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By Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide since 2006

rhythm Created: Friday, July 03, 2009 Updated: Tuesday, June 18, 2013
(1) In phonetics, the sense of movement in speech, marked by the stress, timing, and quantity of syllables. (2) In poetics, the recurring alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of soun...
prosody Created: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, June 18, 2013
(1) In phonetics, the use of pitch, loudness, tempo, and rhythm in speech to convey information about the structure and meaning of an utterance. (2) In literary studies, the theory and principles o...
intonation phrase (IP) Created: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, June 18, 2013
In phonetics, a stretch (or chunk) of spoken material that has its own intonation pattern.
intonation Created: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, June 18, 2013
In linguistics, the use of changing vocal pitch to convey grammatical information or personal attitude.
emphasis Created: Monday, June 08, 2009 Updated: Tuesday, June 18, 2013
The placement of words and ideas in key positions to give them special weight and prominence.
intonation contour Created: Monday, June 17, 2013 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
In speech, a distinctive pattern of pitches, tones, or stresses in an utterance.
question Created: Saturday, June 19, 2010 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
A type of sentence expressed in a form that requires (or appears to require) an answer.
Self-Reliance, by Ralph Waldo Emerson Created: Monday, February 12, 2007 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
One of Emerson's central doctrines--"Trust thyself"--is the theme developed in his well-known essay on "Self-Reliance."
2013 Blog Archive for Grammar & Composition Created: Tuesday, January 08, 2013 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
Keep up with this year's posts at About.com Grammar & Composition.
homonyms Created: Sunday, February 11, 2007 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
Two or more words that have the same sound or spelling but differ in meaning.
polysemy Created: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
The association of one word with two or more distinct meanings.
meaning Created: Friday, July 03, 2009 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
In semantics, the message conveyed by words, sentences, and symbols in a context.
lexicon Created: Sunday, April 15, 2007 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
(1) The collection of words--the internalized dictionary--that every speaker of the language has. (2) A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style.
syntactic ambiguity Created: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
The presence of two or more possible meanings within a single sentence or sequence of words.
lexical ambiguity Created: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
The presence of two or more possible meanings within a single word.
indexicality Created: Saturday, December 18, 2010 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
In pragmatics (and other branches of linguistics and philosophy), the features of a language that refer directly to the circumstances or context in which an utterance takes place.
ambiguity Created: Sunday, January 21, 2007 Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
The presence of two or more possible meanings in any passage.
disambiguation Created: Sunday, June 16, 2013 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
In linguistics, the process of determining which sense of a word is being used in a particular context.
Lay and Lie Created: Monday, December 31, 2007 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
The verb "lay" means to put; it takes a direct object. The verb "lie" means to rest; it does not take a direct object.
texting Created: Monday, April 12, 2010 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
The process of sending and receiving brief written messages using a cellular (mobile) phone or similar handheld device.
tense Created: Sunday, January 28, 2007 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
In grammar, tense is the time of a verb's action or state of being, such as present or past. future.
word-formation Created: Thursday, April 12, 2012 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
In linguistics, the ways in which new words are made on the basis of other words or morphemes.
word Created: Saturday, May 24, 2008 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
A sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or a combination of morphemes.
vocabulary acquisition Created: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
The process of learning the words of a language.
word lengthening Created: Saturday, June 15, 2013 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
In speech, extending or prolonging the sound of a word.
dysfluency (disfluency) Created: Monday, July 27, 2009 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
Speech that is not smoothly delivered or grammatically well formed.
textspeak Created: Friday, April 22, 2011 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
An informal term for the abbreviated language used in text messaging.
reduplicative Created: Saturday, August 02, 2008 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
A reduplicative is a word or lexeme that contains two identical or very similar parts.
tweet Created: Saturday, November 24, 2012 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
A short text (up to 140 characters) posted on Twitter, an online social-networking service.
uptalk Created: Saturday, August 15, 2009 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
A speech pattern in which phrases and sentences habitually end with a rising sound, as if the statement were a question.
colloquial Created: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
The characteristic of writing that seeks the effect of informal spoken language as distinct from formal or literary English.
accommodation Created: Friday, June 29, 2012 Updated: Sunday, June 16, 2013
In linguistics, the process by which participants in a conversation adjust their accent, diction, or other aspects of language according to the speech style of the other participant.

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