Longman Dictionary of

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anthropological linguistics n
a branch of linguistics which studies the relationship between language
and culture in a community, e.g. its traditions, beliefs, and family structure.
For example, anthropological linguists have studied the ways in
which relationships within the family are expressed in different cultures
(kinship terminology), and they have studied how people communicate
with one another at certain social and cultural events, e.g. ceremonies, rituals,
and meetings, and then related this to the overall structure of the
particular community.
Some areas of anthropological linguistics are closely related to areas of
SOCIOLINGUISTICS and the ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION.
anticipation error n
see SPEECH ERRORS
anticipatory coarticulation n
see ASSIMILATION
anticipatory subject n
see EXTRAPOSITION
antonym n antonymy n
a word which is opposite in meaning to another word. For example, in
English dead and alive, and big and small are antonyms.
A distinction is sometimes made between pairs like dead and alive, and
pairs like big and small, according to whether or not the words are gradable
(see GRADABLE).
A person who is not dead must be alive, but something which is not big
is not necessarily small, it may be somewhere between the two sizes. Dead
and alive are called complementaries (or ungradable antonyms); big and
small are called gradable antonyms or a gradable pair.
Some linguists use the term antonym to mean only gradable pairs.
see also SYNONYM
anxiety n
see LANGUAGE ANXIETY
a-parameter n
see ITEM RESPONSE THEORY
apex n
the tip of the tongue
see also APICAL, PLACE OF ARTICULATION
apex
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