AO1 key words Flashcards
Accent
Phonological aspects of how we speak
Accent bar
Metaphorical way to suggest that there is a separation between his idea of potential success based on a person’s accent.
Assimilation
changing the place of articulation of a consonant in order to match adjacent consonant sound
Auxiliary verb
used along with a main verb to express tense, mood or voice
closed network
people in a social network tending to know eachother
community in practice
thought to have things in common such as values, judgments and forms of communication
controlling topic
informal conversation the way a top develops is unpredictable. In institutions the topic is controlled by the powerful person
convergence
speakers trying to make their speech resemble that of another speaker
covert prestige
using non-standard for prestige
corpus
encompasses the compilation and analysis of collections of spoken and written texts such as the source of evidence for describing the nature, structure and use of languages
density
how many people there are in a social network
descriptivism
non-judgemental approach analysing how language is used by speakers and writers
dialect
lexical aspects of how we speak
dialect levelling
the loss of regional accents and every accent or lexis becoming the same and therefore levelled.
diminutive suffixes
suffices which indicate smallness such as ‘ess’
dipthong
gliding vowel
divergence
using language to distinguish themselves from others
elaborated code
entails using context free sentences that are grammatically complex and detailed
elision
when sounds are removed from a word in speech
enforcing explicitness
a weaker person may use ambiguous or vague utterances. Powerful person may demand explicit answers.
Ethnocentricity
evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one’s own culture.
formulation
summarising a speaker’s statement to develop understanding but to also maintain control
gender similarities hypothesis
there are many more similarities than differences in the language that men and women use and many differences to do with other variables (Janet Hyde)
Generic term
when a marked term is used to refer to both genders. Typically it will be male balanced. Actor to refer to men and women, mankind.
Geographical mobility
the movement of people
H dropping
H can be omitted so that house may sound more like ‘ouse’
Hypercorrection
changing accent once there is more awareness of it (Labov)
Inferential frameworks
making communication more efficient
ING variation
may end words with the suffix /ING/ pronounce /in/ (g dropping) while some may add an additional /g/ sound
interruption
a powerful person can interrupt and question whereas weaker person is limited to response
Lexical asymmetry
refers to how words referring to men / women have the same literal meaning but different suggested meaning. Bachelor / Spinster
Lexical gaps
When no equivalent word appears for one gender
Lexical priming
describe the way that well-used words and phrases can carry an innate gender prejudice, for example, ‘a grumpy old man’
L-vocalisation
when an /I/ sound in postvocalic position seems to be missing
Marked terms
a term that has been marked by either ‘man’ ‘male’ ‘woman’ ‘female’ in order to indicate gender and show that something is a deviation from the stereotypical norm
matched guise experiment
participants listening to the same speaker using a range of different accents and then passing judgement on them, based on factors such as honesty, trustworthiness, friendliness etc.
multiple negation
double negative counteracting eachother
multiplexity
number of separate social connections between two actors
open networks
people in a social network tending to not know eachother
overt prestige
using standard english for prestigue
patronyms
names that relate to the male line of inheritance
phatic talk
typically used to initiate and maintain social interactions and involves casual and non-substantive topics such as the weather, current events or personal interest
prescriptivism
one variety of language is superior and should be promoted as such
received pronunciation (RP)
most prestigious and non-regional accent
restricted code
context bound, short and grammatically simple sentences
rhoticity
whether /r/ is pronounced in post-vocalic position
Sapir - whorf hypothesis
states that our language constructs the way we view the world and that it is impossible to see beyond it.
socialisation
process by which we learn behaviours related to gender
social signalling
a form of communication, such as an eye roll, the silent treatment, walking away or a smile
social stratification
system of social standing
standard english
associated with written english and is an agreed standard for writing
TH fronting
process of shifting place of articulation forward in the mouth
T glottaling
not fully pronouncing the /t/ phonemes when in word medial or word final position.
