December 2011
7 posts
7 tags
7 tags
List of words that have different meanings in... →
6 tags
Linguistics Micro Lesson: What Is a Linguist?
Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and that means that a linguist is a person who scientifically studies language.
Linguists go beyond simply studying the grammatical rules and vocabulary of a particular language. Among many other things, for example, linguists study language structure, why words are the way they are, how and why language X is related to language Y, how language...
7 tags
5 tags
Linguistics Micro Lesson: Metathesis
Metathesis (the emphasis is on the -a- when you say it) is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word.
Examples:
enmity → emnity
foliage → foilage
cavalry → calvary
asterisk → asteriks
It’s something that kids do a lot, like saying “psketti” instead of spaghetti. And it’s also something that you see in a wide variety of languages, not just English.
4 tags
Linguistics Micro Lesson: Auto-antonyms
Auto-antonyms (also called autantonyms; there are a couple other names for them, too) are two words that are spelled the same but actually have opposite meanings.
A few examples:
“To cleave” = “to cling” or “to split”
“To weather” = “to endure” (as in a storm) or “to erode” (as in a rock)
“To buckle” =...
7 tags
Etym Online: A freaking awesome site for anyone... →
For example, did you know that the word “paraphernalia” literally means “a woman’s property besides her dowery”? Awesome.