All Words Glossary

Glossary of Linguistics Terms
beginning with letter C
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c.
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abbreviation
  1. (context, preposition) circa
The document was written in the Middle Ages, 1250.
  1. (context, noun) city
cacology
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noun
  1. Poor diction or choice of words.
caconym
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noun
  1. an incorrect name for something, especially in taxonomic classification
calque
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noun
  1. A word-for-word translation of a saying or a morpheme-by-morpheme translation of a word from one language to another.
::The word watershed is a from German Wasserscheide. verb (calques, calquing, calqued)
  1. (transitive) To adopt (a word or phrase) from one language to another by semantic translation of its parts.
Canadianism
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noun
  1. A custom, trait, or element of language characteristic of Canadian speech. category:Regional English
canonical
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adjective
  1. (theology) Present in a canon of Scripture.
The w:Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Luke is a New Testament book.
  1. In conformity with canon law.
  2. According to recognised or orthodox rules.
The men played golf in the most way, with no local rules.
  1. Stated or used in the most basic and straightforwardly applicable manner.
This definition would be more useful if it were .
  1. (music) In the form of a canon.
  2. Of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical chapter
  3. (context, math, compsci) In canonical form.
cant
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noun
  1. The jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
He had the look of a prince, but the of a fishmonger.
  1. A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
  2. empty, Empty, hypocritical talk.
People claim to care about the poor of Africa, but it is largely .
  1. A musical singing sound.
  2. (heraldry) A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name of the bearer.
verb
  1. (intransitive) To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
  2. (intransitive) To speak in set phrases.
  3. (intransitive) To preach in a singsong fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
  4. (context, intransitive, heraldry) Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
adjective kant
  1. (English dialect) lively, lusty.
cedilla
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noun , -
, ¸ í‡ í§
  1. (orthography) In the spelling of Catalan, French and Portuguese and some other languages, a mark placed under the letter c immediately preceding a, o, or u to indicate that it is pronounced /s/ rather than /k/, as in French menaí§ant and Portuguese almoí§o, and also used in various other languages to change the sounds of other letters.
centum
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adjective
  1. (linguistics) referring to a Proto-Indo-European language group that did not produce sibilants from a series of velar stops
character
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noun
  1. A being involved in the action of a story.
  2. A symbol used to represent a sound or a word.
  3. A distinguishing feature; characteristic; A complex of mental and ethical traits marking a person or a group.
  4. A moral strength.
"You may not like to eat liver," said Calvin's father, "but it builds ."
  1. A person with many notable or eccentric features.
  2. (mathematics) A complex number representing an element of a finite Abelian group.
  3. (computing) One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character. Synonymous with byte in some environments.
chereme
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noun
  1. (linguistics) the basic unit of a sign language; equivalent to a morpheme
Chinese
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noun (Chinese, -)
  1. (uncountable) The class of Sino-Tibetan dialects including Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, Min Nan and others. Abbreviation: Chin or Chin.
  2. (rfv-sense)(uncountable) The logographic writing system shared by this language family.
  • Hong Kong uses traditional .
    1. (uncountable) Mandarin, the main language spoken in China.
    2. (used as a plural and always preceded by the) The people of China.
  • The Chinese have an incredible history.
    1. (countable) A person born in China.
  • The place was empty till two walked in.
    1. (context, UK, countable, informal) A Chinese meal.
  • We're going out tonight for a .
    1. (context, US, uncountable, informal) Chinese food.
  • Do you care for tonight?
adjective
  1. Of China, its languages or people
  2. Unexpected, as used in the phrases Chinese whispers, Chinese burn, Chinese auction.
cline
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noun
  1. (biology) A gradation in a character or phenotype within a species or other group.
  2. Any graduated continuum.
    • 2005, Ronnie Cann, Ruth Kempson and Lutz Marten, The Dynamics of Language, an Introduction, p. 412
    • : This account effectively reconstructs the well-known grammaticalisation from anaphora to agreement, …
cloze
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noun
  1. A form of written examination technique in which candidates are required to provide words that have been omitted from sentences, thereby demonstrating their knowledge and comprehension of the text.
adjective
  1. Based on or being a cloze.
code-switching
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noun
  1. (linguistics) the phenomenon of alternating between two or more languages during spoken conversation
Like many bilingual families, it was normal to frequently observe at our dinner table.
cognate
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noun
  1. A word derived from the same roots as a given word.
English "ward" is a of "guard", and of French "garder".
''English "ward", English "guard", and French "garder" are all cognates.
adjective
  1. Derived from the same roots.
In English, "ward" is cognate to "guard", and both are to French garder.
English "ward", English "guard", Icelandic "ví¶rí°ur" and French "garder" are all .''
  1. Similar in nature
coherence
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noun
  1. the quality of cohering; of being coherent
  2. a logical arrangements of parts
  1. (physics) (of waves) having the same wavelength and phase
cohesion
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noun
  1. the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  2. (physics),(chemistry) the various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  3. (biology) the growing together of normally distinct parts of a plant
  4. (computing) the degree to which different modules in a computing system are functionally dependent on others
coinage
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noun
  1. Related to coins.
  2. A coined word.
collocation
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noun
  1. a grouping or juxtaposition of words that commonly occur together
  2. (military) the placing of two or more units at the same location
commutation
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noun
  1. A passing from one state to another; change; alteration; mutation.
  2. The act of giving one thing for another; barter; exchange.
  3. The change of a penalty or punishment by the pardoning power of the State; as, the commutation of a sentence of death to banishment or imprisonment.
  4. A substitution, as of a less thing for a greater, esp. a substitution of one form of payment for another, or one payment for many, or a specific sum of money for conditional payments or allowances; as, commutation of tithes; commutation of fares; commutation of copyright; commutation of rations.
connotation
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noun
  1. A meaning that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal definition. A characteristic of words or phrases, or of the contexts that words and phrases are used in.
The connotations of the phrase "you are a dog" are that you are physically unattractive or morally reprehensible, not that you are a canine.
constraint
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noun
  1. something that constrains
contextualize
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verb to contextualize
  1. To place something in a particular context
converse
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noun
  1. The opposite or reverse.
  2. (logic) Of a proposition or theorem of the form "If A is true, then B is true" or (equivalently) "All Xs are Ys", the proposition or law "If B is true, then A is true" or "All Ys are Xs", respectively.
All trees are plants, but the converse, that all plants are trees, is not true.
corpus
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noun (plural: corpora or corpuses)
  1. the body
  2. (linguistics) a collection of writings, often on a specific topic, of a specific genre, from a specific demographic, a single author etc.
corruption
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noun (uncountable and countable; plural corruptions)
  1. The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery.
It was necessary, by exposing the gross corruptions of monasteries, . . . to exite popular indignation against them. — w:Arthur Hallam, Hallam
They abstained from some of the worst methods of usual to their party in its earlier days. — w:Bancroft, Bancroft
    • Usage note: Corruption, when applied to officers, trustees, etc., signifies the inducing a violation of duty by means of pecuniary considerations. — w:Abbott, Abbott
      1. The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration.
      2. The product of corruption; putrid matter.
      3. The decomposition of biological matter.
      4. (computing) The destruction of data by manipulation of parts of it, usually a result of imperfections in storage or transmission media which randomly alter parts of the data.
      5. The act of changing, or of being changed, for the worse; departure from what is pure, simple, or correct; as, a corruption of style; corruption in language.
      6. (linguistics) A word that has adopted from another language but whose spelling has been changed through misunderstanding, transcription error, mishearing, etc.
      7. Something that is evil but is supposed to be good.
      The inducing and accelerating of putrefaction is a subject of very universal inquiry; for is a reciprocal to generation. — w:Francis Bacon, Francis Bacon.
      1. Parts of a machine can be corrupted, meaning broken.
counterword
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noun
  1. A word whose new meaning is overused, and not intended for what the original meaning is.
Creole
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proper noun
  1. A French-African ethnic group in Louisiana.
  2. A member of this ethnic group.
creolize
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verb (creoliz, ing)
  1. (linguistics) To cause a pidgin language rapidly expanding in vocabulary and grammar, grammatical rules to become ultimately a creole.
cuneiform
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noun
  1. An ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC.
  2. (anatomy) A wedge-shaped bone, especially a cuneiform bone.
adjective
  1. Having the form of a wedge; wedge-shaped.
cuneiformist
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noun
  1. A specialist or expert in cuneiform.
Cyrillic
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proper noun
  1. A script used to write six natural Slavic languages (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to Cyrillic script or the Cyrillic alphabet.

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