The concepts behind the conversation
Terms: P
Explore 933 linguistic terms, with definitions, examples, and connections to the bigger picture.
Parable
A parable is a brief allegory that is used to teach a moral lesson.
Paradigm
1. A set of forms having a common root or stem , of which one form must be selected in certain grammatical environments. 2. The set of substitutional …
Paradigmatic Lexical Relation
A paradigmatic lexical relation is a culturally determined pattern of association between lexical units that share one or more core semantic components …
Paradox
A paradox is a proposition that is or appears to be contradictory but expresses some measure of truth.
Paralipsis
Paralipsis is a kind of irony in which the speaker proposes not to speak of a matter, but still somehow reveals it.
Parataxis
Parataxis is the juxtaposition of syntactic units without use of a conjunction .
Parenthesis Relation
A parenthesis relation is an interpropositional relation in which some proposition(s) is a digression from those expressed before and after.
Paronomasia
Paronomasia is the use of words that sound similar to other words, but have different meanings.
Part-Whole Schema
A part-whole schema is an image schema involving physical or metaphorical wholes along with their parts and a configuration of the parts.
Participant Role
A participant role is a relation that persons have to each other with regards to their involvement in a speech event.
Participle
A participle is a lexical item, derived from a verb , that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives . The adjectival form …
Particle
A particle is a word that does not belong to one of the main classes of words is invariable in form, and typically has grammatical or pragmatic meaning.
Particularized Implicature
A particularized implicature is a conversational implicature that is derivable only in a specific context.
Partitive Case
Partitive case is a case that expresses the partial nature of the referent of the noun it marks, as opposed to expressing the whole unit or class of which …
Partitive Numeral
A partitive numeral is a numeral that expresses a fraction.
Passing Turn
A passing turn is a move that indicates that its speaker has nothing further to say, and passes speakership to another participant.
Passive Voice
Passive voice is a voice that indicates that the subject is the patient or recipient of the action denoted by the verb.
Past Perfect Tense
Past perfect tense is an absolute-relative tense that refers to a time in the past relative to a reference point, which itself is in the past relative to …
Past Tense
Past tense is an absolute tense that refers to a time before the moment of utterance.
Path
Path is the semantic role describing the locale(s) transversed in motion or propulsion predications.
Path Schema
A path schema is an image schema that involves physical or metaphorical movement from place to place, and consists of a starting point, a goal, and a …
Patient As A Semantic Role
Patient is a semantic role that is usually the surface object of the verb in a sentence.
Also known as Affected, UndergoerPerfect
A perfect is a grammaticalization of the current relevance, at the moment of utterance, of an event or state that occurred prior to the moment of …
Perfect Of Persistent Situation
A perfect of persistent situation is a grammaticalization of the current relevance of a state or event begun prior to the moment of utterance, which is …
Perfect Of Recent Past
A perfect of recent past is a grammaticalization of the current relevance of a state or event, occurring before the moment of utterance, which is relevant …
Perfect Of Result
A perfect of result is a grammaticalization of the current relevance of a state or event, occurring before the moment of utterance, which is relevant …
Perfective Aspect
Perfective aspect is an aspect that expresses a temporal view of an event or state as a simple whole, apart from the consideration of the internal …
Performative
A performative is a sentence in which the employment of a particular illocutionary force is made explicit by naming the force in the sentence itself.
Performative Verb
A performative verb is a verb that names an illocutionary force. It is used in a performative to perform an illocutionary act having that force.
Perlocutionary Act
A perlocutionary act is a speech act that produces an effect, intended or not, achieved in an addressee by a speaker’s utterance.
Perlocutionary Failure
Perlocutionary failure is a lack of success in achieving an intended perlocutionary effect.
Perlocutionary Verb
A perlocutionary verb is a verb that names a perlocutionary act.
Permissible Mixed Metaphors
Permissible mixed metaphors are mixed metaphors that do not conflict with each other because they serve the same purpose, and exhibit a correlation with …
Permissive Mood
Permissive mood is a directive mood that signals the speaker’s act of giving permission.
Person Deixis
Person deixis is deictic reference to the participant role of a referent, such as the speaker the addressee, and referents which are neither speaker nor …
Personal Pronoun
A personal pronoun is a pronoun that expresses a distinction of person deixis.
Personification
Personification is an ontological metaphor in which a thing or abstraction is represented as a person.
Pesky Little Particle
A pesky little particle is a morpheme that is either lexically contentless, or behaves in a text in a manner that is anomalous with regard to its usual …
Phone
A phone is an unanalyzed sound of a language. It is the smallest identifiable unit found in a stream of speech that is able to be transcribed with an IPA …
Phoneme
A phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language.
Phonetically Similar Segment
Phonetically similar segments are two or more sounds which share phonetic features and are frequently found as variants of a single phonological unit in a …
Phonetics
Phonetics is the study of human speech sounds. Branches Articulatory phonetics The study of how speech sounds are produced by the human vocal apparatus. …
Phonological Derivation
A phonological derivation is the set of stages used to generate the phonetic representation of a word from its underlying representation.
Phonological Hierarchy
Phonological hierarchy is a ranking that organizes a stream of speech into levels of ascending size and complexity. Here are the levels of the phonological …
Phonological Symmetry
Phonological symmetry is the even distribution of phonemes throughout the articulatory possibilities of a given language.
Phonological Universal
A phonological universal is a common tendency found in the phonological systems of many languages.
Phonology
Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages.
Phrasal Verb
A phrasal verb is a combination of a lexical verb and a verbal particle that forms a single semantic and syntactic unit.
Phrase
A phrase is a syntactic structure that consists of more than one word but lacks the subject-predicate organization of a clause.
Pitch
Pitch is the rate of vibration of the vocal folds.
Place Deixis
Place deixis is deictic reference to a location relative to the location of a participant in the speech event, typically the speaker.
Place Of Articulation
Place of articulation is the relationship between the active and passive articulators as they shape or impede the airstream.
Plural Number
Plural number is number that expresses reference to a quantity greater than that expressed by the largest specific number category in a language, such as …
Polarity
Polarity is a grammatical category that distinguishes affirmative and negative.
Politeness
Politeness is social deixis that expresses a low degree of solidarity between the speaker and the addressee.
Polysynthetic Language
A polysynthetic language is a language in which words tend to consist of several morphemes.
Portmanteau Morph
A portmanteau morph is a single morph that is analyzed as representing two underlying morphemes.
Position
A position is an abstract place of one turn relative to another turn to which it is functionally related. The place does not vary with the number or size …
Possessive Noun
A possessive noun is a noun that expresses possession.
Possessive Pronoun
A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that expresses ownership and relationships like ownership, such as kinship, and other forms of association.
Possibility
Possibility is a degree of contingency in modality that in alethic modality connotes logical possibility deontic modality connotes permission, and …
Post-Hodiernal Future Tense
Post-hodiernal future tense is a future tense that refers to a time, in relation to the moment ofutterance, after the span that is culturally defined as …
Post-Sequence
A post-sequence is a sequence that is subordinate to and follows another sequence. It remedies some unresolved matter relating to the dominant sequence.
Postposition
A postposition is an adposition that occurs after its complement.
Postpositional Phrase
A postpositional phrase is an adpositional phrase in which a postposition is the head. The postposition follows its complement. The phrase is an exocentric …
Potential Implicature
A potential implicature is an implicature that would arise from any of the components of a givenutterance if that component were uttered in some linguistic …
Potential Presupposition
A potential presupposition is a presupposition that is triggered by some part of an utterance (such as a subordinate clause) taken in isolation, but that …
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is the study of the aspects of meaning and language use that are dependent on thespeaker, the addressee and other features of the context of …
Preannouncement
A preannouncement is a presequence for an announcement of news. It consists of a turn in which the announcing participant checks on the newsworthiness of …
Prearrangement
A prearrangement is a presequence in which an attempt is made to arrange for later contact, as by means of a question-answer sequence determining the …
Precategorial Class
The precategorial class is a category for a lexical item that needs more analysis before it can be assigned a more specific category in the Parts of Speech …
Precative Mood
Precative mood is a directive mood that signals that the utterance is a request.
Preclosing
A preclosing is a presequence that signals the end of a conversation is near. It provides opportunity for the discussion of any additional remaining topic …
Predicate
A predicate is the portion of a clause, excluding the subject, that expresses something about the subject.
Predicate Adjective
A predicate adjective is an adjective that is used to predicate an attribute of the subject.
Predicate Noun
A predicate noun is a noun (or noun phrase) that is used to predicate a description or identification of the subject.
Predicator
A predicator is the verb in its functional relation to the clause . It is comparable to the grammatical relations of subject and object .
Predictable Information
Predictable information is given information that the speaker assumes can be or could have been predicted by the addressee to occur in a particular …
Predictive Future Tense
Predictive future tense is a future tense, used in predictions, that does not express intention.
Preface
A preface is an audible device, such as one of the following, used within a turn to put off a dispreferred response : Items like well Token agreement …
Preferred Second Part
A preferred second part is a second part of an adjacency pair that consists of a sort of response to the first part that is not avoided by participants, …
Prefix
A prefix is an affix that is joined before a root or stem .
Prefixation
Prefixation is a morphological process whereby a bound morpheme is attached to the front of a root or stem . The kind of affix involved in this process is …
Prehesternal Past Tense
Prehesternal past tense is a past tense that refers to a time in some span before that of an opposing hesternal past tense .
Prehodiernal Past Tense
Prehodiernal past tense is a past tense that refers to a time in some span before that of a contrasting hodiernal past tense .
Preinvitation
A preinvitation is a presequence that is likely to be understood by the respondent as a signal of a coming invitation. The coming invitation may be a …
Prenasalization
Prenasalization is the addition of a short nasal onset to a plosive or affricate at the same place of articulation.
Preparatory Condition
A preparatory condition is a state of affairs that must be presupposed by the speaker in employing a particular illocutionary force , and is a necessary …
Preposition
A preposition is an adposition that occurs before its complement .
Prepositional Phrase
A prepositional phrase is an adpositional phrase in which a preposition is the head . The preposition precedes its complement . The phrase is an exocentric …
Prerequest
A prerequest is a presequence that prefigures a request, possibly by ascertaining the ability of the respondent to satisfy the coming request.
Present Tense
Present tense is an absolute tense that refers to the moment of utterance . It often refers to events or states that do not merely coincide with the moment …
Presequence
Here are two senses of presequence: A presequence is a sequence that is used to introduce a conversational action, and often prefigures a particular sort …
Prespan-End Relation
A prespan-end relation is a temporal relation in which an event or state is expressed as marking the termination of a durative event or state.
Presupposition
A presupposition is background belief, relating to an utterance , that must be mutually known or assumed by the speaker and addressee for the utterance to …
Presupposition Denial
A presupposition denial is a noncontradictory negation of a presupposition in a clause by an assertion in another clause.
Presupposition Suspension
A presupposition suspension is the speaker's removal of a previously implied commitment to a presupposition without the denial of it.
Presupposition Trigger
A presupposition trigger is a construction or item that signals the existence of a presupposition in an utterance.
Preterit
A preterit, in traditional terminology, is a simple past tense not marked for aspect or modality.
Previousness Relation
A previousness relation is a temporal relation in which the event or state of a latter-expressed proposition is communicated to have occurred before the …
Primary Sense
A primary sense is the core, basic, literal meaning of a lexeme.
Pro-Adjective
A pro-adjective is a pro-form that substitutes for an adjective or adjective phrase.
Pro-Adverb
A pro-adverb is a pro-form that substitutes for an adverb or other expression having an adverbial function.
Pro-Form
A pro-form is a word, substituting for other words, phrases, clauses, or sentences, whose meaning is recoverable from the linguistic or extralinguistic …
Pro-Verb
A pro-verb is a pro-form that substitutes for a verb or predicate.
Procedural Discourse
A procedural discourse is a discourse that is used to tell the addressee how to do something presents a series of steps leading to a goal, and centers on …
Procedural Text
A procedural text is a text which gives instructions on how to do something.
Proclitic
A proclitic is a clitic that precedes the word to which it is phonologically joined.
Productive Affix
A productive affix is a derivational affix that is currently used in the derivation of new words.
Progressive Aspect
Progressive aspect is a continuous aspect that expresses processes, not states.
Prohibitive Mood
Prohibitive mood is a directive mood that signals a prohibition. It is distinguished by the use of a negated imperative sentence that employs a negative …
Prolative Case
Prolative case is a case that expresses motion along or by the referent of the noun it marks.
Pronominal
A pronominal is a phrase that functions as a pronoun. Note : The term pronominal is also used as an adjective to mean "of, constituting, or resembling a …
Pronoun
A pronoun is a pro-form which functions like a noun and substitutes for a noun or noun phrase.] `
Proper Noun
A proper noun is a noun that is the name of a specific individual, place, or object.
Proportional Relation
A proportional relation is a logical relation that establishes a range of conditional relations that together involve direct or inverse correlation.
Proposition
A proposition is that part of the meaning of a clause or sentence that is constant, despite changes in such things as the voice or illocutionary force of …
Propositional Act
A propositional act is a speech act that a speaker performs when referring or predicating in an utterance.
Propositional Content Condition
A propositional content condition is a limitation on the nature of the state of affairs described by the propositional content of an illocutionary act due …
Prospective
A prospective is a grammaticalization of the relationship of a present state to a future situation. It indicates that one is in a present state of being …
Prototype
The prototype of any category is the member or set of members of a category that best represents the category as a whole.
Proximal
A proximal is a distinction in place deixis that indicates location close to the speaker or other deictic center.
Proximal-Distal Dimension
A proximal-distal dimension is a distinction in place deixis that indicates distance from the speaker or other deictic center.
Proximate Person Deixis
Proximate person deixis is a third person deixis that distinguishes a referent that is more important at the present stage of the discourse from a referent …
Pseudo-Cleft Sentence
A pseudo-cleft sentence is a kind of cleft sentence in which the subordinated clause is a relative clause headed by an interrogative pro-form. In English …
Pun
A pun is a variety of a usually humorous play on words involving the multiple meanings of an expression, or two expressions that sound similar.
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