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A Level OCR English Language > COMPARING AND CONTRASTING TEXTS EXAM > Flashcards

COMPARING AND CONTRASTING TEXTS EXAM Flashcards

1
Q

GAPCR

A 
Genre
Audience
Purpose
Context
Register
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2
Q

GENRE

A

The kind of text you have in front of you e.g. advert

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3
Q

AUDIENCE

A

The person or people reading or hearing the text

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4
Q

PURPOSE

A

Describes why the text was produced or uttered e.g. to entertain, advise, persuade, inform etc

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5
Q

CONTEXT

A

Where, when and how a text is produced or received

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6
Q

REGISTER

A

The type or variety of language that the writer or speaker has chosen to use e.g. formal register, medical register etc. Register is a useful term which linguists generally break down into 3 elements: field, mode and manner.

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7
Q

FORMALITY

A

Describes the degree to which texts stick to certain conventions and how impersonal they are- the more spoken features a text has the more informal it will tend to be.

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8
Q

FIELD

A

Word’s used in a text which relate to the texts subject matter e.g. the field of medicine, the field of golf.

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9
Q

MODE

A

Texts can be in:

  • spoken mode (e.g. a spontaneous conversation between friends)
  • written mode (e.g. an english essay)
  • mixed mode (e.g. a political speech)
  • multimodal (a text that uses more than one mode; can have a combination of texts and images)
  • electronic mode (e.g. a text message or tweet)
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10
Q

MANNER

A

Used to express how formal or informal a text is

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11
Q

LEXICAL FIELD

A

Identifies the main subject matter of a text e.g. food in a recipe or money in an article on economics

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12
Q

MIXED MODE

A

Features of speech or writing in the same text

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13
Q

MULTIMODAL

A

A text that uses more than one mode; often used for texts that have a combination of text and images

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14
Q

LEXIS

A

Words and their origins

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15
Q

SEMANTICS

A

Meanings of words, both on their own and in relation to other words in the text

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16
Q

HIGH FREQUENCY LEXIS

A

Words that appear often in everyday speech

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17
Q

LOW FREQUENCY LEXIS

A

Words that appear more rarely in everyday speech such as specialist terms from a field e.g. medicine

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18
Q

SYNONYM

A

A word that has a similar meaning to another word e.g. ‘malady’ and ‘illness’

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19
Q

ETYMOLOGY

A

The history of a word, including the language it came from and when it began to be regularly used

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20
Q

FRENCH/LATINATE LEXIS

A

Words derived from French or Latin, or both, that are more rarely used; they are often seen as having a higher status or being more specialist

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21
Q

POLYSEMIC

A

Describing a word with more than one meaning (e.g. ‘set’ can refer to ‘a set of cutlery’, ‘a tennis set’, what happens to jelly and so on)

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22
Q

COLLOCATION

A

Two or more words that are often found together in a group or phrase with a distinct meaning (e.g. ‘over the top’, ‘fish and chips’, ‘back to front’)

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23
Q

COMPOUND WORD

A

A word formed from two other words e.g. dustbin

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24
Q

DENOTATION

A

The literal, generally accepted, dictionary definition of a word

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25
Q

CONNOTATION

A

The associated meanings we have with certain words, depending on the person hearing or reading the word, and on the context in which the word appears e.g. we may associate the colour red with anger

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26
Q

SEMANTIC FIELD

A

A pattern of words with similar meanings found across a text or texts e.g. bolt, trap, cage

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27
Q

LEXICAL FIELD VS SEMANTIC FIELD

A

These two terms are often used interchangeably. However, there is a distinction. A lexical field identifies the main subject matter of a text whereas a semantic field is a group of words that have similar meanings which may not be the main subject matter of the text

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28
Q

GRAMMAR

A

The buildings blocks of sentences (words, phrases, clauses etc) and how they go together to mean something to the reader or listener

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29
Q

SYNTAX

A

The order of elements in a clause or sentence (subject, verb, object etc)

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30
Q

HIERARCHY OF GRAMMAR

A
  • Morpheme- the smallest unit of meaning e.g. bird
    Word- made up of one or more morphemes e.g. birds
  • Phrase- made up of more than one word (usually) e.g. two birds
  • Clause- a complete grammatical unit, that makes sense, made up of words and phrases e.g. ‘One turns to the other and he says…’
  • Sentence- a complete, grammatical unit which makes sense and can stand on its own e.g. ‘One turns to the other and he says, “Can you smell something fishy?”’
  • Discourse- longer than a single sentence, will have some kind of structure which relates to the type of text you are looking at e.g. ‘Two birds are sitting on a perch. One turns to the other and he says, “Can you smell something fishy?”’
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31
Q

NOUNS

A

Words which name people, places, things, ideas and concepts e.g. frog

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32
Q

ADJECTIVE

A

A word that modifies a noun e.g. the orange sky

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33
Q

VERB

A

Describes an action or a state e.g. running

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34
Q

ADVERB

A

A word that modifies a verb telling you how, where or when an action takes place; they can also modify adjectives, telling you how much e.g. I am really delighted

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35
Q

DETERMINERS

A

Words determining the number or status of the noun e.g. a, the, some, most

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36
Q

PRONOUNS

A

A word which stands in place of a noun or noun phrase (usually used to avoid repetition of the noun) e.g. I, you, she/he/it, we, they, me, him/her, us, them

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37
Q

PREPOSITIONS

A

A word which shows how elements in a sentence or clause relate to each other in time or space e.g. in, on, under, below, with, to, from, by, at

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38
Q

CONJUNCTIONS

A

A word that joins clauses together e.g. and, but, or, because, since, if

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39
Q

PROPER NOUNS

A

Words for specific people, places or things e.g. Swindon

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40
Q

CONCRETE NOUNS

A

Refer to things we touch or can experience physically e.g. snow or butter

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41
Q

ABSTRACT NOUNS

A

Refer to ideas and concepts that only exist in the mind e.g. disaster, happiness, seperation

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42
Q

POSSESSIVE DETERMINER

A

Determiner which shows who the noun belongs to e.g. my, your, his, her

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43
Q

ARTICLE

A

A determiner such as ‘a’ or ‘the’

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44
Q

DEFINITE ARTICLE

A

the

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45
Q

INDEFINITE ARTICLE

A

‘a’ or ‘an’

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46
Q

NOUN PHRASE

A

A group of words with a noun at the centre of it

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47
Q

COPULAR VERB

A

A verb that takes a complement e.g. seems, appears, are, was, is etc

  • Our insects are important
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48
Q

COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVE

A

The form of an adjective that designates comparison between two things, generally made by adding a suffix -er to its base form e.g. faster

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49
Q

SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVE

A

Expresses the highest level of the quality represented by the adjective, generally made by adding -est to its base form e.g. fastest

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50
Q

HEAD NOUN

A

The main noun at the centre of a noun phrase

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51
Q

MODIFIER

A

Any word that describes a noun (can be an adjective, adverb or noun)

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52
Q

PRE-MODIFIER

A

Modification that comes before the head noun or phrase/clause

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53
Q

POST-MODIFIER

A

Modification that comes after the head noun or phrase/clause

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54
Q

PRIMARY VERBS

A

be, have, do

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55
Q

MAIN VERB

A

The verb that carries the main meaning or process in a verb phrase e.g. running

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56
Q

AUXILIARY VERB

A

Assists the main verb; primary auxiliary verbs do, have and be denote changed of tense e.g. he was running

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57
Q

IRREGULAR VERBS

A

Change their form when changing tense e.g. swim/swam

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58
Q

REGULAR VERBS

A

Take a regular -ed inflection when changing from present to past tense e.g. walk/walked

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59
Q

INFLECTION

A

An ending such as -ed, -s or -ing added to change a tense or number, or in the case of nouns to make a plural

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60
Q

MODAL AUXILIARY VERB

A

A sub-category of auxiliary verb that expresses degrees of possibility, probability, necessity or obligation

Can, could, may, might, shall, should, ought, must, will, would

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61
Q

EPISTEMIC MODAL VERBS

A

Modal verbs used relating to belief and knowledge e.g. can, could, may, might, ought, would

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62
Q

DEONTIC MODAL VERBS

A

Modal verbs used relating to obligation and permission e.g. might, shall, should, must, will, would

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63
Q

DYNAMIC VERBS

A

Describe something happening e.g. ‘the bee sipped the nectar’

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64
Q

STATIVE VERBS

A

Describe something that exists or is e.g. ‘she seems quiet’

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65
Q

ACTIVE VOICE

A

Clause construction where the subject is also the actor (they are doing or have done something to somebody/something) e.g. the boy kicked the ball

66
Q

PASSIVE VOICE

A

Clause construction where the subject is not the actor (they have had or are having something done to them) e.g. the ball was kicked by the boy

67
Q

SUBJECT OF A SENTENCE

A

This normally performs the action of the sentence or clause and can be a single word or phrase

68
Q

OBJECT OF A SENTENCE

A

This normally receives the action and comes after the verb

69
Q

PROGRESSIVE ASPECT

A

Where the action described by the verb is continous which requires -ing on the end or the verb be as an auxiliary (am, is, was, were)

  • Present progressive: a dog is barking
  • Past progressive: a dog was barking
70
Q

PERFECT ASPECT

A

Where the action described by the verb is or has been completed. This requires -ed on the end of the main verb and the verb have, used as an auxiliary

71
Q

ADVERBIAL

A

Part of a clause or sentence which identifies where, when, how- modifiying the verb e.g. the phrase ‘on the table’ has an adverbial function but no adverb.

72
Q

COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

A

These signal the start of a coordinate clause (which is essentially a main clause joined to another main clause) e.g. and, but, or.

73
Q

SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

A

These signal the start of a subordinate clause (a clause that depends on the main clause to exist) e.g. because, although, which, who, that, since.

74
Q

DIRECT OBJECT

A

The part of the clause that is directly acted upon by the subject.

75
Q

INDIRECT OBJECT

A

Receives the action.

76
Q

DISCOURSE MARKER

A

Marks a change in direction in an extended piece of written or spoken text (e.g. nevertheless, to sum up).

77
Q

COMPLEMENT

A

A clause element that tells you more about the subject or the object.

78
Q

SIMPLE SENTENCE

A

Has only one clause including a verb e.g. Charlie unearthed some wonderful treasure

79
Q

COMPOUND SENTENCE

A

Has two or more clauses, usually joined to the main clause by the conjunctions ‘and’ or ‘but’.

80
Q

COMPLEX SENTENCE

A

Has two or more clauses, one of which is a subordinate clause (depends on the main clause to exist).

81
Q

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

A

Depends on the main clause to exist

82
Q

MAIN CLAUSE

A

Can stand on its own grammatically

83
Q

LEFT-BRANCHING SENTENCE

A

Has the subordinate clause/s before the main clause

84
Q

PERIODIC SENTENCE

A

A complex sentence in which the main clause is saved until the end e.g. The minister, who was usually late in the mornings, except on those occasions when she had been working all night, was already at her desk.

85
Q

NON-FINITE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

A

A clause in which the verb is not ‘finished’ and the tense is therefore not shown (e.g. clauses with to- infinitives like ‘to buy some cheese’ or with an -ing form of the verb such as in ‘running down the road’).

86
Q

MINOR SENTENCE

A

A sentence that has some missing elements, such as the subject or the verb, making it technically ungrammatical

87
Q

COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE

A

A sentence that has three or more clauses, one of which will be a subordinate clause and one of which will be a coordinate clause.

88
Q

COORDINATE CLAUSE

A

A clause beginning with a coordinating conjunction e.g. and, but, or.

89
Q

WHAT DO SIMPLE SENTENCES DO?

A
  • Are sometimes used to stand out from longer sentences used, for instance at the start or end of paragraphs or sandwiched between longer sentences to break the rhythm
  • Appear in children’s literature, particularly books for children learning to read
  • Make a text ‘clunky’ if there are many of them, one after another
90
Q

WHAT DO COMPOUND SENTENCES DO?

A
  • Improve fluency in a text compared to lots of short simple sentences
  • They are often found in speech as part of a narrative
  • They can go on forever
91
Q

WHAT DO COMPLEX SENTENCES DO?

A
  • They are fairly easy to read if the main clause comes first (left-branching)
  • They are harder to read if the dependent (subordinate) clause comes first
  • They are particularly challenging to read if there are many of them within one sentence, and where the main clause is a long way into the sentence
  • Along with simple and compound sentences, they help writers to vary the style, pace and structure of their writing
92
Q

DECLARATIVE

A

A statement

  • gives info
  • shows assurance
93
Q

INTERROGATIVE

A

A question

  • need an answer
  • keep convos going
  • can show power, or lack of it
  • can be used to liven up a piece of informative writing
  • can be used to make persuasive writing more engaging
  • can make commands softer
94
Q

IMPERATIVE

95
Q

TAG QUESTION

A

An interrogative clause added to the end of a declarative to make it into a question

96
Q

DISCOURSE STRUCTURE

A

The way a text is structured

97
Q

LABOV’S NARRATIVE CATEGORIES- a way of breaking down the typical discourse structure of a spoken story

A
  • Abstract- begins a story
  • Orientation- where and when
  • Complicating action- what happened
  • Resolution- rounding off the story
  • Evaluation- reflecting on the story
  • Coda- signing off
98
Q

VALEDICTION

A

Expression of farewell

99
Q

ADJACENCY PAIR

A

A pair of utterances in a conversation that go together e.g. greeting and reply, question and answer, statement and statement

100
Q

PRAGMATICS

A

What we really mean by what we write or say

101
Q

PRAGMATIC FAILURE

A

Where the meaning that is implied is not the meaning that is understood by the listener

102
Q

PROSODICS

A

How we use rhythm, stress and pace in speech to create particular effects

103
Q

INTONATION

A

The pitch (how high or low you are in your vocal range)

104
Q

STRESS

A

Where volume is raised to place emphasis on a particular syllable

105
Q

PACE

A

The speed at which you talk

106
Q

UTTERANCE

A

A term for vocal expression; it can take the form of one or more words or even a single sound

107
Q

TYPICAL SPOKEN MODE FEATURES

A
  • Incomplete sentences and ellipses
  • Slang or informal lexical choices
  • Non-fluency features e.g. voiced pauses, false starts
  • Hedges
  • Deixis- only clear in context
  • High frequency lexis
  • Direct address
  • Elision- words joined together
108
Q

TYPICAL WRITTEN MODE FEATURES

A
  • Complete, grammatical sentences
  • Complex grammar and sentence types
  • Formal lexical choices
  • Sentence demarcation- punctuation
  • Few or no hedges
  • No deixis
  • Formal discourse markers
  • Low frequency lexis with latinate/french etymologies
  • Third person address
109
Q

FRAMING

A

Controlling the agenda of a conversation

110
Q

SELF-RELATED COMMENT

A

Speaker makes a comment about himself/herself

111
Q

OTHER-RELATED COMMENT

A

Speaker makes comments about another speaker

112
Q

NEUTRAL COMMENT

A

Speaker makes a comment about something neutral e.g. the weather

113
Q

OPENER

A

Expressions or discourse markers which open a conversation

114
Q

CLOSER

A

Expressions or discourse markers which are designed to close a conversation

115
Q

PHATIC COMMUNICATION

A

Speech which is really designed to maintain social relationships and does not carry significant meaning often used to start a conversation

116
Q

BACKCHANNELLING

A

Supportive terms such as ‘oh’ and ‘really’

117
Q

AGENDA SETTING

A

Where a speaker sets up the main topic of conversation

118
Q

TOPIC MANAGEMENT

A

The way topics in a conversation are organized or handed from speaker to speaker

119
Q

POLITENESS MARKERS

A

Words or phrases that express concern for others and serve to minimize threats to face

120
Q

FACE

A

A speaker’s self esteem

121
Q

Who formulated the idea of face?

122
Q

POSITIVE FACE

A

Our need to maintain our self-esteem. Positive is threatened when we are criticized in any way

123
Q

NEGATIVE FACE

A

Our desire to avoid doing something we don’t want to do, such as giving money to a stranger

124
Q

Who identified several politeness strategies?

A

Brown and Levinson

125
Q

What are the four politeness strategies Brown and Levinson identified?

A

Bald on record
Positive politeness
Negative politeness
Off record

126
Q

BALD ON RECORD

A

Blunt and direct e.g. ‘Get out!’

127
Q

POSITIVE POLITENESS

A

Informal approach of showing interest and agreement e.g. ‘Ok, let’s call it a day, shall we?’

128
Q

NEGATIVE POLITENESS

A

Indirect route e.g. ‘I guess that it wouldn’t be possible that you might be able to get on now’

129
Q

OFF RECORD

A

Where the speaker doesn’t threaten the other’s face at all e.g. no response

130
Q

LOCUTIONARY ACT

A

saying something e.g. there’s a fly in my soup

131
Q

ILLOCUTIONARY ACT

A

Implying something in what we say e.g. please get me another soup

132
Q

PERLOCUTIONARY ACT

A

what happens in response to what is said e.g. the waiter removes the soup

133
Q

WHO CREATED THE THEORY ABOUT CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS?

134
Q

WHAT ARE GRICE’S MAXIMS?

A

Quantity
Quality
Relation
Manner

135
Q

MAXIM OF QUANTITY

A

Informative

136
Q

MAXIM OF QUALITY

A

Do not say what you believe to be false- tell the truth

137
Q

MAXIM OF RELATION

A

Make what you say relevant to the last speaker’s turn

138
Q

MAXIM OF MANNER

A

Avoid being obscure or ambiguous- be orderly

139
Q

VIOLATES A MAXIM

A

Failure of someone to observe a maxim

140
Q

FLOUTING A MAXIM

A

Where someone obviously doesn’t obey the conversational maxims

141
Q

Who created the accommodation theory?

A

Giles et al

142
Q

ACCOMODATION

A

where a speaker adapts to another speaker’s accent, dialect or sociolect

143
Q

CONVERGENCE

A

Where a speaker moves towards another speaker’s accent, dialect or sociolect

144
Q

UPWARD CONVERGENCE

A

Changing your accent or lexical choices to something you perceive as more prestigious

145
Q

DOWNWARD CONVERGENCE

A

Making your accent or lexical choices more informal

146
Q

OVERT PRESTIGE

A

Refers to a dialect used by a culturally powerful group

147
Q

COVERT PRESTIGE

A

Describes high social status through use of non-standard forms

148
Q

DIVERGENCE

A

Where a speaker actively distances themself from another speaker by accentuating their own accent or dialect

149
Q

TURN TAKING

A

The process of taking turns in a conversation, where only one speaker speaks at a time

150
Q

TRANSITION RELEVANCE PLACE

A

The point at which one turn is ending and another turn is signaled

151
Q

VOCATIVE

A

Directly addressing someone via their name

152
Q

DIALECT

A

A non-standard variety of a language particular to a region

153
Q

IDIOM

A

A form of common, non-literal expression e.g. ‘I was dead on my feet’

154
Q

ACCENT

A

The distinct pronunciation patterns of a group of people

155
Q

IDIOLECT

A

Your own individual way of speaking

156
Q

SOCIOLECT

A

A variety of language that is characteristic of the social background or status of its user

157
Q

RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION

A

a prestige form of English pronunciation

158
Q

DESCRIPTIVISM ATTITUDE

A

an attitude to language that describes what is there, explaining it, without judgement

159
Q

PRESCRIPTIVISM ATTITUDE

A

an attitude to language that suggests that some forms of language are more valuable than others- this approach prescribes what is correct and what is not

160
Q

GLOTTAL STOPS

A

A form of stop consonant made at the back of the throat to replace the ‘t’ sound e.g. ‘wha?’ instead of ‘what?’

161
Q

MAINSTREAM DIALECT

A

the dialect that spans the whole english nation

A Level OCR English Language (2 decks)

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