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PE2379 ch03.qxd 24/1/02 16:05 Page 218<br />

fundamental frequency<br />

while second language acquisition is the result <strong>of</strong> general (non-language<br />

specific) cognitive processes such as PROBLEM SOLVING and HYPOTHESIS<br />

TESTING.<br />

fundamental frequency n<br />

see SOUND WAVE<br />

fused sentence n<br />

another term for RUN-ON SENTENCE<br />

fusion n<br />

see CHUNKING<br />

fusional language n<br />

another term for INFLECTING LANGUAGE<br />

future perfect n<br />

see PERFECT<br />

future tense n<br />

a tense form used to indicate that the event described by a verb will take<br />

place at a future time. For example in the French sentence:<br />

Je partirai demain.<br />

I leave + future tomorrow.<br />

the future tense ending -ai has been added to the verb infinitive partir<br />

(=leave). English has no future tense but uses a variety <strong>of</strong> different verb<br />

forms to express future time (e.g. I leave tomorrow; I am leaving tomorrow;<br />

I will leave tomorrow; I am going to leave tomorrow). Will in<br />

English is sometimes used to indicate future time (e.g. Tomorrow will be<br />

Thursday) but has many other functions, and is usually described as a<br />

MODAL verb.<br />

fuzzy adj<br />

a term used by some linguists to describe a linguistic unit which has no<br />

clearly defined boundary. These units have “fuzzy borders’’, e.g. the<br />

English words hill and mountain. Another term used for a gradual transition<br />

from one linguistic unit to another is gradience.<br />

218

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