Glossary of

Linguistic Terms

accent Often used to refer to distinctive pronuncia-

tions which differ from that of Received
Pronunciation
It differs from dialect which includes syn-
tax and vocabulary as well
acronym A word formed from the initial letters of the
words which make up a name, e.g. NATO
(from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation)
active A clause in which the subject is the actor of
the verb; in a passive clause the actor is not
the grammatical subject; seep. 14
addressee The person being addressed or spoken to in
any form of discourse
adjective In traditional grammar a word which de-
scribes a noun, as happy in 'the happy man';
an adjective phrase is a group of one or more
words fulfilling the function of an adjective;
seep. 11
adverb In t:r:aditional grammar a word which de-
scribes a verb; in 'he ran slowly', slowly
describes how he ran
An adverb phrase is a group of one or more
words fulfilling the function of an adverb; see
p. 11
affix A morpheme which is attached to another
word as an inflection or for derivation
Affixes include prefixes at the beginning of
a word and suffixes at the end of a word, e.g.
un-god-ly with prefix un- and suffix -ly
A derivational affix is used to form a new
word, e.g. the suffix -less with hope gives the
new word hopeless; an inflectional affix marks
grammatical relations, in comes, the -s marks
third person singular present indicative
159
160 Glossary

alliteration The repetition of the same sound at the

beginning of two or more words in close
proximity, e.g. 'time and tide'
alveolar In phonetics the sounds formed by the tongue
closing the air passage at the alveolar ridge
(immediately behind the front top teeth)
Such sounds in English include ltl, ldl,
and lnl
analogy The tendency to make all examples of a
particular feature follow a regular pattern;
thus since most nouns in English form their
plural by adding -s, the tendency is for nouns
which do not form their plural in this way to
change by analogy to this plural, e.g. formulas
compared with older formulae
article In traditional grammar the name given to a or
an (indefinite article) and to the (definite
article)
assimilation The process whereby two adjacent sounds
become more alike in pronunciation because
one of them discards those sound elements
which are different from the elements found
in the other; see pp. 33-4
auxiliary A verb which is part of the verb phrase, but is
not the head of the verb phrase except
through elision; examples include do, can,
may, must, shall; see p. 8
bilabial In phonetics the sounds, such as I pI and lb I,
caused by closing both lips and then opening
them quickly
bilingual Proficiency in two languages, usually as a
native speaker
clause A clause normally consists of a subject and a
verb, though it may have other elements as
well
Clauses can be linked together through co-
ordination, i.e. when they are of the same
status, or subordination, i.e. when one is of
higher rank than the other; see pp. 15-17
 Glossary 161

code switching The change from one language or variety of

language to another\within a conversation
A speaker in Belgium might change from
French to Flemish and back again depending
on the subject matter and the other partici-
pants in the conversation
collocation The habitual co-occurrence of two words
command A type of sentence which is an order, e.g. 'Go
away'; also known as an imperative
Such sentences normally have no subject;
seep. 19
complement An adjective, noun phrase or a clause acting
as a noun phrase which is dependent on a
stative verb
In 'He is happy', the adjective happy is the
complement
complex sentence A sentence consisting of at least one subordi-
nate clause in addition to the main clause, i.e.
the clause which can stand on its own; see
p. 18
compound A word consisting of at least two free mor-
phemes, i.e. two elements which are them-
selves words as in freewheel, where free and
wheel are both words
compound sentence A sentence of at least two main clauses joined
together through co-ordination, as 'He sat
down and the seat collapsed'. see pp. 17-18
conjunction A conjunction can be either co-ordinate or
subordinate
A co-ordinate conjunction joins together
elements of equal rank, as the two adjectives
in 'a rare and auspicious event' are joined by
and
A subordinate conjunction usually joins a
subordinate clause to a main clause, e.g. if,
when, although; seep. 10 and pp. 17-19
connotation The associations attached to a word in addi-
tion to its dictionary definition; e.g. in addi-
tion to its colour meaning, white has the
connotation of purity
162 Glossary

co-ordination The joining together of two linguistic ele-

ments of equal weight; see conjunction
correlative Two clauses linked together by two conjunc-
tions or adverbs which function as a pair to
reinforce the logical relationship between
them, as in 'Though she is beautiful, never-
theless she is not proud'
creole A pidgin which has been adopted as the
mother tongue of some people
determiner A word that occurs before the head, or
premonifiers if any, in a noun phrase, such
as the or my; only one determiner can appear
before a premodifier or head; see pp. 9-10
dialect A variety of language associated with a
particular speech community, either geogra-
phically to give a regional dialect or socially
to give a class dialect
diphthong A vowel sound in which there is a change of
quality during its articulation and is repre-
sented graphically by the first and last point
of articulation to suggest that it contains two
vowel sounds, e.g. I ai/.
diglossia A situation in which two significantly differ-
ent states of a single language are both used
by a speech community
discourse The organisation of language beyond the
sentence
dynamic A verb which expresses an action rather than
a state and can take forms in -ing as part of
the progressive, e.g. come, is coming
ellipsis The omission of some part of the sentence
which can be understood from the context
In the answer 'Yes, he is' to the question 'Is
he coming?', the present participle is coming is
reduced through ellipsis to is
euphemism A term regarded as more acceptable socially
which has replaced another term which has
become tainted by the unfavourable associa-
tions of the concept it refers to
Hence to spend a penny is a euphemism
 Glossary 163

exclamation A sentence which expresses surprise, amaze-

ment, etc. and is usually followed by an
exclamation mark, as in 'What a wonderful
day!' see p. 19
finite A term used to describe those parts of the
verb which are marked for tense, person and
number; see p. 13
fricative In phonetics a term used of consonants which
are produced through constricting some part
of the air passage, e.g. /f/ and /s/.
grammaticalisation The process whereby what had been an
optional feature in a language becomes a
regular feature of its grammar
In English questions it used to be possible
to say either Came he? or Did he come? (i.e. with
or without a part of the verb to do), but today
the do form has been grammaticalised and
questions now include the do auxiliary reg-
ularly
head The obligatory element of a phrase on which
all the other elements depend. In the noun
phrase 'the happy man', man is the head and
both the and happy are dependent on it
homonym Two words which are identical in speech and
writing
infinitive Equivalent to the base form of a verb which is
entered in dictionaries as the headword; it
can also be used with to: (to) come; (to) enter
inflection The marking of grammatical categories like
case or tense through the use of an affix or
some other linguistic mechanism
interjection A word in traditional grammar which stands
outside the normal grammar of a sentence,
e.g. 'Damn! she's not coming', seep. 11
inversion Reversing the order of two elements, as for
example the order of the subject and verb is
reversed to form a question so that He did
come becomes Did he come?
language contact The situation in which two or more languages
come into contact with one another on a
regular basis and force their speakers to
164 Glossary

adopt some strategy such as the development

of a pidgin to enable communication to take
place
lexis The term used to describe the vocabulary of a
language
liquid In phonetics referring to lrl and Ill, but
often taken to include I w I and I j I sounds
as well
modal A closed class of verbs which are part of the
auxiliary verbs and express such features as
obligation and necessity; they include can,
may and shall and are used with a lexical
verb; see p. 8
morpheme The smallest distinctive unit of meaning in
grammar
A free morpheme can stand by itself as a
word, e.g. boy, but a bound morpheme must
be attached to another morpheme, e.g. the -s
in boys; see affix, and pp. 3-5
morphology The study of morphemes
nasal In phonetics the term used of sounds which
are produced by air coming both through the
mouth and the nasal passage, e.g. lnl.
non-finite Those parts of the verb which are not marked
for tense, person or number such as the
infinitive and participle
A non-finite verb cannot act by itself as a
predicator; see p. 13
noun In traditional grammar the name given to a
person, place or thing; see pp. 5-6
noun phrase A phrase that acts like a noun and can fulfil
the role of subject or object
object A noun phrase which suffers the action of a
transitive verb and usually follows the verb
in order
onomatopoeia The term used to refer to those words which
are said to replicate natural sounds, e.g. woof-
woof as the noise made by a dog
palatal In phonetics the sounds made when the
central part of the tongue is raised to touch
the hard palate, e.g. ljl.
 Glossary 165

particip le A non-fin ite part of the verb used as an

adjective or in the verb phrase after auxili-
aries
Present particip les end in -ing, e.g. coming,
and past participles end in -en or -(e)d/t, e.g.
given, learned/learnt
passive see active
phonem e The minima l unit in the sound system of a
languag e which can be tested through sub-
stitution: if the sound changes the meanin g of
a word when it replaces another sound, then
both are phonem es. Thus I £1 and I cl are
phonem es because fat and cat have different
meanin gs
phoneti c alphabe t As the Roman alphabe t does not contain
enough letters, a special alphabe t has been
develop ed to represe nt the sounds of any
languag e
The standar d form of this alphab et is
known as the Internat ional Phonetic Alpha-
bet. The characters used to represe nt English
sounds are listed on pp. 20-1
phoneti cs The study of the sounds which can be made
by humans
phonol ogy The study of the sounds of a single languag e
phrase A group of one or more words, usually
withou t a finite verb; see pp. 11-14
pidgin A means of commu nicatio n develo ped
through languag e contact which is usually a
simplified linguistic system of a single lan-
guage with inputs from one or more other
languag es
It is no one's mother tongue
plosive In phoneti cs the sounds made when the air
passage is completely blocked for a momen t
(usually by the lips); when unblock ed the air
escapes as though with an 'explosi ve' sound;
exampl es are I pI and lb I.
postmo difier Those parts of the noun phrase which come
after the head; in English most usually a
relative clause or preposi tional phrase: in
166 Glossary

'the boy with the big head', with the big head is
the postmodifier which comes after boy
(head); see pp. 11-12
predicator The verb phrase which is an obligatory
constituent of a clause; see p. 12
prefix see affix
premodifier Those parts of the noun phrase which come
after the determiner and before the head; in
'the beautiful red house', beautiful red comes
after the (determiner) and before house (head);
seep. 11
preposition A word such as in, on or by which comes
before a noun phrase to express the relation-
ship of that phrase to the rest of the clause; in
the prepositional phrase 'on the table', on is
the preposition and the table is the noun
phrase; see p. 10
progressive A form of the verb formed by a part of the
auxiliary to be and the present participle of a
lexical verb to express an action which is
continuing as in 'he is coming'; see pp. 13-14
pronoun In traditional grammar a term used of a
dosed class of words that can stand in place
of a noun; see pp. 6-7
psycholinguistics The study of the relation between linguistic
behaviour and the psychological processes
such as mind or memory which are assumed
to determine it
question A type of sentence which asks a question and
is sometimes referred to as an interrogative;
in English questions normally have inversion
of subject and (auxiliary) verb; e.g. 'Is he
coming?' see pp. 18-19
rankshift A term describing the process whereby a
linguistic unit is used lower down the gram-
matical hierarchy. Hence a word like free can
be used as a morpheme in freewheel, and a
clause like he is coming can be used as a phrase
in I think he is coming
Received The prestige variety of speech associated with
Pronunciation education and high social status
 Glossary 167

register A variety of language which is employed in

relation to the social environment in which it
is used, e.g. formal or informal
rhetoric The way of organising an utterance or speech
to achieve the effect on the listener one
intends which was promoted and codified
in the past; nowadays it is particularly asso-
ciated with figures of speech such as meta-
phor and simile
sentence In traditional grammar a unit of language
consisting of one or more clauses and in
writing marked off by a capital letter at the
beginning and a fullstop at the end; see pp.
17-19
slang Colourful colloquial usage often associated
with particular groups of people, though the
slang of one age may become accepted as
standard in the next
sociolinguistics The study of the relation between linguistic
usage and social situations and structures
standard language That variety of language which cuts across
regional differences and has become institu-
tionalised as the status variety to be used in
writing, education, government, etc.; see p. xi
statement A type of sentence which makes a statement
and is also referred to as declarative
It is often regarded as the normative sen-
tence in a language and in English has the
order subject-verb-object/ complement; see
p. 18
stative A verb which expresses a state rather than an
action, e.g. 'I am happy'.
subject A noun phrase which is normally the actor of
the verb and precedes the verb in statements;
seep. 15
subjunctive No longer an important mood in English, but
traditionally it represented something hy-
pothetical such as a wish
In the present tense it is recognised by the
absence of final -s in the third person singu-
lar, e.g. 'Long live the Queen'; it is today more
168 Glossary

usually expressed through modal auxiliaries,

e.g. 'I wish he would come'.
subordinate clause A clause which cannot stand alone as it is
dependent on another clause and is usually
introduced by a subordinate conjunction
In the sentence 'When he comes I will tell
him', When he comes cannot make a complete
sentence; see p. 18
suffix see affix
syntax The study of the grammatical relations of a
language, which in English are principally
expressed through word order
token In vocabulary this refers to the number of
times a lexical item or type occurs
transitive A verb which requires an object; its opposite
is intransitive
type In vocabulary this refers to the different
lexical items which may be counted
We refer to 'lexical items' rather than
'words', because sing and sings, although
different words, are the same lexical item
velar In phonetics the sounds produced when the
back of the tongue is in contact with the soft
palate or velum
verb A lexical verb differs from an auxiliary in
having meaning in itself
A verb like sing is a lexical verb because it
means something by itself, whereas an aux-
iliary like shall is used in conjunction with a
lexical verb
voice A sound is said to be voiced if the vocal cords
vibrate as it is pronounced; it is otherwise
unvoiced
If you place a finger on your Adam's apple
you will feel the vibration for /z/ (voiced),
but not for /s/ (unvoiced).
 Glossary 169

word Words can be divided into two types lexical

and grammatical
Lexical words are usually nouns, adjec-
tives, adverbs and verbs and contain signifi-
cant meaning in themselves, whereas
grammatical words such as prepositions and
articles are important in the organisation and
structure of a sentence
 Suggestions for
Further Reading

For further information about grammar the following books are

useful: N .F. Blake, Traditional English Grammar and Beyond (London:
Macmillan, 1988); Geoffrey Leech, Margaret Deuchar and Robert
Hoogenraad, English Grammar for Today: A New Introduction (Lon-
don: Macmillan, 1982) and Dennis Freeborn, A Course Book in English
Grammar (London: Macmillan, 1987). A book which includes
phonology is Barbara Strang, Modern English Structure, 2nd edn
(London: Arnold, 1968). A book on phonology is Charles W.
Kreidler, The Pronunciation of English: A Course Book in Phonology
(Oxford: Blackwell, 1989).
An entertaining introduction to child language is David Crystal,
Listen to your Child: A Parent's Guide to Children's Language (London:
Penguin, 1986). See also Jerome Bruner, Child's Talk, Learning to Use
Language (London: Oxford University Press, 1983), Jill and Peter de
Villiers, Language Acquisition (Cambridge MA: Havard University
Press, 1978) and Gordon Wells, The Meaning Makers (London:
Hodder & Stoughton, 1987).
On language change see Jean Aitchison, Language Change: Progress
or Decay? (London: Fontana, 1981). For histories of English see A.C.
Baugh and T. Cable, A History of the English Language, 3rd edn
(London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978), Dick Leith, A Social
History of English (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983), and
David Burnley, The History of the English Language: A Source Book
(London: Longman, 1992).
The number of books on language variety and the social context
is enormous, and the recommendations here are very selective. On
standard language see J. and L. Milroy, Authority in Language:
Investigating Language Prescription and Standardisation, 2nd edn
(London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1989) and Sidney Greenbaum,
Good English and the Grammarian (London: Longman, 1988). General
books include Dennis Freeborn with David Langford and Peter
French, Varieties of English: An Introduction to the Study of Language
(London: Macmillan, 1986), W.R. O'Donnell and Loreto Todd,
Variety in Contemporary English, 2nd edn (London: Allen & Unwin,
1989), and Randolph Quirk and Gabriele Stein, English in Use
(London: Longman, 1990). See also E. Ryan and H. Giles, Attitudes
170
 Further Reading 171

towards Language Variation (London: Arnold 1982), P. Trudgill,

Sociolinguistics: An Introduction, (HannonHsworth: Penguin, 1974),
and Lesley Milroy, Language and Social Networks 2nd edn (Oxford:
Blackwell, 1987).
A book which explores some of the attitudes linked with accent is
John Honey, Does Accent Matter? (London: Faber, 1989).
On language and styles see D. Crystal and D. Davy, Investigating
English Style (London: Longman, 1969), M. Stubbs, Discourse Analysis
(Oxford: Blackwell, 1983), N.F. Blake, An Introduction to the Language
of Literature (London: Macmillan, 1990) and Ronald Carter and
Walter Nash, Seeing through Language: A Guide to Styles of English
Writing (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990).
For help with your project you can consult Christine McDonald,
English Language Project Work (London: Macmillan, 1992).
For a general book on language see David Crystal, The Cambridge
Encyclopedia of Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1987).
The recently published The Oxford Companion to the English
Language, edited by Tom McArthur (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1992) contains a wealth of information and ideas, some of
which could be followed up as projects.
Dwight Bolinger, Language, the Loaded Weapon: the Use and Abuse of
Language Today (London: Longman, 1980) discusses the influence of
language on thinking and behaviour.
 Index

abbreviations 60, 65, 72, 103, Austin Allegro Owners Workshop

107-8, 130 Manual 110
Academie Fran~aise 84 Australian 90-1
accent 90, 92, 105, 159 auxiliary 8, 12-14, 18-19, 26, 44-5,
acronym 103, 159 47-8, 50, 69, 74, 96, 160, 165-6,
action 8-9, 12-14, 122 168; modal 8, 12-13, 26, 61,
active 14, 27, 118, 159 109-10, 125, 127, 138, 164, 168;
Adelmann, Mr 127 primary 8,12-13,15,26
addressee 159
adjectival phrase 11, 122
Bangladeshi 91
adjective 4-5, 8-9, 11, 17, 38, 41-2,
Beano 151
47, 50, 62, 68, 70, 73, 80, 96, 101,
Belgium 161
118, 137, 159, 161, 165;
Bernstein, Basil 95
comparative 9, 42; bilabial 22, 31, 34, 160
superlative 9 bilingualism 93-4, 160
adverb(ial) 5, 9, 11-12, 15-18, 27, Birmingham 87
43-4,50,67-8,73-4,100,107 Black English Vernacular
110, 116-18, 122, 138, 159, 162; (BEV) 95-7
of manner 9; of place 9, 15, Blake, N.F. 157
43, 68; of time 9, 116, 138 Bodmin (Cornwall) 71
adverbial phrase 11, 68, 159 Bolinger, Dwight 103
advertisement 113-15 borrowing 6, 57, 63, 70
advertising 19 brackets 60
affix 159, 163-4, 166 Britain 116, 128
affricate 22-4 British Empire 58, 79
Age of Reason 57
agent 45, 47, 51
alliteration 115, 118, 138, 160 Canterbury Tales, The 64, 82
alveolar 22, 32, 160 capital letter 5, 17, 19, 60, 65, 67,
Alzheimer's 128, 130-1 118
America(n) 35, 39, 59, 83, 90, 92,95 Caxton, W. 64-71, 73, 75
ampersand 65, 72 Chalmers-Hunt, B. L. 110
analogy 42, 54, 160 Chaucer, Geoffrey 64-71, 82
Anglo-Saxons 82 China 93
antonym 116 Christ 70
apostrophe 6 Clare, Professor Anthony 128-32
archaism 63, 66, 70 clause 2-3, 11, 15-18,26,42,45, 50,
article 9, 67, 160 60-1,66-9,80,107-8,110,
articulation 22-4, 33 121-2, 160-2, 166-8; main 10,
aspect 12-14 74, 161; relative 7, 28, 117,
assimilation 33-4, 160 165; subordinate 18, 75, 161,
audience xii, 107-8, 110, 119, 123, 168; superordinate 126, 138
126-9, 131-2 Clift, Elizabeth 71-3; Robert 71;
Austin, Frances 71 William 71~

172
 Index 173

Clift Family Correspondence 1792- diphthong 20-1, 25-6, 162;

1846, The 71 closing 25; centring 25
Cockney 85, 88-9, 104 discourse xii, 3, 46, 105-6, 153, 162;
code, language as a 92-4; field of 105-7
restricted and
elaborated 95--6 Edgar (King Lear) 84
code switching 92-7, 161 Elizabethan 57, 84
collocation 122, 124-5, 134, 138, ellipsis 162
161 England 56, 71, 79, 81, 84, 88, 90,
colloquialism 62, 94, 118, 130, 137 92, 102, 104, 126, 136, 138-9
colon 60 enjambement 137
comma 65,73 euphemism 81, 86, 102, 113, 162
command 18-19, 44, 50, 86-7, Europe 116
108-10, 121-2, 161 exclamation 18-19, 162-3;
complement 17-19, 27, 161 mark 11, 19, 60, 113
compound 62,69,161
compounding 63 finite 12-13, 15, 17-18, 26, 28, 163,
conjunction 5, 10, 17-18,38, 45, 61, 165
69, 74, 161-2, 168; co- finiteness 12-13
ordinating 10, 17, 28, 126, 161 Flemish 161
subordinating 10, 18, 45, 161 form of address 51
connotation 102, 127, 133, 161 formality 1
consonant 20-4, 31-4, 59, 65; French 1, 32, 57, 63, 66, 68-9,
cluster 31, 34; syllabic 32-3 79-80, 161
Continent 126 fricative 22-4,31-2,163
contraction 106, 122, 137 frictionless continuant 23-4
Cooking for Special Occasions, by Mrs full stop 17, 19, 65, 73
Cozens 120 functional shift 26, 63
correctness 1-2,38, 40,56-8,60, 62,
82-5 GCSE 107
correlative 162 gender 7, 99, 101, 104;
Cozens, Mrs 122 differences 101-2
creole 88, 162 genre xii, 55-6, 64, 70, 72, 75, 117
Cumbria 57 German 1, 80, 94-5, 123, 127; Swiss
German 94-5
Germany 94
dash 60,73 Gilbert, Mr and Mrs 72-3
declarative see statement glide 32
Delia Smith's Cookery Course 121 glottal 22
denotation 107, 110, 124 God 97, 133-4
dental 22 Going, Going 135-9
Department of Health 127 Golding, William 112, 133
determiner 5, 9-11, 43, 48, 75, 115, grammar ix-x, 1, 19, 57, 73, 79-80,
121, 162, 166 83-4,86,123,127,139,154
dialect 33, 56, 63, 82, 8(r..90, 94-5, traditional x, 16, 159-60,
97-8, 118, 162 16(r..7
dialectology 92, 97-8 grammaticalisation 163
Dickens, Charles 85 Greece 111
diglossia 93-4 Greeks x
174 Index

Guardian 113 language change x-xi, 2, 55-79,

153
Hardy, Thomas 89, 152 language contact 88, 94, 163
Hart, John 7&-7 language corruption 55
Haynes, J. M. 110 Language in the Inner City 96
head(word) 6, 10-11, 28, 51, language project 26, 89, 147-58;
115-16, 124, 160, 162-6 descriptive 152-4, 156;
hierarchy 2, 5, 11, 17 theoretical 152-4
Hindi 93 language topic 151-4
Hindu 93 language variety xi, 1-2, 55,
homonym 163 80-104
Housman, A. E. 145 Larkin, Philip 13&-9
Hunter, John 71 lateral 22-4
Hunterian Museum 71 Latin 1, 57, 63, 65-6, 69-70, 75, 96,
103
imperative see command Lenin, V.I. 35
Independent, The 100, 102, 123, lexis see vocabulary
139-40 linguistic variable 97-100
Indian 91, 93 Linkinhorn 72
Industrial Revolution 89 liquid 32, 164
infinitive 8, 13, 115, 163 literary texts, analysis of 132-9
inflections 4, 7, 61, 66, 163 Lithuania(n) 102-3
intensifier 9, 11 Liverpudlian 88-9
intention 13 Llandudno 100, 102
interjection 5, 11, 163 London 57,71-3,82,91
International Phonetic Alphabet Loneliness of the Long Distance
(IPA) 21, 55, 85, 151, 165 Runner, The 142
interrogative see question Lord of the Flies 112
intonation 25-7, 105, falling 26; Lyrical Ballads 57
rising 26
intransitive 16, 27, 83
inversion 45, 50, 74, 96, 163, 166 macron 65
Irish 88, 90 marking 14
irony 118, 138 meaning 5-8, 35-41, 118, 134, 139,
italics 118 154, 157; change of 20, 63, 70
Mental Health Foundation 128-9
Jacobean 84 Merchant of Venice, The 61
jargon 103 metaphor 111-12, 115, 118, 130,
Johnson, Dr Samuel 72, 77-9 134, 139, 167
Midlands 88
Kilbride, Don 100 Mirror 123
King Lear 84 modal see auxiliary
modality 12, 14
labio-dental 22 monomorphemic 4, 9
Labour Party 116 morpheme 2-6, 19,44,66, 159,161,
Labov, William 95-6,98-100 164, 166; bound 4-6, 102, 164;
language acquisition x-xi, 29-54, derivational 4-5, 9, 159;
149, 152-3 free 4-5, 102, 164;
language, arbitrary nature of 80-2 inflectional 4, 61, 159
 Index 175

morphology 3, 5-8, 12, 41-2, 44, onomatopoeia 81, 118, 164

48,55,61,66, 72,88, 100,164 Orthographie 77
mother tongue 1
Muslim 93 Pakistani 91
palatal 22, 32, 164
palato-alveolar 22, 32
nasal 22-4, 164 paragraph 3, 108, 110, 113, 117,
National Association of Probation
122, 126, 129-31
Officers 100 participle, past 8, 13-14, 50, 61, 73,
National Curriculum in
96, 122, 165; present 8, 13-14,
English 107
48, 96, 165-6
National Kidney Research
passive 14, 27, 51, 69, 109-10 118
Fund 127 165 1

nationalism 57
I

negation 44-5,53,62,96 pathetic fallacy 134

negative 14, 27,44-5,47, 61, 69, 74; patterning 115-16
Penzance (Cornwall) 72
concord 96, 100
Nelson, Katherine 46 Pepys's Diary 156
New Zealand 91 perfective 14, 27
Newcastle 89 person 7, 101, 118 130, 163
newspaper 123-7 personification 111-12, 131, 138
non-finite 12-15, 26, 5Q-1, 122, Peugeot205 113-15
phoneme 20, 25, 165
164-5
non-standard English phonetic alphabet see
(language) ix-xi, 1-2, 4, 27, International Phonetic
57-8, 60, 79, 95, 113, 153-5 Alphabet
Norwich 100, 102 phonetics 165
noun 4-6, 9, 11, 38, 41, 43, 47, 49, phonic level 87
51, 61-2, 66, 70, 76, 80, 96, 101, phonology 19, 26, 32, 39, 165
110, 118, 121, 137, 154, 164, 166; phrase 2-3, 11-15, 42, 61, 64, 66,
abstract S-6, 118, 131, 133; 80, 115, 165-6
common 5; concrete 5-6 49 pidgin 88,94, 162,164-5
118, 133, count 6; non- ' ' plosive 22-4, 32, 165
count 6; proper 5; plural 4, 6-7, 42, 44, 48, 61, 65, 101,
possessive 4, 6-7, 43 160
noun phrase 6, 1Q-12, 15-19, 26-8, poetry 134-9
51, 61, 108, 110, 115-16, 118, positive 14, 27, 44
121, 124-6, 138, 167-7 possibility 13
number 100, 163 postdeterminer 10
numeral 10 postmodification 1Q-11, 18, 28,
108, 110, 116-18, 121, 126
postmodifier 12, 44, 51, 67-8,
object 6-7, 12, 15-19, 28, 43, 48, 165-6
108, 110, 115, 121-2, 164; predeterminer 10
direct 16, 43, 68; indirect 16 predicator 166
43, 68 I
prefix 4,62,69, 159,166
obligation 13 premodification 9-11,28,110, 116
Old English (Anglo-Saxon) 4, 7, 118, 121, 124-6 I

66,70 premodifier 44, 68, 115 124 162

On Wenlock Edge 145 166 I I
1
176 Index
preposition 5, 10-12, 38, 44, 48, 61,
68-9, 121, 166
prepositional complement 6, 12,
116
prepositional phrase 6, 10, 12,
15-16, 51, 116-17, 121-2, 165-6
prescriptivism 82-5
pre-speech developments 30-1
printing 56
Problems of Mathematics, The 144
progressive 13-14, 27, 166
pronoun 5-7, 11, 43, 48,50-1,66-7,
73, 101, 118, 121, 130, 166;
demonstrative 6-7, 9;
indefinite 6; interrogative 6;
personal 6-7, 9, 101-2, 130;
possessive 6-7; reflexive 6-
7; relative 6-7, 62, 68, 75
pronunciation ix, 66, 85-6, 88-90,
151
prose 132-4
prosodic features 25-6
proverb 115
psycholinguistics 29, 166
pun 112-13, 138
punctuation 55, 60, 65, 73, 106, 150
Puritanism 57
Pygmalion 83
quantifier 9, 28, 121
question 18-19, 26, 44-5, 53, 61,
86-7, 166;mark 60
radio 127-32; Radio 4 127, 129
rank 2-3
rankshift 3, 12, 166
Rap-1 141
Rastifarian 91
Received Pronunciation (RP) 58,
60,85,90,94,99, 153,166
recipe 119-23
records of achievement 107-8
reduplication 34
regional variety (dialect) 1, 56, 82,
89
register 63-4, 83, 86, 92, 124, 154,
167;variationin 92,100-3
Renaissance 111
rhetoric 57, 60, 111, 117, 131, 167
rhetorical question 113, 137
rhyme 118
Roman x, 165
Romantic Revolution 57
Royal College of Surgeons 71
RoyalS<Kiety 79
Russia(n) 35, 103
Scotland 89, 94
Scots 88-90, 94, 104
semantics 133, 154
semi-colon 60, 73
sentence ix-xii, 2-19, 26-7, 48,
50-1,60,66-7,73-4,96,108,
113, 115, 117, 122, 125, 130,
133-4, 137, 153, 161, 167;
complex 3, 17-18, 26, 45, 48,
108, 161; compound 17-18,
26, 28, 107, 110, 121, 161;
minor 19, 116; simple 17,
26-7, 50, 108, 110, 121
sexism, 100-1, 104
Shakespeare, William 61,84
Shaw, Bernard 83
Sillitoe, Alan 142
simile 111-12,167
slang 63, 75, 154, 118, 167
slash 60, 65, 67
Smith, Delia 121, 123
sociolinguistics 29, 97-100, 103,
153, 167 .
Somerset 87, 89
sound x-xi, 19-26,31-5,55, 60,
65-6, 86-8, 98, 111, 118, 165;
substitution 32-3
South Africa(n) 91, 102, 104
Soviet 102; Union 104
speech, organs of 22; see also
spoken language
spelling ix, xi, 55, 59-60, 65, 72,
76-8, 82, 84-5, 118, 150;
reform 76-7
Spire, The 133
spoken language (speech) 1-2, 27,
42,55-6,81,84-5,91,94,105-6,
128, 137, 147
Sri Lankan 91
Standard English (language) ix-xi,
1-2,27,56,58-9,62,67, 71-3,
 Index
79, 82, 85, 94-6, 100, 104, 118,
153, 155, 167
standardisation 56-7, 73, 82-5
stanza 136-8
state 8-9, 14
statement 18, 26, 45, 50-1, 86-7,
121, 167
statistics 128, 131, 151
stative see verb
stereotyping 87, 89-91
Stewart, J. 144
stress 25--6, 34, 87
stress-timed 25
style 14, 18, 28, 57, 61, 63, 66,
68-71,105,108,117,124-6, 153;
formal 58, 61, 65-6, 72-3,
75-6,85,94,98-9,106,122,154,
informal 56, 58-9, 63, 74-5,
85; poetic 62, 95, 98-9, 154;
pompous 61, 64-5, 69, 75,138;
to inform 107-8; to
instruct 108-10; to
persuade 111-17; to
entertain 111-17
subject 6-7, 13-15, 17-19, 27-8, 44,
47, 51, 68-9, 74, 96, 100, 107-8,
134, 160-1, 164, 166-7;
dummy 68,96
subjunctive 73, 167
suffix 62-3, 69, 159, 168
Switzerland 94
syllable 4, 9, 25, 31, 34, 59, 137
Sylvester, J.J. 144
syntactic function 5, 7
syntax 3, 10, 16-18, 41--{), 55-6,
61-2, 70, 73, 83, 88, 100, 115,
150-1, 155, 168
taboo 81
tense 12-13, 41, 163;
compound 13; past 4, 8,
12-14, 27, 42, 138; present 8,
12-14, 27, 48, 61, 66, 138, 159,
167
text analysis 26, 117-39
texts, language study of 105-46
TGAT 107
three-word utterance 44
token see word token
177
transitive 16, 27, 83, 108-10, 115,
121-2, 168
two-word utterance 42-5, 53
Tudor 57
type see word type
Uganda 91
United Kingdom 90-2
unvoiced 33-4, 168; see also
voiceless
Urdu 93,95
variant 56, 59--{)0
variation 65, 84; use-related 86-
8, 92-7, 105; user-related 86-
92, 105
varieties, 58, 81, 86, 88-9,91-2, 94-6;
class 55, 57; regional 55-7
velar 22, 32-3, 168
verb 5, 8-19, 27, 38, 41-3, 47-8, 50,
61-2, 66, 70, 96, 100, 107, 112,
118, 131, 134, 138, 160, 163, 165,
167-8; base form of 4, 8, 13,
19, 48, 50, 112, 115, 154, 163;
dynamic 14, 27, 112, 118, 134;
lexical 8, 12-15, 26, 96, 110,
164, 168; phrasal 50, 62, 154;
stative 14, 27, 118, 167
verb phrase 8-9, 12-14, 26-7, 44,
76, 109-10, 121, 125, 160, 166
Vietnam 93
vocabulary (lexis) ix, 35-41, 47,
49-50, 55-61, 63-4, 69, 73, 75,
82, 86, 102-3, 107-8, 113, 118,
121-2, 124, 126-7, 133, 139, 150,
152--{), 164, 168; active 40;
learned 65; passive 40;
technical 110, 127; see also
word
vocal cords 33, 168
vocalisation 32-3
voice 12, 14, 168
voiced 22, 24, 33, 168
voiceless 22, 24; see also unvoiced
vowel 20-5, 31-4,59, 65; back 23,
25; centre 23; close 23, 25;
front 23, 25;
neutralisation 32; open 23,
25
178 Index

Wales 100, 102 41-2, 44, 47, 61, 168;

Wells, Gordon 48, 50-1
Welsh 88
West Country 104
West Indies 91
Westminster 64
willingness 13
Woman's Institute 123
word 2-5, 11, 19, 26, 35-41, 47-9,
53,63-4,66,69-70,75,81,102,
115, 134, 137, 154-5, 161, 168--9;
closed class 5, 11, 165-6;
grammatical/structural 5, 38,
learned 69-70; lexical 5, 38,
42, 168; new 4, 63, 69-70, 83,
154, 156-7; open class 5,
165-6; polysyllabic 57;
token 40, 47, 53, 168;
type 40, 47, 53, 168; see also
vocabulary
word formation 4, 55, 62, 69, 154
word order 4, 51, 61, 66-8, 74, 80,
107
Your Talking Cat 146