SHHS Linguistic Terminology Flashcards
What is a declarative?
A sentence/utterance which makes a statement
What is an interrogative?
A sentence/utterance which asks a question
What is an imperative?
A sentence/utterance which gives a command
What is an exclamative?
A sentence/utterance which expresses a strong feeling (anger, surprise, shock etc.)
What is a simple sentence?
A sentence which contains one main subject, verb, object/complement
What is a compound sentence?
Two simple sentences (two main clauses) joined by a co-ordinating conjunction (and, or, but, so)
What is a complex sentence?
A sentence which contains at least one main clause and a subordinate clause (MUST contain a subordinating conjunction)
What is a main/independent clause?
A group of words that contain a subject and a verb, with one main idea that could stand as a simple sentence
What is a subordinate/dependent clause?
A group of words that contain a subject and a verb, and a subordinating conjunction, but relies on a main clause to make sense (doesn’t make sense on its own)
What is a noun phrase?
A group of words centred around a noun as the ‘head word’.
What is a verb phrase?
A group of words built around a verb as the ‘head word’
What is an adjectival phrase?
A group of words built around an adjective as the ‘head word’
What is an adverbial phrase?
A group of words built around an adverb as the ‘head word’
What is a noun
a naming word
What is proper noun?
Name of a person, place, company, day of the week, month of the year etc. First letter always written in upper case
What is a common noun?
The generic, non specific name given to an object/animal etc.
What is an abstract noun?
The name given to an abstract concept: love, hate, etc.
What is a collective noun?
The name given to a group of things/animals/people e.g. ‘a herd of elephants’
What is a first person pronoun?
The words a person uses to refer to themselves indirectly: me, I etc.
What is a second person pronoun?
The words a person uses to refer to the person they are directly speaking/writing to: you, etc.
What is a third person pronoun?
The words a person uses to refer to somebody else indirectly: he, she, it, they, etc.
What is a pre-determiner?
Information given before the noun which modifies the noun
What is a post-determiner?
Information given after the noun which modifies the noun
What is a tricolon?
Grouping of words in threes
What is a determiner?
A word which determines the number of definiteness of the noun phrase: the/a/an/this/her/which/some/my/enough/every
What is a preposition?
A word which positions the noun in place or time: at/to/in/on/before/after/over/under/to/towards/by/across/near
What are co-ordinating conjunctions?
Linking words used to connect two independent clauses: main ones are: and, but, so
What are subordinating conjunctions?
Linking words used to connect an independent clause to a subordinating clause: however/after/while/until/nevertheless
What are verbs?
Doing or being words
What is an infinitive verb?
Verbs in their original form, without inflection: to walk/to run/to shout/to sleep
What is an adverb?
A word which tells us when, where or how the verb is done (adverbs of time, place, manner)
What is a modal verb?
A verb which expresses level of possibility: might/could/should/can/will/may
What is a dynamic verb?
A verb which describes a physical action
What is a stative verb?
A verb which describes a state of being: ‘to love; to hate’ etc.
What is present tense?
Writing about the present moment: ‘she hurries home’
What is past tense?
Writing about a moment in the past: ‘she hurried home’
What is future tense?
Writing about something that will happen in the future: ‘she will hurry home’
What is the active voice?
When the subject of the sentence performs the action: ‘the dog bit the man’
What is the passive voice?
When the subject of the sentence has something acted upon them: ‘the man was bitten by the dog’
What is a finite verb?
A verb which indicates past/present/future: ‘I went/will go/he goes’
What is a non-finite verb?
A verb which does not indicate time/tense: ‘going along the street; stretched out on the grass; to see a film’
What is alliteration?
The repetition of initial consonants for effect: ‘bare, black, brooding’
What is assonance?
The repetition of vowels for effect: ‘moon, soon, room’
What is onomatopoeia?
When the word itself matches the sound it describes: ‘crash, bang, clatter, boom’
What is accent?
The pronunciation pattern of a region, social class or ethnic group
What is dialect?
A variety of language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by the grammatical and lexical choices unique to that region
What is the Accommodation theory?
The theory that we adapt our speech to accommodate the person we are addressing
What is downwards convergence?
To downwardly converge is to become less formal in your language choices in order to accommodate the person you are addressing
What is upwards convergence?
To upwardly converge is to become more formal in your language choices in order to accommodate the person you are addressing
What is an adjacency pair?
A two part exchange which follows a predictable pattern, e.g. question/answer
What is an acronym?
The initial letter of each word in phrase is made into a new word, e.g. ‘bogof’ for ‘buy one get one free’
What is an initialism?
The initial letter of each word in a phrase/title is clustered together to make a new word, but when pronounced, each letter is sounded out: ‘VIP’ for ‘very important person’
What are address terms?
The various titles we use to address people. Most formal address terms are: ‘Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Dr, etc.
What is amelioration?
A change in the meaning of a word which gives the word a meaning that is more positive: e.g., ‘hellish’ and ‘wicked’ now have positive connotations
What is pejoration?
A change in the meaning of a word which gives the word a meaning that is negative: e.g. ‘silly’ in middle English used to mean happy and is now used as a criticism
What is an anaphoric reference?
A word or expression in a text (usually a pronoun) that refers back to another part of the text: ‘Pam went home because she felt sick’
What is an archaism?
A word or expression that is no longer in use: ‘wench’ ‘knave’
What is a blend?
A word that has formed as a result of blending two words together, when some letters are omitted in the process
What is a compound word?
A word that has formed as a result of joining two words together, and no letters are omitted in the process: ‘saucepan’, ‘dishcloth’
