METALANGUAGE : Discourse Flashcards
Inference
Something that has been deduced or concluded given the context
e.g Guests at a dinner party ask for seconds so you can infer they like the food
Logical Ordering
The arrangement of things/arguments that make sense
e.g if writing about a character’s sadness you aren’t going to suddenly talk about the inflation of Indian currency
Formatting
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Consistency
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Conventions
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Clefting
Clefting involves placing a sequence of words within a structure beginning with ‘It is/was’.
e.g: from ‘She bought A PAIR OF GLOVES WITH SILK EMBROIDERY’ to ‘It was A PAIR OF GLOVES WITH SILK EMBRIODERY that she bought’
Front Focus
The situation in which information is presented at the beginning of a sentence to given it greater prominence
e.g. “Powerful you have become Dooku, the dark side I sense in you” -Yoda
End Focus
The situation in which new information is presented at the end of a sentence
e.g. Your books are on the shelf
Anaphoric Reference
Occurs when the writer refers back to someone or something earlier to avoid repetition
e.g ‘I went out with Jon on Sunday. SHE looked awful’ (‘She’ refers to Jo; no need to repeat her name)
Cataphoric Reference
A reference forward in the discourse; something is introduced before it is identified
e.g “Here he comes, our award-winning host…its John Doe!” (the “he” in front refers to John, who is identified later in the sentence)
Deixis
Refers to words or phrases that cannot be understood without context. Words are deictic if their semantic meaning is fixed but their denotational meaning varies depending on time and/or place
e.g Pronouns (‘I’, ‘you’…), ‘here’, ‘there’
Repetition
A language device in which lexemes or phrases are used multiple times
e.g “If you compare fly-fishing with ice fishing, you will find that fly-fishing is more exciting than ice fishing.” - Stephen Wilburs
Synonymy
The state of words being synonymous with each other (closely related)
e.g the adjectives ‘big’ and ‘large’, or the verbs ‘to buy’ and ‘to purchase’
Antonymy
The state of words being antonymous with each other (practical/near opposites)
e.g the adjectives ‘big’ and ‘small’, or the verbs ‘to buy’ and ‘to sell’
Hyponymy
A stylistic device where a more specific lexeme is used rather than the more general lexeme
e.g ‘basil’ and ‘oregano’ are hyponyms of herb
Collocation
Words that regularly occur together
e.g ‘black and white’, ‘boys and girls’
Ellipsis
The omission of information from discourse because it is already understood. Used to help with cohesion
e.g “So…what happened?”, “…sure.”
Substitution
A word is replaced by another more general, shorter lexeme
e.g “Which ice-cream would you like?” “I’d like the pink one” (where “one” is used instead of repeating “ice-cream)
Adverbials
Word/s that give more information about the verb (such as manner, time, place, frequency or degree)
e.g Danny speaks FLUENTLY. (telling more about the verb)
Lana ate breakfast YESTERDAY MORNING. (telling when the verb’s action occurred)
Spoken Discourse: Pauses
Occur when a speaker breathes in during a turn at talking or when they need time to think, and can be used for dramatic effect
Spoken Discourse: False Starts
Occurs when a speaker, having already started on an utterance, hesitates or changes their mind about what they want to say
Spoken Discourse: Repetition
A linguistic device in which phrases or lexemes are used multiple times, usually in order to emphasize an important point, draw parallels between two ideas or to ensure that the audience has understood a point
Spoken Discourse: Repairs
A linguistic device in which the interlocutor clarifies or fixes a phrase which they believe wasn’t told or expressed in a fitting manner (‘finding the right word’/correcting yourself), usually marked by editing phrase ‘I mean’
e.g “I’m heading off to Sue’s– I mean Mary’s house tonight” (catching and correcting yourself)
“I need to renew my whatchamacallit– my prescription today” (finding the right word and using it)
Spoken Discourse: Openings
Things done to ‘open’ a dialogue/discourse
e.g “Hey”, “Hi”, “What happened?”, etc.. (the start of conversation)
Spoken Discourse: Closings
The ending remarks that ‘close’ a discourse
e.g “See you later”, “Bye”, “It’s been a pleasure”, etc.. (the end of a conversation)
Spoken Discourse: Adjacency Pairs
Taking turns in a spoken interaction that have a close relationship
e.g “Hi”–“Hey, how are you?”
Spoken Discourse: Overlapping Speech
When one interlocutor speaks/talks over the top of another, at the same time
e.g Tessa: “I’m sure you’ll do well”
Andy: “[Yeah]”
Gazza: “[Sure]”
Spoken Discourse: Interrogative Tags
A question created by adding an element to the end of a statement
e.g “It sure is bright, isn’t it?”
Spoken Discourse: Discourse Particles
Words and expressions that have discourse functions such as to do with focus and change of topic, and conversational functions to do with turn-taking- may also play a role in expressing social relationships, personal attitudes and opinions & conveying subtle nuances of meaning
e.g ‘well, yeah-no, like, I mean, you know’
Cohesion
A property of unity in texts that shows clear connections and relationships between ideas
e.g ‘Most people want to be happy. However, they often have difficulty achieving this.’ ‘They’ refers back to most people, ‘this’ refers to being happy and ‘however’ relates the clause that follows back to the preceding sentence
SP Strategies: Topic Management
How a topic is discussed, elaborated and changed in a conversation
e.g by using interrogatives, declarative and exclamations the interlocutors ‘manage’ what is discussed
SP Strategies: Turn-taking
Refers to accepted norms of taking turns in conversation
e.g Not interrupting or talking over someone else
SP Strategies: Holding the Floor
Refers to the control of a conversation by an interlocutor-
e.g the person who is speaking ‘holds the floor’ and the listeners normally do not interrupt or ignore
Discourse Analysis
The study of connected sentences
Overlaps: Backchannelling/Minimal Response
A short response by the audience in a spoken interaction to indicate that they are listening
e.g “ooh”, “hmm”, “yeah”, “right”
Overlaps: Interruptive
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Overlaps: Collaborative
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