AnimateGender In languages that divide nouns into classes on the basis of animacy, the noun class that consists primarily of words denoting living things. Animate gender contrasts with inanimate gender. |
AntepenultimateThe second but last position (usually in "antepenultimate stress"). E.g. in the English word confidential, the syllable 'fi' is antepenultimate. |
Anterior (distinctive feature)Anterior sounds are defined articulatorily as sounds that are produced with a stricture in front of the palato-alveolar region in the mouth. Labial and dental consonants are therefore [+ant] (in SPE) while non-anterior sounds are produced with a stricture further back, e.g. velars and glottals. In current phonological theory, the feature anterior is only used to make a distinction between coronals. |
AnticausativeAn event-changing operation signalling that there is no ‘cause’ element and no agent role in the derived event structure. |
Anticipatory coarticulationAn action in which one of the speech organs that is not involved in making a particular sound moves toward its position for a subsequent sound. For example, the rounding of the lips during [ s ] in swim is due to the anticipation of the lip action required for [ w ]. |
AntipassiveA function-changing operation that backgrounds the patient. |
AoristIn tense systems, a tense that indicates the occurrence of an action in the past, without indicating whether the action is completed. |
APAAmericanist Phonetic Alphabet (an unofficial name given to a particular set of transcription symbols). |
AperiodicOf a waveform: one that does not have a regular repeating pattern. |
AphasiaA language or speech disorder caused by brain damage. |