Terminology Flashcards
Adjacency pair
In conversation, a two-part exchange (e.g. a question followed by an answer).
Adverbial
An element in a sentence that usually indicates when, where or how something happened.
Antithesis
When words, ideas etc. are directly opposite in meaning.
Archaism
A word or expression that has fallen out of use.
Assonance
The rhyming of vowel sounds within two or more words.
Auxiliary verb
A ‘helping’ verb placed in front of a main verb (e.g. I WILL see you).
Blank verse
Unrhymed poetry based on iambic pentameter.
Cohesion
The techniques used to link together different parts of a text.
Comparative
An adjective that makes a comparison e.g. bigger, worse, better.
Compound sentence
Two simple sentences combined to form a single sentence by the use of co-ordinating conjunction (and, but or so).
Contraction
A shortened word form such as can’t, she’s etc.
Couplet
A pair of rhymed lines.
Deixis
‘Pointing’ words (deictic expressions), often referring to place (e.g. over there) or time (e.g. yesterday).
Denotation
The straightforward, objective dictionary meaning of a word.
Determiner
A word placed in front of a noun to indicate quantity or identity of the noun in some way. The most common determiners are a, an and the.
Dialect
A form of language with distinctive features of vocabulary, grammar etc. Usually the term refers to regional dialect (e.g. Geordie, Cockney).
Discourse marker
Words that indicate links or divisions between parts of (usually spoken) discourse (e.g. well, anyway).
Elision
The omission of a sound or syllable (e.g. o’er instead of over).
Ellipsis
When elements are missing from a clause or a sentence.
False start
In speech, a change from one grammatical construction to another.
Field-specific lexis
Words associated with a particular topic or field.
Filled pause
A voiced hesitation (e.g. um, er).
Filler
A word or expression with little meaning inserted into speech (e.g. like, you know).
Foregrounding
Using word order to highlight part of a sentence.
Iambic pentameter
A poetic metre in which a line has five pairs of syllables, with the stress falling on the second syllable in each pair.
Idiolect
The way language is used by a particular individual.
Intensifier
A word that increases/decreases the strength of a mother word (e.g. very, scarcely).
Irony
Saying the opposite of what is meant. Can also refer to an event having consequences that are opposite of those expected or intended.
Neologism
A new word or expression.
Non-fluency features
Features that interrupt the flow of a person’s speech.
Onomatopoeia
When words imitate the sounds they subscribe.
Oral signal
An expressive sound such as mmm or a laugh, sigh etc.
Parallelism
When parts of sentences (or complete sentences) have a familiar pattern or structure.
Passive voice
Using a verb in a way that emphasised the object of an action rather than an person or thing performing the action (e.g. The man WAS QUESTIONED by the police vs The police questioned the man.
Pathetic fallacy
A literary technique that uses natural elements (like the weather) to reflect human moods and emotions.
Persona
In a literary work, a narrator who is a character created by the author.
Phatic utterances
‘Small talk’ - utterances that mean little but serve a social purpose.
Post-modifiers
Words that follow other words or phrases, giving us more information (e.g. the house ACROSS THE ROAD).
Preposition
A word indicating how one thing is related to something else (e.g. The book is ON the table).
Prosodic features
Phonological aspects of speech such as intonation, pitch and volume.
Pun
A humorous play on words, dependent on a word or phrase having a double meaning.
Received Pronunciation (RP)
The accent associated with upper-class speakers of English.
Register
The form of language appropriate to a particular situation.
Repair
An utterance that resolves a problem in a conversation (e.g. a speaker correcting themselves).
Rhetorical features
Traditional devices/techniques used to make writing or speech more powerful and persuasive.
Semantic field
A group of words with linked or associated meanings.
Soliloquy
In drama, an extended speech by a character, heard by the audience but not by the other characters.
Sonnet
A poem of 14 lines, usually with a traditional rhyme scheme and a rhythm based on the iambic pentameter.
Standard English
The ‘standard’, formally correct variety of English, used in most written texts and taught in schools.
Sub-plot
A secondary plot running alongside the main plot, of a play or a novel.
Superlative
An adjective meaning ‘the most’ of something (e.g. biggest, worst, best).
Syntax
An aspect of grammar, referring to the ways in which words are put together to form sentences.
Tag question
A question attached to the end of a statement (e.g. It’s hot, ISN’T IT?).
Topic
In spoken language, the subject being talked about.
Topic marker
An utterance introducing the topic.
Topic shift
A change of topic.
Topic loop
Occurs when there is a return of an earlier topic.
Unvoiced pause
A silent pause.
Allegory
A rhetorical device that creates a close, one-to-one comparison. An allegorical comparison of 21st century Britain to a hive might point out that Britain and the hive have queens, workers and soldiers.
Burlesque
Satire that uses caricature.
Colloquial
Colloquial language is the informal language of conversation.
Denouement
The culmination or result of an action, plan or plot.
Diatribe
An impassioned rant or angry speech of denunciation.
Empiricism
As a philosophy means basing knowledge on direct, sensory perceptions of the world. Empirical means seeking out facts established by experience not theory.
Foreground
To emphasise or make prominent.
Form
A type of literary expression chosen by an author.
Hype
Possibly derived from hyperbole, but usually used to indicate an attempt to deceive the public by over-rating the value of a commodity/experience.
Intertextuality
Describes the many ways in which texts can be interrelated, ranging from direct quotation, or echoing, to parody.
Ludic
A text that plays games with readers’ expectations/the expectations aroused by the text itself.
Meta
Often used in compound words: meta text, meta theatre etc. Usually describe moments when a text goes beyond its own fictionality or makes readers/audience aware of the conventions of its fiction.
Narrator/Narrative voice
Conveys a story. Sometimes the narrator’s presence is emphasised e.g. a first person narrative. Sometimes the story is told by an unseen author e.g. third person narrative. Some stories are told by an unreliable narrator.
Oxymoron
Language device where two opposite words or meanings are used side by side e.g. ‘sour sweet’.
Parody
The reducing of another text to ridicule by hostile imitation.
Poetic Justice
The trapper is caught by the trap in an example of ironic but apt justice. Despite the word ‘poetic’, examples usually turn up in texts which are narrative and not necessarily poems.
Point of view/viewpoint
Not always interchangeable. A point of view is an opinion; a viewpoint can also be the foundation of which an opinion is based or, literally, a place from which a view can be enjoyed.
Postmodernism
Postmodern texts tend to be aware of their own artifice, be filled with intertextual allusions, and ironic rather than sincere.
Reportage
Literally means reporting news but in literary criticism the word often means the inclusion of documentary material, or material which purports to be documentary in a text.
Satire
A destructive reduction of an idea, image, concept or text. It can employ exaggeration, mimicry, irony or tone.
Stream of Consciousness
The removal of conventional sentence structures and grammar in an attempt to imitate the free flow of thoughts.
Symbol
More independent than a metaphor and less specific than an allegory - both of these have precise meanings or are ways of explaining a complex concept, symbols are often elusive in their exact meaning.
Transgressive
The crossing of a boundary of culture or taste, usually with a subversive intention.
Trope
Any of the devices (metaphors, similes, rhyme etc.) whereby art language differentiates itself from functional language.
Valorise
To invest with value.
Writing Back
A term which describes the appropriation of a text or genre and a rewriting in response. A technique frequently employed by a Post-colonial writers or feminist writers.
Allusion
To reference somethings popular or known e.g. the Bible.
