Glossary ablaut

complementary distribution – see distribution.

complementiser – a type of conjunction which is used to mark one clause asdependent on another.

compound – word containing more than one root (or combining form).

concord – see agreement.

conjugation – a set of verbs which share the same paradigm.

content word – word which has full lexical meaning, see function word.

contrastive distribution – see distribution.

conversion – the derivation of one lexeme from another (e.g. the verb ‘father’from the noun ‘father’) without any overt change in shape. Some linguistsanalyse this phenomenon as zero-derivation.

coordination – where two syntactic units are linked together with equal status.

correlation – where a pair of structures are linked by parallel element order.

dative – grammatical case usually exhibited by a noun phrase often functioningas the indirect object of the verb.

declension – a set either of nouns or of adjectives which share the same paradigm.