The ABCs of Onomatopoeia

onomatopoeia

1: the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss)
2: the use of words whose sound suggests the sense

Late Latin, from Greek onomatopoiia, from onomat-, onoma name + poiein to make — more at poet
First Known Use: circa 1577

Image via tomgauld.com

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "H"

H = Het

Het = Egyptian Hieroglyph

Hieroglyph = Fence

hapax legomenon In Lexicology, a word which occurs only once in a text, author, or extant Corpus of a Language, often shortened to hapax. The expression is from Greek, 'something said only once'.

host In Grammar, a word or phrase to which an affix or clitic is phonologically attached. For example, he is the host for 's in he's, and is is the host for n't in isn't.

hybrid In Historical Linguistics, a word composed of elements from different languages. An example of a hybrid term ('a hybrid') is television which comprises elements from both Latin and Greek.

Definitions from: A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth edition, 2008
Image credits: Panel of Thoughts

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "G"

G = Gimel

Gimel = Proto-Sinaitic Glyph

Glyph = Staff Sling

glossolalia 'Speaking in tongues': i.e. uttering sounds under condition of religious ecstasy that are believed, wrongly, to be in unknown languages.

gnomic Used in timeless statements.E.g. the present tense (eat) is gnomic, or has a gnomic use, in Cows eat grass. Cf. generic.

grammatology The study of the nature, history, etc. of writing systems.

graphology A study of the written forms of language modelled on phonology as the study of their sound systems.

Definitions from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Second edition, 2007

Image credits: Panel of Thoughts

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "F"

F = Waw (Semitic)

Waw = Hook

false friends In comparative linguistics, a term describing words in different languages which resemble each other in form, but which express different meanings; also called false cognates, and often known by the French equivalent expression faux amis. Examples include French demander, which translates into English as 'to request' not 'to demant', and Italian caldo which translates as 'warm' not 'cold'.

forensic linguistics In linguistics, the use of linguistic techniques to investigate crimes in which language data forms part of the evidence, such as in the use of grammatical or lexical criteria to authenticate police statements. The field of forensic phonetics is often distinguished as a separate domain, dealing with such matters as speaker identification, voice line-ups, speaker profiling, tape enhancement, tape authentication, and the decoding of disputed utterance.

fortition A term used in phonology to refer to a strengthening in the overall force of a sound, whether diachronically or synchronically; opposed to lentition. Typically, fortition involves the change from a fricative to a stop, an approximant to a fricative, or a voiced to a voiceless sound (as in the devoicing of final obstruents in German).

Definitions from: A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth edition, 2008
Image credits: Panel of Thoughts

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "E"

E = Protosinaitic Script

Script = Jubilation

enantiosemy A case of polysemy in which one sense is in some respect the opposite of another. E.g. that of dust in I dusted the mantelpiece, meaning that something is removed, vs. I dusted the cake with sugar, meaning that something is added.

ethnolect Variety of a language spoken by a so-called 'ethnic group'.

eventive Referring to an event as opposed to a state: e.g. fell is eventive in I fell over. Opp. stative.

Definitions from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Second edition, 2007

Image credits: Panel of Thoughts

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "D"

D = Dalet

Dalet = Egyptian Hieroglyph

Hieroglyph = Door

deverbal A term used in grammar to describe an element which originates as a verb but is used in some other way in sentence structure. For example, in the singing policeman, singing could be described as a deverbal adjective; in I made a go of it, go is a deverbal noun.

ditransitive A term used by some linguists to describe a verb which can take two objects, e.g. give (I gave him a book). It is usually distinguished from 'monotransitive' verbs, such as kick.

Definitions from: A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth edition, 2008

Image credits: Panel of Thoughts

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "C"

C = Egyptian Hieroglyph

Hieroglyph = Throwing Stick

calque A word or expression which has been formed by translation of a corresponding word or expression in another language. E.g. French gratte-ciel 'sky scraper' (lit. 'scratch-sky') is a calque on English skyscraper. Also called a loan translation.

closed class A class of words or morphemes whose membership is fixed and can be listed. E.g. there is a closed class of determiners (the, this, etc.). Opp. open class.

'cranberry morpheme' One like cran- in cranberry, which is found in one combination only.

Definitions from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Second edition, 2007

Image credits: Panel of Thoughts

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "B"

B = Bayt (Arabic)

Bayt = House

bahuvrihi In grammar, a Sanskrit term describing a type of compound in which an entity is characterized without either of the constituents directly naming it; also called an exocentric or possessive compound. Examples include loudmouth (a person 'whose mouth speaks loudly') and scarecrow (an object whose job it is to 'scare crows').

broad A term used in the classification of types of phonetic transcription. A 'broad' transcription is less detailed than a 'narrow' description.

Definitions from: A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Sixth edition, 2008

Image credits: Panel of Thoughts

Random Linguistics Definitions Beginning with the Letter "A"

adhortative = exhortative

.....exhortative (Particle etc.) used in enjoining or encouraging an action by a group that includes the speaker: e.g. let or let's in Let's go.

'aptote' Obsolete term for a noun which, unlike others in the relevant language, is not inflected for case.

arhyzotonic Having the accent elsewhere than on the root.

atonic (Word, syllable, vowel) not accented.

Definitions from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Second edition, 2007

Image credits: Panel of Thoughts

Alphabet Soup: Comparing Alphabets

Not all alphabets contain 26 letters. Here are several comparisons that have like and/or similar characters to the English alphabet(shown above).

The Swedish Alphabet - 28

The Russian Alphabet - 33

The Welsh Alphabet - 28

The Polish Alphabet - 35

The Spanish Alphabet - 30*

*A recent post on Arnold Zwicky's Blog does not list the RR as a letter and states that a recent reform has eliminated the CH and LL as separate letters of the Spanish alphabet.

For image credits click on individual alphabets.