Somelinguisticterms

conventionAnagreement,usuallyreachedunconsciouslybyspeakersinacommunity,that
relationshipsaretoapplybetweenlinguisticitems,betweentheseandtheoutsideworldorto
applyintheuseofrulesinthegrammaroftheirlanguage.
diachronicReferstolanguageviewedovertimeandcontrastswithsynchronicwhichrefers
toapointintime.ThisisoneofthemajorstructuraldistinctionsintroducedbySaussureand
whichisusedtocharacterisetypesoflinguisticinvestigation.
displacementOneofthekeycharacteristicsofhumanlanguagewhichenablesittoreferto
situationswhicharenothereandnow,e.g.IstudiedlinguisticsinLondonwhenIwasinmy
twenties.
linguisticdeterminismReferstotheview,propoundedbyEdwardSapirandBenjaminLee
Whorf,thatlanguagedeterminesthewayinwhichpeoplethink.
Subordinatorsarelinkingwordsthatareusedtojoinclausestogether.
Etymology:theoriginofawordandthehistoricaldevelopmentofitsmeaning.
zoosemioticsTheinvestigationofcommunicationssystemsusedbyanimals.
intonationThatpartofthesoundsystemofalanguagewhichinvolvestheuseofpitchto
conveyinformation.Itconsistsofbothaccent(concernsindividualwords)andsentence
melody(concernswordgroups
placeofarticulationThepointinthevocaltractatwhichasoundisproduced.Thiscanbe
anywherefromthelipsatthefronttotheglottis(thegapbetweenthevocalfolds)attheback.
Themostcommonplaceofarticulationisthealveolarridgejustbehindtheupperteeth.
plosiveAsoundwhichisproducedwithacompleteblockageofthepulmonicairstream.Also
calledastop,examplesare/p,t,k/
tongueThemostfrequentlyusedactivearticulatorinalllanguages.Thetonguecanbe
dividedintothefollowingareas:thetip(Latinapex),blade(Latinlamina),back
(Latindorsum).
suppletionAforminaparadigm(asetofmorphologicallyrelatedelements,suchasthe
formsofaverbornoun)whichetymologicallycomesfromanothersource,e.g.thepasttense
formwentinEnglishisnotformallyrelatedtotheverbgo.
neologismAnewwordinthevocabularyofalanguage.Frequentlyaborrowingbutnot
necessarilyso.

constituentAnyunitwhichispartofalargerone.Thiscanbearecognisablepartofaword
aswithlexicalcompoundsoritcanbeaphraseinasentenceasindicatedintree
representationsinphrasestructuregrammar.
copulaAparticularverbbeinEnglish,seininGermanwhichlinkselementsina
sentence,usuallyinassigningattributesorqualitiestonouns,e.g.Patrickisamiserable
linguist.
dependentAnylinguisticelementwhichrequiresthepresenceofanotherinastructureor
whoseformisdeterminedbyanotherelementoragrammaticalcategory,forinstancethe
formofthedefinitearticleinGermanwhichdependsonthegender,numberandcaseofthe
nounitcooccurswith.
determinerAlinguisticitem,suchasanarticle,apronounoranumeral,whichcooccurs
withanounandinsomewayqualifiesordeterminesthenoun.Thisisacovertermfor
articles,demonstrativeandpossessivepronouns.
embeddingTheinsertionofonesyntacticphraseorunitwithinanother,e.g.Thegirlwho
stoodupismysister.
E.g.Amanthatawomanloves
Amanthatawomanthatachildknowsloves
Amanthatawomanthatachildthatabirdsawknowsloves
generativelinguisticsThemainschooloflinguisticstodaywhichassumesthatspeakers'
knowledgeoflanguageislargelyunconsciousandessentiallyrulegoverned.Themodels
usedbytheselinguistsareintendedtogenerate,i.e.properlydescribe,howdeepstructures
aremappedontoactualsentences.ifyouaregoingtomentionthesestructures,tryto
criticizethem.
honorificAspecificuseoflanguagetoexpressdeferenceinasocialcontext.Thiscan
encompassspecialpronominalforms(TandVformsincontinentalEuropeanlanguages)
andfixedtitularphrases(Mr.,Mrs.,Ms.,etc.inEnglish)orspecialadjectives
(honourable,reverend,esquire).canmockthisandhowitchangestheperceptionand
statusofsomebody.
convergenceInageneralsenseaprocesswherebytwolanguagesorvarietiescometo
resembleeachothermoreandmore.Inhistoricallinguisticsthetermisoftenusedtoreferto
asituationwherebytwocausesaretakentohaveledtoacertaineffect,e.g.whereafeaturein
apresentdaydialectistakentoderivefrombothsubstrateinterferenceandlanguageinternal
developments.

languagedeathTheprocessbywhichalanguageceasestoexist.Itischaracterisedbythe
switchovertosomeotherlanguagewhichsurroundsthedyinglanguageandwhichisa
superstratumtoit,e.g.EnglishvisvisManxontheIsleofManinthemiddleofthepresent
century.