lin·guis·tics (l ng-gws tks)n. (used with a sing. verb) The study of the nature, structure, and variation of language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics. |
linguistics [lɪŋˈgwɪstɪks]
n
(Linguistics) (functioning as singular) the scientific study of language See also historical linguistics, descriptive linguistics
Linguistics
1. excessive use of the sound b.
2. improper articulation of this sound. — betacist, n.
2. improper articulation of this sound. — betacist, n.
the study of the relations between physiology and speech. — biolinguist, n.
the description and analysis of the distinctive units used in the sign language of the deaf. — cherologist, n. — cherologic, cherological, adj.
the study and description of the change or development in the structural systems of a language over a stated period of time. Also called historical linguistics. Cf. synchronic linguistics. — diachronic, adj.
a variety of a language peculiar to a particular region or group within a larger community, usually but not always existing in the spoken form only. — dialectal, adj.
the study of dialects with regard to their geographic distribution, as well as how their distribution may be affected by geography, e.g., the spread of a particular dialect being halted at a mountain range, forest belt, body of water, etc.
1. the study of dialects and dialect features.
2. the linguistic features of a dialect. — dialectician, dialectologist, n. — dialectologie, dialectological, adj.
2. the linguistic features of a dialect. — dialectician, dialectologist, n. — dialectologie, dialectological, adj.
1. the formation of sounds like those in nature; onomatopoesis.
2. the tendency of paired sounds to become more similar phonetically, as the d sound in iced tea which has become a t; assimilation. — echoic, adj.
2. the tendency of paired sounds to become more similar phonetically, as the d sound in iced tea which has become a t; assimilation. — echoic, adj.
the study of the origin and history of individual words. — etymologist, n. — etymological, adj.
the reanalysis of a word by native speakers into a new element or elements, e.g. hamburger (properly ‘from Hamburg’) being split into ham- and -burger; and the subsequent combination of -burger with a number of words in which it is used to mean ‘ground patty.’
the inability to pronounce the soft palatal consonants such as g and k.
the study or science of linguistics in relation to geography. — geolinguist, n. — geolinguistic, adj.
the science or study of glossemes, the smallest unit of linguistic communication. — glossematic, adj.
Archaic.
1. a linguist; a philologist.
2. one who compiles glossaries.
1. a linguist; a philologist.
2. one who compiles glossaries.
Archaic.
linguistics.
linguistics.
a statistical and lexical study of two languages deriving from a common source to determine the time of their divergence, as English and German. Cf. lexicostatistics. — glottochronologist, n. — glottochronological, adj.
the science of linguistics.
1. the study of the formal system of a language, especially the aspects of sound, forms, and syntax.
2. a work detailing such an analysis. — grammarian, n. — grammatic, grammatical, adj.
2. a work detailing such an analysis. — grammarian, n. — grammatic, grammatical, adj.
the study of systems of writing and their relationship to the systems of the languages they represent. Also called graphonomy. — graphemic, adj.
1. a word formed from elements drawn from different languages.
2. the practice of coining such words. — hybrid, n., adj.
2. the practice of coining such words. — hybrid, n., adj.
a person’s individual speech habits.
Phonetics.
1. the replacement of l for r in speech.
2. the mispronunciation of l. Cf. lambdacism.
1. the replacement of l for r in speech.
2. the mispronunciation of l. Cf. lambdacism.
Phonetics.
the mispronunciation of double l, giving it the sound of y or ly.
2. Cf. rhotacism. substitution of the sound l for another sound, as that of r. Also labdacism. Cf. lallation.
the mispronunciation of double l, giving it the sound of y or ly.
2. Cf. rhotacism. substitution of the sound l for another sound, as that of r. Also labdacism. Cf. lallation.
the writing, editing, or compiling of dictionaries. — lexicographer, n. — lexicographic, lexicographical, adj.
the study of the meanings of words and of idiomatic combinations. — lexicologist, n. — lexicologic, lexicological, adj.
the study of languages and their vocabularies by statistical methods for historical purposes. Cf. glottochronology. — lexicostatistic, lexicostatistical, adj.
Rare. the art of defining words or compiling lexicons. — lexigraphic, adj.
the classification of languages by structural similarity, e.g., similarity of syntactic or phonemic features, as opposed to classification on the basis of shared linguistic ancestry.
the science or study of language in relation to its cultural context. — metalinguist, n. — metalinguistic, metalinguistical, adj.
the study and description of the morphemes of a language, i.e., its minimum grammatical units, as wait and -ed in waited. — morphemicist, n.
1. a branch of linguistics that studies and describes patterns of word formation, including inflection, derivation, and compounding of a language.
2. such patterns of a particular language. — morphologist, n. — morphological, adj.
2. such patterns of a particular language. — morphologist, n. — morphological, adj.
1. the study of the relations between morphemes and their phonetic realizations, components, or distribution contexts.
2. the body of data concerning these relations in a specific language. — morphophonemicist, n. — morphophonemic, adj.
2. the body of data concerning these relations in a specific language. — morphophonemicist, n. — morphophonemic, adj.
a tendency toward nasality in pronouncing words. Also nasality.
onomastics. — onomasiologist, n. — onomasiologic, onomasiological, adj.
the study of names and their origins. — onomastic, adj. — onomastician, n.
the study of correct pronunciation. — orthoepist, n. — orthoepic, orthoepical, orthoepistic, adj.
the state or condition of containing the same root or stem, as perilous and parlous. — paronym, n.
1. the study of written records to determine their authenticity, original form, and meaning.
2. linguistics, especially historical linguistics. — philologist, philologer, n. — philologic, philological, adj.
2. linguistics, especially historical linguistics. — philologist, philologer, n. — philologic, philological, adj.
phonemics.
1. the study and description of phonemes, i.e., the set of basic units of sound used in a language and phonemic systems.
2. the phonemic system of a given language. Also phonematics. — phonemicist, n.
2. the phonemic system of a given language. Also phonematics. — phonemicist, n.
1. the science or study of speech sounds and their production, transmission, and perception, and their analysis, classification, and transcription.
2. the science or study of speech sounds with respect to their role in distinguishing meanings among words.
3. the phonetic system of a particular language. Cf. phonology. — phonetician, n. — phonetic, phonetical, adj.
2. the science or study of speech sounds with respect to their role in distinguishing meanings among words.
3. the phonetic system of a particular language. Cf. phonology. — phonetician, n. — phonetic, phonetical, adj.
1. the study of the history and theory of sound changes in a language or in two or more languages comparatively.
2. the phonetics and phonemics of a language at a stated time; synchronic phonology. — phonologist, n. — phonological, adj.
2. the phonetics and phonemics of a language at a stated time; synchronic phonology. — phonologist, n. — phonological, adj.
the study of the relationships between language and the behavioral mechanisms of its users, especially in language learning by children. — psycholinguist, n. — psycholinguistic, adj.
Phonetics.
1. a misarticulation of the sound r or the substitution of another sound for it.
2. Cf. lambdacism. substitution of the sound sound r for another sound, as that of l.
2. the excessive use of the sound r.
3. Phonology. replacement of the sound z or s by r in Indo-European languages, as German wesen, English were. — rhotacize, v. — rhotacistic, adj.
1. a misarticulation of the sound r or the substitution of another sound for it.
2. Cf. lambdacism. substitution of the sound sound r for another sound, as that of l.
2. the excessive use of the sound r.
3. Phonology. replacement of the sound z or s by r in Indo-European languages, as German wesen, English were. — rhotacize, v. — rhotacistic, adj.
1. the study of the meaning of words.
2. the study of linguistic development by examining and classifying changes in meaning. Also called semasiology, sematology, semology. — semanticist, n. — semantic, adj.
2. the study of linguistic development by examining and classifying changes in meaning. Also called semasiology, sematology, semology. — semanticist, n. — semantic, adj.
semantics.
the study or science of signs; semantics. — semeiologist, semiologist, n. — semeiologic, semiologic, semeiological, semiological, adj.
the study of the relationship between symbology and language. — semiotician, semioticist, n.
a faulty pronunciation of sibilant sounds.
an emphasis in research and description upon the systematic relations of formal distinctions in a given language. Also called structural linguistics. — structuralist, n.
the study of the phonological, morphological, and syntactic features of a language at a stated time. Also called descriptive linguistics. Cf. diachronism.
the study of the principles by which words are used in phrases and sentences to construct meaningful combinations. — syntactic, syntactical, adj.
the study of the tagmemes of a language, i.e., the minimal units of grammatical construction, embodying such phenomena as distinctive word order and grammatical agreement. — tagmemic, adj.
the phonetic study and science of the tonal aspects of language. — tonetician, n. — tonetic, adj.
an advocate or student of the theory of transformational grammar, a system of grammatical analysis that uses transformations of base sentences to explain the relations between thought and its syntactic manifestation and to express the relations between elements in a sentence, clause, or phrase, or between different forms of a word or phrase, as active or passive forms of a verb.
Phonetics. the system of vowels in a given language. — vocalic, adj.
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  linguistics - the scientific study of language linguistic performance - (linguistics) a speaker's actual use of language in real situations; what the speaker actually says, including grammatical errors and other non-linguistic features such as hesitations and other disfluencies (contrasted with linguistic competence) tone - (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; "the Beijing dialect uses four tones" complementary distribution, complementation - (linguistics) a distribution of related speech sounds or forms in such a way that they only appear in different contexts linguistic competence - (linguistics) a speaker's implicit, internalized knowledge of the rules of their language (contrasted with linguistic performance) feature of speech, feature - (linguistics) a distinctive characteristic of a linguistic unit that serves to distinguish it from other units of the same kind science, scientific discipline - a particular branch of scientific knowledge; "the science of genetics" cognitive science - the field of science concerned with cognition; includes parts of cognitive psychology and linguistics and computer science and cognitive neuroscience and philosophy of mind computational linguistics - the use of computers for linguistic research and applications dialect geography, linguistic geography - the study of the geographical distribution of linguistic features etymology - the study of the sources and development of words diachronic linguistics, diachrony, historical linguistics - the study of linguistic change; "the synchrony and diachrony of language" grammar - the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology (and sometimes also deals with semantics) descriptive grammar - a grammar that is produced by descriptive linguistics prescriptive grammar - a grammar that is produced by prescriptive linguistics syntax - studies of the rules for forming admissible sentences generative grammar - (linguistics) a type of grammar that describes syntax in terms of a set of logical rules that can generate all and only the infinite number of grammatical sentences in a language and assigns them all the correct structural description phonemics, phonology - the study of the sound system of a given language and the analysis and classification of its phonemes neurolinguistics - the branch of linguistics that studies the relation between language and the structure and function of the nervous system pragmatics - the study of language use semantics - the study of language meaning sociolinguistics - the study of language in relation to its sociocultural context structural linguistics, structuralism - linguistics defined as the analysis of formal structures in a text or discourse synchronic linguistics - the study of a language without reference to its historical context descriptive linguistics - a description (at a given point in time) of a language with respect to its phonology and morphology and syntax and semantics without value judgments prescriptive linguistics - an account of how a language should be used instead of how it is actually used; a prescription for the `correct' phonology and morphology and syntax and semantics descriptivism - (linguistics) a doctrine supporting or promoting descriptive linguistics prescriptivism - (linguistics) a doctrine supporting or promoting prescriptive linguistics derivative - (linguistics) a word that is derived from another word; "`electricity' is a derivative of `electric'" descriptor, form, signifier, word form - the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something; "the inflected forms of a word can be represented by a stem and a list of inflections to be attached" root word, stem, root, theme, radical, base - (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" participant role, semantic role - (linguistics) the underlying relation that a constituent has with the main verb in a clause postposition - (linguistics) the placing of one linguistic element after another (as placing a modifier after the word that it modifies in a sentence or placing an affix after the base to which it is attached) |
| 2. | linguistics - the humanistic study of language and literature arts, humanistic discipline, humanities, liberal arts - studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills); "the college of arts and sciences" dialectology - the branch of philology that is devoted to the study of dialects lexicology - the branch of linguistics that studies the lexical component of language |
Translations
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