Explore 11 English words about talking about language with pronunciation, definitions and example sentences.
(grammar) the use of two adjacent noun phrases having the same referent that have the same syntactical role in a sentence
"The apposition adds extra information about a noun."
"In grammar, apposition is used to give more detail about a noun in a sentence."
a new word that is formed by the combination of two other words blending their meaning and sounds
"Brunch is a portmanteau word from breakfast and lunch."
""Smog" is a portmanteau word because it combines the words "smoke" and "fog" into a single new term."
(linguistics) the smallest meaningful unit of a language that does not necessarily stand alone and cannot be divided
"The word 'cats' has two morphemes: 'cat' and the plural 's' sound."
"A morpheme is the smallest meaningful grammatical unit in a language"
the complete set of meaningful units in a language or a branch of knowledge, or words or phrases that a speaker uses
"The English lexicon has over a million words from many different languages."
"The lexicon of modern technology includes many borrowed words from English."
(grammar) a word or phrase that refers to a preceding word or phrase
"Anaphora repeats words at start."
"The poet used anaphora by repeating the same phrase at the beginning of several lines for emphasis."
an expert in the study of language, examining its structure, development, and cultural aspects
"Linguists study how languages work."
"A linguist is a specialist in the scientific study of language"
a list of technical terms or jargons of a particular field or text, provided in alphabetical order with an explanation for each one
"The glossary defines difficult words."
"The textbook includes a glossary at the end that explains all the difficult technical terms used in each chapter."
the standardized set of rules and conventions for spelling and writing within a particular language or writing system, guiding the proper representation of words and symbols
"English orthography is not always phonetic."
"Orthography is the conventional spelling system of a language"
the study of the origins and historical developments of words and their meanings
"The etymology of 'telephone' comes from Greek words meaning far sound."
"The etymology of the word "etymology" comes from Greek roots meaning "true sense of a word"."
the branch of linguistics that focuses on the study of meaning in language, examining how words, signs, and other linguistic units acquire and convey meaning within a particular language or across languages
"Semasiology studies word meanings."
"Semasiology is a branch of semantics that starts with a word and investigates its different meanings"
the study of language, literature, and historical texts to understand their origins, development, and cultural context, encompassing areas such as linguistics, textual criticism, and literary analysis
"Philology studies language history and change."
"Philology involves analyzing ancient languages and literature to uncover historical meanings and connections."
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