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Key Terms Flashcards

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Proverbs and Idioms flashcards
0
Q

Slang

A

A very broad term for any language which isn’t considered ‘proper’ or standard English but which may be fairly well spread

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1
Q

Non-standard English

A

Words/Grammatical constructions which are not considered to be ‘good’ or ‘correct’ English and which are confined to specific regions of the country

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2
Q

Colloquialism

A

A loose term which literally means ‘language as it is spoken’; it tends to apply to more well-established examples of informal phrases

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3
Q

Standard English

A

Words/grammatical constructions which are generally accepted as ‘correct English’

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4
Q

Taboo Language

A

Language which is deeply offensive such as swear words (often called expletives)

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5
Q

Vulgarism

A

Language which is coarse and which is not usually used in polite society

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6
Q

Transactional Talk

A

Conversation where one party wants something from the other

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7
Q

Turn-taking

A

Taking turns within a conversation

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8
Q

Status

A

How two parties in a conversation relate to each other

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9
Q

Overt/Implied Purpose

A

What the conversation is apparently about

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10
Q

Audience

A

Who the conversation is aimed at

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11
Q

Register

A

Formality and informality

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12
Q

Ellipsis

A

Parts of words/sentences being missed out

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13
Q

Lexis

A

Vocabulary/word choice

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14
Q

Active Listening

A

Phrases that encourage the speaker

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15
Q

Conversational markers

A

Phrases that draw in the listener by asking for approval

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16
Q

Linear

A

Conversation that flows between A and B seamlessly without hesitation; rare in genuine conversation

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17
Q

Anaphoric reference

A

Refers back to something in a previous sentence, without which the 2nd sentence cannot be understood

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18
Q

Pragmatics

A

What the speaker means rather than what they outright say

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19
Q

Deixis

A

Demonstrative reference, such as ‘that’ and ‘there

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20
Q

Feedback

A

A reply to what is being said

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21
Q

Utterance

A

Something someone says

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22
Q

Prosodic features

A

Stress and intonation

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23
Q

Paralinguistics

A

Body language

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24
Q

Grice’s Maxim of Quality

A

Not saying that which you believe to be false; not saying that for which you lack evidence

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25
Q

Grice’s Maxim of Quantity?

A

Making your contribution as informative as required, yet no more informative than is required

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26
Q

Grice’s Maxim of Manner

A

Being perspicuous, avoiding obscurity of expression, being brief and being orderly

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27
Q

Grice’s Maxim of Relevance

A

Saying that which is relevant to the conversation

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28
Q

Opting-out

A

Choosing to opt out of a relation rather than violating it

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29
Q

Cataphoric Reference

A

Referencing forwards to an as yet undisclosed item

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30
Q

Accent

A

The specific way words are pronounced according to geographical region

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31
Q

Acronymy

A

Abbreviations that use the first letter of a group of words and is pronounced as a single word

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32
Q

Actor

A

The individual/entity responsible for the action of a verb process

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33
Q

Actual Reader

A

Any reader who actually engages with the text

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34
Q

Actual writer

A

The ‘real’ person behind the text

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35
Q

Adjacency Pair

A

Two utterances by different speakers that have a natural and logical link (two turns)

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36
Q

Adjectival Phrase

A

A phrase with the adjective as its head

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37
Q

Affected

A

The person/entity affected by a material action process

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38
Q

Agency

A

The responsibility for/cause of an action

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39
Q

Antonymy

A

Words with opposite value

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40
Q

Alliteration

A

A sequence of words beginning with the same sound

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41
Q

Assonance

A

The repetition of vowel sounds for effect

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42
Q

Asynchronous discourse

A

Discourse in which there is delays between turns that participants take

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43
Q

Auxiliary verb

A

A verb that supports another; shows tense or modality

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44
Q

Base form

A

The simple form of an adjective (serves to modify)

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45
Q

Boosting device

A

Linguistic device used to intensify the force of an expression for either emphasis or power

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46
Q

Cantenative Verb

A

verb that can attach to another (forming a ‘chain’)

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47
Q

Clause

A

a group of lexical items formed around a verb phrase

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48
Q

Clause Patterns

A

Patterns produced by writers using certain types of clauses for impact and effect

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49
Q

Cohesion

A

A measure of how well a text fits together as a whole

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50
Q

Comparative

A

The form for comparing two items (adjectives with -er)

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51
Q

Complementary

A

Truly opposite antonyms

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52
Q

Complex Sentence

A

Sentence with a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses

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53
Q

Compound Sentence

A

Sentence with two or more main clauses, connected by conjunctions or punctuation

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54
Q

Compound-Complex Sentence

A

Sentence with at least two main clauses and at least one subordinate clause

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55
Q

Conceptual metaphor

A

The way in which abstract terms are mapped onto physical entities through an underlying conceptual structure

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56
Q

Connective

A

A word that connects words, phrases, clauses, sentences or paragraphs

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57
Q

Connotation

A

An associated, symbolic meaning relying on culturally shared conventions

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58
Q

Consonance

A

The repetition of consonant sounds for effect

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59
Q

Constraints

A

The way in which powerful participants may block or control the contributions of less powerful participants

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60
Q

Context of production

A

The situation in which a text is produced and those factors that might influence its writing

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61
Q

Context of reception

A

The situations in which a text is produced and those factors that might influence its writing

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62
Q

Convention

A

An agreed or shared feature

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63
Q

Cooperative principe

A

The principle that suggests that all communication is essentially a cooperative act

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64
Q

Coordinating Conjunctions

A

Words such as “and”, “but” and “or” that link clauses to form compound sentences

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65
Q

Covert Prestige

A

A form of high status given to non-standard forms

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66
Q

Denotation

A

Literal or semantic meaning of a lexical term

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67
Q

Deontic modality

A

Constructions that express degrees of necessity and obligation (eg. “may”; “must”)

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68
Q

Dialect

A

The language variety of a geographical region or social background

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69
Q

Direct Object

A

Object directly affected by a verb process, for example in “I gave him the pen”, the pen is the direct object

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70
Q

Discourse

A

A continuous stretch of language that is longer than a sentence

71
Q

Discourse Marker

A

A word or phrase that indicates a change in topic or return to a previous topic

72
Q

Ditransitive Verb

A

A verb that requires two objects to form a double-object construction, such as “give”, “grant” or “tell”

73
Q

Dynamic Verbs

A

Verbs where the situation described by the verb process changes over time

74
Q

Dysphemism

A

A harsh and often taboo term sometimes used for a dark/humorous effect

75
Q

Elision

A

The missing out of sounds or parts of words in speech or written language

76
Q

Ellipses

A

The missing out of a word or words in a sentence

77
Q

Epistemic Modality

A

Constructions that express degrees of possibility, probability or certainty (such as “shall” and “will”)

78
Q

Euphemism

A

A socially acceptable word or phrase used to avoid talking about something potentially distasteful

79
Q

Exchange Structure

A

A series of turns between speakers

80
Q

Explicative evaluation

A

Explaining reasons for narrative events

81
Q

External evaluation

A

An evaluative comment outside the narrative sequence

82
Q

Face

A

A person’s self-esteem or emotional needs

83
Q

Face-threatening Act

A

A communicative act that threatens someone’s positive or negative face needs

84
Q

Flaming

A

The act of posting aggressive threats or responses to threads

85
Q

Folklinguistics

A

Attitudes and assumptions about language that have no real evidence to support them

86
Q

Formulation

A

The rewording of another’s contribution by a powerful participant to impose a certain meaning/understanding

87
Q

Functional Words

A

Words that have less explicit meaning and serve to highlight relationships between other words (“then”, “as”, “if”, “he”, “she”, “the”, “a”)

88
Q

Gender

A

The differences in behaviour and roles that are a result of societal expectations

89
Q

Gradable

A

Antonyms that are not exact opposites but can be considered in terms of degree of quality

90
Q

Greetings sequence

A

A series of turns designed to initiate a shared social space

91
Q

Hedging Device

A

A linguistic device used to express uncertainty

92
Q

Homophone

A

A word that sounds the same as another word or words

93
Q

‘How are you’ sequences

A

Examples of phatic talk that maintain the social relationship before the main business of a call/conversation

94
Q

Hyponymy

A

The term for the hierarchical structure that exists between lexical items

95
Q

Idiolect

A

An individual style of speaking or ‘linguistic fingerprint’

96
Q

Implied reader

A

The kind of reader a text producer has in mind when writing a text

97
Q

Implied Writer

A

A constructed image of the writer a reader may have in mind

98
Q

Indirect object

A

An object indirectly affected by a verb process (eg. “I gave him the pen”; “him” is the indirect object)

99
Q

Influential Power

A

Power used to influence/persuade others

100
Q

Initialism

A

An abbreviation that uses the first letter of a group of words and is pronounced as individual letters

101
Q

Initiation-Response-Feedback

A

A triadic structure in speech that allows the first speaker to feedback on the response of the second speaker

102
Q

Instrumental Power

A

Power used to maintain and enforce authority

103
Q

Intransitive Verb

A

A verb process such as ‘yawned’ or ‘slept’ that has no object

104
Q

Jargon

A

Particularly specialist terminology that may exclude others

105
Q

Less powerful participants

A

Those with less status in a given context who are subject to constraints imposed by more powerful participants

106
Q

Lexical accomodation

A

The way in which speakers mirror each other’s lexical choices as a sign of community membership

107
Q

Lexical (semantic) field

A

Lexical items that are similar in range of meaning and properties

108
Q

Lexical Onomatopoeia

A

Actual lexical items that rely on a similarity between sound and meaning (eg. “crash” and “bang”)

109
Q

Lexical word

A

words that carry explicit meanings and represent the word classes that are open to new additions and derivations

110
Q

Main clause

A

A clause that can stand on its own and make sense independent of anything else

111
Q

Main verb

A

The verb that details the main process in a verb phrase

112
Q

Marked form

A

That which stands out as different from a norm

113
Q

Material processes

A

Describing actions or evenets

114
Q

Members’ Resources

A

The vast amount of background knowledge and information that readers use in order to interpret texts and which may be explicitly drawn upon by text produces

115
Q

Metalanguage

A

A set of technical terms used to describe how language operates

116
Q

Metatalk

A

Talk that brings attention to the act of talking itself

117
Q

Minor sentence

A

A grammatically incomplete sentence

118
Q

Mixed-mode features

A

Features expected in printed text combined with features expected in conversation

119
Q

Modal auxiliary verb

A

Verbs that never appear on their own and are used to express probability, possibility, certainty, necessity or obligation

120
Q

Mode

A

The medium of communication

121
Q

Modifier

A

A word, usually an adjective or a noun used attributively, that qualifies the sense of a noun

122
Q

Monotransitive verb

A

A verb that only requires one object

123
Q

Morpheme

A

The smallest unit of grammatical meaning; can be words in their own right or combine with other morphemes to form lexical units

124
Q

Multimodal texts

A

Those that combine word, image and sound to produce meaning

125
Q

Negating particle

A

A small item used to show negation

126
Q

Negative face

A

The need to have freedom of thought and action and not feel imposed on

127
Q

Non-lexical onomatopoeia

A

Non-words that work in the same way as lexical onomatopoeia

128
Q

Noun phrases

A

A group of words centred around a noun

129
Q

Object pronoun

A

A pronoun that usually appears as being affected by a verb process (eg. “him” and “them”)

130
Q

Oppressive discourse strategy

A

Linguistic behaviour that is open in its exercising of power and control

131
Q

Over-specificity

A

The giving of a too specific answer

132
Q

Overt marking

A

Marking that takes place through affixation or modification

133
Q

Parallelism

A

The repetition of a pattern or structure in related words, phrases or clauses

134
Q

Personal power

A

Power held by individuals as a result of their roles in organisations

135
Q

Personification

A

A figure of speech where an animal or inanimate object is given human characteristics

136
Q

Phatic speech acts

A

Turns designed to maintain a sense of cooperation or respect for the other speaker

137
Q

Positive and negative politeness strategies

A

Redressive strategies that a speaker might use to avoid or mitigate face-threatening acts

138
Q

Positive face

A

The need to feel wanted, liked and appreciated

139
Q

Possessive pronoun

A

A pronoun that demonstrates ownership

140
Q

Post-modification

A

A modifying phrase or lexical item that occurs after the head noun in a noun phrase

141
Q

Power asymmetry

A

A marked difference in the power status of individuals involved in discourse

142
Q

Powerful Participant

A

A speaker with a higher status in a given context, who is therefore able to impose a degree of power

143
Q

Pre-closing sequences

A

Signals that one or both speakers wish to end the conversation

144
Q

Pre-modification

A

Modifying that occurs before the head noun

145
Q

Prepositional phrase

A

A phrase consisting of a preposition and an added noun phrase

146
Q

Primary auxiliary

A

Used to donate tense changes (“do”, “be”, “have”)

147
Q

Prosodic features

A

Paralinguistic vocal elements of spoken language used to provide emphasis or other effects

148
Q

Qualifier

A

Further information to complete the phrase

149
Q

Semantic derogation

A

The sense of negative meaning or connotation that some lexical items have attached to them

150
Q

Semantic deterioration

A

The process by which negative connotations become attached to lexical items

151
Q

Semantics

A

The method that deals with meaning and how that is generated within texts

152
Q

Semi-auxiliary

A

A combination of a primary auxiliary and another verb part

153
Q

Simple sentence

A

A sentence consisting of a single main clause

154
Q

Small talk

A

Talk that is primarily interactional in orientation and is geared towards establishing relationships

155
Q

Social group power

A

Power held as a result of being a member of a dominant social group

156
Q

Socailisation

A

A process by which individuals’ behaviours are conditioned and shaped

157
Q

Sociolect

A

A defined use of language as a result of membership of a social group

158
Q

Specialist register

A

A set of lexical items and grammatical constructions particular to an institution or occupational group

159
Q

Standard English

A

A universally accepted dialect of English that carries a degree of prestige

160
Q

Stative verb

A

A verb that describes a state of affairs rather than an action

161
Q

Subject pronoun

A

A pronoun that usually occurs as the actor in the verbal process

162
Q

Subordinate

A

A ‘lower’ word in the hyponymic chain; a more specific lexical item

163
Q

Superlative

A

Adjectives inflected with “est” or combined with “most” are superlatives

164
Q

Synchronous discourse

A

Discourse that takes place in real time

165
Q

Synonymy

A

Words with very similar semantic value

166
Q

Synthetic personalisation

A

The way in which advertising and other forms of communication use personalised language such as the second person

167
Q

Tag question

A

A group of words that turn a declarative into an interrogative

168
Q

Topic management

A

The control of the conversation in terms of speaking and topic

169
Q

Transition relevance point

A

A point at which it is natural for another speaker to take a turn

170
Q

Turn-taking

A

The sharing of speaking roles, usually cooperatively

171
Q

Under-specificity

A

Inappropriately vague answer to a question

172
Q

Unequal encounter

A

An alternative term for asymmetrical which highlights that one speaker has power over the other

173
Q

Unmarked form

A

The measured norm

174
Q

Utterance

A

A group of spoken words

English Language AS (1 decks)

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