Linguistic Terminology

noun something added to another thing but not essential to it

adjective connected or added in a subordinate or auxiliary capacity

• The adjunct professor taught an additional course this semester.
• The part-time teacher is also an adjunct at the university.
• I heard that the adjunct gig pays pretty well.
• Learning how to play the guitar was just an adjunct to his overall musical talent.

noun a linguistic process in which words are formed by stringing together morphemes without changing them

• The process of agglutination involves the clumping together of particles or cells.
• When the blood test showed signs of agglutination, the doctor knew there was a problem.
• I hate when my cereal gets soggy and there's agglutination of the flakes.
• The agglutination of ideas in her mind led to a breakthrough in her research.

noun the act of taking and using something belonging to someone else with the intention of returning it

verb to take and use something belonging to someone else with the intention of returning it

• The act of borrowing money from a bank requires a thorough credit check.
• I'm just borrowing some tools from my neighbor for a quick project.
• I'll just borrow some cash from my friend and pay them back later.
• He was accused of borrowing ideas from other artists for his paintings.

noun a collection of written texts, especially the entire works of a particular author or a body of writing on a particular subject

adjective related to a body or collection of written texts

• The researchers analyzed a large corpus of texts to identify common themes.
• I found a huge collection of old books in the library's corpus.
• I scrolled through a bunch of tweets in the corpus to see what people were saying.
• The artist's paintings form a corpus of his creative work over the years.

verb to fix or define the limits of something

• It is important to delimit the scope of the research study to ensure accurate results.
• Let's set some boundaries to delimit what we want to achieve in this project.
• We need to draw a line to delimit the amount of time we spend on this task.
• She tried to delimit her emotions, but they overflowed like a river breaking its banks.

noun a word or phrase that expresses a quality or attribute of the referent, typically placed before a noun

adjective serving to determine or limit

• The determinative factor in the decision was the financial viability of the project.
• The determinative thing that made me choose this restaurant was the good reviews.
• The determinative element in acing the exam is studying the night before.
• Her smile was the determinative force that brightened up his day.

noun a sign (¨) placed over a vowel, indicating that it is sounded separately from the preceding vowel

• The diaeresis is a diacritical mark placed over a vowel to indicate that it is pronounced separately.
• The diaeresis in the word 'naïve' tells us to pronounce the two vowels separately.
• I always forget to include the diaeresis when typing words like 'coöperate'.
• The diaeresis in her name symbolizes the uniqueness of her identity.

noun a particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group

• The linguist studied the regional dialects spoken in different parts of the country.
• I love hearing my grandmother speak in her old dialect, it's so unique.
• Some people find it hard to understand the dialect spoken in certain rural areas.
• The dialect of jazz music is a language all its own, full of improvisation and soul.

noun a person or thing that is disjoined or disconnected

adjective disconnected or disjointed

• The disjunct regions of the country have different economic policies.
• The disjunct areas of town have their own rules.
• The disjunct parts of the city do things their own way.
• Her thoughts were disjunct, jumping from one idea to another without connection.

noun the act of enunciating or speaking clearly

verb to pronounce words clearly and distinctly

• It is important to enunciate clearly when speaking in public.
• Can you enunciate that a bit more? I didn't catch what you said.
• Yo, you need to enunciate your words if you want people to understand you.
• Her actions enunciate her true intentions more than her words ever could.

noun a brief explanation or translation of a difficult or technical expression

verb to provide a gloss for a word or text

• The gloss on the magazine cover made the colors pop.
• I love how the gloss on this lipstick gives it a shiny finish.
• Check out the gloss on that car - it's so shiny!
• She tried to gloss over the mistake, but everyone noticed.

noun a morpheme that is added into the middle of a word

verb to insert a morpheme into the middle of a word

• The infix notation is a mathematical notation where every operator is written in between their operands.
• You need to remember the rules for using infix notation in math class.
• I always get confused with the infix stuff in algebra.
• Infixing a positive attitude can greatly improve your outlook on life.

verb to insert or fix firmly into something else

• The linguist explained how infixed elements can change the meaning of a word.
• I never realized how infixed words could completely alter a sentence.
• I'm gonna infixed some cool slang into my next text message.
• Her kindness infixed a sense of warmth and comfort into the room.

verb to change or vary the form of (a word) to express different grammatical categories such as tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, number, and gender

• The verb 'to be' inflects for tense, aspect, mood, and person.
• I noticed how her voice inflects when she gets excited.
• His tone inflects when he's lying.
• The new information caused her emotions to inflect in unexpected ways.

noun a change in the form of a word that reflects a grammatical function or attribute, such as tense, mood, person, number, case, and gender

verb not applicable

adjective relating to or characterized by inflection

adverb not applicable

pronoun not applicable

preposition not applicable

conjunction not applicable

interjection not applicable

article not applicable

• The linguist studied the inflection patterns of the language.
• She noticed a slight inflection in his voice when he spoke about his ex-girlfriend.
• I can't stand her inflection, it's so annoying.
• The rise and fall of the stock market showed a positive inflection in the economy.

adjective relating to or situated on the left side

adverb in a leftward direction

• The car made a precise leftward turn at the intersection.
• She always leans leftward when she's walking.
• I saw him veer leftward towards the food truck.
• His political views have shifted leftward in recent years.

noun a word that is related to vocabulary or words

adjective relating to words or the vocabulary of a language

• The lexical analysis of the text revealed a high frequency of technical terms.
• I'm not sure what all these lexical terms mean in the book.
• I don't get all the fancy lexical jargon they use in this article.
• The lexical landscape of the language is vast and ever-evolving.

noun a meaningful linguistic unit consisting of a word or a word element that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts

• In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit in a language.
• I learned about morphemes in my linguistics class.
• Do you understand how morphemes work in this language?
• Each morpheme is like a puzzle piece that fits together to form words.

verb A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence.

• The company hired a new employee named Sarah to lead the marketing team.
• I met a guy named Alex at the party last night.
• Yo, my friend named Jake is throwing a party this weekend.
• The painting was named 'Sunset Serenade' by the artist.

noun the choice and arrangement of words in a sentence or phrase

adjective relating to the style or manner of expression in words

• The legal document was meticulously drafted with precise phraseology.
• I had to rewrite my essay because the professor didn't like my phraseology.
• Her phraseology is so old-fashioned, it's like she's from another century.
• The artist's unique phraseology in painting captures the essence of emotion.

noun the part of a sentence or clause containing a verb and stating something about the subject

• In linguistics, a predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject.
• The teacher explained that the predicate is the part of the sentence that tells what the subject is doing.
• I never really understood what the heck a predicate was until my English teacher broke it down for me.
• Just like a detective's investigation, the predicate of a sentence reveals the action or state of the subject.

verb to base or establish something on a particular principle or idea

• The success of the project is predicated on thorough research and planning.
• Whether we win the game is predicated on how well we play together as a team.
• His popularity is predicated on his ability to make people laugh.
• The stability of their relationship is predicated on honesty and trust.

noun the act of stating or affirming something about the subject of a sentence

adjective relating to or involving predication

• The philosopher's theory of predication is based on the idea that every sentence can be broken down into a subject and a predicate.
• I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept of predication in grammar class.
• I don't get why we have to learn about predication, it's so confusing.
• In the world of marketing, predication plays a crucial role in determining consumer behavior.

noun a word or phrase to which a pronoun or other word refers

• In linguistics, a referent is the specific entity that a word or phrase refers to.
• When I say 'that book', the referent is the book on the table.
• Yo, check out the referent over there, she's so stylish.
• The artist used abstract shapes as referents for emotions in her painting.

adjective Reflexive is an adjective that describes a verb or pronoun that refers back to the subject of the sentence.

• The reflexive pronoun 'myself' is used to refer back to the subject of the sentence.
• I always find myself getting lost in this neighborhood, it's so confusing.
• She's always talking to herself, it's kinda weird.
• His reflexive behavior towards criticism shows his insecurity.

noun a formal or official list or record

verb to enter or record in an official list or record

• Please remember to register for the conference before the deadline.
• Hey, don't forget to sign up for the workshop!
• Make sure you get on the list for the party, it's gonna be lit!
• His passion for music was evident from the moment he could register his first piano notes.

noun a part or section of something

verb to divide or separate into segments

• The marketing team analyzed the target audience to determine which segment to focus on.
• Let's break down the project into smaller segments to make it more manageable.
• I'm only interested in the luxury segment of the market, everything else is not my style.
• Each segment of the book represents a different stage of the protagonist's life.

noun a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people

• The use of slang in academic writing is generally discouraged.
• I love using slang when chatting with my friends.
• That new slang term is spreading like wildfire on social media.
• She speaks in a slang that only the cool kids understand.

noun a speech sound produced with continuous, vocal cord vibration

adjective relating to or having a sound characterized by resonance or voiced speech

• The sonant quality of the vowel is crucial in determining its pronunciation.
• He has a sonant voice that carries well in a crowded room.
• I love listening to her sonant laugh, it's so contagious!
• The sonant melody of the wind chimes filled the air with tranquility.

noun a set of written symbols representing syllables, typically used in some writing systems to represent a language's syllables

adjective relating to or using a syllabary

• The Cherokee syllabary is a writing system used to represent the Cherokee language.
• Learning a new syllabary can be challenging, but also rewarding.
• I'm trying to memorize the syllabary for my language class.
• The syllabary of emotions can be difficult to decipher in some people.

noun a word or phrase that functions as a modifier of a verb, adjective, or other adverb

adjective relating to syntax or the arrangement of words in a sentence

• The syntactic structure of the sentence was carefully analyzed by the linguist.
• I don't really understand the syntactic rules of this language.
• I'm struggling with the whole syntactic thing, it's so confusing.
• The syntactic harmony of the poem added depth to its meaning.

noun the study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language

• The study of syntactics is crucial in understanding the structure of language.
• Learning about syntactics can help you improve your writing skills.
• Syntactics may seem boring, but it's actually pretty interesting once you get into it.
• Just like how a sentence needs proper syntactics to make sense, our lives also need structure to function smoothly.

noun a word or phrase used to describe a thing or to express a concept, especially in a particular kind of language or branch of study

verb to give a descriptive name to; call by a specified term

adjective relating to or denoting a specified period of time or a particular condition or state of affairs

preposition used to specify a particular time, period, or condition

article a word that is used with a noun to specify grammatical definiteness of the noun, and in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope

• In academic circles, the term 'anthropology' refers to the study of human societies and cultures.
• I'll need to look up the meaning of that term before I can fully understand the article.
• I'm not familiar with the slang term 'lit' - what does it mean?
• The term 'butterflies in my stomach' is often used figuratively to describe nervousness or excitement.

noun a transliteration is the process of converting text from one writing system into another, preserving the original pronunciation and meaning

• The transliteration of the ancient text proved to be accurate and detailed.
• I tried my best to do the transliteration of the document, but it was quite challenging.
• I totally butchered the transliteration of that foreign word, it was a mess.
• In a way, learning a new language is like a transliteration of your thoughts into a different form of expression.

adjective describing a surface or object that does not have any distinguishing marks or signs

adverb used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb to indicate the absence of marking or distinguishing features

• The unmarked grave was located in the far corner of the cemetery.
• I found an unmarked trail that leads to a hidden waterfall.
• The package was left on the doorstep of the unmarked house.
• Her emotions remained unmarked by the events of the day.

noun the act or manner of using

• The proper usage of grammar is essential in academic writing.
• You should watch your phone usage, it's not good for your eyes.
• I'm trying to cut down on my social media usage, it's becoming too much.
• The excessive usage of metaphors in his speech made it hard to understand his point.

noun a word, especially one regarded in relation to others in a sentence.

• The linguist explained the meaning of the vocable in the ancient text.
• I had to look up the vocable in the dictionary to understand what it meant.
• The kids these days use all sorts of vocables that I don't understand.
• The artist used colors as vocables to convey emotions in her painting.

noun a system of symbols used to represent a language in written form

• The Korean writing system, known as Hangul, was created in the 15th century by King Sejong the Great.
• I find the Chinese writing system to be quite complex compared to others.
• I can't believe how fast she picked up the new writing system at work.
• Learning a new writing system is like unlocking a whole new world of communication.

adjective relating to or occurring after the element that it qualifies, especially a word that follows the word it modifies, such as 'ago' in 'three days ago'

• In some languages, adjectives are postpositive, meaning they come after the noun.
• I never realized that some languages have postpositive adjectives until I studied linguistics.
• I don't get why some languages have adjectives that are postpositive - seems weird to me.
• The postpositive nature of her remarks left a lasting impression on the audience.

adjective describing a word formed by or containing a repeated element, such as 'bye-bye' or 'choo-choo'

• The linguistic term 'reduplicative' refers to a process of forming new words by doubling all or part of a base.
• I find it fascinating how some languages use reduplicative patterns to create emphasis or convey specific meanings.
• That song has a reduplicative chorus that's been stuck in my head all day.
• Her reduplicative efforts to impress her boss only seemed to annoy him further.

noun a phonetic phenomenon in which vowel sounds change within a root or word to indicate changes in tense, aspect, or mood

• The linguist explained the concept of ablaut in great detail during the lecture.
• I still can't wrap my head around the whole ablaut thing in language class.
• Ablaut sounds like some crazy language voodoo to me.
• The changing vowel sounds in the word 'sing', 'sang', and 'sung' demonstrate ablaut in action.

noun a type of plant with small yellow flowers and aromatic leaves

• The tanling process involves carefully pruning and shaping the branches of the tree.
• I can't wait to start tanling my garden this weekend.
• My neighbor is a pro at tanling, she makes her garden look amazing.
• The artist's skillful use of light and shadow created a beautiful tanling effect in the painting.

noun a comitative case or form

adjective relating to or denoting a case expressing accompaniment or association

• The comitative case in linguistics indicates accompaniment or association.
• The comitative case is used to show when things are together.
• The comitative thing is like when stuff goes with other stuff.
• In a figurative sense, the comitative case can represent a sense of unity or partnership.

noun a constructed language designed for international communication, typically serving as an auxiliary language

• The committee discussed the potential benefits of adopting an auxlang for international communication.
• I heard about this cool auxlang that's supposed to be really easy to learn.
• Have you checked out that new auxlang yet? It's lit!
• Learning a new auxlang can open up a whole new world of opportunities.

noun Apostrophe: In literature, a figure of speech in which a character speaks to an object, idea, or person who is absent or dead.

• The editor corrected the greengrocer's apostrophe in the manuscript before sending it to print.
• I saw a sign with a greengrocer's apostrophe in the market today.
• Why do people always use greengrocer's apostrophes on their social media posts?
• Her constant misuse of greengrocer's apostrophes was a reflection of her lack of attention to detail.

noun a person who loves cats

• The ailurophile spent hours at the cat cafe, admiring the different breeds.
• My friend is such an ailurophile, she has four cats at home.
• I'm a total ailurophile - I can't resist cute cat videos on the internet.
• As an ailurophile, she had a natural grace and elegance that reminded people of a cat.

noun the act of moving something to the front or forefront

verb present participle of the verb 'front', which means to face or be positioned towards the front

adjective describing something that is positioned at the front or forefront

adverb in a manner that emphasizes being at the front or forefront

• Fronting in the business world can help create a positive first impression.
• Stop fronting and just be yourself around me.
• She's always fronting like she's so cool.
• His fronting of confidence hides his true insecurities.

noun a line on a map marking the limits of an area within which a feature of pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary is constant

• The isogloss marks the boundary between two distinct dialect regions.
• The isogloss shows where people start talking differently.
• The isogloss is where the language switch happens.
• The isogloss acts like a linguistic border separating different speech patterns.

noun a person who specializes in syntax, the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language

• The syntactician analyzed the sentence structure for any errors.
• The syntactician is the go-to person for grammar questions.
• That guy is a total grammar nerd, a real syntactician.
• She approached the problem with the precision of a syntactician.

noun a physical form or shape that something takes on

verb to undergo a gradual process of transformation

• The scientist studied how cells morph during the process of development.
• I love watching videos of makeup tutorials where they morph from plain to glamorous.
• The car's design really morphed into something cool after the modifications.
• His personality seemed to morph into a completely different person when he was under stress.

verb to speak or write in a roundabout way; to use many words when fewer would do; to avoid being direct or concise

• The politician tends to circumlocute his answers in order to avoid directly addressing the question.
• Just get to the point and stop circumlocuting!
• He's always beating around the bush and circumlocuting.
• Her words circled around the truth, like a bird circling its prey, never quite landing on it.

noun a person who was once married to someone but is no longer married to them

verb past participle of the verb 'to be', used to indicate that someone was previously something

• The husband has been working tirelessly to provide for his family.
• My hus-been is always watching TV and never helps with chores.
• I can't believe my hus-been forgot our anniversary again!
• The old house had a hus-been feel to it, with memories of past occupants lingering in the air.

noun a grammatical case indicating absence or lack of the thing represented by the noun

• The abessive case in linguistics indicates the lack or absence of something.
• I couldn't find my keys, so I was in an abessive state until I located them.
• Without my phone, I felt totally abessive and disconnected from the world.
• Her abessive attitude towards teamwork made it difficult for the group to collaborate effectively.

noun a word or phrase that is the subject or object of the verb in a sentence

adjective a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun

• The absolute form of the adjective 'good' is 'best'.
• You always have to use the absolute form of the word in this type of sentence.
• I don't know why we have to learn the absolute form of words, it's so boring.
• In mathematics, the absolute form of a number is its distance from zero on the number line.

adjective relating to a grammatical construction in certain languages that marks the subject of a transitive verb or the direct object of an intransitive verb

• In ergative-absolutive languages, the absolutive case marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb.
• I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept of absolutive case in linguistics.
• The absolutive case is like the 'catch-all' case in some languages, covering various roles in a sentence.
• The absolutive case can be seen as the glue that holds the sentence together, indicating the main participant or theme.

adjective An adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. In this case, 'accentless' describes something that lacks an accent.

• The linguist was impressed by the student's accentless pronunciation of the foreign language.
• She spoke with such an accentless tone that it was hard to tell where she was from.
• He raps with an accentless flow that sets him apart from other artists.
• Her writing style is so clear and concise, it's almost accentless in its delivery.

adjective relating to or based on the relative prominence of syllables in a word, phrase, or sentence

• The poet used accentual meter to create a structured rhythm in the poem.
• I find it easier to read poems with accentual patterns rather than strict syllabic ones.
• I'm not a fan of accentual poetry, it just doesn't click with me.
• Her accentual speech added a touch of elegance to her storytelling.

noun a term used in music to refer to the stress or emphasis placed on a certain note or beat in a musical composition

• The singer's accentus was impeccable, showcasing her mastery of different languages.
• I love listening to people with a unique accentus, it makes their speech so interesting.
• Her accentus is so cool, it's like she's from a different country!
• The artist used different colors to create an accentus in the painting, drawing attention to the focal point.

adjective relating to or functioning as an accusative case in grammar

• In linguistics, accusatival constructions involve the use of a direct object.
• I'm studying accusatival structures in my language class.
• I have no idea what accusatival even means, do you?
• Her accusatival tone indicated her disapproval of the situation.

noun the act of applying or using something

verb to apply or use something

• The adhibition of new technology in the healthcare industry has led to significant improvements in patient care.
• I'm not sure about the adhibition of these new rules at work, it seems unnecessary.
• The adhibition of that new slang word is catching on fast among teenagers.
• The adhibition of creativity in problem-solving can lead to innovative solutions.

noun a type of fabric or clothing material

• The scientist discovered a new species of plant called adjab in the rainforest.
• I heard that they found some weird adjab thing in the jungle.
• Have you seen that funky adjab plant growing in the backyard?
• Her thoughts were like a tangled adjab of vines, impossible to unravel.

adverb in an adjunct manner; as an adjunct

• The two departments work adjunctly to ensure a smooth transition process.
• The teams are working adjunctly on the project to get it done faster.
• We're all just adjunctly chipping in to make this party happen.
• The artist's use of color and light adjunctly creates a sense of movement in the painting.

adjective relating to or situated in the middle or near the middle

• In linguistics, the admedial position refers to the middle of a word or phrase.
• The admedial part of the sentence is where the main idea is usually located.
• I always get confused with the admedial stuff in grammar class.
• The admedial role of the character in the story symbolizes balance and harmony.

noun a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun)

adjective a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it

• The adnominal phrase in the sentence provides additional information about the noun.
• The extra words next to the noun are called adnominal.
• The noun gets a little boost from the adnominal stuff.
• Like a sidekick to the noun, the adnominal phrase adds depth to the sentence.

adjective describing a person or thing that is bound or attached to a particular place, organization, or system

• In feudal societies, serfs were often adscripted to the land they worked on.
• The workers on the farm were adscripted to their jobs and couldn't easily leave.
• I feel like I'm adscripted to this boring routine.
• Her love for him felt adscripted in her heart, unable to be erased.

noun the act of turning a word or phrase into an adverb

verb None

adjective None

adverb None

pronoun None

preposition None

conjunction None

interjection None

article None

• The process of adverbialization involves converting words into adverbs.
• Adverbialization is when you turn words into adverbs.
• Adverbialization is like adverb-ifying stuff.
• Adverbialization is like adding a touch of adverb magic.

adjective describing or tending to advocate or support a particular cause or policy

• The speaker's tone was highly advocative during the debate, urging for policy change.
• She always gets advocative when talking about her favorite sports team.
• I'm feeling advocative about this new restaurant in town, let's check it out!
• His artwork was advocative of the struggles faced by marginalized communities.

noun afalou (potentially a proper noun or specific name)

• The Afalou man is known for his traditional craftsmanship in weaving rugs.
• Have you met the Afalou man who sells fresh produce at the market?
• The Afalou man is always hustling to make a living.
• She moves through the crowd like an Afalou man, weaving in and out effortlessly.

adjective capable of being attached or added to something else

• The document includes an affixable stamp for official use.
• You can easily stick the affixable label onto the package.
• I found some cool affixable stickers for my notebook.
• Her words were like affixable labels, leaving a lasting impression on everyone.

adjective relating to or consisting of an affix, which is a morpheme added to a word to create a derivative or inflected form

• In linguistics, an affixal element is a morpheme attached to a base form to create a new word.
• Adding an affixal ending can change the meaning of a word.
• I like to play around with affixal prefixes and suffixes to create new words.
• The affixal relationship between the two concepts was evident in their interconnectedness.

noun a word formed by removing one or more syllables from the beginning or end of a longer word, often with an affix attached

• Affix-clipping is a linguistic process where a part of a word is removed to create a new word.
• I learned about affix-clipping in my linguistics class.
• Some people use affix-clipping to create trendy new words.
• In literature, affix-clipping can be used to symbolize the simplification of language.

adjective relating to or having the nature of an affix, which is a morpheme attached to a word to create a derivative or inflected form

• The linguist analyzed the affixial structures present in the ancient language.
• I find it interesting how affixial endings can completely change the meaning of a word.
• I always struggle with understanding affixial stuff in grammar class.
• The artist used affixial elements to enhance the overall composition of the painting.