#  Glossary 

 



[A](#a) [B](#b) [C](#c) [D](#d) [E](#) [F](#f) [G](#g) [H](#h) [I](#i) [J](#) [K](#k) [L](#l) [M](#m) [N](#n) [O](#o) [P](#p) [Q](#q) [R](#r) [S](#s) [T](#t) [U](#u) [V](#v) [W](#w) [X](#x) [Y](#y) [Z](#z)

<a></a>**A**

<a></a>**accusative**  
A [case](#case) ending used by [nouns](#noun), [pronouns](#pronoun), adjectives and [demonstratives](#demonstrative), often marking the direct object and sometimes the object of a [preposition](#preposition).

<a></a>**affix**  
A [bound morpheme](#boundmorpheme) that can be added to a [base morpheme](#basemorpheme). Examples include the first syllable of *dis*-*suade*, *ad*-*vantage*, *anti*-*freeze*, *de*-*couple*, and the last element of *freez*-*es*, *amen*-*able*, *immer*-*sion*, *bureau*-*crat*. Some of these are [inflectional](#inflection), such as *freez*-*es*, which is either a personal [verb](#verb) ending ("it freezes") or the plural of the [noun](#noun) *freeze*; others are [derivational](#derivation), by which one word gives rise to another, as with *anti*-*freeze*.

<a></a>**affricate**  
In phonetics, the sound made with a [stop](#stop) followed by a [fricative](#fricative) release, as in the first sound of *cheese.*

<a></a>**agreement**  
See [concord](#concord).

<a></a>**alliteration**  
A similarity of sound in the onset of a stressed syllable*.* For example *chalk* and *cheese* alliterate, as do *hawk* and *handsaw*. It is a primary prosodic feature of Old English poems such as *Beowulf* and continued well into Middle English verse in works like *Piers Plowman*.

<a></a>**allomorph**  
Alternate realizations of a single [morpheme](#morpheme). The third person singular ending of *glides*, *lifts*, and *misses* are all allmorphs of one [verb](#verb) [inflection](#inflection); similarly the endings of *coercion*, *exertion*, and *immersion* are variants of the same [morpheme](#morpheme).

<a></a>**allophone**  
A variant pronunciation of a single [phoneme](#phoneme). The \[t\] sounds of *tick* and *stick* illustrate a regular distinction between released and [unreleased](#unreleased) allophones, and they are said to be in [complementary distribution](#complementarydistribution). Allophones in [free variation](#freevariation), by contrast, can assume different articulations depending on the the speaker or context, such as the two different ways of pronouncing the \[t\] of *outcome*: one where the \[t\] is released and the other unreleased.

<a></a>**alveolar**  
Relating to the hard ridge just behind the front teeth. It is the part of the mouth touched by the tip of the tongue in the pronunciation of \[d\] and \[t\].

<a></a>**alveolopalatal**  
Relating to the hard ridge behind the front teeth (the [alveolar](#alveolar) ridge) and the hard palate at the roof of the mouth (palate); the front half of the tongue is raised to touch this position in making the first and last [consonant](#consonant) sounds of judge and church.

<a></a>**amelioration**  
A semantic change in which the social connotations of a word's meaning are improved. The word knight, for example, once meant "boy."

<a></a>**Americanism**  
A term coined by John Witherspoon (1723-94) to refer to any word or expression that seems characteristic of the English [language](#language) used in North America.

<a></a>**analytic language**  
One that relies heavily on [word order](#wordorder) and function words (like prepositions and auxiliaries) to supply information about the syntactic function of sentence elements. [Modern English](#modernenglish), which is lightly inflected, is more analytic than [Old English](#oldenglish). See [synthetic language](#syntheticlanguage).

<a></a>**Anatolian**  
An [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) family of languages that includes Hittite, once spoken in Asia Minor.

<a></a>**Anglo-Frisian**  
The West [Germanic](#germanic) subbranch that includes Frisian and English.

<a></a>**Anglo-Norman**  
The dialect of French spoken by the Normans who settled in England after 1066.

<a></a>**Anglo-Saxon**  
Referring to the people and/or the culture of early England; it is sometimes used for the language otherwise known as [Old English](#oldenglish). But more usually, an [Anglo-Saxon](#anglosaxon) manuscript might be copied by an [Anglo-Saxon](#anglosaxon) monk writing the [Old English](#oldenglish) [language](#language).

<a></a>**anomalous**  
Not following a prescribed or regular pattern. The English [verb](#verb) of being, for example, is an [anomalous](#anomalous) [verb](#verb).

<a></a>**ash**  
The [digraph](#digraph) letter form æ, Æ. The name, which is the Old English word for ash tree, was the way the Anglo-Saxons referred to the letter.

<a></a>**aspirated**  
A speech sound accompanied by a puff of breath. For English speakers, the initial sounds of *top* and *pot* are [aspirated](#aspirated), where *stop* and *spot* are not.

<a></a>**assimilation**  
The [phonetic](#phonetic) process by which two adjacent sounds become more similar. The word *assimilation* itself illustrates the process; over time the pronunciation of the [compound](#compound) *ad* + *similare* modified the \[d\] in the direction of \[s\].

**<a></a>B**

<a></a>**back formation**  
The formation of a new word by shortening an older form in the apparent assumption that the older word was derived from the shortened form. For example, *to enthuse* was created by [back formation](#backformation) from *enthusiasm*, which came into the English [language](#language) first.

<a></a>**back vowel**  
A [vowel](#vowel) made by lowering the tongue to the back of the mouth.

<a></a>**Balto-Slavic**  
A major branch of the [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) languages that includes [Slavic](#slavic) languages (like Russian) and Baltic (like Lithuanian).

<a></a>**base morpheme**  
A [morpheme](#morpheme) to which an [affix](#affix) can be added; it may be either a [free morpheme](#freemorpheme) or a [bound morpheme](#boundmorpheme).

<a></a>**bilabial**  
A sound made by using both lips, as with \[m\], \[p\] or \[b\].

<a></a>**blend**  
A word made by combining two distinct words, like *smog* from *smoke* + *fog* and *telemarketing*. Also called *portmanteau*.

<a></a>**bound morpheme**  
A [morpheme](#morpheme) that appears only as part of a word, never alone. Examples include the [dental](#dental) ending of weak verbs like *danced* and the [suffix](#suffix) of *horr-ify*.

**<a></a>C**

<a></a>**calque**  
A literal translation of a word or (more often) a phrase that stays close to the idiomatic meaning in the source [language](#language). The word *gospel*, for example, comes from an [Old English](#oldenglish) [compound](#compound) (roughly) *good* + *spell*, which is a direct translation of the elements of the Latin (ultimately Greek) *ev-angel*- "good message." Also called [loan translation](#loantranslation).

<a></a>**case**  
The [inflection](#inflection) of a [noun](#noun), [pronoun](#pronoun), adjective, or [demonstrative](#demonstrative) which signals its grammatical function in a phrase or clause. In [Modern English](#modernenglish) the personal pronouns retain more distinctions in cases than other parts of speech, so that, for example, "she left the room" (not "her left the room") shows the appropriate [case](#case) for the feminine [pronoun](#pronoun) used as the subject of the [verb](#verb). [Old English](#oldenglish) has four cases -- [nominative](#nominative), [accusative](#accusative), [dative](#dative), [genitive](#genitive) -- and occasionally a fifth, the [instrumental](#instrumental). [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) also had another three: the vocative, ablative, and [locative](#locative).

<a></a>**Celtic**  
One of the major branches of [Indo-European](#indoeuropean), including such languages as Old Irish and Breton.

<a></a>**central vowel**  
A [vowel](#vowel) made with the tongue in a central position in the mouth.

<a></a>***centum, centum* language**  
The Latin word for "hundred," which serves as a shorthand way of distinguishing a major division based on the pronunciation of a particular sound in [Indo-European](#indoeuropean). The complementary group is known as "*[satem](#satem)* [languages](#satem)," where [*satem*](#satem) is the Avestan word for "hundred" The initial sound of [centum](#centum) and [satem](#satem) illustrate the way the original [phoneme](#phoneme) in question, the [velar](#velar) \[k\], developed in each of the two main groups. English, Greek, and Irish, for example, are [centum](#centum) languages, while Polish, Albanian, and Sanskrit are [satem](#satem) languages.

<a></a>**clipped form**  
A word formed by [shortening](#shortening) another word or phrase. *Flu* for example, is a [clipped form](#clippedform) of *influenza*.

<a></a>**close**  
In phonetics, a sound made with the jaw and tongue in a higher position, that is, more closed.

<a></a>**closed syllable**  
A syllable ending with a [consonant](#consonant), e.g., *fit*. Contrasted with [open](#open) syllable.

<a></a>**code switching**  
The change in the features of an individual's [language](#language) (vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar) to adjust to social circumstances.

<a></a>**cognate**  
Words derived from a common source are said to be cognates, similar to cousins in human relations.

<a></a>**comparison**  
The form of an adjective or adverb that shows a relation predicated of the quality indicated: hot (positive), hotter (comparative), hottest (superlative). English shows [comparison](#comparison) by adding a [suffix](#suffix), usually -*er* and -*est*, or by using the adverbs more and most in a phrase: *more* *contentious*, *most* *contentious*.

<a></a>**complementary distribution**  
Speech sounds and word forms are said to be in [complementary distribution](#complementarydistribution) when [allophones](#allophone) and [allomorphs](#allomorph) form a consistent separation so that, for example, the \[t\] of *stop* is an allophone that is always unaspirated, while the \[t\] of *top* is always [aspirated](#aspirated), and there is no overlap between the two.

<a></a>**compound**  
Two base morphemes can combine to form a compound, as with *rollerblade*, *steamboat*, *wisdom*.

<a></a>**concord**  
The matching correspondence of grammatical forms, such as number, person and [gender](#gender), often signalled by inflected endings. In [Modern English](#modernenglish), the sentence "The girl knows she is ready" shows [concord](#concord) in the singular forms of *girl*, *knows*, *she*, and *is*; there is also [concord](#concord) between the natural [gender](#gender) of *girl* and the feminine [pronoun](#pronoun) *she*. Also known as [agreement](#agreement).

<a></a>**conjugation**  
The complete set of inflected endings for verbs, showing person, number, tense, and mood.

<a></a>**consonant**  
A [phoneme](#phoneme) made when the speech organs create an obstruction against the flow of air from the lungs. The sound may be voiced or unvoiced.

<a></a>**consuetudinal *be***  
The use of *be* (uninflected) to indicate a habitual state. It is usually associated with African-American varieties of English. 'He be quiet" means that he is consistently, habitually quiet. "He is quiet" is more localized: he is quiet right now.

<a></a>**contraction**  
A word made by combining the [unstressed](#unstressed) syllables of one word with another, such as *don't* from *do* + *not* and *gonna* from *going* + *to*.

<a></a>**copula**  
A form of the verb *to be* connecting a noun or noun phrase with another word or phrase; also true in the negative. "John *was* not a student;" "to sleep *is* important."

<a></a>**creole**  
A [language](#language) arising from the combination of other languages, one of which typically is a [pidgin](#pidgin).

<a></a>**Cyrillic**  
The alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic, Russian and certain other [Slavic](#slavic) languages. Named after St. Cyril, reputed to have invented it for missionary purposes in the ninth century.

**<a></a>D**

<a></a>**Danelaw**  
The northeast part of [Anglo-Saxon](#anglosaxon) England heavily settled by Scandinavians and governed by their law code. (Pyles &amp; Algeo)

<a></a>**dative**  
The [case](#case) ending on [nouns](#noun), adjectives, [pronouns](#pronoun), and [demonstratives](#demonstrative) indicating the indirect object; also used with many [prepositions](#preposition).

<a></a>**declension**  
The system of inflections for [nouns](#noun), adjectives, [pronouns](#pronoun), and [demonstratives](#demonstrative) which indicate [case](#case), number, and [gender](#gender).

<a></a>**definite article**  
A [function word](#functionword) like *the* used with certain nouns that are definite.

<a></a>**deictic** (deixis, n.)  
A [function word](#functionword) that serves to specify, such as the [demonstratives](#demonstrative) *this* and *these*. [Deictics](#deictic) also include words indicating relative time, like *now* and *then*; place, like *here* and *there*; and personal [pronouns](#pronoun).

<a></a>**demonstrative**  
A [pronoun](#pronoun) like *this*, *these*, *that*, and *those* which specifies a relation to the speaker.

<a></a>**dental suffix**  
In [Germanic](#germanic) languages, a [suffix](#suffix) containing a \[d\] or \[t\] to indicate the [preterite](#preterite) of weak verbs.

<a></a>**derivation**  
The morphological process by which one word gives rise to another. It can involve the addition of [affixes](#affix) (*object*, *objective*, *objectivity*) or [compounding](#compound) (*web-based*, *spider-web*).

<a></a>**diachronic**  
Relating to changes over time: often equated with historical changes. Usually contrasted with [synchronic](#synchronic).

<a></a>**diacritical mark**  
A mark or notation made in addition to the letter form to differentiate sounds in the spelling of a [language](#language); they can include accent marks, for example, or a [tilde](#tilde) (~) or dieresis (ü, ö).

<a></a>**digraph**  
A combination of letters like *th*, *ch*, *sch*, and *ou* in *youth*, which indicates a single sound.

<a></a>**diphthong**  
A monosyllabic [vowel](#vowel) sound made by gliding from one [vowel](#vowel) to another. The four significant diphthongs in [Modern English](#modernenglish) are illustrated in the words *how*, *high*, *ahoy*, and *huge*.

<a></a>**dissimilation**  
The process by which two adjacent sounds become less alike, such as the the pronunciation of *chimney* as *chimbley* or *chimley*.

<a></a>**double negative** (or [multiple negative](#multiplenegative))  
The use of more than one negative for emphasis, now ususually considered grammatically incorrect but current in some dialects of English. Before about 1700 it was a common construction. "I can't get no satisfaction" is a [double negative](#doublenegative) worth singing. Because there can be more than two, it is sometimes called "multiple negative."

<a></a>**Dravidian**  
A large family of non-[Indo-European](#indoeuropean) [languages](#language) spoken in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent.

<a></a>**dual**  
A grammatical number, like singular and plural, found in some [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) languages. It indicates exactly two of something.

**<a></a>E**

<a></a>**early Modern English** (eMnE)  
The period from about 1500 to 1750.

<a></a>**East Germanic**  
A branch of the [Germanic](#germanic) languages that includes Gothic (now extinct)..

<a></a>**echoic word**  
A word the sound of which mimics its referent: *quack*, *boing*, *splash*. Sometimes also called *onomatopoeia*, as with Tennyson's "murmuring of innumerable bees." See also [sound symbolism](#soundsymbolism) and [phonaestheme](#phonaestheme).

<a></a>**ejaculation**  
A word-like utterance, though without grammatical function, expressing an emotional (usually social) state of mind, such as *tsk-tsk*, *ouch*, *phooey*, *oh-oh*, *ugh*.

<a></a>**ellipsis**  
From a Greek word meaning *to fall short*, the omission of a phrase, word, or sound where it is otherwise expected. When words are omitted in writing, their absence is indicated by three dots (. . .). An [unstressed](#unstressed) syllable from the beginning of a word may be omitted, as with *'bout* for *about* and *possum* for *opossum*. Sometimes a middle syllable may be omitted as with some dialectial pronunciations of *necessary* and *medieval*.

<a></a>**enclitic**  
Phrasing that incorporates a grammatically distinct, [unstressed](#unstressed) word onto the end of a preceding word. [Modern English](#modernenglish) examples might include *gotcha* and *gonna*.

<a></a>**epenthesis**  
The insertion of a sound in the middle of a word to make it easier to pronounce, such as the \[d\] in *thunder* (OE *thunor*) and the medial [schwa](#schwa) often heard in the pronunciation of *realtor* and *athlete*. When a [vowel](#vowel) is involved it is often called [svarabhakti](#svarabhakti).

<a></a>**eth**  
A letter form used in [Old English](#oldenglish), Old Saxon and Icelandic (where it is called *edh*) which represents an [interdental](#interdental) [fricative](#fricative). In [Old English](#oldenglish) it is equivalent to a [thorn](#thorn).

<a></a>**etymological respelling**  
The modification of a word's spelling to reflect the spelling in the [language](#language) from which it is derived; examples include *adventure* (ME *aventure*) and *indict* (ME *indite*), the latter of which has not had its pronunciation affected. Not yet.

<a></a>**etymology**  
The historical source of a word, and the study of its historical origin.

<a></a>**eye dialect**  
A literary representation of a non-standard dialect, but one which does not reflect pronunciation in a consistent way.

**<a></a>F**

<a></a>**finite**  
The inflected form of a [verb](#verb) showing [agreement](#agreement) with the person and number of the subject and showing tense and mood. The infinitive, for example, does not specify any of these. A [finite](#finite) [verb](#verb) usually serves as the predicate of a clause.

<a></a>**Finno-Ugric**

<a></a>**folk etymology**  
A popular modification of a word's spelling and/or pronunciation to make it resemble familiar [morphemes](#morpheme) and [phonemes](#phoneme). In most cases the modified word is borrowed from another [language](#language); examples: *chaise lounge* and *woodchuck*.

<a></a>**free morpheme**  
One that can be used alone as a word; neither a [bound morpheme](#boundmorpheme) nor an [affix](#affix).

<a></a>**free variation**  
When used of [allophones](#allophone), it indicates pronunciations that can change depending on the speaker and the circumstances of articulation. Examples would include instances where precise articulation is important, as when speaking with deliberate care to a non-native speaker or over a poor telephone line. In such cases American speakers, for example, might pronounce the middle consonants of ladder and latter differently, though they would not do so in ordinary speech. [Free variation](#freevariation) contrasts with [complementary distribution](#complementary%20distribution).

<a></a>**fricative**  
A speech sound made by constricting the breath channel to produce a roughening; examples include \[f\], \[v\], \[s\], and \[z\].

<a></a>**front vowel**  
A voiced sound made with the front part of the tongue in a raised position, such as the vowels of *beet* and *bet*.

<a></a>**function word**  
A semantically light part of speech used to create the syntactic structure of a phrase or clause; the category includes auxiliary verbs, prepositions, the [definite article](#definitearticle), and conjunctions. The number of such words is limited, unlike other parts of the [lexicon](#lexicon), which can increase indefinitely.

<a></a>**futhorc**  
The name of the runic alphabet used by the [Anglo-Saxons](#anglosaxon) and other early [Germanic](#germanic) people. Its name comes from the first six letters of the alphabet.

**<a></a>G**

<a></a>**gender**  
A large subcategory of [nouns](#noun) (and adjectives, [pronouns](#pronoun), and [demonstratives](#demonstrative)) which in [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) [languages](#language) is vaguely associated with biological sex: masculine, feminine, and neuter. In other language families [gender](#gender) is based on other arbitrary groupings. In [Old English](#oldenglish) [gender](#gender) has little to do with the biological associations of nouns, and is thus called grammatical gender. In [Modern English](#modernenglish), grammatical [gender](#gender) has increasingly given way to natural [gender](#gender), although the parts of speech (with the notable exception of [pronouns](#pronoun)) no longer distinguish [gender](#gender) by morphology.

<a></a>**generalization**  
A semantic change in which a word with a specific meaning has become more general.

<a></a>**genetic**  
When used of [language](#language) families, it designates an organization much like a family tree, with historically earlier languages giving rise to later ones, such as [Old English](#oldenglish) from proto-[Germanic](#germanic).

<a></a>**genitive**  
An [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) case that shows possession (the *dog's* tail), although it has other uses as well.

<a></a>**Germanic**  
A branch of [Indo-European](/indoeuropean) that includes English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Frisian and other languages that arose in northwestern Europe.

<a></a>**glottal**  
Associated with the speech organ in the back of the oral cavity, the glottis. A [glottal stop](#glottalstop) can be heard in the separation of syllables in a phrase like *uh-oh*.

<a></a>**glottal stop**  
A closing of sound produced by stopping the flow of air through the throat using the glottis. Most Americans produce a [glottal stop](#glottalstop) in the middle of *uh-oh*.

<a></a>**Great Vowel Shift**  
A systematic change in the long [vowels](#vowel) in late [Middle English](#middleenglish) that resulted in a new array of [vowels](#vowel), which includes [diphthongs](#diphthong) and [tense vowels](#tensevowel) but which no longer generates a systematic distinction for [length](#length). Also called the Tudor Vowel Shift.

<a></a>**Grimm's Law**  
Named after Jacob Grimm (1785-1863), a formulation that describes a systematic change in the [stop](#stop) consonants of [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) within the [Germanic](#germanic) languages. Grimm built on the earlier discoveries of Rasmus Rask (1787-1832).

<a></a>**group genitive**  
A [genitive](#genitive) ending attached to the end of a phrase: the Queen of England's hat; the man who mistook his wife for a hat's medical treatment.

**<a></a>H**

<a></a>**Hellenic**  
The [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) family of languages which includes ancient and modern Greek.

<a></a>**high vowel**  
A voiced sound made with the jaw almost closed and the tongue raised, as with the sounds \[i\] and \[u\].

<a></a>**his genitive**  
The use of his after a noun as a mistakenly expanded form of the usual genitive ending in Modern English: e.g. Ben Jonson His Book.

<a></a>**homograph**  
The same spelling for two different words: *lead* (vb.) and *lead* (n.).

<a></a>**homophone**  
A word pronounced the same as another, like *eight* and *ate*.

<a></a>**hypercorrect pronunciation, hypercorrection**  
A nonhistorical pronunciation or construction based on the mistaken assumption that an error is being avoided; examples might include "between you and I" and the \[t\] articulated in *often*.

<a></a>**I**

<a></a>**idiolect**  
A variety of [language](#language) peculiar to an individual. Spenser's deliberately antiquated language in *The Fairy Queen* is a famous literary example.

<a></a>**idiom**  
A figurative use of language that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of its constituents: *raining cats and dogs*; *the cat's got his tongue*.

<a></a>**imperative**  
The [verb](#verb) mood employed in commands and some requests.

<a></a>**impersonal**  
[Impersonal](#impersonal) [verbs](#verb) have no subjects stated or understood. [Old English](#oldenglish) had a few, one of which survives in the fossilized form *methinks* ("it seems to me").The equivalent to the [impersonal](#impersonal) in [Modern English](#modernenglish) has *it* as a dummy subject: *it was raining*.

<a></a>**i-mutation**  
A sound change caused by [assimilation](#assimilation) to a [high](#highvowel) [front vowel](#frontvowel) (or the [semivowel](#semivowel) \[j\]) which draws the articulation of adjacent back [vowels](/vowel) to a forward position. It lies behind the plurals *feet*, *mice*, *men*, some [derived](#derivation) [verbs](#verb) (*drank*, *drench*), and some abstract [nouns](#noun) (*foul*, *filth*). Also called *i-umlaut*.

<a></a>**indicative**  
The "default" [verb](#verb) mood, used for reporting factual information or used in any construction that is unmarked for another mood.

<a></a>**Indo-European**  
The extensive family of [languages](#language) that can be traced back to a source in eastern Europe, somewhere near the Black Sea. Until the centuries of European colonial expansion, the geographical spread of the languages extended from western edge of Europe, eastward to the edge of what is now China, and south to the Indian subcontinent. English is part of the [West-Germanic](#westgermanic) branch of [Germanic](#germanic) languages. Other major branches include [Slavic](#slavic)" class="glossedpage"&gt;[Balto-Slavic](#baltoslavic), [Celtic](#celtic), [Italic](#italic), Albanian, [Hellenic](#hellenic), Armenian, [Anatolian](#anatolian), [Indo-Iranian](#indoiranian), [Tocharian](#tocharian).

<a></a>**Indo-Iranian**  
A major branch of [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) including the Persian (Farsi, Pashto) and Indic (Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu) sub-branches.

<a></a>**inflection**  
The morphological process signalling grammatical features (tense, number, mood, person, [gender](#gender), [case](#case)) which correspond to the word's function within a phrase or clause.

<a></a>**inorganic *e***  
A final *-e* added to words where historically it doesn't belong, such as *wife*, *mouse*.

<a></a>**instrumental**  
An [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) [case](#case), already rare in [Old English](#oldenglish), that indicates the means by which some action is performed. It survives fossilized in a few [Modern English](#modernenglish) phrases, such as *the* in "the more the merrier."

<a></a>**intensifier, intensive**  
A word, usually an adverb like *very* or *absolutely* that adds force or emphasis to the meaning of a word or clause.

<a></a>**interdental**  
In phonology, [interdental](#interdental) indicates sounds made by placing the tip of the tongue between the front teeth.

<a></a>**interrogative**  
An [interrogative](#interrogative) [pronoun](#pronoun) is used to introduce questions: *who is it*? *what are you doing*?

<a></a>**intrusive *r***  
The articulation of an \[r\] in a place where it historically does not belong, such as *idear*. It's a feature of some English dialects.

<a></a>**Italic**  
A branch of [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) which includes languages that developed on the Italian peninsula, such as Latin.

<a></a>**L**

<a></a>**labial**  
In phonology, a sound made using the lips, such as \[p\] and \[b\].

<a></a>**labiodental**  
In phonology, a sound made by touching the lower lip to the upper teeth, as with \[f\] and \[v\].

<a></a>**language**  
The system of conventional, arbitrary speech sounds (at times reduced to writing) which allows humans to communicate.

<a></a>**laryngeal**  
In phonology, a speech sound made by using the larynx. Laryngeals have been postulated for proto-[Indo-European](#indoeuropean) and are attested in [Anatolian](#anatolian).

<a></a>**lateral**  
In phonology, a sound made with the air flowing around both sides of the tongue, as with \[l\].

<a></a>**lax vowel**  
A voiced sound made with the muscles at the base of the tongue relaxed.

<a></a>**length**  
In phonology, it indicates the duration of time a [vowel](#vowel) is pronounced. [Length](#length) made [phonemic](#phoneme) distinctions in English until the [Great Vowel Shift](#greatvowelshift) in [early Modern English](#earlymodernenglish).

<a></a>**lengthening**  
The change of a short [vowel](#vowel) to a long [vowel](#vowel); it took place systematically during [Middle English](#middleenglish).

<a></a>**levelling**  
The loss of distinctions in inflected endings, especially in early [Middle English](#middleenglish).

<a></a>**lexicon, lexis**  
The meaningful units of [language](#language), which includes [morphemes](#morpheme) (*anti-*), words (*cloud*), and [idiomatic phrases](#idiom) (*wheel of fortune*).

<a></a>**liquid**  
In phonology, a [voiced](#voicing) [consonant](#consonant) made without obstruction through the oral cavity which can be pronounced continuously, like \[r\] and \[l\].

<a></a>**loan translation**  
See [calque](#calque).

<a></a>**locative**  
An [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) [case](#case) used to indicate place.

<a></a>**long syllable**  
A syllable either with a long [vowel](#vowel) or with a short [vowel](#vowel) followed by more than one [consonant](#consonant). Contrasted with a [short syllable](#shortsyllable).

<a></a>**low vowel**  
A [vowel](#vowel) made with the jaw in an [open](#open) position and the tongue lowered.

<a></a>**M**

<a></a>**macron**  
A [diacritical mark](#diacriticalmark) consisting of a straight short line over a [vowel](#vowel) which indicates that the [vowel](#vowel) is long.

<a></a>**metathesis**  
A sound change transposing adjacent sounds, such as *aks* (*ax*)/*ask* and *worked*/*wrought*.

<a></a>**Middle English**  
English from 1100-1500 C.E.

<a></a>**mid vowel, middle vowel**  
Neither high nor low; the [schwa](#schwa) is a good example.

<a></a>**Modern English**  
English from 1500 to the present day.

<a></a>**monophthong**  
A simple, single [vowel](#vowel). Contrasted with [diphthong](#diphthong).

<a></a>**mood**  
A form or set of forms of a verb in an inflected language, serving to indicate whether the verb expresses fact, command, wish, conditionality, etc. (OED). The system of moods in [middle](#middleenglish) and [modern English](#modernenglish) is relatively impoverished compared to that of [Old English](#oldenglish) and some other [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) languages.

<a></a>**morpheme**  
The smallest meaningful unit of a [language](#language). It can be a single word like *horse* or an [affix](#affix) like *-ly*.

<a></a>**multiple negative**  
See [double negative](#doublenegative).

<a></a>**N**

<a></a>**nasal**  
In phonology, a sound made with the passage of air through the nose.

<a></a>**natural gender**  
The association of [nouns](#noun) with the biological sex or sexual connotations of the concept signified; contrasted with grammatical [gender](#gender).

<a></a>**nominative**  
A [case](#case) used for the subject of a clause or a word linked to the subject by a [copula](#copula).

<a></a>**nonfinite**  
A [verb](#verb) form, such as the infinitive, not [inflected](#inflection) for person, number, tense, or mood.

<a></a>**Norman French**  
The dialect of medieval French spoken in Normandy, brought to England by large numbers of people after the accession of William the Conqueror.

<a></a>**North Germanic**  
One of three sub-branches of [Germanic](#germanic), which includes Norse, Danish, Swedish, and Old Icelandic.

<a></a>**noun**  
A part of speech used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action, and which can be used as the subject of a [verb](#verb).

<a></a>**O**

<a></a>**oblique**  
Any [case](#case) for [nouns](#noun), [pronouns](#pronoun), and adjectives other than the [nominative](#nominative).

<a></a>**off-glide**  
In a falling [diphthong](#dipthong), the transitional sound to the second and less prominent constituent [vowel](#vowel).

<a></a>**Old English**  
The earliest period of English approx. 500-1100 C.E.

<a></a>**on-glide**  
In a rising [diphthong](#diphthong), the transitional sound to the second and more prominent constituent [vowel](#vowel), as in the word *view*.

<a></a>**onomatopoeia**  
See [echoic word](#echoicword).

<a></a>**open**  
Used to describe the position of the jaw, slightly open, when making certain vowel sounds.

<a></a>**open syllable**  
A syllable that ends with a [vowel](#vowel).

<a></a>**orthography**  
Etymologically "correct writing," the conventional writing system for representing the words in a [language](#language).

<a></a>**P**

<a></a>**palatal**  
In phonology, a sound made by moving the tongue to the hard palate.

<a></a>**palatovelar**  
In phonology, a sound involving either the velum (soft palate) or hard palate.

<a></a>**paradigm**  
The systematic display of the [inflected](#inflection) forms of a part of speech using an illustrative example.

<a></a>**parataxis**  
A syntactic/stylistic construction that juxtaposes clauses without subordinating conjunctions.

<a></a>**pejoration**  
A semantic change making the connotations of a word more negative over time; for example, *silly* once meant "happy," and *churl* meant a free peasant.

<a></a>**personal ending**  
The ending of a [verb](#verb) that denotes a relation with the speaker: first person speaking, second person spoken to, third person spoken about. The distinctions correspond to the three categories of personal [pronouns](#pronoun).

<a></a>**phoneme**  
A smallest distinctive unit of speech sound in a [language](#language). Variations of phonetically similar sounds may be perceived as [allophones](#allophone) within a single [phoneme](#phoneme).

<a></a>**phonetic**  
A written representation, using a conventionalized writing system, of the spoken sounds of a [language](#language).

<a></a>**pidgin**  
A simplified [language](#language) invented for the purposes of contact between speakers who have no common tongue. It has a limited vocabulary and a reduced grammar.

<a></a>**prefix**  
An [affix](#affix) placed at the beginning of a word.

<a></a>**preposition**  
A function word that shows a syntactic relation between the [noun](#noun) phrase it precedes and other parts of the sentence. [Prepositions](#preposition) can also be used with verbs: *let's get it over with*.

<a></a>**prescriptive**  
A grammar that presumes the authority to adjudicate and fix correct usage.

<a></a>**present tense**  
One of two [verb](#verb) tenses for English and other [Germanic](#germanic) [languages](#language).

<a></a>**preterite**  
One of two [verb](#verb) tenses for English and other [Germanic](#germanic) [languages](#language), sometimes also called past tense because it denotes action that has taken place in the past.

<a></a>**primary stress**  
The most prominent [stress](#stress) on a syllable in a word or a phrase.

<a></a>**pronoun**  
A [function word](#functionword) that can replace a [noun](#noun) or noun phrase.

<a></a>**proto-Germanic, pre-Germanic**  
The dialect of [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) as it developed into the earliest common [Germanic](#germanic) language. It is nowhere attested in written form and must be reconstructed.

<a></a>**R**

<a></a>**Received Pronunciation, RP**  
A spoken variety of British English historically (or at least until very recently) associated with upper class institutions like Oxbridge and the BBC.

<a></a>**reconstruction**  
A hypothetical form of a word for which no written record exists. It is customarily preceded by an asterisk, e.g. [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) \**tu* (gives English *thou*).

<a></a>**register**  
A variety of [language](#language) reserved for a particular purpose or occasion. See [code-switching](#codeswitching).

<a></a>**relative [pronoun](#pronoun)**  
A [function word](#functionword) (in Mn. Eng. *that*, *which*, or *who*) that joins a dependent clause to an independent clause.

<a></a>**retroflex**  
In phonology, the curved position of the tongue in the pronunciation of the general American \[r\].

<a></a>**Romance**  
The group of languages that derive from Latin, such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and Romanian.

<a></a>**rounded**  
In phonology, a sound made with the lips protruding in an oval, such as \[o\].

<a></a>**rune**  
A letter from the writing system of [Germanic](#germanic) languages developed before the introduction of the Latin alphabet.

<a></a>**S**

<a></a>**Sapir-Whorf hypothesis**  
A theory postulating that [language](#language) shapes and limits one's perception of the world. Named for Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf.

<a></a>***satem* language**  
One of the most basic divisions in [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) languages, named after the Avestan word for *hundred*. The group includes many of the languages to the south and east in the geographic spread of IE. See [*centum* language](#centum) for information on the complimentary group and the meaning of the distinction.

<a></a>**schwa**  
A [lax](#laxvowel) [central vowel](#centralvowel) heard in most [unstressed](#unstressed) syllables in English.

<a></a>**secondary stress**  
A less prominent [stress](#stress) often heard in the second elements of compounds and in other polysyllabic words (like the last syllable of *attitude*).

<a></a>**semantics**  
The study of meaning in the lexical elements of a [language](#language).

<a></a>**Semitic**  
A family of languages including Arabic and Hebrew (Pyles &amp; Algeo).

<a></a>**semi-vowel**  
In phonology, a [voiced](#voicing) [consonant](#consonant) articulated with little obstruction to the flow of air, thus much like a [vowel](#vowel), such as \[y\] and \[w\].

<a></a>**shibboleth**  
Any usage that distinguishes one variety of [language](#language) from another, though ususally with deleterious social connotations. For example, saying "irregardless" instead of "regardless" would, in the opinion of Professor Donoghue, mark the speaker as intolerably ignorant.

In Judges 12:4-6, where the term originates, [*shibboleth*](#shibboleth) is used as a password. The Israelites could pronounce it, but a mispronunciation would reveal the speaker as an enemy.

<a></a>**short syllable**  
A syllable with a short [vowel](#vowel) that ends with no more than one [consonant](#consonant). Contrasted with [long syllable](#longsyllable).

<a></a>**shortening**  
In phonology, the process by which a long [vowel](#vowel) becomes short.

<a></a>**sibilant**  
In phonology, a hissing sound made with the air flowing down the center of the tongue, such as \[s\].

<a></a>**slang**  
A casual, often irreverent and socially substandard form of speech.

<a></a>**Slavic**  
A branch of [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) that includes Russian, Polish, and Czech, often grouped together with the Baltic Languages to make up [Balto-Slavic](#baltoslavic).

<a></a>s**ound symbolism**  
The association of certain phonemic sounds with a set of related thoughts or feelings, such as the \[sl\] in *slime*, *slurp*, *slip*, *slug*, which carries over to Lewis Carroll's *slithy toves*. Such sounds are sometimes called [phonaesthemes](#phonaestheme).

<a></a>**spelling pronunciation**  
Pronunciation changed because of a word's spelling, even if it is unhistorical. An early example is *author*, in which the &lt;h&gt; is scribal, but over time it was perceived as part of a &lt;th&gt; sequence and pronunciation changed accordingly.

<a></a>**standard English**  
A prestigious form of the [language](#language) taught in schools, supported by grammars and dictionaries, and used in established institutions.

<a></a>**stem**  
The main part of a word to which [prefixes](#prefix) and [suffixes](#suffix) are added.

<a></a>**stop**  
In phonology, a [consonant](#consonant) made by temporarily blocking the flow of air, then releasing it. Examples include \[t\], \[g\].

<a></a>**stress**  
The emphasis marked by pitch, loudness, and/or [length](#length) for a syllable in a word or phrase.

<a></a>**strong declension**  
A [Germanic](#germanic) noun or adjecive [declension](#declension) in which the stem originally ended in a vowel (Pyles &amp; Algeo). One of the two main categories of nouns and adjectives in English and other [Germanic](#germanic) [languages](#language); contrasted with [weak declension](#weakdeclension).

<a></a>**strong verb**  
A [verb](#verb) that forms its [preterite](#preterite) and past participle by a change in the root [vowel](#vowel). Modern English has about seventy such verbs, like *swim*, *swam*, *swum*; *give*, *gave*, *given*; *see*, *saw*, *seen*. [Old English](#oldenglish) had about 300.

<a></a>**subjunctive**  
A [verb](#verb) [mood](#mood) used when the proposition concerns something other than a factual statement, such as belief, hope, hypothesis, desire: *he insisted that she drive home* (not *drives*). The [subjunctive](#subjunctive) is used sparingly in [modern English](#modernenglish). In [Old English](#oldenglish) it was more common and was also used in certain syntactic constructions, especially clauses beginning with subordinating conjunctions.

<a></a>**suffix**  
An [affix](#affix) at the end of a base or a [stem](#stem). It can either be derivational (giving rise to a new word) or inflectional.

<a></a>**suppletion**  
The process of using an unrelated word to fill out a [paradigm](#paradigm). The [preterite](#preterite) of *go* is *went*, which comes from a different [verb](#verb), but *went* is still the [preterite](#preterite) [inflection](#inflection) of *go*. The various forms of the verb of being (*e.g.*, *was*, *are*, *is*, *been*) are from four originally distinct verbs, collapsed together into one [paradigm](#paradigm) as the various [inflections](#inflections) of a single verb.

<a></a>**svarabhakti**  
The introduction of an extra [vowel](#vowel) where historically it does not belong, as with some pronunciations of *real(a)tor*. Would it apply to *that Shakespeherean rag*? See [epenthesis](#epenthesis).

<a></a>**synchronic**  
A slice of time, rather than chronological sweep. In linguistics, it is an idealization invoked to give a sense of a [language's](#language) structure at a given time. Contrasted with [diachronic](#diachronic).

<a></a>**synecdoche**  
A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or a species for the genus: *all hands on deck* involves two part-for-whole substitutions, *hand* for *sailor* and *deck* for every part of the ship associated with the deck. Metonymy and [synecdoche](#synecdoche) are often used interchangeably.

<a></a>**synesthesia**  
A [semantic](#semantics) change transferring the attributes associated with one sense to another, such as *loud colors*, *bright sound*.

<a></a>**syntax**  
The part of [language](#language) study concerned with the order of words in phrases and clauses and with the rules governing the use of [inflected](#inflection) forms (such as when to use a [subjunctive](#subjunctive)).

<a></a>**synthetic language**  
A [language](#language) that uses [morphemes](#morpheme) such as [inflectional](#inflection) endings to supply grammatical information about the [syntactic](#syntax) function of sentence elements in the clause. [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) examples include Latin and Greek; examples from other language groups include Arabic and Turkish. Contrasted with [analytic languages](#analyticlanguage).

<a></a>**T**

<a></a>**tense vowel**  
One made with the muscles at the base of the tongue tensed, such as \[i\]. Contrasted with [lax vowels](#laxvowel).

<a></a>**thorn**  
A letter from the [Germanic](#germanic) [runic](#rune) alphabet added to the Latin alphabet in [Anglo-Saxon](#anglosaxon) England to transcribe [dental](#dental) [fricatives](#fricative). It was used through the [Middle English](#middleenglish) period and was gradually replaced by the sequence \[th\].

<a></a>**tilde**  
The name for a [diacritical mark](#diacriticalmark) used, for example, in Spanish spellings of words like *señora*.

<a></a>**Tocharian**  
A branch of [Indo-European](#indoeuropean), long extinct, once spoken in central Asia.

<a></a>**Tudor Vowel Shift**  
See [Great Vowel Shift](#greatvowelshift).

<a></a>**typological classification**  
The grouping of [languages](#language) based on similarities in structure.

<a></a>**U**

<a></a>**uninflected plural**  
A plural form for a [noun](#noun) that shows no difference from the singular, such as *deer*, *salmon*.

<a></a>**unreleased**  
In phonology, an [allophone](#allophone) of a [stop](#stop) made by moving the tongue or lips to begin the [stop](#stop), but without following through. For many speakers, the \[k\] of *blacktop* is unreleased although the tongue rises to the [velum](#velar).

<a></a>**unstressed**  
A syllable or word, in the case of monosyllables, with less acoustic prominence than its neighbors.

<a></a>**V**

<a></a>**VO language**  
[Languages](#language) with a basic [word order](#wordorder) in which the object follows the [verb](#verb). English has always been a [VO language](#volanguage), even though the order is reversed in some constructions: *him I can't stand*.

<a></a>**velar**  
In phonology, a sound made using the soft palate or velum.

<a></a>**verb**  
A part of speech indicating action or existence; it can take endings indicating person, number, tense, and mood.

<a></a>**Verner's Law**  
A descriptive sound law that accounts for a class of exceptions to [Grimm's Law](#grimmslaw); named after Karl Verner, who formulated it in 1875.

<a></a>**vocalization**  
The change from a [consonant](#consonant) to a [vowel](#vowel).

<a></a>**voice**  
A morphological category applied to verbs, which in [Indo-European](#indoeuropean) languages like Greek varies between active, passive, and middle. It indicates a relation between the [verb's](#verb) subject and its action. Modern English has no true passive but produces the equivalent by means of a [verb](#verb) phrase (*he was flattered*).

<a></a>**voicing**  
In phonology, the sound produced by the vibration of the vocal chords. All [vowels](#vowel) are voiced by definition; [consonants](#consonant) may be voiced or unvoiced/voiceless.

<a></a>**vowel**  
A speech sound made with the vocal chords vibrating and with no constriction or blocking of the vocal organs.

<a></a>**vulgar Latin**  
The Latin spoken as an everyday [language](#language) in the Roman Empire; it formed the basis of the various [Romance](#romance) languages.

**<a></a>W**

<a></a>**weak declension**  
A [Germanic](#germanic) noun or adjective in which the [consonant](#consonant) \[n\] was prominent; the [declension](#declension) of *n*-stems (Pyles &amp; Algeo). Contrasted with [strong declension](#strongdeclension).

<a></a>**weak verb**  
In [Germanic](#germanic) [languages](#language), a [verb](#verb) that forms its [preterite](#preterite) (past) by adding a [dental](#dental) [stop](#stop) to the root: *flip*, *flipped*.

<a></a>**West Germanic**  
A subbranch of [Germanic](#germanic) which includes English, Frisian, Dutch, Yiddish, and German.

<a></a>**West Saxon**  
The [Old English](#oldenglish) dialect spoken in the south and west of England.

<a></a>**word order**  
The sequence of words in a phrase or clause. In English it is essential to [syntax](#syntax).

<a></a>**wynn**  
A letter form adapted from the [Germanic](#germanic) [futhorc](#futhorc) to indicate the sound \[w\] in the writing of [Old English](#oldenglish). It was used up to the [Middle English](#middleenglish) period.

<a></a>**Y**

<a></a>**yogh**  
A letter form used in [Middle English](#middleenglish) and derived from the earlier insular letter form for \[g\]. In [Middle English](#middleenglish) it was used for one of several [consonant](#consonant) sounds.