Key Terminology Flashcards
Discourse
Features of the whole text’s structure
Pragmatics
What speakers really mean in a given context
Lexis
Words
Semantics
Words and meanings
Grammar
Sentence/clause/phrase/words structure
Rhetoric
Using language to persuade and inspire
Phonology
Sound
False start
A change of thought reflected in the start of a new sentence in mid utterance
Backtracking
Returning to a topic which had earlier been dropped
Grammatical blends
When a sentence begins one way but ends in another, e.g starting as a declarative statement and turning into a question
Vague completer
“…and stuff”
Adjacency pair
When a comment of one speaker initiates the response of another, creating a ‘take-it-in-turns’ structure
Insertion sequence
A sequence of conversation which intervenes between the two parts of the adjacency pair which may develop, comment or extend the implications of the initial move in the adjacency pair example: "Would you like coffee?" "Is there any tea?" "No, sorry."
Overlapping
Different from interrupting as may not be an attempt to take over, but a co-operative chiming in with each other
Discourse markers
“Well”, “so”, “anyway”
Could indicate a topic shift
Repairs
A practical move in conversation aimed at restoring a conversation because the topic has become difficult/unclear/misunderstood
Anaphoric reference
Where a pronoun, noun or noun phrase points back to something mentioned earlier
Ellipsis
Omission of a word/words e.g “I’m”
Typography/Graphology
In written texts the visual features helping to organise and structure ideas, including: font layout pictures use of colour
Backchannel features
“mmm” “yeah” to signal that participant is listening
Monitoring features
Checking the other person is listening “You know what I mean?”
Deictics
Words that point things out in immediate context “What is this?”
Hedges/mitigators
Make utterances less blunt or assertive, to avoid breaching the maximum of quality
Implicature
Refers to a meaning suggested by an utterance, e.g “its a bit cold in here” could hint to shutting a door
Grice’s Maxims
Quantity (don’t say too much/too little)
Quality (don’t lie)
Relation (be relevant)
Manner (don’t be obscure or ambiguous)
Face needs
Using hedgers to make comments less face threatening, e.g “Would you mind passing that?”
In prepared speech can be used to flatter their audience
Phatic communication
Language used more for the purpose of establishing / maintaining social contact rather than exchanging information, e.g talking about the weather.
Register
Potentially recognisable by lexis or distinctive grammar
former/informal
specialised/unspecialised (medicine, law ect.)
Prepared speech could use formality
Idiolect
The speech habits unique to an individual
Sociolect
The speech habits used by a specific social group.
In prepared speech possibly used to appeal to a target audience
Germanic lexis
Anglo-Saxon derived words, tending to be informal and monosyllabic or disyllabic
Latinate lexis
Latin derived words, tending to be more complex
High/low frequency lexis
Words occurring commonly/rarely
Dialect lexis
Regional dialect
Colloquialism
Lexis used in everyday informal speech
May be used in prepared speech to build up a relationship with audience
Subtext
Implications / underlying message shown in the connotations of a particular lexis choice, which are understood though not stated
Euphemism
A word replacing a word deemed socially unpleasant / unacceptable. Could explain context
Dysphemism
A word with connotations that are offensive
Opposite of euphemism
Syntax
Word order
Interrogative
A sentence asking a question
Exclamatory
A sentence making an exclamation
Syntactic parallelism
Repetition of the same word order or grammatical structures.
Common in prepared speeches (used in rhetoric)
Syndetic list
Lists that are connected by conjunctions at the final 2 (“and”)
Asyndetic list
The omission of conjunctions from a list in which they would normally be used; no “and”
Syntactic inversion
Changing the normal order of words
e.g. “A lamp was in the corner” to “In the corner was a lamp”
Open word classes
Lexical word classes
It is possible to add to them, e.g nouns, verbs, adjectives
Closed word classes
Grammatical words / function words
Have purely grammatical functions, it is very rare for these words to change, e.g pronouns, conjunctions, determiners
Hyperbole
Exaggeration for effect
Litotes
Understatement for effect, irony
e.g “Hitler was certainly not an angel”
Used a lot in UK speech where ironic humour is appreciated
Refutation
Answering an attack of our assertions
Reductio ad absurdum
Form of argument in which a proposition is disproven by following its implications logically to an absurd consequence
Diminutio
Self-deprication to win audience sympathy
“Us and them” technique
Used to isolate the opposition and make the speaker relatable
Synthetic personalisation
Ways of addressing mass audiences as though they were individuals through inclusive language use, such as direct address or colloquialisms
Exemplum
Anecdotes used to illustrate a point
Percontatio
Similar to a rhetorical question but is in a tone of bewilderment or amazement, allowing no easy reply
e.g “Yet why does it take war to bring these problems to a forefront?’”
Ratiocinatio
Type of rhetoric where you pose and argument to yourself and meet the answer
Amplificatio
Elaborating an idea by saying it several times in different ways
Anaphora
Repetition of the beginning of a sentence or clause for effect
e.g. “I have a dream”
Epiphora
Repetition of the end of a sentence or clause for effect
e.g “government of the people, by the people, for the people”
Diacope
Repetition of a word or phrase with one or two intervening words
e.g “All the great speakers were bad speakers at first”
Tricolon
Use of 3 parts to a sentence to enforce a meaning
Antithesis
Contrasting pairs with parallelism in grammatical structure
e.g “Ask no what your country will do for you; ask what you can do for your country”
Parison
Parallelism in grammatical structure of similar ideas
Synecdoche
A device in which a part is used to represent something else, e.g “We have a new face in the building”
Received Pronunciatio
A British accent with connotations of high social status, not influenced by regional variation. May indicate class background or used deliberately to establish credibility by appealing to class assumptions
Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds
Consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds
Elision
The cutting of a syllable from a word, omission of an unstressed syllable
e.g “isn’t”
Homophones
Words with the same sound but different meaning
Can be used as part of wordplay
Plosives
Repetition of p, d and b sounds
Fricatives
Repetition of th, v, f, and ph sounds
Dental plosives
Repetition of t sounds
Rhotic
Repetition of r sounds
Prosodic features
Accent
Tone
Pitch
Intonation
Idiom
A group of words put together to mean something non-related to the words individually
e.g “over the moon”
Zoomorphism
The attribution of animal characteristics to a human
Antropornorism
The attribution of human characteristics to animals
Laudatory
Use of flattery to persuade
Pathos
Using empathy to persuade
Logos
Using logic to persuade
Ethos
Using ethics/morals to persuade
Anadiplosis
Repetition of the same word at the beginning and end of a sentence
Hipophora
Answering your own rhetorical questions
Modal auxiliary verbs
Can/could/will/would/may
