Glossary

abbreviation

is a shortened form of a word, phrase or term which represents its full form. Abbreviations can be subdivided into ‘clippings’ (vet for veterinary surgeon), ‘contractions’ (don’t for do not), ‘acronyms’ (EURALEX for European Association for Lexicography), ‘initialisms’, ‘acrophones’ or ‘alphabetisms’ (VIP for very important person) and ‘blends’ (brunch for breakfast/lunch).

accent

(1) Prominence in the pronunciation of a syllable (e.g., stress) achieved by increased loudness or duration, or by alteration of pitch. (2) Aspects of pronunciation which are characteristic either intra-lingually of a speaker’s regional or social dialect, or interlingually of a speaker’s first or dominant language. (3) A diacritic.

acrolect

is the most prestigious dialect or variety of a particular language.

acronym

See abbreviation.

acrophone

See abbreviation.

active use

In a bilingual dictionary designed for active use the source language is native to the user.

active use dictionary

is a type of dictionary designed to help with encoding tasks, such as the production of a text. In monolingual lexicography, the typical example of an active dictionary is the thesaurus, whose main function is to provide vocabulary choice for the writer. In a bilingual dictionary designed for active use the source language is native to the user. The main function is translation into a foreign language. Cf. passive use dictionary.

affix

is the collective term for a word formant that can be used only when added to another morpheme (root or stem).

affixation

is the process of morphological modification in which affixes are added to a base or stem, either for deriving new words or for forming inflections, or both. See derivational affixation, inflectional affixation.

allusion

is a literary or other cultural reference, typically in the form of an intertextual quotation. It is often oblique and not usually assigned to its source.

almanac(k)

is a type of reference work published regularly, usually once a year, which contains historical, geographical, technical or other encyclopedic information arranged in chronological or thematic form. See calendar.

alphabet

is an inventory of graphic symbols (letters) used to represent speech.

alphabetical order or alphabetization

is a system whereby strings of characters (letters) are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. It is the main way of collating dictionary entries. In most languages the ordering is based on the left-most character in the word, but in some languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, the ordering is based on the right-most character in the word.

alphabetism

See abbreviation.

analysis language

the meta-language used to describe the vernacular language being studied.

analytic definition

is a description of the range of reference of a lexical unit. This description is made up of a generic term identifying the broad category to which it belongs, and modifying word or phrase which specifies its obligatory components of meaning, thus restricting it to include only the appropriate referents, and distinguishing it from similar senses and words. E.g., doctor “a person licensed to practice medicine”. Cf. circular definition.

antonym

is a lexical unit opposite in meaning in some way to another. Antonyms can be gradable, e.g., big, bigger and small, smaller, or complementary (one or the other), e.g., dead or alive, male or female, or converse (relational opposites), e.g., buy and sell, husband and wife.

antonymy

deals with oppositeness of meaning and lexical units with opposite meanings of various kinds.

antoseme

is a lexical unit with two senses which express opposite sides of a common relationship, such as a reciprocal kinship term. E.g., spouse can refer to either husband or wife.

app

is a software program. It is most often used for programs on mobile devices, like cell phones or tablets, but sometimes it also refers to programs on a desktop or laptop computer

archive

is a collection of historical documents providing a record of information about a place, institution or group of people (from Google).

area (of FLEx)

is one of the major divisions of the functionality in FLEx. “Lexicon”, “Grammar”, and “Texts & Words” are examples of some of the areas in FLEx.

article

See entry.

backup/back up

refers to the activity of copying of physical or virtual files or databases to a secondary location for preservation in case of equipment failure or catastrophe; the resulting file of the backup process.

bilingual dictionary

In a bilingual dictionary only the definition (meaning) is in the user’s language; the entry lexical unit is in some language other than the user’s. The assumption is that the native speaker’s knowledge of her language is perfect but the other language is assumed to be more or less unknown.

blend

See abbreviation.

borrowed word

See loanword.

browser

is a program used for accessing sites on the internet or for opening certain kinds of files.

calendar

is a type of reference work which arranges the information provided in relation to the days of the year.

calque or loan translation

is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation. Calques can be classified as:

· semantic calque, where additional meanings of the source word are transferred to the word with the same primary meaning in the target language;

· phraseological calque, where idiomatic phrases are translated word-for-word;

· syntactic calque, where a syntactic function or construction in the source language is imitated in the target language;

· loan-translation, where a word is translated morpheme-by-morpheme into another language;

· morphological calque, where the inflection of a word is transferred.

categories of information in a lexical entry

can be divided into information about the headword and information about words related to the headword.

checkbox

is a small box in a software program interface, next to an item that a user can choose. When the user wants that item to be selected, they place a checkmark in the box (“tick the box” or “select the box”). When they want that item not to be selected, they remove the checkmark (“untick the box”, “clear the box”). See radio button.

Chrome

is a browser.

circular definition

defines the meaning of a lexical unit using a synonymous lexical unit or expression. E.g., house “abode, domicile, residence, dwelling place, home, building, …” This definition is circular because the dictionary user then has to find out what abode, domicile, etc. mean. Cf. analytic definition. See synonymy.

citation form

is the form of the lexical unit chosen to refer to it in isolation. In languages that have inflected bound roots a bare root is not acceptable to native speakers for citation and one of the inflected forms has to be chosen for citation.

clipping

See abbreviation.

clitic

typically has the phonological shape of an independent word, but cannot be stressed and can only occur phonologically bound to a host element. Sentence clitics occur in a fixed position, usually second position in the sentence. Word clitics are bound to a word and are divided into proclitics, which are bound to the following host, and enclitics which are bound to a preceding host.

combo box

is a mechanism in a computer program that allows the user to choose from a list of items. It usually is displayed as a rectangle with one of the choices showing, and may have a downward-pointing triangle to indicate that it will expand when the user clicks on it, to show all the options.

communication

is the interaction for the exchange of information. The most basic means for human communication is verbal language, studied as a symbolic code in linguistics; the wider context of communication is the province of semiotics. Both are relevant to lexicography, as dictionaries and other reference works make use of various forms of communication through phonic, graphic and other means.

communicative shift

is any of the major stages in the development of human communication. Speech is the original form of human communication. This was expanded by writing (ca. 5,000 years ago), by printing (ca. 500 years ago), and by computing and other media (e.g., radio, television, film) (contemporary).

compound word

is a group of two or more words that form a lexical unit of one word according to phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic criteria.

complex form

an entry that is composed of other entries (in FLEx, referenced by other forms), e.g., compound words, phrasal verbs, contractions.

conceptual extendedness

is a semantic relationship between senses of a lexeme as currently recognised by speakers of a language. The progressive derivation of more figurative senses from the basic literal sense can be divided into three stages: primary, secondary, figurative.

concordance

is an index of every occurrence of every lexical unit in a specific text or texts. The primary purpose is to show where a particular lexical unit occurs in the body of writing.

conjugation

the variation of the form of a verb in an inflected language such as Latin, by which are identified the voice, mood, tense, number, and person.

connotative meaning

describes the emotions and associations connected to a lexical unit. Certain lexical units can have a positive, negative, or neutral connotation depending on our experiences. Cf. denotative meaning.

contraction

See abbreviation.

controls

are the various mechanisms by which a user interacts with a computer program. A dialog box, radio button, checkbox, combo box are all examples of different kinds of controls.

conventionalized knowledge

is the bank of knowledge that a group of speakers have about their language and culture.

corpus

is a body of written texts.

cross-reference

refers to other entries in the dictionary which the headword relates to, such as derivatives or compounds of the same root, synonyms, antonyms or other meaning-related items.

database

is a structured set of data held in a computer, especially one that is accessible in various ways (from Google).

declension

the variation of the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, by which its grammatical case, number, and gender are identified.

default audience

is the audience for whom the dictionary is designed.

definition

describes the meaning of a lexical unit. See analytic definition, circular definition, gloss.

denotation

or denotative meaning involves the relationship between a linguistic unit (especially a lexical unit) and the nonlinguistic entities to which it refers. It is thus equivalent to referential meaning.

denotative meaning

refers to the relationship between a linguistic unit (especially a lexical unit) and the nonlinguistic entities to which it refers. It is thus equivalent to referential meaning. Cf. connotative meaning.

derivational affixation

changes one word into another word.

derivative

is one lexical form derived from another.

diachronic

describes the development of a language (in this context) through a period of time.

dialect

a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group. The term may have a negative connotation when used in contrast to the accepted standard form of the language.

dialectal information

A dictionary normally describes one primary dialect which is explicitly identified, and may include some subsidiary information indicating how a related dialect expresses a semantic concept related to the headword.

dialog box

is a graphical box on the screen in a computer program where the user is asked to provide information or take some action.

dictionary

A dictionary is a text (usually a book) which lists the lexical expressions (usually words) of a language with their meanings explained in an ordered format (usually alphabetical).

dictionary app

is a program that can be built from an online dictionary. The result can be installed on a mobile device to allow a user to access the information in a dictionary from their phone or tablet.

emic

refers to research that fully studies one culture with no (or only a secondary) cross-cultural focus; insider perspective.

enclitic

An enclitic is bound to a preceding host. See clitic.

encyclopedia

An encyclopedia gives information about the world or about a particular subject rather than information about the meanings of lexical units as in a dictionary. This information is usually listed alphabetically as in a dictionary.

entry

is a set of information that describes a word or phrase; a complete description for one lexical expression entered in the dictionary for the source language (usually as a single paragraph).

entry list

is the main subsection of a printed dictionary and contains a list of all the lexical entries in the dictionary.

equivalent

also known as translation, is the definition of the meaning of the headword in another language, as in a bilingual dictionary.

etic

refers to research that studies cross-cultural differences; outsider perspective.

etymology

is the study of the origins and history of the form and meaning of words. A dictionary may have an etymological part of the lexical entry which describes the origins of the headword.

etymon

is a word or morpheme from which a later word is derived.

exemplar

is a person or thing serving as a typical example or excellent model.

extensional meaning

refers to the class of entities to which a term is correctly applied. For example, the extension of the term flower would be a list of all the entities referred to by the term, e.g., daffodil, rose, fuchsia …… grammatical collocation refers to any kind of restriction that the word has in grammatical combination with other words or syntactic categories, e.g. the adjective abject is attributive and can only be used before the noun, as in abject poverty. Grammatical collocations are a type of syntagmatic relations.

F1, F2, etc.

are abbreviations for the function keys on a keyboard. The keys are usually marked with these labels.

figurative sense

is a non-literal extension of the meaning of the primary sense of the lexical entry. A figurative sense is derived from the primary sense by analogy (for example, personification), association (for example, metonymy), or similarity (for example, metaphor and simile). Figurative definitions of meaning occur after definitions of primary and secondary senses.

figure of speech

is a word or phrase used in a non-literal sense for rhetorical or vivid effect.

Firefox

is a browser.

FLEx

is FieldWorks Language Explorer.

form information

provides information on the form of the lexical entry, such as the citation form of the lemma, the spelling and pronunciation of the lexical unit, the morphological features of the lexical unit, and the (morpho-)syntactic features of the lexical unit. Cf. semantic information.

framing structure

comprises a set of the main sections of a printed dictionary that correspond to the chapters of a book.

generic-specific

is a lexical relation which is a hierarchical association between a lexical unit with a broader, more general meaning and other lexical units with a narrower, more precise meaning. Another name for the generic-specific lexical relation is hyponymy.

gloss

(1) is a summary of the meaning of a morpheme or word, suitable for use in interlinear text displays. (2) defines the meaning of the headword. See definition. (3) v. provide meaning in a second language.

glossary

is a word-list like a dictionary but will typically have a more limited or specialist function than a dictionary.

grammatical category or class

See lexical category.

grammatical collocation

refers to any kind of restriction that the word has in grammatical combination with other words or syntactic categories, e.g., the adjective abject is attributive and can only be used before the noun, as in abject poverty. Grammatical collocations are a type of syntagmatic relation.

grapheme

is the minimum distinct unit in the writing system of a language.

guide words

occur at the top of the page of a dictionary and tell you the first and last words defined on the page.

headword

is the head item of the dictionary entry or article and is what the information in the entry is about.

historical information

provides information on the the history of the headword in the language. See etymology.

homograph

is a lexical unit which has the same written form but different meanings, as in bear (=animal) and bear (=carry).

homography

is a type of homonymy and refers to lexical units which have the same written form but different meanings.

homonym

refers to each of two or more lexical units having the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings and origins. E.g., club¹ ‘an organisation made up of people who are all interested in a particular activity’ and club² ‘a thick, heavy stick that can be used as a weapon’.

homonymy

refers to lexical units which have the same form but different meanings.

homophony

is a type of homonymy and refers to lexical units which have the same pronunciation but different meanings, as in four and for.

hover

is an action where a user holds his or her mouse over something without clicking on it. For items that have tooltips, if the user waits long enough, a message will appear.

hypernym

is the generic term in a generic-specific relationship. E.g., colour is a hypernym of red.

hypernymy

refers to the semantic relationship of above or superordinate in a generic-specific relationship. The meaning of the generic term is completely included in the meaning of the specific term.

hyponym

is the specific term in a generic-specific relationship. E.g., spoon is a hyponym of cutlery.

hyponymy

refers to the semantic relationship of under or subordinate in a generic-specific relationship. The specific term has at least one additional peripheral component which narrows the scope of its meaning from that of the generic term.

icon

is a small picture in a computer program that represents an action you can do. Usually the picture gives a clue about what the action is, and if you click on the picture, you will be executing that command.

ideophone

is a word or phrase a speaker uses, the form of which helps to suggest the meaning of what is being said. Typically an ideophone is only fully comprehensible in the context in which it is spoken.

idiom

is a lexical complex (typically a phrase) which is semantically simplex. It is an association of a single semantic unit with a string of words, the meaning of which cannot be deduced from the meanings of the individual words in the idiom have in other non-idiomatic contexts. E.g., kick the bucket (=die), red herring (=false clue).

illustrative sentence or example sentence

illustrates how the headword is used in a particular context.

index

is the target-language to source-language reversal in a bilingual dictionary.

infix

is an affix that occurs inside the root.

inflectional affixation

signals the grammatical function of the word.

inflectional variants

are variants of the same word. E.g., show, shows, showed, shown, showing, are variants of the lexeme show.

information about the headword in a lexical entry

includes (a) lexeme, lemma, headword, (b) phonological (if not transparent from the orthography), (c) sense number, (d) part of speech, (e) definition, (f) illustrative sentence, (g) usage, (h) restrictions, (i) encyclopedic information, (j) morphology.

information about words related to the headword in a lexical entry

includes (a) homonym number, (b) lexical functions, (c) etymology, historical, (d) loanword, (e) cross-reference.

initialism

See abbreviation.

intensional meaning

refers to the set of properties that uniquely define a term. For example, ‘legs+flat surface, etc.’ define the intension of table and an intensional definition would be based on such notions. E.g., ‘A table is something with legs, a flat surface, etc.’

interjection

is an expression of emotion that interjects between expressions that are more readily understood as conventional words in the language.

language

(1) The method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way. (2) A system of communication used by a particular country or community.

lemma

is the base form of a lexical unit which represents the full form paradigm of this lexical unit. In many dictionaries the lemma is used as the citation form.

letter

is a graphic symbol used in an alphabetic writing system to represent one or more speech sounds. See grapheme, spelling, writing.

lexeme

refers to the minimal distinctive unit in the semantic system of the language. It is made up of one or more form-meaning composites called lexical units.

lexical category

is a syntactic category for elements that are part of the lexicon of a language. These elements are at the word level. Also known as part of speech, word class, grammatical category, grammatical class and syntactic category.

lexical collocation

refers to any kind of arbitrary restriction that any word has in combination with another. E.g., auspicious ‘collocates’ with a limited number of nouns, such as occasion, event, sign, etc. Lexical collocations are a type of syntagmatic relation.

lexical database

is a database for storing information about the words in a certain language. See database.

lexical entry

is the entry in a dictionary of information about a lexical unit. See headword, citation form.

lexical or lexeme form

is an abstract unit representing a set of wordforms differing only in inflection and not in core meaning. It is a component part of a lexical unit.

lexical functions

(also known as lexical semantics or lexical relationships) include such notions as synonymy (same meaning), antonymy (opposite meaning), hyponymy (generic-specific relationships) and meronymy (part-whole relationships), that describe how the meanings or senses of words are organised by substitutability and hierarchy.

lexical relation

is a culturally recognised pattern of association that exists between lexical units in a language.

lexical relation with a set of pairs structure

is a pattern of association between lexical units which is characterized by a binary contrast, correlation, or correspondence between two sense sets. E.g., opposites {(long - short), (good - bad), (hot - cold)}, individual-group {(lion - pride), (wolf - pack), (buffalo - herd)}.

lexical relation with a simple set structure

is a pattern of association between lexical units that share one or more semantic components. E.g., synonym sets.

lexical relation with a tree structure

is a pattern of association that is characterised by a set of lexical units which both have an inclusion relationship with and are dominated by one lexical unit. These sets may form a taxonomy or a meronymy. E.g., generic specific [animal [horse [appaloosa, arabian, Tennessee walker], dog, cow]]], whole-part [arm [elbow, forearm, wrist]].

lexical relations set

is a grouping of senses that are lexically related to each other. E.g., a “happy” synonym set {happy, joyful, glad}.

lexical semantics

is concerned with the analysis of word meanings and relations between them.

lexical unit

is a form-meaning composite that represents a lexical form, and single meaning of a lexeme.

lexical verb

is a member of the open class of verbs which form the primary verb vocabulary of a language. E.g., the verb come in will be coming is a lexical verb.

lexicography

is the art and science of dictionary-making. Lexicography can also be understood as applied lexicology.

lexicology

is the scientific study of the vocabulary of a language (including its history). Important subsets of this discipline are lexical semantics (meanings of words) and lexical functions (relationships between word meanings).

lexicon

A lexicon is a word-list like a dictionary but has a more limited function than a dictionary. It can be a simple word-list, or a glossary of terms related to a particular subject, or a more specialised listing of terms.

linguistic sign

consists of an expression (a certain form) and a content (a certain meaning) and also has a function (a certain way of behaving in combination with other linguistic signs).

Linux

is an operating system.

literal meaning

is used to give the glosses of the individual components of a multi-morpheme expression, such as a compound or an idiom, where the meaning of the whole is different from the sum of its parts.

loan translation

See calque.

loanword (or loan word or loan-word)

is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language without translation. It is distinguished from a calque, or loan translation, where a meaning or idiom from another language is translated into existing words or roots of the host language.

macrostructure

of a dictionary is primarily the ordered list of its entries. Each section of a dictionary, such as a table of contents, a set of instructions for using the dictionary, grammatical information, etc., is also a macrostructure of the dictionary.

main entry

also known as major entry, is the entry for each word or word group constituting a lexeme described in the dictionary which contrasts with all other lexemes in the language.

major entry

See main entry.

meronym

is a lexical unit which denotes part of something but which is used to refer to the whole of it. E.g., faces when used to mean people in I see several familiar faces present.

meronymy

refers to the part-whole relationship between meanings of lexemes.

metalanguage

is the language of instruction used in the bilingual dictionary.

microstructure

of a dictionary is primarily the structure within an entry paragraph. Each section of a dictionary will have its own microstructure.

minor entry

is listed alphabetically with the main entries but refers to a main entry for full information on the headword entry.

monolingual dictionary

In a monolingual dictionary the entry word and its definition (meaning) is in the language of the user. The assumption is that the native speaker’s knowledge of her language is deficient to some degree.

morpheme

is the smallest unit of grammatical function in the composition of words.

morphemic arrangement for dictionary entries

is form-based. Under this system derivatives, compounds, and idioms are organised into subentries under one main entry as illustrated below. Cf. semantic arrangement for dictionary entries.

morphological information

indicates the morpheme representation of the headword.

morphology

the system of the internal structure of morphemes within words.

morphosyntax

the intersection of morphology and syntax.

nonlinear affixation

is morphemes realised by suprasegmental forms such as tone, stress, nasalisation, etc.

onomatopoeia

is the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. E.g., cuckoo, sizzle.

orthography

is the conventional written form of the language.

package installer

is a program for finding, installing, and upgrading software on a computer.

pane (of FLEx)

is one of the divisions of a window.

paradigmatic

(paradigm) is a basic term in linguistics for the set of substitutional relationships a linguistic unit has with other units in a specific context.

paradigmatic lexical relation

is a culturally determined pattern of association between lexical units that (a) share one or more core semantic components, (b) belong to the same lexical category, (c) fill the same syntactic position in a syntactic construction, and (d) have the same semantic function. See lexical relation for examples of paradigmatic lexical relations.

part of speech

refers to word class or syntactic category. See lexical category.

passive use

In a bilingual dictionary designed for passive use the source language is foreign to the user.

passive use dictionary

In monolingual lexicography the passive use function is primarily for decoding tasks such as reading. In a bilingual dictionary designed for passive use the source language is foreign to the user. Cf. active use dictionary.

phoneme

is the minimal distinct unit in the sound system of a language.

phonemic transcription

symbols represent distinct units of the sound system of a particular language and are used in dictionaries to indicate the pronunciation of words or phrases.

phonetic transcription

symbols represent phonetic articulatory values.

phonological information

provides an indication of how the lexical unit is pronounced if this not transparent from the orthography. Typically, special symbols are used, such as the IPA symbols.

phonology

the system of interaction of sounds within a word and across word boundaries.

phrasal verb

is an idiomatic combination of a verb and adverb, or a verb and preposition. E.g., taken in (=deceived), set about (=start to do), put up with (=bear or suffer).

phrase

is a small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit, typically forming a component of a clause. A phrase is also an idiomatic expression. E.g., the phrase big girl’s blouse is used to refer to a man who is not as manly as he might be.

phraseological calque

See calque.

polysemy

refers to a lexical unit which has a range of different meanings. E.g., plain = ‘clear’, ‘unadorned’, ‘obvious’ …. A large proportion of a language’s vocabulary will be polysemic or polysemous.

prefix

is an affix that occurs before the root or stem.

primary sense

is the core meaning of the lexical unit. The first definition given in the lexical entry is the primary or core sense.

principal parts, the main inflected forms of a verb, from which all the other inflections may be deduced.

proclitic

A proclitic is bound to a following host. See clitic.

project (of FLEx)

is a lexical database.

pronunciation guide

explains the meanings of the symbols used in the pronunciation of a lexical unit. It is normally located in the front of a dictionary and at the bottom of every facing page.

proverb

is a conventionalised expression (usually a statement) that conveys folklore or common knowledge or makes a comment about some aspect of life.

quotation

(1) In a dictionary entry or citation file, a citation. (2) A saying from a literary or other text and recorded for posterity because of its content and/or style.

radio button

is a mechanism in a software program that allows a user to select an item. It usually appears as a small circle next to the item to be chosen. Often, when a list has radio buttons, only one of the buttons may be selected at a time. See checkbox.

reference work

is any product, such as a published book or computer software, that allows people to store and retrieve information relatively easily and rapidly. The dictionary is the prototypical ‘reference book’, as it provides structural linguistic and/or encyclopedic information by means of a generally known access system (such as an alphabet).

references (in FLEx)

indicate other entries that have some relationship to the current relationship. References may be cross references, such as “see blue”, or they may indicate lexical relations, such as synonyms or antonyms, or subentries or variants.

referential meaning

See denotation.

restore

is a process that creates a FLEx project (database) from a backup file.

reversal index (also known as a finder list)

is an alphabetized list of the glosses (translation equivalents) in a multilingual dictionary. For example, in a Vernacular-English dictionary, the reversal index would consist of an alphabetized list of the English glosses, accompanied by their vernacular equivalents.

root

is the base form of the word which cannot be further analysed (taken apart) without loss of identity. Put another way, it is that part of the word remaining when all the affixes are removed. Roots can be free or bound, where they can only occur with another morpheme.

saying

is a short, pithy, commonly known expression which generally offers advice or wisdom.

script (in FLEx)

refers to the kind of alphabet used for a language. One script may be used for more than one language. For instance, Cyrillic is the script used for Russian, and it is also used for other Slavic languages. Devanagari is used for Hindi, as well for many minority languages in India. Latin, Cherokee, Arabic, IPA, Hangul, and Katakana are other examples of scripts.

secondary sense

is derived from the primary sense of the lexical unit. There is a logical relationship between a secondary sense and the primary sense in that one or more elements of the primary sense are retained in the secondary sense. Secondary definitions follow the definition of the primary sense in the lexical entry.

semantic arrangement for dictionary entries

is lexeme-based. Under this system there is a main entry for each lexeme as illustrated below. Cf. morphemic arrangement for dictionary entries.

semantic collocation

refers to any kind of restriction that the semantic content of a word has in combination with other words. E.g., the verb damage can only have an inanimate object, for example, *the falling brick damaged the man is unsemantic. Semantic collocations are a type of syntagmatic relation.

semantic information

provides information on the meaning of the lexical entry, such as the part of speech to which the lemma belongs and the systems of sense relations the lexical entry has. See form information.

sense

In semantics this term refers to the system of linguistic relationships (sense relations) which a lexical unit contracts with other lexical units, i.e., the paradigmatic relationships of synonymy, antonymy, etc. and the syntagmatic relationships of collocation. It contrasts with reference or denotation which is the extralinguistic side of the notion of meaning. In terms of the structure of a dictionary entry senses of a lexeme can be divided into: primary, secondary and figurative senses

sense group

is a collection of senses organised according to lexical category, conceptual extendedness, or semantic similarity.

sense number

distinguishes multiple senses of meaning of the headword. The primary sense is listed first, followed by any secondary senses.

sense type

is a classification of a sense on the basis of its conceptual extendedness. In other words, it is a classification of the primary sense of a lexeme and the degree to which another sense is different from the primary sense. Sense types in a typical dictionary entry are: primary, secondary, figurative.

sentence clitic

occurs in a fixed position, usually second position in the sentence. Cf. word clitic. See clitic.

shift

is the key on a keyboard that makes the letter keys produce capital letters.

shortcut

is a way of executing a command in a program without using a menu. It usually involves pressing a key like “Ctrl” or “Alt” along with a letter or number.

source-language

is the language of the main entries in a bilingual dictionary.

spelling

is the conventionalised system of representing speech by writing in a particular language. In alphabetic scripts the graphic signs stand for one or more speech sounds, and languages vary in their correspondence between graphemes and phonemes.

splash screen

is the initial (“welcome”) screen that appears when an app or program is first launched.

standard

is the relatively uniform variety of a language used for interregional communication.

standard format field

is the convention for marking data fields used in SIL database programs like Shoebox.

stem

is the base form of the word which remains after the inflectional affixation has been removed. It can comprise a single root morpheme (i.e., a ‘simple stem’, as in house), or two root morphemes (e.g., a ‘compound’ stem, as in greenhouse), or a root morpheme plus a derivational affix (i.e., a ‘complex’ stem, as in manly, unmanly, manliness).

structured data

is when data is in a standardized format, has a well-defined structure, complies to a data model, follows a persistent order, and is easily accessed by humans and programs. This data type is generally stored in a database.

subentry

also known as minor entry, is a subsection of a main entry with its own headword, phonological, semantic, and grammatical information. The subentry usually has a meaning that is greater than the sum of its component morphemes. The kinds of subentries in a dictionary entry are: derivatives, compounds, idioms, phrase equivalents for key terms for translation, sayings, phrasal verbs. E.g., the derivative runner under run, or the phrasal verb show off under show

suffix

is an affix that occurs after the root or stem.

supplemental information

is an optional part of the definition of a lexical unit, containing culturally or logically expected information.

synchronic

describes the properties of a language (in this context) at a particular point in time.

synonym

is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language. E.g., shut is a synonym of close.

synonymy

deals with sameness of meaning and more than one word having the same meaning. In practise, synonyms do not have exactly the same denotative and connotative meaning, and range of application. Instead, there is a high degree of overlap in these areas.

syntactic calque

See calque.

syntactic category

See lexical category.

syntagmatic

refers to the sequential characteristics of speech, as seen in a string of constituents, or the relationships between constituents in a construction.

syntax

the way in which words are put together to form phrases and sentences.

table view

is a way of displaying data in columns and rows.

target-language

is the language of the translational equivalents in a bilingual dictionary.

thesaurus

A thesaurus also lists words in a systematic way. However, it does not describe the meanings of words as such. Instead it lists words according to semantic criteria and typically links each word with a set of synonyms and antonyms. This enables the user to find different ways of saying the same thing.

thesaurus category

is a semantic category that links words together, typically as synonyms or antonyms.

toolbar

is a row in a program with symbols that represent commands that can be executed if the user clicks on them.

tooltip

is a message that appears if you hover over a graphical item on the screen.

transcription

(1) The process and result of representing spoken language by means of a specific notation system. See phonetic transcription, phonemic transcription. (2) The representation of words written in one script by means of another, e.g., the Korean or Devanagari scripts represented by the Latin alphabet.

translation

See equivalent.

translation equivalent

is a brief translation of a word or phrase that could be substituted for it in a translated sentence. It is different from a definition that describes the meaning of the word because a definition normally could not be substituted for the word it defines.

tree view

is a way of displaying data that reflects its hierarchy. Each item may have a parent and one or more children.

typology

is the study or description of different types.

usage information

is a classification for lexical units on the basis of sociolinguistic and historical factors. E.g., formal, informal, dated, archaic, historical, literary, poetic, technical, rare, humorous, dialect, offensive, derogatory, vulgar slang.

variant

a form or version of something that differs in some respect from other forms of the same thing or from a standard.

version numbers

are the sequence of digits that identify what version a specific software program is. Sometimes not all the parts of the number are in focus and they may be referred to abstractly. For instance, the expression 9.0.x means “any version of 9.0”. It could refer to version 9.0.1, 9.0.2, etc.

vernacular

the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region; (of language) spoken as one's mother tongue; not learned or imposed as a second language.

view (in FLEx)

1. Normally, view refers to the divisions of an area that you can navigate to by clicking on the name of the view.

2. View can also be used for a way of displaying the data. For instance, there may be a browse view that is in table format or tree format, or a detail view that displays and allows editing of all the specific details of the item that is selected in the browse view.

virtualization software

is a program that can be used to run an operating system on a computer other than the one it was designed for. For instance, one can run a virtual Linux system on a Windows machine, or a virtual Windows system on a Mac, or many other combinations.

vocabulary

(1) is the entire inventory of lexical expressions in a language.

(2) (2) is a list or collection of the words or phrases of a language, technical field, etc., usually arranged in alphabetical order and defined (or glossed in another language).

Windows

is an operating system.

word

is a unit of expression which has universal intuitive recognition by native speakers in both spoken and written form. What constitutes a word in a particular language can be isolated by criteria of phonology (e.g., a stretch of speech with a single primary stress), morphosyntax (e.g., minimum free form, minimum level of constituent rearrangement), lexicology (e.g., abstract representative of the common meaning of a series of variants, such as walk, walks, walking, walked). Such criteria would also indicate that theoretically word occupies a level in a hierarchy between morpheme and phrase.

word class

See lexical category.

word clitic

is bound to a word. Cf. sentence clitic. See clitic.

writing

is the result of the second major communicative shift, from spoken communication to the graphic representation of language, which allowed the storage and more accurate and widespread transmission of information.

writing system (in FLEx)

refers to the combination of a language and a script.