*Walhaz*Walhaz is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic word meaning 'foreigner', or more specifically 'Roman', 'Romance-speaker' or '(romanised) Celt', and survives in the English words of…View analysis →
Legal EnglishLegal English, also known as legalese, is a register of English used in legal writing. It differs from day-to-day spoken English in a variety of ways including the use of…View analysis →
Semantic memorySemantic memory refers to general world knowledge that humans have accumulated throughout their lives. This general knowledge (word meanings, concepts, facts, and ideas) is…View analysis →
HyperbatonHyperbaton /haɪˈpɜːrbətɒn/, in its original meaning, is a figure of speech in which a phrase is made discontinuous by the insertion of other words. In modern usage, the term is…View analysis →
NewsbeatNewsbeat is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. Newsbeat is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its…View analysis →
Media LenguaMedia Lengua, also known as Chaupi-shimi Chaupi-lengua, Chaupi-Quichua, Quichuañol, Chapu-shimi or llanga-shimi, (roughly translated to "half language" or "in-between language")…View analysis →
DifféranceDifférance is a French term coined by Jacques Derrida. Roughly speaking, the method of différance is a way to analyze how signs (words, symbols, metaphors, etc) come to have…View analysis →
AnimacyAnimacy (antonym: inanimacy) is a grammatical and semantic feature, existing in some languages, expressing how sentient or alive the referent of a noun is. Widely expressed…View analysis →
InterrogativeAn interrogative clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question-like meanings. For instance, the English sentence "Is Hannah sick?" has interrogative syntax…View analysis →
English possessiveIn English, possessive words or phrases exist for nouns and most pronouns, as well as some noun phrases. These can play the roles of determiners (also called possessive…View analysis →
Folk etymologyFolk etymology is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more familiar one through popular usage. The form or the meaning of an…View analysis →
Lantingji XuThe Lantingji Xu (traditional Chinese: 蘭亭集序; simplified Chinese: 兰亭集序; pinyin: Lántíngjí Xù; lit. 'Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion'), or Lanting Xu…View analysis →
LabializationLabialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Consonants pronounced this way are said to be labialized and are usually transcribed in the…View analysis →
Grammatical moodIn linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used for signaling modality. In other words, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to…View analysis →
AnathemaThe word anathema has two main meanings. One is something or someone hated or avoided. The other is something or someone that has been formally excommunicated by a church. These…View analysis →
CognateIn historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.View analysis →
Human-interest storyIn journalism, a human-interest story is a feature story that discusses people or pets in an emotional way. It presents people and their problems, concerns, or achievements in a…View analysis →
RadaRada is the term for "parliament" or "assembly" or some other "council" in several Slavic languages. Normally it is translated as "council". Sometimes it corresponds to…View analysis →
TaglishTaglish or Englog is code-switching and/or code-mixing in the use of Tagalog and English, the most common languages of the Philippines. The words Taglish and Englog are…View analysis →
MorphemeA morpheme is the smallest meaningful constituent of a linguistic expression, especially within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain…View analysis →
Speech sound disorderA speech sound disorder (SSD) is a speech disorder affecting the ability to pronounce speech sounds, which includes speech articulation disorders and phonemic disorders, the…View analysis →
CraicCraic (/kræk/ KRAK) or crack is a term for news, gossip, fun, entertainment, and enjoyable conversation, particularly prominent in Ireland. It is often used with the definite…View analysis →
Radio documentaryA radio documentary is a spoken word radio format devoted to non-fiction narrative. It is broadcast on radio as well as distributed through media such as tape, CD, and podcast. A…View analysis →
Language barrierA language barrier is a figurative phrase used primarily to refer to linguistic barriers to communication, i.e. the difficulties in communication experienced by people or groups…View analysis →
AssibilationIn linguistics, assibilation is a sound change resulting in a sibilant consonant. It is a form of spirantization and is commonly the final phase of palatalization.View analysis →
Interrogative wordAn interrogative word or question word is a function word used to ask a question, such as what, which, when, where, who, whom, whose, why, whether and how. They are sometimes…View analysis →
Default logicDefault logic is a non-monotonic logic proposed by Raymond Reiter to formalize reasoning with default assumptions.View analysis →
PartitiveIn linguistics, a partitive is a word, phrase, or case that indicates partialness. Nominal partitives are syntactic constructions, such as "some of the children", and may be…View analysis →
OutWeekOutWeek was a gay and lesbian weekly news magazine published in New York City from 1989 to 1991. During its two-year existence, OutWeek was widely considered the leading voice of…View analysis →
CaishenCaishen (traditional Chinese: 財神; simplified Chinese: 财神; lit. 'God of Wealth') is a mythological figure worshipped in the Chinese folk religion and Taoism. He has been…View analysis →
SuppletionIn linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognates. For those…View analysis →
OppositeIn lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is even entails that it is not odd. It is referred…View analysis →
PolysemyPolysemy (/pəˈlɪsɪmi/ or /ˈpɒlɪˌsiːmi/; from Ancient Greek πολύ- (polý-) 'many' and σῆμα (sêma) 'sign') is the capacity for a sign (e.g. a symbol, morpheme, word, or phrase) to…View analysis →
Wappo languageWappo is an extinct language that was spoken by the Wappo tribe, Native Americans who lived in what is now known as the Alexander Valley north of San Francisco. The last fluent…View analysis →
Ingressive soundIn phonetics, ingressive sounds are sounds by which the airstream flows inward through the mouth or nose. The three types of ingressive sounds are lingual ingressive or velaric…View analysis →
Nanjing dialectThe Nanjing dialect, also known as Nanjing Mandarin, Nanjingese, Nankingese, or Nankinese, is the prestige dialect of Mandarin Chinese spoken in the urban area of Nanjing, the…View analysis →
