The concepts behind the conversation
Terms: O
Explore 933 linguistic terms, with definitions, examples, and connections to the bigger picture.
Object
An object, traditionally defined, is either a direct object or an indirect object. An object, in some usages, is any grammatical relation other than …
Object Complement
An object complement is a complement that is used to predicate a description of the direct object .
Obligative Mood
Obligative mood is a directive mood that signals the speaker's estimation of the necessity that the proposition expressed in his or herutterance be brought …
Oblique Object
An oblique object is a grammatical relation proposed for a noun phrase clause constituent with the following characteristics: Its nature and behavior are …
Obliterative Overlap
An obliterative overlap is an overlap that is intended to blot out some portion of the speech of another participant.
Obviative Person Deixis
Obviative person deixis is third person deixis that distinguishes a less important referent in the present stage of the discourse from a referent that is …
Offprint
An offprint is a separate reprint of an article that first appeared as part of a larger publication.
Oh-Receipt
An oh-receipt is a move (such as the utterance of oh in English) that signals a sharp change in the state in the speaker’s knowledge, such as the …
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the use of a word that denotes a sound suggested by the phonetic quality of the word, or thing that produces such a sound.
Onset
An onset is the part of the syllable that precedes the vowel of the syllable.
Ontological Metaphor
An ontological metaphor is a metaphor in which an abstraction, such as an activity, emotion, or idea, is represented as something concrete, such as an …
Open Class
An open class is a grammatical class of words with a potentially unlimited membership. These words have content meaning.
Open Presupposed Proposition
An open presupposed proposition is a presupposition that contains a variable about which the utterance supplies information.
Opposite Lexical Relation
An opposite lexical relation is an association between two lexical units which have the opposite core meanings in some contexts.
Optative Mood
Optative mood is a volitive mood that signals wishing or hoping.
Ordinal Numeral
An ordinal numeral is a numeral belonging to a class whose members designate positions in a sequence.
Orientational Metaphor
An orientational metaphor is a metaphor in which concepts are spatially related to each other, as in the following ways: Up or down In or out Front or back …
Other-Initiated Repair
An other-initiated repair is a repair that results from a process that was begun by the addressee of the repaired utterance .
Other-Repair
An other-repair is a repair made by a participant other than the one whose speech is repaired.
Out-Of-Field Distinction
An out-of-field distinction is a distinction in place deixis that indicates that the location is not in visual range.
Overall Organization
An overall organization is a schematic description of a kind of conversational encounter. It describes the types and order of a conversation’s turns and …
Overlap
Overlap is simultaneous talk by two or more conversational participants, irrespective of its status in participants’ minds as an interruption.
Oxymoron
An oxymoron is a collocation of words that have contradictory or sharply incongruous meanings.
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