An exemplified grammar, lexis and phonology glossary for English Language Teachers

Define your terms

This is one of several glossaries on the site.
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In 1586, William Bullokar published A Brief Grammar of English and since then innumerable other grammars have appeared and continue to appear. The following does not add substantially (or at all) to an area of serious study that has been in train for 450-odd years.
It is also not intended as a replacement for a dictionary of lexical and phonological terms.
What it does claim to do is allow you to investigate further by following the links to the right of the definitions and examples.
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		Examples	Guide links
A
a-adjective	A special kind of adjective beginning with a-. These adjectives are nearly always used predicatively. (These adjectives may be used attributively when modified.)	The dog is asleep NOT The asleep* dog Others in this group include: ablaze, afraid, alive, alone, awake, aware (The wide awake children)	Adjectives
ablative	An inflexion which denotes that the case use is to express by, with or from Few modern languages use an ablative case although it exists in, e.g., Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Hungarian.	In Latin, fields translates as agri but from the fields as ex agrīs	Case
ablaut	A vowel change denoting a grammatical function. This was also called gradation and is known as vowel mutation.	The verb sing changes to sang in the past tense	Ablaut reduplication Lexical verbs
absolute tense	A tense which can be understood without reference to another time	She left	Time, tense and aspect
abstract noun	A noun referring to an intangible concept. These nouns are often mass nouns. Compare concrete noun. Many do not consider the distinction between concrete and abstract nouns is valid.	happiness, economics, love, embarrassment etc.	Nouns
accent	a) a mark above or below a letter to show its pronunciation. Such marks are also called diacritics. They are used in English on words imported from other languages.	in naïve, façade or café	Spelling
	b) the place in a word where the heaviest stress falls. This is better referred to as word stress.	exp*ort* (verb) and export (noun)	Word stress
	c) a particular way of pronouncing a language in a geographical area or social class or the influence of a first language in the pronunciation of a second.	A Texan accent An upper-class accent An Italian accent	Variety Sociolinguistics
accidence	Changes to the form of a word which show grammatical function. Also used to describe the part of grammar referring to morphological changes. See also ablaut.	smoke → smokes happy → happiness	Morphology
accusative	A case referring to the direct object of a verb.	She told him	Case
acronym	A word made of the initial letters of a phrase which are pronounced as one word. See initialism.	NATO	Word formation
active voice	A verbal structure in which the subject is the person or thing which performs the action or is in the state. Compare passive voice.	John broke the window The window was filthy	Passive
adjective adjective phrase	A word or phrase which modifies a noun phrase. They can be attributive or predicative.	The large dog Mary was tired The children were *well fed and happy* She had an *interesting, old* book with her	Adjectives
adjunct	An omissible verb-phrase modifying element in an expression. Adjuncts are integral to the clause in which they occur. By some definitions, adjuncts may also modify noun phrases (as adnominals), adjective phrases (as adadjectivals) and adverb phrases (as adadverbials).	She ran *to the door* They fell *awkwardly* The house on the corner (adnominal) The house was horribly* untidy* (adadjectival) He spoke quite* movingly* (adadverbial)	Adverbials
adposition	A general term for connective items: see preposition and postposition.
adverb	A word which modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a verb phrase.	She walked *quickly* The book was *very* expensive He drove idiotically fast He had usually driven to work	Adverbs
adverb of degree	An adverb telling you to what extent. These are sometimes called adverbs of extent.	I *really* enjoyed the book
adverb of frequency	A subcategory of adverbs of time, expressing how often. There are two sorts: indefinite frequency and definite frequency with different associated grammatical structures.	He *usually* goes home at 6 (indefinite frequency) She delivers the papers *daily* (definite frequency)
adverb of manner	An adverb expressing the way something happens.	It *quickly* became dark
adverb of place	An adverb expressing where or in what direction an action happens or state exists.	I came *inside* She was sitting *there*
adverb of time	An adverb expressing when something happens or a state exists.	She left then They stayed late
adverb phrase	A group of words doing the job of an adverb.	They walked home *slowly and sadly*
adverbial	Any word, phrase or clause which modifies a verb phrase.	He went *into town* (prepositional-phrase adverbial (adjunct) of place) I came to see if I can help (non-finite clause adverbial of purpose) I left when the rain started (finite clause adverbial of time) *Honestly*, I don’t know (adverb (disjunct)) *Moreover*, I don't think anyone knows (adverb (conjunct))	Adverbials
affect	The emotional meaning of an utterance, often signalled by intonation.	You cannot be serious!↑	Intonation
affirmative	A sentence or clause which is not negated.	I am waiting for the rain	Sentences
affix	A morpheme attached to another word to make a more complex form.	incompleteness	Word formation
affricate affricative (n. and adj.)	A consonant sound involving the closure of the vocal tract and its slow release.	/tʃ/ in church	Consonants
agent agentive (adj.)	In passive clauses, the causer or doer of the action. Agents are often linked with the preposition by. See patient.	The window was broken by *them* I had the work done by the garage	Passive
agent noun	A noun derived from a verb which denotes the person or thing that does the action denoted by the verb. The usual way they are formed is with the -(o)r or -(e)r suffixes although -(o)r is no longer productive of new agent nouns.	*editor, doctor, vendor, purchaser, buyer, collector*	Word formation
agreement	See concord.
alethic modality	Modality concerned with expressing universal truths.	A square must* have four equal sides*	Modality map
allograph	An alternative way of representing a letter.	The letter 'g' can be written as that or as 'ɡ'	Types of languages
allomorph	An alternative form of a morpheme.	The past-tense ending in English can be -d, -ed or -t	Word formation
allophone	A non-phonemic difference in the pronunciation of a sound.	/kʰ/ vs. /k/	Pronunciation overview
alveolar	A consonant formed when the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge (behind the top teeth).	/t/, /d/ (tongue tip) /s/, /z/ (tongue blade)	Consonants
ambiguity	Having the potential of more than one interpretation.	Where's the bank? (lexical ambiguity) She hit the man with the stick (structural ambiguity)	Ambiguity
ambitransitive verb	A verb which may or may not take an object (be either transitive or intransitive). Such verbs may retain the same meaning, change meaning or be associated with different forms of subjects in the two roles.	I read his letter I read for an hour The glass broke I broke the glass He ran fast He ran the business	Types of verb
anaphora anaphoric (adj.)	With reference back to an earlier item. Compare cataphora.	When the rain* finally came it was heavy*	Cohesion
antecedent	An item to which a later item refers. Strictly, the term antecedent refers only to the noun phrase to which a relative pronoun refers. In other cases, pronouns refer to referents. See referent.	That's *the man* whom I asked	Relative pronoun clauses
anticipatory	The grammatical subject of a clause which anticipates the notional subject.	In It is nice to be here The pronoun it anticipates the real complement of the verb be. It could be rephrased as To be here is nice.	It and there
antonym	a) A gradable word of opposite meaning. b) A converse word (also relational antonymy) c) A complementary opposite (also binary antonymy)	a) good vs. bad b) mother vs. daughter c) *open* vs. shut	Lexical relationships
aphesis / apheresis	The omission of an unstressed sound at the beginning of a word.	until → till around → round	Word formation
apocope	The omission of a section from the end of a word.	photograph → photo	Word formation
apposition	When two elements have the same meaning and grammatical status, they are in apposition.	My brother, the manager, will help	Concord Phrases
approximant	A sound produced when two organs of speech are close together but without audible friction. See also fricative.	the /j/ in yet	Consonants
argot	A term less disparagingly used than jargon to refer to the use of terms specific to a particular group or class.	Teenager English	Variety
article	A class of determiners which modify noun phrases for number or reference. There are three in English: a(n) (the indefinite article), the (the definite article) and Ø, the zero article.	She bought a house on the* hill with Ø money from her father*	Articles
articulator	An organ or mouth part involved in the production of sounds. The diagram is:		Pronunciation overview
aspect	How an event or action is perceived relative to time (as opposed to in time). There is not always a one-to-one relationship between aspect and form. See tense.	He lives* in London* (continuous aspect) He was working (progressive aspect) He has worked (perfect aspect) He used to work (habitual (past) aspect)	Aspect
aspiration	The addition of an audible breath to a consonant sound.	/kʰ/ not /k/ at the beginning of cash	Consonants
assemblage noun	A special type of collective noun for particular animals. See collective noun.	a pod* of whales*	Nouns
assertive forms	Pronouns, adverbials and determiners which are conventionally used in positive sentences. Compare non-assertive.	I want some time to myself I have already finished Let me have a few	Assertive and non-assertive
assimilation	The effect of one sound on the production of another so that they become more alike.	ten + pin pronounced as /tem.pɪn/ not /ten.pɪn/	Pronunciation overview
assonance	The phenomenon of two words sharing a common vowel sound but with different consonants.	hurly-burly	Idiomaticity
assumptive modality	A form of epistemic modality expressing the speaker's view of the truth based on previous experience.	She'll be at work at this time of the morning Don't call now. They'*ll be having* dinner	Types of modality
asterisked form	The conventional way to denote a malformed expression. Also called a starred form.	*He goed last week	Used in most guides
asyndetic	Omission of a conjunction. The opposite is the inclusion of the conjunction and is called syndetic coordination.	*Tired, frustrated, he walked out They went home poorer but wiser*	Conjunction
atelic	See telicity.
attitudinal disjunct	See disjunct.
attributive	This describes an adjective which comes directly before or after the noun and is not linked to it by a copular verb. See predicative.	The green* house* The people *responsible*	Adjectives
autoantonym	A word which has two opposite meanings. Also called contranym / contronym.	cleave can mean split or stick together with	Lexical relationships
autonomous language	An independent language or dialect defined by notions of non-mutual comprehensibility with other languages dialects or by political, ethnic or cultural divisions.	British and American English Japanese and Italian	Sociolinguistics
autonym	A word used by a group of people to describe themselves. Compare exonym.	Brit is often used by British and other people to describe people from Britain.	Lexical relationships
auxiliary verb	a) Primary auxiliary verb: A verb which has no meaning alone but works with main verbs to express aspect or voice.	I have finished He was cycling They were sold I had it repaired	Primary auxiliary verbs Aspect Passive Causative
auxiliary verb	b) Modal auxiliary verb: A verb which has no meaning alone but works with main verbs to express the speaker's perception of truth, necessity, obligation etc.	We should* leave* I must go home now She needn't have troubled	Modal auxiliary verbs Modality map
B
back	Describing sounds made at the back of the mouth. Compare front and central.	/h/ and /ɒ/	Vowels
back formation	The formation of a word by the removal of an assumed but non-existent affix from another.	*edit* from *editor*	Word formation
base form	The form of a word from which other forms are derived. Base forms of adjectives and adverbs may be referred to as positive forms. See stem.	speak, write, open, decide etc. long (base form) and longer (derived form) decide (base form) and decision (derived form)	Finite vs. non-finite Word formation
bilabial	A consonant made with both lips.	/m/ and /p/	Consonants
bilingualism	The ability to speak more two languages with native-like ability. Multilingualism refers to the ability to speak two or more languages.	Switching between English (at work) and Spanish (at home) in the USA.	Variety
binding	When clauses are unequal, they are connected by binding. (Compare linking)	The room was a mess because* I'd been too busy to clear up*	Complex sentences
blend / blending	A word formed by combining two other words. Sometimes called a portmanteau word.	*smog* (from smoke and fog)	Word formation
boulemic modality	A form of deontic modality referring to that which is necessary given a person's wants and desires.	I must go now and get something to eat You don't have to stay if you have work to do	Types of modality
bound base bound root	A base form subject to affixation but which is no longer an independent element in the language.	*tang*ible edible	Word formation
bound form bound morpheme	A morpheme which cannot stand alone but always appears in combination with a base form.	denationalise	Word formation
C
calque	A word or expression borrowed from another language but translated into the receiving language.	lightning war (from Blitzkrieg)	Word formation
canonical word order	The usual unmarked ordering of items in a language. Languages vary. See also word order.	English is Subject-Verb-Object, Adjective-Noun, Determiner-Noun etc.	Word order
cardinal vowels and English vowels	Cardinal vowels are a set of reference sounds to identify vowels in any language. The following are not cardinal vowels, they are the vowels in English.		Vowels
case	The form of nouns, pronouns and adjectives which show their relationship to other items. English has a very limited case structure grammar but other languages are more sophisticated and complex in this area.	She wants to go (subject or nominative case) I want to talk to them (object or accusative case) That is mine (possessive or genitive case)	Genitive
cataphora cataphoric (adj.)	With reference to a following item. Compare anaphora.	When it was finished, I admired the work* he had done*	Cohesion
catenation catenative (adj.)	The phenomenon of verbs occurring in a chain.	She came to help to organise* the room*	Catenative verbs
causative	A form of passive sentence in which the producer of the language is not responsible for the action performed.	I was made to wait I had / got the car repaired	Causative
cavity	A chamber in the oral tract employed to make sounds. See under articulators or vocal tract for the diagram.	nasal oral pharyngeal	Pronunciation overview
central	a) Describing sounds made in the centre of the mouth. Compare Back and Front.	/ɜː/ and /tʃ/	Pronunciation overview
central	b) Referring to items which exhibit all the defining characteristics of their class.	beautiful is a central adjective may is a central modal auxiliary verb	Adjectives Modal auxiliary verbs
circumstance	In functional grammar any expression which signals extent, location (in time and place), contingency, cause, accompaniment, matter, role, manner or angle. Compare adverbial.	for a week in the park for a change by car quietly etc.	Circumstances
classifier	Also known as a noun adjunct, a classifier determines the nature of a noun rather than describing it although it is often seen as adjectival. Classifiers may not usually be modified with adverbs. (Compare epithet)	It's a brick wall She's an English language teacher	Classifiers and partitives
clause	A group of words containing a verb form. The verb may be finite or non-finite.	She came because *she wanted to help* (finite clause) I came *hoping to help* (non-finite clause)	Clause structures
clear /l/	Describing the front consonant sound at the beginning of the word leak. Compare dark /l/ ([ɫ]).	The first sound in lull (/lʌl/)	Consonants
cleft	A type of sentence into which, for emphasis, a second verb phrase is inserted.	It was to the restaurant she took her mother	Clefts
clipping	A process of word formation involving the abbreviation of a longer word.	perambulator → pram	Word formation
clitic (n.) cliticised (adj.)	A form which cannot stand alone. In some analyses many function words such as the, an, by etc. are referred to as clitics (but not on this site).	’m, n't and ’s are clitic forms in the cliticised words I'm, don't and *she's*	Word formation
close vowel	A vowel produced with the tongue in the highest position.	/i/ and /u/	Vowels
closed-system items closed-class items	These are word classes to which it is very rare to make additions and which can, therefore, in theory, be exhaustively listed.	prepositions, determiners, pronouns, conjunctions	Word class map
cluster	A series of consonants.	/kr/ and /sps/ in crisps	Consonants
coalescence	The fusing of sounds.	would you pronounced as /wʊdʒu/	Connected speech
coda	a) Consonants following the nucleus of a syllable (which is preceded by the onset).	/p/ in top	Syllables
coda	b) The final piece of a text which sums up or presents the writer / speaker's view etc.	So, in the end, it came out alright	Genre
code switching	Changing language, dialect, style, register or accent to suit the social or linguistic setting	Changing to a formal style and older dialect when in church and using completely different style or dialect among family members.
coherence	Logical or functional connectedness. Compare cohesion.	Where's she gone? She needed to get to the shop	Theme-Rheme
cohesion	The use of grammatical or lexical connectors to maintain connectedness in language. Compare coherence. Items which contribute to or structure cohesion are called cohesive devices often mistakenly referred to as discourse markers.	Where's Mary? She went to the shops	Cohesion
coinage	See neologism.
collective noun	A noun which refers to a group of things or people. This expression is sometimes used also for assemblage nouns. Collective nouns are often confused with partitives which have an opposite function.	*The army* is helping *The jury* are considering the verdict *A flock* of sheep	Nouns
colligation	The tendency of some words to enter into characteristic grammatical relationships.	I hid behind the door not *I concealed behind the door	Colligation
collocation	The tendency of words to co-occur.	He ran* a risk* She took a risk *She made a risk	Collocation
combining form	A form resembling an affix but which adds to rather than altering the meaning or changing word class.	geopolitical	Word formation
commissive modality	A form of deontic modality referring to an obligation placed by the speaker on the speaker.	I will pay you back, I promise I have to thank you	Modality map
comment clause	A type of disjunct.	The answer, I must say, is not clear	Disjuncts
common noun	A type of noun contrasted with a proper noun to refer to objects or concepts.	chair, happiness, people etc.	Nouns
comparative	The form which is used to show a greater or lesser degree of a quality. There are two sorts: inflected and periphrastic. Comparatives may be made with adjectives or adverbs but most adverbs take the periphrastic forms.	A bigger* house* (inflected comparative) A more beautiful* cat* (periphrastic comparative)	Adjectives
complement	A word or phrase which tells us something about the subject or object of a clause. Complements are often linked with a copular verb. Complements also refer to any item which completes the meaning of another.	They elected him chairman (referring to the object, him) She is happy (referring to the subject, she) John is the manager (referring to the subject, John) He called me stupid (referring to the object, me) That is mine (referring to the subject, that) The house is over the hill (referring to the subject, the house) She is keen on opera	Verbs and clauses Copular verbs and complements
complex preposition	A preposition consisting of more than one word.	because of in spite of	Prepositional phrases
complex sentence	A sentence consisting of at least one main and one subordinate clause.	She came although she was tired	Sentences
compound	A word or phrase formed by combining the meanings of words which represents a single sense.	door + man = doorman	Compounding
compound sentence	A sentence consisting of two coordinated clauses.	I came but you were out	Sentences
compound-complex sentence	A sentence consisting of both subordinated and coordinated clauses.	I came to see you but you were out so I left this note	Sentences
compositionality	See non-compositionality.
concession	A function of subordination which concedes a point.	She went although she didn't really want to	Condition and concession
concord	A grammatical relationship whereby one form requires a change in another. In English, this usually applies to verbs and their subjects. In other languages, it may apply to, e.g., gender marking on adjectives or case marking on nouns. In the latter cases it is often called agreement. Concord may be ungrammatical in English because of notion (viewing a singular entity as plural or vice versa) or proximity (a plural or singular form being close to the verb).	It breaks easily The army is helping The jury *are* divided None of his friends are here	Concord
concrete noun	Nouns which refer to physical entities. They may be mass or count nouns. Many do not consider the distinction between concrete and abstract nouns is valid.	book, wind, mountain, paper etc.	Nouns
conditional	A clause whose truth is contingent on the truth of another clause.	Give me the money and I’ll buy it for you Come if you can spare the time Should you get lost, call me	Condition and concession
conditional sentence	A sentence which consists of two clauses at least, one of which expresses the condition (the protasis) and contains the conditional conjunction or other marker of condition and one which expresses the consequence of the fulfilment of the condition (the apodosis).	If you come to the party (protasis), you'll be able to meet his sister (apodosis)	Condition and concession
conjugate	To give the inflexions of a verb showing voice, mood, tense, number and person.	She arrived yesterday and Steve was* happy to see her*	Verbs index
conjunct	An adverbial which performs a connective function.	It's raining and cold. However, I'll take the dogs out	Conjuncts
conjunction	A word to join two ideas (clauses, verbs, nouns etc.).	She went home because* she felt ill* (subordinating) We ate bread and* butter* (coordinating) They not only* cleaned but polished the car* (correlating)	Conjunction
connotation	An additional meaning of a word (usually negative or positive) (Compare denotation)	doctor (positive or neutral) vs. quack (negative)	Semantics
consonant	A sound made by wholly or partially closing the vocal tract.	/p/, /b/, /f/, /t/, /h/ etc.	Consonants
constituent	A unit which forms part of a larger language unit.	The pub *over the hill, by the river, where we met*	Constituents
content disjunct	See disjunct.
content word	A word which has meaning when standing alone (compare function/al word). These are sometimes called lexical words. Content words are members of open classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs (in English).	house, bring, pretty, usually, French etc.	Word class essentials
continuant	A sound made by semi-closing the vocal tract.	/f/ in fox	Consonants
continuous	An aspect of a verb tense to describe something on-going or happening in the background. There is a technical difference between continuous and progressive aspects.	I *was sleeping* while she was at work She *thinks* I love her	Time, tense and aspect
contour	The sequence of pitch and other factors in an utterance.	Depicted as a wavy line or in other ways	Intonation
contraction	The omission of a letter or letters in a word or phrase, usually denoted with an apostrophe.	can't, o'clock, Mary'll	Pronunciation index
contrastive stress	A special stress to mark an item as emphatic. Also known as special stress.	She went with* her mother*	Sentence stress
contronym	A word which has two opposite meanings. Also called an auto-antonym.	cleave (cut) vs. cleave (stick together)	Lexical relationships
conversational maxims	The assumed rules for maintaining coherent and cooperative communication.	maintain relevance, do not over inform etc.	Pragmatics
converseness	The relation between antonyms in which the existence of one logically implies the existence of the other.	brother / sister	Lexical relationships
conversion	Word formation consisting only of a change in word class.	clean (adj.) clean (verb)	Word formation
coordination	The linking of two potentially independent clauses. The conjunction is a coordinator.	*I rang but there was no answer*	Coordination
copular verb copula (Pl. copulae or copulas)	A verb which joins together two nouns, a noun and an adjective, a noun and its complement or a noun and a prepositional phrase. These are sometimes called linking verbs.	She became a teacher They grew tall She was in the garden	Copular verbs and complements
correlative conjunction	Conjunctions consisting of two connected words.	Either we'll take the car or he'll give us a lift	Conjunction
count noun (Adj. countable)	A noun which can have a plural and take a plural verb. These are distinguished from mass nouns.	The *cats* are in the *house*	Nouns
creole	A language usually developed a from pidgin and having all the characteristics of a full, autonomous language including an elaborate lexicon, full grammar and standard pronunciation. What makes creoles distinct languages is that they are often acquired by children as their first (and sometimes only) native language.	Cape Verdean Creole Jamaican Patois Rabaul Creole German	Types of languages
D
dark /l/ ([ɫ])	Describing the back consonant sound at the end of full. Compare clear /l/.	The last sound in lull (/lʌl/ or [lʌɫ])	Consonants
dangling participle	The often disparaged use of a participle making it unclear what the referent is. This is also called a misrelated participle.	While getting* on the bus my wallet fell out of my pocket*	Dangling participles
dative	The case usually denoting the indirect object or some forms of prepositional relationships.	He sent me a card	Case
dative shifting	The act of moving the indirect object in a clause and linking it with a preposition.	She read the children a story shifting to She read a story to the children	Verb and clause types
declarative	Expressing a statement.	The rain started The rain didn't stop	Mood
declension (Vb. decline)	The variations in morphology of a pronoun, noun or adjective depending on its grammatical function.	She gave the letter to her	Personal pronouns
deductive / evidential modality	A form of epistemic modality referring to the speaker's view as influenced by evidence.	It might rain later I think it's going to be a difficult job	Modality index
defective	Describing words which do not follow all the rules of their class.	must is a verb which has no past form. awake is an adjective which cannot be used attributively.	Modality index Adjectives
defining	Of relative pronoun clauses, those which define rather than simply add information. These are sometimes called restrictive clauses. They are contrasted with non-defining clauses.	The house which is over the road* has been sold* (defining) vs. The house, which is over the road, has been sold (non-defining)	Relative pronoun clauses
deixis (n.) deictic (adj.)	Items which allow the language user to refer to not me, not here and not now. Deixis may be subdivided into personal, spatial, temporal, social and textual deixis.	You went there the previous day	Deixis
delexicalised verb	A verb which takes its meaning from the noun with which it collocates.	make the beds pay a compliment take a shower	Collocation
demonstrative	A class of determiner telling us what noun we are talking about. The same words can also be demonstrative pronouns.	This house That garden Those cars These people	Determiners
demonym	An adjective which refers to the people of a country.	Dutch refers to people from The Netherlands	Adjectives
denotation	A word's general meaning rather than any meaning the speaker or hearer imputes. (Compare connotation)	A coin is a piece of metal money	Semantics
dental	A consonant sound produced with the tongue in contact with the teeth.	The last sound in teeth (/tiːθ/).	Consonants
deontic modality	Modality concerned with expressing duty, permissibility or obligation (or their lack).	You must be more respectful to your grandfather You don't have to be rude	Modality map
dependent clause	A subordinate clause which depends for its full meaning on another, main, clause.	She had enough money although *she wasn’t rich*	Coordination and subordination
derivation	The formation of a word from another by a number of processes including conversion, affixation and suffixation.	housing is derived from the word house	Word formation
determiner	A word which comes before a noun to say what we know about it.	articles: I want to buy a house in the* town* demonstratives: I want to buy that* house* interrogatives: Which house do you want to buy? possessives: I want to buy his* house* quantifiers: I want to buy two* houses*	Determiners
devoiced	Describing a sound which is produced with less voicing than is usual.	A final /d/ may be devoiced to /t/ in He had it (/hi.hæt.ɪt/)	Consonants
diacritic	See accent.
diachronic variation	Changes occurring across time in a language. Compare synchronic variation.	The loss of inflexions between Old and Middle English	The roots of English
dialect	A social or regional variety of a language identifiable by both accent and lexical or grammatical forms. Other terms used to describe this are ethnolect, geolect and regiolect.	Southern British English	Variety
diglossia	Two standard varieties of a language existing together.	Modern Standard Arabic alongside other varieties of Arabic Literary Kathourevousa versus spoken Demotic Greek	Types of languages
digraph	A combination of two letters representing a single sound.	th and ng in thing (/θɪŋ/)	Consonants
diminutive	An affix meaning small. Some carry connotations of attractiveness.	leaflet doggie	Word formation
diphthong	A vowel in which there is a clear change in quality during the syllable.	Vowels in road, shine etc. (/rəʊd/, /ʃaɪn/)	Vowels
directive	Language used to get someone else to do something.	Open the window	Suasion
direct object	The entity on which the verb acts. Compare indirect object.	I bought *the house*	Case
direct speech	The actual words spoken.	He said, “*Hello, Mary*.”	Indirect speech
directive modality	See imperative modality.
discontinuity	The splitting of an item by others.	Put your coat on	Multi-word verbs
discourse	A continuous stretch of spoken or written language longer than a sentence.	Any longer text.	Discourse index
discourse marker	Properly, this refers to the language which speakers use to manage interactions, conversations and other spoken events such as lectures and formal discussions. It is now very loosely used to refer to any item which contributes to coherence and cohesion.	Feel free to interrupt with any questions. Let me respond by saying ... Do you have a view? Firstly, ...	Discourse index
disjunct	An adverbial which expresses the speaker / writer’s view of the truth of a proposition (attitudinal or content disjuncts) or how it should be understood (style disjuncts). Also called sentence adverbials or stance adverbials.	On the face of it, it’s too expensive (attitude or content, referring to value of the proposition) Frankly, I don’t care (style, referring to the speaker)	Disjuncts
distributive pronoun distributive determiner	a pronoun or determiner which signals the way in which something is apportioned.	I gave everyone* a drink* (pronoun) She gave each* a new label* (pronoun) Each child got a prize (determiner)	Indefinite pronouns Determiners
ditransitive	Describing a verb which can take both a direct and an indirect object.	He passed* me the book*	Verb and clause types
dual	A number in many languages which indicates two of something. The form is vestigial in Modern English.	Both boys are here	Determiners
durative	a) An aspectual form in many languages which emphasises the length of an event or state. In English the sense is usually achieved with a progressive form and an adverbial. b) A verb whose meaning implies a long-lasting event. When used in the progressive aspect these verbs denote duration rather than iteration. (Compare instantaneous verb)	a) She is still complaining b) read, study, stay etc.	Aspect
dynamic	a) a use of the verb, distinguished from stative.	John is being silly She is thinking Kirstin is swimming Mary is paying attention	Time, tense and aspect
	b) a type of passive clause. This is distinguished from a stative passive.	The garden gets invaded by cats The garden was cleared	The passive voice
	c) a use of an adjective to express the fact that something is under the control of a person. It is contrasted with a stative adjective referring to an unalterable characteristic.	Be more patient (dynamic use) *Don't be tall (stative use, imperative disallowed)	Adjectives
dynamic modality	Modality expressing ability or willingness. Dynamic modality is sometimes referred to as personal modality because it frequently applies to the speaker / writer.	I'll get that! I can't see the game from here	Modality map
E
ecolect	A rare term which describes more or less the same phenomenon as an idiolect but is a variety used solelywithin a family or household.	We are having *Aunt Mabel's Potato Fritters*	Variety
elision (Vb. elide)	The omission of sounds in connected speech.	Are you comfortable? as: /ə.ju.ˈkʌmf.təb.l̩/	Connected speech
ellipsis (Vb. ellipt)	The omission of a word or words.	Can you come? Yes, I can.	Substitution and ellipsis
embedding	Inserting one clause or phrase within another. The phenomenon is akin to recursiveness.	The woman with the red hair* is coming over*	Clauses
empty verb	See delexicalised verb.
end focus	The tendency in English to place the important or new information towards the end of an utterance.	Yesterday he went to London vs. He went to London yesterday	Postponement and extrapositioning
end weight	The tendency in English to place heavier (i.e., longer and more complex) items towards the end of the utterance.	He worked in London during the time he was trying to save up to open his own business vs. During the time he was trying to save up to open his own business, he worked in London	Postponement and extrapositioning
endophoric	Referring to elements within the text which have occurred or occur later (anaphoric and cataphoric reference, respectively).	When John bought it, he was surprised at the expense of the part	Cohesion
epicene	Descriptive of a word which is gender neutral.	teacher can apply equally well to a male or female teacher but bridegroom is marked as male	Gender
epistemic modality	Modality concerned with expressing a view of the truth or likelihood of a proposition.	That must be the six o'clock train She can't have been at the meeting	Modality map
epithet	A descriptive rather than classifying adjective (Compare classifier)	That's a good* idea*	Adjectives
eponym	A word derived from a person's name. See also toponym.	*wellington* boots *boycotting* the company	Word formation
ethnolect	A dialect used by an identifiable ethnic group.	New York Jewish	Variety
evidential modality	See deductive modality.
exclamation	A phrase or clause expressing anger, despair, surprise etc. This is also sometimes called an interjection.	What???!!! How silly of me!	Word class essentials
existential	Applied to the words it and there to express that they emphasise the existence of something.	There is a car outside It is your brother on the phone	Existential it and there
exonym	A name by which one group of people refers to another describe a group of people but which is not used by that group to describe themselves.	gringo is sometimes used by Latin Americans to describe citizens of the USA.	Word formation
exophoric	Referring to items outside the text.	It's like that game* you played when we were kids*	Cohesion
exponent	The language used to realise a communicative function. Also called realisation.	Offer: Structure: Would you like a / some ... Lexis: cup of tea, cake, more etc.	Communicative Language Teaching
extrapositioning	Moving an item to the beginning or the end to mark its significance or conform to end weight or end focus.	It's a shame that he couldn't come vs. That he couldn't come is a shame	Postponement and extrapositioning
F
false cognate	A word in another language which looks and/or sounds similar but is unconnected in derivation (and, often, meaning).	okuru (Japanese = occur) and occur (English)	Cognates
false friend	A cognate word in another language derived from the same source but having a different meaning.	sensibel (German = sensitive) and sensible (English = rational)	Cognates
field	See semantic field.
field	The topic area in which a text is set and its goals, short and long term, which determine in part the language which is used.	business, personal communication, discussion essay, procedural instructions etc.	Functional grammar
filler	Any spoken hesitation device.	He's er, well, you know, difficult	Communicative strategies
finite	A form of a verb (or a clause) which is marked for tense, number or person. It can stand alone as the only verb or verb phrase in a clause. Finite forms may also be marked by a zero inflexion. Compare non-finite.	John *plays* tennis Mary *lost* the game They *have* been to America They walk	Finite vs. non-finite
fixedness	The tendency for some idiomatic language to be unalterable. It is a variable phenomenon.	I ran to and fro* all day*	Idiomaticity
form	The appearance of a language item without consideration of its meaning, social use or communicative value.	The past of catch is caught, pronounced as /kɔːt/	Pragmatics
fortis	Of sounds produced with relatively greater force. Also unvoiced. Compare lenis.	/f/ and /p/ vs. /v/ and /b/ etc.	Consonants
free variation	Descriptive of forms of the same item which are different but occur in the same dialect.	The pronunciation of often as /ˈɒf.n̩/ or /ˈɒf.tn̩/
fricative	A sound produced by friction between two organs of pronunciation. See also approximant in which no friction is audible.	/z/ in zoo
front	Describing sounds made at the front of the mouth. Compare back and central.	/i/ and /t/	Vowels
function	a) The communicative value of a language item, utterance or expression.	The imperative clause Have some more functions as an invitation not an order	Pragmatics
function	b) The grammatical role played by a language element.	That he was allowed home surprised me in which we have a clause functioning as the subject of the verb	Phrases
function words	Words which have no meaning when standing alone but make the grammar work. The main classes are prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns and determiners. These are sometimes called functors or grammatical words.	at with it this	Lexis index
G
gender	A way of classifying nouns by certain characteristics such as masculine, feminine, neuter, animate, inanimate, edible, inedible etc. which affects how the grammar of the language (especially inflexions) works.	le soleil (sun, French, masculine gender) la lune (moon, French, feminine gender) die Sonne (sun, German, feminine gender) der Mond (moon, German, masculine gender)	Gender
genitive	The possessive case. The genitive does not only apply to possession; it can also apply to origin or description.	The policy of the government My book The man's request	Genitive
genre	An identifiable communicative function of a text which it shares with others of the same sort.	Recount, Exposition, Narrative etc.	Genre
geolect	A dialect characteristic of speakers from a geographically defined area.	Scots English	Variety
gerund	A non-finite verb form which functions as a noun formed from a verb with the suffix -ing. The form is the same as that of a present participle. It is sometimes referred to as a verbal noun but technically distinguishable: unlike verbal nouns, gerunds may be modified by adverbs but verbal nouns are more noun-like in being modifiable by adjectives and determiners.	I gave up smoking This -ing form may not normally be used with a determiner.	Catenative verbs
glide	A transitional sound as a vowel (usually) moves from one quality to another, often forming a diphthong. Also a change in pitch level.	/ɪə/ starts with the short vowel /ɪ/ and glides at the end to the /ə/ sound duty pronounced as /ˈdjuː.ti/, gliding from /j/ to /uː/	Vowels
glottal glottal stop glottis	A sound made at the back of the throat. A sound made by closing and opening the back of the throat (glottis). Represented as /ʔ/. The part of the throat involved in the production of these sounds. See the diagram under vocal tract.	The /h/ sound in house is a glottal consonant Pronouncing I got it as /ˈaɪ.ˈɡɒʔ.ɪʔ/	Consonants
glyph	A readable character in a writing system	The character g may be written as G or g (These are alloglyphs of g)	Spelling
goal	The entity affected by the action encoded in a verb. Also called the patient or the recipient.	John made the dinner The dinner was eaten with relish	Functional grammar
gradation	See ablaut.
grapheme	Either: The smallest units of the writing system that represent a sound or: The smallest identifiable units of a writing system	Either: sh is the grapheme representing the sound /ʃ/ or: s and h are two of the graphemes of the Latin alphabet used in English	Spelling
H
habit habitual	An aspect in English which refers to an event or state which exists or existed (semi-)permanently.	She *used to* be quite helpful We *tend to* eat quite early She *is driving* to work these days She *teaches* in this school They *would* take offence easily	Semi-modal auxiliary verbs Tenses and aspects
hard palate	See palate.
head	The main and obligatory element in a phrase which indicates its grammatical function.	in the rain the brilliant new book	Phrases
headedness	Referring to which element of a combination determines the meaning in a language. English is right headed (or head final) because the second, right-hand element determines the meaning. Other languages are left headed (or head initial).	A wind mill is a kind of mill not a kind of wind In French, a timbre-poste is a kind of timbre, not a kind of poste	Compounding
heaviness	Referring to the length or complexity of a phrase or clause. Conventionally heavy elements are placed in English towards the end of a sentence.	He lost it while he was travelling on the bus from Spain to Russia with his friends	Postponement and extrapositioning
heterographs	words which have the same pronunciations but different spellings.	road / rode	Lexical relationships
heteronyms	a) words which have the same spelling but a different pronunciation and different meanings b) words which refer to the same thing but are used in different dialect or speech communities	*lead* (go before) and lead (metal) *export* (verb) and *export* (noun) elevator (US) and lift (UK)	Lexical relationships
historical present	The use of the present tense to add immediacy to an event set in the past.	So, I'm waiting* for the bus yesterday, when ...*	Tenses and aspects
homographs	Words with the same spelling but different pronunciations and/or meanings.	bear (animal) vs. bear (carry) wind (moving air) vs. wind (turn around something)	Lexical relationships
homonyms	Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings.	rock (stone) vs. rock (sway from side to side)
homophones	Words with different spellings but the same pronunciation and different meanings.	road vs. rowed
hortative	Encouraging others.	*Shall we get this done now?*	Suasion
hypernym	The overarching term which includes the hyponyms.	vehicle includes car, bus, truck, motorcycle etc.	Lexical relationships
hyponyms	Any of the related terms included under a hypernym or superordinate.	car, bus, truck, motorcycle are the co-hyponyms of vehicle	Lexical relationships
hypotaxis	The use of conjunctions to link subordinate ideas. Compare parataxis.	I ate breakfast before* going out*	Spoken discourse
I
ideogram ideograph ideographic (adj.)	A symbol used to represent a complete idea.	下 = down (Chinese)	Types of languages
idiolect	Language forms distinctive to an individual.	Variations in pronunciation of certain phonemes or the use of particular lexemes unique to an individual.	Variety
idiom	A phrase or clause used as a single concept which usually cannot be understood by understanding the words in it.	It’s *turned up its toes* (died / become useless) It's *neither here nor there* (unimportant)	Idiomaticity
illocutionary force	The intended or perceived communicative value of an utterance regardless of its form. See also Speech act. See also Propositional content.	Is this your coat? (meaning or perceived meaning: Please move it so that I can sit down)	Communicative Language Teaching
imperative	The form of the verb used to tell someone what to do or make offers.	Go home *Don’t tell* her *Have* some more cake	Mood Suasion
imperative / directive modality	A form of deontic modality referring to an obligation placed on the hearer.	You should get some rest This has to be done before we can go	Types of modality
impersonal	Having no specified agent.	It was snowing	Existential it and there
impersonal pronouns	See indefinite pronouns.
imprecative	a) a mood which is used to express the hope that something does not happen (a category of optative) a) a mood in some languages which expresses the hope that something bad happens c) a sentence containing a swear word intended to insult	a) If only it wouldn't get so cold b) May he lose c) You bloody aren't, you know	Mood
inchoate	Descriptive of a verb which refers to the beginning of a state. Particularly applicable to pseudo-copular verbs.	It's getting* dark*	Copular verbs and complements
incompatibility	A feature of two or more language items which are mutually exclusive.	The paper is thin vs. The paper is thick	Lexical relationships
indefinite pronouns	Pronouns which do not refer to specific people. Also called impersonal pronouns.	Anyone can see it's true Someone's at the door All is well	Indefinite pronouns
independent clause	See main clause.
indexical	One of the functions of intonation, speaking or writing which is typical of a person or group of people	Sports commentary language. Paper sellers' intonation. Government reports.	Intonation
indicative	Expressing objective statements.	I want some more	Mood
indirect object	When a verb has two objects, the indirect object usually refers to a person who receives or benefits. In English the indirect object usually precedes the direct object. Compare direct object.	She bought me lunch I read the child a story	Verb and clause types
indirect question	A question expressed in indirect speech or a polite embedded question with a similar structure.	She wanted to know where the gate was Can you tell me where the gate is?	Indirect questions Indirect speech
indirect speech	Speech which is reported, not quoted directly. See direct speech.	He told me to come She said she felt ill	Indirect speech
infinitive	A non-finite verb form often preceded by to.	I came to *help* We should go	Infinitives
inflexion (also inflection) inflected (adj.)	Changing the form of a word to show grammatical function or other features such as tense, person, case and aspect. In English, this is often achieved by changes to the endings of words but can affect the central vowels. Non-technically, inflexion may be applied to changes in tone, intonation and pitch in speech.	He plays (with the -s inflexion to show third person) She played (with the -ed inflexion to show past tense) They came (an inflexion on the central vowel ('o' to 'a') [ablaut]) The larger problem (inflecting the adjective to show comparative form) The houses were too expensive (with the -s inflexion to show a plural)	Word formation
-ing form	A common way to refer to the form of the verb which ends -ing and can function grammatically in various ways often lying between verbal, adjectival and nominal functions.	I enjoy eating out We were eating at the time I object to you smoking while I'm eating It's a drilling machine	Catenative verbs Adjectives Finite and non-finite forms
initialism	A word made of the initial letters of a phrase which are pronounced separately. See acronym.	DVD	Word formation
instantaneous verb	A verb whose meaning implies a non-durative or progressive event. Such verbs, when used in the progressive aspect imply iteration rather than an on-going event. (Compare durative)	hit, break, snap etc.	Aspect
interjection	A word class signifying emotional state. Also exclamation.	Wow! Really!	Backchannelling Word class essentials
intensifier	A language item which affects the force of another.	He is very happy She is slightly depressed	Adverbial intensifiers Adjective intensifiers
interaction	A language event involving two or more people which has no definable goal and exists to maintain social relationships. See also transaction.	greetings, informal chats etc.	Speaking
interrogative	A question form.	Do you know her? Don't you like it? Which do you want? That's him, isn't it? That's him?!	InterrogativesIndefinite pronouns
interrogative pronoun	A wh-word which functions as a pronoun for the object, clause or person in questions.	Who did you see? What did he do? Where did she go?	InterrogativesIndefinite pronouns
intonation	The rise and fall in voice tone in spoken language.	That's right. (falling intonation) vs. That's right!? (rising intonation)	Intonation
intransitive	Describing a verb which cannot have a direct object.	They arrived She talked He fell We cannot have: They arrived the hotel She talked the people *He fell the river	Verb and clause types
intrusion intrusive (adj.)	Describing the insertion of a phoneme in connected speech. There are three in English: /j/, /w/ and /r/.	In law and order, an intrusive /r/ may be produced (/lɔːr.ənd.ˈɔː.də/)	Connected speech
inversion	Reversing the usual order of subject and verb (or using the do operator in simple tenses).	Never have I seen such a mess Scarcely did I sit down when the phone rang.	Word order index
iterative	An aspect which refers to the repetition of an event. In English, this is usually signalled by the progressive form of an instantaneous verb.	Someone has been stealing* vegetables from my garden.*	Aspect
J
jargon	The use of particular lexemes confined to certain areas of study, trade or interest. A defining characteristic is that such terms are obscure to those unversed in the area of concern.	Certain sports have associated jargon and most trades and professions develop jargon terms understood only by those within them such as legal jargon used by professional lawyers	Variety
judgemental / speculative modality	A form of epistemic modality referring to the speaker's judgement or understanding.	I think that's too much That might not be enough	Types of modality
juncture	An interruption of the normal transition between sounds which makes the pronunciation of two different phrases distinguishable.	ice cream vs. I scream	Connected speech
jussive modality	A form of deontic modality referring to an obligation placed on a third person. The jussive mood is also used in some languages with a distinctive verb form to express wishes about the actions of a third person.	He really should try to be more patient with the children Mary has to be the one to do it	Types of modality
K
key	The tone or manner in which a speech act is produced.	ironic, sarcastic, bored, surprised sympathetic etc.	Intonation
key	The level of pitch combined with the intonation contour.	High key often expresses surprise or contrast.	Intonation
kinesics	The study of paralinguistic features such as body movements and positions, gesture and facial expressions.		Turn taking
L
labiodental	Sounds formed with the lips and teeth.	/f/ in fox	Consonants
larynx	The part of the throat which contains the vocal folds and is important in the quality of sound production. See the diagram below under vocal tract.		Consonants
lect	A term in sociolinguistics to describe varieties of language use.	sociolect, dialect, idiolect etc.	Variety
lenis	Referring to a less strong articulation of a consonant. Compare fortis.	/d/ and /b/ vs. /t/ and /p/ etc.	Consonants
lexeme	The technical term, often used loosely for 'word' and referring to a single unit of meaning. A lexeme is also defined as all the derived words under a dictionary head word (or lemma).	the Houses of Parliament London re-establish don't go, going, gone	Lexis index
lexical field	See semantic field.
lexical set	A group of words of the same class defined by topic or by syntactical characteristics.	spade, hoe, rake, watering can etc. frequently, seldom, often, rarely etc.	Lexical relationships
lexical verb	Also called a content or main verb. A verb that is not an auxiliary and has meaning when standing alone.	Go! She wept	Verbs index
lexical word	A word which carries significance rather than performing a grammatical function. Also content word. Compare function word.	She *went* to the *post office*	Lexis index
limiter	An adverbial which functions to limit the range of the verb in some way.	I merely* asked*	Adverbials
linking	When clauses are of equal weight and value they may be joined by linking conjunctions. (Compare binding)	He came home and* went to bed*	Complex sentences
linking verb	See copular verb.
lip rounding	Describing the extent to which the lips are rounded in vowel production. The phenomenon exists on a cline from fully rounded, through neutral to fully stretched. Combined with notions of vowel height, tongue position and vowel length, vowels can be closely described.	The sounds in foot (/fʊt/) and fit (/fɪt/) rounded and non-rounded respectively.	Vowels
loan word	A word borrowed from another language to fill a perceived gap (suppletion).	Angst from German into English	The roots of English
locative	A case referring to the position of something. In some languages, the locative is signalled by inflexions, in English by the use of adpositions.	It's in the fridge in German becomes Es ist im Kühlschrank	Case
M
main clause	The clause which is independent and may stand alone.	I walked the dogs although it was snowing	Clauses
main verb	A verb which carries lexical meaning and may be used on its own without another verb. Also called a lexical verb. Compare auxiliary verb.	I can't see* the stage*	Word class essentials
manner of articulation	The way in which a sound is produced.	voiced, unvoiced, with friction, plosive etc.	Overview of pronunciation
markedness	Any deviation from the simple and prototypical form to note or emphasise.	houses is marked as the plural of house How often do you come? is unmarked whereas How rarely do you come? is a marked question	Markedness
mass noun	A noun which can have no plural and takes a singular verb. Compare count noun.	The milk is in the fridge We ate pork Money is important in life Reading takes up a lot of my time	Nouns
matrix clause	The clause in which another is embedded.	She saw that he wanted to ask a question	Clauses
meronym meronymy	A constituent part of a larger entity which can be used to refer to the whole (see synecdoche).	*wheels* as a meronym of car handlebars, saddle, gears are also meronyms of bicycle even when not used to represent the whole	Lexical relationships
metaphor	Figurative language use where a term is used usually associated with a different idea.	She exploded	Synonymy etc.
metaplasm	Spelling an item in the way it is sounded.	Going to as gonna	Four future forms
metonym metonymy	A word used to refer to an entity with which it is closely associated. The device of using a term closely associated with something actually to mean the thing.	Number Ten as a metonym for the British government Downing Street has issued a statement	Synonymy etc.
minimal pair	A pair of words distinguished by a single change to a phoneme in the same place in the word.	butter / putter cat / fat sing / sung for / far	Pronunciation essentials
modality	Descriptive of language use which is concerned with the likelihood, permissibility or obligatory nature etc. of an event or state.	I *should* be there later It is *possible* she will be late I *imagine* it's going to be difficult	Modality map
modal auxiliary verb	A verb which tells us how the speaker feels about the main verb in terms of possibility, obligation, ability etc.	I should* talk to her* (deontic modality) It may* rain again* (epistemic modality) I can't* see* (dynamic modality) That must* be wrong* (alethic modality)	Modal auxiliary verbs Modality map
mode	The kind of text which is being constructed.	oral, written, emailed, text message etc.	Functional grammar
modifier modification	A linguistic item which adds information to the head of a phrase. They can be pre-modifiers or post-modifiers. A modifier is any word or phrase which qualifies or limits another. (In functional grammar, the word modifier is used only for pre-modifiers and the term qualifier is used for post-modifying elements.)	Dogs enjoy games has three unmodified elements but My mongrel dogs really enjoy games of fetch Has the same three elements modified old men (a pre-modifying adjective) men with experience (a post-modifying prepositional phrase)	Modification overview
monophthong	A vowel which does not change during its pronunciation. Also pure vowel.	The /ɪ/ in hit (/hɪt/)	Vowels
mood	Attitudinal issues with verb phrases (wish, possibility, doubt, statement of fact etc.)	She is in London (declarative) If only she were* here* (subjunctive)	Mood
morpheme	The smallest meaningful unit of language. There are two sorts. Bound morphemes always occur with others but free morphemes can stand alone or form part of a word.	protesting (one free (protest) and one bound (ing) morpheme) bookkeeper (two free (book and keep) and one bound (er) morpheme)	Word formation
morphology	The study of morphemes (above), their forms and functions vis-à-vis word formation. This also refers to the morphemic system of a language as in the morphology of English.		Morphology
move	A term from discourse analysis to describe a unit which is often smaller than a complete utterance but has a communicative function.	That's wrong, pass me the large one contains two moves: a) That's wrong (information) b) pass me the large one (imperative)	Communicative Language Teaching
multal pronouns	Pronouns which refer to more of the referent. (Compare paucal)	He doesn't have many friends but she has more	Indefinite pronouns
multi-word verb	A verb consisting of more than one word. There are three sorts: phrasal, prepositional and phrasal-prepositional.	I give up (a phrasal verb) She complained about* the service* (a prepositional verb) She caught up with* the class* (a phrasal-prepositional verb)	Multi-word verbs
multilingualism	Referring to the ability to speak two or more languages at native-speaker-like levels of fluency and accuracy.	Switching between English (at work) and Spanish (at home) in the USA.	Sociolinguistics
mutation	The change in an internal aspect of a word which signals grammatical function. Also known as ablaut, vowel mutation, internal modification, stem modification or mutation, internal inflexion.	sing - sang foot - feet	Markedness Binomials Lexical or main verbs
N
nasal	Describing sounds made by closing off the airflow and allowing the air to enter and flow out through the nasal cavity.	The sounds /n/, /m/ and /ŋ/	Consonants
negative negation	A sentence or verb form which refers to something not being or happening.	It didn't rain I refuse to come That's impossible She never comes on time	Negation
negator	A word which make an utterance negative.	not, hardly, never, seldom, neither etc.	Negation
neologism	The coining of a new word. Also coinage.	chairperson, user-friendly	Word formation
node	The term in question when studying a word's collocational characteristics in a corpus.	... when we were there we *would* usually go to ...	Collocation
nominalisation nominal (n.)	Making an element of the language perform the function of a noun.	I want what you offered John I'll take the blue	Nominal clauses and phrases Nominal adjectives
nominative	The subject case.	She came home	Case
non-assertive forms	Pronouns, adverbials and determiners which are conventionally used in negative sentences, questions and expressions of doubt or uncertainty. Compare assertive.	I don't want *anything* else I haven't *yet* finished I'm not sure there are *any* left Did *anyone* call?	Assertive and non-assertive
nonce word	A lexeme invented for the occasion.	Pass me the picker-upper	Word formation
non-compositionality	Describing the variable quality of idiomatic language, much of which cannot be understood by understanding the elements that make it up. Also referred to as opacity.	He's the black sheep of the family	Idiomaticity
non-defining	See defining.
non-finite	A form of the verb not marked for tense, person or number. Compare finite.	She wants to help I watched her enjoying the show Let me go	Finite vs. non-finite
non-restrictive	See defining.
notation	Phonemic (broad) or phonetic (narrow) transcription of language sounds.	He came home as /hi.keɪm.həʊm/	Transcription
notion notional (adj.)	A conceptual category smaller than a communicative function.	weight, temperature, location, duration etc.	Semantics
noun	A word for a person, place, thing, feeling or characteristic. Nouns can be subjects or objects of verbs and prepositions. (Sometimes substantive)	He went to the *station* *London* is my home *Envy* is an unpleasant *emotion* Peter broke his *glasses*	Nouns
noun phrase	A group of words acting as a noun with a noun as the head.	*The old man* sailed *the fishing boat*	In-service syntax index
nucleus	The centre of a syllable preceded (optionally) by the onset and followed (optionally) by the coda.	The word start (/stɑːt/) contains the nucleus vowel (/ɑː/) preceded by the onset (/st/) and followed by the coda (/t/).	Syllables
number	The grammatical category which contrasts singular, dual and plural.	They arrived late at my house and they were both hungry	Personal pronouns Determiners
O
object	The entity the verb acts on.	She read a book (direct object) She told me a story (indirect object) I got the house* painted*	Verb and clause types
object case	See accusative.
object complement	The complement of a verb which acts on the object rather than the subject. See subject complement and complement.	They made her Head Girl	Verb and clause types
onomatopoeia	Descriptive of words which are imitative of the meanings they convey. The phenomenon is variably disputed.	squish woof moo	Language evolution(passim)
onset	The first (optional) item of a syllable coming before the nucleus.	The word start (/stɑːt/) contains the nucleus vowel (/ɑː/) preceded by the onset (/st/) and followed by the coda (/t/)	Syllables
opacity	See non-compositionality.
open-class items	These are word classes which in theory are limitless and to which additions can be made when the need arises to express a new idea.	nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs	Word class map
operator	The first auxiliary verb in a verb phrase. It is distinguished by being the determiner of the question form. The term is used in other senses in linguistic studies, e.g., to refer to aspect, modality and tense.	Do you want it? What have you seen? John could have done it → Could John have done it?	Primary auxiliary verbs Modal auxiliary verbs
optative	Wishing and hoping often expressed using a subjunctive form.	If only it would get warmer	Suasion
orthography	Referring to the conventional spelling and writing system of a language.	BrE doubles the 'l' on some verbs to form participles	Spelling
P
palate palatal (adj.)	The roof of the mouth divided into the hard palate towards the front and the soft palate (velum) at the rear. Sounds made here.	The /ʃ/ sound in ship is palatal	Pronunciation overview Consonants
paradigmatic	Referring to the vertical relationship between items in a clause. Compare syntagmatic.	In He bought a house, the verb may be replaced with many other transitive verbs: sold, decorated, furnished etc.	Lexical relationships
parallelism	The use of paired words in constructions.	They walked arm in arm	Idiomaticity
parataxis	Strictly the non-use of conjunctions. Loosely the use in speaking of very simple and repeated conjunctions. Compare hypotaxis.	I ate bacon, eggs, cheese, toast and butter I went to London and I visited my brother and then I came home and then I realised I had forgotten my keys and I called him and he said ...	Spoken discourse
paronym	A cognate word in another language.	The words paper, papel, papír and papier are cognates in English, Spanish, Hungarian and French respectively	Cognates
parsing	Analysing a sentence by identifying its constituent parts and their grammatical functions.	Tree diagrams.	Sentence grammar
part of speech	See word class.
participles	A non-finite form of the verb. There are two. Participles often act as adjectives.	She was beaten (past participle) He is working* today* (present participle) She is delighted A falling rock hit the car	Verbs index
partitive	An expression which refers to part of a larger amount. Partitive expressions are often confused with collective nouns which have an opposite function.	A pile of books A can of beer A pane of glass	Partitives and classifiers
passive voice	A clause in which the subject undergoes the action. Direct passives are formed by raising the direct object and indirect passives by raising the indirect object. Compare active voice.	Direct passives: They were arrested The house got damaged by the storm Indirect passive: He was given a book	The passive voice
pathetic fallacy	Endowing an inanimate object with an animate trait.	*The car is being difficult*	Adjectives
patient	In a passive voice clause, the receiver of the action of the agent. See also goal.	*John* was arrested by the police It was *his car* that was damaged by the bus	The passive voice
paucal pronouns	Pronouns which refer to less of the referent. (Compare multal)	He doesn't have many friends but she has even *fewer*	Indefinite pronouns
perfect	An aspect of the verb describing its relationship to another time.	He has arrived (setting the past in the present) He had arrived (setting the past in the past) He will have arrived (setting the past in the future)	Time, tense and aspect
performative	A verb form which encompasses its effect.	I name this ship ... I promise	Present tense forms
periphrastic periphrasis (n.)	The use of a separate word instead of an inflexion especially in the case of forming comparative and superlative forms of adjectives. Periphrasis also refers to any occasion when we have two or more words performing the work of one.	This is even more* old* vs. This is even older and I took a shower is a periphrastic form of I showered The government's decision has the periphrastic form The decision of the government	Adjectives Genitive
person	A grammatical category which indicates who something is about. There are three in English: first person singular and plural (I, we, me, our etc. ) second person singular and plural (you, your, yours) third person singular and plural (it, they, their, he, she, her, its, his etc.)	I came home She talked to me We were happy They helped us You didn't come They needed you She hated the film The film delighted him They broke the fence She gave them* the bill*	Personal pronouns
personal pronoun	A pronoun for an identifiable person or persons (or thing). The form of personal pronouns varies by case and number although the system is defective in English.	Give it to me Peter did it himself He came home They went to London That's not mine, it's his	Personal pronouns
personal modality	See dynamic modality.
phatic	Descriptive of meaning-free language used to establish or maintain rapport and relationships.	Hello, there	Teaching functional language Backchannelling
phoneme	The smallest contrastive (i.e., meaningful) component of a language's sound system.	/p/ and /b/ in pat and bat	Pronunciation overview
phonetics	The study of speech sounds.
phonology	The study of the speech sounds of a particular language or languages.
phonotactics	The study of possible syllable structures in a language.	/vr/ is not possible at the beginning of a word in English but is in Greek.	Phonotactics
phrasal verb	See multi-word verb.
phrase	A group of words with one grammatical function in a sentence.	He went to the shops (prepositional phrase) The three boys left (noun phrase) They have opened* the box* (verb phrase) She was tired but happy (adjective phrase) They worked extremely hard (adverb phrase)	Phrases
pitch	The height or frequency of a sound.		Intonation
pidgin	A grammatically and lexically simplified means of communication which is used by groups who do not share a common language. Pidgins are typically used for trading purposes and are not fully formed languages. See Creole.	Bimbashi Arabic (soldier Arabic used in Sudan) Russenorsk (a pidgin based on Norwegian and Russian)	Types of languages
place of articulation	The place where a sound is produced.	labial, dental, velar etc.	Overview of pronunciation Consonants
plosive	A sound produced by stopping and suddenly releasing the breath. Also stops.	/p/, /ɡ/	Consonants
plurale tantum (Pl. pluralia)	The term for a noun which almost always appears in the plural.	scissors	Nouns
polyseme polysemy	A word which has more than one connected but distinct meanings. This is often difficult to distinguish from a homonym.	The glue has set Set the clock for 6	Polysemy
portmanteau word	See blend.
positive adjective or adverb	The form of an adjective or adverb which is unmarked for degree. This is also called the base form.	hot is the positive form from which hotter and hottest (comparative and superlative forms) are derived recently is the positive form from which more recently and most recently are formed	Adjectives Adverbs
possessive case	See genitive.
possessive determiner	A type of determiner which refers to origin, possession or description.	His letter upset me That's my car over there The government has its problems	Case and the genitive
post-modification	An item following the head of a phrase and adding information to it.	The woman in the red shirt	Noun post-modification
postposition	An item performing the same function as a preposition but which follows rather than precedes its complement or object.	He came two hours ago The expense aside, we must have it	Prepositional phrases
post-vocalic pre-vocalic	A sound produced in this way is audible when following a vowel. Contrasted with pre-vocalic in which the sound is only audible before a vowel.	Pronouncing car as /ˈkɑːr/ Pronouncing the /r/ at the end of father in father is here (/ˈfɑːð.r̩.z.hɪər/)	Connected speech Transcription
pragmatics	The study of how meaning is achieved via language. It is unclear where the lines separating pragmatics and semantics should be drawn.		Pragmatics
pre-determiners and post-determiners	A limited set of determiners which can be placed before another determiner or may follow a determiner.	My three* friends drank all my beer*	Predeterminers
predicate	The clause following the subject which provides the information.	Mary went to London	Types of verbs
predicative	This describes an adjective which is linked to the noun by a copular verb. See attributive.	The house is old She grew angry	Adjectives
prefix	A morpheme attached to the beginning of a word which, usually, changes its meaning.	displeasure unhelpful semi-detached	Word formation
preposition	A word which links the verb to a noun or adverbial.	He walked across the park She arrived at six	Prepositional phrases
prepositional complement or object	A word or phrase (usually nominal) which generally follows the preposition (but can precede a postposition) and denotes the reference for the preposition or postposition.	Go to the cinema contains the prepositional object or complement, the cinema The money aside contains the postpositional object or complement, the money	Prepositional phrases
prepositional passive	A passive construction in which the prepositional object or complement becomes the subject.	The active clause We talked about the problem can become a prepositional passive as The problem was talked about	Passive
prepositional phrase	A group of words which includes the preposition as its head and its complement (or object).	over the bridge under the river	Prepositional phrases
presupposition	A truth taken for granted in what someone says. See also implicature and entailment in the guide to pragmatics.	The garden shed was demolished in which the fact that you know what shed and that it was previously extant is assumed.	Pragmatics
pre-vocalic	See post-vocalic.
primary auxiliary verb	An auxiliary verb which forms a tense, voice or aspect with a main verb.	It was destroyed I got my car cleaned I have been to London	Primary auxiliary verbs
productivity	The ability of a language item or rule to continue to generate new examples.	Forming and adjective by adding -able to a verb is productive, using -ible is unproductive. Any newly coined noun may be made plural with the addition of -s or -es.	Word formation
pro-drop	Descriptive of a language, such as Modern Greek or Italian in which the subject pronoun is routinely omitted.	Sono (I am in Italian, a pro-drop language) Ich bin (I am in German, a non-pro-drop language)	Types of languages Existential there and it
pro-form	A language item that stands for another which may be a word, phrase, clause or longer text.	He told me to eat better and I will do so I won't be able to come but Mary may	Pro-forms Ellipsis and substitution
progressive	The aspect of the verb which shows that something is ongoing.	I am writing* this sentence*	Time, tense and aspect
prominence	The amount an item stands out in a stream of speech.	That's his* car*	Intonation
pronoun	A word which stands for a noun or other nominalised expression.	Give me it We talked among ourselves	Pro-forms
proper noun	A noun for a person, place or job. See common noun.	The President Mr Smith The Alps	Nouns
propositional content	The meaning conveyed by an utterance rather than the functional effect of the utterance (its illocutionary force). Propositional content is sometimes distinguished from modality insofar as the latter concerns the speaker's view of an event whereas the former simply states a fact.	If I say: There's an apple tree in my garden The propositional force is that a) I have a garden b) the garden contains an apple tree (The illocutionary force might be an offer to allow you to harvest the crop.)	Communicative Language Teaching Pragmatics Semantics
prosody prosodic (adj.)	Concerned with movements in pitch and tone.		Intonation
prospective	An aspect which refers to future time. In English, this is often signalled by the progressive form or going to and with adverbials.	I'm seeing her later I think it's going to be cold tomorrow night The train arrives shortly	Aspect
pseudo-cleft	A type of cleft sentence using a wh-word. Such a cleft may be reversed.	What I wanted was more time More time was what I wanted	Clefts
pure vowel	A vowel which does not change during its pronunciation. Also monophthong.	The /ɪ/ in hit (/hɪt/).	Vowels
Q
qualifier	Any term which adds information to a noun phrase. (In functional grammar, this term only applies to items which follow the head of the noun phrase. Items which precede it are referred to as modifiers.)	The man from Berlin The tired dogs	Noun modification Adjectives Determiners
quantifier	A type of determiner which refers to quantity.	Give me a few minutes We don't have a lot of money Would you like some cake?	Determiners
questions question tags	An interrogative. A phrase attached to the end of a positive or negative sentence to make it a question.	Is she here yet? You are coming, aren’t you? You aren’t going to eat that, are you? I don't believe she's coming, is she?	Interrogatives
R
realise / realisation	See exponent.
Received Pronunciation	A high-prestige regionally unidentifiable British accent.	So-called BBC English (once)	Transcription
recipient	See goal.
reciprocal pronoun	Pronouns which express mutuality.	They spoke to each other	Personal pronouns
reciprocal verbs	A distinction sometimes made between verbs concerning the participants in an action. Reciprocal uses imply both subjects were engaged.	Mary was talking to us (non-reciprocal use) Mary and we *were talking* (reciprocal use)	Verb and clause types
recursiveness / recursion	The ability, confined to human language, to embed an infinite (in theory) number of phrases and clauses within each other.	The people who were in the house which is on the corner of the street where his mother, who was very old, lived were always helpful if she needed anything that ...	Language evolution Clauses
reduplication	The repetition of an item (or a closely related form).	Don't shilly shally The car went clunkety clunk	Idiomaticity
redundancy	A measure of the amount of unnecessary information encoded in the language.	These people are* not welcome* in which the plural is signalled by the form of the demonstrative, the form of the noun and the form of the copular verb (66% redundancy)	Skills index
referent	The item to which a pro-form refers. (The term is also used to describe the concept or object to which a sound refers.) See also antecedent.	The chair* was expensive but I bought it* (chair (/tʃeə/) = a piece of furniture or the manager of a meeting)	Cohesion
reflexive pronoun	A pronoun which refers to (i.e., is co-referential with) the subject of the verb.	She was talking to herself	Personal pronouns
reflexive verb	Verb use in which the subject and the object are the same.	She was washing The dog was scratching in which we assume the objects to be herself and itself respectively.	Verb and clause types
regiolect	A dialect of a macro-language which may not be mutually comprehensible with other regiolects.	Moroccan vs. Egyptian Arabic	Variety
register	A variety socially defined by occupation, interest group or field of enquiry.	legal register medical register football register	Style and register
relative adverb	An adverb which modifies the verb phrase in a complex sentence to say, e.g., where or when something occurred.	This is the house where he lived That was the moment when I understood	Relative adverbs
relative pronoun	One of the following which refer to the subject or object of a sentence or to possession: who, whom, which, whose, that. The rules for the use of relative pronouns are quite complicated.	He is the man who* told me the story* (referring to the subject) He bought the car that* he saw on the road* (referring to the object)	Relative pronoun clauses
relative tense relational tense	A tense which can only be fully understood in relation to another time marker.	She has arrived, so now we can start (relating the past to the present by embedding it in the present)	Time, tense and aspect
reported speech	See indirect speech.
restrictive	See defining.
retroflex	An /r/ sound made by curling the tip of the tongue backwards. Transcribed phonetically as [ɻ].	The Indian English /r/ sound.	Transcription
retronym	A word which has been coined to describe something obsolete.	the lexeme rotary telephone describes what would have been referred to simply as telephone before the advent of touch-button dialling	Word formation
reversed cleft	See pseudo-cleft.
rheme	The additional information which follows the theme of an utterance or sentence followed by the rheme.	The manager made some new rules	Theme and rheme
rhythm	The regular repetition of stress in a language		Intonation
rhotic	Describing an accent in English in which the /r/ sound is usually audible. The opposite is non-rhotic.	Standard American English pronouncing the /r/ non-pre-vocalically: my father decided as /ˈmaɪ.ˈfɑːð.r̩.də.ˈsaɪ.dəd/. Received pronunciation in British English is generally non-rhotic (/maɪ.ˈfɑːð.ə.dɪ.ˈsaɪ.dɪd/).	Transcription
root	See stem or base form.
rounding	See lip rounding.
S
schwa	The commonest vowel in English, variably spelled. It is transcribed as /ə/.	The vowel at the beginning of about (/ə.ˈbaʊt/)	Transcription
segmental	See suprasegmental.
semantic component semantic feature	A part of a word's meaning.	The word bachelor includes the features / components male and unmarried.	Semantics
semantic field	An area of meaning containing a group of semantically related items.	gardening: hoe, fork, spade, planter, mower etc.	Lexical relationships
semantic space	The prototypical features of a lexeme which determine the limits of its use.	The semantic space of the word machine includes any mechanical device with moving parts such as engine, pump, electric drill, hair dryer etc. but excludes telephone, router and television which have no moving parts and are electronic in nature.	Teaching lexis
semantics	The study of meaning. It is not clear where the dividing lines between semantics and pragmatics are drawn.		Semantics
semi-modal auxiliary verb	A verb which can act both as modal auxiliary verb and as a lexical verb.	I dared not* / didn't dare ask again*	Semi-modal auxiliary verbs
semiotics / semiology	The study of systems of signs.	Human language is the most important semiotic system but there are others such as bird calls, Morse code, semaphore etc.	Semantics Language evolution
semi-vowel	A phoneme which may act as either a vowel or a consonant depending on the environment.	'w' in way (consonantal /w/ ) vs. in how (vocalic /aʊ/)	Vowels
sentence adverbial	An adverbial which modifies the whole of a sentence rather than only the verb phrase Also called a disjunct or stance adverbial.	*Unfortunately*, I missed my train	Disjuncts
sentence stress	The syllable(s) or word(s) in a sentence where the heaviest stress falls. This is often, unless a special meaning is intended, on the information towards the end of the utterance.	I went home I went home very late I went home by bus	Sentence stress
sequencer	An adverbial which signals the ordering of events.	firstly, next, then etc.	Adverbials
shell noun	A noun which serves to encapsulate a range of propositions in order to make cohesive referencing more accurate.	The problem is ... and ... as well as ... which also involves ... . This needs to be addressed in three ways.	Shell nouns
sibilant	A consonant fricative making a hissing, s-like sound.	/s/ in hiss, /z/ in maze	Consonants
simile (n.) similative (adj.)	The device of making comparisons, often with the use of as ... as or like. The sense of one item is carried over to the sense of the other so in this way they are synonyms.	He's like a fish out of water	Synonymy etc.
slang	A term often used disparagingly to refer to casual or 'wrong' language use. Slangs are generally spoken forms characterised by very informal uses and often confined to certain class and regional groups.	Cockney Rhyming Slang	Sociolinguistics Variety
sluicing	Reducing wh-clauses to the single wh-word or a short wh-phrase.	I heard someone singing that song but I don't know who	Nominal clauses
sociolect	A dialect defined by social class or role.	Upper class British pronunciation	Variety
soft palate	See palate.
special stress	See contrastive stress.
speculative modality	See judgemental modality.
speech act	An utterance defined by the intention of the speaker and the response of the hearer.	It's cold (meaning or understood as Please close the window)	Communicative Language Teaching
stance adverbial	See disjunct or sentence adverbial.
standard	Something used as a measure, norm, or model in comparative evaluations. A standard form is that which is seen as the baseline from which other varieties differ.	Standard Australian English differs from Standard British English but also differs from the varieties used by members of certain social and occupation groups within Australia.	Variety
starred form	See asterisked form.
stative	a) a use of the verb, distinguished from dynamic.	I think that's a good idea He has been the manager for years She looks unhappy The door was broken	Time, tense and aspect
	b) a type of passive clause. This is distinguished from a dynamic passive.	The garden gets invaded* by cats* vs. The garden was cleared	The passive voice
	c) a use of an adjective to express the fact that something is not under the control of a person. It is contrasted with a dynamic adjective referring to a characteristic under the subject’s control.	Be more patient (dynamic) vs. *Don't be tall (stative)	Adjectives
stem	The part of a word to which affixes are added which is responsible for the word's meaning. In many languages, the stem of verb, in particular, is a bound morpheme which cannot stand alone. In other languages, such as English and Chinese, which have few inflexions, the stem is often indistinguishable from the base form of a verb. The stem of an adjective or adverb is sometimes referred to as the positive form. See also base form.	unselfishness smoke-d black-en white-r	Word formation
stop	A consonant sound made by closing the vocal tract. Also plosive.	/t/ in batted	Consonants
stress stress shifting	The degree of force with which something is said. Stressed syllables will usually be louder, higher pitched and longer. The opposite is unstressed. Stress may be main (primary) or secondary. Stress shifting frequently occurs on verb-noun pairs	He came to you?! He travelled to London by train is stressed as follows: /hi.ˈtræv.l̩d.tə.ˈlʌn.dən.baɪ.ˌtreɪn/ The words export (verb) and export (noun) are pronounced as /ɪk.ˈspɔːt/ and /ˈɪk.spɔːt/.	Sentence stress Word stress
stress timing	Allowing stressed syllables to be longer than unstressed syllables.	English, Persian languages, Dutch are at the stress-timed end of the cline.	Sentence stress
structure words	See function words.
style	The level of formality on a cline from very informal to very formal with most language somewhere in between (neutral).	*Pass the salt* (informal) *I wonder if I could trouble you for the salt* (formal) *Please pass the salt* (neutral)	Style and register
style disjunct	See disjunct.
suasion	Encouraging others to do something or wishing for something. The concept includes the hortative (encouraging) and optative (wishing).	I wish it would rain I'd prefer you not to do that	Suasion
subject	The doer, animate or otherwise, of the verb.	She came at six The wind howled My car has broken down	Subjects and objects
subject case	See nominative.
subject complement	The complement of a verb which refers to the subject rather than the object. See object complement and Complement.	John is angry	Verb and clause types
subjunctive	A mood which expresses doubt or tentativeness.	It would be good were* he to work harder*	Subjunctive
subordinate clause	A dependent clause which depends for its full meaning on another, main, clause and cannot stand alone.	She had enough money although *she wasn’t rich*	Coordination and subordination
subordinator	A type of conjunction which introduces a dependent or subordinate clause.	She came because I invited her If you ask me, of course I'll help	Subordination
substantive	A noun or any language item that functions as a noun.	The poor What you ask for is impossible I enjoy reading It is open The door's open	Nouns
substitution	The replacement of an item with another.	If you like the shirts, buy *one*	Substitution and ellipsis
suffix	A morpheme added to the end of a word which usually affects its word class but can alter its meaning.	resentment (a noun from a verb) slowly (an adverb from an adjective nationalise (a verb from an adjective)	Word formation
superlative	The form of an adjective or adverb which means the most or least. See comparative.	The tallest boy in the class The most expensively dressed man The least important point	Adjectives Adverbs
superordinate	See hypernym.
suppletion (n.) suppletive (adj.)	Describing the phenomenon of a form which is differently derived and cannot be inferred to be a connected form.	The past tense of go is went which is derived from the verb wend and not from the same root as the verb go. The plural of cow is cattle (with different derivations)	Types of verbs Nouns
suprasegmental	Concerned with analysing speech above the level of individual sound. The opposite is segmental (analysing speech phoneme by phoneme or syllable by syllable). Also known as plurisegmental.		Connected speech Intonation
syllabic consonant	A consonant without a vowel sound at all which constitutes a syllable.	The word nation has the second syllable as a syllabic /n/ and is transcribed as /ˈneɪʃ.n̩/	Transcription Syllables Consonants
syllabic writing	A writing system in which each symbol represents a syllable rather than a sound.	Japanese Katakana script	Spelling
syllable	A unit of rhythm in speech. It contains a nucleus (usually a vowel) and optional onset and coda elements.	The word nation has two syllables and is transcribed as /ˈneɪʃ.n̩/ (with the second syllable a syllabic consonant).	Syllables
syllable timing	Forcing all syllables to take the same amount of time to utter.	French, Italian, Spanish and Mandarin are all at the syllable-timed end of the cline.	Sentence stress
syllepsis	Referring to a situation where there is a relationship between one word and a number of others but agreement cannot be complete. See also zeugma (which is a term sometimes synonymously used).	I am not sure if Mary or the children know / knows	Concord
synchronic variation	Variations occurring at the same time in a language. Compare diachronic variation.	Northern US and southern US English	Sociolinguistics
syndetic	Referring to the inclusion of a coordinator. See also asyndetic.	She went to the boss and* complained*	Coordination and subordination
synecdoche	The use of part of something to mean the whole or the whole of something to mean a part (see meronymy).	Take a head count The army is here	Synonymy etc.
synthetic causative	A word which has been made a causative verb with the addition of a suffix.	dead → deaden acid → acidify	Causative
synonym	A word which means approximately the same as another.	It's a big house It's a large building	Synonymy etc.
syntagmatic	Referring to the horizontal (syntactical) relationship between items in a clause. Compare paradigmatic.	In He bought a house, the verb may only be followed by a noun phrase to act as the object.	Lexical relationships
syntax syntactical (adj.)	The study of word and phrase combinations and sentence structures. A central concern of the study of syntax is the identification of word and phrase class and the elements of phrases which constitute well-formed clauses and sentences.		Syntax index
T
tag	See question tag.
teleological modality	A form of deontic modality referring to that which is necessary to achieve an aim. This form of modality is often expressed with conditional structures.	If you want to get into university you *need* to study hard We *must* leave now or we'll miss the train	Types of modality
telicity (a)telic (adjs.)	A use of a form which implies an end to the event or state (telic) or does not (atelic).	The party went on till midnight (telic) The party went on past midnight (atelic)	Time, tense and aspect
tenor	The relationship between the speaker and the hearer or the writer and reader of a text which determines in part the language that is used.	Tenant to landlord, boss to subordinate, peer to peer etc.	Functional grammar
tense	The form of the verb marked for time or aspect.	He walked (simple past) She has been walking (present perfect progressive)	Time, tense and aspect
text	A stretch of discourse of indeterminate length which has an identifiable communicative purpose.	A poem A warning notice A novel A conversation at work	Skills index
that-clause	A subordinate clause which begins with that. That-clauses may function as direct objects or subjects of verbs or as complements of adjectives (but not prepositions). When that is omitted, the clause is referred to as a zero-that-clause (Ø that-clause).	She expects that we'll get some rain I'm delighted that you could come That he was sent home surprised me I hope that you can come	Adjective complements Indirect speech Nominal clauses
theme	The starting of point of an utterance or sentence followed by the rheme.	*The manager* made some new rules	Theme and rheme
tone	The pitch of a syllable which is distinctive in some way. Some languages, e.g., Mandarin and Thai, may alter meaning depending on the tone of the production of a lexeme. These are tonal languages.		Word stress
tongue height	See vowel height.
tone unit	A sequence of tones in an utterance which identifies a meaning unit.		Sentence stress
tongue position	In the production of vowels, three horizontal tongue positions are recognised: front, central and back. Combined with notions of vowel height, lip rounding and vowel length, vowels can be closely described.	Front vowels: /e/ and /iː/ Central vowels: /ə/ and /ɜː/ Back vowels: /ɒ/ and /ɑː/	Vowels
tonic syllable	The syllable on which a change of pitch commences.	That's a *BAD* idea	Intonation
topic sentence	Usually the first sentence of a paragraph which sets the subject and from which all else is related until a new paragraph is begun.	Now we turn to the nesting habits of flamingos.	Theme and rheme
topicalising	Placing the topic of the utterance in front.	That manager, he is very strict	Fronting
toponym	A word derived from the name of a place. See also eponym.	denim trousers bourbon whisky	Word formation
transaction	A language event involving two or more people which has a definable goal for at least one participant. See also interaction.	service encounters, professional meetings etc.	Speaking
transcription	Any method of rendering spoken language in writing. Also called a notational system.		Transcription
transitive	Describing a verb which can take one or more objects. Compare intransitive.	She smoked cigars He threw me the book	Types of verbs
trill	A rapid tapping consonant.	The Spanish trilled /r/ sound transcribed as [r] in, e.g., perro.	Transcription
triphthong	A disputed category referring to a vowel which contains three separate sounds.	/eɪə/ as in player or mayor, starts with /eɪ/ and glides to /ə/	Vowels
troponym troponymy	A word which more narrowly defines another concept. The phonomenon.	The word stroll is a troponym of walk because its meaning contains the idea of walking slowly in a relaxed manner	Synonymy etc.
turn	The single contribution of a speaker in an interaction. It may contain one or more speech acts.	So, how are you feeling now? That's his mother. Do you want to talk to her?	Turn-taking
U
uncountable	See mass noun.
universal pronoun universal determiner	a pronoun or determiner which refers to a complete set of nouns.	I gave all* a drink* (pronoun) She gave all* delegates a label* (determiner) Everyone got a prize (pronoun) Every child got a prize (determiner)	Determiners
unmarked	See markedness.
unproductive	See productivity.
unvoiced	See voiced.
use vs. usage	Use refers to the communicative value of an utterance, usage to its form and denotational meaning.	I have a headache Answer A: Take an aspirin (language use) Answer B: Paper is flammable (language usage only)	Communicative Language Teaching
uvula	The teardrop-shaped fleshy part at the back of the throat. See the diagram below under vocal tract.		Consonants
V
variety	An identifiable form of the language spoken in a geographical area or unique to certain registers and social classes.	American English legal English	Language variety
velum velar velarised	The rear, soft section of the palate where some sounds are made (called velar sounds).	The sounds /ɡ/ and /ŋ/ are velar consonants	Pronunciation overview
verb	A word class referring to an event, action or state.	Peter arrived Jill was unhappy It continued raining	Types of verbs
verb phrase	A group of words acting as a verb.	She has taken* the car home*	In-service syntax index
verbal noun	It is sometimes referred to as a gerund but technically distinguishable: unlike gerunds, verbal nouns, may not be modified by adverbs but are more noun-like in being modifiable by adjectives and determiners. The form is the same as that of a present participle.	Your complaining* was not justifiable*	Catenative verbs
vocal folds	Also known as vocal cords. Two folded membranes in the larynx which vibrate to produce voiced or lenis sound.		Pronunciation overview
vocal tract	The whole of the area where speech sounds are produced:		Pronunciation overview
vocative	The form of the noun used when addressing. English does not mark the vocative case.	*John*, you are wanted on the phone.	Case
voice	a) A form of the verb or clause showing the relationship between the subject and the object (active voice) or the agent and the patient (passive voice).	John (subject) opened the letter (object) The letter (patient) had been written in haste by the manager (agent)	The passive
voice	b) The addition of vibration of the vocal folds to the production of a consonant sound (and all vowels). The opposite is voiceless or unvoiced. See also devoicing.	The distinction between game (/ɡeɪm/) and came (/keɪm/). The first sound of each is respectively voiced and unvoiced.	Pronunciation overview
vowel	A sound made without restriction of the vocal tract or any friction. Vowels may form the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are classified in four ways: height, tongue position, lip rounding and length. See cardinal vowels for a diagram.	/i/, /e/, /eɪ/ etc.	Vowels
vowel height (tongue height)	This refers to the position of the tongue vertically in the mouth when making a vowel sound: high, mid or low. Combined with notions of tongue position, lip rounding and vowel length, vowels can be closely described.	/iː/ and /uː/ are high vowels /e/ and /ɔː/ are mid vowels /e/ and /ɔː/ are low vowels
vowel length	Some vowels are represented with a length-mark colon ('ː') following them. Length is relative and vowels can be made longer or shorter by any speaker of English. Combined with notions of vowel height, lip rounding and tongue position, vowels can be closely described.	The sound /ə/ is formed in the same way as /ɜː/ but the latter is a long(er) vowel
vowel mutation	See ablaut.
W
weak form	The unstressed vowels in connected speech which are usually rendered more briefly and with a different quality.	The transcription of The man has been to see me may be: /ðə.mæn.həz.bɪn.tə.ˈsiː.miː/ with four weak forms: /ə/, /ə/, /ɪ/ and /ə/.	Connected speech
wh-word wh-question	The words what, who(m), when, where, why, how and which that perform a variety of grammatical functions.	*Where* is your car? (adverbial function) *Who* told you? (pronoun function) *When* did she go? (adverbial function) That's the man *who* told me the story (relative pronoun function)	Interrogatives Relative pronoun clauses
word class word categories	What used to be called parts of speech to classify words by their grammatical function. There are two main categories: a) closed-class words to which we can rarely if ever make additions. See function words. b) open-class items to which we can add new members. See content words.	Function or structural words: prepositions pronouns conjunctions determiners Content or lexical words: nouns verbs adjectives adverbs	Word class index
word family	The group of words seen under the same dictionary head word or lemma. See lexeme.	*happy, happiness, happily*	Lexical relationships
word formation	The process by which new words are formed from existing resources including affixation and conversion.	clean (adj.) clean (verb) nation, national, international	Word formation
word order	The ordering of elements in a language such as subjects, verbs and objects and nouns and adjectives etc. See also canonical word order.	English is Subject-Verb-Object and Adjective-noun	Word order
word stress	The place in a word where the heaviest stress falls. This is sometimes referred to as accent.	Compare, e.g. exp*ort* (verb) with export (noun) and photograph vs. photographer (/ˈfəʊ.tə.ɡrɑːf/ vs. /fə.ˈtɒ.ɡrə.fə/).	Word stress
YZ
yes-no question	A question usually formed by inversion or the do operator which allows a single word yes-no answer.	Do you like fish? Was he at the party?	Interrogatives
zero	The absence of a specific marking in the morphology for an item. The is not the same as absence; it is the absence of marking.	She enjoys Ø music (zero article) You wentØ home (zero inflexion on the verb) She went to London and Ø saw her mother (zero anaphoric marking to the subject of saw)	Articles Markedness
*zero-that-clause*	See that-clause.
zeugma	A figure of speech which exploits polysemy for effect. See also syllepsis.	They grew vegetables and bored He took his hat and his leave	Polysemy