20.06.2020 Views

A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

affix 15

adverb clause

see adverb

adverbial (adj./n.)

see adverb

adverb phrase

see adverb

adversative (adj./n.) In grammar and semantics, a form or construction which

expresses an antithetical circumstance. Adversative meaning can be expressed

in several grammatical ways (as ‘adversatives’), such as through a conjunction

(but), adverbial (however, nevertheless, yet, in spite of that, on the other hand),

or preposition (despite, except, apart from, notwithstanding).

aerometry (n.) In phonetics, the measurement of airflow during speech; also

called electroaerometry. Several instruments, such as the electroaerometer, have

been designed to provide such data, using a special face mask which allows

separate measures of airflow to be made from mouth and nose.

affect (n.) A term sometimes used in semantics as part of a classification of

types of meaning: it refers to the attitudinal element in meaning, as in the

differing emotional associations (or connotations) of lexical items (e.g. a

youth/youngster stood on the corner) or the expression of attitude (or affect)

in intonation. Affective meaning is usually opposed to cognitive meaning.

Alternative terms include emotive and attitudinal.

affect alpha A maximally general notion introduced into governmentbinding

theory, subsuming the three operations of ‘move alpha’ (or ‘alpha

movement’), ‘insert alpha’ (or ‘alpha insertion’) and ‘delete alpha’ (or ‘alpha

deletion’). It could be glossed as ‘do anything to any category’. See alpha

notation, move alpha.

affected (adj.) A term used by some linguists as part of the grammatical

or semantic analysis of a sentence in terms of cases or participant roles:

it usually refers to an entity (animate or inanimate) which does not cause

the happening denoted by the verb, but is directly involved in some other way.

It is typically the role of the direct object, e.g. I kicked the ball. patient,

objective and goal have sometimes been used in this sense, but alternative

interpretations for these terms are common.

affective (adj.)

see affect

affirmative (adj./n.) A term used in grammatical description to refer to a type

of sentence or verb which has no marker of negation, i.e. it is expressing an

assertion. The ‘affirmative’, or positive, ‘pole’ of this contrast is opposed to

‘negative’, and the grammatical system involved is often referred to under the

heading of polarity.

affix (n.) (AFF) (1) The collective term for the types of formative that can

be used only when added to another morpheme (the root or stem), i.e. affixes

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!