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Linguistics - Syntax

Here you will learn some English words related to syntax such as "function word", "interrogative", and "neuter".

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Words Related to Linguistics
catena

a sequence or chain of linguistic units, such as words or morphemes, that are linked together to form a larger structure

[noun]
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grammatical relation

the relationship between words or constituents in a sentence that determines their roles and functions within the sentence

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function word

a type of word that serves a grammatical or structural role in a sentence rather than carrying lexical meaning

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"function word\"
antecedent

a word, phrase, or clause that is mentioned prior to a pronoun or anaphoric expression and to which the pronoun or anaphor refers

[noun]
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binding

a concept within the field of syntax and semantics in linguistics that refers to the grammatical and semantic relationships between pronouns, reflexives, and their antecedents within a sentence or discourse

[noun]
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control

a syntactic relationship between two clauses where the subject of one clause determines the interpretation or reference of an element in the other clause

[noun]
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coreference

a linguistic relationship where two or more linguistic expressions within a discourse refer to the same entity in the world

[noun]
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do-support

a syntactic phenomenon in English where the auxiliary verb "do" is used to form questions, negatives, and emphatic statements in certain contexts

[noun]
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exceptional case-marking

a syntactic phenomenon in which a verb assigns accusative case to a noun phrase that is syntactically an object but semantically related to a higher clause

[noun]
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extraposition

a syntactic process in which a constituent is moved from its canonical position to a non-canonical position in a sentence for the purpose of improving readability or emphasizing certain elements

[noun]
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gapping

a syntactic phenomenon where non-finite verbs or verb phrases are omitted in coordinated clauses, with only the shared elements being expressed, resulting in a shortened or elliptical sentence structure

[noun]
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verb stacking

a linguistic phenomenon where multiple verbs are consecutively combined in a single clause without explicit marking or coordination, resulting in a complex verb phrase

[noun]
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gap

an empty or unpronounced position within a sentence or phrase, typically representing a missing word or element that is implied or understood from the context

[noun]
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pseudogapping

a sentence structure where a verb is missing, but the meaning can still be understood based on the context, creating a sense of omission or gap in the sentence

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raising

a syntactic process in which a verb or predicate raises its subject to a higher syntactic position, often resulting in a mismatch between the surface structure and the underlying syntactic structure

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right node raising

a syntactic phenomenon where multiple constituents to the right of a shared verb are "raised" or elided, except for the rightmost one, creating a parallel structure

[noun]
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shifting

the movement or reordering of constituents within a sentence, often for reasons of emphasis, focus, or stylistic variation

[noun]
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stripping

(in syntax) a process of omitting some words or phrases of a clause which are repetitive and could be understood from the context

[noun]
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topicalization

the linguistic process of placing a specific word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence to highlight and give emphasis to the topic being discussed

[noun]
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tough movement

a syntactic phenomenon in which the object of a verb appears to move to the subject position in a sentence, often resulting in a complex and challenging grammatical structure

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inchoative aspect

a grammatical aspect that indicates the beginning or initiation of an action or state

[noun]
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cataphora

(grammar) the use of a word or phrase that refers to or has the same meaning as a later word

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declension

(in the grammar of some languages) a group of nouns, pronouns, or adjectives changing in the same way to indicate case, number, and gender

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telicity

the property of a verb or an event that indicates whether it is viewed as having a definite endpoint or culmination, distinguishing between activities and accomplishments or achievements

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parenthesis

a word, sentence, etc. that is explanatory and the meaning of the sentence is complete without it being inserted, usually coming between curved brackets, commas or dashes

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interrogative

(grammar) a function word that is used to form a question

[noun]
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apposition

(grammar) the use of two adjacent noun phrases having the same referent that have the same syntactical role in a sentence

[noun]
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coordination

a grammatical process where two or more words, phrases, or clauses of equal importance are joined together using conjunctions like "and" or "or" to express a relationship between them

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number

(grammar) the form of a word that indicates whether one, two, or more things or people are being referred to

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"number\"
gender

(grammar) a class of words indicating whether they are feminine, masculine, or neuter

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"gender\"
person

(grammar) each of the three classes of pronouns that refers to who is speaking, who is being spoken to, or others that are not present during the conversation

[noun]
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first-person

(grammar) a set of linguistic structures that refer to the speaker or writer of the discourse

[noun]
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plural form

a grammatical structure or form of a word that refers to more than one

[noun]
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masculine

(grammar) a word or grammatical form that refers to males

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"masculine\"
neuter

(grammar) a gender of words that are neither masculine nor feminine

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"neuter\"
feminine

(grammar) a word or grammatical form that refers to females

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part of speech

(grammar) any of the grammatical classes that words are categorized into, based on their usage in a sentence

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closed-class word

a category of words that has a limited number of members and does not readily accept new additions, including pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, and certain adverbs

[noun]
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open-class word

a category of words that can expand and accept new members, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

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agreement

(grammar) the situation where words in a phrase have the same gender, person, or number

[noun]
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grammatical case

a linguistic category that indicates the relationship of a noun or pronoun to other words in a sentence, typically reflecting its role as a subject, object, or modifier

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subordinate conjunction

a word or phrase that connects a subordinate clause to a main clause, indicating a relationship of dependence or subordination between the two clauses

[noun]
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conjunction

(grammar) a word such as and, because, but, and or that connects phrases, sentences, or words

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"conjunction\"
coordinate conjunction

a word or phrase that connects two or more elements of equal grammatical importance, such as words, phrases, or clauses, within a sentence

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correlative conjunction

a pair of conjunctions that work together to connect two or more elements of equal importance in a sentence, such as "both...and," "either...or," and "neither...nor"

[noun]
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subject-verb agreement

the grammatical rule that a verb must agree in number and person with its subject, meaning that a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb

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interposition

the placement of an element, typically a word or phrase, between other elements in a sentence, disrupting the typical linear order of constituents

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wh-word

a word used to introduce a question or a relative clause, typically including words like "who," "what," "where," "when," "why," and "how"

[noun]
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functional category

a linguistic category that serves a grammatical or structural function in a sentence

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"functional category\"
complementizer

a word that joins two parts of a sentence, like the main clause and a subordinate clause, indicating how they relate to each other

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intensifier

a word or phrase that is used to emphasize or strengthen the meaning of another word or phrase in a sentence

[noun]
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periphrasis

a linguistic phenomenon that involves expressing a single grammatical meaning using multiple words or a phrase instead of a single word

[noun]
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interjection

(grammar) a phrase or word used suddenly to express a particular emotion

[noun]
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adjunct

a grammatical element that provides additional information or adds extra meaning to a sentence, but is not essential to its basic structure or meaning

[noun]
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disjunct

an adverbial element that provides additional information or commentary on the main clause or sentence, expressing the speaker's attitude, viewpoint, or evaluation

[noun]
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noun modifier

a word or phrase that provides additional information or description about a noun, clarifying its characteristics, qualities, or attributes within a sentence

[noun]
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binomial

(grammar) a pair of words in the same grammatical category that are joined by a conjunction, usually 'and' or 'or', with a fixed order

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mood

(grammar) a group of verb forms that indicate if the action or state is conceived as a statement, question, command or in another way

[noun]
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tense

(grammar) a form of the verb that indicates the time or duration of the action or state of the verb

[noun]
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verb

(grammar) a word or phrase used to describe an action, state, or experience

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"verb\"
noun

a word that is used to name a person, thing, event, state, etc.

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"noun\"
pronoun

(grammar) a word that can replace a noun or noun phrase, such as she, it, they, etc.

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"pronoun\"
adjective

a type of word that describes a noun

[noun]
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determiner

(grammar) a word coming before a noun or noun phrase to specify its denotation

[noun]
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Definition & Meaning of \"determiner\"
adverb

a word that gives more information about a verb, adjective, or another adverb

[noun]
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adposition

a word or a morpheme that combines with a noun phrase or a pronoun to express its syntactic relationship to other parts of a sentence

[noun]
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solecism

a grammatical error or deviation from accepted language norms that occurs in speech or writing

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pro-drop language

a type of language in which pronouns can be omitted or dropped from sentences without causing ambiguity or loss of grammaticality

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topic-prominent language

a language in which sentence structure is influenced by the topic of discourse, emphasizing information rather than grammatical subjects or verbs

[noun]
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anaphora

(grammar) a word or phrase that refers to a preceding word or phrase

[noun]
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