A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

110 contextualize
semantics. Context of situation refers to the whole set of external-world features
considered to be relevant in the analysis of an utterance at these levels.
contextualize (v.), contextualization (n.)
see context
contiguity (n.) A family of faithfulness constraints in optimality theory
that evaluates, along with linearity, the preservation of adjacency ordering
of segments between two forms. If two segments are adjacent in the input
form, the corresponding segments should be adjacent in the output form, and
vice versa. The metathesis of two segments preserves their adjacency but not
their linearity.
contiguous assimilation
see assimilation
contingent extrasyllabicity
see extrasyllabic
continuant (adj.) (cont) One of the features of sound set up by Chomsky
and Halle (see Chomskyan) in their distinctive feature theory of phonology,
to handle variations in manner of articulation. Continuant sounds
have been defined articulatorily and acoustically, as those produced with an
incomplete closure of the vocal tract. All vowels and fricatives are [+continuant]
(abbreviated as [+cont]). The opposite term in Jakobson and Halle’s
approach (see Jakobsonian) is discontinuous; in Chomsky and Halle’s later
system, it is non-continuant or stop: these are sounds produced with a complete
closure of the vocal tract, and thus characterized acoustically by a silence, as in
plosives [−continuant] [−cont]. The term interrupted is also sometimes used.
continuity hypothesis see discontinuous (3)
continuous (adj.) A term used in the grammatical description of verb forms,
referring to a contrast of a temporal or a durative kind, and thus handled
sometimes under the heading of tense and sometimes under aspect. The usual
contrast recognized is between ‘continuous’ or progressive (e.g. I am going)
and non-continuous, simple, or ‘non-progressive’ (e.g. I go). Linguists prefer an
aspectual analysis here, because of the complex interaction of durational,
completive and temporal features of meaning involved; traditional grammars,
however, merely refer to ‘continuous tense’, ‘continuous present’, etc., and thus
imply a meaning which is to some degree an oversimplification.
contoid (n.) A term invented by the American phonetician Kenneth Pike (1912–
2001) to help distinguish between the phonetic and the phonological
notions of consonant. Phonetically, a consonant is defined with reference to
a complete closure in the vocal tract, or a narrowing sufficiently great to
cause audible friction. Phonologically, it is a unit which functions at the
margins of syllables. But there are cases where these criteria do not coincide,
such as [l], [r], [w] and [j], which function as consonants in syllables, but which
are phonetically vowel-like. To handle such cases, Pike proposed that separate
terms be used for the phonetic and the phonological definitions of all sounds:
‘contoid’ refers to the phonetic characterization of a consonant, as defined above;