Glossary Flashcards
Discourse event
An act of communication involving writers/speakers and readers/listeners.
Modes
The different channels of communication which a text uses e.g. speech, writing
Genre
The way we group texts based on their expected shared conventions (the features which are commonly found in a particular type of text)
Register
A variety of language that is associated with a particular situation of use.
Situation of use
A specific place, time and context in which communication takes place.
Dialect
Variation in words and structures associated with a particular geographical region.
Accent
Variation in pronunciation associated with a particular geographical region.
Sociolect
Variation in language use associated with membership of a particular social group.
Idiolect
Variation in language use associated with an individual’s personalised “speech style”
Representation
The portrayal of events, people and circumstances through language and other meaning-making resources (e.g. images and sound) to create a way of seeing the world.
Frozen level
The use of set phrases in certain situations (safety instructions on a plane, funeral, wedding)
Formal level
Normally used by a speaker addressing an audience where interruption is not permitted.
Consultative level
Level of formality used between people who interact regularly but who are not friends or family.
Casual level
Level of interaction used by people who know each other reasonably well - can be colloquial, with some interruptions.
Intimate level
Private communication between friends and family members. Can involve codes for familiar objects.
Audience positioning
The assumptions made in a text about the reader’s background knowledge and understanding beliefs and values which are used to guide the audience.
Synthetic personalisation
Theory devised by Norman Fairclough and it explores how texts imitate the effect of someone addressing you personally.
Context
Is about the situation in which the text is understood. Or the when, where, why, who of a text.
Lexical cohesion
The way that words fit together.
Graphology
Applies to any aspect of the form and appearance of a text that modifies meaning in any way.
Semiotics
The study of signs and symbols. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) was the first person to name different types of signs.
Iconic signs
Iconic signs offer a straightforward representation of what they stand for e.g. toilet sign and phone sign.
Symbolic signs
Symbolic signs draw on association or connotation and are generally defined by cultural convention (e.g. they rely on shared context within a specific society) these type of signs need to be learned.
Pragmatics
The study of how language and meaning rely on contextual information, shared knowledge, and implication and inference.
Embodied knowledge
Knowledge that we associate with our physical memories e.g. senses associated with eating a food or visiting a place.
Schema (schematic knowledge)
A bundle of knowledge about a person, place, concept or events.
Co-text
Other words or phrases which are surrounding a key word in a text.
Maxim of quality
When someone speaks to us, we assume that what they say is not knowingly untruthful and that the truthfulness of what they say does not need to be stated.
Maxim of quantity
When someone speaks to us we assume that they do not purposefully hold back anything that is important and they do not give more information than is asked.
Maxim of manner
When someone speaks to us we assume that what they say is being said as straightforwardly as they can say it.
Maxim of relevance
When someone speaks to us, we assume that what they say is relevant to the conversation.
Violate
Be intentionally misleading.
Opt-out
Refuse to cooperate
Flout
Be intentionally ironic.
Conversational implicature
Assumptions made, when a speaker chooses to flout a maxim, about what the speaker has said.
Prosodic features
How we talk e.g. stress and intonation
Paralinguistic features
The aspects of communication that do not involve words. These may add emphasis or shades of meaning to what people say e.g. body language
Super maxim
Being polite by being mindful of others’ personal needs.
Face theory
First developed by Erving Goffman (1955), an individual has both positive and negative face needs.
Positive face needs
Those associated with feeling appreciated and valued.
Negative face needs
The desire to feel independent and not be imposed upon.
Face threatening act
A speech act that has the potential to damage someone’s self-esteem either in terms of positive or negative face.
Politeness strategies
Distinctive ways in which speakers can choose to avoid threatening face.
Deixis
Lexical items that ‘point’ towards something and place words in context. The term’s etymology comes from the Greek meaning “pointing” or “show” and it’s pronounced dike-sis.
Person deixis
I, me and you
Spatial deixis
Here, there, left and right
Temporal deixis
Now, then, today and tomorrow
Discourse
The level of language concerned with larger stretches of text.
Discourse structure
The way in which texts are organised into coherent wholes in addition to internal cohesive patterns.
Cohesion
Refers to the structure of a discourse/text and how ideas in different parts of a discourse/text are linked together. It is about the way in which different parts of a discourse/text are connected.
Grammatical cohesion
Grammar helps texts to be cohesive . There are 5 main types of grammatical cohesion: reference, identification, ellipsis, conjunctions, adverbs
Reference
Third person pronouns (he,she,it,they) and demonstrative pronouns (that, this)
Types of reference:
- Anaphoric
- Cataphoric
- Exophoric
Anaphoric reference
Refers back to something that has already been mentioned e.g. My grandmother went to university. She wanted to be a teacher. The word “she” is the cohesive link between these sentences because it links back to the grandmother.
Cataphoric references
These are references forward to something in the future e.g. The teacher gave the following reasons for her decision. The sentence refers to something that has not actually been said yet, and will follow in the next sentence.
Exophoric reference
This refers to something outside of the text e.g. “That tree over there.” The tree being referred to is outside of the sentence/text.
Identification
This is when determiners like the, this and that are used to show that a noun has already been mentioned e.g. A large lorry blocked the road. The lorry had broken down. The indefinite article “a” is used the first time the lorry is mentioned. After that, the definite article “the” is used to show it refers to the same noun.
Ellipsis
When something is missed from a sentence but the audience can still easily determine what is meant from the surrounding context.
A noun or noun phrase can be omitted e.g. She bought French cheese but gave me English.
A part of a verb phrase can be omitted e.g. John asked “Are you willing to join us?” To which Beth replied “Yes I am (willing to join you)”
Apart of a clause can be omitted in speech e.g. I like walking and (I like) running.
Conjunctions
These words link sentences together.
Adverbs
These connect clauses be referencing space and time.
Lexical cohesion
Links words through meaning and association rather than grammatical structure. Lexical cohesion can be through repetition or collocation.
Labov’s narrative categories
Abstract, orientation, complicating action, resolution, coda
Abstract
An indication that the speaker wants to start and get the listeners’ attention
Orientation
The who, what, where, why
Complicating action
The main body of the story
Resolution
The ending of the narrative
Coda
A signal that the narrative has ended
An internal evaluation
An expression of attitude towards events e.g. it was lovely
An external evaluation
An attitude where the speaker stands back e.g. what happened next was…
Turn taking
Speakers take turns
Adjacency pair
A question and answer
Preferred response
The expected answer
Dispreferred response
An ambiguous or unexpected answer
Insertion sequence
Adding additional turns e.g. responding to a question with another question.
Transition relevance place
A point where it is natural for a speaker to contribute
Constraint
A limitation one speaker places on another e.g. a teacher controlling a student
Charles Goodwin’s story structure
- Story preface
- Story solicit
- Preliminary to the story
- Story action
- Story climax
- Story appreciation
Story preface
A signal that a speaker wants to tell a story and an invitation for others to show interest
Story solicit
A response from someone else that they want to listen to the story
Preliminary to the story
Background information to the story in the form of the “who”, “where”, “what” and “why”
Story action
The main body of the narrative
Story climax
The conclusion of the narrative
Story appreciation
Signals from the audience that communicate their response to the narrative. This might be at several points during the story or at the end and could consist of questions, agreements and laughter or other emotions.
Filler
A non-verbal sound that acts like a pause - either to signal uncertainty or simply as a breathing space for the speaker e.g. er, erm, um
False start
When a speaker begins to speak, stops and then starts again e.g. A: Well I was (1) well I was going to the shops.
Repair
When a speaker corrects some aspect of what they have said - the error might be a grammatical one or the use of the wrong word, either by accident or mentioning something that inappropriate e.g. A: We was (.) were going out. (Grammatical repair) A: I really want England to lose(.) I mean win (word repair)
Skip-connector
A word or phrase that returns the conversation to a previous topic e.g. Anyway, coming back to our original discussion.
Speaker support
Words or phrases (both verbal and non-verbal) that show attention or agreement, and encourage a speaker to carry on talking e.g. mmm, yeah, OK
Phonology
The study of the sound system
Phonetics
How sounds are produced
Prosodics
The study of how speakers create meanings through volume, speed, emphasis etc.
Dipthongs
A sound which begins as one vowel and changes into another as it is being pronounced. It’s impossible to speak one without your tongue moving. E.g. the “oi” in “coin” is a dipthong.
A voiced consonant
Vibrates the vocal chords
An unvoiced consonant
Does not vibrate the vocal chords
Lexical onomatopoeia
Where there is a clear association between the sound of the word and its meaning e.g. sludge
Non-lexical onomatopoeia
Use of “non-words” to create particular effects e.g. “bbrrmmmmm” to describe the sound of a car
Deontic modal auxiliary verb
E.g. must, should
Have a sense of obligation
Can link to notions of power (e.g. instrumental or influential power)
Epistemically modal auxiliary verb
E.g. may, could, might
Connotes possibility
Weaker in certainty
