Final answer:
The four elements used to build medical words are root, prefix, suffix, and combining vowel. Palatalization can affect how these elements are combined; for example, the 't' in 'digest' changes to 'ch' in 'digestion'. The stress and letter combinations, such as 'ea' in 'galleries', are important for pronunciation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The four elements used to build a medical word are root, prefix, suffix, and combining vowel. In linguistics, when combining prefixes, bases, and suffixes, certain phonetic changes can occur, such as palatalization, which affects how the elements are combined and pronounced. For example:
- dis + gest + ion = digestion, where the t in gest changes to ch due to palatalization.
- ad + vent + ure + ous = adventurous, where the t follows the stressed vowel and is followed by u.
- liter + ate + ure = literature, where the e in liter is eliminated before the suffix.
Moving on to the analysis of vowel letters and stress, the following can be observed:
- The letters a, e, i, and o are always vowels. Vowel stress is important for determining pronunciation, such as with the word digestion.
- In some cases, the letters i and e represent the vowel sound [ē], as in the plural form galleries from gallery + i + es.
Vowel stress and letter combinations are crucial in understanding the formation and pronunciation of complex words, including those in the medical field.