Key concepts

Question 1

acceptable

Answer 1

A term used to describe any language use that native speakers feel is allowed

Question 2

appropriate

Answer 2

A term used to describe any language use that is seen as suitable for the situation which it is used in.

Question 3

context

Answer 3

The circumstances (social, historical, geographical, cultural, physical) in which speech and writing take place.

Question 4

descriptive

Answer 4

An approach to language based on observation of language in use, focusing on appropriateness and acceptability rather than on making judgements.

Question 5

field

Answer 5

An area of meaning linked to the subject matter of a discourse (e.g. physics) which will contain linked lexical items e.g. gravity, relativity, spacetime, Einstein, Newton, density gradient.

Question 6

form

Answer 6

The class of a word or type of phrase.

Question 7

mode

Answer 7

A term used to describe whether language use is written, spoken or multi modal.

Question 8

function

Answer 8

The role of words, phrases or clauses within a sentence e.g. modifiers in a noun phrase

Question 9

non-standard

Answer 9

Language that does not conform to standard prestige form which is used as a linguistic norm.

Question 10

pragmatics

Answer 10

The study of how contextual factors influence a speakers or writers language choice

Question 11

prescriptive

Answer 11

An approach to language that dictates rules of usage, and which focusses on concepts of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

Question 12

register

Answer 12

A style of language used in a particular context defined in terms or mode, tenor and field.

Question 13

standard

Answer 13

The form of a language considered to be the norm and used as the medium of education, government, and the legal system

Question 14

tenor

Answer 14

The relationship between participants in a language interaction.