synchronic linguistics
synchronic linguistics
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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synchronic linguistics
the study of a language at a given point in time. The time studied may be either the present or a particular point in the past; synchronic analyses can also be made of dead languages, such as Latin. Synchronic linguistics is contrasted with diachronic linguistics (or historical linguistics; q.v.), the study of a language over a period of time. In the 20th century, synchronic description has come to be regarded as prior to diachronic description; the latter presupposes that synchronic descriptions at various stages of the development of a language have already been carried out. Previously, linguists had placed emphasis on diachronic linguistics. The terminological distinction between synchronic and diachronic linguistics was first made by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913).
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| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
