AS Key Terms Flashcards
Accent
The distinctive way a speaker from a particular region pronounces words
Abstract noun
A noun that refers to a concept, state, quality or emotion
Acronym
A new word made from the initial letters of all the words in a name or phrase eg. NASA
Active voice
When the subject of the sentence is directly performing the verb e.g. Steve burst the bubble
Adjacency pair
Dialogue that follows a set pattern e.g. When speakers greet each other
Adjective
A class of word that can appear before (attributive) or after (predicative) a noun to describe it
Adverb
A class of words that modify verbs according to time, place, manner, frequency, duration or degree. They can also sometimes modify nouns and adjectives too.
Affixation
The process of adding an affix before (prefix) or after (suffix) an existing word to change either its meaning of grammatical function
Alliteration
When two or more words close to each-other in a phrase begin with the same sound
Anaphoric reference
When a word, usually a pronoun, refers back to something or someone that has already been mentioned
Antithesis
Type of rhetorical language where contrasting words or ideas are balanced against each other
Antonyms
Words with opposite meanings
Article
A kind of determiner that shows if the reference to the noun is general (a/an) or specific (the)
Aspect
A verb’s aspect shows whether the action it refers to is already completed or if it is still taking place
assimilation
When sounds next to each other in a spoken word or sentence are pronounced differently from how they normally would be to make them easier to say
Assonance
When the main vowel sounds of two or more words that are close together in a text are similar or the same
Auxiliary verbs
Verbs used before the main verb in a sentence to give extra information e.g. I have seen him
Back-channeling
A kind of feedback in spoken language that supports the supports the person speaking and shows that what is being said is understood
Blending
When parts of two words are combined to make a new one
Cataphora
A deference in a text to something that follows in later sentences or phrases. E.g. These are the directions…
Clipping
When a shortened version of a word becomes a word in its own right
Coining
The general term for creating new words
Collocation
Words that commonly appear together in order, in specific lexical units e.g. Done and dusted, salt and pepper
Conversion
When a word becomes part of a different word class in addition to its original sense
Coordinate Clause
An independent clause that is linked to another independent clause in the same sentence
Coordinating conjunction
A liking word that connects independent phrases and clauses to each other.
Count noun
A noun preceded by a number
Deixis
A reference to something outside the text that can’t be understood unless you know the context
Denotation
The literal meaning of a word
Dialect
The distinctive lexis, grammar and pronunciation of a persons spoken English, usually effected by the region they’re from and their social background
Dialect levelling
A process of language contact where differences between dialects in proximity to each other are gradually lost
Difference model
Tannen’s (1990) theory about gender and conversation which states that men and women have different objectives when they interact
Dominance model
Zimmerman and west’s (1975) theory that gender differences in conversations reflect male dominance in society
Double negative
When negatives are used twice in a sentence
Elision
When sounds or syllables are slurred together in speech to make pronunciation easier and quicker
Ellipsis
When part of a grammatical structure is left out of the sentence without affecting the meaning.
Exophoric reference
Referring to something outside a text e.g. That tree over there
Generic term
A marked term that is used to refer to men and women e.g chairman
Grapheme
The smallest unit of writing that can create contrasts in meaning e.g individual letters or symbols
Interrogative
A sentence or utterance that asks a question
Intertertextuality
When a text makes reference to another existing text for effect
Lexical asymmetry
When two words that appear to be direct opposites of each other actually have different connotations e.g. To father means to conceive a child, to mother means to look after it
Marked term
A word that reveals a persons gender e.g. Waitress
Mass noun
A noun that can’t be counted and doesn’t have a plural e.g. Information
Metonymy
Using a part of something or one of its attributes to describe the whole thing e.g. The press refers to journalists and the news industry
Oxymoron
A phrase that brings together the two conflicting ideas e.g. Bittersweet
Parallelism
The repetition of structural features in a sentence or throughout a text e.g repeated use of past tense verb forms within a sentence
Phatic language
Expressions that have a social function rather than expressing a serious meaning
Phoneme
The smallest unit of sound that can create contrast in meaning
Politeness strategy
A way of phrasing something to avoid causing offence
Preposition
A word that defines the relationship between things in terms of time, space or direction
Prosody
Non-verbal aspects of speech like pace, stress, pitch, intonation, volume and pauses
Quantifier
A word that gives information about the quantity of a noun
Referential language
Spoken language that gives information by referring to objects or concepts. If usually only makes sense if the listener understands the context
Sociolect
A variety of language used by a particular social group
Substitution
When a child replaces a consonant in a word with one that’s easier to say
Subtext
The implied meaning behind what’s actually being said or described
Symbolism
When a word or phrase represents something other than its literal meaning
Tag question
A question added to the end of a statement to encourage a response
Turn-taking
A feature of orderly conversations when the chance to speak switches back and forth between the participants
