Key Terminology:

Question 1

Social constructivism:

Answer 1

What we say or what we do doesn’t just define our way of speaking, but also shapes our identity and society.

Question 2

Intertextuality:

Answer 2

An element of one text that takes its meaning from a reference to another text, for instance by quoting, echoing or linking.

Question 3

Discourse Analysis:

Answer 3

The study of how stretches of language in context are seen as meaningful and unified by users or how different uses of language express the values of people and institutions.

Question 4

Register:

Answer 4

• What language is appropriate in what context.
• A term from systemic functional linguistics which explains the relationship between texts and their contexts in terms of field, tenor, and mode. Register also refers to broad fields of language use such as legal, scientific or promotional discourse.

Question 5

Community of practice:

Answer 5

Community of Practice describes a group of people who share an interest, a craft or a profession. This is through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group that the members learn from each other, and have an opportunity to develop themselves personally and professionally.

Question 6

Linguistic Repertoires:

Answer 6

Is a set of skills and knowledge a person has of one or more languages, as well as their different varieties (be they diatopic, diaphasic, diastratic or diachronic). This repertoire comprises elements of the different levels of description of language and its use (phonetic-graphical, lexical-grammatical, discursive-textual or pragmatic).

Question 7

Agency:

Answer 7

Agency is often explored by examining how it is emphasized, manipulated, or concealed through the choices that language users make regarding the use of active and passive voice or the nominalization of verbs.

Question 8

Presupposition:

Answer 8

The common ground that is assumed to exist between language users, such as assumed knowledge of a situation or of the world.

Question 9

Speech Acts:

Answer 9

Communicative words that convey meaning and at the same time are a specific action. Examples include: Informing, reporting, requesting information or action, commanding, demanding, denying, rejecting, prohibiting, greeting and etc.

Question 10

Locution:

Answer 10

The physical utterance of the sentence.

E.G. “I’m not making any more food until the pizza is finished”.

Question 11

illocution

Answer 11

The literal meaning of actual words.

Question 12

Perlocution

Answer 12

The effect the utterance has on the thoughts or action of the person.

Question 13

The cooperative principle

Answer 13

Assumes the speaker and listener want to communicate.

Question 14

Grice’s maxims:

Answer 14

Introduced four maxims of communication:

Question 15

quality:

Answer 15

Questions the truth of the speakers point/statement/ comment.

Question 16

quantity:

Answer 16

To be informative as necessary. Not too much or too little.

Question 17

relation:

Answer 17

The relevance of what is being said.

Question 18

manner:

Answer 18

Clarity of point. Avoid vagueness, obliqueness and metaphors.

Question 19

Face:

Answer 19

The way we want others to see us.

Question 20

Negative face:

Answer 20

The desire to be unconstrained by others in ones actions.

Question 21

Positive Face:

Answer 21

The desire to be appreciated and accepted by others.

Question 22

Style:

Answer 22

Language varies according to: its uses, its users, where it is used, who is the audience and who is using it.

-Style is the way the speaker/ writer applies their linguistic repertoire in a specific situation to achieve their communicative goals.