Words, phrases, and acronyms specific to the study of linguistics.
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Term for the modified part of a prepositional complement
A prepositional complement is the noun phrase that follows a preposition. So, given sentences like
John saw the woman with an umbrella.
and
John saw the moon with a telescope.
The ...
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0answers
33 views
Is it computer “mice” or computer “mouses”? [closed]
I have always wished that the plural of (computer) mouse would be "mouses," so that there would be a nice morphological difference, stored in the lexicon, between the words (computer) "mouse" and ...
3
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0answers
41 views
What is “contacting case”?
According to Wikipedia, the Bats language of Eastern Georgia has a case called "contacting", but no description is offered as to its function.
I checked the Russian and Georgian versions of the page ...
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1answer
54 views
The term for compounds mixed from different languages
I am pretty confident that there is a term describing the phenomenon of a compound which is created from words of different languages, e.g.:
“eigenvalue” – made from German “eigen” and English ...
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1answer
57 views
Mixed Orthography
What is the best term to describe the following sentence?
I live in 美国.
I've heard the term macaronic used to describe a mix of languages that use Roman script, but is there a more specific term ...
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61 views
What is the exact domain of a grammar? [closed]
E.g. transformational grammars or probabilistic grammars deal with language structures, branching, semantic ranging, etc. They are dealing with more or less 'rational', or logical cocepts.
But what ...
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0answers
53 views
On price tags/labels why some nouns are used singular/plural regardless of countability?
Is there any explanation regarding why some nouns are used in singular form while the others are used in plural form such as price tags in stores or menus in restaurants. I know that in languages ...
3
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2answers
142 views
What's the difference between syntax and grammar?
From what I've read, both terms have to do with the rules of formation of sentences. I've seen grammar used in mathematical contexts, in computability theory, where it has a precise definition. But ...
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40 views
What is a reputable introductory text for the study of linguistics?
I'm looking to study linguistics. Could someone recommend a reputable introductory text for the study of linguistics?
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1answer
87 views
What are some of the difficulties that linguists face in defining the notion of “word”?
What are some of the difficulties that linguists face in defining the notion of "word"?
From what little I've been able to find out, the concept of the word is considered problematic among quite a ...
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1answer
70 views
What does “speech time” mean?
Tense is the grammatical expression of the location of events in time. It anchors (or ‘grounds’) an event to the speaker’s experience
of the world by relating the event time to a point of ...
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0answers
71 views
Is there count/mass distinction in European Portuguese as it is in English?
It is said that European Portuguese has count/mass distinction as many Indo-European languages. However I noticed out that all products/items at stores in Portugal are labeled in singular form. In ...
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vote
3answers
85 views
diphthong vs. digraph (English)
I want to check my understanding of these 2 terms:
diphthong (concerned with sound; 1 sound; represented 2 letters; not long or short)
digraph (concerned with graphemes; 2 letters; can be long or ...
5
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1answer
88 views
Why does the term “raising” suggest directionality?
Why does the term "raising" suggest directionality? Consider the sentence
We want him to buy the groceries.
People who describe such sentences often speak of the subject of "he to buy ...
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vote
1answer
60 views
Is the word “abjad” borrowed from Arabic or was it coined in English then borrowed by Arabic?
"Abjad" is a technical term for a kind of writing system which is used when contrasting them with other writing system types such as alphabets, abugidas, and syllabaries.
There is also an Arabic word ...
2
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1answer
96 views
Is there a term for a non-finite verb that does that work of gerunds and participles?
To ask the question more exactly, is there a term for a form of the verb that is a) not marked for tense, and b) can syntactically pattern like a noun-phrase or like a noun-modifier depending on the ...
2
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1answer
63 views
Is there a syntactic term for finite verb + infinitive constructions such as “wants to paint”?
In the sentence "Pete wants to paint," "wants" is of course the finite verb, and "to paint" is of course the infinitive. But is there are syntactic term for a construction such as "wants to paint"? ...
2
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1answer
143 views
What is recursion?
What is recursion? I've looked at the Wikipedia's explanation (recursion and then recursion in language) but that explanation is not really clear.
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1answer
48 views
What is cosubordination?
I've been searching the internet for an answer to this question, but found only a reference to "cosubordination" being neither coordination nor subordination strictly speaking.
Does ...
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1answer
360 views
Having trouble drawing a tree diagram
I'm having trouble drawing a tree diagram for the following sentence:
Chrissy believed that the earrings she bought for Sue were real silver.
In the task we have to divide the sentence into its ...
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1answer
62 views
Name of a Question Phenomenon
Is there a name for the phenomenon of questions that are posed as not as well-formed questions, but phrases. Yet, they contain enough structure to be understandable, and understood as questions. For ...
3
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1answer
149 views
What are intransitive verbs with dative complement called?
First off, I was about asking this question on German Language & Usage since this is a feature specific to the German language. Possibly, this feature exists in other languages as well but as far ...
2
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1answer
47 views
Is there an agreed-upon feature set that defines segments as vowels?
I have a feeling the answer is no, and that there are complications involved, but I was considering this:
[-consonantal, +syllabic]
This would first remove all consonants, leaving e, u, i, and ...
3
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2answers
123 views
Affix that makes nouns into verbs and verbs into nouns?
I have a friend studying a language from the pacific islands, and she found an affix that when added to a noun makes a verb and when added to a verb makes a noun. What would you call such a thing, and ...
8
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1answer
145 views
Proper terminology for the types of dual
I was reading an article about typology of Russian language by Gasparov, B. M. (“Structure of Russian language from typological point of view (Intro to sociogrammatics). Article 2. Morphology of the ...
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3answers
96 views
A String of graphemes
What you name a string of glyphs (letters) regardless of their meaning and regardless of their pronunciation?
for example in Persian س+ی+ر = سیر represents following words (and more):
/siɾ/ ...
3
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1answer
68 views
Relation between some linguistics terms
I am trying to draw a diagram to show relationship between these terms but I am not sure what is correct position of them is diagram. Can you please help to do that?
What is relation of following ...
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2answers
99 views
What is the hierarchy for studies inside linguistics, or: How many different kinds of error can one make in language?
At least in my mind, language can be generally considered as a sequence of paragraphs, each being a sequence of sentences, each being a sequence of words, each being a sequence of letters. I ...
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0answers
165 views
What is the name of this grammatical construct: a sentence has two endings?
Consider the following sentence:
Local Man Loses Pants, Life; Beaver Rescue Falls Short
I've seen this named before where a sentence has two endings but I've been unable to find it on any ...
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3answers
121 views
Is there a name for the “case” that is a conflation of nominative and accusative?
In Indo-European languages, the neuter is often characterized by syncretism between nominative and accusative.
There are other examples of syncretism and also historical change where the nominative ...
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1answer
127 views
Meaning of sufformative versus suffix
In reading Daniel Block's commentary on Ezekiel, I have come across the word sufformative. (Block uses it of the Hebrew masculine singular ending -em.) I have searched all around but cannot find a ...
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1answer
92 views
How to more precisely translate ancient titles for heads of state? [closed]
There are multiple ancient titles which we always translate as "king". I wonder if could there be more precise translations of those titles.
Just a short list includes the following:
rex
princeps
...
4
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1answer
235 views
Same meaning, same pronunciation, different spelling
As you know some single words may be written in various forms, e.g.like nosy and nosey or Noruz may be written Norooz, Narooz, Nawru, Nauruz, Nawroz, Noruz, Nohrooz, Novruz, Nauroz, Navroz.
In ...
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3answers
293 views
Argot vs Jargon
I'm stuck understanding the difference between argot and jargon.
According to many sources, e.g. Wikipedia:
Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, ...
2
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1answer
110 views
Seeking linguistic terms for how pronunciation reflects word boundaries
I'm looking for some correct terminology to use within the fields of phonology and acoustics (I assume).
In spoken language there is generally some kind of very brief pauses, changes of intonation, ...
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votes
2answers
907 views
Derivational vs. Inflectional Morphemes
Is the derivational/inflectional morpheme distinction particularly significant to linguists?
If so, is it more significant for languages other than English, which I think is less "inflected" than ...
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1answer
587 views
What's the difference between a “false cognate” and a “false friend”?
There are two terms used for pairs of words (in the same or different languages) that look similar but are actually unrelated: false friend and false cognate. Are these terms synonymous? If not, ...
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3answers
194 views
Are Written and Spoken English distinct languages?
First of all, I am not a linguist, but I was thinking the other night that being literate was almost the same as being bilingual.
My reasoning is that sign language is distinct from written and ...
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3answers
114 views
How distinctive must a phoneme be?
How much of a functional load must a phone carry to be considered its own phoneme?
For example, my idiolect of English has a marginally distinctive glottal stop. However, it exists distinctively in ...
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1answer
90 views
Abbreviations for “gerund”, “gerundive” and “supine”?
Are there some commonly used abbreviations for "gerund", "gerundive" and "supine"?
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5answers
249 views
What divides semantics from pragmatics?
To my understanding... Semantics is the raw meaning and connotations a word carries on it's own and pragmatics is the context-dependent meaning a word holds.
Is this accurate? Can anyone explain it ...
3
votes
3answers
710 views
Difference between production of vowels, diphthongs and semi-vowels
I am studying speech recognition by Lawrence Rabiner's book. I am unable to find a proper and easy to understand answer for the following question :
Difference between production of vowels, ...
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0answers
34 views
Is there a term for a mental prototype changing?
Years ago, if I heard the word bird I thought about a sparrow since I live in western Pennsylvania and there are sparrows everywhere. But now, if I hear the word bird I picture a blue, two-dimensional ...
2
votes
1answer
85 views
Correct verb for Text-To-Speech software action
If I want to describe the action that Text-To-Speech computer software does, what verb should I use?
"Pronounce" and "tell" seems like a verb for human action. "Read" may be correct but for software ...
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1answer
62 views
Is there a term for reading a homonym that means one thing but interpreting it as another?
For example, a friend of mine posted a picture of a book series on Facebook and the start of his caption was "Read all 13!" I initially interpretted this as an imperative sentence ([ɹid] all 13), but ...
3
votes
1answer
78 views
What exactly does 'post-velar' refer to?
It seems post-velar usually refers to a uvular place of articulation. In the wiki of the Americanist phonetic notation, they are listed as synonyms.
But sometimes the term seems to mean 'everything ...
4
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2answers
131 views
Is the body language and hand movements manifested by a person as they speak part of that person's idiolect?
By this, I mean do a person's body language and hand gestures as they speak manifest in a consistent and observable way? I'm a person who speaks with my hands very much; if I'm not moving my hands ...
12
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2answers
129 views
Is it possible for a non-native version of a language to be classed as a dialect?
I know pretty much what constitutes a dialect for native speakers of a language, but I wonder if countries that don't speak it as a primary language, but have a large segment of the population that is ...
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0answers
190 views
When you think one word, but write another, similar sounding word?
If you are writing or typing and you are thinking of one word, but then type another word made of the same phonemes, what is that called and what are the linguistic and /or psychological phenomena ...
5
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1answer
331 views
Hearing your name in a noisy crowd: what is this called and how might it work?
I can't really formulate it any more lucid than as it is in the title, so.... I'm reading a phonetics text now, but I haven't yet got to the chapter on 'speech perception' so maybe I'll come across at ...
