alphabet
Alphabet derives from the
first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha
and beta, and is a term meant to
designate an inventory of letters (or signs) which correspond, often very
roughly, to the sounds of a particular language. An alphabet which provided a
perfect one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds would be a
‘phonemic’ alphabet. No European language has a phonemic alphabet, although the
Spanish alphabet is much closer to being phonemic than the English one is. In
English, for example, the same sound can be represented by different letters:
machine sheep sugar
and the same
letter can represent different sounds as in:
cat ceiling
Linguists have
constructed the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which offers a set of
letters and diacritics (signs that can be placed above and below letters) which
can represent all the sounds of every language.
See: orthography, phoneme, pronunciation, spelling, spelling
pronunciation.
also
Also is
an adverb which is more common in
the written than in the spoken medium, where too or as well are
preferred:
I have also got a little sister/I have a
little sister too.
She had also lived in Greece/She had lived in
Greece as well.
Its normal
position is before the verb when the verb
phrase is simple:
They also sent some flowers.
after the auxiliary in a complex verb phrase:
They have also sent some flowers.
and after copula
BE:
He is also a highly skilled mechanic.
Occasionally in speech also is used as a conjunction suggesting
that what follows it is an afterthought:
Smoking is bad
for your health, also it is
expensive.
This usage is less acceptable in
writing than:
Smoking is bad
for your health—it is also expensive.
where the afterthought is
signalled by parentheses or a dash and where the adverb has its usual position.
Also can occur at the
beginning of a sentence to offer special prominence to a phrase:
Also on the
platform were the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.
but the use of also followed by a comma in sentence
initial position:
Also, I’d like some
information on housing.
is regarded as stylistically
awkward.
Also, like too and as well, tends to
occur only in affirmative sentences:
He also likes
peanut butter./He doesn’t like
peanut butter either.
Did John go too?/Did
John not go either?
She tried ballet as well./She didn’t try ballet either.
alternately, alternatively
Alternately means ‘first one and then the other in sequence’ and
refers to an ordering of two:
She revised
history and geography alternately so
that she would not become bored with either subject.
Alternate as a verb and adjective also implies an ordering of two:
On Sundays we alternated between visiting my parents
and visiting my husband’s.
We played bridge and chess
on alternate evenings.
Alternatively means a choice between two
mutually exclusive possibilities:
She may marry George. Alternatively, she may marry Herman.
Although alternatively specifically referred to a
choice between two, its meaning has been widened to include a choice of several
possibilities. This widening of meaning applies also to alternative as a noun and an adjective:
She had so many alternatives
she couldn’t make up her mind.
She had three alternative options
with regard to her future: she could get a job, get married or go to
university.
See: problem pairs.
although, though
Although and though are closely related in form and meaning and are freely
interchangeable in most contexts. The following differences should, however, be
noted:
1 Although can
only be used as a conjunction, that
is, it can introduce a clause:
Although he was poor,
he was honest.
2 Although can be used in any style from extremely formal to
intimately informal whereas though tends
to be limited to informal usage.
3 Though can be used at the end of a sentence as a
form of concessive emphasiser:
He wasn’t well
prepared for the test, though.
Although can never be used in this
context. The use of but in
sentence-final position is characteristic of speakers in the north east of
England, Northern Ireland and Australia:
He wasn’t well
prepared for the test, but.
Such usage is both informal and regionally
marked.
4 For
emphasis, even may be combined with though (but never with although):
Even though I was well prepared, I found
the test hard.
5
Though (but not although) can be used as an adverbial filler:
The best preparation of all,
though, is a good night’s sleep.
6
The clipped forms altho and tho occur in US
usage but are only fully acceptable in very informal letters and notes.
See: Australian
English, clipping, fillers.
ambiguity
The term ambiguity is applied to a structure that
is capable of more than one interpretation. There are two main types of
ambiguity: lexical and syntactic. Lexical ambiguity is a common feature of many
languages and derives from the fact that many words have more than one meaning.
Spare, for example, can mean ‘extra’
and ‘healthily lean’ and both meanings are possible (if not equally probable)
in:
His body was spare.
Lexical
ambiguity often goes unnoticed in speech because the context suggests one meaning rather than another. In the context of
architecture, for example, we would interpret:
His designs were unacceptable.
as drawings, but
in the context of personal behaviour as intentions.
With syntactic ambiguity we
find structures capable of more than one interpretation.
In English, two of the most ambiguous structures are:
1 Ving+NP—Ving
can be either an adjective modifying the noun or a verb taking an object:
Eating apples
can be good for you.
2 NP+NP—To illustrate the
ambiguity of NP+NP, we only have to look at such a list as:
apple pie (a pie made from apples)
bird sanctuary (a sanctuary for birds)
field mouse (a mouse that lives in the
fields)
silkworm (worm that produces silk)
A further example of NP+NP
ambiguity occurs when an adjective precedes the first nominal:
young men and
women
which can be interpreted as
both:
young men and women of any age young men and young women
Ambiguity is often cultivated by
advertisers:
Go to work on
an egg.
Let colour go
to your head.
and by poets. G.M.Hopkins plays
on the NP+NP ambiguity in:
Not, I’ll not,
carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee
Alliteration links ‘carrion’ and
‘comfort’ and the various possible meanings are exploited: comfort composed of
carrion, comfort for carrion, comfort that lives in carrion, comfort that is
carrion and comfort that produces carrion. In literature, such ambiguity
extends the range of references, adding to the complexity of the work.
See: pun, syllepsis.
America(n)
The word America is used in
two distinct ways:
1 to refer to the New World,
including North, Central and South America 2 to refer to the United States of
America, the USA.
A similar
point can be made about American, which
can refer to anyone from the Americas including Argentines, Brazilians,
Canadians and inhabitants of the USA.
Occasionally,
the term Anglo is used by American
Hispanics to refer to any mother- tongue speaker of English.
See: US English.
Americanism
This term refers to:
1 words borrowed into US
English from American Indian languages:
moccasin
wampum
from African languages:
jamboree jazz
from Dutch, French, German,
Spanish, Yiddish:
cookie prairie
pretzel rodeo lox
2
words or expressions which originated in the USA:
palimony realtor
bark up the wrong tree
be between a rock and a hard
place
3
words and word forms now obsolescent or
obsolete in UK English:
closet gotten
4
words which are characteristic of US (and
often Canadian) usage:
condo (UK flat)
elevator (UK lift)
railroad (UK railway)
See: UK and US words, US English.
Amerindian influences
The languages of the Indians of both North and South America (Amerindians) have contributed a
considerable number of words to US and world English, some directly and some
through French and Spanish. Many of these are the names of New World animals:
coyote raccoon skunk
natural
phenomena:
hurricane
pampas
food:
chilli tomato
potato
clothing:
moccasin
poncho
cultural items:
caucus pow-wow
totem
and a number of place names such
as:
Okefenokee
Tallahassee Yosemite
See: Americanism,
US English.
