INTERLANGUAGE

A language or use of language having features of two others, often a pidgin or dialect

form.

Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Universidad

de Valencia. 2 March 2009 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/EN T RY.html?Subview=Main&entry=t150.e35349>

PROTOLANGUAGE

An unattested language from which a group of attested languages are taken to be

historically derived. Thus Proto-Indo-European is the protolanguage posited as a source

for all the Indo-European languages, Proto-Germanic the source for English and the

other Germanic languages, and so on.

"protolanguage" The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. P. H. Matthews. Oxford

University Press, 2007. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Universidad

de Valencia. 2 March 2009 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTR Y .html?Subview=Main&entry=t36.e2736>

ABLAUT  ( N . )

A change of vowel in related words or forms, e.g., in sing, sang, sung.

The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English. Oxford University Press, 1999.

Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Universidad de Valencia. 2 March

2009 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY. h tml?Subview=Main&entry=t21.e56

DIACHRONIC

Relating to historical change over a span of time. The revolution in linguistics begun by

Ferdinand de Saussure in the Cours de linguistique g¨¦n¨¦rale ( 1915 ) is founded partly

on the distinction between the diachronic study of linguistic features evolving in time

and the synchronic study of a language as a complete system operating at a given

moment. Saussure argued, against the historical bias of 19th-century philology , that the

synchronic dimension or ¡®axis¡¯ must be given precedence. Noun : diachrony .

The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press,

2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Universidad de Valencia. 2

March 2009 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY . html?Subview=Main&entry=t56.e304

SYNCHRONIC

Concerned only with the state of something at a given time, rather than with its

historical development. In modern linguistics, the synchronic study of language as it is

has generally been preferred to the diachronic study of changes in language that

dominated the concerns of 19th©\century philology .

The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press,

2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Universidad de Valencia. 2

March 2009 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTR Y .html?Subview=Main&entry=t56.e1114

SCARE QUOTES

Quotation marks placed round a word or phrase to draw attention to an unusual or

arguably inaccurate use.

"scare quotes plural noun" The Oxford Dictionary of English (revised edition). Ed.

Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford

Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Universidad de Valencia. 2 March 2009

<http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/EN T RY.html?Subview=Main&entry=t140.e68695

IMPLICATURE

The action of implying a meaning beyond the literal sense of what is explicitly stated,

for example saying the frame is nice and implying I don't like the picture in it.

• [count noun] an implied meaning.

"implicature noun" The Oxford Dictionary of English (revised edition). Ed. Catherine

Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online.

Oxford University Press. Universidad de Valencia. 2 March 2009

<http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/EN T RY.html?Subview=Main&entry=t140.e37618>

DISSIMILATION

Change or process by which two sounds in a sequence become less like each other. E.g.

French pèlerin ‘pilgrim’ is from Latin peregrin (us) ‘foreigner’ by, among other things,

dissimilation to l of the first of two r's.

Often sporadic: see Grassmann's Law for a more regular instance.

"dissimilation" The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. P. H. Matthews. Oxford

University Press, 2007. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Universidad

de Valencia. 2 March 2009 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY . html?Subview=Main&entry=t36.e943>

UNATTESTED

Denoting a form or usage or pronunciation of a word for which there is no evidence:

logically possible but unattested word- formation.

"unattested adj." The New Oxford American Dictionary, second edition. Ed. Erin

mckean. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University

Press. Universidad de Valencia. 2 March 2009

<http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/EN T RY.html?Subview=Main&entry=t183.e82417>

WAVE THEORY

In historical linguistics, the wave model or wave theory (German Wellentheorie) is a

model of language change in which new features of a language spread from a central

point in continuously weakening concentric circles, similar to the waves created when a

stone is thrown into a body of water. This should lead to convergence among dissimilar

languages. The theory was directed against the doctrine of sound laws and the strict tree

model introduced by the Neogrammarians and laid the foundations of modern

sociolinguistics. Advocacy of the wave theory is attributed to Johannes Schmidt and

Hugo Schuchardt. In modern linguistics, the wave model has contributed greatly to

improve the tree model approach of the Comparative method.[1]

"wave model" Wikipedia. 2 March 2009

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_model_(linguistics) >

LANGUAGE FAMILY

A group of languages which are assumed to have arisen from a single source:

ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, GREEK, PERSIAN, RUSSIAN, SANSKRIT, and

WELSH are all members of the INDO-EUROPEAN language family, and are

considered to have descended from a common ancestor. Common ancestry is

established by finding systematic correspondences between languages: English

repeatedly has /f/ where Latin has /p/ in words with similar meaning, as in father/pater,

fish/piscis, flow/pluo rain. It also often has /s/ where Greek has /h/, as in six/héx,

seven/heptá, serpent/hérpein to creep. In addition, English and German compare

adjectives in similar ways, as in rich, richer, richest: reich, reicher, reichste. These and

other correspondences indicate that the languages are cognate (genetically related).

Various related words can be compared in order to reconstruct sections of a hypothetical

ancestor language. The process of comparison and reconstruction is traditionally known

as comparative PHILOLOGY, more recently as comparative historical linguistics. This

process formed the backbone of 19c language study, though in the 20c it has become

one branch among many. A ‘family tree’ diagram (not unlike a genealogy) is commonly

used to represent the relationships between the members of a linguistic family, in which

an initial parent language ‘gives birth’ to a number of ‘daughters’, which in turn give

birth to others. This can be useful, but is rarely an accurate representation of how

languages develop, since it suggests clean cuts between ‘generations’ and between

‘sister’ languages, and implies that languages always become more divergent. In fact,

languages generally change gradually, and there is often considerable intermixing

among those which remain geographically adjacent. See LANGUAGE CHANGE,

LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY.

"LANGUAGE FAMILY" Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. Ed. Tom

mcarthur. Oxford University Press, 1998. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University

Press. Universidad de Valencia. 2 March 2009

<http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENT R Y. html?Subview=Main&entry=t29.e686>


INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

Family of languages spoken in Europe and SW and S Asia, and used in all areas of

European settlement, such as Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, the

USA and Latin America. It consists of the following subgroups: Germanic, Celtic and

Indo-Iranian (including Persian, Avestan and the Indic languages - Sanskrit, Pali and

modern Hindi). Other languages and groups in the family are Armenian, Albanian,

Greek, the Italic languages (including Latin and its descendants, the Romance

languages), the Baltic group (including Latvian and Lithuanian) and the Slavic group

(including Old Church Slavonic, Russian, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Croatian and others).

About half the world's population speaks an Indo-European language.

"Indo-European languages" World Encyclopedia. Philip's, 2008. Oxford Reference

Online. Oxford University Press. Universidad de Valencia. 4 March 2009

<http://www.oxfordrefere n ce.com/views/ENTRY.html? entry=t142.e5734&srn=1&ssid=213506446#FIRSTHIT>

NOUN

A building or part of a building where goods or services are sold: a video shop | a

barber's shop. • [in sing.] informal an act of going shopping: she slogged her way round

the supermarket doing the weekly shop.

(From The Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd edition revised) in English Dictionaries

& Thesauruses)

VERB

In BrE the verb is used intransitively (i.e. without an object) in its meaning ‘to buy

things at shops’, whereas in AmE it is also used transitively with the meaning ‘to

examine or buy goods at (a store)’: One man who had shopped the entire store ...

(From Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage in English Language Reference)

HINDU

( pl. Hindus ) a follower of Hinduism. (From The Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd

edition revised) in English Dictionaries & Thesauruses)

THEFT

The action or crime of stealing: he was convicted of theft | [count noun] the latest theft

happened at a garage.

(From The Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd edition revised) in English Dictionaries

& Thesauruses)

GENETIC TREE THEORY

Tree diagram Any branching diagram in which different branches are connected only at

a point of origin, and all are connected, directly or indirectly, to one node which is the

origin of the whole: e.g. a ‘family tree’ which displays the genetic classification of

languages, a phrase structure tree, a dependency tree. A ‘tree’ is technically one type of

‘graph’ defined in the branch of mathematics called ‘graph theory’. "tree diagram" The

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. P. H. Matthews. Oxford University Press,

2007. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Universidad de Valencia. 3

March 2009.

ERROR

Down to the end of the 18th c. the prevailing form was errour, which is the form given

by Johnson and by Todd (1818); Bailey's Dict. introduces error in 1753, and this

spelling is now universal. (In words which have -rr- before the suffix, as horror, terror,

mirror, the spelling of -or for an older -our is accepted by British as well as American

writers.)] I. 1. The action of roaming or wandering; hence a devious or winding course,

a roving, winding. Now only poet. The primary sense in Latin; in Fr. and Eng. it occurs

only as a conscious imitation of Lat. usage. II. 2. Chagrin, fury, vexation; a wandering

of the feelings; extravagance of passion. Obs. [A common use in OF.; cf. IROUR, a.

OF. irour anger, which may have been confused with this word.] III. The action or state

of erring. 3. a. The condition of erring in opinion; the holding of mistaken notions or

beliefs; an instance of this, a mistaken notion or belief; false beliefs collectively.

Phrases, to be, stand in, lead into error; without error = ‘doubtless’. b. personified. c. A

delusion, trick. Obs. rare. 4. a. Something incorrectly done through ignorance or

inadvertence; a mistake, e.g. in calculation, judgement, speech, writing, action, etc.

Phrase, to commit an error. clerical error (see CLERICAL). b. A mistake in the making

of a thing; a miscarriage, mishap; a flaw, malformation. nature's error = lusus naturæ.

Obs. c. Law. A mistake in matter of law appearing on the proceedings of a court of

record. writ of error: a writ brought to procure the reversal of a judgement, on the

ground of error. By the Judicature Act of 1875 writs of error are limited to criminal

cases; in civil cases appeal is substituted. plaintiff, defendant in error: the parties for or

against whom the writ of error is used. court of error (U.S.), a court of appeal in cases of

error. clerk of the errors (see quot. 1706). d. Math. The quantity by which a result

obtained by observation or by approximate calculation differs from an accurate

determination. error of a planet: the difference between its observed place and that

indicated by calculation. error of a clock: the difference between the time which it

indicates and that which it ought to indicate. law of error, random error (see quots.).

probable error, standard error (see under the first element). 5. A departure from moral

rectitude; a transgression, wrong-doing. In mod. use conveying the notion either of

something not wholly voluntary, and so excusable, or of something imprudent as well as

blameable. Cf. 4. 6. Comb., as error-blasted, -darkened, -free, -proof, -stricken, - tainted,

-teaching, adjs.; error-analysis, -holder; error-correcting, - detecting vbl. ns. (so error-

correction, -detection); error box Astr., a quadrilateral area of sky whose dimensions

correspond to the uncertainty of a measured position inside it.

INDOEUROPEAN

A now extinct language that is the ancestor of a linguistic family that includes most of the languages of

Europe, past and present, as well as those found ina vast area extending across Iran and Afganistan to the

northern half of the Indian subcontinent.