maiden name

The original last name of a person, usually a woman, who has changed their last name upon marriage.

旧姓 (きゅうせい, kyūsei, literally “previous name, old name”)

apellido de soltera

only used in foreign contexts, married women in Spanish-speaking countries keep their original surnames instead


quintal

From quint- (“five, fivefold”) + -al (forming adjectives).

Furthermore, if the number-incorporated pronouns are analyzed as grammatically marked for number, distinct grammatical categories for trial, quadral and quintal must be posited.

2002, Kearsy Annette Cormier, Grammaticization of Indexic Signs: How American Sign Language Expresses Numerosity, page 69:

In UgSL, we find a complete set of forms for dual, trial, quadral and quintal in several paradigmatic contrasts.

2014, Sam Lutalo-Kiingi, A Descriptive Grammar of Morphosyntactic Constructions in Ugandan Sign Language (UgSL), page 198:

All in all, this suggests that in LSC the differences observed in the motion taken by exact number pronouns is not grounded in a fundamental distinction between the dual vs. the trial, the quadral and the quintal.

2023, Raquel Veiga Busto, Person and Number: An Empirical Study of Catalan Sign Language Pronouns, page 164:

(grammar) A grammatical number referring to five (or more) things.


quintal

What Table 4 does not show is the possibility of even "quadral" and "quintal" forms, like yufopela 'you four', 'the four of you', yufaipela 'you five', 'the five of you'.

1995, John W. M. Verhaar, Toward a Reference Grammar of Tok Pisin: An Experiment in Corpus Linguistics, page 20:

In sign languages, on the other hand, trial, quadral and quintal forms such as found in UgSL are not uncommon.

Moreover, trial, quadral and quintal forms are given an identical status as number values in the pronominal domain.

2023, Raquel Veiga Busto, Person and Number: An Empirical Study of Catalan Sign Language Pronouns, page 102:

(grammar) Referring to five (or more) things; of, in or relating to the quintal grammatical number.


SSL

(linguistics) Initialism of Spanish Second Language.

(linguistics) Initialism of Spanish Sign Language.


sociolinguistic

/ˌsəʊsi.əʊlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪk/

/ˌsəʊʃjəʊlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪk/


interference

en-noun

interference (countable and uncountable, plural interferences)

/ˌɪntə(ɹ)ˈfɪəɹəns/

From interfere + -ence. The sense in physics was likely introduced by English polymath Thomas Young, which he used as early as 1801 in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

(linguistics) The situation where a person who knows two languages inappropriately transfers lexical items or structures from one to the other.


sociolinguistics

/ˌsəʊʃjəʊlɪŋˈɡwɪstɪks/

This paper surveys the research methods and approaches used in the multidisciplinary field of applied language studies or language education over the last fourty^([sic]) years. Drawing on insights gained in psycho- and sociolinguistics, educational linguistics and linguistic anthropology with regard to language and culture, it is organized around five major questions that concern language educators.

2014 January 20, Claire Kramsch, “Language and Culture”, in AILA Review, volume 27, number 5, John Benjamins, →DOI, →ISSN, page 30:

(linguistics) The study of social and cultural effects on language and vice-versa.

sosiolinguistiek

the study of social and cultural effects on language


Pitcairnese

(linguistics) A creole spoken in the Pitcairn Islands, formed from an eighteenth-century dialect of English and the Tahitian language.


sibilant

From Latin sībilāns, present active participle of sībilō (“I hiss”).

Groove fricatives all have more or less of an [s]-like quality, and are for this reason sometimes called sibilants.

1955, H. A. Gleason, An Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics, page 194, section 14.7:

(phonetics) A consonant having a hissing or hushing sound such as the s or sh in sack or shack.


descriptivism

descriptivism (usually uncountable, plural descriptivisms)

(linguistics) The practice of describing realistic forms, as opposed to prescribing idealistic norms, of linguistic usage.


parsable

en-adj

parsable (comparative more parsable, superlative most parsable)

more parsable (comparative)
most parsable (superlative)

Well-formed XML is an example of parsable text.

The regular languages are also efficiently parsable and used extensively in computing for string matching.

2019, Hannes Hapke, Cole Howard, Hobson Lane, Natural Language Processing in Action, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:


articulation

en-noun

articulation (countable and uncountable, plural articulations)

From Middle English articulacioun, from Old French articulacion, from Medieval Latin articulatio. Equivalent to articulate + -ion.

(linguistics) The manner in which a phoneme is pronounced.

artikulasi

linguistics: means of uttering a phoneme


ultima

ultima (countable and uncountable, plural ultimas)

From the Latin feminine of ultimus (“last”).

(grammar, prosody, countable) The final syllable of a word.


postfix

(linguistics, Czech) a suffix that goes after the ending


singulative

From French singulatif, from Latin singillatim (“singly", "one by one”), from singulus (“single", "separate”), from Proto-Italic *sem-g-lo-, a diminutive form derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, together”).

der

English doesn't have a singulative number in general, but many uncountable nouns have usual singulative constructions.

(grammar) Of or pertaining to a grammatical form or construction that expresses the individuation of a single referent from a mass noun.


singulative

The singulative of "cattle" is "a head of cattle".

The singulative of "scissors" is "a pair of scissors".

(grammar) A singulative form or construction.


ditransitive verb

en-noun

ditransitive verb (plural ditransitive verbs)

(grammar) A verb that requires (in the unmarked form) both a direct object and an indirect object so as to be grammatical.

δίπτωτο ρήμα

verb that requires a direct object and an indirect object


morpho-syntax

(linguistics) The system of the internal structure of words (morphology) and the way in which words are put together to form phrases and sentences (syntax).


ungrammatical

en-adj

ungrammatical (comparative more ungrammatical, superlative most ungrammatical)

more ungrammatical (comparative)
most ungrammatical (superlative)

(linguistics) In violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language as defined by the grammar, resulting in unacceptable or incorrect usage.

مَلْحُون

in violation of one or more of the rules and conventions of a language


haplology

en-noun

haplology (countable and uncountable, plural haplologies)

(phonology, uncountable) The process of deleting one of two almost identical syllables within a word.

(phonology, countable) An instance of deleting one of two almost identical syllables within a word.


ditransitive

So far, we have considered only transitive Verbs which take a single NP Complement. However, there are a subset of transitive Verbs (known as ditransitive Verbs) which can take two NP Complements, as illustrated in (16) below (where the NP Complements are bracketed):
 (16) (a) John gave [Mary] [a present]
 (16) (b) The postman handed [me] [a parcel]
 (16) (c) He showed [her] [his credentials]
 (16) (d) He sent [his mother] [some flowers]
 (16) (e) Never promise [anyone] [anything]
 The relevant subcategorisation frame for Verbs used in this construction will be [— NP NP], indicating that they can take two NP Complements.

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 344:

(grammar) Of a class of verbs which take both a direct and an indirect object. An example is 'give', which entails a giver (subject), a gift (direct object) and a receiver (indirect object).

مُتَعَدٍّ إِلَى مَفْعُولَينَ

having both a direct and indirect object — see also ditransitive verb


ditransitive

(grammar) A verb that takes both an object and an indirect object.


affricate

(phonetics) A sound produced using a combination of a plosive and a fricative.


imbricate

en-verb

imbricate (third-person singular simple present imbricates, present participle imbricating, simple past and past participle imbricated)

imbricates (present singular third-person)
imbricating (participle present)
imbricated (participle past)
imbricated (past)

Borrowed from Latin imbricātus (“tiled”).

bor+

(linguistics) To undergo or cause to undergo imbrication.


reconstruction

en-noun

reconstruction (countable and uncountable, plural reconstructions)

It should also be noted that while Dempwolff reconstructed at only one level (Uraustronesisch), many of his reconstructions are confined to languages of western Indonesia

2016, Robert A. Blust, Austronesian Comparative Dictionary:

(linguistics) A result of linguistic reconstruction; a model representing an unattested linguistic unit: a phoneme, a morpheme or a word.


referent

For quotations using this term, see Citations:referent.

(semantics) The specific entity in the world that a word or phrase identifies or denotes: what it refers to.


protasis

From Late Latin protasis, from Ancient Greek πρότασις (prótasis), from προτείνω (proteínō, “put forward, tender, propose”), from πρό (pró) + τείνω (teínō, “stretch”).

In "I will be coming if this weather holds up", "if this weather holds up" is the protasis, and "I will be coming" is the apodosis.

2005 B. P. Bairan: An Introduction to Syllogistic Logic
Every conditional statement is made up of two component statements. The component statement that follows the "if" is called antecedent (or the "implicans" or — rarely — the "protasis"), and the component statement that follows the "then" is the "consequent"(or the "implicate" or — rarely — the "apodosis").

Coordinate term: apodosis

(logic, grammar) A clause that expresses a contingent element in a conditional sentence


equivalence

equivalence (countable and uncountable, plural equivalences)

From French équivalence, from Medieval Latin aequivalentia.

(translation studies) The degree to which a term or text in one language is semantically similar to its translated counterpart.

對等

degree to which a term or text is similar


Attic

en-adj

Attic (comparative more Attic, superlative most Attic)

more Attic (comparative)
most Attic (superlative)

From Latin Atticus, from Ancient Greek Ἀττικός (Attikós), from some Pre-Greek demonym or toponym for Athens and its hinterland of Attica + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic: forming adjectives”). Equivalent to a modified and clipped Athens + -ic. Doublet of Atticus.

(historical) Of or related to Attica, ancient Athens and its hinterland, particularly:

(linguistics) Of or related to Attic Greek.


Crow

From French gens de corbeaux, calque of Dakota apsáaloke (“crow people”). Compare Crow Apsáalooke.

calque

(linguistics) The Siouan language of this tribe.


L.

(grammar) Abbreviation of locative case.


Lesbian

en-noun

Lesbian (countable and uncountable, plural Lesbians)

From Latin Lesbius (“Lesbian”) (for further etymology, see Ancient Greek Λέσβος (Lésbos)) + adjective suffix -an, from Latin adjective suffix -anus. The sense of ‘gay woman’ is a reference to Sappho, a famous inhabitant of Lesbos and gay poet.

(linguistics, uncountable) The variety of Aeolic Greek spoken on Lesbos from about 800 to 300 b.c., best known from the writings of Sappho and Alcaeus of Mytilene.


Lesbian

en-adj

Lesbian (comparative more Lesbian, superlative most Lesbian)

more Lesbian (comparative)
most Lesbian (superlative)

(linguistics) Of or pertaining to the Lesbian variety of Aeolic Greek.


Italic

Via Latin ītalicus from Ancient Greek Ἰταλικός (Italikós), from Ἰταλία (Italía, “Italy”).

իտալյան

pertaining to a subfamily of a branch of the Indo-European language family

Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies

(Indo-European studies) Pertaining to a subfamily of the Centum branch of the Indo-European language family, that includes Latin and other languages (as Oscan, Umbrian) spoken by the peoples of ancient Italy

The ancient Italic languages that are now extinct include Oscan, Umbrian, and South Picene.

(dated) Osco-Umbrian; an extinct branch of such language family, which excludes the Latino-Faliscan languages


(linguistics) A language of the Naish subbranch of the Naic group of the Sino-Tibetan languages.


Mal

(linguistics) A Mon-Khmer language of Laos and Thailand.


Romantic

Romantic (comparative more Romantic, superlative most Romantic)

more Romantic (comparative)
most Romantic (superlative)

(informal, linguistics) Synonym of Romance


Swadesh list

Named after American linguist Morris Swadesh.

named-after

(linguistics) One of the lists of vocabulary with universal test meanings/concepts developed by Morris Swadesh in the 1950-70s.

قَائِمَة سواديش

lists of vocabulary intended to be available in all languages, so-called "universals"


vP

Wherever an object fails to undergo EPP-driven raising into the v'''P-domain, it remains VP-internal. In the context of the phase-based Probe/Goal/Agree system of Chomsky (2000 onwards) and, in particular, (the strict version of) the Phase Impenetrability Condition (PIC), material located in the VP-domain is subject to Spellout upon completion of the v'''P phase.

2009, Theresa Biberauer, Ian Roberts, “The return of the Subset Principle”, in Paola Crisma, Giuseppe Longobardi, editors, Historical Syntax and Linguistic Theory, page 68:

As discussed in Deal 2013, a single vP may contain only one accusative-marked DP, and it is always the second-highest DP that is marked in this way.

2019, Amy Rose Deal, “Raising to Ergative: Remarks on Applicatives of Unaccusatives”, in Linguistic Inquiry, volume 50, number 2, →DOI, page 393:

(linguistics) A phrase headed by little v.


uncia

From Latin uncia (“various Roman units”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”). Doublet of a, one, ounce, inch, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.

doublet

(historical) A bronze coin minted by the Roman Republic, 1/12 of an as.


proper adjective

en-noun

proper adjective (plural proper adjectives)

These two general classes of adjectives may also be divided into several others, of which the following are the most important: — 1. A proper adjective is one that is derived from a proper name; as, American . . .

1859, William Harvey Wells, A Grammar of the English Language: For the Use of Schools:

(grammar) An adjective derived from a proper noun, such as British derived from Britain.


L

an L variety

(linguistics) Initialism of low (variety of a language with limited prestige and official acceptance).


disambiguate

en-verb

disambiguate (third-person singular simple present disambiguates, present participle disambiguating, simple past and past participle disambiguated)

disambiguates (present singular third-person)
disambiguating (participle present)
disambiguated (participle past)
disambiguated (past)

When necessary, the Greek spelling is disambiguated by an appended phonetic transcription.

1967, Language: Journal of the Linguistic Society of America, volume 43, page 619:

The dictionary's traditional “readers” have largely survived this transition, too. They find earlier and better uses of terms which computers can't (in the jargon) disambiguate—distinguish from other similar uses.

2016, John Simpson, The Word Detective, Little, Brown, published 2016, page 281:

(linguistics) To distinguish one word or lexical unit (from a different one which has a similar form).


proper name

A proper name, when it occurs in a proposition, is always, at least according to one of the possible ways of analysis (where there are several), the subject that the proposition or some subordinate constituent proposition is about, and not what is said about the subject.

1950, Bertrand Russell, The Principles of Mathematics:

We might clarify some of the points made in this chapter by comparing paradigm proper names with degenerate proper names like "the Bank of England".

Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable. Someone who is translating into English a German novel, the hero of which is named Heinrich, will leave the name as it is; he will not Anglicize it into Henry.

1970, W. H. Auden, A Certain World, New York: Viking Press, →ISBN, page 267:

For instance, the proper name ‘Jessica Alba’ consists of two proper nouns: ‘Jessica’ and ‘Alba’.

2009, Sam Cumming, “Names”, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

For quotations using this term, see Citations:proper name.

A word or phrase that has noun part of speech and names a specific object, usually capitalized, examples being Martin or New York.


G

en-noun

G (countable and uncountable, plural Gs)

(grammar) Abbreviation of genitive case.


EST

Extended Standard Theory
Extended Standard Theory#English

(linguistics) Initialism of Extended Standard Theory.


pentasyllabic

‘Pentasyllabic’ is a pentasyllabic word.


H

An H variety usually enjoys official approval and cultural prestige.

(linguistics) Abbreviation of high in reference to a dialect's social status.


V

(grammar) Abbreviation of vocative case.


modify

en-verb

modify (third-person singular simple present modifies, present participle modifying, simple past and past participle modified)

modifies (present singular third-person)
modifying (participle present)
modified (participle past)
modified (past)
modify (infinitive)

From Middle English modifien, from Middle French modifier, from Latin modificare (“to limit, control, regulate, deponent”), from modificari (“to measure off, set bound to, moderate”), from modus (“measure”) + facere (“to make”); see mode.

der

There is inherently no ordering to the modification and no hierarchy of modification: that is, both adjectives modify the substantive and both apply equally to the substantive[…]

1977, Linda R. Waugh, A Semantic Analysis of Word Order: Position of the Adjective in French:

Adjectives modify nouns.

2016, Allen Ascher, The New Harbrace Guide: Genres for Composing:

(grammar, transitive) To qualify the meaning of.

modifier

in grammar, to qualify another word or phrase


continuer

The team found that doctors used continuers only 22 percent of the time.

2008 January 8, Denise Grady, “For Cancer Patients, Empathy Goes a Long Way”, in New York Times:

(linguistics) A word or phrase interjected by the listener to indicate that he/she is listening to the speaker.


autological

/ˌɔː.təʊˈlɒ.dʒɪ.kəl/

/ˌɑːtoʊˈlɑːd͡ʒɪkəl/

/ˌɑːtəˈlɑːd͡ʒɪkəl/

From German autologisch, from Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + λόγος (lógos, “word”), by surface analysis, auto- + logical.

The word polysyllabic is autological, but the word monosyllabic is not.

Because the word short is in fact short, it is considered autological.

The word noun is itself a noun, and is thus autological.

(grammar, of a word, phrase, or especially an adjective) Possessing the property it describes.


heterological

homological

antonym(s) of “capable of developing into different forms”

From Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros, “different”) + λόγος (lógos, “word”), by surface analysis, hetero- + logical.

A paradox arises when we ask, "Is the word 'heterological' heterological." If it is, it is not. If it is not, it is.

1993, Noel Balzer -, The Human Being as a Logical Thinker, →ISBN, page 70:

(grammar) Of a word, not describing itself.


f.

The "and the following" sense is derived from an abbreviation of Latin foliō (“on the (next) page”), ablative of folium (“leaf, page”).


termination

en-noun

termination (countable and uncountable, plural terminations)

Borrowed from Latin terminationem (accusative of terminatio).

1. Some adjectives of the third declension have three terminations in the nominative singular,—one for each gender; some two,—one for the masculine and feminine, the other for the neuter; and some, only one for all genders.
1. Verbs whose terminations are alike, are said to be of the same conjugation.
 2. Latin verbs are divided into four conjugations.

1849, E. A. Andrews, A First Latin Book; Or Progressive Lessons in Reading and Writing Latin, 2nd edition, Boston, page 52 & 69:

ялғау

(grammar) the last part (or morpheme) of a word — see also suffix


signifier

/ˈsɪɡnɪfaɪɚ/

/ˈsɪɡnɪfaɪə/

merkityksen antaja

something or someone that signifies, makes something more significant or important

Here things are getting better and better for women and people of color, and gay men and lesbians, more and more integrated and open, and all you can think about is some stupid, lame problem with signifiers and signifieds.

2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:

(linguistics, philosophy) A sign, such as a written or spoken word, which refers to some concept, object or person, the signified.

signifikant

(linguistics) the sound of spoken word or string of letters on a page that a person recognizes as a sign


constituent

From Latin cōnstituēns, present participle of cōnstituō (“I establish”), from com- (“together”) + statuo (“I set, place, establish”); see statute or statue, and compare institute and restitute.

Thus, the postulation of a Noun Phrase constituent is justified on morphological grounds, since it is not obvious how we could describe the grammar of the genitive s inflection in English without saying that it's a Noun Phrase inflection.

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 65:

(grammar) A functional element of a phrase or clause


O

The ordinal number fifteenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script.


dialectology

dialectology (usually uncountable, plural dialectologies)


long vowel

(English pronunciation) Any of the vowels or diphthongs resulting from the Great Vowel Shift's effect on Middle English's original long vowels, and best exhibited in the names of the vowel letters A, E, I, O, U. In American lexicography their pronunciation is indicated by a macron, as, ē.


prosthesis

prosthesis (countable and uncountable, plural prostheses)

Via Latin, from Ancient Greek πρόσθεσις (prósthesis, “addition”), from προστίθημι (prostíthēmi, “I add”), from πρός (prós, “towards”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “I place”), from Proto-Indo-European *próti, *préti + *dʰédʰeh₁ti (“to be putting, to be placing”).


squib

Possibly imitative of a small explosion.

unk

Possibly

In this squib I will prove that the number of possible metrical parsings into feet under these assumptions […]

2008, William J. Idsardi, Combinatorics for Metrical Feet, in Biolinguistics Vol 2, No 2

(linguistics) A short article, often published in journals, that introduces theoretically problematic empirical data or discusses an overlooked theoretical problem. In contrast to a typical article, a squib need not answer the questions that it poses.

памфлет

short article, often published in a journal


APA

Americanist Phonetic Alphabet
w:Americanist Phonetic Alphabet

(phonetics) Initialism of Americanist Phonetic Alphabet.


singleton

From single + -ton, probably following the model of simpleton.

singleton sonorants

(phonetics) A single consonant, as opposed to a geminated consonant.


LFC

(linguistics) Initialism of Lingua Franca Core.


PST

(linguistics, anthropology) Initialism of Proto-Sino-Tibetan.


caesura

Latin caesūra (“cutting, hewing”), from caesus, perfect passive participle of caedō (“I cut down, hew”).

(Classical prosody) Using two words to divide a metrical foot.

cezurë

using two words to divide a metrical foot


DOE

Dictionary of Old English
w:Dictionary of Old English

Initialism of Dictionary of Old English.


measure word

(linguistics) A word or morpheme used in combination with a numeral to indicate the count of nouns, used especially in Asian languages.


PV

en-noun

PV (countable and uncountable, plural PVs)

Abbreviation.
* Sense "promotional video" is a borrowing from Japanese PV (PV, “promotional video”), from English promotional + video.

(countable, grammar) Initialism of phrasal verb.


OT

OT (countable and uncountable, plural OTs)

optimality theory
optimality theory#English

(linguistics) Initialism of optimality theory.


multiplier

English multipliers include "double" and "triple".

(grammar) An adjective indicating the number of times something is to be multiplied.


CAT

CAT (countable and uncountable, plural CATs)

Central Atlas Tamazight
Central Atlas Tamazight#English


IE

See also: PIE

(linguistics, anthropology, etc.) Initialism of Indo-European.


NIA

(Indo-Aryan linguistics) Initialism of New Indo-Aryan.


HRT

HRT (countable and uncountable, plural HRTs)

(linguistics) Initialism of high rising terminal, a type of speech that rises in pitch at the end (sounding like a question).


PPI

positive polarity item
positive polarity item#English

(linguistics) Initialism of positive polarity item.


ACC

(linguistics) Abbreviation of accusative.


apocopation

/əˌpɑkəˈpeɪʃən/

/əˌpɒkəˈpeɪʃən/

Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from, away from”) + κόπτω (kóptō, “to cut”)

uder

(linguistics) A word formed by removing the end of a longer word.


RHD

(dictionaries) Initialism of Random House Dictionary of the English Language.


LL

linguistic landscape
linguistic landscape#English

(sociolinguistics) Abbreviation of linguistic landscape.

(linguistics) Abbreviation of Late Latin.


DP

en-noun

DP (countable and uncountable, plural DPs)

(grammar) Abbreviation of determiner phrase.


synaeresis

synaeresis (countable and uncountable, plural synaereses)

/sɪnˈɛɹəsɪs/

From Ancient Greek συναίρεσις (sunaíresis, “unification”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + αἵρεσις (haíresis, “taking”), from αἱρέω (hairéō, “I take”).

uder

(linguistics, prosody) The contraction of two vowels into a diphthong or a long vowel.


DO

en-noun

DO (countable and uncountable, plural DOs)


LF

LF (countable and uncountable, plural LFs)

(linguistics) Initialism of logical form.


I

I (countable and uncountable, plural Is)

instrumental case
instrumental case#English

(grammar) Abbreviation of instrumental case.


CR

CR (countable and uncountable, plural CRs)

Whereas, in a community endowed with a language that lacks CRification, as I refer to the interaction brought about by a CR, the emergent divergence among language users is so high that the language eventually dies out.

2011, Claudia Maienborn, Klaus von Heusinger, Paul Portner, Semantics, volume 1, page 861:

(linguistics) Initialism of clarification request.


LW

LW (countable and uncountable, plural LWs)


PIA

(linguistics) Initialism of Proto-Indo-Aryan.


allophone

vähemmistökieltä äidinkielenään puhuva

person whose mother tongue is one other than that spoken by the majority

In some languages, [ʋ] is an allophone of /v/.

In the former the bilabial phone forms an allophone of the phoneme /v/ in word-final position after /a/ and an allophone of the phoneme /u/ when it is preceded by an obstruent and followed by /a/; […]

2003, Mikhail Sergeevich Andronov, A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 33:

(phonology) Any of two or more alternative pronunciations for a phoneme.


wk.

wk. verbs


ESP

ESP (countable and uncountable, plural ESPs)

(linguistics, education) Initialism of English for specific or special purposes.


amphimacer

Of Ancient Greek origin, meaning "long at both sides"; see amphi-, macro-.

A metrical foot consisting of an unaccented syllable between two accented syllables; a cretic


alliteration

alliteration (countable and uncountable, plural alliterations)

/əˌlɪtəˈɹeɪʃən/

[əˌlɪɾəˈɹeɪʃən]

From New Latin allīterātiō, from allīterātus, from allīterō, from Latin ad (“to, towards, near”) and lītera (“a letter”).

The recurrence of the same letters or sounds in accented parts of words, as in Anglo-Saxon alliterative meter.


attrition

attrition (countable and uncountable, plural attritions)

15th century, learned borrowing from Latin attritio (“a rubbing against”), from the verb attritus, past participle of atterere (“to wear”), from ad- (“to, towards”) + terere (“to rub”).

lbor

(linguistics) The loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language.


OCS

Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic#English

(linguistics) Initialism of Old Church Slavonic.


TI

en-noun

TI (countable and uncountable, plural TIs)

(translation studies) Initialism of translation and interpreting.


phonological

/ˌfɒnəˈlɒd͡ʒɪkəl/

/ˌfəʊ̯nəˈlɒd͡ʒɪkəl/

/ˌfɑnəˈlɑd͡ʒɪkəl/

/ˌfoʊ̯nəˈlɑd͡ʒɪkəl/

[...] Phonological competence is also reflected in intuitions about phonological structure: any English speaker intuitively feels, for example, that the sequence 'black bird' can either be a single phonological word (BLACKbird, with primary stress on black = a species of bird, like thrush, robin, etc.), or two independent phonological words (BLACK BIRD or black BIRD = bird which is black, as opposed to 'white bird', 'yellow bird', etc.).

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar, Cambridge: University Press, →ISBN, page 5:

Each language has its own distinct phonological qualities which a counter can tap into with effect. It is not necessarily specific phonemes (though these can sometimes be diagnostic), but rather the frequency and phonotactic distribution of each disparate set of phonemes that go together in the speech stream in certain recognisable ways.

2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 10:


excrescent

From Latin excrēscēns, present participle of excrēscō.

"B" in "nimble" is an excrescent.

(phonetics) A sound in a word without etymological reason.


mute e

(grammar, British) an unpronounced letter e at the end of a word; such as excite or glue.


dangling modifier

dangling modifier (plural dangling modifiers)

The dangling modifier is a curse of modern writing, particularly obituaries.

2004, Wynford Hicks, Quite Literally: Problem Words and how to Use Them, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 45:

(grammar) A word or clause that qualifies another word or clause ambiguously, possibly causing confusion with regard to the intended meaning.


emphatic

en-adj

emphatic (comparative more emphatic, superlative most emphatic)

more emphatic (comparative)
most emphatic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἐμφατικός (emphatikós, “emphatic”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “I show, present”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “I shine, show”); related to ἔμφασις (émphasis) and English emphasis.

der

(grammar) Belonging to a set of English tense forms comprising the auxiliary verb do + an infinitive without to.

(phonology) Belonging to a series of obstruent consonants in several Afro-Asiatic languages that are distinguished by a guttural (co-)articulation.

pharyngealized consonants in Arabic, Hebrew, other Northwest Semitic languages, and Berber languages

ejective consonants in Ge'ez, Amharic, other Ethiopic Semitic languages, Chadic and Cushitic languages

(phonology, archaic except in layman’s use) Referring to the above consonants as well as /ħ/ and /ʕ/ (these being seen as emphatic equivalents of /h/ and /ʔ/).


emphatic

(linguistics) A word or phrase adding emphasis, such as "a lot" or "really".


unvoiced

(linguistics) Spoken without vibration of the vocal chords.


bidialectal

natively using or capable of using two dialects of a language


SAP

en-noun

SAP (countable and uncountable, plural SAPs)

speech act participant
speech act participant#English

(linguistics) Initialism of speech act participant.


TT

[S]tudents in their first year believe that source text and target text should be identical in content, that the TT should be a reproduction of the ST in another language, and that the TT should read well and be understandable.

2004, Christina Schäffner, edited by Kirsten Malmkjær, Translation in Undergraduate Degree Programmes, John Benjamins Publishing Co, page 119:

(translation studies) Initialism of target text.


phonology

phonology (countable and uncountable, plural phonologies)

From phono- (prefix denoting sound) + -logy (suffix denoting a branch of learning, or a study of a particular subject).

confix

Prospectus of a new work, entitled Pantographia: Containing accurate copies of all the known alphabets in the world. Together with an English explanation of the peculiar force of each letter: To which will be added specimens of all well-authenticated oral languages, Forming a comprehensive Digest of phonology.

1798 August, Edmund Fry, Prospectus of a New Work, Entitled Pantographia; …, [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC, title page:

The advantages of such a system [of a universal alphabet], both scientific and practical, were urged, the former in connection with the study of ethnology and philology, and the latter chiefly in connection with the great Protestant missionary enterprises of the present time. Professor [Karl Richard] Lepsius and Dr. Max Müller have devoted much time to the subject, founding their phonology on the physiological principles ably expounded by Dr. Johannes Müller, and published in the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin.

1854 March, “Notes of the Month”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Review, volume XLI (New Series), London: John Bowyer Nichols and Sons, →OCLC, page 281, column 2:

The Achean, the ancient Malayu and other mixed phonologies possessing a considerable degree of harshness, were thus formed.

1856, J[ames] R[ichardson] Logan, “The Maruwi of the Baniak Islands”, in J. R. Logan, editor, The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, volume XLI (New Series), number 1, Singapore: […] [F]or the editor by Jacob Baptist, →OCLC, page 16:

The most interesting applications of the phonograph, however, are to the analysis of speech. […] [T]he point in which the proposed arrangements will be of most value is in the analysis of the inflections of speech, or the rapid variations of pitch which occur continually. This analysis is of the highest importance for phonology, as the inflections are undoubtedly among the principal characteristics of dialects.

1879 October, R[obert] H[olford] M[acdowall] Bosanquet, “XXXV. On the Present State of Experimental Acoustics, with Suggestions for the Arrangement of an Acoustic Laboratory, and a Sketch of Research.”, in Robert Kane, William Thomson, William Francis, editors, The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, volume VIII (Fifth Series), number 49, London: Taylor and Francis, […]; sold by Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer; […], →OCLC, page 301:

Crucially, the neat separateness of phonologies which my account seems to imply is an abstraction and does not mean that the phonologies represented different regional or social dialects.

1997, Nikolaus Ritt, “Mutation, Variation and Selection in Phonological Evolution: A Sketch Based on the Case of Late Middle English a > au/_l{C/#}”, in Jacek Fisiak, editor, Studies in Middle English Linguistics (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs; 103), Berlin; New York, N.Y.: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 545:

Thus, underlying 'agtus' was converted first into 'āgtus' by the vowel lengthening rule, and then into 'āktus' by the ancient persistent rule. This example has previously been interpreted as indicating that new rules can enter a phonology elsewhere than at depth I.

2000, Wallace L. Chafe, “The Ordering of Phonological Rules”, in Charles W. Kreidler, editor, Phonology: Critical Concepts, volume IV (From Rules to Constraints), London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 219:

(uncountable) The study of the way sounds function in languages, including accent, intonation, phonemes, stress, and syllable structure, and which sounds are distinctive units within a language; (countable) the way sounds function within a given language; a phonological system.

ponolohiya

Sign language linguists have produced many volumes of description of the phonology and morphology of signs and the syntax of sign languages.

1995, David F. Armstrong, William C[larence] Stokoe, Sherman E. Wilcox, “The Universe of Gesture”, in Gesture and the Nature of Language, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 1996, →ISBN, page 21:

The term ‘phonology’ may seem odd in the context of sign linguistics, since the word has as its root phon – the Greek word for ‘sound’. […] However, sign linguists now prefer the term phonology to emphasise that the same level of structure exists in sign language and spoken language, despite the differences in modality. The study of sign phonology began with the work of William Stokoe, the American founder of sign linguistics.

1999, Rachel Sutton-Spence, Bencie Woll, “The Structure of Gestures and Signs”, in The Linguistics of British Sign Language: An Introduction, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 154:

[A]s with spoken languages, sign language phonologies are built from a repertoire of distinctive features that are assembled following principled combinatorial constraints. […] ASL [American Sign Language] linguistic properties / a. A phonology based on hand shape, orientation of the hands, the location and movement of the hands within the signing space, and contact of the hands with each other and the body.

2014, Gerald P. Berent, “Sign Language–Spoken Language Bilingualism and the Derivation of Bimodally Mixed Sentences”, in Tej K. Bhatia, William C. Ritchie, editors, The Handbook of Bilingualism and Multilingualism (Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics), 2nd edition, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN, part II (Neurological and Psychological Aspects of Bilingualism and Multilingualism), page 352:

(by extension, uncountable) The study of the way components of signs function in a sign language, and which components are distinctive units within the language; (countable) the way components of signs function within a given sign language.

fonologia

study of the way components of signs function in a sign language; way components of signs function within a given sign language


appurtenance

From Middle English appurtenaunce, from Anglo-Norman apurtenance and Old French apartenance, from apartenir, from Latin appertineō (“I belong, I appertain”). Equivalent to appertain + -ance. More at appertain.

der

(grammar) A modifier that is appended or prepended to another word to coin a new word that expresses belonging.


PP

en-noun

PP (countable and uncountable, plural PPs)

prepositional phrase
prepositional phrase#English

(grammar) Initialism of prepositional phrase.


pseudo-anglicism

(linguistics) A word in a language other than English that has an English appearance but does not exist in English itself.

псевдоанглицизъм

word with an English appearance that is not current in English


distich

From Latin distichon (“a poem of two verses, a distich consisting of a hexameter and a pentameter”), from Ancient Greek δίστιχον (dístikhon).

bor

Coordinate term: monostich

Through these distichs of increasing intensity and vagueness, the reader is brought to the riddle of the concluding distich: as far as the speaker is concerned, the girl was ‘pure’, but she will not be if Aeschylus wants to receive the same service on a ‘bad condition’.

2012, Christer Henriksén, A Commentary on Martial, Epigrams Book 9, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 282:

(prosody) A couplet, a two-line stanza making complete sense.


collective

From Middle French collectif, from Latin collēctīvus, from collēctus, past participle of colligō (“I collect”), from com- (“together”) + legō (“I gather”). Compare French collectif. Doublet of colectivo.

(grammar) Expressing a collection or aggregate of individuals, by a singular form.


object pronoun

(grammar) A pronoun that is used as the object of a sentence, such as "me", "him" or "us" in English.


subject pronoun

en-noun

subject pronoun (plural subject pronouns)

(grammar) A pronoun that is used as the subject of a sentence, such as "I", "he" "she" "they" or "we" in English.


imitative

en-adj

imitative (comparative more imitative, superlative most imitative)

more imitative (comparative)
most imitative (superlative)

(linguistics) sound-symbolic or onomatopoeic


geminate

/ˈd͡ʒɛmɪnət/

Borrowed from Latin geminātus, perfect passive participle of geminō (“to double”).

For example, Martin (2007) notes that compounds in several languages (including English and Turkish) violate the general phonological principles in the language (e.g., English only allows geminate consonants in compounds).

2008, Sara Finley, Review of “The Representation and Processing of Compound Words”:

(phonology, of a consonant) Pronounced longer and considered as being doubled.


geminate

(phonology) A doubled or repeated letter or speech sound.


diastole

en-noun

diastole (usually uncountable, plural diastoles)

From Ancient Greek διαστολή (diastolḗ, “separation, drawing asunder”), from διά (diá, “apart”) + στέλλειν (stéllein, “send”).

der

1815 March and June, On the Greek and Latin Accents, The Classical Journal, Volume XI, page 81,
I have inserted diastole which is omitted in Putschius, an insertion which both the complement, and the subsequent text make necessary.

[A]ccording to prosody, this syllable has the diastole and the stress, whereas the second of “cujus” or of “animam” has not.

1841, Gottfried Weber, Godfrey Weber′s General Music Teacher, page 115:

Surely Goethe′s basic dichotomy of systole and diastole in the Divan poem[…].

2010, Jürgen Thym, Ann Clark Fehn, Of Poetry and Song: Approaches to the Nineteenth-Century Lied, page 46:

(uncountable, prosody) The lengthening of a vowel or syllable beyond its typical length.

(Greek grammar) The hypodiastole, a textual or punctuation mark formerly used to disambiguate homonyms in Greek.


reflexive pronoun

en-noun

reflexive pronoun (plural reflexive pronouns)

(grammar) In English: a personal pronoun, having a form of "-self" as a suffix to show that the subject's action affects the subject itself.

(grammar) In many languages: a pronoun that makes a transitive verb reflexive or reciprocal.


nationist

en-adj

nationist (comparative more nationist, superlative most nationist)

more nationist (comparative)
most nationist (superlative)

From nation + -ist, from nationism, Joshua Fishman, 1968.

(sociolinguistics) A language used for the day-to-day functioning of government – official forms, intra-government communication.


filler

'Tis a meer filler; to ſtop a vacancy in the Hexameter, and connect the Preface to the Work of Virgil.

1697, Virgil, “Dedication”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

(linguistics) Any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause.

stopwoord

any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause


intervocalic

/ˌɪntəvəʊˈkælɪk/

(phonetics) Existing or occurring between vowels.


assonance

en-noun

assonance (countable and uncountable, plural assonances)

From French assonance, from Latin assonāre; by surface analysis, a- + son- + -ance.

"You should try to speak without assonances" said Merlyn. "For instance, 'The beer is never clear round here, dear' is unfortunate, even as an assonance.'"

1938, T.H. White, chapter 12, in The Sword in the Stone, Collins:

(prosody) The repetition of similar or identical vowel sounds (though with different consonants), usually in literature or poetry.


PAP

past active participle
past active participle#English

(grammar) Abbreviation of past active participle.

present active participle
present active participle#English

(grammar) Abbreviation of present active participle.


Hispanicism

(linguistics) A Spanish-language item as it appears in another language.

castellanismu

a Spanish language item as it appears in another language


ablatival

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(grammar) Of or pertaining to the ablative case.


PN

PN (countable and uncountable, plural PNs)

(linguistics) Abbreviation of proper noun.


monosemic

(prosody) Consisting of, or equal to, a single semeion.


monosemy

monosemic

these two terms are interchangeable variants

(semantics) The property of terms of having a single meaning; absence of ambiguity.

monosèmia

property of terms of having single meaning


successive

(grammar) Of or relating to the grammatical aspect which presupposes the completion of a secondary action as a premise for the primary action of the statement.


strident

From French strident, from Latin strīdēns, present active participle of strīdō.

(linguistics) One of a class of s-like fricatives produced by an airstream directed at the upper teeth.

érdes

linguistics: one of a class of s-like fricatives produced by an airstream directed at the upper teeth


intrusive

en-adj

intrusive (comparative more intrusive, superlative most intrusive)

more intrusive (comparative)
most intrusive (superlative)


relict

Inherited from Middle English relicte (“widow”), from Middle French relicte (“widow”), from Late Latin relicta (“widow”), from Latin relictus, past participle of relinquō (“I abandon, I relinquish, I leave (behind)”), from re- + linquō (“I leave, quit, forsake, depart from”).

inh+

A small number of linguists believe that Cimbrian is not an Austro-Bavarian dialect but a relict of Lombardic.

(formal) Something that, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.

(linguistics) A survival of an archaic word, language or other form.


amplifier

(linguistics) An adverb that adds intensity, such as "really" or "totally".


RFT

en-noun

RFT (countable and uncountable, plural RFTs)

relational frame theory
w:relational frame theory

(psychology, linguistics) Initialism of relational frame theory.


POS

POS (countable and uncountable, plural POSes or POSs)

Alternative form: PoS

Eight POSs are defined in traditional English grammar: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

2009, Mirjam Sepesy Maučec, Zdravko Kačič, “Statistical Modelling of Highly Inflective Languages”, in Juan Ramón Rabuñal Dopico, Julián Dorado de la Calle, Alejandro Pazos Sierra, editors, Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence, volume III (Mu–Z), Hershey, Pa.: Information Science Reference, →ISBN, page 1468, column 1:

To include part-of-speech (POS) information, the corpus was tagged using the CLAWS tagger.

2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects”, in Journal of English for Academic Purposes, volume 35, →DOI, page 109:

(linguistics) Initialism of part of speech.


inheritance

inheritance (countable and uncountable, plural inheritances)

Inherited from Middle English enheritaunce, inheritaunce, borrowed from Anglo-Norman, Old French enheritaunce, from enheriter.
Equivalent to inherit + -ance.

inh+

The Indo-European languages share various similarities as a result of their inheritance from a common ancestor.

(uncountable, especially linguistics, biology) The act or mechanism of inheriting; the state of having inherited.


objective case

(grammar) the form of a noun or pronoun used as the object of a verb or a preposition.


passively

Statements phrased in an active voice, with a few outcome-oriented goals, improve school performance more than those stated passively with either multiple goals or goals focused on processes or behaviors.

2008, Timothy J. Conlan, Alice M. Rivlin, Paul L. Posner, Intergovernmental Management for the Twenty-first Century, page 214:

(grammar) In the passive voice; having a passive construction.


rounded

en-adj

rounded (comparative more rounded, superlative most rounded)

more rounded (comparative)
most rounded (superlative)

The sound /u/ is a rounded vowel.

(linguistics, of a vowel etc.) Pronounced with the lips drawn together.


mutation

en-noun

mutation (countable and uncountable, plural mutations)

Late 14th century as Middle English mutacioun, from Latin mūtātiō, both directly and via Old French mutacion.

(linguistics) An alteration in a particular sound of a word, especially the initial consonant, which is triggered by the word's morphological or syntactic context and not by its phonological context.


productive

en-adj

productive (comparative more productive, superlative most productive)

more productive (comparative)
most productive (superlative)

Borrowed from Late Latin productivus, equivalent to product + -ive.

Moreover, this relationship is a productive one, in the sense that when new Adjectives are created (e.g. ginormous concocted out of gigantic and enormous), then the corresponding Adverb form (in this case ginormously) can also be used. And in those exceptional cases where Adverbs do not end in -ly, they generally have the same form as the corresponding Adjective, as with hard, fast, etc.

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 138:

(linguistics, of an affix or word construction rule) Consistently applicable to any of an open set of words.

продуктивен

linguistics: consistently applicable to any of an open set of words


antedate

en-verb

antedate (third-person singular simple present antedates, present participle antedating, simple past and past participle antedated)

antedates (present singular third-person)
antedating (participle present)
antedated (participle past)
antedated (past)

Furthermore, while OED entries are generally regarded as a good indication of when terms were first used in English, for 5 of the 7 terms the present research has been able to antedate OED’s earliest attestations, usually by a decade or more.

2017 January, James Lambert, “A multitude of “lishes”: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, volume 38, number 3, →DOI, →ISSN:

(lexicography) To find earlier citational evidence for a term.


lexicology

en-noun

lexicology (countable and uncountable, plural lexicologies)

From Ancient Greek λεξικός (lexikós, “of words”), from λέξις (léxis, “a saying, speech, word”), from λέγειν (légein, “to speak”). By surface analysis, lexico- + -logy.

der

The fifth is devoted to doctrine; the sixth and seventh to remarks on syntax and lexicology respectively.

(uncountable, linguistics) The part of linguistics that studies words, their nature and meaning, words' elements, relations between words including semantic relations, words groups and the whole lexicon.


BE

(linguistics) Initialism of Black English.


directive

From Middle French directif. The noun senses are from French directive (feminine form of the adjective).

(grammar) Relating to the directive case.


spec

(linguistics) Abbreviation of specifier.


vai

(grammar) Initialism of verb animate intransitive: an intransitive verb that agrees with an animate subject.


correlative

From correlate + -ive or cor- + relative.

(grammar) A pro-form; a non-personal pronominal, proadjectival, or proadverbial form


synonymic

He intended to publish a flora of the island, and drafted out a synonymic catalogue, into which he inserted from time to time elaborate descriptions drawn up from living specimens of the species which he was able to procure.

1999, J. G. Baker, Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles:

(semantics) Of, relating to, or being a synonym.


CSE

Singapore English
Singapore English#English

(linguistics) Initialism of colloquial Singapore English.


MW

Merriam-Webster OnLine has a slightly more extensive definition than the AHD […]
MW (1a) and (1b) cover about the same ground as AHD (1) and (2) but divide it up a little differently; […]

2006 December 2, Brian M. Scott <b.scottcsuohio.edu>, "Re: CRIT: Untitled", message-ID <a86e8xtjh2mi.nv2vbi8kpxb0$.dlg@40tude.net>, rec.arts.sf.composition, Usenet http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.composition/msg/bb413cfaa74b0fa4

(linguistics) Initialism of Merriam-Webster: an American publishing company known for its dictionaries


indeclinable

From French indéclinable, from Middle French, from Latin indeclinabilis. See in- not, and decline.

(grammar, of a word) Not grammatically declinable.


indeclinable

(grammar) A word that is not grammatically inflected.


dictionary definition

en-noun

dictionary definition (plural dictionary definitions)

(semantics) A descriptive definition specifying one of the commonly used meanings of the defined term.


international auxiliary language

international auxiliary language (plural international auxiliary languages)

international auxiliary languages (plural)

(linguistics) A language intended to be used by people who do not share a common language.


elative case

(grammar) The case used to indicate movement out of something; for example, out of the house. Some languages that make use of the elative are Finnish, Hungarian, and Estonian.


elative

From Latin ēlātus (“exalted, lofty, high”) + -ive. Possibly borrowed from German, which has produced a great deal of pioneering Semitist literature, and where Elativ is a common term for absolute superlative in all languages.

The elative of كَبِير (kabīr, “big”) is أَكْبَر (ʔakbar, “bigger/biggest, greater/greatest”).

In Semitic languages, the “adjective degree of superiority.” In some languages such as Arabic, the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an adjective are merged into a single form, the elative. How this form is understood or translated depends upon context and definiteness. In the absence of comparison, the elative conveys the notion of “greatest”, “supreme.”


elative

From Latin ēlātus, perfect past participle of efferō (“I carry out or away”)

(grammar) In Finno-Ugric languages, one of the locative cases, expressing “out of,” or “from” as in Finnish talosta, Hungarian házból (“out of the house”). Its opposite is the illative case (“into”). In Finnish, the case form is used also to express "out of" or "proximity" in a figurative sense which in English is often conveyed by the word "about".


realia

From Late Latin realia, neuter plural of realis (“real”).

(linguistics) Words and expressions for culture-specific material elements.


homologue

/ˈhɑːməlɑːɡ/

/ˈhoʊməlɑːɡ/

Borrowed from French homologue. Ultimately from Ancient Greek ὁμόλογος (homólogos). By surface analysis, homo- + -logue.

Something homologous; a homologous organ or part, chemical compound, chromosome, gene, or cultural element.

(linguistics) A phoneme, morpheme, or word shared by two languages or dialects, via cognation or naturalization.


polar

/ˈpəʊ̯lə(ɹ)/

[ˈpʰəʊ̯lə(ɹ)]

From Late Latin polāris, equivalent to pole + -ar.

(linguistics, of a question) Having but two possible answers, yes and no.


Glagolitic

/ˌɡlæɡəʊˈlɪtɪk/

/ˌɡlæɡəˈlɪtɪk/

From New Latin glagoliticus, from Old Church Slavonic глаголица (glagolica), from глаголъ (glagolŭ, “word, speech”), Glagolitic spelling ⰳⰾⰰⰳⱁⰾⰻⱌⰰ (glagolica).

der

(linguistics) The oldest known Slavonic alphabet, designed around 862–863 by Saint Cyril in order to translate the Bible and other texts into Old Church Slavonic. Mostly replaced by Cyrillic alphabet in Orthodox Christian Slavic countries, but still in use in the Croatian Church along the Dalmatian coast, in Czech and Croatian recensions of Church Slavic.

格拉哥里字母

gélāgēlǐ zìmǔ


essive case

(grammar) Noun case used to indicate a temporary state of being, such as the site of an action or the time at which it took place.


ethical dative

(grammar) A form of the dative case applied to pronouns; used (in Latin and some other languages, but rare in English) to show a certain interest felt by the person indicated.


elevated

en-adj

elevated (comparative more elevated, superlative most elevated)

more elevated (comparative)
most elevated (superlative)

(linguistics) Of a higher register or style.


lenis

Borrowed from Latin lēnis (“soft, smooth”).

All vowels, whether short or complex, are relatively shorter when followed by a fortis consonant and relatively longer when followed by a lenis one or, for those where this is possible, when no consonant follows (in free or unchecked syllables).

2004, Stephan Gramley, Michael Pätzold, A Survey of Modern English, Routledge, →ISBN, page 80:

(phonetics, of a consonant) Weakly articulated, hence voiced; especially as compared to the others of a group of homorganic consonants.


lenition

en-noun

lenition (countable and uncountable, plural lenitions)

Analyzable as lenis + -ition, or as if from Latin lēnīt(us) + -ion, or Latin lēnītiō (“softening”) from lēniō (“soften”) + -tiō (action noun suffix) (attested since at least the 1500s, the same timeframe lenition is first attested in English with the sense "assuaging"). Modelled on German Lenierung.

affix

Coordinate term: assimilation

One of these processes, the process of T-Lenition, is extremely common, even though it takes place only when the input consonant is adjacent to a small number of affixes. In this change, a stopped consonant, [p t k b d g], becomes a fricative, [s, z, š, ž]. This process is called lenition, or weakening.

2001, Robert Stockwell, Donka Minkova, English Words: History and Structure, page 104:

Environments are an essential part of any discussion of lenition. Textbooks often describe lenition as occurring in the weak intervocalic or word-final environments. The canonical examples of lenition given earlier in (1) through (3) all occur either between vowels or between sonorants.

2001, Lisa M. Lavoie, Consonant Strength: Phonological Patterns and Phonetic Manifestations, page 7:

2008, Krzysztof Jaskula, Celtic, Joaquim Brandão de Carvalho, Tobias Scheer, Philippe Ségéral (editors), Lenition and Fortition, Studies in Generative Grammar: 99, page 347,
As for Goidelic languages, the situation is clearer because Lenition III in this subfamily consisted in losing the same property as the first two lenitions, namely stopness.

2011, Naomi Gurevich, 66: Lenition, Marc van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth V. Hume, Keren Rice (editors), The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, Volume III: Phonological Processes, page 1573,
Five general patterns of lenitions – all based to some extent on empirical data – are identified.

(phonetics, phonology) A weakening of articulation causing a consonant to become lenis (soft).


breathed

(phonetics, of a consonant or vowel) voiceless, contrasting with voiced


screeve

en-noun

screeve (countable and uncountable, plural screeves)

Borrowed from Georgian მწკრივი (mc̣ḳrivi, “row, series”).

bor

(grammar) In Georgian grammar, a combination of tense, aspect and mood.


SB

Standard Babylonian
Standard Babylonian#English

(linguistics) Initialism of Standard Babylonian.


polysemy

en-noun

polysemy (usually uncountable, plural polysemies)

Fifty years ago the linguist and semanticist Stephen Ullmann wrote that polysemy, the fact that some words have a network of multiple but related meanings, is "the pivot of semantic analysis" (Ullmann 1957 [1951]: 117).

2011, Brigitte Nerlich, Polysemy: Flexible Patterns of Meaning in Mind and Language, page 3:

(semantics) The property of a word, sign or symbol that can represent multiple meanings, including multiple similar ones.


proximate

From Late Latin proximatus, past participle of proximare (“to draw near, approach”), from Latin proximus (“nearest”), superlative of prope (“near”).

(linguistics) A grammatical marker that distinguishes a relatively salient referent in a given context from a relatively non-salient (obviative) one.


anaphora

anaphora (countable and uncountable, plural anaphoras or anaphors or anaphora)

anaphoras (plural)
anaphors (plural)
anaphora (plural)

From Ancient Greek ἀναφορά (anaphorá, “a carrying back”), from ἀνά (aná, “up”) + φέρω (phérō, “I carry”).

bor

(linguistics) An expression that refers to a preceding expression.

anàfora

linguistics: expression that refers to another expression

The contributions to this volume represent the "next generation" of studies in anaphora – defined broadly as those morpho-syntactic forms available to speakers for formulating reference – taking as their starting point the foundation of research done in the 1980s.

1996, Barbara A. Fox, editor, Studies in Anaphora:

(linguistics) An expression that can refer to virtually any referent, the specific referent being defined by context.

ܐܲܢܲܦܘܿܪܵܐ

linguistics: An expression that can refer to virtually any referent


inventory

From Middle English inventorie, from Medieval Latin inventōrium, alteration of Late Latin inventārium, from Latin inveniō (“to find out”).

Germanic languages have a marked tendency towards large vocalic inventories.

Most final consonants have been lost, resulting in a tonal language with a rich consonantal and vocalic inventory, but with a relatively simple syllabic structure..

2014, Guillaume Jacques, “V: Cone”, in Jackson Sun, editor, Phonological Profiles of Little-Studied Tibetic Varieties, Taipei: Academia Sinica, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 270:

(linguistics, especially phonology) The total set of a (specified) linguistic feature (within a language etc.)


semantic

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σημαντικός (sēmantikós). Compare French sémantique.

Its semantic is polysyllabic, viz. it uses the word formations of spoken Chinese.

2005, Friedrich Alexander Bischoff, Yinglin Wang, San tzu ching explicated, the classical initiation to classic Chinese couplet I to XI, page 21:

In this particular case, the semantic is on the left of its host sinogram.

2013, William S-Y. Wang, Love and War in Ancient China: Voices from the Shijing, page 25:

The 亻(人) ren2 'person' semantic has been replaced by 氵(水) shui3 'water' semantic in浸, but帚 zhou3 'broom' has phonetically or semantically nothing to do with 浸 and is just a residue of 侵 after亻(人) ren2 'person' has been removed.

2017, Vladimir Skultety, Understanding Chinese Characters:

(linguistics) In such writing systems as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a phono-semantic character that provides an indication of its meaning; contrasted with phonetic.

形旁

component of a phono-semantic compound that indicates meaning


sentence fragment

en-noun

sentence fragment (plural sentence fragments)

(grammar) An incomplete sentence; a phrase or clause that is punctuated and capitalized as a sentence but does not constitute a complete grammatical sentence. It is usually the result of failing to include a subject and a verb, or beginning a sentence with a subordinate conjunction or relative pronoun.


formalism

formalism (countable and uncountable, plural formalisms)

/ˈfɔɹml̩ˌɪzm̩/

Dirac approaches quantum mechanics by means of a so-called symbolic method, the bracket formalism. Although this formalism has a mathematical flavour, in fact, it is based upon bold claims which lack mathematical foundation.

1986, S. J. L. van Eijndhoven, J. de Graaf, A Mathematical Introduction to Dirac's Formalism, Elsevier (North-Holland), page ix:

1992, tuart M. Shieber, Constraint-based Grammar Formalisms, The MIT Press, page 51,
It is this abstraction that justifies considering these methods as characterizing constraint-based formalisms in general, rather than an individual formalism.

(linguistics, computing, mathematics) A formal expression of a grammar; a formal grammar; a set of rules of syntax that, without reference to semantics, determine whether a sequence of symbols is a well-formed sentence in a given formal language.


Low German

High Dutch

antonym(s) of “West Germanic languages that are not High German”

High German

includes numerous Upper German and Middle German/Central German dialects from which Standard High German mainly developed

→ German: American Low German

Because northern Germany (Low Germany), where it is spoken, is lower in elevation than southern Germany.

(Low Franconian (Dutch) is a dialect of Low German).

1951, Joseph Wright, A Middle High German primer, 4th ed. revised by M. O'C. Walshe, p. 1

Low German itself falls into two divisions: a western division, namely Low Franconian, the parent (with the admixture of Frisian and Saxon elements) of Flamish and Dutch; and an eastern division, Low Saxon or, as it is simply called, Low German (Plattdeutsch). High German (Hochdeutsch) became …

1983, Henry W. Sullivan, Calderón in the German Lands and the Low Countries: his reception and influence, 1654-1980, part of the series Cambridge Iberian and Latin American Studies, published by Cambridge University Press, page 9

Some linguists adopt a much broader approach and consider that Franconian also embraces dialects of Low German (Flemish, Brabantish, Limburgish, Dutch, Utrechtian, etc.) and High German (southern Rheno-Franconian and eastern Franconian).

Yves Lejeune, The case of Belgium, in: 2010, European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Minority language protection in Europe: into a new decade: Regional or minority languages, No. 8, Council of Europe Publishing, p. 43ff., here p. 53

… we may distinguish:
…
Low German, containing:
Low Franconian (lower Rhine), known from some psalm translations.
Old Saxon (modern Lower Saxony), best known from the poem Heliand.

2016 (originally 2001), John M. Jeep (ed.), Michael Frassetto, Joan A. Holladay, Edward R. Haymes, Stephanie Cain Van D'Elden (associate eds.), Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia, published by Routledge (originally by Garland Publishing), p. 266 (section German Language, Dialects)

(linguistics) Any of a number of West Germanic languages, primarily spoken in northern Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, that did not undergo the High German consonant shift; the group thereof.


reciprocity

reciprocity (countable and uncountable, plural reciprocities)

(grammar) A reciprocal construction involves two noun phrases where each of the participants occupies both the role of agent and patient with respect to the other. see: Wikipedia:Reciprocal pronoun.


cmene

Cmene are always written with a period at the end, and if they start with a vowel then also with a period at the beginning.

These minor restrictions are due to the fact that all Lojban cmene embedded in a speech stream will be preceded by one of these words or by a pause. With one of these words embedded, the cmene might break up into valid Lojban words followed by a shorter cmene.

1997, John W. Cowan, The Complete Lojban Language, →ISBN:

I removed from the frequency list all cmene and unknown lujvo and cmavo.

a. 2001, Chris Double, https://web.archive.org/web/20050910052916/http://www.double.co.nz/lojban/ http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.double.co.nz/lojban/

cmene always end with a consonant followed by a mandatory pause (a period). No other Lojban word ends with a consonant.

respelled according to Lojban rules
law of Hobson-Jobson

(grammar) A proper name, or proper noun, respelled according to Lojban rules; reckoned as a part of speech separate from brivla (content words) and cmavo (function words).

cmavo

structure words ie: conjunctions, prepositions, articles, numerals, and some adverbs


renativization

(linguistics) the return to use of a local or regional language whose use was previously discouraged or suppressed


metathesis

metathesis (countable and uncountable, plural metatheses)

→ Malay: metatesis

Borrowed from Late Latin metathesis, from Ancient Greek μετάθεσις (metáthesis), from μετά (metá, “among”) + θέσις (thésis, “placement”).

af

(phonetics, prosody) The transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word, such as in ask as /æks/.

قَلْب مَكَانِيّ

the transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word

перестано́вка

зву́ков и́ли слого́в в слова́х


excursion

Borrowed from Latin excursio (“a running out, an inroad, invasion, a setting out, beginning of a speech”), from excurrere (“to run out”), from ex (“out”) + currere (“to run”).

bor

(phonetics) A deviation in pitch, for example in the syllables of enthusiastic speech.


cliticization

en-noun

cliticization (countable and uncountable, plural cliticizations)

(grammar) The process, or an instance, of a word becoming a clitic.


SSB

Standard Southern British
w:Standard Southern British

(phonetics) Initialism of Standard Southern British.


trochee

Borrowed from French trochée, via Latin trochaeus from the Ancient Greek τροχαῖος (trokhaîos), derived from τρέχω (trékhō, “run”).

‘He made us read James Fenton on the genius of the trochee.’

2016, Ian McEwan, Nutshell, Vintage, page 152:

A metrical foot in verse consisting of a stressed or heavy syllable followed by an unstressed or light syllable.


iamb

From French iambe in the mid-1800s, from Latin iambus, from Ancient Greek ἴαμβος (íambos). Displaced iambus which shares the same classical origin.

(prosody) A metrical foot in verse consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.


IDS

(linguistics) Initialism of infant-directed speech.


prescription

prescription (countable and uncountable, plural prescriptions)

/pɹəˈskɹɪpʃən/

Borrowed from Middle French, from Old French prescripcion, from Latin praescriptio (“preface; pretext; something written ahead of time”), from prae- (“pre-, before”) + scribere (“to write”) + -tio (“-tion, forming nouns”).

taalregulering

the act or practice of laying down norms of language usage; an instance of this

(linguistics) The act of establishing or formalizing ideal norms for language use, as opposed to describing the actual norms of such use; an instance of this.


ictus

en-noun

ictus (plural ictus or ictuses or ictusses)

ictus (plural)
ictuses (plural)
ictusses (plural)

From Latin ictus (“a blow”), from īco (“I hit, strike, or smite”; “I stab or sting”).

(prosody) The stress of voice laid upon an accented syllable of a word. Compare arsis.


unmarked

The use of that word in that context was unmarked.

(linguistics) Not marked; not standing out as unusual.


cerebralise

en-verb

cerebralise (third-person singular simple present cerebralises, present participle cerebralising, simple past and past participle cerebralised)

cerebralises (present singular third-person)
cerebralising (participle present)
cerebralised (participle past)
cerebralised (past)

(linguistics, obsolete) To make (a consonant) retroflex.


sestet

From Italian sestetto, from sesto (“sixth”), Latin sextus, from sex (“six”).

(poetry) The last six lines of a sonnet, forming two stanzas of three lines each.


anapest

Dr. Seuss
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

From Latin anapaestus, from Ancient Greek ἀνάπαιστος (anápaistos, “struck back, reversed [relative to dactyl]”), from ἀνά (aná, “back”) + παίω (paíō, “I strike”).

der

struck back, reversed 􂀿relative to dactyl􂁀

(prosody) In qualitative meter, a metrical foot consisting of three syllables, two unstressed and one stressed.

(prosody) In quantitative meter, a metrical foot consisting of three syllables, two short and one long.

(prosody) A fragment, phrase or line of poetry or verse using this meter.


ACI

accusativus cum infinitivo
accusativus cum infinitivo#English

(grammar) Initialism of accusativus cum infinitivo.


benedictive

(linguistics) A particular verbal mood in Sanskrit language.


conjunct

From Latin conjunctus, the perfect past participle of conjungō. Doublet of conjoint. See conjoin.

(linguistics) An adjunct that supplements a sentence with information, connecting the sentence with previous parts of the discourse. Not considered to be an essential part of the propositional content.


exocentric

(grammar, of a phrase or compound) Not having the same part of speech as any of its constituent words.

eksosentrinen

(grammar, of a phrase or compound) not having the same part of speech as any of its constituent words

(semantics, of or relating to a compound term) Not having the same semantic referent as the semantic referent of any of its constituent parts.


EAP

en-noun

EAP (countable and uncountable, plural EAPs)

EAP research has developed advanced methods for producing corpus-informed vocabulary resources, but these have yet to be fully leveraged to promote disciplinary literacy within the secondary school context

2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes”, in Journal of English for Academic Purposes, volume 35, →DOI, page 105:

(linguistics) Initialism of English for Academic Purposes.


reflex

From Late Latin reflexus, past participle of reflectere (“to bend back”), equivalent to re- + flex. Photography sense is from noun sense meaning “reflection”. Compare English reflect.

Coordinate term: cognate

(linguistics) The descendant of an earlier language element, such as a word or phoneme, in a daughter language.

արտացոլում

the descendant of an earlier language element, such as a word or phoneme, in a daughter language

The Middle Korean reflex for mey was mwoy 뫼 (mwoy)

2011, Ki-Moon Lee, S. Robert Ramsey, A history of the Korean language:

(linguistics, rare) The ancestor word corresponding to a descendant.


syntactician

Thus, Jackendoff's analysis of Aspectual Auxiliaries as Specifiers which expand V-bar into V-double-bar seems to have some empirical support (though we should point out that by no means all X-bar syntacticians are happy to treat Aspectuals as Specifiers which expand V-bar into V-double-bar: some prefer to treat them as Verbs which head their own VP, for reasons which you can work out for yourself when you come to Exercise VII).

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 240:


nativism

nativism (countable and uncountable, plural nativisms)

(linguistics) A theory that some knowledge of grammar is innate.


ergativity

We can speak of ergative/absolutive organization whenever intransitive subjects pattern with transitive objects (to the exclusion of transitive subjects). So defined, ergativity is independent of case marking and has many linguistic manifestations, some being observable in any given language. At the same time, ergativity competes with accusativity even in languages where it represents the predominant pattern.

1991, Ronald W. Langacker, Foundations of Cognitive Grammar: Descriptive Application, Volume 2, Stanford University Press, page 386:

Ergativity is thus complementary to the familiar grammatical pattern of accusativity, in which one case (nominative) marks both intransitive and transitive subject, with another case (accusative) being employed for transitive object.

1994, R. M. W. Dixon, Ergativity, Cambridge University Press, page 1:

2000, Javier Rivas, Ergativity and Transitive Gradients in the Accusative and Infinitive Construction, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Imprenta Universitaría, page 153,
Apart from the types of split ergativity-accusativity dealt with in the previous section, there are languages which show degrees of ergativity in their morphology and also —although less frequently— in their syntax, […] . Actually, Dixon (1994: 172) claims that syntactic ergativity is much stranger cross-linguistically than some degree of morphological ergativity. […] There are many languages in the world which show some degree of ergativity.

(linguistics) The property of a grammar's (or, by extension, a language's) being ergative; the attribute of possessing a grammatical pattern such that the object of a transitive verb is treated the same way as the subject of an intransitive one, while the subject of the transitive verb is treated differently.

ergativiteit

linguistics: structuring property of grammar


oxytone

/ˈɒksɪˌtəʊn/

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ὀξῠ́τονος (oxútonos).

lbor

(linguistics, of a word) Having the stress or an acute accent on the last syllable.


oxytone

/ˈɒksɪˌtəʊn/

(linguistics) A word with the stress or an acute accent on the last syllable.


competency

en-noun

competency (countable and uncountable, plural competencies)

(linguistics) Implicit knowledge of a language’s structure.

kompetens

linguistics: implicit knowledge of a language’s structure


listening

From Middle English listnynge, lustnynge, lystenynge, equivalent to listen + -ing.

You can improve your listening well by watching English-language films.

Skill or ability of perceiving spoken language.


low back merger

low back merger (plural low back mergers)

The low back merger is one possible outcome of a series of triggering events outlined in Chapter 5, but it is itself the triggering event for a variety of further consequences for the English vowel system.

1994, William Labov, Principles of Linguistic Change, volume 3:


phonemic split

(phonology) The phenomenon in which a single phoneme diverges into two different phonemes.


phonemic merger

phonemic merger (plural phonemic mergers)

The first sign of a phonemic merger is that two signs, which hitherto have been kept carefully apart, become used wrongly, e.g. das is written for MHG dar, and aller for MHG alles (Schulze 1967: 38f.).

2012, Gerhard Augst, New Trends in Graphemics and Orthography, page 171:

(phonology) The phenomenon in which two different phonemes merge and become replaced by a single phoneme.


cot-caught merger

cot-caught merger (plural cot-caught mergers)

/ˈkɑt kɔt ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/

/ˈkɑt kɑt ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/

/ˈkɒt kɔːt ˌmɜːd͡ʒə/

/ˈkɔt kɔt ˌmɛɾdʒəɾ/

/ˈkɔt koːt ˌmɵːd͡ʒɘ/

One was /au/-monophthongisation, described earlier in Chapter 2, while the second was the so-called low-back merger (LBM), also referred to as the cot–caught merger because words in these two classes are pronounced the same and speakers cannot hear any small differences in their pronunciation, even when they are present.

2011, Scott F Kiesling, Linguistic Variation and Change, page 81:

(phonology) A phonemic merger in some varieties of English (especially American and Canadian English) in which the vowels in words such as hot and doll (/ɒ/) and in words such as law and talk (/ɔː/) are pronounced identically, making the words cot and caught homophones.


fig.

(fig.) a fat bank account

(chiefly lexicography) Abbreviation of figurative.


extraposition

extraposition (countable and uncountable, plural extrapositions)

(linguistics) The movement of an element from its normal place to one at the end, or near the end, of a sentence.


exophora

From exo- + Ancient Greek φέρω (phérō, “to carry”).

pre

(linguistics) A reference to something extralinguistic.


elision

Borrowed from Latin elisionem, accusative singular of elisio.

See also: contraction, apheresis, apocope, syncope

(linguistics) The omission of a letter or syllable between two words or inside a word; sometimes marked with an apostrophe.


epistemic

PIE word
 *h₁epi
From Ancient Greek ἐπιστήμη (epistḗmē, “knowledge; science”) + English -ic (suffix meaning of or pertaining to forming adjectives from nouns) (compare modern Greek επιστημικός (epistimikós, “relating to science, scientific”)). Ἐπιστήμη (Epistḗmē) is derived from ἐπῐ́στᾰμαι (epístamai, “to have knowledge of, know”) (from ἐπῐ- (epi-, prefix meaning ‘all over; on, on top of’) + ῐ̔́στημῐ (hístēmi, “to stand; to weigh”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”))) + -η (-ē, suffix forming action nouns).

der

Professor [Richard] Boyd provides a powerful argument for the conclusion that in the sciences metaphor is often theory-constitutive, by means of an important modification of the causal theory of reference in terms of ‘epistemic access’; Metaphors provide epistemic access to the world via the articulation of new ideas at a stage when literal language cannot cope, enabling us with increasing accuracy to accommodate language to the world.

1981 April, Martin Warner, “Metaphor and Thought. Edited by Andrew Ortony. London, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. 1979. x+501 pp. £20.00 (paperbound £7.50). [book review]”, in C. C. Smith, editor, The Modern Language Review, volume 76, number 2, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Modern Humanities Research Association, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 428:

(by extension, linguistics) Of or relating to how cognition or knowledge is expressed in language.

episteeminen

of or relating to how cognition or knowledge is expressed in language


cohesion

en-noun

cohesion (usually uncountable, plural cohesions)

Attested from the late 17th century, borrowed from French cohésion, from Latin cohaesiō, cohaesiōnem.

Coordinate term: coherence

(linguistics) Grammatical or lexical relationship between different parts of the same text.


semi-deponent

Of a verb whose present system is normal but its perfect system is deponent.


Nordic

en-adj

Nordic (comparative more Nordic, superlative most Nordic)

more Nordic (comparative)
most Nordic (superlative)

From French nordique, from nord (“north”).

(linguistics) Of or relating to the family of North Germanic languages.

nòrdic

of or relating to the family of North Germanic languages


productivity

en-noun

productivity (usually uncountable, plural productivities)

(linguistics) The ability to form new words using established patterns and discrete linguistic elements, as derivational affixes -ness and -ity.


figura

From Latin figūra. Coined by Louis Hjelmslev.

Letters of the alphabet are the figurae that make up a written word.

(semiotics) Any of the non-signifying constituents of signifiers.


apico-

classical compound
international scientific vocabulary

From international scientific vocabulary, reflecting a New Latin combining form, from apex.

e.g. apicoalveolar, apicodental, apicopalatal

(linguistics) Articulated with the tip of the tongue.


descriptor

That which describes; a word, phrase, etc. serving as a description.

(linguistics) A word or expression used to describe or identify something.


ghost word

Coined by Walter William Skeat in 1886; from ghost + word.

Here such cases as ghost words & misglosses, secondary semantics, different etymologies for one etymon or one etymology for different etyma, and finally semantic overpermissiveness are discussed.

2006, Folia orientalia - Volumes 42-43, page 467:

Anglo-Indian English was recognised in colonial days as having unique features, but it was never called Hobson-Jobson at that time. Therefore, this is really a ghost word, or, rather, a ghost meaning.

2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At 'Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 65:

(linguistics) A fictitious or erroneous word, originally meaningless (not used in practice), that has been published in a dictionary or similarly authoritative reference work or otherwise listed as genuine, generally as the result of misinterpretation, misreading, or typographical error.

a similar phenomenon featuring Japanese kanji


diasystem

(linguistics) A system that reflects features common to a group of linguistic varieties.


preposed

(grammar) Placed before another term in a phrase.


postposed

(grammar) Placed after another term in a phrase.


localism

localism (countable and uncountable, plural localisms)

These documents contain occasional localism, typically references to other operating systems.

1983, UNIX Programmer's Manual: Revised and Expanded Edition, 7th edition, volume 2, archived from the original on 2021-05-11, page vii:

(countable, uncountable, linguistics) A linguistic feature that is unique to a locality.

(uncountable, linguistics) The belief that language functions are localized to various parts of the brain.

Other theoretical approaches that stress the primacy of space or spatial meaning in language with respect to other domains or meanings are localism and case grammar. In localism, spatial expressions are considered the most important category in the lexicon and in grammar.

2006, Eva-Maria Graf, The Ontogenetic Development of Literal and Metaphorical Space in Language, page 6:

(uncountable, linguistics) An approach to understanding expressions in terms of position and movement (sometimes abstract, e.g. one who is hungry is in a notional "space" of hunger).


logogram

/ˈlɒɡ.əˌɡɹæm/

/ˈlɔː.ɡəˌɡɹæm/

/ˈlɑɡ.əˌɡɹæm/

A character or symbol (usually nonalphanumeric) that represents a word or phrase.

語標

character or symbol that represents a word or phrase


thematic

en-adj

thematic (comparative more thematic, superlative most thematic)

more thematic (comparative)
most thematic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek θεματικός (thematikós), from θέμα (théma, “theme”). Equivalent to theme + -atic.

A considerable number of derived nominals, especially thematic nouns, also exhibited o-grade roots.

2006, Donald Ringe, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 12:

Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies

(grammar, Indo-European studies) Of a word stem, ending in a vowel that appears in or otherwise influences the noun or verb's inflection.


voicing

(phonetics) The articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate.

(phonetics, phonology) A classification of speech sounds that tend to be associated with vocal cord vibration.

清濁

phonetics: classification of speech sounds

(phonology) A phonological process that turns a voiceless sound into a voiced one.


vincular

See Table 3.2 for a collection of enumerative results related to vincular 3-patterns, as well as for their connections to other combinatorial objects.

2011, Sergey Kitaev, Patterns in Permutations and Words, page 293:


suppletion

en-noun

suppletion (usually uncountable, plural suppletions)

From German Suppletivwesen, from Latin supplēre (“to supply”), perfect stem supplet-, + -ion.

(linguistics, grammar) The use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking, e.g. using “to be able” as the infinitive of “can”, or “better” as the comparative of “good”, or “went” as the simple past of “go”.

суплетыві́зм

(grammar) the use of an unrelated word or phrase to supply inflected forms otherwise lacking

(grammar) More loosely, the use of unrelated (or distantly related) words for semantically related words which may not share the same lexical category, such as father/paternal or cow/bovine, normally referred to as collateral adjectives.


tonemic

(linguistics) of, or relating to tonemes or a language that uses tonemes


topicalize

en-verb

topicalize (third-person singular simple present topicalizes, present participle topicalizing, simple past and past participle topicalized)

topicalizes (present singular third-person)
topicalizing (participle present)
topicalized (participle past)
topicalized (past)

(grammar) To place the topic of a sentence at the beginning.


topicalized

en-adj

topicalized (comparative more topicalized, superlative most topicalized)

more topicalized (comparative)
most topicalized (superlative)

(linguistics, of a sentence) Having the topic at the beginning.


topicalization

(linguistics) The placing of the topic of a sentence at the beginning.


toneme

(linguistics) A phoneme in a language that uses different tones for different meanings.


modality

en-noun

modality (countable and uncountable, plural modalities)

(linguistics) The inflection of a verb that shows how its action is conceived by the speaker; mood

(semiotics) A particular way in which the information is to be encoded for presentation to humans, i.e. to the type of sign and to the status of reality ascribed to or claimed by a sign, text or genre.


extender

(linguistics) A phrase that extends an expression to include further members of a set, e.g. "and stuff", "or something".


diglossic

(linguistics) Of or relating to diglossia.


near-minimal pair

near-minimal pair (plural near-minimal pairs)

(phonology) A pair of words differing by a few (but more than one) phonetic segments or suprasegments, used to suggest a proposed phoneme, toneme, or chroneme may be valid.


xenonym

From xeno- (“foreign”) + -onym (“name”).


basilectal

I prepared the three Matched Guise samples myself, controlling the forms carefully to represent basilectal, mesolectal, and acrolectal levels of usage.

1985, Nessa Wolfson, Joan Manes, Language of Inequality, →ISBN, page 158:

It is tremendously important to study basilectal speech, but this valorization process has had some unfortunate byproducts.

1996, James E. Alatis, Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics, →ISBN:

While the use of basilectal French in colonial novels serves principally to depict the linguistic realities of interaction between colonial rulers and their subjects during the colonial era, the inclusion of basilectal French in novels set in the post-independence era generally functions to provide information on the social or educational status of a character.

2014, Kathryn Batchelor, Decolonizing Translation, →ISBN:

(linguistics) of, or relating to a basilect


glossonym

Irish is the glossonym of the native language of Ireland.


basilect

From basi- (“base, bottom”) + -lect (“speech”).

confix

The highest level of good English has been called the acrolect; the lowest level of poor speech, the basilect; both are contrasted with the matrilect, the general native language.

1977, Joseph Twadell Shipley, In praise of English: the growth & use of language, page 78:

In both regions English is used extensively, the spoken form ranging from, in the language of linguisticians, the basilect to the mesolect and the matrilect or acrolect (prestige English) .

1987, Douglas N. Young, Language--planning and medium in education:

If only the basilect is a true creole, then the mesolect is relegated to limbo -- not a creole, certainly not a standard.

(sociolinguistics) A variety of a language that has diverged greatly from the standard form, and is only considered suitable for very informal contexts by speakers.


antiphony

en-noun

antiphony (countable and uncountable, plural antiphonies)

Still another phase of language which interests Professor Orr is that of vowel antiphony in the functional development of language; e.g. the “front-back” vowel sequence (tittle-tattle, et patati et patata, etc.).

1953, The French Review, volume 27, page 300:

Roman Jakobson gives evidence to show how language uses ‘antiphony’ or vowel opposition in pairs of words with opposite meanings: ‘gleam’ and ‘gloom’, ‘here’ and ‘there’, or in French ‘petit’ and ‘grand’.

2000, Edward Nye, Literary and Linguistic Theories in Eighteenth-Century France: From Nuances to Impertinence, →ISBN, page 175:

The various types of reduplication […] include full reduplication (tum-tum), […] vowel antiphony (flip-flop, criss-cross) […]

2019, Paul Rastall, Bottom-Up Linguistics: Perspectives and Explorations with a Postscript on Language and Reality, →ISBN, page 36:

(phonetics) Synonym of apophony (“contrastive vowel modification”).


ethnonym

The name of an ethnic group, nation, nationality, tribe, tribal alliance, clan, or other ethnic community.


regionalism

regionalism (countable and uncountable, plural regionalisms)

(countable, linguistics) A word or phrase originating in, characteristic of, or limited to a region.


bimoraic

(phonology, of a syllable) Having two morae, i.e. being composed of either two short vowels, or one long vowel, or a diphthong.


endonym

A name used by a group or category of people (an ingroup) to refer to themselves or their language, as opposed to a name given to them by other groups (outgroups).

endònim

a name used by a group or category of people to refer to themselves or their language


provincialism

provincialism (countable and uncountable, plural provincialisms)

From French provincialisme, equivalent to provincial + -ism.

Prose is allowed less liberty in this respect; but no one nowadays would maintain that the adoption of a provincialism into the literary dialect is absolutely prohibited.

1875, Andrew Dousa Hepburn, Manual of English Rhetoric, New York: American Book Company, page 79:

(linguistics) A word or locution characteristic of a region or district.

murresana

linguistics: word or locution characteristic of a region or district — see also regionalism


spondee

From Latin spondēus (“spondee”), from Ancient Greek σπονδεῖος (spondeîos, “associated with a libation”) from σπονδή (spondḗ, “libation”): spondees were often used in melodies sung at libations.

der

(poetry) A word or metrical foot of two syllables, either both long or both stressed.


monomoraic

(phonology, of a syllable) Containing one mora.


minimal pair

"Beach and bitch" and "bun and ban" are examples of minimal pairs.

(phonology) A pair of words differing by only one phonetic segment or suprasegment, used to prove the validity of a proposed phoneme, toneme, or chroneme.


deletionist

en-adj

deletionist (comparative more deletionist, superlative most deletionist)

more deletionist (comparative)
most deletionist (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-deletionist.wav

(classical studies) Favoring the deletion of a given passage or work as spurious.


causal

Borrowed from Late Latin causalis, from Latin causa (“cause”); see cause.

(grammar) a word (such as because) that expresses a reason or a cause


hypercorrect

hypercorrect (comparative more hypercorrect, superlative most hypercorrect)

more hypercorrect (comparative)
most hypercorrect (superlative)

Back-formation from hypercorrection, equivalent to hyper- + correct.

(linguistics) Nonstandard because of a mistaken idea of standard usage.

矯枉過正的

nonstandard because of a mistaken idea of standard usage


hypercorrect

en-verb

hypercorrect (third-person singular simple present hypercorrects, present participle hypercorrecting, simple past and past participle hypercorrected)

hypercorrects (present singular third-person)
hypercorrecting (participle present)
hypercorrected (participle past)
hypercorrected (past)

I use reduplicate to mean "redouble," though both words should mean "quadruple," but English is funny that way, so hold off on the hypercorrecting "gotcha!"

2007 October 28, William Safire, “And Now This”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-26:

(transitive, linguistics) To change (a word or phrase) to a nonstandard form in the mistaken belief that it is standard usage.


substratum

Borrowed from New Latin substratum, nominalisation of the neuter of Latin substrātus, perfect passive participle of substernō.


ā

(lexicography) A dictionary transcription for the FACE vowel.


prolepsis

en-noun

prolepsis (countable and uncountable, plural prolepses)

From Latin prolepsis, from Ancient Greek πρόληψις (prólēpsis, “preconception, anticipation”), from προλαμβάνω (prolambánō, “take beforehand, anticipate”).

der

(grammar, rhetoric) A construction that consists of placing an element in a syntactic unit before that to which it would logically correspond.


stopped

en-adj

stopped (comparative more stopped, superlative most stopped)

more stopped (comparative)
most stopped (superlative)

From stop + -ed. In some senses, the adjective follows from the verb; in others, it may derive directly from the noun stop.

even a stopped clock is right twice a day

þ was first voiced and then stopped , becoming d

1874, Henry Sweet, A History of English Sounds from the Earliest Period:

(phonetics) Made by complete closure of the organs in the mouth; said of certain consonants such as b, d, p, and t.


allomorph

(linguistics) Any of the different phonological representations of a morpheme.

語素變體

phonological representation of a morpheme


definitive

demonstrative pronoun
demonstrative pronoun

(grammar) a word, such as a definite article or demonstrative pronoun, that defines or limits something


grammatical person

en-noun

grammatical person (countable and uncountable, plural grammatical persons)

(grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and other people; implemented in most languages by a variety of pronouns, and in inflected languages by variation in word endings.


fourth person

(grammar) A variety of the third person sometimes used for indefinite referents, such as one, as in one shouldn't do that.

The man saw the dog as he was leaving. (if he is the third person, or proximate, it refers to the man; if he is the fourth person, or obviative, it refers to the dog)

(linguistics) grammatical person in some languages distinct from first, second, and third persons, semantically translated by one of them in English. For example, in Ojibwe, it is a variety of the third person used for a secondary, or obviative, third person.

четвърто лице

person distinct from first, second, and third persons


apheresis

apheresis (countable and uncountable, plural aphereses)

/əˈfɪəɹɪsɪs/

/ˌæfəˈɹisɪs/

From Latin aphaeresis, from Ancient Greek ἀφαίρεσις (aphaíresis, “a taking away”), from ἀφαιρέω (aphairéō) (from ἀφ- (aph-), variant of ἀπό (apó, “off, away from”) before an aspirated vowel) + αἱρέω (hairéō, “to take; to snatch”)) + -σις (-sis, suffix forming nouns of action); the grammatical sense developed in Latin.

der

(phonetics, linguistics, prosody) Elision, suppression, or complete loss of a letter or sound (syllable) from the beginning of a word, such as the development of special from especial; procope.

raktroc'h

loss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word


partitive

en-adj

partitive (comparative more partitive, superlative most partitive)

more partitive (comparative)
most partitive (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English partitif, borrowed from Medieval Latin partītīvus, from Latin partītus + -īvus.

The word some is used in partitive constructions.

(grammar) Indicating a part rather than the whole of something.


partitive

(grammar) A partitive word, phrase or case.


formative

formative (comparative more formative, superlative most formative)

more formative (comparative)
most formative (superlative)

From Middle English formatyve, formatif (“having the ability to form”), from Old French formatif, formative (modern French formatif), from Medieval Latin formātīvus, from Latin fōrmātus + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘doing’ or ‘related to doing’). Fōrmātus is the perfect passive participle of fōrmō (“to form, to shape”), from fōrma (“a form, shape”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “a form, shape”) (see further at that entry). By surface analysis, form + -ative.

cog

(linguistic morphology) Pertaining to the formation of words; specifically, of an affix: forming words through inflection.


formative

Sense 1 (“thing which causes formation to occur”) is derived from the noun.
Sense 2.1 (“language unit”) is borrowed from German Formativ, a noun use of formativ (adjective), from Middle French formatif, from Old French formatif (see etymology 1).

A language unit, typically a morph, that has a morphological function (that is, forming a word from a root or another word).

formans

language unit that has a morphological function

Synonym of derivative (“a word that derives from another one”)


virtue name

A Puritan given name, such as Hope or Charity, derived from one of the Christian virtues.