The concepts behind the conversation
Terms: D
Explore 933 linguistic terms, with definitions, examples, and connections to the bigger picture.
Dative As A Semantic Role
Dative is the semantic role of a referent that is conscious of being affected by the state or action identified by the verb .
Also known as RecipientDative Case
Dative case is a case that marks any of the following: Indirect objects (for languages in which they are held to exist) Nouns having the role of: …
Declarative Illocutionary Point
A declarative illocutionary point is an illocutionary point in which, by making an utterance , a speaker brings into existence the state of affairs …
Declarative Mood
Declarative mood is an epistemic mood that signals that the proposition expressed by a speaker’s utterance is offered as an unqualified statement of fact.
Deductive Mood
Deductive mood is an epistemic mood that signals that the speaker judges from other facts that the proposition expressed by his utterance is probably true.
Defective Illocutionary Act
A defective illocutionary act is an illocutionary act, whether successful or unsuccessful, in which one or more of the preparatory or sincerity conditions …
Defective Verb
A defective verb is a verb which does not exhibit all the forms typical of a regular verbal conjugation.
Definite Concessive Relation
A definite concessive relation is a concession relation in which the clause expressing the concession is marked by a concessive subordinator that expresses …
Definite Identifiability
Definite identifiability is a kind of definiteness which indicates that an expression’s referent(s) is in some way identifiable to both speaker and …
Definiteness
Definiteness is a category concerned with the grammaticalization of identifiability and nonidentifiability of referents on the part of a speaker or …
Definition
A definition is a thorough description of the meaning of a lexical unit . Here are the parts of a definition: Synthetic component consisting of the …
Deictic Center
A deictic center is a reference point in relation to which a deictic expression is to be interpreted.
Deictic Expression
A deictic expression is an expression that has a deictic usage as its basic usage, though it may also have nondeictic usages.
Deixis
Deixis is reference by means of an expression whose interpretation is relative to the (usually) extralinguistic context of the utterance , such as: who is …
Delative Case
Delative case is a case which expresses motion downward from the referent of the noun it marks.
Delay
A delay is an item used to put off a dispreferred second part.
Deliberative Mood
Deliberative mood is a directive mood which signals the speaker's request for instruction from the addressee as to whether to do the proposition expressed …
Demonstrative
A demonstrative is a determiner that is used deictically to indicate a referent's spatial, temporal, or discourse location. A demonstrative functions as: a …
Deontic Modality
Deontic modality is modality that connotes the speaker's degree of requirement of desire for, or commitment to the realization of the proposition expressed …
Dependent Of A Phrase
The dependent of a phrase is any element in a phrase that does not refer to the same entity that the whole phrase refers to.
Derivation
Derivation is the formation of a new word or inflectable stem from another word or stem. It typically occurs by the addition of an affix. The derived word …
Derivational Affix
A derivational affix is an affix by means of which one word is formed (derived) from another. The derived word is often of a different word class from the …
Derivative
A derivative is a stem that is formed by combining a root with an affix that adds a component of meaning that is more than just inflectional. The meaning …
Also known as Derived form, Derived stemDescription Relation
A description relation is an elaboration relation in which a proposition(s) provides the “contents” of an act of perception or cognition expressed by …
Descriptive Text
A descriptive text is a text which lists the characteristics of something. Features The topic is usually about the attributes of a thing. Third person …
Determiner
A determiner is a word or affix that belongs to a class of noun modifiers that expresses the reference, including quantity, of a noun.
Development Lexical Relation
A development lexical relation is an association between lexical units which refers to stages or steps in a process involving change such as expansion, and …
Dialogue Discourse
Dialogue discourse is a compound discourse that contains both narrative discourse and repartee discourse.
Different Subject Marker
A different subject marker is a marker in the verb morphology of a clause which indicates that the subject of the clause is not the same as the subject of …
Diphthong
A diphthong is a phonetic sequence, consisting of a vowel and a glide, that is interpreted as a single vowel.
Direct Illocution
A direct illocution is an illocutionary act in which only the illocutionary force and propositional content literally expressed by the lexical items and …
Direct Object
A direct object is a grammatical relation that exhibits a combination of certain independent syntactic properties, such as the following: The usual …
Direct Speech
Direct speech is quoted speech that is presented without modification, as it might have been uttered by the original speaker.
Directive Illocutionary Point
A directive illocutionary point is an illocutionary point in which the speaker attempts to get someone to bring about the state of affairs described by the …
Directive Modality
Directive modality is a deontic modality that connotes the speaker’s degree of requirement of conformity to the proposition expressed by an utterance.
Discontinuous Constituents
Discontinuous constituents are constituents which are separated from each other by one or more intervening constituent, and considered either syntactically …
Discontinuous Morpheme
A discontinuous morpheme is a morpheme that is interrupted by the insertion of another morphological unit.
Discourse
A discourse is an instance of language use whose type can be classified on the basis of such factors as grammatical and lexical choices and their …
Discourse Deixis
Discourse deixis is deictic reference to a portion of a discourse relative to the speaker's current “location” in the discourse.
Discourse Schema
A discourse schema (plural: schemata ) is a sequenced group of text elements that is categorized by the text's genre.
Dismissive Relation
A dismissive relation is an interpropositional relation which communicates the irrelevancy of some proposition(s) to some other(s) without communicating …
Dispreferred Second Part
A dispreferred second part is a second part of an adjacency pair that consists of a response to the first part that is generally to be avoided, and is …
Distal
A distal is a distinction in place deixis that indicates location far from the speaker or other deictic center.
Distributive Aspect
Distributive aspect is an iterative aspect which expresses that an event is applied to members of a group one after another. These members are typically …
Distributive Numeral
A distributive numeral is a numeral which expresses a group of the number specified.
Ditransitivity
Ditransitivity is a term which describes a verb or clause which takes two objects.
Also known as BitransitivityDiversion Schema
A diversion schema is a force schema that involves forces that physically or metaphorically meet and produce a change of direction.
Double Stop
A double stop consists of simultaneous labial and velar articulation.
Downgrade
A downgrade is a move that weakens or mitigates a previous utterance in order to make it more acceptable.
Dual Number
Dual number is number which refers to two members of the class identified by the noun.
Dubitative Mood
Dubitative mood is an epistemic mood which signals a speaker’s reservation about the accuracy of his or her statement.
Dummy Word
A dummy word is a grammatical unit that has no meaning, but completes a sentence to make it grammatical.
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