English Words

Syllabic consonant
A consonant which functions as a syllable nucleus as though it were a
vowel, e.g. the [n] in 
cotton
or the final [1] of 
metal
.
Synonymy
If two words are synonymous they have the same meaning (in some
specific situations) e.g. 
big, large
.
Synthetic language
see
Inflecting
language
.
Tense
Inflectional marking on the verb used to show the time when some
action, event or state takes place (e.g. as ‘past’, ‘present’ or ‘future’) in
relation to the moment of speaking.
Transitive verb
A verb that takes a direct object, e.g. 
kick,
in 
She kicked the ball
.
Typology
The comparative study of significant structural similarities
and differences among languages which is done without implying that
the similarities are inherited from a common ancestor.
188 GLOSSARY

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Underlying form
A form entered in the lexicon from which actual phonetic forms heard
in speech are derived.
Velar
A sound is articulated using the back of the tongue and the soft palate
or velum. Consonants like [k] (as in 
kayak
) and [g] (as in 
go
) are velar.
Verb phrase
A phrase headed by a verb, e.g. They 
might have been going
.
Voice
A marking in grammar (usually done by inflectional endings) that
indicates the relation of the subject and verb in the action indicated by
the verb 
see also
Active voice
and 
Passive voice
.
Voiced
A sound produced with the vocal cords vibrating. In English, all the
vowels as well as some consonants like [l m d z] are voiced.