A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

postures 377
the post-creoles which form different parts of the continuum include acrolect
(an educated variety very close to the standard), basilect (the variety closest to
the original creole) and mesolect (intermediate varieties).
post-cyclic (adj.) A term used for a type of rule recognized in the extended
standard theory of transformational grammar, to refer to a type of
transformation which applies after cyclic transformations have been completed;
also called post-cyclical, and contrasted with pre-cyclic(al), where the transformation
applies beforehand. Post-cyclic rules are intended to handle such cases
as the combining of tenses with main verbs. See also lexical phonology.
post-dental (adj.)
see dental
postdeterminer (n.) In grammar, a term used to describe a type of word
which occurs after the determiner and before an adjective in a noun phrase.
Several quantifying words hold this position, such as first, other and the numerals
(e.g. the three big chairs, the other leading participants).
post-lexical (adj.)
see lexical phonology
postmodification (n.) A term used in some grammatical descriptions to refer
to all the items which occur after the head of a phrase (an endocentric
phrase), e.g. The cars in the garage are expensive. In English, three main types
of postmodifying structure are recognized: prepositional phrases (e.g. the cars
in the garage . . . ), finite (relative) clauses (e.g. the car which was in the
garage . . .) and non-finite (infinitive or participial) clauses, e.g. the car parked
in the street ..., the car to buy . . . See genitive.
post-nasal (adj.)
see nasal
postposition (n.) (P) A term used in the grammatical classification of words,
referring to the closed set of items which follow noun phrases (or single nouns
or pronouns) to form a single constituent of structure. The analogous construction
in English involves prepositions. Many languages make regular use
of postposed items, e.g. Japanese, Hindi. The word ago (e.g. two years ago) is
also sometimes classified as a postposition. See also adposition.
post-structuralism (n.)
see logocentrism
postulate (n.) An application in linguistics of the general use of this term in
the branch of logic known as axiomatics. It refers to a set of initial propositions
which a theory assumes to be true; these initial statements, and subsequent
deductions made from them, are collectively known as the postulational
method (see axiomatic). In linguistics, several ‘sets of postulates’ have been
proposed, in attempts to systematize ideas about language, the best known
being those propounded by the American linguists Leonard Bloomfield (in 1926)
and Bernard Bloch (in 1948). See Bloomfieldian.
postures (n.)
see parametric phonetics