Definitions Flashcards
Abstract noun
An idea or concept that only exists in the mind
Accent
The distinct pronunciation patterns of a group of people
Acronomy
Abbreviation using the first letter of a group of words pronounced as a single word
Active voice
Clause construction where the subject is also the actor
Adjacency pair
A pair of utterances in a conversation that go together
Adjective
A word that modifies a noun
Adverb
A word that modifies a verb telling you how, where or when the action takes place. It can also modify adjectives
Adverbial
Part of a clause or sentence which identifies where, when, how by modifying the verb
Affordance
Linguistic and behavioural choices provided by tehcnology
Agenda setting
When the speaker sets up the main topic of conversation
Analogical overextension
Associating objects which are unrelated but have one or more features in common
Anchored relationship
An online relationship where two participants know each other in the offline world
Article
A determiner such as ‘a’ and ‘the’
Asymmetrical power
An imbalance of power between people
Asynchronous conversation
A conversation in which there is a delay between utterances
Audience
The person or people reading or hearing the text
Auxiliary verb
Assists the main verb
Avatar
An image used by a user that accompanies a username
Back channelling
Supportive terms such as ‘oh’ and ‘really’
Bald on-record
When a speaker is completely blunt and direct
Bias
A form of prejudice in favor of, or against an idea, person or group. It can take obvious or implicit forms
Bidialectalism
A speakers ability to use two or more dialects of the same language
Categorical overextension
The most commonly occurring form of overextension. Relates to confusing a hypernym with a hyponym.
Catenative
Chain-like structure in a sentence (so we… then we… and we…)
Chaining
A speaker responds and sets up the other
speaker’s next utterance in a chain that runs on past an
adjacency pair
CDS
Child Directed Speech
Closer
Phrase used to end a conversation
Codification
The process of standardising a language
Cohesion
The many parts of a text which link together to make it a recognisable whole. For example, a news article will have a headline, picture and caption that are all about the same topic
Collocation
One or more words which are commonly used together (eg fish and chips)
Comparative adjective
Eg bigger, taller
Complement
A clause element that tells you more about the subject or object
Complex sentence
Two or more clauses, at least one is a subordinate clause
Compound word
A word formed of two or more other words
Compound sentence
Two or more main clauses
Compound-complex sentence
Three or more clauses, at least one subordinate and coordinate clause
Concrete noun
A physical object
Conditioning
The process in which we are taught to respond to certain stimuli
Conjunction
A word that joins clauses together
Connotation
The associated meaning of a word
Consonant cluster
A group of consonants pronounced next to each other (eg string)
Constraints
Linguistic snd behavioural restrictions caused by technology
Context
Where, when and how a text was produced
Convergence
When a speaker changes their language use to more closely match another person’s
Cooing
Baby noises
Coordinate clause
A clause beginning with a coordinating conjunction
Coordinating conjunction
Conjunction at the start of a clause
Copular verb
Eg “is”, “seems” “are”
Corpus
A collection of written texts
Covert prestige
Gaining social class through the use of non-standard forms
