What does linguistic mean?
Word: Linguistic
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Linguistic means connected with language or the study of languages.
Synonyms: language-related
Word origin: Comes from Latin lingua, 'tongue' or 'language'.
How do you spell linguistic?
Syllables: lin - guis - tic
Tricky part: Students drop the u after the g and write lingistic or lingustic; that u gives the w sound in the middle of the word.
Watch out for: lingustic, lingwistic, linguistik
Memory tip: Language and linguistic come from the same Latin word, and both keep a u straight after the g.
Linguistic in a sentence
Example 1: Mumbai has great linguistic variety, with Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English heard on one street.
Example 2: She has a linguistic talent and picked up Kannada in a few months.
Example 3: Our project on linguistic families showed how Tamil and Telugu are related.
Fun Fact
Many Indian states were redrawn on linguistic lines by the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, so that people who shared a language lived in the same state.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is misspelt. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. pronunciation 2. dialect 3. linguistick 4. vocabulary
a) all the words a person knows or uses
b) the way in which a word is spoken
c) a form of a language spoken in one region
d) connected with language or the study of languages
Show answer
d) connected with language or the study of languages. Vocabulary, pronunciation and dialect are spelt correctly; linguistic ends in a plain c, like music and magic.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
linguisstic
a) t
b) n
c) g
d) s
Show answer
d) s. A single s sits in the middle syllable, guis, just before the t.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The csiinglitu map of India shows where each major language is spoken.
a) lingual
b) linguist
c) logistic
d) linguistic
Show answer
d) linguistic. Logistic needs an o, lingual needs an a, and linguist leaves the c and one i unused; only linguistic takes every letter.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to linguistic as used in the sentence:
Moving between Tamil, Hindi and English every day has sharpened Kavya's linguistic skills.
a) musical
b) verbal
c) athletic
d) artistic
Show answer
b) verbal. Linguistic skills are skills with words and language, which is what verbal skills are.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A linguistic survey of a village would record ____.
a) which dialects people use at home
b) how many children attend school
c) which crops the farmers grow
d) how many wells the village has
Show answer
a) which dialects people use at home
2. A linguistic error in an essay is a mistake in ____.
a) the number of pages
b) the page margins
c) the handwriting size
d) grammar or word use
Show answer
d) grammar or word use
