A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

484 theolinguistics
theolinguistics (n.) A term which has been used for the study of the relationship
between language and religious thought and practice, as illustrated by
ritual, sacred texts, preaching, doctrinal statements and private affirmations of
belief. The distinctiveness of religious language usually takes the form of a
special set of varieties within a language, but special scripts and languages (as
with Ge’ez in the Ethiopian Church) may also be found, and considerable attention
needs to be paid to philological enquiry, given the way much religious
language takes its origin from old texts and practices.
theorem (n.)
see axiom
theoretical grammar see grammar (2)
theoretical linguistics
see linguistics
theory (n.)
primitive
see axiom, grammar (2), linguistics, model (1), postulates,
theory of mind
see mentalism
there-insertion A term used in transformational grammar for a transformation
which relates pairs of sentences by inserting a there-element, such as
A baby is in the bath ⇒ There is a baby in the bath. The latter type of sentence
is often referred to as existential.
theta role
see thematic role
theta theory One of the (sub-)theories of government-binding theory. Its
main principle is the theta-criterion, which requires that every argument is
assigned just one theta role and that every theta role is assigned to just one
argument. Its main role is to determine the positions to which NP-movement is
possible.
third person
see person
thirteen men rule
see reversal
tier (n.) A term in hierarchical models of phonology (see non-linear
phonology) for a level of phonological representation. For example, in
autosegmental phonology, parallel tiers of phonological segments are proposed,
each tier consisting of a string of segments, and representing a sequence
of articulatory gestures or acoustic transitions. In a tone language, for
instance, tones are represented on one tier, which specifies features of tone
and nothing else; other (non-tonal) features are represented on a separate tier.
Features cannot appear on more than one tier, and thus tiers can be defined by
the features found in them, as in the case of the phonemic tier, the skeletal
tier and the X-tier. The number of tiers varies between models. In particle
phonology, for example, there are five: syllabic, nucleus, timing, root and
particle tiers. Terminology varies greatly among different models, as in the case