When a binary feature can be used to distinguish between two phonemes,
like voice with /d/ and /t/, the phonemes are in binary opposition(see also
distinctive feature).
Binary features are also used to describe the semantic properties of words
(see also semantic features).binary oppositionn
see binary feature
binding principlen
(in Government /Binding Theory) a principle which states whether or not
expressions in a sentence refer to someone or something outside their clause
or sentence or whether they are “bound” within it.
For example, in:
Ann hurt herself.
Ann is a referring expression referring to someone in the real world and
herself is an anaphor referring to Ann. It is said to be “bound” to Ann.
In the sentence:
Ann hurt her.
the her is a pronominal (see pronoun) which refers to another person in the
real world who may or may not have been mentioned in a previous sentence
or utterance. It is not “bound” to Ann.
In second language research, investigations have been made into the
Binding Principle in languages other than English, e.g. Korean, and how
this may affect the acquisition of English.
see also bounding theory
binding theoryn
part of the government/binding theory. It examines connections between
noun phrases in sentences and explores the way they relate and refer to each
other (see binding principle)
biolinguisticsn
a branch of linguistics that studies language in relation to the biological
characteristics of humans, particularly features of anatomy and physiology.
bioprogram hypothesisn
the hypothesis that children are born with inborn abilities to make basic
semantic distinctions that lead to particular types of grammar. According
to the bioprogram hypothesis, some creole languages show the underlying
structures of the bioprogram, as do some of the early features used by children
when they acquire their first language.
binary opposition