Solecism
- Solecism
[http://www.bartleby.com/81/15630.html Brewer's "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable"] explains solecism as follows:
Misapplication of words; an expression opposed to the laws of syntax; so called from the city of Soli, in Cilicia, where an Athenian colony settled, and forgot the purity of their native language.
In prescriptive linguistics, a solecism is a grammatical mistake or absurdity. Here are some examples of usages often regarded as solecisms in standard English:
* "This is just between you and I" for "This is just between you and me." (hypercorrection to avoid the common, non-standard "you and me" form in the subject of sentences while "me" is, nonetheless, the standard pronoun for the object of a preposition.)
* "He ain't going nowhere" for "He isn't [or he's not] going anywhere." (dialectic usage; see "ain't")
* "Whom ate the food?" for "Who ate the food?" (hypercorrection resulting from the perception that "whom" is a formal version of "who")
* "He's the person whom I believe is the fastest" for "He's the person who I believe is the fastest." (hypercorrection resulting from the perception that the relative pronoun is functioning as an object in the dependent clause when, in fact, it is a subject, with the predicate "is the fastest"; contrast "whom I believe to be the fastest," in which "whom" is the object of "I believe")
* "Irregardless" for Regardless (nonstandard neologism from analogy with constructions like "irreverent" and "irrevocable," where the negative prefix in- changes to ir-).
What is considered a solecism in one register of a language may be acceptable usage in another. For example, "The world keeps turning for you and I" (10cc) is acceptable as a song lyric ("see poetic license") but is considered a solecism in standard English. Rejecting convention in favor of consensus, modern descriptive linguistics generally dismisses the notion of solecisms, concentrating on how language "is" used, rather than how it "ought" to be used.
Note that a "solecism" is an error of syntax, while a "barbarism" is an error of morphology.
See also
* Corruption (grammar)
* Disputed English grammar
* Fowler's Modern English Usage
* Prescription and description
* Soli, Cilicia
* Lolcats
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
:
Look at other dictionaries:
Solecism — Sol e*cism, n.[F. sol[ e]cisme, L. soloecismus, Gr. soloikismo s, fr. soloiki zein to speak or write incorrectly, fr. so loikos speaking incorrectly, from the corruption of the Attic dialect among the Athenian colonists of So loi in Cilicia.] 1.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
solecism — SOLECÍSM, solecisme, s.n. Greşeală de sintaxă (neadmisă de normele limbii literare). – Din fr. solécisme, lat. soloecismus. Trimis de LauraGellner, 23.07.2004. Sursa: DEX 98 solecísm s. n., pl. solecísme Trimis de siveco, 10.08.2004. Sursa:… … Dicționar Român
solecism — index catachresis, irregularity, misuse Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
solecism — 1570s, from M.Fr. solécisme, from L. soloecismus mistake in speaking or writing, from Gk. soloikismos to speak (Greek) incorrectly, from soloikos ungrammatical utterance, properly a speaking like the people of Soloi, from Soloi, Athenian colony… … Etymology dictionary
solecism — *anachronism … New Dictionary of Synonyms
solecism — ► NOUN 1) a grammatical mistake. 2) an instance of bad manners or incorrect behaviour. DERIVATIVES solecistic adjective. ORIGIN Greek soloikismos, from soloikos speaking incorrectly … English terms dictionary
solecism — [säl′ə siz΄əm] n. [L soloecismus < Gr soloikismos < soloikos, speaking incorrectly, after Soloi, city in Cilicia, whose dialect was a corrupt form of Attic] 1. a violation of the conventional usage, grammar, etc. of a language;… … English World dictionary
Solecism — (Roget s Thesaurus) < N PARAG:Solecism >N GRP: N 1 Sgm: N 1 solecism solecism Sgm: N 1 bad grammar bad grammar false grammar faulty grammar Sgm: N 1 slip of the pen slip of the pen slip of the tongue Sgm: N 1 lapsus linguae lapsus linguae… … English dictionary for students
Solecism — A grammatical mistake, a blunder, or any deviation from correct idiom is, in English, termed a solecism. The word s history can be traced to the Greek city of Soloi in ancient Cilicia, which was in what is today southern Turkey. Soloi was… … Dictionary of eponyms
solecism — UK [ˈsɒlɪˌsɪz(ə)m] / US [ˈsɑləˌsɪzəm] noun [countable] Word forms solecism : singular solecism plural solecisms formal 1) a mistake in the use of language 2) something that is not considered to be polite behaviour … English dictionary
