Barbarism (grammar)

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Barbarism is a term used by some people to refer to a non-standard pronunciation, word or expression in a language. For example, the use of the word nucular instead of the word nuclear is a barbarism.[citation needed] The term is little used by linguists today, because of its pejorative tone, and the fact that it not clearly defined.

The word barbarism was originally used by the Greeks for foreign terms used in their language. [citation needed] As such, Anglicisms in other languages, or Gallicisms (such as using the verb to assist to mean to be present at (cf. the French assister)), Germanisms, Hispanisms and so forth in English can also be construed as examples of barbarisms.

Note that a barbarism is an error of morphology, while a solecism is an error of syntax. [citation needed]

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