Technical notation and terms

Below is a summary of the notation conventions used in this book, followed by a table of technical terms. The table shows the different forms that each term can take, to help you select the appropriate one for your purposes.

Summary of notation conventions 

X＿Z

Represents the distribution frame of a linguistic unit. The blank represents the relevant unit. X and Z represent the linguistic units immediately before and after the relevant unit, e.g.

Det＿N represents the distribution frame of Adj

Det represents the distribution frame of N

{ }

Curly brackets are used in morphology to enclose morphemes, e.g.

the word unhappiness comprises the morphemes {un-}, {happy}, and {-ness}

the word challenging comprises the morphemes {challenge} and {-ing}

Curly brackets (or braces) are also used in syntax, in phrase structure (PS) rules, to denote alternative constituents, e.g.

[ ]

Phonetic symbols appear within square brackets, e.g. [f], [b], [m] Phonetic transcriptions appear within square brackets.

Allophones appear within square brackets.

/ /

Phonemes appear within slashes, e.g. /f/, /b/, /m/ Phonemic representations appear within slashes.

→

Used in PS rules to mean ‘expands into’, ‘is constituted by’, ‘is rewritten as’

( )

Used in PS rules to denote optional constituents

*

An asterisk before an example indicates that the use of language in the example is ungrammatical (syntactically unacceptable or non-occurring)

An asterisk after a linguistic unit indicates one or more of that unit

#

before an example, indicates that the use of language in the example is semantically odd or unacceptable.

Technical terms and how to use them appropriately

Attribution

This chapter has been modified and adapted from The Language of Language. A Linguistics Course for Starters under a CC BY 4.0 license. All modifications are those of Régine Pellicer and are not reflective of the original authors.