| 1-2 | Pike’s phonetic vowel. |
| 2-3 | Far from the speaker. |
| The voice box. |
| 1 V | O | ||||
| C | O | ||||
| I | D 2 | ||||
| T | S | ||||
| 3 L | A | ||||
| R | Y | ||||
| N | X 4 | ||||
To complete this first Word Ladder, fill in six-
To illustrate the basic concept, a completed sample Word Ladder is provided.
If you think you’ve solved the puzzle, submit your solution to the editors of SpecGram by May 15, 2014, and you could win a prize.* Solutions and winners will be announced in the June issue.
| 1-2 | post, slash, and because notwithstanding, describes the class of prepositions. |
| 2-3 | To engage in lexicography. |
| 3-4 | To pragmatically require the truth of another statement. |
| 4-5 | Saussure’s nature of the signifier. |
| 5-6 | /æ/, in the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. |
| 6-7 | The function of here, there, me, we, you, now, then, that, this, the former, and the latter. |
| 7-8 | Digital ______ processing. |
| 8-9 | Of /ɱ/, /ɸ/, /ⱱ/, /ʙ/, or /m̥/. |
| 9-10 | The blade of the tongue. |
| What you need not do to rhetorical questions. |
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 8 | |||||
| 9 | |||||
| 10 | |||||
| 11 | |||||
The solution to last month’s Linguistics Acronym Word Search is provided below, along with a list of the acronyms found in the grid (shown in red) and their expansions. Also shown is some additional detritus we found lurking in the puzzle grid (shown in green). Sorry for any inconvenience it may have caused (not really).
The following puzzlemeisters submitted passably accurate solutions and will receive prizes:
Hannah Roberts • Kevin Roon • Vince Wilson
Honorable mentions go to Declan Whitford Jones, Mairead Whitford Jones, and Olivia Doherty. They get no prizes, but the glory accrued unto them is immeasurable.
| AP | Adjective/ |
| ASL | American Sign Language |
| ATR | Advanced Tongue Root |
| BPS | Bare Phrase Structure |
| CA | Conversation Analysis |
| CAT | Communication Accommodation Theory |
| CFG | Context- |
| CHILDES | Child Language Data Exchange System |
| DM | Discourse Marker |
| DO | Direct Object |
| DOM | Differential Object Marking |
| DP | Determiner Phrase |
| DS | Different Subject |
| ECG | Embodied Construction Grammar |
| ECP | Empty Category Principle |
| EFL | English as a Foreign Language |
| ELDP | Endangered Languages Documentation Programme |
| ELF | Endangered Language Fund |
| ESL | English as a Second Language |
| EST | Extended Standard Theory |
| FL | Faculty of Language |
| GB | Government and Binding |
| GP | Government Phonology |
| GPSG | Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar |
| GT | Generalized Transformation |
| HPSG | Head- |
| ID | Immediate Dominance |
| IJAL | International Journal of American Linguistics |
| IO | Indirect Object |
| IP | Inflectional Phrase |
| IPA | International Phonetic Alphabet |
| IU | Intonation Unit |
| LAD | Language Acquisition Device |
| LDC | Linguistic Data Consortium |
| LFG | Lexical Functional Grammar |
| LI | Linguistic Inquiry |
| LP | Linear Precedence |
| LSA | Linguistic Society of America |
| LTBA | Linguistics of the Tibeto- |
| MP | Minimalist Program |
| MPI | Max Planck Institute |
| NLP | Natural Language Processing |
| NP | Noun Phrase |
| NSM | Natural Semantic Metalanguage |
| OCP | Obligatory Contour Principle |
| OED | Oxford English Dictionary |
| OT | Optimality Theory |
| OV | Object Verb (word order) |
| PIE | Proto- |
| POS | Part of Speech |
| PP | Prepositional/ |
| QP | Quantifier Phrase |
| REST | Revised Extended Standard Theory |
| RG | Relational Grammar |
| RRG | Role and Reference Grammar |
| RST | Rhetorical Structure Theory |
| SAI | Subject- |
| SAP | Speech Act Participant |
| SFG | Systemic Functional Grammar |
| SOAS | School of Oriental and African Studies |
| SPE | Sound Pattern of English |
| SS | Same Subject |
| ST | Standard Theory |
| STEDT | Sino- and Thesaurus |
| TAM | Tense, Aspect, Mood |
| TESOL | Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages |
| TG | Transformational Grammar |
| TGG | Transformational Generative Grammar |
| UG | Universal Grammar |
| VO | Verb Object (word order) |
| VP | Verb Phrase |
| WALS | World Atlas of Language Structures |
Detritus
analyze, book, case, chomsky, diachrony, discourse, elegant, emic, etic, grammarian, lexicography, mood, morphology, occam, paradigm, parameter, phonology, pragmatics, semantics, speculative, statistics, syllable, synchrony, syntax, voice
* Note that SpecGram Anti-
† Except where taxed, prohibited by law, or otherwise restricted, constrained, limited, regulated, controlled, hindered, impeded, hampered, obstructed, checked, curbed, shackled, confined, or otherwise subject to thesaural interference.