U3: AOS1: Informal language Flashcards
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How we alter our language to suit the situation
Tenor
How the relationships between the participants can be reflected in the features of language that they use.
What are the major functions of language?
Referential: Information
Emotive: Emotions
Conative: Questions
Phatic: Small talk
Metalinguistic: Describes language
Poetic: Focuses on the message
Phonological Patterning
Adding emphasis to make texts more memorable and engaging.
-Alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, rhythm and rhyme
Morphological Patterning
Can make speech more efficient.
-Affixation, abbreviation, shortening, compounding, blending, backformation, initialism, acronym and contraction
Sematic Patterning
Can add nuance and depth, humour.
-figurative language
Colloquial language
Casual and relaxed and relaxed informal language that is often location-specific
Slang
Newly formed words and phrases that are commonly found in very informal contexts.
Taboo Language
Considered inappropriate or insulting by a large portion of society
Dysphemism
An inappropriate word or phrase that is intentionally used in place of a
more neutral word, to intensify the impact of the utterance.
Swearing
Terms that are deemed rude and offensive
Emoticons
Visual pictures that are created using keyboard symbols
Emojis
Small icons or pictures that are embedded into digital texts.
Features of colloquial language
Connected speech processes, idiomatic expressions, contraction, abbreviation, informal syntax or grammar, ellipsis, regionally specific language, shortening of names
Connected speech processes
Words are reduced or modified.
Intimacy
A sense of closeness and connection between individuals
Solidarity
A feeling of unity between individuals, based on shared experience or purpose
Equality
A sense that individuals in a particular exchange are of equal status, deserving of mutual respect
Linguistic innovation
The manipulation of existing language features to create something new, such as new terms, expressions and pronunciations
Social harmony
A positive social environment in which all individuals feel comfortable, respected and at ease with each other
Social taboos
Topics that are considered uncomfortable or controversial, and are typically avoided in social contexts.
Rapport
A sense of friendliness, harmony and shared understanding in a relationship
In-Group Membership
A sense of belonging to any kind of social group
Purposes of informal language
Intimacy, solidarity, equality, promoting social harmony, negotiating social taboos and building rapport, supporting in-group membership, promoting linguistic innovation
Intimacy
Sense of closeness, familiarity and personal connection.
-Informal language allows for authentic connection.
Solidarity
Creating a sense of unity or shared purpose within a group of people.
-Inclusive language, “We got this!”
Equality
Notion that all participants are perceived and treated as equals.
Promoting social harmony
Using language that avoids conflict, is respectful of other’s feelings and promotes shared understandings.
Negotiating social taboos
Navigating topics that are often considered sensitive or controversial.
Supporting in-group memberships
Using language that promotes membership of in-groups
-Context specific graphemes,
Promoting linguistic innovation
manipulation of language to create variations, neologisms… etc.
