Terminology Flashcards
Deixis
The phenomenon wherein understanding the meaning of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information. e.g. “Look at THIS”.
Personal pronoun
Refers to a particular person, group or thing e.g. You, He I, She, It etc
Possessive pronoun
Takes the place of the noun to show ownership e.g. mine, yours
Reflexive pronoun
The subject and the object are the same thing e.g. yourself, myself
Demonstrative pronoun
Used to talk about something specific e.g. these, those,this,that
Relative Pronoun
Pronouns used to introduce a relative clause e.g. who, that, which
Intertextuality
When text makes a reference to another text for effect.
Determiner
A word that comes before a noun or noun phrase to clarify if the noun is specific or general. e.g. ‘THE chicken’
Indefinite article
Determiner- Introduces a general version of a noun e.g. “AN ostrich would beat A chicken in A race”
Definite article
Determiner- Introduces a specific noun e.g. “we went to THE best restaurant in town”
Quantifier
Determiner- Indicates how much/little or a noun e.g. “Do you want THIS piece of chicken”
Demonstrative
Determiner- Provides information about which specific noun e.g. “She liked ALL desserts equally”
Possessive
Determiner- Introduces a noun that belongs to somebody e.g. “This is HIS house”
Preposition
Words to show the location of a noun
Co-ordinating conjunction
A linking word which connects independent clauses or phrases, giving equal importance to each section (FANBOYS)
Subordinating conjunction
A linking word which connects an independent clause with a subordinate clause e.g. because, before, despite, even though
Abstract noun
The lexis which refers to states, feelings and concepts that do not have a physical existence
Concrete noun
The lexis that refers to things with a physical existence
Material verb
The lexis that refers to a physical action
Mental verb
The lexis that shows an internal process e.g. thinking
Relational verb
The verb which shows state of being e.g. be, appear, seem
Dynamic verb
The lexis which describes actions we can take, or things that happen; they have a continuous form e.g. Chis is KICKING the ball”
Stative verb
The lexis which describes states/conditions unlikely to change (possession, feeling, perception, mental processes, identity); typically, they do not have a continuous form e.g. “Chris is HAVING a car”
Attributive adjective
Adjectives placed before the head noun e.g. the dangerous animal
Predicative adjective
Adjectives placed after the head noun e.g. the day was good
Superlative adjective
Adjectives that express the highest quality of something e.g. most beautiful
Comparative adjective
An adjective that makes a comparison between two things e.g. more beautiful
What is amelioration?
A process where a word or phrase develops more positive connotations
What is pejoration?
A process where a word or phrase develops more negative connotations
What is archaic language?
Old fashioned language which isn’t typically used any more
What is broadening?
A type of semantic change where the meaning of a word becomes broader or more inclusive
What is narrowing?
A type of semantic change where the meaning of a word becomes narrower or less inclusive
What is a neologism?
New words that enter the language
What is an Acronym?
An abbreviation consisting of initial letters which then create a new word
What is an initialism?
An abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately
What is an eponym?
A person after whom a discovery, invention, place, book, etc., is named
What is a compound word?
A word which is caused by two or more full words being joined together
What is a blend word?
Where two or more words are joined together but parts are omitted E.g. Skort
What is Truncation?
Shortening a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables e.g. Deli (delicatessen)
What is affixation?
When an affix (e.g. UNtie) is added to create a new word
What is denotation?
The literal meanings of words
What is an antonym?
Words which mean opposite things
What is a synonym?
Words which mean the same thing
What is a collocation?
a word or phrase that is often used with another word or phrase, in a way that sounds correct to people who have spoken the language all their lives, but might not be expected from the meaning:
In the phrase “a hard frost”, “hard” is a collocation of “frost” and “strong” would not sound natural.
What is an idiom?
An expression where the meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements
break a leg
What is a Euphemism?
Using a more socially acceptable word or phrase
What is a Dysphemism?
opposite of eupemism
Using a blunt or direct word instead of a more polite or indirect alternative
What is Anaphora?
The deliberate repetition of the first part of a clause/sentence
What is Epistrophe?
The deliberate repetition of the last part of a clause/sentence
What is Morphology?
The smallest unit of language – this could be a root word or a collection of letters
What is an inflectional morpheme?
A type of suffix which shows either plurality or verb tense
-s. -ed. -ing
What is a derivational morpheme?
A type of affix which changes the meaning of the root word
What is a Noun Phrase?
A noun with adjectives and/or determiner
What is a Verb Phrase?
A verb with an auxiliary or modal verb
What is an Adverbial?
A phrase which adds further information to the verb, typically specifying place or time
What is a Fronted Adverbial?
An adverbial phrase which has been moved to the front of the sentence and is usually separated from the main clause with a comma E.g. All night long, we danced.
What is an Auxiliary Verb?
A verb which precedes the main verb to form part of a verb phrase – they can be categorised as primary and modal E.g. Have, Might
What is a Modal Auxiliary Verb?
A verb which shows degrees of certainty, desirability obligation – they cannot occur alone
What is Deontic Modality?
Expressions that highlight a sense of obligation or necessity
What is Epistemic Modality?
Expressions that highlight degrees of possibility
What is Boulomaic Modality?
Expressions that highlight wishes and desires
What is a Subordinate Clause?
A clause which is not complete by itself and as such, cannot form an independent sentence
What is a Conditional Clause?
A specific type of subordinate clause which express an imagined situation or condition and the possible result of that situation – it is usually introduced with either if or unless
What is a Relative Clause?
A specific type of subordinate clause which adds more information to the noun and is usually introduced with a relative pronoun
What is Pragmatics?
Exploring how contextual factors such as background knowledge influence meaning
What is a Tag Question?
A short question added at the end of a sentence, often inviting agreement with the speaker. Sometimes seen to be used as seeking reassurance
What is Hedging?
A word or phrase that makes a statement less forceful or assertive.
What is Presupposition?
Any information which is taken for granted within discourse
Disjunct
An adverb that modifies the whole sentence e.g. basically, unfortunately
Mitigated imperative
A command with added politeness feature
Declarative
A sentence that makes a statement
Interrogative
A sentence that asks a question
Imperative
A sentence that gives a command
Referential adjective
Expresses a fact about a noun e.g. red
Evaluative adjective
Expresses something that is debatable about a noun e.g. funny
Exclamatory
A sentence expressing an exclamation of strong emotion or surprise
Passive voice
The object (done to) of the verb comes first and the subject is either second or absent. By zombies test
Minor sentence
A sentence that contains ono verb or only a verb
Proper noun
Identifies a particular person place or thing (usually has a capital letter)
Elision
slurring or missing out a part of a word e.g. “cause” rather than because”
Ellipsis
The omission of part of a grammatical structure. e.g. “might do” rather than “ I might do”
Adjecentcy pairs
Parallel phrases used across the boundaries of individual speaking turns. They are usually ritualistic and formulaic socially e.g How are you? & Im good thank you
Back-channelling
Words, phrases and non-verbal utterances used by a listener to give feedback to a speaker that the message if being followed and understood.
Compound sentence
Contains two or more independent clauses linked by co-ordinating conjunctions.
Comment clause
A short clause which expresses an attitude to the rest of the sentence e.g. I think
Relative clause
A clause which acts like an adjective to describe a noun, usually being with “which, who or that” e.g. my friend, who has red hair…
Simple sentence
Contains only one clause
Complex sentence
Contains one independent clause and at least one subordinate clause
Subordinate clause
Clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence
Minor sentence
A sentence that contains no verb or only a verb
Compound complex sentence
Contains air least two independent clause and at least one subordinate clause
Quotative
Introduces a quote e.g. he said
Filler
Fills a pause in speech; can be verbal (like, yeah) or non-verbal (er, um)
High frequency lexis
Words that are used often and will be understood by most people
Low frequency lexis
Words that aren’t used often and so might not be understood by everyone
Monitoring device
A feature that is used to check that the listener is paying attention
Disjunct
An adverb that modifies the whole sentence e.g. basically
Discourse marker
Signals a change of topic e.g. so anyway
Hedge
Softens an utterance
