English Language & Literature Glossary of Literary, Linguistic and Structural Terms

A comprehensive set of flashcards covering literary, linguistic, and structural terms to aid in exam preparation.

Accent

The way in which a person pronounces words, influenced by regional origin, cultural identity, first language, or social class.

Adjacency pairs

Expressions used across speaking turns that are often conventional and formulaic, appearing in pairs, such as 'How are you?' / 'I'm fine thanks, how are you?'

Adjective

Words or phrases used to describe a noun, including descriptive, evaluative, comparative, and superlative adjectives.

Adverb

Describes how, when, where, or how frequently a verb occurs, indicating manner, degree, time, place, frequency, or probability.

Affiliation

Techniques used to create a sense of shared values and experiences between a writer or speaker and their audience, such as using 'we' or 'us'.

Alliteration

The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of two or more close words or syllables.

Allegory

A narrative in which characters, places, or events symbolize moral or political meanings beyond the literal.

Allusion

A reference to another source, event, person, place, or thing that can have meanings beyond the text.

Anaphora

Repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences.

Antithesis

Establishes a clear contrast between two ideas by juxtaposing them.

Archaic lexis

Old-fashioned language no longer in common use, often used to create a specific tone or context.

Aside

A dramatic technique where a character speaks directly to the audience, and other characters do not hear.

Assonance

The repetition of same or similar vowel sounds in close proximity.

Asyndetic listing

Listing without conjunctions, highlighting a series of items.

Audience positioning

The method used to anticipate or shape the responses of the reader or listener in speech or writing.

Auxesis

A technique that lists items in ascending order of importance or intensity.

Backchannelling

Feedback provided to a speaker during or after their speech, which can be verbal or non-verbal.

Bilabials

Sounds produced with both lips, such as /m/, /b/, and /p/.

Bildungsroman

A novel dealing with the protagonist's formative years, focusing on their psychological development.

Caesura

The use of punctuation within a line of poetry to create a pause, signaling importance or separation.

Characterisation

Methods used by a writer to create and develop fictional characters.

Clause

A group of words containing a subject and verb, forming a complete thought.

Compound sentence

A sentence consisting of at least two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction.

Complex sentence

A sentence with at least one dependent clause and one independent clause.

Colloquial lexis

Informal language typical to everyday speech.

Conceit

An elaborate metaphor or simile that compares two dissimilar things.

Conjunction

Words that connect clauses, phrases, or words, such as 'and', 'but', or 'because'.

Connotation

The implied or associated meanings of a word beyond its literal definition.

Contexts

The social, historical, and cultural backgrounds surrounding the production and reception of a text.

Contraction

The omission of letters in a word, typically replaced by an apostrophe.

Declarative

A sentence that makes a statement or presents a fact.

Deixis

Words that rely on context for their meaning, such as 'this' and 'you'.

Denotation

The literal or primary meaning of a word, as opposed to its connotations.

Determiner

Words that specify the noun, including articles and quantifiers.

Dialect

The variation of a language in a specific geographical region, often incorporating unique vocabulary and grammar.

Dialogue

Conversational exchange between characters in a literary work.

Dichotomy

A division into two contrasting or contradictory concepts.

Direct Address

Addressing the audience directly using pronouns such as 'you'.

Discourse marker

Words or phrases that organize the structure of speech or writing.

Dramatic irony

When the audience knows something that the characters do not.

Dramatic structure

The organization of a drama into key components: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution.

Duologue

A dialogue involving only two characters.

Elision

The merging of two or more words into one, often affecting pronunciation.

Ellipsis

Omission of elements in a sentence, often leaving out parts that can be inferred.

End-stopped line

A line of verse that concludes with a punctuation mark, indicating a complete thought.

Enjambment

A continuation of a sentence beyond the end of a line in poetry without a pause.

Euphemism

A milder or more indirect term used in place of one that may be considered offensive.

Exclamatory

A statement that expresses strong emotion, typically marked by an exclamation point.

Face

The public self-image a person aims to project during interactions.

Face-threatening acts

Actions that threaten the positive or negative face needs of another participant.

False start

A speech initiation that is abruptly corrected or reformulated.

Figurative language

Language that employs figures of speech to create vivid imagery.

Fillers

Words or sounds that have little meaning but serve to hold the floor or give the speaker time to think.

Foreshadowing

Hints or clues about what is to come later in a narrative.

Fourth wall

The imaginary barrier between the actors and audience in a performance.

Fricatives

Sounds produced by forcing air through a narrow channel, such as /f/ and /s/.

Generic conventions

The features that characterize different genres of texts.

Graphology

The visual aspects of a text, including font choice and layout.

Hedges

Words used to lessen the impact of an utterance, often softening requests or statements.

Hero

The central character in a narrative who often undergoes a journey or quest.

Hyperbole

Intentional exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

Hypophora

A rhetorical device where a speaker poses a question and then immediately answers it.

Idiolect

An individual's distinct language style and word choice.

Imagery

Vivid, descriptive language that appeals to the senses.

Imperative

A command or instruction presented in a sentence.

In medias res

Beginning a story in the middle of the action.

Interactional talk

Conversational language aimed at fostering relationships.

Interjection

A word or phrase that expresses emotion, often standing alone.

Intertextuality

The relationship between texts and how they reference one another.

Intonation

The rise and fall in pitch during speech.

Irony

The expression of meaning through language that conveys a contradiction.

Juxtaposition

Placing two elements close together to highlight their differences.

Lexis

Vocabulary or the words of a language.

Litotes

A form of understatement that affirms a point by negating its opposite.

Low Frequency lexis

Words and phrases that are seldom used in everyday speech.

Metafiction

Fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction.

Metaphor

A direct comparison between two unlike things without using 'like' or 'as'.

Meter

The rhythmic structure of verse, determined by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Minor sentence

A sentence that is grammatically incomplete, yet understood.

Mode

The format or medium of communication in a text.

Monologue

A speech presented by a single character.

Motif

A recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story.

Narrative arc

The chronological structure of a story's plot.

Narrative method

The technique employed to convey a story, including ordering and structure.

Narrative voice

The perspective from which a story is told.

Non-fluency features

Characteristics of spontaneous speech that demonstrate real-time conversation.

Noun

A word that names a person, place, thing, or concept.

Onomatopoeia

Words that phonetically imitate the sound they describe.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

Paralinguistic features

Non-verbal elements of communication that convey meaning.

Parenthesis

An explanatory word, clause, or sentence inserted into a passage.

Parody

A humorous imitation of a particular style of work.

Pathos

A technique that evokes feelings of pity or sadness in an audience.

Politeness

Strategies used to maintain social harmony in communication.

Power symmetry

The balance of power among participants in a conversation.

Pragmatics

The study of language in context and how it influences meaning.

Prolepsis

A narrative technique that presents future events before they occur.

Prop

An object used by actors in a performance, often carrying symbolic weight.

Prosody

The rhythm and pattern of sounds in spoken language.

Protagonist

The main character driving the plot forward.