free (adj.)

A term used in a range of LINGUISTIC contexts to refer to a PHONOLOGICAL or GRAMMATICAL feature lacking a specific type of FORMAL CONSTRAINT. For example, a free form or free morpheme is a minimal grammatical UNIT which can be used as a WORD without the need for further MORPHOLOGICAL modification (opposed to BOUND); free word-order occurs when the word-ORDER in a LANGUAGE can be altered without a consequent change of MEANING (opposed to FIXED); free stress occurs whenever there is no fixed place for the primary STRESS to fall in a POLYSYLLABIC word; free discourse is spoken or written expression which makes no use of FORMULAIC LANGUAGE, unlike ‘formulaic discourse’. In FORMAL SYNTAX and SEMANTICS, the term is applied to CONSTITUENTS which are not BOUND, such as VARIABLES and ANAPHORS.