The concepts behind the conversation
Terms: S
Explore 933 linguistic terms, with definitions, examples, and connections to the bigger picture.
Salient Information
Salient information is given information that the speaker assumes to be in the addressee 's consciousness at the time of the speaker’s utterance .
Same Subject Marker
A same subject marker is a distinction in the verb morphology of a clause that indicates that the subject is identical to the subject of another clause, …
Scalar Implicature
A scalar implicature is a quantity implicature based on the use of an informationally weak term in an implicational scale . The use implicates that all …
Scalar Property Lexical Relation
A scalar property lexical relation is an association between sets of lexical units which refers to the relative values for a property of an object or event …
Scale Schema
A scale schema is an image schema that involves an increase or decrease of physical or metaphorical amount, and consists of any of the following: A closed- …
Second Part
A second part is the second utterance in an adjacency pair .
Second Person Deixis
Second person deixis is deictic reference to a person or persons identified as addressee .
Secondary Articulation
A secondary articulation is an additional articulation process that affects vowel or consonant production.
Secondary Sense
A secondary sense is a meaning that is more abstract than a primary sense of a lexeme but still shares some of its semantic components . Because it has a …
Segment
A segment is any discrete unit or phone , produced by the vocal apparatus, or a representation of such a unit.
Self-Initiated Repair
Self-initiated repair is a repair that the speaker of the utterance that needs repair makes without a prompting from another participant.
Self-Repair
Self-repair is a repair that is performed by the speaker of the utterance that needs repair.
Semantic Component
A semantic component is a potentially contrastive part of the meaning of a lexical unit .
Semantic Role
A semantic role is the underlying relationship that a participant has with the main verb in a clause .
Also known as semantic case, thematic role, theta role (generative grammar), deep case (case grammar)Semantics
Here are two senses for semantics: Semantics is, generally defined, the study of meaning of linguistic expressions. Semantics is, more narrowly defined, …
Sense
In LinguaLinks, the word "sense" is used in two ways: 1. In discussions about data storage and management, a sense is a structural part of a lexical entry …
Sense Group
A sense group is a collection of senses organized according to lexical category to conceptual extendedness , or to semantic similarity.
Sense Type
A sense type is a classification of a sense on the basis of its conceptual extendedness . In other words, it is a classification of the primary sense of a …
Sensory Evidential
A sensory evidential is an evidential signaling that the speaker’s evidence for the truth of his or her statement is derived from the speaker’s own sensory …
Sentence
A sentence is a grammatical unit that is composed of one or more clauses .
Sentence Adverb
A sentence adverb is an adverb that modifies a whole sentence .
Sentence Elicitation Frame
A sentence elicitation frame is a syntactic construction that has a blank left in it for eliciting or testing words.
Sentential Complementation
Sentential complementation is a kind of sentence in which one of the arguments of a verb is a clause. That clausal argument is called a complement clause .
Separable Affix
A separable affix is an affix that can be detached from its stem and located elsewhere in a construction .
Sequence
A sequence is a unit of conversation that consists of two or more adjacent and functionally related turns .
Sequential Relation
A sequential relation is a temporal relation in which the event or state of a latter-expressed proposition is communicated to have occurred after the event …
Serial Verb Construction
A serial verb construction is a string of verbs or verb phrases within a single clause that express simultaneous or immediately consecutive actions have a …
Setting Information
Setting information is a kind of nonevent in discourse that provides locative, temporal and circumstantial information about a sequence of events.
Silence
Silence is the absence of speech.
Similar Pair
A similar pair is two words in which phonetically similar segments occur in quite similar environments, and no phonetically plausible rationale can be …
Similarity Relation
A similarity relation is an interpropositional relation indicating that the events or states expressed in the propositions have a likeness of function or …
Simile
A simile is a comparison between two things. It is signaled overtly; in English, a simile is expressed by the words like or as.
Simple Sentence
A simple sentence is a sentence containing one main clause and no subordinate clauses .
Simulfix
A simulfix is a change or replacement of vowels or consonants (usually vowels) which changes the meaning of a word.
Simultaneous Relation
A simultaneous relation is a temporal relation in which the events or states of proposition(s) are communicated as occurring at the same time.
Sincerity Condition
A sincerity condition is the psychological state of the speaker concerning the propositional content of an illocutionary act . The sincere or insincere …
Singular Number
Singular number is number that refers to one member of a designated class.
Singulative
A singulative is a grammatical form, adjunct, or variant of a word that expresses the individuation of a single referent from a group or mass.
Situational Elicitation Frame
A situational elicitation frame is a hypothetical situation that is constructed to help you constrain and control what you elicit.
Situationally Evoked Entity
A situationally evoked entity is a referent that is given information because of the prominence of the referent in the extralinguistic context.
Social Deixis
Social deixis is reference to the social characteristics of, or distinctions between, the participants or referents in a speech event.
Solidarity
Solidarity is a scale of perceived like-mindedness or similarity of behavioral disposition between a speaker and addressee deriving from their similar: …
Solutionhood Relation
A solutionhood relation is an interpropositional relation in which a proposition(s) is presented as an answer or remedy for a problem, such as one of the …
Sonority Scale
The sonority scale is a list of phonetic segments showing the relative resonance of phonetic segments in relation to other segments.
Also known as The scale of consonantal strengthSource As A Participant Role
Source is the participant role of the referent from whom a message ultimately comes, especially in the case in which the referent is distinct from the …
Source As A Semantic Role
Source is the semantic role of the following referents: The place of origin (with verbs of motion, locomotion, and propulsion) The entity from which a …
Source Domain
A source domain is a concept that is metaphorically used to provide the means of understanding another concept.
Speaker
A speaker is the utterer of a message.
Specialized Figurative Text
A specialized figurative text is a text belonging to one of several creative genres that makes extensive use of stylized, poetic, and figurative language.
Specification Relation
A specification relation is an elaboration relation in which a proposition provides more information about another proposition by restating it more …
Specificity
Specificity is a kind of definiteness, expressed by the interpretation of or grammatical marking on a noun or noun phrase , indicating that the speaker …
Speculative Mood
Speculative mood is an epistemic mood that signals that the speaker judges from certain facts that the proposition expressed by his or her utterance is …
Speech Act
A speech act is an act that a speaker performs when making an utterance , including the following: A general act ( illocutionary act ) that a speaker …
Standard Implicature
A standard implicature is a conversational implicature based on an addressee 's assumption that the speaker is being cooperative by directly observing the …
State Of The Glottis
The state of the glottis is the amount of: vibration in the vocal folds, and closure in the glottis.
Statement
Here are two senses for statement: A statement is an illocutionary act that has the assertive illocutionary point of saying that some state of affairs is …
Stative Verb
A stative verb is a verb that expresses a state of affairs or being rather than action. Stative verbs differ from verbs of action not just in meaning but …
Status
Status is a scale of social standing that is often realized in differing socially deictic linguistic forms.
Stem
A stem is the root or roots of a word, together with any derivational affixes , to which inflectional affixes are added.
Stem Modification
Stem modification is a morphological process whereby an affix occurs simultaneously with a root or stem. The kind of affix involved in this process is …
Still Tense
Still tense is an absolute tense carrying the presupposition that an event or state held before the moment of utterance. In positive declarative clauses, …
Stop
A stop is a sound produced with a complete closure of the vocal tract.
Strength Of Illocutionary Point
Strength of illocutionary point is the strength of assertion of, commitment to bring about, direction to another to bring about, or expression of a …
Strength Of Sincerity Conditions
Strength of sincerity conditions is the strength of the psychological state that the speaker commits to in employing a particular illocutionary force .
Stress
Stress is an increase in the activity of the vocal apparatus of a speaker.
Strong Epistemic Qualification
A strong epistemic qualification is an epistemic qualification that signals the highest degree of certainty.
Structural Metaphor
A structural metaphor is a conventional metaphor in which one concept is understood and expressed in terms of another structured, sharply defined concept
Subentry In A Lexical Database
A subentry is a unit in the lexical database representing a lexeme that is made up of more than one morpheme , and is lexically related to one or more …
Subject
A subject is a grammatical relation that exhibits certain independent syntactic properties, such as the following: The grammatical characteristics of the …
Subject Complement
A subject complement is a complement that is used to predicate a description of the subject of a clause .
Subjunctive Mood
Subjunctive mood is a mood that typically signals irrealis meanings, such as: potentiality uncertainty prediction obligation, and desire It most typically …
Subordinate Clause
A subordinate clause is a clause that is embedded as a constituent of a matrix sentence and that functions like a noun , adjective , or adverb in the …
Subordinating Conjunction
A subordinating conjunction is a conjunction that links constructions by making one of them a constituent of another. The subordinating conjunction …
Substance Metaphor
A substance metaphor is an ontological metaphor in which an abstraction, such as an event, activity, emotion, or idea, is represented as material.
Substantive
A substantive is a broad classification of words that includes nouns and nominals .
Subtraction
Subtraction is a morphological process of modification that removes one or more segments from a root or stem .
Success Of Fit
Success of fit is a correspondence between the state of affairs described by the propositional content of an illocutionary act and the state of affairs in …
Suffix
A suffix is an affix that is attached to the end of a root or stem .
Suffixation
Suffixation is a morphological process whereby a bound morpheme is attached to the end of a stem . The kind of affix involved in this process is called a …
Summary Relation
A summary relation is a contraction relation in which a proposition(s) repeats, in abbreviated form, the information of a group of propositions previously …
Summons-Answer Sequence
A summons-answer sequence is a pre-sequence that consists of a that turn seeks attention, and grants it, opening the way for the talk to follow.
Superessive Case
Superessive case is a case that expresses location on the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning of "on" or "upon."
Superior Status
Superior status is social deixis that encodes high status.
Supplemental Information In A Definition
Supplemental information is an optional part of the definition of a lexical unit , containing culturally or logically expected information.
Suppletion
Suppletion is the replacement of one stem with another, resulting in an allomorph of a morpheme which has no phonological similarity to the other …
Suprafix
A suprafix is a kind of affix in which a suprasegmental is superimposed on one or more syllables of the root or stem, signalling a particular …
Suprasegmental
A suprasegmental is a vocal effect that extends over more than one sound segment in an utterance, such as pitch, stress, or juncture pattern. In SIL …
Switch Reference
Switch reference is a grammatical category with the following features: It signals the identity or nonidentity of the referent of an argument of one clause …
Switching Pause
A switching pause is silence between turns .
Syllabic Consonant
A syllabic consonant is a phonetic element that normally patterns as a consonant, but may fill a vowel slot in a syllable.
Syllabification
Syllabification is the process in which consonants function on the periphery of a syllable.
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of sound composed of a central peak of sonority (usually a vowel), and the consonants that cluster around this central peak.
Syllepsis
A syllepsis is the use of a single word in such a way that it is syntactically related to two or more words elsewhere in the sentence , but has a different …
Symbolic Usage
Symbolic usage is the use of a deictic expression in such a way that its interpretation depends only on general knowledge of the extralinguistic situation, …
Synecdoche
A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which the one of the following (or its reverse) is expressed: A part stands for a whole An individual stands for a …
Synonym Lexical Relation
A synonym lexical relation is a relationship between two or more lexical units which have identical core semantic components and which differ only with …
Syntactic Category
A syntactic category is a set of words and/or phrases in a language which share a significant number of common characteristics. The classification is based …
Also known as Syntactic classSyntactic Function
A syntactic function is the grammatical relationship of one constituent to another within a syntactic construction.
Syntagmatic Lexical Relation
A syntagmatic lexical relation is a culturally determined pattern of association between pairs of lexical units (A1-B1, A2-B2, A3-B3…) where the two …
No entries match this filter. Try a shorter word, or search the full collection.
← Return to all terms