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A solecism is a
phrase In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...
that transgresses the rules of grammar. The term is often used in the context of
linguistic prescription Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...
; it also occurs descriptively in the context of a lack of idiomaticness.


Etymology

The word originally was used by the Greeks for what they perceived as grammatical mistakes in their language. The word was used to indicate ''to reduce something to absurdity''. Ancient
Athenians Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
considered the dialect of the inhabitants of
Soli, Cilicia Soli ( grc, Σόλοι, ''Sóloi''), often rendered Soli/Pompeiopolis ( grc, Πομπηϊούπολις), was an ancient city and port in Cilicia, 11 km west of Mersin in present-day Turkey. Geography Located in Southern Anatolia, on the ...
to be a corrupted form of their pure
Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...
dialect, and labelled the errors in the form as "solecisms" (
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: σολοικισμοί, ''soloikismoí''; sing.: σολοικισμός, ''soloikismós''). Therefore, when referring to similar grammatical mistakes heard in the speech of Athenians, they described them as "solecisms" and that term has been adopted as a label for grammatical mistakes in any language; in Greek there is often a distinction in the relevant terms in that a mistake in
semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy Philosophy (f ...
(i.e., a use of words with other-than-appropriate meaning or a neologism constructed through application of generative rules by an outsider) is called a ''barbarism'' ( ''barbarismos''), whereas ''solecism'' refers to mistakes in syntax, in the construction of sentences..


Examples


See also

*
Catachresis Catachresis (from Greek , "abuse"), originally meaning a semantic misuse or error—e.g., using "militate" for "mitigate", "chronic" for "severe", "travesty" for "tragedy", "anachronism" for "anomaly", "alibi" for "excuse", etc.—is also the na ...
* Disputed English grammar * ''
English as She Is Spoke , commonly known by the name ''English as She Is Spoke'', is a 19th-century book written by Pedro Carolino, with some editions crediting José da Fonseca as a co-author. It was intended as a Portuguese–English conversational guide or phrase boo ...
'' * ''
Fowler's Modern English Usage ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Covering topics such as plurals and literary technique, distinctions among like words ...
'' *
Malapropism A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to ...
*
Prescription and description Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...
*
Error (linguistics) In applied linguistics, an error is an unintended deviation from the immanent rules of a language variety made by a second language learner. Such errors result from the learner's lack of knowledge of the correct rules of the target language variety ...
* Zeugma, a rhetorical use of solecism for effect


References


External links

*{{Wiktionary-inline, solecism Grammar English grammar Ancient Greek Linguistic error Sociolinguistics es:Solecismo