A01 Terminology Flashcards
Abstract Nouns
An idea, quality or state rather than a concrete object.
Happiness, danger, truth.
Accent
The distinct pronunciation patterns in groups of people
Accomodation
When a speaker adopts another speakers accent, dialect or sociolect to appear more relatable and likeable.
Acronym
Abbreviations that are spoken as a full word
NASA, RAM, OPEC
Active Voice
The subject of the action is named first.
Jane kicked the ball = Active Voice
The ball was kicked by Jane = Passive Voice
Adjacency Pair
A pair of utterances that commonly go together.
Greeting and reply.
Question and answer.
Adjective
Words that describe nouns
Adverb
Words that describe Verbs
Adjunct
Parts of sentences that are not essential for the sentence to make sense.
I’m happy to help, WHENEVER YOU NEED ME.
Adverbial
A word or phrases which act as adverbs and which identify how, when or where, when modifying the verb.
We revised EFFECTIVELY
We danced UNDER THE MOONLIGHT
We danced AFTER EATING LUNCH
Affix
A bound morpheme that cannot stand on it’s own and must be added to another word to convey it’s true meaning.
UNhappy
DISpleased
Affordance
Language only available because of technology.
Text, email, video clips, online documents.
Agent
The subject of active voice.
TRACY opened the door.
Amelioration
A word which’s meaning has shifted to become more positive over time.
Nice used to mean foolish or absurd, now it means kind and caring.
Antonym
Words that have opposite meanings
Hot/cold
Good/bad
Archaism
A word that has fallen out of meaning
Fervent - Hot or glowing, a meaning no longer used
Apothecary - Medical Chemist, no longer generally used
Article
A determiner that conveys the level of definiteness.
“A” or “an” could indefinite as they could refer to any subject
“The” is definite as it refers to a specific example
Assimilation
Joining together two words for ease of uttering
Got you ➡️ Gotcha
Asymmetrical Power
A conversation where the levels of power between the speakers are unbalanced.
Asynchronous Discourse
An online conversation with a long stretch between utterances, perhaps even months.
Audience
The person or group of people who any spoken or written text is aimed towards.
Audience Positioning
Language that implies a text receiver already does or should accept a particular set of beliefs or opinions.
Auxiliary Verb
Added to the main verb to help or add meaning to them. They form tenses and moods.
You ARE never too old to learn
He WAS elected by a vote
I MIGHT help
Backchanneling
Reassuring comments to show continued interest when in a conversation.
Really?
Of course!
No way!
Bald on-record
When a speaker is completely blunt, usually used with close ones otherwise it would cause offensive.
Behaviourism
Skinner’s Language Acquisition Theory suggesting language is acquired by copying others.
Bleaching
Where a words original meaning is reduced over time.
Awful used to mean worthy of respect, now means “bad”.
Blended words
Two words fused together to make a new one
Chill + relax = Chillax
Shop + alcoholic = Shopaholic
Borrowing words
A word taken directly from another language.
Chocolate (eng) = Chocolat (fre)
Bound morpheme
A morpheme that would not make sense on its own and relies of the rest of the word.
UNhappy
Broadening
The opposite of narrowing, where a word adds extra meanings to it’s original meaning.
Cool was originally a genre of jazz now very commonly means respected/admired.
Categorical Overextension
The extension of a word so it refers to all items within a category.
Apple being used to represent all fruits
Cats being used to represent all animals
Clipping
A new word created from the shortening of another.
Advertisement ➡️ Advert
Luncheon ➡️ Lunch
Code Switching
When a speaker of two or more languages switches between the them in general language use.
Child Directed Speech (CDS)
The way that carers speak to young children, focuses on the sing song intonation, slower pace, exaggerated pitch, repetition and use of simple questions.
Clause
A grammatical unit that contains at least a subject and verb but can also include other elements.
Codification
Language spandardisation process.
Specifying spellings in dictionaries
Teaching standard grammar
Cognitive Theory
Piaget’s theory that language acquisition can only take place when the cognitive needs of children require it.
Cohesion and coherence
Keeping everything in a text linked together
Using connecting phrases like “moreover” and “another example”.
Coin
The creation of a new word
Collocation
Two or more words commonly used together.
Salt and pepper, upside down, time to spare.
Colloquialism
Slang, informal language.
Cannot
Bruv
Comparative
Adjectives that compare one thing with another, usually created by adding the suffix.
Big ➡️ Bigger
Quick ➡️ Quicker
Complex Sentence
Contains a main clause and at least one subordinate clause.
When you revise carefully, you learn most effectively.
Compound word
Two words (sometimes three) joined together to form another word.
Race + Horse = Racehorse
Out + Doors + Man = Outdoorsman
Compound Sentence
Contains two or more main clauses joined together with and, but, or, so, yet, nor, for, or a semi-colon.
I revise carefully, SO I can remember the facts.
Compound-Complex sentence
This is a compound sentence with at least one subordinate clause added.
I revise carefully, so I can remember the facts because I want to pass the exam.
Concrete Nouns
Names of tangible, physical things rather than ideas and concepts.
Girl, table, ship
Conjunction
Words that join together clauses
And, because
Connotation
Associated meanings we receive from particular words
Red = Blood, Love, Anger
Constraints
The limitations for language use in technology
You can’t use tone when texting, emojis are used as a substitute.
Context
The situation in which a text is produced, impacts on meanings and language choices made.
When, where, who’s writing and what’s going on at the time all have an impact.
Convergence
Giles accommodation theory, where one speaker will adjust their accent, dialect or sociolect to become closer to the person they are talking to.
Cooing
Early sounds made by babies (6-8 weeks old) as they begin to explore their vocal chords.
gaga, coo, oo, googoo gaga.
Copular Verb
A verb that has to have a complement added to it in a sentence for it to make sense.
You seem HAPPY
Sarah is CLEVER
Covert Prestige
(Trudgill) higher social status obtained by using non standard language that no everyone will understand.
Crumbling Castle Metaphor
(Atchison) The prescriptivist idea that language is falling apart and needs to be protected.
Damp Spoon Metaphor
(Aitchison) Suggests that change often happens owing to sloppiness and laziness with words.
Decay
Prescriptivist belief that any sign of language change is negative (Aitchison)
Declarative
Type of sentence that states a fact or opinion
Deficit Model
A theory that assumes something in woman’s language is deficient (Lakoff)
Definite article
A determiner that indicates a specific thing
The Ball > A Ball
Deixis
Words that can only be understood with context
Grab THAT chair.
Denotation
The dictionary definition of a word (literal meaning)
Descriptivists
People the are more welcoming to language change
Determiner
Placed before nouns to determine things about them.
Quantity, ownership, specifity
Dialect
A version of language from a particular region or social group
Dialect Levelling
Features from certain dialects being absorbed into a more general dialect.
Difference Model
The idea that men and women use language differently, owing to differing social demands.
Dimunitive
A word or suffix that is used to indicate smallness Chick = Chicklet Duck = Duckling
Diphthong
Two vowels sounds are joined together in one syllable to form one speech sound.
cOIn
mOUld
Direct Object
In a sentence, the thing that is acted upon by the agent.
Jane broke THE VASE.
Discourse 1
A spoken or written text, more than one sentence
Discourse Marker
A word or phrase that indicates a movement from one topic or focus to the next in a discourse.
Disjunct
Non essential adverbial additions to sentences to show the writers attitudes or feelings about something.
Discourse Structure
The content in a text and the order it appears.
Introduction
Paragraphs
Conclusion
Divergence
Accentuating the difference in language from the person you are speaking to reinforce the difference.
Dominance Model
The idea that males dominant mixed gender conversions.
Downward Convergence
When a person lowers their formality of speech to become closer to the person they’re speaking to.
Dysphemism
Consciously blunt and rude language.
Do-gooder, idiot, fool
Ease of articulation
Changes in language that occur because it’s easier to say something in a certain way.
Is not it = isn’t it
Eponym
Specific things named after a person.
Sandwich, Wellington
Elaborated Code
The use of more sophisticated language by the upper class
Epistemic Modality
Auxiliary Verbs that refer to the level of possibility.
Might, could
Estuary English
A mixture of RP and London English which is spreading through England.
Ethnicity
Someone’s cultural heritage
Asian, African, Carribean
Etymology
The history of a word, spellings and meanings over time.
Exclamative
A declarative with an exclamation mark to add emphasis.
I hate cheese!
That’s fantastic!
Exophoric Reference
A reference to something outside the text.
Harry Potter was J.K Rowling’s first success.
Face Theory
We have a self image we want to protect, he don’t want to lose face.
Saving face.
Face Threatening Act
Language that threatens someone’s “face”
Figurative Language
Similes and metaphors and other language techniques that are non literal.
Formality
Part of the register, level of sophistication
Functional Theory
The idea that language changes because of societies needs
Gender
The social expectations associated with being male or female
Generic Pronouns
Pronouns that do not mark gender
Genre
The type of text
Glottal Stop
The closing of the vocal chords to replace the T sound.
Water = Wa’er
Grapheme
Individual sounds in words
S - P - OO - N
Graphology
All visual elements of a text
Head Word
The word in a phrase which carries the main meaning
Hegemonic
Culturally dominant
Hierarchy
The order of importance and authority in conversation
Holophrase
A simple word used to communicate more complex meanings.
Bottle = I am hungry, feed me.
Homophonic representation
In electronic texts using single letters to represent sounds
2 L8 = too late
Homophonic representation
In electronic texts using single letters to represent sounds
2 L8 = too late
Hypernym
A term that refers to a group of things.
Sport = Football, Tennis, Rugby
Hyponym
A term referring to one of the constituents of a group of things.
Football is a hyponym under the Sport Hypernym
Ideology
A belief system that people hold.
Communist, Environmentalist
Idiom
An expression where the meaning is different from what the words suggest.
Break a leg = Good Luck
Pear Shaped = Gone wrong
Idiolect
An individual persons ways of speaking.
Imperative
A sentence that issues a command or instruction
Indirect Object
A person or thing in a sentence that receives the action
I gave Sarah some flowers
Sarah was given some flowers
Sarah was hit by a Japanese bullet train
Infectious Disease Theory
Suggests non standard language spreads like an infectious disease.
Inference
Drawing an implied or associated meanings from something
Inflection
A bound morpheme added to words to make them plural, change tense, show possession's, or draw comparison. ChipS SkippED BiggER John'S He hopeS
Influential Power
Influencing or persuading rather than using any kind of authority
Informalisation
The idea that written language now includes more informal language.
