Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 151calculusDeductive system of basic signs and rules that guarantees that mathematical or logicaloperations are carried out in a controlled, non-contradictory, mechanical fashion. Suchbasic signs may be letters, natural numbers, words, logical connectives, truth values,among others. Rules are, for example, arithmetical operations such as multiplication,addition, syntactic rules, rules for logical connections. The concept of calculus plays abasic role in the formalization of grammatical theories about natural languages to thedegree that the models of generative language descriptions can be construed as calculus(or as algorithms instead of rules, if commands are operative). A generative grammar(e.g. transformational grammar) contains a finite set of objects (all words in alanguage) and rules (constituent structure rules, transformational rules (transformation, recursive rules) by means of which an infinite set of sentences can begenerated. The language of calculus is the formal language or artificial language offormal logic. ( also formalization, mathematical linguistics)ReferencesCarnap, R. 1937. Logical syntax of language. London.Curry, H.B. 1963. Foundations of mathematical logic. New York.Whitehead, A.N. and B.Russell. 1910–13. Principia mathematica, 3 vols. Cambridge.calqueA French term for a new word modeled after a word in another language. While, in thecase of borrowing, a foreign word and its meaning are adopted wholesale into the otherlanguage as a loan word, a calque emerges when the language is adapted to newconcepts. This can happen in several ways: (a) by way of a borrowed meaning throughchange and expansion of the meaning of native words—write (originally ‘to scratch’)influenced by Lat. scribere; (b) through neologisms loosely based on a foreign concept—Ger. Sinnbild for symbol; (c) through word-for-word loan translation—crispbread fromGer. Knäckebrot, accomplished fact from Fr. fait accompli, Span. rascacielos forskyscraper; (d) through a loose loan translation—brotherhood for Lat. fraternitas.