Understand common labels used in the public language guides.
These short explanations help you read the references. They identify the role of a term in this collection rather than replacing the detailed explanation and examples on the relevant page.
| Term | Meaning in this guide |
|---|---|
| Cardinal number | A number used to name a quantity, such as the standalone number two |
| Noun phrase | A group built around a noun, such as a noun with its quantity |
| Agreement | A relationship in which related forms depend on grammatical context such as noun class |
| Noun class | A grammatical category relevant to related forms and agreement |
| Dictionary form / lemma | A form used to identify a word in a reference |
| Conjugation | Changes in a verb’s form with grammatical context |
| Gloss | A brief meaning aid, not necessarily a full word-for-word explanation |
| Context | The sentence or situation that helps identify the intended use |
| Practical pronunciation notation | A reading aid distinguished from ordinary spelling |
| IPA candidate | A proposed phonetic representation using IPA symbols |
| Corpus | A collection of language examples examined together |
A label becomes more useful when you can point to the part of an example that it describes. In umuundu muguma, the public agreement reference explains a quantity phrase. Calling it a phrase helps distinguish it from the isolated noun, the number alone, and a complete sentence.
If you do not know a grammatical label, explain the situation in ordinary words. A precise example and intended meaning can be more useful than a guessed technical term.
A recording supplies a spoken example. A translation supports meaning. A rule explanation describes a pattern. A generated output reflects the behavior of a tool under its current assumptions. None should silently replace the context or review supplied by another resource.
Use planning a session to choose a reading route and worked examples to practise with a small supported set. For a fuller learning sequence, use Academy.
