Linguistic terminology terms | LETTER - G
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Definition
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A gap is conversational
silence
at the end of a
turn
in a situation in which
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no next
speaker
has been selected by the previous one
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no participant has selected himself or herself as the next speaker, and
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the silence is too short to constitute a
lapse
.
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Generic
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A gap is a kind of
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What is grammatical gender?
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Definition
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Grammatical gender is a noun class system, composed of two or three classes, whose
nouns
that have human male and female
referents
tend to be in separate classes. Other nouns that are classified in the same way in the language may not be classed by any correlation with natural sex distinctions.
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Kinds
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Here are some kinds of grammatical gender:
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Generic
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Grammatical gender is a kind of
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What is a generalized implicature?
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Definition
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A generalized implicature is a conversational implicature that is inferable without reference to a special context.
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Example (English)
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Generic
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A generalized implicature is a kind of
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What is generative phonology?
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Definition
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Generative phonology is a component of generative grammar that assigns the correct phonetic representations to
utterances
in such a way as to reflect a native speaker’s internalized grammar.
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Discussion
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The following are crucial components of generative phonology:
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Levels of phonological representation
Generative phonology posits two levels of phonological representation:
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An underlying representation is the most basic form of a word before any phonological rules have been applied to it. Underlying representations show what a native speaker knows about the abstract underlying phonology of the language.
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A phonetic representation is the form of a word that is spoken and heard.
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Phonological rules
Phonological rules map underlying representations onto phonological representations. They delete, insert, or change segments, or change the features of segments.
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Derivations
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Distinctive features
Distinctive features make it possible to capture the generalities of phonological rules.
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Linearity
A stream of speech is portrayed as a sequence of discrete sound segments. Each segment is composed of simultaneously occurring features.
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Definition
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A generic term is a
noun
or
noun phrase
that refers to
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a whole class, or
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any member of a class as a representative of its class.
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Generic
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A generic term is a kind of
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What is a generic-specific lexical relation?
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Definition
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A generic-specific
lexical relation
is a hierarchical association between a
lexical unit
with a broader, more general meaning and other lexical units with a narrower, more precise meaning.
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Discussion
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Another name for the generic-specific lexical relation is
hyponymy.
Hyponymy involves the association between a
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hyponym
—a more semantically complex, specific lexical unit (X), and a
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superordinate
—a less semantically complex, general lexical unit (Y).
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X is a hyponym of Y if
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the sentence "X is necessarily Y" is normal, but
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the sentence "Y is necessarily X" is not normal.
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Example:
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"Parrot" is a hyponym of "bird" since
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the sentence "A parrot is necessarily a bird" is normal, but
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the sentence *"A bird is necessarily a parrot" is not normal.
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Kinds
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Here are the two major kinds of a generic-specific lexical relation:
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Kind
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Definition and comment
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Natural (taxonomic)
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Specifics can be adequately defined for identificational purposes by listing a few distinguishing features.
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Example:
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horse
n. 'a large domesticated mammal with a long flowing tail, used for transportation and work'
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Nominal
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Specifics can be fully defined with conceptually distinct modifiers.
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Example:
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stallion
n. 'an uncastrated male horse'
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Examples (English): Generic-specific
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Natural (taxonomic)
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Nominal
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For animate things:
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For artifacts:
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For actions:
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For attributes:
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Sources:
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Cruse 1986
140–141
Neufeldt 1991
152, 324, 328, 349, 416, 1026, 1123, 1174, 1198, 1423, 1501, 1548
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Underlying structure
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The underlying structure of a generic-specific lexical relation set is a
tree.
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Frames
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Here are some frames for testing and eliciting a generic-specific lexical relation:
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An X is a kind of Y, and Z is also a kind of Y.
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An X is a type of Y, and a Z is another type of Y.
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Xs and Zs are different kinds of Y.
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Definition
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Genitive case is a case in which the
referent
of the marked
noun
is the possessor of the referent of another noun.
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Discussion
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In some languages, genitive case may express an associative relation between the marked noun and another noun.
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Examples (English)
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The man's foot
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The man's brother
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The man's singing
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The man's book
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The man's picture
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Generic
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Genitive case is a kind of
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Definition
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Genre is a category used to classify discourse and literary works, usually by form, technique, or content.
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Definition
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Gestural usage is the use of a
deictic
expression in such a way that a physical monitoring of the speech situation is necessary for interpretation of the expression.
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Example (English)
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Definition
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Given information is information that is assumed by the speaker to be known to, assumed by, or inferable by the
addressee
at the time of the
speaker
's
utterance
, because it is
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common knowledge
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part of the extralinguistic context, or
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previously established in the
discourse
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Discussion
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Given information often is
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placed early in a sentence, and
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spoken with a low amount of stress.
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Kinds
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Here are some kinds of given information:
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Generic
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Given information is a kind of
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Definition
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Given versus new information is a distinction between information that is assumed or supplied by the
speaker
and that which is presented for the first time.
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Kinds
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Here are some kinds of given versus new information:
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Generic
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Given versus new information is a kind of
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Definition
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A gloss is a summary of the meaning of a
morpheme
or word, suitable for use in
interlinear text
displays.
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Definition
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A glottal stop is a speech sound articulated by a momentary, complete closing of the glottis in the back of the throat. Glottal stops occur in many languages and usually pattern as consonants.
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Definition
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The glottis is the space between the vocal folds.
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What is goal as a semantic role?
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Definition
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Goal is the
semantic role
of the
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place to which something moves, or
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thing toward which an action is directed.
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Examples (English)
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John swam to
the raft.
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He threw the book at
me.
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Generic
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Goal is a kind of
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What is a grammatical category?
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Definition
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A grammatical category is a set of syntactic features that
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express meanings from the same conceptual domain
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occur in contrast to each other, and
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are typically expressed in the same fashion.
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Discussion
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The term ‘grammatical category’ has been used to cover a wide variety of things, including what traditional grammars call "parts of speech."
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What is a grammatical relation?
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Definition
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A grammatical relation is a role of a
noun phrase
or
complement clause
that determines syntactic behaviors such as the following:
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Kinds
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Here are some kinds of grammatical relations:
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Generic
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A grammatical relation is a kind of
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See also
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Comparison of semantic role and grammatical relation
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What is grammatical tone?
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Definition
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Grammatical tone is the distinctive pitch level which marks contrasts in grammatical features such as tense, aspect, and case.
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Discussion
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In many African languages, tone has a much heavier
functional load
in the grammar than in the lexicon. In most tone languages, tone functions in the verb system to mark certain verb tenses or aspects only by tone.
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Examples: Ngiti (Central-Sudanic, Zaire)
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Note:
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Tone is marked as follows:
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The acute accent |á| means high tone
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The grave accent |à| means low tone
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The unmarked |a| means mid tone
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The wedge |ǎ| means rising tone
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These are examples of grammatical tone in the verb system:
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ma màkpěnà ‘I whistled’ (recent past)
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ma mákpěná ‘I whistled’ (intermediate past)
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ma makpéna ‘I will whistle’ (near future)
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ma makpénà ‘I used to whistle’ (past habitual)
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ma mùbhi ‘I walk’ (present perfective)
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ma mubhi ‘I walked’ (distant past)
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ma mubhi ‘I walked’ (narrative past)
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Examples: Mashi (Bantu, Zaire)
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Note:
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Tone is marked as follows:
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The acute accent |á| means high tone
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The unmarked |a| means low tone
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These are examples of grammatical tone in the narrative past and future: Low and high tone on the subject prefix :
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nagánja ‘I counted’
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nágánja ‘I will count’
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These are examples of grammatical tone in the recent past and distant past: Low and high tone on the subject prefix :
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rhwalángaga ‘we kept (it) well’ (recent past)
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rhwálángaga ‘we had kept (it) well’ (distant past)
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Examples: Rendille (Cushitic, Kenya)
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Note:
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Tone is marked as follows:
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The acute accent |á| means high tone
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The unmarked |a| means low tone
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These are examples where tone distinguishes between subject and object case:
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ínam ‘boy’ (isolation, object case)
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inam ‘boy’ (subject case)
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inám ‘girl’ (isolation, object case)
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iname ‘girl’ (subject case)
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iname ínam á agarte ‘the girl (subject) saw the boy (object)’
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inam inám á arge ‘the boy (subject) saw the girl (object)’
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Generic
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A grammatical tone is a kind of
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tone
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Definition
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Grounding refers to establishing the time, location or actuality of a situation according to some reference point.
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Discussion
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Certain
morphosyntactic operations
, such as inflection, ground the situation that the clause describes.
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If the operation is…
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Then the reference point is normally …
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Temporal
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Now (the time of utterance).
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Spatial
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Here (the place of utterance).
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Modal or evidential
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Actuality (the situation described by the clause did or will actually take place).
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