ENG 270 Glossary

Students: Feel free to use hypothes.is to annotate this page and suggest new definitions (please include sources!)

Grammar (N)

  1. A system of rules and principles for speaking and writing a language.
  2. (uncountable, linguistics) The study of the internal structure of words (morphology) and the use of words in the construction of phrases and sentences (syntax).
  3. A book describing the rules of grammar of a language.
  4. (computing theory) A formal system specifying the syntax of a language.
  5. Actual or presumed prescriptive notions about the correct use of a language. (computing theory) A formal system defining a formal language
  6. The basic rules or principles of a field of knowledge or a particular skill.
  7. (Britain, archaic) A textbook. a grammar of geography (Britain)
  8. A grammar school.

from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grammar

Morphology (N)

  1. The study of form or forms. In linguistics morphology refers to the mental system involved in word formation or to the branch of linguistics that deals with words, their internal structure, and how they are formed.

from Aronoff, Mark & Kristen Fudeman. “What is Morphology?” www.ucd.ie/artspgs/introling/Aronoffmorphology.pdf.

Prescriptivism (N)

  1. The belief or practice that there is a standard/correct way of using a language.

from Norquist, Richard. “Prescriptivism.” ThoughtCo, 4 Feb 2020. Accessed 9 Sept. 2020 https://www.thoughtco.com/prescriptivism-language-1691669.