Linguistic Terminology Definition

Give meaning to following words: allomorph alphabetic writing anaphora base

bilingualism borrowing cant / argot code-switching cognate coherence cohesion
collocation communicative competence comparative reconstruction compositionality
(compositional semantics) connotation dead language deixis (deictic expressions)
denotation diglossia epenthesis eponym ethnic dialect (ethnolect) euphemism
grammatical gender ideogram idiolect idiom inference infix isogloss jargon language
family language planning lexeme lexicography lexicon loanword loan translation
(calque) logogram logographic writing metaphor metathesis metonymy morpheme
personification phonographic writing phrase-structure rule pictogram prefix
presupposition proposition prothesis protolanguage Proto-Indo-European prototype
recursion reduplication reference regionalism register regular sound
correspondences retronym reversive root semantic broadening (widening/gesemantic
narrowing slang sociolect (social dialect) standard variety stem structural
ambiguity suffix suppletion synesthesia transformational rule utterance

• Allomorph: Variants of a single morpheme that have the same grammatical function
but different forms.

• Alphabetic writing: A writing system based on the representation of words using

symbols or letters that represent sounds.

• Anaphora: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive

clauses or sentences to refer back to a preceding noun.

• Base: The root form of a word from which other words can be formed by adding
affixes.

• Bilingualism: The ability to use two languages, either by an individual or a

community.

• Borrowing: The process of adopting words from one language into another.

• Cant/Argot: A specialized vocabulary used by a particular group or profession.

• Code-switching: The alternating use of two or more languages or language

varieties in a single conversation or communication.

• Cognate: Words from different languages that have a common origin and similar
meanings.

• Coherence: The quality of being logically connected and making sense as a whole
in a text or speech.

• Cohesion: The grammatical and lexical links that hold a text or speech together.

• Collocation: The habitual juxtaposition of a particular word with another word or

words.

• Communicative competence: The knowledge and ability to effectively use language

in various social situations.

• Comparative reconstruction: The comparison of related languages to reconstruct

their ancestral form.

• Compositionality (compositional semantics): The principle that the meaning of a

complex expression is a function of the meanings of its constituent parts and the
rules used to combine them.
• Connotation: The emotional or cultural associations that a word carries beyond
its literal definition.

• Dead language: A language that is no longer used for daily communication by any
speech community.

• Deixis (deictic expressions): Words or phrases that refer to the time, place or
person being spoken about, such as "here," "now," "I," "you."

• Denotation: The literal or primary definition of a word.

• Diglossia: The simultaneous use of two languages or language varieties, one of

which is used for formal situations and the other for informal situations.

• Epenthesis: The addition of a sound or syllable within a word, typically to ease

pronunciation.

• Eponym: A word derived from a person's name.

• Ethnic dialect (ethnolect): A language variety spoken by a particular ethnic

group.

• Euphemism: A mild or indirect word or expression used in place of a more direct

or harsh one.

• Grammatical gender: A categorization of nouns into classes that often determine

the form of adjectives, pronouns and articles that accompany them.

• Ideogram: A symbol that represents an idea or concept, rather than a word or

sound.

• Idiolect: The unique linguistic behavior of an individual.

• Idiom: A phrase whose meaning cannot be understood from the individual words it
contains.

• Inference: The process of deducing information not explicitly stated in a text or

speech.

• Infix: An affix that is inserted within a word, rather than added to the
beginning or end of a word.

• Isogloss: A line on a map that separates regions that use different linguistic
features.

• Jargon: Specialized language used by a particular profession or group.

• Language family: A group of related languages that have a common ancestor.

• Language planning: The deliberate attempt to shape the development and use of a
language for specific purposes.

• Lexeme: The basic unit of meaning in a language, often equivalent to a word.

• Lexicography: The practice of compiling dictionaries and defining words.

• Lexicon: The vocabulary of a language or a speaker/writer.

• Loanword: A word adopted from one language into another, often with some
modification.

• Loan translation (calque): A word or phrase borrowed from another language and
translated into the target language, word-for-word.

• Logogram: A symbol that represents a word or phrase, rather than a sound.

• Logographic writing: A writing system in which each symbol represents a word or

phrase.

• Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or

action to which it is not literally applicable.

• Metathesis: The transposition of sounds or letters within a word.

• Metonymy: A figure of speech in which a word is used to refer to something

closely associated with it, such as "the crown" to refer to a monarchy.

• Morpheme: The smallest unit of meaning in a word, often equivalent to a prefix,

root, or suffix.

• Personification: The attribution of human qualities or characteristics to non-

human entities.

• Phonographic writing: A writing system that represents speech sounds.

• Phrase-structure rule: A rule in generative grammar that specifies the structure

of phrases and sentences in a language.

• Pictogram: A symbol that represents a concept or object by its picture or

illustration.

• Prefix: An affix added to the beginning of a word to modify its meaning.

• Presupposition: An assumption that is made in the context of a sentence, and is

necessary for the sentence to make sense.

• Preposition: is a word or group of words used to link nouns, pronouns and phrases
to other words in a sentence. Some examples of prepositions are single words like
in, at, on, of, to, by and with or phrases such as in front of, next to, instead
of.

• Prosthesis: is a term used in phonetics and phonology to refer to the addition of

a syllable or a sound (usually a vowel) to the beginning of a word (for
example, especial)

• Protolanguage: An ancestral language, or a reconstructed early form of a

language, from which a group of related languages or dialects is believed to have
evolved.

• Proto-Indo-European: The reconstructed ancestor of the Indo-European language

family, including English, Spanish, and many others.

• Prototype: A first or original model of a product, used as a basis for further

development and improvement.

• Recursion: The repeated application of a rule or process to generate an infinite

sequence or structure.
• Reduplication: The repetition of a portion of a word to indicate plural,
emphasis, or to form new words in some languages.

• Reference: A relationship or connection between things or the act of mentioning

or alluding to something.

• Regionalism: A distinctive cultural feature, such as dialect, customs, or

cuisine, that is associated with a specific region.

• Register: A specific style or level of language used in a particular situation,

such as formal or informal.

• Regular Sound Correspondences: Consistent patterns in the way sounds change in

related languages or dialects.

• Retronym: A new term created to distinguish a previously unambiguous term from a

new development.

• Reversive: A change in meaning that occurs when a word is used in an opposite

sense.

• Root: The base form of a word from which other words are derived, often by adding
affixes.

• Semantic Broadening (Widening): The process of a word acquiring additional

meanings over time.

• Semantic Narrowing: The process of a word losing some of its original meanings
and acquiring more specific meanings.

• Slang: Informal language used by a particular group of people, often with

specialized meanings and expressions.

• Sociolect (Social dialect): A form of language that is characteristic of a

particular social group, including factors such as occupation, education, and
geographic location.

• Standard Variety: A form of language that is widely accepted as the norm, such as
standard English.

• Stem: The main part of a word to which affixes are added to form different words.

• Structural Ambiguity: A situation in which a sentence can be interpreted in more

than one way because of its grammatical structure.

• Suffix: An affix added to the end of a word to change its grammatical function or
meaning.

• Suppletion: The use of different forms for a word in different grammatical

contexts, often due to historical linguistic change.

• Synesthesia: A condition in which stimulation of one sense, such as hearing,

triggers an experience in another sense, such as seeing colors.

• Transformational Rule: A rule in linguistic theory that explains how one sentence
is related to another sentence, by transforming the latter into the former.

• Utterance: A complete speech act or a single unit of spoken language, typically

consisting of one or more words.