Introducing English Linguistics

spatial
.
demonstrative
The pronouns this, that, these, and those when not used as determinatives, 
pronouns:
as in That is correct or This can’t be done.
derivational affix
A prefix or suffix added to a word that often changes the meaning of the 
(or morpheme):
word (e.g. own S 
disown) or its part of speech (e.g. rapid [adjective] S rapidly
[adverb]).
descriptivist:
An individual who is primarily interested in describing objectively the
structure of language without interjecting his or her biases about lan-
guage. Linguists are typically characterized as descriptivists. Compare
with prescriptivists.
determinatives:
A word class containing words such as a, the, this, some, and every that
occupies the first position in a noun phrase: a tiny ant, that tall building,
some people.
diachronic:
Studying a language from a historical perspective. A diachronic study of
English would investigate earlier periods of English, such as Old English
or Middle English.
dialect:
A variable form of a language. Dialects of a language are considered
mutually intelligible. Speakers of Northern American English can under-
stand speakers of Southern American English. However, the notion of
mutual intelligibility can be problematic, since the dialects of Chinese
(e.g. Mandarin and Cantonese) are not mutually intelligible.
diphthong:
A type of vowel occurring within a single syllable whose quality changes
during its articulation. Examples of diphthongs in English include the
middle sounds in words such as house /haυs/ and fight /faIt/.
direct object:
A clause function realized by noun phrases and certain kinds of clauses.
Direct objects generally occur after a transitive verb. They can often be
made subject of a clause in the passive voice: The car hit