Terms (Meta Language) Flashcards
Assimilation
A sound in a word changes to become more like a nearby sound. This happens to make words easier to say.
E.g “Handbag” being pronounced as “Hambag”
Vowel Reduction
Vowels in unstressed syllables are pronounced more softly or become less clear. This often happens in casual speech to make words easier to say quickly.
E.g the “a” in “about” produced “uh” instead of the correct pronunciation of “a”
Elision
Sound is left out in speech to make words quicker or easier to say.
E.g “Friendship” pronounced “Frenship”
Insertion
Extra sound is added to a word to make it easier to say.
E.g. “drawing” as “draw-ring,” adding an “r” sound.
The Internal Phonetic Alphabet
Set of symbols that show how words are pronounced. Each sound has its own symbol, no matter the language.
Pitch
High or low a sound is in speech. It’s used to show emotion, meaning, or to change the focus of a sentence.
E.g difference in pitch
“You are coming.”
“You are coming?”
Stress
Word or sentence is said louder, longer, or with more emphasis than the rest.
Volume
How loud or soft a sound is when speaking.
Tempo
Speed at which something is spoken.
Intonation
Rise and fall of the pitch of your voice while speaking. It helps convey meaning, emotion, and emphasis in sentences.
Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words
E.g the sentence “ The Rain in Spain is quite Plain”
The “a” in “Rain, Spain and Plain” exaggerated to flow better
Consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds in nearby words
Rhythm
Pattern of sounds and silences in speech or writing.
Rhyme
Repetition of similar or identical sounds at the end of two or more words.
Root/stem
Basic part of a word that carries its main meaning.
Free,Bound
Free- Words or parts of words that can stand alone and have meaning by themselves.
Bound- Cannot stand alone and must be attached to a free morpheme to have meaning.
Affix (Prefix, Suffix, Infix)
Prefix: An affix added to the beginning of a word.
For example:
“Un-“ in “undo” (means not or opposite).
Suffix: An affix added to the end of a word.
For example:
“-ness” in “happiness” (turns an adjective into a noun).
Infix: An affix inserted within a word, though this is less common in English.
For example:
In some informal speech, “un-freaking-believable” where “freaking” is inserted in the middle of the word.
Inflectional, derivational
Inflectional- used to modify a word’s form to express grammatical features like tense, number, gender, or case, but they do not change the word’s core meaning or part of speech.
Derivational- create a new word by changing its meaning or part of speech.
Affixation
Process of adding an affix
Abbreviation
Shortened form of a word or phrase
Shortening
Reducing a word by cutting off part of it, often to make it quicker to say or write. It’s a form of abbreviation but typically involves dropping syllables or letters.
Blending
Combining parts of two or more words to create a new word
Backformation
Process of creating a new word by removing a suffix
Conversion of word class
Process of changing a word from one part of speech to another without adding any affixes.
Initialism, Acronym
Initalism- type of abbreviation where each letter stands for a word, and each letter is pronounced individually.
Acronym- type of abbreviation where the initial letters of a phrase are combined into a single word, and the resulting word is pronounced as a whole.
Contraction
Shortened form of a word or phrase, where one or more letters are omitted and replaced by an apostrophe.
E.g “Do not” -> “Don’t”
Neologism
Newly created word, phrase, or expression that has recently entered a language.
E.g “Skibidi”
Borrowings
Words or phrases taken from one language and incorporated into another.
E.g Taco from Spanish
Commonisation
Process where a brand name or a specific term becomes used as a general word for any similar product or item, regardless of the brand.
E.g “Google” a brand
“Google” to search up on the web
Nominalisation
Process of turning a word, typically a verb or adjective, into a noun.
The verb “decide” becomes the noun “decision.”
Word Loss(Obsolescence, archaism)
Word loss refers to the process by which words fall out of use or become obsolete over time. There are two main types of word loss:
Obsolescence: This is when a word falls out of use because it is no longer needed, often due to changes in technology, culture, or society.
For example:
“Floppy disk” has become obsolete because it was replaced by more modern storage devices like USB drives.
Archaism: This refers to words that are no longer commonly used but are still known, often remaining in literature or historical contexts.
For example:
“Thou” (meaning “you”) is an archaic word used in older English texts, like Shakespeare’s plays.
Auxiliary and modal verbs
Auxiliary verbs are verbs used with a main verb to help form different tenses, questions, or negations. They add meaning or function to the main verb without changing its core meaning.
For example:
“She is running.” (The auxiliary verb “is” helps form the present continuous tense.)
“They have finished.” (The auxiliary verb “have” helps form the present perfect tense.)
Modal verbs are a type of auxiliary verb that express possibility, necessity, ability, permission, or obligation. They modify the meaning of the main verb to show different attitudes or conditions.
For example:
“She can swim.” (Expresses ability.)
“You must finish your homework.” (Expresses necessity.)
Prepositions
Words that link nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other words in a sentence, showing relationships in terms of time, place, direction, cause, or manner.
For example:
“The keys are on the table.” (Indicates location.)
“She arrived after lunch.” (Indicates time.)
“He walked toward the door.” (Indicates direction.)
“I’m going with my friends.” (Indicates accompaniment.)
Determiners
Before a noun to provide more information about it, such as which one, how many, or whose. They help specify the noun and clarify its meaning.
Noun Phrase
Group of words built around a noun, which acts as the main subject or object of the sentence
Verb Phrase
Verb phrase is a group of words that work together to express an action or state of being
Adjective Phrase
A group of words that modifies or describes a noun.
Adverb Phrase
Group of words that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb.
Prepositional Phrase
Consists of a preposition, its object (a noun or pronoun), and any modifiers of the object.
Predicate
Part of a sentence or clause that tells what the subject does or what happens to the subject.
Complement
Word or group of words that completes the meaning of a sentence by providing additional information about the subject, object, or verb.
Adverbial
Word or a group of words that modifies or gives more information about a verb, adjective, or another adverb.
Coordination
Grammatical connection of words, phrases, or clauses of equal importance, usually joined by a coordinating conjunction. It allows elements in a sentence to be linked together to show their relationship, often with equal weight or value.
Subordination
Process of linking a dependent clause (also called a subordinate clause) to an independent clause in a sentence.
Agentless passives
Passive constructions in which the doer of the action (the agent) is not mentioned or is unknown. In agentless passives, the focus is on the action itself or the recipient of the action rather than who performed it.
For example:
“The letter was delivered yesterday.” (The agent who delivered the letter is not mentioned.)
“The report was written last week.” (The agent who wrote the report is not specified.)
Antithesis
Rhetorical device that contrasts two opposing ideas or concepts within a sentence or phrase, often to highlight their differences and create a striking effect. It is used to emphasize contrast and can help to clarify or emphasize an argument, idea, or point.
For example:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities) – The contrast between the best and worst of times highlights the extremes.
“Give me liberty, or give me death!” (Patrick Henry) – The contrast between liberty and death emphasizes the speaker’s passionate desire for freedom.
Parallelism
Rhetorical device or grammatical structure in which similar elements, such as phrases, clauses, or sentences, are presented in a balanced and consistent way.
“She likes reading, writing, and painting.” (The verbs “reading,” “writing,” and “painting” are in the same form, creating a balanced structure.)
Antonymy
Relationship between words that have opposite meanings.
Hyponymy
When one word is a specific example of a more general category. The more general word is called a hypernym, and the specific word is the hyponym.
For example:
“Dog” is a hyponym of “animal” because a dog is a type of animal.
Hypernymy
Opposite of hyponymy. It refers to a word that is more general and includes a broader category of things.
Clefting
Sentence structure used to emphasize a particular part of a sentence by breaking it into two parts
Front focus
Sentence structure technique where a specific part of the sentence is moved to the front for emphasis.
“That book I really enjoyed.” (Here, “that book” is moved to the front for emphasis, making it the main focus of the sentence.)
End focus
Sentence structure technique where the most important or new information is placed at the end of the sentence, creating emphasis
“I really enjoyed the movie yesterday.”
Substitution
Grammatical process where one word or phrase is replaced by another to avoid repetition and make sentences more concis
Ellipsis
grammatical process of omitting words that are understood from the context, typically to avoid repetition.
“She loves ice cream, and he does too.”
(The ellipsis omits the repetition of “love ice cream” after “he does.”)
Collocation
natural combination of words that are commonly used together in a particular language. These word pairs or groups often sound more natural to native speakers than other combinations, even though they may all be grammatically correct.
For example:
“Strong coffee” (not “powerful coffee”)
“Make a decision” (not “do a decision”)
“Heavy rain” (not “strong rain”)
Anaphoric reference
linguistic term that refers to the use of a word or phrase to refer back to something previously mentioned in a text or conversation.
Cataphroric reference
the opposite of anaphoric reference. It occurs when a word or phrase refers to something that will be mentioned later in the text or conversation
Deictics
words or phrases that require contextual information to understand their meaning.
Cohesion
The ways in which different parts of a text or discourse are linked together to create a sense of unity and flow.
Inference
The process of drawing conclusions or making assumptions based on evidence or reasoning, rather than being explicitly stated
Conventions
Established rules, practices, or norms followed in writing, speaking, or other forms of communication.
Adjacency pairs
Type of conversational structure in which two related speech acts occur together in a predictable and paired sequence.
Discourse markers
Words or phrases used to guide the flow of conversation, signal a shift in topic, or organize the structure of speech or writing.
Animation
Use of lively and expressive language features, tone, or delivery to engage the listener or reader.
Lexical ambiguity
When a word or phrase has more than one possible meaning, and the intended meaning is unclear without additional context.
E.g”He went to the bank.” (Does he need money, or is he near water?
Dysphemism
Use of a harsh, negative, or offensive term instead of a neutral or more polite one.
Saying “junk food” instead of “fast food.”
Codification
Process of organizing and standardizing a language by establishing rules for its use, such as grammar, spelling, and vocabulary.
Colloquial language
Refers to informal, everyday words and expressions commonly used in casual conversation but not typically in formal writing or speech
Creole
Full language that develops when people who speak different languages need to communicate
For example:
Haitian Creole comes from a mix of French and African languages.
Lingua franca
Common language that people use to communicate when they speak different native languages
Pidgin
Simplified language that develops when people who speak different native languages need to communicate, often for trade or work. It has a limited vocabulary and simple grammar and is not anyone’s native language.
Rapport
Positive, friendly, and understanding connection between people during communication.
Register
The style or level of formality of language used in different situations.
Sociolect
Variety of language used by a specific social group, often influenced by factors such as age, occupation, education, or social class.
Semantic domain
Group of words or expressions that are related in meaning and belong to a specific area of knowledge or experience.
The semantic domain of “food” might include words like “apple,” “bread,” “pizza,” and “vegetable.”
Idiolect
Unique way in which an individual uses language, including their vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and speech patterns.
