. When the pronunciation of any unaccented vowel-r
combination is respelled in the dictionary sound picture, the
symbol (er) is used
15. Cedilla The curved line placed beneath c to indicate its "soft" or (s)
pronunciation, as opposed to its hard or (k) pronunciation.
Students use the coding on c before the letters e, i, or y (the
softeners), to remind themselves to pronounced the (s) sound
eg mice.
16. Digraph Two adjacent letters repressing a single consonant sound
17. Consonant Digraph Two adjacent letters repressing a single consonant sound
18. Vowel Digraph To adjacent letters representing a single vowel sound
19. Trigraph Three adjacent letters which represent one speech sound (tch)
20. Quadrigraph Four adjacent letters representing one sound (eigh)
, ALTA Certification Review
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_3lgb5g
21. Combination A pattern of letters (found in a single syllable) which occurs
frequently together. The pronunciation of at least one of the
component parts is unexpected or the letters stand in an un-
expected sequence ( ar, er, ir, or, us, qu, wh)
22. Diphthong Two vowels standing adjacent in the same syllable whose
sounds blend smoothly together in one syllable. There are only
four diphthongs in English. These are ou/out, ow/cow, oi/oil,
oy, boy
23. Grapheme A significant unit of visual shape. We use the visual shape as to
cover not only writing, but also any other shape perceived by the
eye which is a visible representation of a unit of speech. A single
graphic letter or letter cluster which represents a speech sound.
24. Phoneme A single functioning or signaling unit of our word patterns. The
separate sound units of spoken words.
25. Morpheme A base word or meaningful unit in there terminology of struc-
tural linguistics.
26. Orthography The writing system of a language. Correct or standardized
spelling according to established usage.
27. Ability An ability test is designed to measure either your general intelli-
gence or your mental aptitude in a particular area. For example
28. Achievement test A standardized test designed to eflciently measure the amount
of knowledge and/or skill a person has acquired, usually as a
result of classroom instruction. Such testing produces a statisti-
cal profile used as a measurement to evaluate student learning
in comparison with a standard or norm.
