fixed (adj.)

A term used in LINGUISTICS and PHONETICS to refer to an unchanging aspect of the STRUCTURE of a linguistic UNIT; opposed to FREE. It occurs in such phrases as ‘fixed STRESS’ (i.e. the stress always falling on a particular SYLLABLE in a WORD, e.g. the penultimate syllable in Welsh), and ‘fixed WORD-ORDER’ (i.e. languages with word-order patterns that cannot be altered without a change of MEANING, e.g. English).