Linguistics and Language Evolution

“Ama/ami” are the root words which mean “love”.

“path” is the root word which means feel/suffer”.

“Par” is the root word which means “equal”.

The prefix 'retro' means 'back' or 'backward' in Latin. All the given words contain this root: Retrospect means looking back, Retrograde means moving backward, Retract means pulling back, and Retrogressive means going backward in development.

“arch” is the root word which means “chief”.

One of two or more words that have the same spelling but differ in origin, meaning, and sometimes pronunciation, such as fair (pleasing in appearance) and fair (market) or wind (wnd) and wind (wnd).

A lexicographer is a person who compiles dictionaries. Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.

A phoneme is a basic unit of a language's phonology, which is combined with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words or morphemes. The phoneme can be described as the smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of meaning.

Prescription or prescriptivism is the practice of championing one variety or manner of speaking of a language against another.

The particular speech pattern used by an individual is termed as an idiolect.

In linguistics, code-switching occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation. Multilinguals—speakers of more than one language—sometimes use elements of multiple languages when conversing with each other. Thus, code-switching is the use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner consistent with the syntax and phonology of each variety.

A polyseme is a word or phrase with different, but related sense.

A malapropism (also called a dogberryism) is the use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance.

Collocations are partly or fully fixed expressions that become established through repeated context-dependent use. Such terms as 'crystal clear', 'middle management', 'nuclear family' and 'cosmetic surgery' are examples of collocated pairs of words.

Different interpretations of the meanings of certain words. For example, the word weed can be interpreted as an undesirable plant in a yard, or as a euphemism for marijuana.