subset principle n
see learnability theory
subskills n
another term for microskills
substandard adj
a term which expresses a negative value judgement on any part of the
speech or writing of a person or group that does not conform to the stan-
dard variety of a language and is therefore thought to be undesirable. For
example, the double negative used in some dialects of English:
I don’tknow nothing.
would be considered by some people as substandard. A more neutral term
used by linguists for forms which do not belong to the standard variety of a
language is nonstandard.
substantive n
a term sometimes used for a noun or any word which can function as a
noun, such as a pronoun, an adjective (e.g. in the old), a gerund, etc.
substantive universal n
see language universal
substitution n
an errorin which the learner substitutes a form from one language
(usually the learner’s first language) for a form in the target language^1
For example a French speaker may say “I’ll be leaving demain” instead of
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow”.
substitution drill n
seedrill
substitution table n
(in language teaching) a table which shows the items that may be substi-
tuted at different positions in a sentence. A substitution table can be used to
produce many different sentences by making different combinations of
items. For example:
subset principle