markedness
- noun
- /ˈmɑrkɪdnəs/
- Specialized
:
marcación
- And on top of this everyday evidence, known to every normal human being, there is a vast body of empirical evidence in the linguistic literature on language universals and markedness that constitutes a compelling argument that the concept of opposition that is actually at work in language is that of asymmetrical opposition.
Examples
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The markedness of the adjective 'tall' is evident when comparing it to the more neutral adjective 'big'.
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This estimate certainly conforms with the markedness of second-person writing.
Academic text (1994) -
The simplest figure also doesn't show one of the most striking aspects of this finding: the relative markedness of these posts.
Blog text (13) -
As second-person texts become more and more common, their markedness also decreases apace and, particularly in the realm of the second-person reflectoral short story, this point of conventional inconspicuousness has now very nearly been reached.
Academic text (1994) -
In linguistic analysis, markedness helps us understand how certain forms carry more meaning than their unmarked counterparts.
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The professor explained the concept of markedness in relation to how languages often distinguish between regular and irregular verbs.
Synonyms
4
6.0
A quality that makes someone or something stand out from others
1
5.5
How clear and easy to recognize a shape or sound is
A feature of sounds or words that makes different meanings clear
How easy it is to see that something is different from others
Antonyms
How Distinct
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Markedness comes from the word mark ('a sign' or 'to show') plus the ending -ness that makes it a quality. Think of a mark that makes something stand out—so in language study, markedness is the quality of being different or special compared with the usual or neutral form.