Questions tagged [terminology]
Words, phrases, and acronyms specific to the study of linguistics.
3
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1answer
47 views
Is there a term for ASL signs for related concepts that share the same motion and are distinguished by initialization?
As an ASL learner, I've noticed that there are groups of words with similar meanings, where the only difference is an initialized handshape. For example, the sign FAMILY has the two hands move outward ...
4
votes
3answers
146 views
Is an empty morph a lexeme?
In the French "A-t-il soif ?" there are several (inflected) lexemes ("A", "il", "soif"), and an empty morph "t".
The morph "t" has no meaning which is why it's an empty morph; it's there purely for ...
3
votes
1answer
91 views
A term for the process of building a form which has never been used before
One of my friends has started using the word 'vying' more and more these days. He did not know the word before a certain date and there was a clear event which caused him to "acquire" it into his ...
1
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1answer
59 views
Complementary distribution and defective distribution
I'm not sure if I understood what complementary distribution and defective distribution mean.
I have a definition that complementary distribution is an automatic, i.e. obligatory positional variation ...
0
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2answers
55 views
Do grammatically close languages tend to begin to use literal translations of some words in other senses in that other language?
Let's have an English phrase "let's have" and the Czech equivalent "mějme". Perhaps, at some point in the past, someone was translating a math textbook and didn't know how to translate "let's have" in ...
1
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0answers
21 views
Type of pronouns, bound/free
I'm confused by the terminology regarding bound/free pronouns.
Are free pronouns, those not bound to the verb, like 'we' in 'we like beer'?
Or does free mean they are not bound to previous elements?...
2
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1answer
64 views
What is the linguistic term for re-writing a dialect text to standard language?
What is the linguistic term for re-writing a written text from non-standard dialect to standard dialect of the same language?
Translation is the conversion of text from one language to another.
...
3
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0answers
26 views
Is there a word in which the concept and its complement is expressed?
Is there a word in which the concept and its complement is expressed, for example if I would like to express "the dichotomy of truth and falsehood" in one word. Obviously, the construction need not ...
3
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1answer
37 views
What is about-sentiment called?
I don't even know what my problem is called, so I can't research literature on it. I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.
I have a little experience with sentiment analysis, but what ...
1
vote
1answer
71 views
How to call Turkish to Ascii character conversion?
When writing software in some cases we are not allowed to use Turkish characters so we use U, G, S, I, i, O, C characters instead of Ü, Ğ, Ş, İ, ı, Ö and Ç since some computer systems might not ...
0
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0answers
52 views
Name for the view that ambiguities in natural language are imperfections of it?
For instance, in natural language, "or" is slightly different from logical OR, "some" is slightly different from logical EXISTS, etc.
What is the name of the belief that these discrepancies are ...
0
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1answer
59 views
Classification of -s added to English words
I'm trying top work out what the correct terms are to use in the below scenarios. I've heard of clitics and affixes, but I'm not clear on the difference.
cat - cats (noun, plural -s)
cat - cat'...
1
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1answer
52 views
What is the difference between “domain” and “register”? [closed]
It seems like "domain" is a broad categorization of context (e.g. workplace, academia) and register is the specific set of rules which are expected by those speaking in a certain domain. Is this right?...
1
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1answer
90 views
What could be the antonym to the word “hyperonym”?
Is the "hyponym" an antonym to the word "hyperonym"? In the sense of the terms themselves, this is true, but does the difference in terms apply to antonyms?
The subset that defines the hyponym and ...
3
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2answers
121 views
How do you call a languages tendency to adopt foreign words rather than translate them to their language?
One difference between Mandarin Chinese and Japanese is that the former likes to translate foreign terms, while Japanese prefers to transcribe them to Japanese.
E.g. Basketball:
Mandarin Chinese: 篮球 (...
2
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1answer
53 views
'Interstitial' tones in Thai
You don't have to listen to authentic Thai for very long to realize that comparatively few words are pronounced with the dictionary tone.
All the learning material out there seems to be focused on ...
1
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0answers
60 views
Word with separate translations in another language
Is there a name for the linguistic phenomenon of a word in language or dialect X with two or multiple meanings that have individual translations in language or dialect Y? For example, escada in ...
0
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0answers
93 views
Do English passive verbs assign case? (Government and Binding Theory)
I'm trying to think things through regarding case and passive verbs, within the framework of Government and Binding Theory.
As starting point, I'll use this statement/principle (based on what I've ...
0
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2answers
49 views
Metalanguage to describe expressing an idea in many different ways
I am looking for a term to describe expressing an idea in many different forms yet the meaning remains the same in each rendition.
An example of this:
The Australians, Australians, the Australian ...
8
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1answer
77 views
Does (or should) the terms “spoken language” and “speech” include signed language?
And if not, is there a term, accepted by both the Deaf and linguistic communities, that includes both spoken and signed language, in contrast to written language?
Reputable linguistic sources, ...
1
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1answer
56 views
What do you call the revival of an obsolete word for a new meaning
Let's say carrot for a shade of orange.
Suppose carrot is not used for the color and I wanted one to describe the vegetable's color. So, I revive the displaced more for the color. What do you call ...
1
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2answers
56 views
What is the technical term for alternative spellings?
If two subcultures use the same realization (pronunciation) of the same word form (particular inflection of a word) but spell it differently, what is the technical term for the alternative spellings?
...
0
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1answer
28 views
Are alternative pronunciations (with or without alternative spellings) different word forms from each other?
On another question a linguist told me that linguists define word forms by their phoneme sequence rather than their grapheme sequence. This makes me wonder:
Are the spoken words going and goin' the ...
1
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0answers
57 views
Ontology of logogram, pictogram and ideogram
Is it fair to say that a pictograms are a subset of ideograms which are a subset of logograms?
What is an example of an ideogram that is not a logogram or pictogram?
1
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1answer
65 views
Is each definition of a word a separate lexeme?
I read the Wikipedia entry for 'Lexeme' but I wasn't able to make out a clear answer to this question.
I'm interested in knowing the answer for both related and unrelated senses of a word. I'm under ...
2
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2answers
74 views
Is there a term for when a word is repeated with a different starting consonant?
I've heard this used in speech, not written language, and specifically in South Asian languages like Bengali/Hindi/Urdu (or in English by South Asian people who know English as a second language).
...
0
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1answer
44 views
Transposition of words in questions
In English, the following is grammatically correct:
Am I going to the cinema today?
In contrast, the assertion that this is true is grammatically correct only with the first two words reversed.
...
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2answers
54 views
Why was 'grammar' chosen to signify the model of linguistic competence, when 'grammar' was already strikingly polysemous?
Page 5 of (R.L. Trask, Robert McColl Millar's) Why Do Languages Change? (2010 Rev. ed), expounds that 'grammar' originally didn't mean its linguistical meaning (quoted at the bottom): no surprise, as ...
3
votes
1answer
44 views
Is there distinct jargon for syllabaries depending on their inventory?
The dictionary definition of a syllabary is "a set of written characters representing syllables and (in some languages or stages of writing) serving the purpose of an alphabet." I would personally ...
1
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1answer
64 views
Is there a term for 'relative' tenses?
By 'relative tenses', I mean a form of tense that is independent of the main tense that indicates when an event occurred relative to the past or future.
Examples in English would be:
Simple tense:
...
1
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2answers
77 views
What is the correct term for reading hieroglyphs ideographically in a different language (if there is a term for it)?
I am struggling to find a term for an ideographic reading of the hieroglyphic language. I am using an Arabic ideographic reading of hieroglyphics as an example but the term should be applicable to ...
2
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1answer
44 views
What is the term for a word made from a sentence?
I thought the term was 'periphrase', but looking that up it that apparently isn't the case. I don't know how I got my terms mixed up.
By 'words made from a sentence', I mean such words as 'forget-me-...
1
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1answer
48 views
How can I identify Grammatical Categories in a sentence?
Please excuse the fact that I'm not an academically trained Linguist.
I am working on a computer program with example sentences and their equivalents in different languages.
The idea I am trying to ...
3
votes
2answers
74 views
What is this sentence structure called?
I'm writing a paper about Donald Trump's speaking style and he frequently says sentences like the following:
"They wanna be in the United States of America. That’s where they wanna be."
"We’re gonna ...
0
votes
1answer
56 views
Term for when acronyms are the same in more than one language?
Is there a linguistics term for when an acronym is the same in more than one language?
For example, "RIP" (Requiescat in pace.) in Latin is the same acronym as "RIP" ("Rest in peace.") in English.
3
votes
1answer
260 views
What is the term used for the opposite of a construct form?
In many languages (especially Hebrew in which I work), words can appear in a special form called the construct form in which you can expect that word to be attached to another word. I would like to ...
4
votes
1answer
199 views
What is the linguistic explanation of the phenomenon in “affirmative action”?
The phrase "affirmative action" does not tell you what it is about. Even though the literal meaning of this phrase can be very broad (in theory it could be referring to affirmative action of achieving ...
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0answers
34 views
Pedagogical term “adverbial” is covered with which terms in generative grammar?
In Pedagogical grammars (like Oxford Learner's Pocket Grammar) possible simple sentence structures are divided into the categories presented below:
SV subject, verb
SVO subject, verb, object
...
3
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2answers
112 views
Is there a term when two words have swapped definitions in one language or dialect compared to another?
My Peruvian friend informed me that a lemon is called "lima" in Peru while a lime is called "limón". This contrasts with some other Spanish dialects that use the word "limón" for lemon and "lima" for ...
1
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1answer
55 views
Terminology around non-word, but word-like, structures
In traditional linguistics literatures there is a clear separation between words and non-words. Words are basically what you'd find in a dictionary. But in todays world you find all kinds of word-like ...
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0answers
156 views
Reversal of kinship terms when speaking to a child
When Turkish people speak to children, they often address them with the kinship term that the child is supposed to use for the speaker. For example a mother may call her child "anneciğim" ("my dear ...
0
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1answer
46 views
What does John McWhorter intend to say by 'internal surmise'?
John McWhorter PhD Linguistics (Stanford). Words on the Move (2016). p. 105 Bottom.
We have already seen that there is a theme of weakening signals in how
words
move through time. The firmly ...
0
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1answer
46 views
Is there any specific term for "English-originated?
I'm working on an academic writing in English, but as a non-native speaker, I feel lacking of vocabulary.
When a word has its origin in the Chinese language, we use the term 'Sino-' such as Sino-...
1
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1answer
65 views
Difference between sounds and segments
I have always wondered whether there is a clear distinction between (speech) sounds and segments. The two words appear to be used interchangeably in some places while in others they are considered to ...
0
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1answer
50 views
Correct to say that accent defines the mapping between phones and phonemes?
I'm trying to become acquainted with the language (hah) of linguistics (specifically speech perception, from the perspective of auditory signal processing), so that I can write and converse about the ...
4
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0answers
48 views
Extension of “synesis”
In traditional grammar, synesis refers to inflection being determined by underlying semantics instead of morphological agreement; the most familiar instance in English is expressions like The ...
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2answers
76 views
All usage of the term fossilization in Linguistics and applied linguistics
Two articles about fossilization from wiki are:
Fossilization_(linguistics) and
Interlanguage_fossilization
But especially first one is stub. what are all meaning of this term in linguistics and ...
2
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0answers
30 views
Does an approved glossary of translation industry terms exist?
I'm kind of a beginner in the translation industry, and using different tools and talking to different people I find that they all use different terms to name the same things.
That is really ...
6
votes
3answers
161 views
Sounds that are treated as phonetically equivalent
I suspect that I will not use the right terminology here. Apologies in advance.
Is there a word for the phenomenon in which speakers of a language treat two different sounds as equivalent, even ...
2
votes
1answer
64 views
what is the (pan) linguistic term for “scare-quotes” intonation
I was thinking about the use of scare-quotes in English speech, not the physical gesture so much as the intonation and prosodic features as the word or phrase is used in an oral statement. What label ...
