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AN ESSENTIAL GLOSSARY

English linguists have developed a terminology that in several cases does not correspond the the one most frequently used in the description of classical languages and of the other modern European languages. Quite a few terms are "false friends", words that are similar to Italian terms but have a different meaning. This very short glossary lists the most important terms of this type and gives the most usual Italian translation for each of them.

Accent

Varietà regionale di pronuncia

Adverbial (of manner, place, time)

Complemento (di modo, luogo, tempo)

Clause (main c., subordinate c.)

Proposizione (principale, dipendente)

Complement (subject c., object c.)

Predicativo (del soggetto, dell'oggetto)

Dialect

Varietà diatopica, regioletto

Linking (verb)

(Verbo) copulativo

Nominal

Sintagma nominale

Phrase

Sintagma

- noun phrase

- sintagma nominale

- verb phrase

- sintagma verbale

- prepositional phrase

- sintagma preposizionale

Object

(Complemento) oggetto

Sentence

Frase

Voice (active, passive) [in syntax]

Diatesi, forma (attiva, passiva)

Voice [in phonetics]

Sonorità

- voiced, voiceless (consonant)

- (consonante) sonora, sorda

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

A

Adverbial

Complemento

A/M

Adverbial of manner

Compl. di modo

A/P

Adverbial of place

Compl. di luogo

A/T

Adverbial of time

Compl. di tempo

Adv

Adverb

Avverbio

Ag

Agent

Complemento di agente

Aj

Adjectival

Sintagma aggettivale

Aux

Auxiliary

Ausiliare

C

(in sintassi) Complement

Predicativo

C

(in fonologia) Consonant

Consonante, contoide

ELT

English Language Teaching

 Didattica dell'inglese

ESP

English for Specific Purposes

 L'inglese "per scopi specifici", ossia scientifico-tecnico

Excl

Exclamation/Exclamative

Esclamazione/Esclamativo

freq

frequency

frequenza

io

indirect object

comp. oggetto indiretto

KP

kernel pattern

struttura nucleare (frase minima)

n.

noun

nome

N

Nominal

Sintagma nominale

NP

noun phrase

Sintagma nominale

O

Object

(Complemento) oggetto

oc

object compement

predicativo dell'oggetto

ov

object of verb

oggetto del verbo

rov

retained object of verb

Vedi § 1.1.2 (forme passive)

roc

retained object complement

Vedi § 1.1.2 (forme passive)

S

Subject

Soggetto

sc

subject complement

predicativo del soggetto

sv

subject of verb

soggetto del verbo

v.

verb

verbo

V

(in phonology) Vowel

Vocale, vocoide

V

(in syntax) Verb

Verbo

V-be

be

il verbo be

V-in

Verb, intransitive

Verbo intransitivo

V-L

Verb, linking

Verbo copulativo

V-P

verb, passive

verbo al passivo

V-tr

Verb, transitive

Verbo transitivo

VP

Verb phrase

Sintagma verbale

In the analysis of verb forms:

V (or Vø)

The simple form of the verb (e.g.: play, take, do)

V-s

The 3rd pers. sing. of the present (plays, takes, does)

V-ed

The Simple Past form (played, took, did)

V-en

The Past Participle form (played, taken, done)

V-ing

The '-ing form' (playing, taking, doing)

to-V

The infinitive (to play, to take, to do)

N.B. The mark * has two different uses:

  1. to denote the presence of linking-r in phonetic transcriptions; in this case the mark is placed at the end of the string of symbols;
  2. to mark incorrect and/or unacceptable forms; in this case the symbol is placed before the word, phrase, sentence, etc. to which it refers.

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