multi-word lexical unitn
a sequence of word forms which functions as a single grammatical unit.
For example “look into” which is used in the same way as “investigate”.
Multi-word units tend to acquire meanings which are not predictable from
the individual parts, in which case they are often described as idioms.
mutationn
a change in a sound, as in the formation of some irregular noun plurals in
English by a change in an internal vowel, e.g. foot – feet, man – men, mouse
- mice.
The term “mutation” is used when the sound change is due to the phonetic
environment of the sound that changes. In the examples, mutation was due
to other vowels that were present in earlier forms of the words but have
since disappeared.
mutual intelligibilityn
a situation where speakers of two closely related or similar language
varieties understand one another such as speakers of Spanish and Portuguese.
The degree of mutual intelligibility depends on the amount of shared vocabu-
lary, similarity in pronunciation, grammar, etc., as well as non-linguistic
factors such as relative status of the languages, attitudes towards the
languages and the amount of exposure that speakers have had to each
other’s language.
mutual intelligibility