Introducing English Linguistics

base
: loan
s, is loaning, loaned, have loaned. Compare with irregular 
verbs
.
relative clause:
A clause embedded in a noun phrase that begins with a relative pronoun
such as who or which: the client
who contacted us, the book which was
approved for publication.
rheme:
The closing part of a clause. In the clause The author promoted her book, pro-
moted her book would be the rheme; The author would the theme.
rhotic:
A variety of speech in which post-vocalic /r/ is pronounced. Most varieties
of American English are rhotic, while British English in non-rhotic.
rhotic vowel:
See post-vocalic /r/.
RP (Received
A highly prestigious spoken variety of British English.
Pronunciation)
:
rules:
Statements that provide formal descriptions of how constructions are
formed. For instance, English has a rule of subject–verb agreement speci-
fying that if a third person subject is singular and the verb is in the pres-
ent tense, the verb needs an -s ending: She like
s football. Rules apply to con-
structions at all levels of structure, from individual speech sounds up to
the level of the sentence.
schwa:
The sound /ə/ as articulated in the first syllable of around.
234
GLOSSARY

---

second language:
A language having an official status (i.e. it is used in education, government,
and business) that is spoken as a non-native language in a country whose
residents speak one or more native languages. English is a second language
in many former British colonies (e.g. India, Singapore, and Hong Kong).
secondary stress:
A degree of stress on a syllable in a word that is less prominent than the
syllable in the word receiving primary stress. Secondary stress is typically
found on the second word in a compound word:  mail. man.
segments:
Individual phonemes. Compare with suprasegmentals.
semantics:
The study of meaning in language.
sentence:
A grammatically well formed unit that has, minimally, a predicator and
usually a subject. There are four types of sentences in English: declarative,