Glossary of Linguistic Terms

loan word A word borrowed from another language: e.g., castle (French), infl ammation (Latin), koala (Australian aboriginal). In English, borrowing was a particularly productive method of word formation in the early modern period.
low vowel A vowel articulated with the tongue towards the low point of the mouth: e.g., /æ, ɑ/. See further “Note on Phonetic Symbols and Orthography.” main clause See clause type.
marker Any unit that indicates a specifi c feature: e.g., –ed as a tense marker for preterit; -’s as a case marker for the possessive; conjunctions like when and although as subordinate markers; a phonological or intonational pattern as a marker for the speaker’s regional or social background. masculine See gender. mesolect See dialect, social.
meter Specifi c patterning of stress or rhythm employed in the composition of verse. The traditional meter of English was based on alliteration and stress. Later, syllablebased meters, such as iambic and trochaic, were adopted.
Middle English (ME) See periodization.
modal auxiliary See auxiliary.
Modern English (ModE) See periodization.
monophthong A vowel that is not a diphthong, that is, produced without any noticeable change in its quality: e.g., /i/ in bid and // in bug. See further “Note on Phonetic Symbols and Orthography.”
monosyllabic See disyllabic.
mood A verb form indicating the speaker’s viewpoint on his or her utterance. PDE has three moods. Indicative is used for stating fact: e.g., stopped in we stopped arguing. Subjunctive expresses suggestion, hypothesis, etc.: e.g., stop in I suggest that we stop arguing. Imperative is used for command: e.g., stop in stop arguing!
morpheme The smallest meaningful unit in a language: e.g., the word meaningful consists of three morphemes, mean and the two affi xes -ing, and -ful.