canonical (adj.)

An application in LINGUISTICS and PHONETICS of the general sense of this term, to refer to a linguistic FORM cited as a NORM or standard for purposes of comparison. In PHONOLOGY, for example, the normal syllabic combinations of sounds in a LANGUAGE (or in language as a whole) are often referred to as ‘canonical’, e.g. a CONSONANT-VOWEL (CV) or CVC structure constitutes a ‘canonical SYLLABLE’ pattern; an averaged waveform in automatic SPEECH RECOGNITION may be described as a ‘canonical waveform’. In MORPHOLOGY the term is used sometimes to refer to the typical phonological shape of MORPHEMES in a language (e.g. CVCV in Polynesian), and sometimes for the basic form in which a MORPHEME is cited (e.g. -s for the plural morpheme in English). In SYNTAX, canonical structures (such as WORD-ORDER) have been postulated, e.g. SUBJECT–VERB–OBJECT, but this is an extended sense of the term. In some SOCIOLINGUISTIC and PSYCHOLINGUISTIC studies, the normal position of human beings in relation to each other while conversing (i.e. face-to-face) is called a canonical encounter or orientation.