Glossary of Grammar and Spelling Terms

Abkürzung (abbreviation, initialism, acronym)

Abkürzungspunkt (abbreviation dot, abbreviation period)

Ablaut (vowel gradation, apophony, ablaut)

Ableitung (derivation, word formation by derivation)

Abstraktum (abstract noun, abstract concept)

Abtrakta (abstract nouns)

Abtönungspartikel (modal particles, flavoring particles)

Ad-hoc-Bildung (ad hoc formation, spontaneous word creation, contextual compound)

Adjektiv (adjective)

Adjektivkomposition (adjective composition, compound adjective)

Adjektivreihung (order of adjectives, adjective sequence, adjective placement)

Adverb (adverb, modifier)

Adverbialkomposition (adverbial composition, formation of words with adverbs)

Affix (affix, bound morpheme, word-formation element)

Akkusativ (accusative case, direct object)

Akronym (acronym, pronounceable initialism)

Aktionsart (manner of action, lexical aspect, actionality)

Aktiv (active voice, active form)

Allomorph (allomorph, morphological variant, allomorphic realization)

Alphabet (alphabet)

Analogiefehler (analogy error, error by false analogy, overgeneralization error)

Anapher-Antezedens-Kongruenz (anaphora-antecedent agreement, congruence between anaphora and antecedent)

Anführungszeichen (quotation marks, speech marks)

Anglizismus (anglicism, English loanword, English linguistic influence)

Anrede (form of address, salutation, title)

Anredezeichen (salutation mark, salutation punctuation)

Apostroph (apostrophe, elision mark)

Appositionskomma (appositive comma, explanatory comma)

Artikel (article, determiner)

Aspekt (verbal aspect, grammatical aspect)

Assimilation (assimilation, phonetic adaptation)

Attribut (attribute, modifier, noun adjunct)

Attributives Adjektiv (attributive adjective, prepositive adjective)

Aufforderungssatz (imperative sentence, command, request)

Aufzählungseinleitung (introduction to an enumeration, list introduction, enumeration preamble)

Aufzählungskomma (serial comma, comma in a list)

Auslassungsapostroph (apostrophe of omission, elision apostrophe)

Auslassungspunkte (ellipsis, suspension points)

Auslautverhärtung (final-obstruent devoicing, terminal devoicing, final devoicing)

Ausrufesatz (exclamatory sentence, exclamation)

Ausrufezeichen (exclamation mark, exclamation point)

Aussagesatz (declarative sentence, statement, assertive sentence)

Bedeutungserweiterung (semantic broadening, meaning extension, semantic generalization)

Bedeutungsgegensatz (antonym, semantic opposition, opposite)

Bedeutungsnuance (nuance of meaning, semantic subtlety, difference in connotation)

Bedeutungsverengung (semantic narrowing, semantic restriction, meaning specialization)

Bedeutungswandel (semantic change, semantic shift, meaning evolution)

Bedeutungsähnlichkeit (semantic similarity, meaning similarity, semantic relatedness)

Begriffssystem (conceptual system, system of concepts, conceptual structure)

Beispieldoppelpunkt (colon for examples, explanatory colon)

Benennungslehre (theory of denomination, onomasiology)

Bestimmter Artikel (definite article)

Bindestrich (hyphen)

Bis-Strich (en dash, range dash)

Bruchzahl (fraction, fractional number)

Buchstabe (letter, character, alphabetic sign)

Dativ (dative case, indirect object)

Datumskomma (comma in dates)

Dehnungs-h (lengthening h, silent h for vowel lengthening)

Deklination (declension, nominal inflection)

Demonstrativpronomen (demonstrative pronouns, demonstrative adjectives)

Denotation (denotation, denotative meaning, literal meaning)

Derivation (derivation, word formation by affixation)

Determinativkompositum (determinative compound, determinative compound word)

Dialekt (dialect, regional speech, linguistic variety)

Diphthong (diphthong, vowel combination)

Divis (hyphen, dividing hyphen)

Doppelpunkt (colon, colon sign)

Doppelpunktankündigung (announcement with a colon, introduction with a colon)

Durchkopplung (through-hyphenation, linking with hyphens)

Eckige Klammer (square brackets, brackets)

Eigenname (proper noun, proper name)

Eindeutschung (Germanization, adaptation to German, linguistic assimilation)

Einschubkomma (parenthetical comma, comma for insertions)

Einsilber (monosyllabic word, monosyllable)

Elipsis mit Punkt (ellipsis, suspension points)

Epochenbezeichnung (epoch designation, name of an era, term for a historical period)

Erbwort (inherited word, native word, patrimonial word)

Ergänzungsstrich (suspensive hyphen, hanging hyphen, suspended hyphen)

Erklärungsdoppelpunkt (explanatory colon)

Eszett (eszett, sharp s)

Etymologie (etymology, study of word origins)

Exonym (exonym, foreign name)

Fachausdruck (technical term, specialized expression, term of art, jargon)

Fachbegriff (technical term, specialized term, technical concept)

Fachsprache (specialized language, technical language, professional jargon, terminology)

Fachwort (technical word, specialized word, term of art)

Feste Wendung (fixed expression, idiom, set phrase)

Finalsatz (clause of purpose, final clause)

Flexion (inflection, grammatical inflection)

Fokuspartikel (focus particles, focusing adverbs)

Fragesatz (interrogative sentence, question)

Fragezeichen (question mark)

Fremdwort (foreign word, unassimilated loanword)

Fugenelement (linking element, interfix)

Fugenmorphem (linking morpheme, linking element in compound words)

Funktionsverbgefüge (functional verb construction, verbo-nominal construction)

Futur (future tense)

Gattungsname (common noun, generic name)

Gedankenstrich (dash, em dash)

Genitiv (genitive, possessive case)

Genitiv-Apostroph (genitive apostrophe, possessive apostrophe in German)

Genus (grammatical gender, gender of nouns)

Genus Verbi (verbal voice, diathesis)

Geschweifte Klammer (curly bracket, brace)

Gliederungsfunktion (structuring function, discourse organizing function)

Gradpartikel (grading particles, intensifiers, degree particles)

Grammatik (grammar, grammatical rules, language structure)

Graphem (grapheme, graphic character, minimal graphic unit)

Groß- und Kleinschreibung (capitalization, use of uppercase and lowercase letters)

Guillemets (guillemets, chevrons, angled quotation marks)

Gänsefüßchen (quotation marks, speech marks)

Halbgeviertstrich (en dash)

Hauptsatz (main clause, principal clause, independent clause)

Hervorhebung (emphasis, highlighting, stress)

Hervorhebungskomma (comma for emphasis, highlighting comma)

Hilfsverb (auxiliary verb, helping verb)

Homograph (homograph)

Homophon (homophone)

Hybridbildung (hybrid formation, hybrid compound)

Hyperonymie (hypernymy, superordinate term, generic term)

Hyponymie (hyponymy, semantic inclusion relationship)

Idiom (idiom, set phrase, idiomatic expression)

Imperativ (imperative, imperative mood, command form)

Imperfekt (simple past, preterite, imperfect)

Indefinitpronomen (indefinite pronouns)

Indikativ (indicative mood, indicative)

Infinitivkomma (comma with an infinitive, comma before an infinitive)

Interferenz (linguistic interference, language transfer)

Interjektion (interjection, exclamation)

Internationalismus (internationalism, international word)

Interpunktion (punctuation, punctuation marks)

Interpunktionsfehler (punctuation error, punctuation mistake)

Interrogativpronomen (interrogative pronouns, question words)

Ironie-Anführungszeichen (irony quotes, scare quotes)

Jargon (jargon, technical language, professional slang)

Kardinalzahl (cardinal numbers)

Kasus (grammatical case, case)

Kausaladverb (causal adverbs, adverbs of cause, adverbs of reason)

Kausalsatz (causal clause, clause of reason)

Kinegramm (kinegram, kinetic expression)

Klammer (verbal bracket, sentence frame)

Kohyponymie (co-hyponymy)

Kollokation (collocation, lexical combination, word combination)

Komma (comma)

Kommasetzung (comma placement, use of commas, comma rules)

Komparation (comparison, gradation of adjectives and adverbs)

Komparativ (comparative, comparative degree)

Komposition (composition, compounding, compound word formation)

Kompositum (compound word, nominal compound, lexical composition)

Konditionalsatz (conditional clause, conditional sentence)

Kongruenz (agreement, concordance, grammatical congruence)

Konjugation (conjugation, verb inflection)

Konjunktion (conjunction, connecting word, linker)

Konjunktiv (subjunctive, subjunctive mood, conditional mood)

Konkretum (concrete noun)

Konnotation (connotation, connotative meaning, secondary association)

Konsekutivsatz (consecutive clause, clause of result)

Konsonant (consonant, consonantal sound)

Konsonantenhäufung (consonant clustering, consonant cluster)

Konsonantenverbindung (consonant combination, consonant group)

Konsonantenverdopplung (consonant doubling)

Konversion (conversion, zero derivation, change of grammatical category)

Konzessivsatz (concessive clause)

Koordinierende Konjunktion (coordinating conjunctions)

Kopulativkompositum (copulative compound, coordinate compound)

Kopulaverb (copular verb, linking verb, copula)

Kurzwort (abbreviated word, short form, clipping)

Laut (sound, phoneme, speech sound)

Lautgetreue Schreibung (phonetic spelling, phonemic orthography)

Lehnwort (loanword, borrowed word)

Lokaladverb (adverb of place, locative adverb)

Mittelfeld (middle field, central part of the sentence)

Modaladverb (modal adverb, adverb of manner, adverb of modality)

Modalsatz (modal clause, clause of manner)

Modalverb (modal verb, modal auxiliary verb)

Modewort (buzzword, fashionable word, vogue word)

Modus (mood, verbal modality, verb form)

Morphem (morpheme, minimal unit of meaning)

Morphologie (morphology, study of word structure)

Nachfeld (post-field, final position of the sentence, extraposition)

Nebensatz (subordinate clause, dependent clause)

Nebensatztyp (type of subordinate clause)

Neologismus (neologism, newly coined word)

Neubedeutung (new meaning, resemantization, semantic change)

Neubildung (neologism, new word formation, lexical creation)

Neuprägung (neologism, coinage, creation of new words)

Neuwort (neologism, new word)

Nomen (noun, substantive)

Nomenklatur (nomenclature, naming system, systematic classification)

Nominalisierung (nominalization)

Nominativ (nominative case, subject case)

Nullartikel (zero article, absence of article)

Numerale (numerals, numbers)

Numerus (grammatical number, number)

Okkasionalismus (occasionalism, nonce word, occasional coinage)

Ordinalzahl (ordinal numbers, ordinals)

Ordinalzahlpunkt (ordinal dot, ordinal number period)

Orthografie (orthography, spelling, spelling rules)

Orthografische Regel (orthographic rules, spelling rules)

Orthografische Variante (spelling variant, alternative spelling)

Orthographie (orthography, spelling rules)

Paarformel (paired formula, binomial expression)

Parenthese (parenthesis, parenthetical phrase, aside)

Partikel (particle, modal particle, flavoring particle)

Partikelverb (particle verb, separable verb)

Partizipkomma (participial comma, comma for participles)

Passiv (passive voice, passive)

Perfekt (present perfect tense, compound past)

Person (person, individual, human being)

Personalpronomen (personal pronouns)

Phonem (phoneme, minimal phonological unit, distinctive sound)

Phraseologie (phraseology, study of fixed expressions, study of idioms)

Plusquamperfekt (past perfect tense, pluperfect)

Positiv (positive, positive degree, base form)

Possessivkompositum (possessive compound, possessive compound word)

Possessivpronomen (possessive pronouns)

Pronomen (pronouns)

Prädikatives Adjektiv (predicative adjective, adjective in predicative function)

Präfigierung (prefixation, addition of prefixes)

Präfix (prefix)

Präposition (preposition)

Präsens (present tense, simple present)

Präteritum (simple past, preterite, past tense)

Punkt (period, full stop, dot)

Rechtschreibfehler (spelling mistake, spelling error)

Rechtschreibung (spelling, orthography, spelling rules)

Redeeinleitung (speech introduction, introductory phrase for speech)

Redensart (saying, idiom, set phrase, expression)

Redewendung (idiom, set phrase, idiomatic expression)

Reflexives Verb (reflexive verb)

Reflexivpronomen (reflexive pronouns)

Regelmäßiges Verb (regular verb, weak verb)

Regiolekt (regiolect, regional dialect)

Register (register, linguistic register, level of speech)

Relativpronomen (relative pronouns)

Relativsatz (relative clause)

Reziprokes Verb (reciprocal verb)

Rhetorisches Fragezeichen (rhetorical question mark)

Routineformel (routine formulas, set situational phrases, politeness formulas)

Runde Klammer (parentheses, round brackets)

Sammelbezeichnung (collective term, generic denomination, collective noun)

Satz (sentence, clause)

Satzabbruch (sentence interruption, broken-off sentence, anacoluthon)

Satzanfang (beginning of a sentence, sentence start)

Satzart (sentence type, clause type)

Satzbau (sentence structure, syntax, sentence construction)

Satzendzeichen (end-of-sentence punctuation, sentence terminators)

Satzzeichen (punctuation marks)

Satzzeichenhäufung (piling up of punctuation marks, punctuation clustering)

Schlagwort (keyword, catchphrase, slogan, buzzword)

Schreibdiphthong (orthographic diphthong, digraph vowel)

Schrägstrich (forward slash, slash)

Schwa-Laut (schwa, neutral vowel)

Semantik (semantics, study of meaning)

Semikolon (semicolon)

Silbe (syllable)

Silbentrennstrich (syllabification hyphen, word-division hyphen)

Silbentrennung (syllabification, syllable division)

Sinnverwandtschaft (semantic relationship, relatedness of meaning, semantic affinity)

Slang (slang, informal language, argot)

Soziolekt (sociolect, social dialect)

Spezialfall (special case, exception)

Sprachgeschichte (history of a language, linguistic history, language evolution)

Sprachvarietät (language variety, linguistic variant)

Sprechsilbe (spoken syllable, phonetic syllable)

Sprichwort (proverb, saying, adage)

Sprichwörtliche Redensart (proverbial phrase, idiom, set phrase, saying)

Stoffname (material noun, mass noun, substance name)

Streckenbindestrich (route dash, en dash for routes)

Strichpunkt (semicolon)

Subordinierende Konjunktion (subordinating conjunctions)

Substantiv (noun, substantive)

Substantivierung (nominalization)

Suffigierung (suffixation, adding suffixes)

Suffix (suffix, ending)

Superlativ (superlative, superlative degree)

Synesis (synesis, notional agreement, notional concord)

Syntax (syntax, sentence structure, rules of sentence formation)

Technolekt (technolect, technical language, technical jargon)

Temporaladverb (temporal adverb, adverb of time)

Temporalsatz (temporal clause, clause of time)

Tempus (tense, verb tense, temporal form)

Terminologienormung (terminology standardization)

Terminus (terminus, terminal station, end of the line)

Titelbezeichnung (title designation, formal address, honorific)

Transkription (transcription, phonetic transcription, phonetic representation)

Transliteration (transliteration)

Trennbares Verb (separable verbs, verbs with separable particles)

Umgangssprache (colloquial language, everyday speech, informal language)

Umlaut (umlaut, vowel mutation)

Unbestimmter Artikel (indefinite article)

Unregelmäßiges Verb (irregular verb, strong verb)

Untrennbares Verb (inseparable verb)

Urform (archetype, primordial form, original form, prototype)

Übergeneralisierung (overgeneralization)

Verb (verb)

Verbletztstellung (verb-final position, clause-final verb)

Verbzweitstellung (verb-second (V2) word order)

Verhältnisangabe (indication of proportion, expression of ratio)

Verteilungszahl (distribution number, distribution figure, frequency count)

Vervielfältigungszahl (reproduction number, reproduction factor)

Vokal (vowel, vowel sound)

Vokallänge (vowel length, vowel duration)

Vokalträger (vowel carrier, syllable nucleus, syllabic sound)

Volksetymologie (folk etymology, false etymology)

Vollverb (main verb, full verb, lexical verb)

Vorfeld (pre-field, initial position of the sentence, topic position)

Vorgangspassiv (processual passive, dynamic passive, passive of action)

Wechselpräposition (two-way prepositions, dual-case prepositions)

Werktitel (title of a work, work title)

Wort (word, term)

Wortart (part of speech, word class, grammatical category)

Wortbildung (word formation, lexical composition, morphology)

Wortergänzungsstrich (suspensive hyphen, hanging hyphen)

Wortfuge (compound joint, linking element seam)

Wortgeschichte (word history, etymology, lexical evolution)

Wortherkunft (etymology, word origin, lexical provenance)

Wortschatz (vocabulary, lexicon)

Wortstamm (stem, root, lexeme)

Wortstellung (word order, sentence structure, syntax)

Wunschsatz (optative sentence, wish clause, expression of desire)

Wurzel (root, radical, lexeme)

Wörtliche Rede (direct speech, direct quote)

Zeichensetzung (punctuation)

Zirkumfigierung (circumfixation, discontinuous affixation)

Zirkumfix (circumfix, discontinuous affix)

Zusammenrückung (syntactic compounding, juxtaposition)

Zusammensetzung (composition, compounding)

Zustandspassiv (statal passive, static passive, resultative passive)

Zwillingsformel (twin formula, binomial expression)