Technical Terminology Flashcards
To review technical terminology useful for the exam.
Morphemes.
These are the building blocks of all words, some only make sense when added to other words, these are bound morphemes, others exist independently, these are free morphemes… They can all be combined. So care-ful-ly; boost-er.
Proper nouns
(capital letters) Sometimes common nouns are made into proper nouns for comic, or other, effect.
Common nouns 1) concrete nouns
(things you can touch )
abstract nouns
(ideas and feelings)
collective nouns
(to collectively name individuals: an equivocation of English teachers)
Nouns can be pre or post-modified to create noun phrases.
pre-modifiers are usually adjectives and post-modifiers are usually prepositions…
The massive fat black spider beneath your foot.
hyponyms
They operate on a hierarchical system though: if the hypernym is colour then a hyponym is green; if the hypernym is green then a hyponym is olive; if the hypernym is olive then a hyponym might be dark olive etc etc….
Pronouns
replace nouns – ‘you’ ‘we’ ‘I’ ‘they’ etc. Usually used for a specific effect so look at them carefully, e.g. inclusive pronouns used in charity letters.
Adjectives
come in three forms: base, comparative, superlative (hot, hotter, hottest) They describe nouns. You can refer to them as pre-modifiers because they modify the way that you see a noun: tomato, rotten tomato, ripe tomato etc.
modal auxiliary verbs
Modals express the likelihood of something happening and are useful to comment on / use in persuasive writing.
Adverbs
describe verbs (in the same way that adjectives describe nouns), they often, but not always, finish with ‘ly’. He finished reading hurriedly.
Prepositions
talk about where something is, either in space or time: under the table, behind the book, after the lesson.
Declarative
(statement) Probably the most common form, Often used because they suggest that the reader knows what they are talking about.
Imperative
(order) These start with the base form of a verb. Often found in persuasive writing.
Interrogative
(question) Most commonly form mentioned in analysis would be the Rhetorical Question: these are asked for effect only: either the answer is unimportant, already known or, we assume, will be answered by the author.
exclamative
(an exclamation) Note that any of the above can also be an exclamative.
minor sentence
is a sentence without a verb, they are labelled as ‘fragment’ on the Word 97 spellcheck. They are usually descriptive. Politicians use them too to make statements with no possibility of action: ‘A better future.’
simple sentence
A sentence that has just one clause, with one thing happening
compound sentence
If conjunctions are used then it is a compound sentence: The dog bit the man
complex sentence
If there are embedded clauses then it is a complex sentence: The dog, a member of the vicious Chihuahua breed, bit the man on the leg and then ran away.
fronting
as made famous by Yoda; it’s when the most important part of the sentence is moved to the front of the sentence to ensure that readers understand its importance:
The best subject, English is.
instantaneous present
The instantaneous present is used when the action is going on at the same time the description is being made, it is used a lot to give excitement to live commentaries: He passes the ball; he runs to the end of the field, he shoots; it’s a goal!
historic present
The historic present can be used to describe the past as though it were happening now: I hear that you are not very well. I realise that the cake is burned. This is often used in literature (and texts for analysis!) to give a sense of dramatic immediacy (i.e. using the historical present for dramatic immediacy): We look out of the door and we see an old man.
Progressive aspect
Progressive aspect: indicated by a form of the auxiliary ‘to be’ (be, am, is, are – don’t forget past forms too) and the present participle of the lexical verb (the ‘ing’ form). It can occur in the present or past:
I am running, I have been reading, We are cooking etc.
Perfective aspect
Perfective aspect: uses a form of ‘have’ to indicate that actions which are complete.
I have opened, She has cooked, They have read.
Active voice
Subject does something: ‘I broke the jug.’
Passive Voice
Something is done to something with no subject doing the action: ‘The jug was broken.’
polysyndetic list
Lots and ands
asyndetic
commas
incremental auexesis
(sometimes as a list of three, but not always) where you exaggerate more each time: I’m peckish; I’m hungry; I’m starving.
parenthetical phrasing
where a clause is isolated within (usually, but not always) a pair of commas… Or parenthesis (brackets)
Syntactically parallel phrases
or sentences have similar structures but with one or two differences: the reader’s attention is drawn to the differences so emphasising the point being made. One man’s meat is another man’s poison. You call a spade a spade, I call a cloud a collection of condensed water vapour..
elliptical phrasing
Where elements of a sentence are missed out, often pronouns, for speed or to give the impression of speed, often in speech or first person narrative.
Alliteration
is when you have the same sound at the beginning of lots of words, different letters create different effects, usually used for humour: ‘Wacky Welders Want Work’.
Sibilance
is alliteration on an ‘s’ sound.
Assonance
is when you have the repetition of the same vowel sound.
Consonance
is repetition of consonant sounds (not at the start of words, obviously) remember the ‘t’ sounds in ‘Salome’
Onomatopoeia
is when a word sounds like what it is describing - SLAP! Whether a word is onomatopoeic or not really depends on personal interpretation. Try to justify your ideas: ‘slap’ is onomatopoeic because the short vowel sound and the plosive ending reflects the sound of an object hitting something else.
Monosyllables
are often used to emphasise something - ‘One thick black patch…’
Plosive sounds
are ones that you can ‘spit out’, ones with ‘b’ and ‘p’ sounds. They can be particularly effective if used sparingly.
mimesis
This one is feeling increasingly dodgy. I was taught, by someone in the past, that mimesis refers to words whose sound reflects the meaning of the word rather than the sound (as in onomatopoeia) so particularly effective for names like Mr Gradgrind (a baddie). However, I have searched and I can’t find reference to it anywhere although various books refer to mimesis as a process where a word mimics something else… I’m still searching. UPDATE: apparently Japanese and Korean languages have lots of mimesis and it is a valid term, albeit a possibly underused one… Decide whether you want to use it or just say the sound mimics the meaning. (One is, obviously, more efficient than the other!)
Emotive writing
is used to get a reaction from the reader: positive or negative, it’s the difference between saying someone is ‘slim’ and ‘skinny’. You could also refer to it as Loaded writing.
pun
(one word with two meanings - usually humorous),
Incongruous
things that don’t quite fit, usually for a humorous effect: ‘Mr and Mrs Genghis Khan.’
polysemy
The technical term for a word having two meanings is polysemy.
Repetition
Repetition usually gets an idea across by repeating things until you can’t ignore them anymore. This can be through repeating something using different words each time or repetition of a particular word ‘Education, Education, Education’
Bathos
Bathos is a classic humorous device: the reader’s expectations are built up and then deflated.
hyperbole
If an idea is exaggerated (usually for comic effect, sometimes for the sake of persuasion) then you could talk about the writer using hyperbole.
Lexical ambiguity
Lexical ambiguity comes about when a sentence cannot be understood without a context. This happens when a word has polysemy - more than one meaning. For example, in a classroom with thirty students and a teacher how many pupils are there? 30 or 62?
Grammatical ambiguity
Grammatical ambiguity is when the structure of a sentence is ambiguous: she collected up the flies in her slippers. (Where are the flies? What is she wearing on her feet?)
collocation
This is the idea that certain phrases fit together so ‘Happy…’ is normally followed by ‘Birthday’. If you said ‘Happy Deathday’ you’re subverting.
Allusions
Allusions only work if you know what is being alluded to: they can be humorous: ‘He did a full Monty last night!’, serious or even ironic such as this as a title for a poem about abortion: ‘Unto Us…’ (Recognise the allusion? ‘Unto Us A Child Is Born’, hence the irony.)
Juxtapose
Some writers Juxtapose ideas, that is, present two ideas simultaneously that do not seem to match. Sometimes this is done for irony, and so you get an Ironic Juxtaposition. Plath uses one in ‘Medallion’ when she talks about the belly of a dead snake writhing with life; the movement comes from maggots, which are eating the snake..
Denotation
The Denotation of a word is its dictionary meaning
connotations.
more often, a writer will use a word for its associations, its connotations.
Pathetic Fallacy
Pathetic Fallacy is where the weather reflects the mood of the piece. A hot day for a fight or thunder and lightning for scary stuff.
Metaphor
- a comparison, when one thing is something else. Usually quite powerful: He was an oak of a man.
Simile
a comparison but when one thing is like something else.
Personification
Personification - used to make something sound human, usually to create sympathy but also to make things easier to understand: ‘Death was always present..’
Anadiplosis
Using the end of one phrase to start the next.
‘Fear creates hate, hate creates suffering…’
Anaphora
Repetition of words or phrases at the start of sentences.
‘I have a dream that… I have a dream that…’
Epistrophe
Anaphora backwards, repetition of a phrase at he end of the sentence.
‘Because of military backwardness, cultural backwardness, industrial backwardness’
Antanaclasis
Where a word is repeated but it changes its meaning.
I was tired of feeling sick and tired
Antithesis
Balancing one clause with another contrasting one.
‘How can the light that burned so brightly suddenly burn so pale?’
Argentum ad populum
An appeal to the authority of the crowd.
‘Western Australia is a great place: six billion flies can’t be wrong’
Aporia
Giving the impression of breaking off and debating a tricky point with yourself - for rhetorical effect.
‘Should I kill Bond? Or should I tell him my master plan? Decisions decisions…’
Apostrophe
Breaking off to address an abstract idea or absent person: a god,dead person etc.
Chiasmus
Four terms in criss crossed relation to each other: ABBA
Ask not what your country can done for you but what you can do for your country
Enargia
A generalised term for an orator’s effort to paint a mental picture of a place or person.
Epizeuxis
Extreme repetition
Howl howl howl howl (Lear)
Enumeratio
A brisk numbering of points
Firstly, secondly etc…
Epiplexis
A pointed series of rhetorical questions.
Hypophora
Where you ask a whole series of questions and then answer them. Why do birds a suddenly appear Every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be Close to you. Why do stars fall down ....
Hysteron Proteron
Yoda!
Take That: ‘the defenders of the faith, we are’
Isocolon
A series of clauses of roughly the same length and grammatical structure.
My mother said it was simple to keep a man: you must be a maid in he living room; a cook in the kitchen…’ Etc.
Metanoia
Saying something then retracting it and qualifying it.
I hate you. No, I don’t hate you, I pity you .’
Metonymy
Substituting a part of something for the whole.
That suit just told me off.
Syntheton
Where two terms are joined by conjunctions.
Truth and justice.
Liberty and livelihood.
Fish and chips.
Systrophe
A great pile of qualities but that don't necessarily add up to an explicit definition. He's the greatest He's fantastic Wherever there's danger he'll be there He's the ace He's amazing He's the strongest, he's the quickest, he's the best Danger Mouse Danger Mouse DANGER MOUSE....
Zeugma
When one verb is linked to lots of verb phrases to tie them together e.g ‘She ate the cakes, the table and her husband’
Oxymoron
Fun fact
Archaism
Outdated language - be careful how you use it!
Lexical
Group of words to do with a subject
Semantic field
A group of words
Tricolon
Group of three words or phrases - look. For subversions
Tetracolon
Four
Neologism
Creation of new words
Balanced phrases
Can be SPP phrases :
Either for equality or difference
Superlatives
Adjectives, most extreme form of..
Tall taller tallest
Anecdote
Small story told to illustrate an idea
Analogy
An idea illustrated through a different story
Sociolect
Language associated with social group or class
Idiolect
A personal form of language
Dialect
Language associated with geography
Idioms
Phrases that are metaphorical but easily understood - indicates shared context
Polysyllabic
Many syllables
Cohesion
Whole text structure - stuff that glues it together
Cyclical structure
Start and end the same
Discourse marker
Words that signal the way through a text, DM of argument ….
Syntactically imbalanced phrasing
Talk about the way a way things are weighted
Phonology
The sound of a speech or text (look for all the other technical stuff )
Graphology
Look for isolated words, phrases etc
Declaratives used for opinions
Look for them, suggests persuasion
Audience: be aware of primary and secondary.
Some aspects of text will be for primary (perhaps with shared context) whereas there may be some aspects of a text that are for the secondary audience (sound bites etc)
Purpose: there may be a primary and secondary purpose
Primary purpose may be simply to enthuse followers of a cause while the secondary purpose may be to persuade people of something
Conditional clause
Clause starting with ‘If’ so usually a discourse marker of logical argument… If you revise these Flashcards, your knowledge will increase
Colloquialisms / informality
Chatty language usually used to engage the primary audience, may include cliches
Deictic reference
When a pronoun is used without a preceding noun. Can be confusing, so suggests a shared context is required, could also be done to exclude or alienate an audience
Non-standard grammar
‘Incorrect’ grammar, although you never call it that! Usually to suggest a certain idiolect
Balanced phrasing
Two phrases, connected with punctuation or a conjunction, with a similar ‘weight’ either for equality or juxtaposition. May be SPP but don’t have to be
I’ve done this one already, haven’t I?? Doh.
Verb choice
Can often be important: think about connotations of ‘grabbing’ rather than ‘taking’
Grice’s Maxim of Quality
The assumption that people say things which are true
Grice’s Maxim of Quantity
The assumption that you say the correct amount: not too much, not too little
Direct address
Talking directly to the reader, usually for rhetorical effect
First person
Narration with ‘I’
Second person
Narration including direct address
Third person
Omniscient narrator
Free direct speech
Unattributed direct speech
Free indirect speech
Unattributed, and unpunctuated, thoughts of a character included in the narration
Conventional opening
Of speech, but also found in multi-modal texts… The way you would expect a conversation to start
Conventional ending
Of speech and multi-modal texts… How you would expect a conversation to end
Salutation
Start of a text where you address the reader ‘Dear Sir’
Schema
Mostly for speech… It’s basically about a text following the rules, or not, of what you would expect… So you would expect a fruit selling conversation to have the schema where the fruit is described, a purchase made etc
Pre-modifier
Something which goes in from of something else
Pre-modifiers of noun phrases are often, but not always, adjectives
Pre-modifiers of verb phrases are usually adverbs
Post-modification
When you put something after the head word in a phrase… Post modifiers of noun phrases tend to be prepositional phrases
Ilocution
In speech, this is the meaning the speaker wishes to imply
Perlocution
In speech, this is the meaning the listening perceives
Locution
In speech, this is what the speaker is actually saying
Pragmatics
Implied meaning
Echolalia
When you mirror someone else’s speech to confirm or parody what they have just said
Allusion
When you refer to something without being explicit but expecting your audience to understand because of shared context
Multi-modal texts
Electronic texts which, because of their context of production, often feel like speech
Context of production
The context in which a text is written:
Immediate context: how literally it is written - on a phone? Quickly? With detailed planning? On the go?
Cultural context: how the zeitgeist of the time affects the text… An article about drugs will be written differently bearing in mind what is going on at the time, if someone has just died from taking ecstasy, there will be a more somber tone the one written in the 1970’s
Prosodic features
The features like stress and pitch which make spoken language more interesting to listen to. Often imitated by bold types and italics.
Graphology
The way a text looks, not really relevant for speeches
Determiner
The, a an
Says something about whether it’s a specific object or one of many
Length of sentences
Are important
Fragmented / disjointed phrases
Non-standard grammar used to create a confusing feel
Primary auxiliary verbs
To be
To have
To do
Basic states of being: if used as lexical verbs they sound odd.. ‘Doing sex’
Appellation
The formal naming of something in a text
Abbreviations
Often used where there is a shared context
Acronyms
Often used where there is a shared context
Conjunction
A linking word in a compound sentence
Flouting
Going against Grice’s maxims
Adjacency pair
A piece of conversation where one person says something and someone else replies
Three part exchange
How are you?
I’m fine
Good
Logical really
Tag question
A short question tagged on to a statement:
This is great, isn’t it?
Feedback
Found in speech and multi-modal texts: a response to what has been said
Taboo slang
Swearing
