A Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Warning: This web page was originally constructed to help computer science students who were taking my module on natural language processing. Some terms may be used differently by different authors. Unless otherwise stated, definitions are based on the English language. If you find any errors, please e-mail me at p.coxhead@cs.bham.ac.uk. The verb in an active sentence can be said to be in the active voice. Examples are colourless and green which qualify ideas in Colourless green ideas sleep furiously. Adjectives can also appear after verbs like be, e.g. Examples are furiously which qualifies the verb sleep in Colourless green ideas sleep furiously, or intensely which qualifies stared in He stared at me intensely. Adverbs can also qualify adjectives, e.g. Many English adverbs are formed from an adjective plus the ending -ly. Words like very, which can only qualify adjectives or adverbs but not verbs, are sometimes called adverbs, but are perhaps best put in a separate category. In its broadest sense, an affix can be a prefix, a suffix, or an infix. More narrowly, infixes are sometimes treated separately. The stop and fricative must be produced in a very similar positions in the mouth.