Linguistic Categories and Concepts Defined

Understanding the Difference Between Homophones, Homonyms, and More!

© Kelly Whitt

Sep 8, 2008

What is a Spoonerism? What is an acronym? Many linguistic categories are explained here with helpful examples.

Definitions and Examples of Linguistic Concepts

• Acronyms - Acronyms are words that are produced using the first letter of other words. Acronyms are often used in government and business. Some examples of common acronyms are NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus).

• Anagrams - Anagrams are words or phrases created by the rearrangement of letters from other words or phrases. JK Rowling has used anagrams in her Harry Potter series, such as when "Tom Marvolo Riddle" was rearranged to spell "I am Lord Voldemort". As a simple example, "flea" is an anagram of "leaf".

• Calques - A calque is sometimes called a loan translation. A calque is when a word, phrase, or expression is formed from the direct translation of words in other languages. For example, the English "Milky Way" comes from the Latin "via lactea".

• Capitonyms - A capitonym is a word that has a different meaning and may be pronounced differently in capitalized form. For example, "The Polish woman used polish on her nails."

• Eponyms - Eponyms are words that come into the language from a person's name. For example, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, gave the English language the word "aphrodisiac".

• Euphemisms - Euphemisms are words used in place of more offensive terms. Euphemisms substitute more agreeable words with terms that may not be fit for all audiences. Euphemism are often used in sexual conversations and also in politics. One example is when President Reagan described his $21.7-billion in "new receipt proposals," also known as "taxes".

• Holorimic Phrases - Holorimic phrases are words that, when spoken, sound like something else. The game Mad Gab is based on holorimic phrases. For example, "Isle of View" can sound like "I love you".

• Homographs - Homographs are two or more words that are spelled the same but differ in pronunciation and meaning. For example, "The dove glided through the air while the eagle dove toward the ground."

• Homonyms - Homonyms are two or more words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different meanings. An example: "It's best not to court your tennis opponent while on the court."

• Homophones - Homophones are two or more words that are pronounced the same but differ in spelling and meaning. The words "four, for, and fore" are homophones. A sentence with two homophones would be "I need you to knead this dough for me."

• Idioms - Idioms are expressions whose meanings are not always understood by a literal interpretation of the words. For example, if your boyfriend is "skating on thin ice," he is likely to get himself in trouble.

• Portmanteau Words - Portmanteau words are words that are blended together to make one new word and carry the meaning of the two blended words. For example, smoke and fog make smog, while situation and comedy gives us sitcom.

• Spoonerisms - Spoonerisms are phrases that come from a man named William A. Spooner, who had a habit of transposing letters in words to come up with new, often humorous, phrases. Spoonerisms can be accidental or intentional. The words "lard" and "yawn" can be Spoonerisms for "yard" and "lawn". A phrase attributed to William Spooner was "a scoop of boy trouts" instead of "a troop of Boy Scouts".

Although there are many different classifications of types of words and linguistic concepts, with a little practice it becomes easy to sort out what is a homophone and what is a homonym. This handy guide will help students easily understand these sometimes tricky concepts.

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