LANGUAGE DEVICES Flashcards
Hegemony
How one social group can use language to get other people to accept its way of seeing the world as natural.
Pejorative term
A judgemental term that usually implies disapproval or criticism.
Metalanguage
Language about language.
Utterance
A segment of speech.
Context
The background against which a text conveys its meaning.
Discourse event
An act of communication occuring in a specific time and location involving writers/speakers and readers/listeners.
Text producer
The person or people responsible (through writing or speaking) for creating a text.
Text receiver
The person or people interpreting (through reading or listening to) a text.
Mult-purpose text
A text that clearly has more than one purpose.
Primary purpose
The main and most easily recognisable purpose.
Secondary purpose
An additional and perhaps more subtle purpose.
Implied reader
A constructed image of an idealised reader.
Actual reader
Any person or groups of people who engage with and interpret a text.
Implied writer
A constructed image of an idealised writer.
Actual writer
The ‘real’ person or people responsible for text production.
Discourse community
A group of people with shared interests and belief systems who are likely to respond to texts in similar ways.
Mode
The physical channel of communication: either speech or writing.
Oppositional view
A way of defining the difference between modes by arguing that they have completely different features.
Continuum
A sequence in which elements that are next to each other are not noticeably different but elements at the opposite ends are very different from each other.
Blended-mode
A text which contains conventional elements of both speech and writing.
Prototype model
A model of looking at differences within a category or mode by thinking about typical and less typical examples.
Genre
A way of grouping texts based on expected shared conventions.
Intertextuality
A process by which texts borrow from or refer to conventions of other texts for a specific purpose and effect.
Variation
The differences associated with particular instances of language use and between groups of language users.
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.
Situational characteristics
A key characteristic of the time, place and contexts 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 off 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.
Word class
A group of words that fulfil the same kind of role and function in speech and writing.
Noun
A word that names a thing or concept.
Verb
A word that shows a state of being, action or concept.
Adjective
A word that modifies a noun.
Adverb
A word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb.
Open (or lexical) word class
A word class that is generally open to new membership.
Closed (or grammatical) word class
A word class which doesn’t readily admit new members; a word class that isn’t generally open to new membership.
Pronoun
A word that substitutes for a noun. e.g. he, she, they, it.
Determiner
A word that adds detail or clarity to a noun. e.g. the, my, some.
Preposition
A word that shows connection between other words often showing a sense of place or time. e.g. in, on, between, during.
Conjunction
A word that connects larger structures such as phrases, clauses and sentences.
Synonym
A word that has equivalent meaning to another word.
Euphemism
A more socially acceptable word or phrase.
Dysphemism
Using a blunt or direct word instead of a more polite or indirect alternative, close to taboo.
Antonyms
Words that have opposite meanings
Hyponymy
The way of viewing the relationship between more general and specific words.
Metaphor
A structure that presents one thing in terms of another.
Morphology
The study of word formation.
Syntax
The study of how words form larger structures such as phrases, clauses and sentences.
Descriptive
Taking an approach to language study that focuses on how language is actually used.
Prescriptive
Taking an approach to language study that focuses on rules and notions of correctness.
Root
A morpheme that can stand on its own and can usually form a word in its own right.
Suffix
A morpheme that comes after a root word to modify its meaning.
Prefix
A morpheme that goes before a root word to modify its meaning.
Affix
The overall term for an addition to a root (a prefix or suffix) to modify its meaning or create a new word.
Infix
An affix inserted inside a root word to create a new word or modify its meaning. e.g. abso-blooming-lutely.
Inflectional function
The way that an affix shows a grammatical category such as a verb tense or a plural noun.
Derivational function
The way that an affix helps form a new word by attaching itself to a root.
Noun phrase
A group of words built around a noun.
Verb phrase
A group of words built around a head (main) verb.
Head word
The main noun in the phrase.
Pre-modifier
A word that goes before the head noun to add detail or clarify some aspect of it.
Qualifier
An additional word or phrase that adds some further detail to the noun.
Post-modifier
A word that comes after the head noun to add detail or clarify some aspect of it.
Primar auxiliary verb
An auxiliary verb that joins with a main verb to show tense.
Modal auxiliary verb
An auxiliary verb that joins with a main verb to show the degree of commitment towards an event or person that a speaker holds.
Clause
Groups of words centered around a verb phrase.
Coordination
The joining of two clauses that gives them equal weighting.
Subordination
The joining of two clauses that gives one clause (the main) clause more weighting than another clause - or clauses (the subordinate clause(s.))
Adverbial clause
A subordinate clause that functions as an adverbial.
Noun clause
A subordinate clause that functions as a subject, object or complement.
Active voice
Agent in subject position for prominence; verb phrase in present or past tense.
Passive voice
Agent ommitted or placed later in the clause using a prepositional phrase; verb phrae changes to a form of be + participle form (verb root + en/ed.)
Orthographic sentence
A ‘sentence’ marked by a capital letter and full stop but containing no verb.
Phonology
The area of study that refers to the more abstract sound system.
Phonetics
The area of study that is concerned with investigating how sounds are actually produced by language users.
Prosodics
The study of how speakers can shape meanings through emphasising certain aspects of intonation, speed and volume.
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
A system for showing the different sounds possible.
Heterophones
Words that have the same spelling but very different pronunciations and meanings.
Homophones
Words that are pronounced the same but have a different meaning and may have different spellings e.g. there and their.
Articulators
The vocal organs above the larynx, including the lips, teeth, tongue and hard palate that help to form consonant sounds.
Diphthong
A vowel sound that is the combination of two seperate sounds, where a speaker moves from one to another.
Sound iconicity
The matching of sound to an aspect of meaning.
Consonance
A pattern of repeated consonant sounds for effect.
Assonance
A pattern of repeated vowel sounds for effect.
Sibilance
A pattern of repeated fricative sounds, especially /s/ for effect.
Lexical onomatopoeia
Words that have some associated meaning between their sound and what they represent.
Non-lexical onomatopoeia
‘Non-words’ that nonetheless are intended to signify some meaning through their sound.
Phonological manipulation
Making creative changes in sound patterns to give certain effects.
Minimal pair
Two words that differ in only one single sound.
Layout
The physical organisation of a text
Iconic sign
A sign or image that is a direct picture of the thing it represents.
Symbolic sign
A sign or image where an associated meaning is drawn from some shared degree of knowledge
Typographical feature
A feature related to the use of fonts in texts.
Multimodal text
A text that relies on the interplay of different codes (e.g.) the visual and the written) to help shape meaning.
Embodied knowledge
Knowledge that is associated with memories of physically experiencing something, for example the sights and smells of visiting a city.
Schema
A bundle of knowledge about a concept, person or event.
Co-text
Other words or phrases surrounding a word in a text.
Cooperative principle
The general principle that people work together to communicate.
Conversational maxims
Explicit principles that provide a backdrop for conversation to take place so that speakers can easily understand one another.
Implicature
An implied meaning that has to be inferred by a speaker as a result of one of the maxims being broken.
Positive face need
A universal human need to feel valued and appreciated.
Negative face need
A universal human need 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 speak to avoid threatening face.
Deixis
Word that are context-bound and whose meaning depends on who is using them, and where and when they are being used.
Deictic categories
Types of deictic expressions (person, spatial and temporal)
Proximal deixis
Deictic expressions that refer to concepts, events or people close to the speaker.
Distal deixis
Deictic expressions that refer to concepts, events or people at a distance from the speaker.
Internal evaluation
An expression of attitude towards the events in a narrative that occur in the same time frame as the main action.
External evaluation
An expresion of attitude where the speaker ‘stands back’ from the main action.
Turn-taking
The process by which speakers co-construct conversation.
Adjacency pair
A simple structure of two turns.
Preferred response
A second part of an adjacency pair that fits in with what the speaker of the first part wants to hear.
Dispreferred response
A second part of an adjacency pair that doesn’t fit in with what the speaker of the first part wants to hear.
Insertion sequence
An additional sequence between the two parts of an adjacency pair.
Exchange structure
Sequence of turns between speakers.
Transition relevance place
A point where it is natural for another speaker to take a turn.
Constraint
The influence a more powerful speaker can have on another speaker.
Text
A unified piece of speech or writing.
Text meaning
What a text means overall.
Levels of language
Linguists divide language into relatively discrete layers or sub-topics so that these can be understood and studies seperately.
Connotations
The overtones associated with a word or a phrase.
Implied meaning
Where you have to read between the lines to get the underlying meaning or subtext of a text or transcript.
Subtext
The underlying or implied meaning of a text.
Audience address
Relates to the way a writer or a speaker addresses the people they are writing for or speaking to.
Audience positioning
The assumptions made in a text about its readers’ background knowledge and understanding, attitudes and values in order to guide them towards an interpretation.
Synthetic personalisation
Making it seem as if text receives are being addressed as individuals rather than as a mass.
Grammatical patterning
Where the same or a similar grammatical structure is used two or three times, or even more.
Discourse marker
Words, phrases or clauses that help to organise what we say or write (e.g. OK, so, “as I was saying…”)
Tag question
A short question used at the end of a sentence, often inviting agreement with the speaker.
Nominalisation
The process of forming nouns through other word classes - e.g. verbs and adjectives
Stereotype
Oversimplified representation of a person, group, institution or event.
Ideology
A system of ideas.
Linguistic relativity
The idea that the language we use to talk and write about things can determine the way we think about them.
Stigmatise
To mark something or someone out as disgraceful or shameful.
Reappropiation
Reclaiming a word or phrase that has come to mean something insulting and using it as if it is normal or even complimentary.
Semantic field
A group of words that fulfil the same kind of role and function in speech and writing.
Collocates
Words that typically appear together.
Fixed expression
A well-used group of words that becomes acceptedand used as one long structure.
Communicative competence
The ability to form accurate and understandable utterances, using the grammar system, and to understand social context for using them.
Proto words
‘Made up’ words that a child will use to represent a word they might not yet be able to pronounce, for example, ‘ray rays’ for ‘raisins.’
Pre-verbal stage
A period of time that involves experimenting with noises and sounds but without producing recognisable words - usually lasting for the majority of the baby’s first year.
Cooing
Distinct from crying but not yet forming recognisable vowels and consonants.
Babbling
Vocal play that involves forming vowel and consonant sounds, which can be reduplicated (repeated sounds) or variegated (different sounds put together.)
Holophrastic stage
The point in a child’s development when a child uses just individual words to communicate.
Non-verbal communication
All the ways in which communication occurs that do not involve words. (e.g. a parent shaking their head at a child will communicate the same meaning as ‘no.’)
