Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 963Referencesrhetoricprothesis [Grk prósthesis ‘addition’]Insertion of a sound (usually a vowel), at the beginning of a word through motivation ofthe given syllable structure. For example, initial /sp, st, sk/ clusters in Latin were brokenup in Spanish and French by a prothetic e; cf. Lat. spiritus. stella, schola : Span.espíritu, estrella. escuela: Fr. esprit, étoile, école ‘spirit,’ ‘star,’ ‘school.’language change, sound changeReferencesproto-languageTerm indicating an early stage of a language or language family that is not historicallyattested but rather reconstructed through the comparative method (e.g. Indo-European).( also comparative linguistics, historical linguistics, genetic tree theory,reconstruction)prototype [Grk prótos ‘first,’ týpos ‘form,shape; image’]The prototype is (a) the model or proto-image of all representatives of the meaning of aword or of a ‘category.’ Thus, Shakespeare can be regarded as the or a prototype, as the‘best example’ of the category poet. But it is only in exceptional cases that an individual‘best example’ exists, and even this only becomes such a one by virtue of its typicalfeatures. Thus, a prototype is (b) the bundle of typical features of a category. Theprototype of bird can be any given sparrow, but also an eagle; a penguin, however, is aless ‘good’ bird, as it lacks some of the typical features, such as the ability to fly. (c) Thefeatures themselves can also be more or less typical, i.e. they can have a higher or lower