Sei sulla pagina 1di 7

© T Michael W Halcomb

http://www.michaelhalcomb.blogspot.com

A Linguistic & Grammatical Glossary


(With An Eye Towards English, German, Koine, Hebrew & French. In Alphabetical Order. The Symbol * marks other terms listed here.)

Accusative (Case): The noun *case that marks the *direct object of a *transitive verb.

Active (Voice): When a verb is in active voice, the *subject of the sentence is carrying out an action.

Adjective: A term used to *modify another part of a sentence, such as a noun.

Adverb: Used to *modify a verb, *adverb or *adjective.

Affix: Element added to the *base, *stem or *root of a word.

Agent: Signifies the person/thing that carries out an action.

Anaphoric: Part of speech that refers back to a previous part of speech.

Anarthous: Lacking the *definite article.

Aorist: Verb form that expresses action but does not reveal whether it is complete or ongoing. Some-
times Aorist denotes *tense and *aspect but occasionally, only *aspect.

Apellative: A referential term, which can also function as the *subject or *object of a verb or the
*object of a *preposition, or an *appositive (a noun in *apposition).

Apodosis: The main clause of a conditional sentence.

Apposition: When two nouns are placed beside one another and one is explanatory.

Article: Indicates nouns and their applications (e.g. the word “the”).

Aspect: The relationship of a verb to time (completion, duration, repetition).

Assimilation: Process of a sound (e.g. A vowel) being modified (often times replaced) by another
letter.

Asyndetic: When terms or clauses lack *conjunctions or connective words.

Attributive (Adj.): *Adjective that qualifies or *modifies another *adjective (& must be related to it).

Aublaut: Term that refers to vowel gradation (vowel changes).

Base: *Morphemes to which other *affixes or bases can be added.


Cardinal: Denoting a part of the sentence that is in the first position (e.g. a word, thought or number).

Case: The function/role of a noun in a sentence (e.g. *Accusative, *Dative, *Nominative, etc.).

Causal: Expresses or denotes the cause of an action.

Causative: Expressed as the *subject of the verb causing another *subject to do something.

Clause: Group or cluster of words with a *subject and *predicate only.

Cognate: When words share a similar *root.

Cohortative: Term, in the *first-person, that denotes a strong wish or desire.

Comparative: When two or more nouns are compared to one another.

Concessive: Denotes one action leading to another action.

Conditional: Hypothetical; discussion of factual implications of an action.

Conjugation: Parts of the verb that make it *person, *gender, *number, *aspect and action specific.

Conjunction: *Particle that joins words or clauses together.

Construct: A noun that forms *genitive relationships in a sentence.

Coordinate: 1. When a term expresses equality. 2. Functions to link nouns together. 3. Functions to
link verbs together.

Dative: *Case that marks the *indirect-object of the verb.

Declarative: Term or phrase that expresses evaluation or judgment.

Declension: Forms given to nouns and *adjectives that give them person and gender functions.

Definite Article: A referential term that denotes specificity (e.g. the word “the).

Definiteness: The state of a noun when it is taking the *Definite Article.

Deictic: See *Demonstrative.

Demonstrative: Term that specifies something being referred to (e.g. “these” or “that”).

Denominative: A term such as a verb that is derived from a noun or an *adjective.

Dependent Clause: Also *subordinate clause: a clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence.

Desiderative: Term that expresses a wish or desire.


Direct Object: Term that references the person/thing receiving the action of a *transitive verb.

Distributive: A term that singles persons, things, etc. out (especially from a group/collection).

Elide / Elision: When something is omitted in pronunciation (often the first or last sound of a word).

Ellipses / Elliptical: A *clause missing omitting certain parts of speech.

Epexegetical: When additional explanation or emphasis is given.

Euphonic: Term/part of speech with no other function than for sound effect.

Explicative: Term whose purpose is “to explain.”

Factitive: Verb form that denotes the causing of a state to someone/something.

Feminine: One of three *genders in language; often refers to female-classified persons/things, etc.

Fientive: Verb denoting an action or change of state.

Finite: Form of a verb that can occur on its own in a main clause (expresses person, number, tense,
mood and voice).

First-Person: Part of speech that allows one to refer to him or herself.

Frequentative: Reference to an action that is repeated.

Future (Tense): Tense of a verb that expresses an action that is yet to have taken place, but will.

Gender: Grammatical category that classifies nouns,*adjectives, *pronouns and verbs by animacy or
sex (*male, *female, *neuter).

Genitive: *Case used of a noun to denote an *attributive or possessive state.

Gerund: Noun derived from a verb having all of the *case forms except the *nominative.

Governing Verb: Initial verb in a *coordinating relationship that affects the *aspect of other verbs.

Hapax Legomenon: Term that only occurs once in a text.

Hendiadys: Two terms connected by a *conjunction that express a single idea.

Hiphil / Hifil: Form of a Hebrew verb that has a *causative meaning.

Hithpael: Form of a Hebrew verb that expresses the *reflexive action of a *Qal or *Piel.

Hophal: Form of a Hebrew verb that expresses the *passive action of a *Qal or *Piel.

Imperative: *Mood that expresses a command (sometimes as a request).


Imperfect: Verb tense that shows the incompleteness or continuousness of an action, often in the past,
and often in relationship to other action(s).

Indefinite: Lacking *definiteness. See: *Indefinite Article.

Indefinite Article: An *article that does not fix the identity of a noun (e.g. The term “a”).

Independent Clause: *Clause containing a verb and a *subject and is able to stand alone.

Indicative: The *mood of a verb (or terms pertaining to the *mood) used in objective statements.

Indirect-Object: *An person/thing (*object) that is indirectly affected by the action of the verb.

Infinitive: Verb (form) that acts as a *substantive while retaining some of its verbal characteristics.
Often preceded by the word “to” (e.g. “to hit,” “to walk,” etc.). Un-*inflected terms.

Infinitive Absolute: Infinitival use in Hebrew to emphasize or add certainty to the verb.

Infinitive Construct: Infinitival use in Hebrew that is used after *prepositions and is *inflected to
agree with its *subject or *object.

Inflection / Inflexion: When the base of a term is modified by an *affix to indicate *person, *number,
*tense or *mood.

Inordinate: Not fixed in a certain order; not static.

Instrumental: Noun used as an *agent to perform an action.

Intensive: A term, such as an *adverb, that intensifies another term (e.g. an action).

Interrogative: A question or a term referring to the act of asking a question.

Intransitive (Verb): Verb that does not require a *direct-object to complete its meaning.

Irregular: Deviating from the usual rules of *inflection.

Iterative: See *frequentative.

Jussive: Term, *mood or form that denotes a command.

Locative: *Inflection of a noun that denotes time or place.

Masculine: One of three *genders in language; often refers to male-classified persons/things, etc.

Middle (Verb): A verb that is *active in form but often *passive in meaning.

Middle (Voice): Verb (form or set) that indicates the relationship between the *subject and the action.

Modal: Expressing or relating to the *mood of the verb. Often denoting contingency between actions.
Can pertain to an expression of wish or strong desire.

Modify: 1. A vowel change. 2. Qualifying or changing the meaning of a term.

Mood: Verb (form or sets) that reveal the speaker's attitude towards the likelihood of the action being
expressed or wished to be carried out. Often used with *modal or *volitional verbs.

Morpheme: Word element that cannot be broken down or it will lose its meaning.

Morphology: The formation of words. Often used in reference to *affixes or *modifications.

Neuter: One of three *genders in language; often refers to genderless-classified persons/things, etc.

Niphal / Nifal: Hebrew verb form that is usually rendered as *passive or *reflexive.

Nominal: Pertaining to nouns or noun groups.

Nominative: Noun case which marks the *subject of the verb.

Number: Reveals singularity, duality or plurality of an *inflected term (e.g. a noun).

Object: A noun, *pronoun or noun phrase affected by a verb; a *substantive governed by a


*preposition.

Optative: *Mood often used when expressing a wish or desire.

Ordinate / Ordinal: The initial or first of a group (e.g. numbers; statements, etc.).

Participle: Verb form that can function as an *adjective.

Particle: 1. Words with small functions (e.g. *articles, *prepositions, etc.). 2. Un-*inflected part of
term that does not belong to any of the major parts of speech.

Passive (Voice): *Voice used when the subject of the sentence is acted upon (as denoted by the verb).

Past (Tense): *Tense of a verb that expresses an action that has already taken place.

Perfect (Tense): *Tense used to express that an action took place before a fixed point in time.

Performative: Action completed by an utterance/speech.

Permissive: Action permitted to occur by the *subject and is agreeable to the *object.

Person: *Inflection of a term that refers to its *pronounal sense.

Perspective: The point-of-view of the speaker.

Phoneme: Smallest unit of sound in a term (e.g. the sound of each letter of a word).
Piel: Form of a Hebrew verb that expresses the simple *active action of a *Qal.

Pleonasm: The use of extra words in a sentence; redundancy.

Pluperfect: Verb *tense used to express the complete of an action before a specific or implied time.

Postpositive: Term or *particle following a word.

Predicate: Part of a sentence or *clause that modifies and reveals what is being said about the
*subject.

Predicate Adjective: *Adjective used to *modify the some attribute of the *subject.

Prefix: An *affix attached to the beginning of the word that causes *inflection.

Preposition: Term placed before a *substantive that reveals its relationship to another *substantive, a
verb or an *adjective. (e.g. at, by, with, etc.)

Present (Tense): Verb *tense used to express the notion that an action is occurring right now.

Preterite: Verb tense (esp. in Heb.) that denotes a past action or state.

Pronomial: When a *pronoun (or pronoun ending) acts as a *suffix (esp. in Heb.).

Pronoun: Part of speech that acts as a substitute for a noun (e.g. he, she, etc.).

Protasis: *Dependent clause that is located in a *conditional sentence.

Pual: Form of a Hebrew verb that is a *causative/*passive stem that is the counterpart of the *Piel.

Qal: Form of a Hebrew verb that expresses a simple past action.

Reciprocal: Denotes mutuality in action.

Reflexive: Denotes when the speaker does something to him or herself; when the *subject and *direct-
object are identical with the verb.

Root: The part of the term to which *affixes, etc. are added; element of term carrying main component
of meaning.

Second-Person: Part of speech that allows one person to refer to another (e.g. “you”).

Spatial: Of, relating to area, space.

Stative (Verb): Verb expressing a state rather than an action.

Stem: Vowel pattern (esp. in Heb.) applied to a verbal *root that denotes an action.

Strong (Verb): Verbs, esp. in German, that are marked to denote past-tense (usually by an *ablaut).
Subject: *Agent that performs the action of a verb.

Subjunctive: *Mood expressing contingency (hypotheticals).

Subordinate Clause: *Clause that cannot stand alone as a full sentence but serves a nounal,
*adjectival or *adverbial purpose.

Substantive: A noun or its equivalent.

Suffix: An *affix attached to the end of the word that causes *inflection.

Superlative: The best or greatest of any number of items when compared to one another.

Syntax: Elements of sentence structure.

Telic: Denoting an end-goal, conclusion or end-purpose.

Temporal: A *substantive's relationship to time.

Tense: Form of a verb expressing duration (time).

Terminative: Often expressing movement, especially towards an end-goal or completion.

Third-Person: Part of speech that allows one person to refer to another (e.g. he/ she).

Transitive (Verb): A verb that necessitates a *subject and an *object.

Umlaut: A change in a term's vowel sound, often caused by *assimilation. Diacritic mark placed over
a vowel ( ¨ ).

Vocative: *Inflected term that indicates the person/thing being addressed.

Voice: Verb or verb set indication the relationship between the *subject and the action expressed by the
verb.

Volitional: Verbal form denoting a choice that is being or will be carried out by the speaker.

Weak (Verb): Form that designates a *conjugation or *declension when a language employs two
parallel systems.

Potrebbero piacerti anche