Key Vocabulary in Linguistics and Language Studies

Annotation

noun; Latin annotātiō ("a noting"); a note or comment added to a text for explanation.

Appellation

noun; Latin appellātiō ("naming"); a name or title by which someone or something is known.

Eponym

noun; Greek epōnymos ("giving name"); a person after whom something is named.

Linguistics

noun; Latin lingua ("language"), via French; the scientific study of language.

Malapropism

noun; French mal à propos ("inappropriate"), from character Mrs. Malaprop; the comic misuse of a word for a similar-sounding one.

Neologism

noun; Greek neos ("new") + logos ("word"); a newly coined word or expression.

Parlance

noun; French parler ("to speak"); a particular manner of speaking or wording.

Patois

noun; Old French patois ("dialect, rude speech"); a regional or nonstandard dialect.

Polyglot

noun/adj.; Greek polyglōttos ("many-tongued"); (n.) a person who speaks several languages, (adj.) multilingual.

Vulgar

adj.; Latin vulgaris ("of the common people"); common, crude, or indecent in style or speech.

Contingent

adj./noun; Latin contingere ("to touch, happen"); (adj.) dependent on conditions, (n.) a group sharing a common purpose.

Eventuality

noun; French éventualité, Latin eventus ("outcome"); a possible occurrence or outcome.

Implausible

adj.; Latin in- ("not") + plausibilis ("agreeable"); not believable or reasonable.

Inconceivable

adj.; Latin in- ("not") + concipere ("to conceive"); impossible to imagine or believe.

In vain

adv. phrase; Old French vein, Latin vanus ("empty"); without success, to no purpose.

Perchance

adv.; Middle English par chance ("by chance"); perhaps, maybe.

Preposterous

adj.; Latin praeposterus ("inverted, absurd"); contrary to reason, ridiculous.

Proclivity

noun; Latin proclīvitās ("inclination"); a natural tendency or predisposition.

Prone

adj.; Latin pronus ("inclined"); likely to experience something undesirable; lying face downward.

Theoretical

adj.; Greek theōrētikos ("contemplative"); concerned with abstract theory rather than practice