Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

Dictionary of language and linguistics 788world exhibit either operatoroperand or operand-operator ordering or at least tend todevelop in one or the other direction. (d) A distinction is made between a word-basedsemantics built on meaning postulates, and a sentence-based semantics, homomorphicwith the syntax; the logical semantic representation is in keeping with the cognitive (andtherefore universal) structures which are the foundation of human perception,recognition, classification, speech, and understanding. (e) In contrast to transformationalgrammar, a strict distinction is made between morphology and phonology; thephonological description is built on phonetically plausible and universally valid rules, e.g.nasal harmony ( also markedness, natural phonology). (f) Natural generativegrammar encompasses not only synchronic linguistic theory, but also a complementarydiachronic theory ( synchrony vs diachrony), the so-called ‘theory of languagechange,’ whose universal and prognostic characteristics are made especially valid in theareas of word order and sound change. (g) The ‘strong naturalness condition’ states thatall phonological representations are realized through phonological features in thesurface form; that the logical operator-operand relations, which are the basis forsemantic representations, correlate with essential human cognitive (linguistic)capabilities; and that no semantically uninterpretable medial steps are allowed insyntactic derivations.ReferencesBartsch, R. and T.Vennemann. 1972. Semantic structures: a study in the relation betweensemantics and syntax. Frankfurt.Hooper, J.B. 1976. An introduction to natural generative phonology. New York.Rudes, B.A. 1976. Lexical representation and variable rules in natural generative phonology.Glossa 10. 111–50.Vennemann, T. 1974. Words and syllables in natural generative grammar. In A.Buck et al. (eds),Papers from the parasession on natural phonology 1974. Chicago, IL. 346–74.natural languageTerm for languages which have developed historically and which are regionally andsocially stratified, as opposed to artificial language systems, which are used forinternational communication ( planned language) or for formulating complexscientific statements. ( computational linguistics) Natural languages differ fromartificial languages particularly in their lexical and structural polysemy, the potentialambiguity of their expressions, and in their susceptibility to change through time.