| 释义 |
gradience, n. Chiefly Linguistics.|ˈgreɪdɪəns|
[f. gradient a. and n.: see -ence.]
The property of being continuously variable between two (esp. apparently disjunct) values, categories, etc.; an instance of this property, a continuum. Cf. *squish n. 4.
1961D. L. Bolinger Generality, Gradience & All-or-None iii. 23 A more extreme case of interrupted gradience would be something like the vowel scale in English applied in a phonesthetic way to notions of size. 1976[see *squish n. 4]. 1978Amer. Speech LIII. 29 The results are given in table 1, which clearly shows a gradience in pronominal selection, ranging for they from 100 percent to zero. 1988Appl. Linguistics IX. 21 Leech and Coates..adopt a gradience model in order to account for some aspects of the indeterminacy of modal verbs. |