Longman Dictionary of

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latent trait theory
latent trait theory n
see ITEM RESPONSE THEORY
lateral n
a speech sound (a CONSONANT) which is produced by partially blocking
the airstream from the lungs, usually by the tongue, but letting it escape
at one or both sides of the blockage. For example, in English the /l/ in /la∂t/
light is a lateral.
see also MANNER OF ARTICULATION, PLACE OF ARTICULATION
lateral plosion n
another term for lateral release
lateral release n
the release of a plosive by lowering the sides of the tongue, as at the end
of the word saddle.
lateralization n
see CEREBRAL DOMINANCE
Latin alphabet n
another term for ROMAN ALPHABET
lax vowel n
see TENSE/LAX
L-colouring n
a type of ASSIMILATION that occurs when a front vowel preceding the consonant
/l/ is pulled further back in the mouth and has a more centralized
quality than the counterpart front vowel not preceding /l/. For example,
the vowel of feel glides to a noticeably more centralized position than the
vowel of fee.
learnability n
a criterion for linguistic theory. An adequate theory must explain how
children are able to learn the grammar of their native language and must
therefore provide for grammars of languages that are easily learnable.
learnability hypothesis n
the idea, attributed to Manfred Pienemann, that a second or foreign language
learner’s acquisition of linguistic structures depends on how complex
these structures are from a psychological processing point of view,
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