Longman Dictionary of

PE2379 ch05.qxd 24/1/02 16:06 Page 350
nasal release
nasal release n
the release of a PLOSIVE by lowering the soft palate so that air escapes
through the nose, as at the end of the words hidden, kitten, Clinton.
nasalization n
a SECONDARY ARTICULATION caused by lowering of the soft palate during a
sound in which air is going out through the mouth. For example, the
vowels in words like beam, bean, and king are nasalized due to the influence
of the following nasal consonants.
see also ASSIMILATION
National curriculum in English n
a curriculum for the teaching of English in England and Wales, which
specifies the knowledge, skills and understanding that pupils should have
acquired by the end of four key stages in the period of compulsory education
(5-16), roughly at the ages of 7,11, 14, and 16. The curriculum is
divided into three ‘profile components’: speaking and listening, reading,
and writing. Each profile component consists of one or more ‘attainment
targets’ within which the content of the curriculum is presented as ‘statements
of attainment’ at 10 developmental levels.
national language n
a language which is usually considered to be the main language of a
nation. For example, German is the national language of Germany. A
government may declare a particular language or dialect to be the
national language of a nation, e.g. Standard Chinese (Putonghua) in
China and Filipino in the Philippines.
Usually, the national language is also the official language; that is the language
used in government and courts of law, and for official business.
However, in multilingual nations, there may be more than one official
language, and in such cases the term “official language” is often used
rather than “national language”. For example, the Republic of Singapore
has four official languages; English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay, and
Tamil.
see also STANDARD VARIETY
native language n
(usually) the language which a person acquires in early childhood because
it is spoken in the family and/or it is the language of the country where he
or she is living. The native language is often the first language a child
acquires but there are exceptions. Children may, for instance, first acquire
some knowledge of another language from a nurse or an older relative and
350