Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 103athematic verbstem vowelATN grammar augmented transitionnetwork grammaratomic conceptsemantic primitiveatomic sentenceIn propositional logic ( formal logic), an elementary sentence of a language that doesnot itself contain any sentence in this language (and thus also no logical connectives).Thus, Philip is tall is an atomic sentence, but not Philip is tall and stocky, since thisexpression consists of two sentences that are connected by the logical connective and:Philip is tall and Philip is stocky.attenuativediminutiveattributeDependent expression which modifies a nominal head. The term is not used uniformlyeverywhere; originally, it related only to attributive adjectives in English and Romanceand some German linguistic literature, whereas in more recent grammars it is used as adesignation for complements to any syntactic category in the sentence (with the exceptionof the verb). Attributes characterize or identify persons or states of affairs with respect tocertain features; their semantic function is usually predication. Formally, attributes canbe represented by different categorial fillings, e.g., as attributive adjective: (the) new(book), genitive attribute: Salomé’s dance, prepositional attribute: the day at the sea,adverbial attribute: (this weather) today, infinitive group: the right to vote, restrictiveclause: (the book) that interests us the most, apposition: (this book), a real masterpiece.