A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

D
dangling participle In traditional grammar, a term describing the use of a
participle, or a phrase introduced by a participle, which has an unclear or
ambiguous relationship to the rest of the sentence; also called a misrelated
participle. If taken literally, the sentence often appears nonsensical or laughable:
Driving along the street, a runaway dog gave John a fright. To avoid such inadvertent
effects, manuals of style recommend that such sentences be rephrased, with
the participial construction moved or replaced, as in When John was driving
along the street, a runaway dog gave him a fright.
dark l An impressionistic but commonly used term for a variety of lateral
sound, where the resonance is that of a back vowel of an [u] quality, as in
the standard-English pronunciation of /l/ after vowels, before consonants,
and as a syllabic sound, e.g. pull, altar, bottle; it is opposed to clear L.
Alternatively, one might refer to this quality as a ‘velarized’ /l/ (see velar),
transcribing it [l].
data (n.) A term used in its general sense in linguistics, referring to the
phenomena which constitute the subject-matter of enquiry – what has been
variously identified in terms of linguistic ‘behaviour’, ‘knowledge’, ‘abilities’,
‘processes’, etc. – and any associated observations and inferences which linguists
make as they go about their business. There have, however, been two distinct
views concerning the nature of this subject-matter, which are usually seen in
opposition to each other. The traditional conception of linguistic data is limited
to the observable patterns of speech and writing, especially when recorded and
gathered together in a corpus; generative linguistic theory, on the other hand,
goes beyond this, including as part of the raw data for analysis the language
user’s judgements (intuitions) about the language. Much controversy has been
generated by these opposed views (which are related to the more basic divergences
between behaviourist and mentalist philosophies), and the issue is
still prominent, criticisms being made of the limited reliability and generality of
observable data, and of the uncertain verifiability and objectivity of mentalistic
data, as evidence of linguistic system. In language acquisition, the term
‘primary linguistic data’ refers to the language input to the child, deriving from
parents, siblings, etc.
A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics 6th Edition. David Crystal
© 2008 David Crystal. ISBN: 978-1-405-15296-9