different between telic vs melic

English

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek ??????? (telikós, “final”), from ????? (télos, “end”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ti?l?k/

Adjective

telic (comparative more telic, superlative most telic)

1. Tending or directed towards a goal or specific end.
   • 2001, Michael Argyle, The Psychology of Happiness, 2nd Edition, page 129,

     They were asked to rate the 36 activities for how purposeful they were. […] Comparing the 10 most telic and the 10 most paratelic we found that the paratelic leisure activities were thought to involve less skill or challenge; they were also judged to satisfy social needs more, and to be more enjoyable.
2. (grammar) That expresses an end or purpose.
   • 1995, Michela Cennamo, Patterns of 'Active' Syntax in Late Latin Pleonastic Reflexives, John Charles Smith, Delia Bentley (editors), Historical Linguistics 1995: Selected Papers from the 12th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Volume 1: General Issues and Non-Germanic Languages, page 39,

     In this framework, verbs denoting directed change of location, such as Italian andare 'go', instantiate Core Unaccusativity, in that they have a Theme subject and are the most telic, concrete, dynamic.

   • 2000, Niko Besnier, Tuvaluan: A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific, 2002, page 495,

     Similarly, verb forms that can govern either transitive or middle-case marking (cf. 2.1.3.1.2(c)) are more telic in their transitive manifestations.

   • 2015, Pierre-Don Giancarli, Auxiliary selection with intransitive and reflexive verbs: the limits of gradience and scalarity, followed by a proposal, Rolf Kailuweit, Malte Rosemeyer (editors), Auxiliary Selection Revisited: Gradience and Gradualness, page 82,

     Moreover, let us remember that some verbs can be telic and agentive at the same time: if one looks at the ASH category n°1 (change of location), i.e. the verbs considered the most telic, like FF arriver (arrive), partir (leave), venir (come), revenir (come back) (Sorace 2000:256), old Spanish huir (run away) and escapar (escape) (Legendre 2007), do they not bear an agentive component?

3. (linguistics) That expresses the perfective aspect.

Antonyms

• (directed towards a specific end): paratelic
• (grammar: expressing an end or purpose): atelic

Derived terms

• paratelic
• telic aspect

Related terms

• telicity

See also

• teleo-
• teleology

References

• “telic, a.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]

Anagrams

• cleit

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?m?l?k/

Etymology 1

From Latin melicus, from Koine Greek ??????? (melikós), from Ancient Greek ????? (mélos, “song, lyric”).

Adjective

melic (comparative more melic, superlative most melic)

1. Of or pertaining to Greek lyric verse. [from 17th c.]
   • 1962, WH Auden & Elizabeth Mayer, translating JW Goethe, Italian Journey, Penguin 1970, p. 315:

     I dined at their house, and in the evening, Miss Hart gave a demonstration of her musical and melic [transl. melischen] talents.

Related terms

• melody
• melos

Etymology 2

From translingual Melica (genus name), probably from Italian melica, meliga (“sorghum, millet”).

Noun

melic (plural melics)

1. Any of various grasses, of the genus Melica, from north temperate regions. [from 18th c.]

Translations

Anagrams

• clime

Catalan

Etymology

Latin umbil?cus, with rebracketing of l'omelic ? lo melic. Doublet of llombrígol.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /m??lik/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /me?lik/
• Rhymes: -ik

Noun

melic m (plural melics)

1. navel

   Synonym: llombrígol

Further reading

• “melic” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “melic” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.

References