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glossary.
acceptable: in accord with both descriptive and prescriptive rules. See
grammatical, unacceptable.
acquisition of language: a process by which children develop the rules of
competence in their native language; based on genetic predisposition and
exposure to language rather than on formal teaching.
ambiguity, ambiguous: having two or more clearly distinct interpretations.
analytic (also called descriptive) linguistics: that branch of language study that
attempts to analyze whole languages or parts of languages, proposing descriptive
rules.
applied linguistics: that branch of language study that (ideally) employs
theory and description for practical purposes—e.g., first language teach-
ing, especially composition; second language teaching; translation; language
policy; etc.
arbitrary, arbitrariness: the idea that languages may associate any mean-
ing with any sounds.
bilingual (also multilingual): personal or societal use of two or more lan-
guages.
causal: one thing causes another, e.g., exams cause stress.
competence: (native) speakers’ unconscious knowledge of the rules of their lan-
guage.
components of language: the interrelated sub-parts of a model of lan-
guage, specifically phonology, morphology, orthography, syntax, semantics,