VCE English Language Metalanguage, English Language Metalanguage

Blending

The process of word formation in which parts of two independent words are combined to create a new word.

MALWARE: malicious + software

SMOG: smoke + fog

Borrowing

The process of acquiring new words or grammatical features from another language.

ARABIC: giraffe, lute

SPANISH: cargo, cigar

ITALIAN: latte

Collocation

The tendency for some words to occur in close association with each other.

e.g: hard-earned money, fast food

Commonisation

The process in which a brand name or other proper name becomes a proper noun. The commonisation name is used to refer to all types of the same product regardless of by whom it is manufactured.

e.g: Esky (coolers), Band Aid (sticking plaster)

Compounding

The creation of a new word by combining two words that already exist.

e.g. Mouthwash (mouth + wash), Carport (car + port)

Contraction

A reduced form of one or more words in which the first and last letters remain the same, but some of the letters in the middle have been removed.

e.g: can't, won't, didn't, it's

Shortening

Also known as shortening. The process of creating a new word by truncating a longer word. Also known as shortening.

e.g: Exam (from examination), plane (from aeroplane), Gymnasium (Gym)

Alliteration

The use of the same consonant sounds in consecutive words, or in close succession.

e.g: Wonderful winter wonderland. It Functions too create a musical effect in the text that enhances the pleasure of reading a literary piece. It makes reading and recitation of the poems attractive and appealing; thus, making them easier to learn by heart.

Assonance

The repetition of identical vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of successive words, or in a series of words. Used as a tool to enhance a musical effect in the text by using it for creating internal rhyme

e.g: "No pay, no play"

Consonance

The repetition of identical consonant sounds, especially in the first syllables of successive words, or in a series of words.

e.g: "A stroke of luck", "Beanz Meanz Heinz", "Odds and ends"

Rhythm

The flow of words produced by patterns of stress placement and tempo.

e.g: "Two households both alike in dignity"

Antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas that are similarly structured and used to show different ideas.

e.g:

"Big on comfort, small on price"

"If he wins, you lose"

Ellipsis

The omission of a word or phrase necessary for a complete syntactical construction but not necessary for understanding because the meaning can be gauged from the context.

e.g:

"I went to school, but my friend didn't [go to school]"

"[Are you] coming to the party?"

Substitution

The replacement of one linguistic term by another, often in the following clause. Functions too be the r eplacement of a word or phrase with a filler word to avoid repetition.

e.g: I've lost my pencil. Do you have one?

Personification

A type of figurative language in which non-human things are given human qualities (e.g emotions, desires, expressions, etc).

e.g: The wind howled.

Connotation

The idea or meaning associated with a word or thing.

e.g:

Mother: caring (positive), excessive concern (negative)

Hollywood: success (positive), cheap and tacky (negative)

Idiom

An expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words.

e.g: "Raining cats and dogs"

"Keeping an eye on things"

Irony

The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. It is an expression marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.

e.g: Saying "lovely weather we're having" on a rainy day.

Lexical ambiguity

When a lexical item can be interpreted with more than one meaning.

"The teacher raved about his students" - is the teacher raving because he is angry or happy?

Metaphor

A type of Figurative speech where you are saying something is something else. The first, and more practical, function is to allow the reader greater understanding of the concept, object, or character being described. The second function is purely artistic: to create an image that is beautiful or profound or otherwise produces the effect that the writer desires.

"The city is a concrete jungle"

"Broken heart"

"Feeling blue"

Oxymoron

The use of contradictory words in a phrase. Crafted by Shakespeare, it appeals to us instantly. It provokes our thoughts and makes us ponder on the meaning of contradicting ideas.

e.g: "Deafening silence"

Pun

A play on words that makes humorous use of multiple meanings of words, or of words that sound similar but are different in meaning.

"Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses"

"An Elephant's opinion carries a lot of weight"

Simile

Type of figurative language that performs the function of comparing two things because they share similar qualities. Generally includes the like an as in most of its phrases. E.g.

"He is as strong as an Ox"

"She sings like an angel"

Assimilation

When a sound is changed to become more similar to a neighbouring sound. Also known as palatalisation.

e.g: samwich instead of "sandwich", diju instead of "did you" or "hambag" instead of "handbag"

Elision

When a sound is omitted.

e.g: 'cos, goin', 'ere, 'n

Flapping

Occurs when "d" sounds replaces "t" sound in certain words.

e.g. "budder" for butter, "pardy" for party

Insertion

When a sound is introduced between other sounds, often in the middle of a word.

e.g: athelete (athlete), knowan (known) or drawring (drawing)

Tempo

Speed of speaking. Fast speed usually means that the speaker is excited or upset, whereas a slow speed means that the speaker is tired or choosing their words more carefully. Acts as a floor-holding strategy.

Adjacency pair

Two-part exchanges that follow a predictable pattern and have close association with each other. e.g. How are you? = yeah Im good

Minimal response

Short responses by the audience in a spoken interaction to indicate they are actively listening by offering support, encouragement or acknowledgement. These can take the form of the words such as 'yeah', 'ok', 'right' or sounds like 'hmm', 'ahh' or 'oh'. Also known as backchanneling.

Discourse particle

Words or small expressions that are used in a text to communicate to the audience information such as changes of topic or scene. turn-taking, personal attitudes and other nuances of meaning. Examples include well, yep, you, know, sort of, like and I mean.

False start

When a speaker, having already begun an utterance, hesitates or changes his or her mind about what they want to say. This often takes the form of changing from one grammatical construction to another one before the initial construction has been completed.

e.g: "I drove my- (.) I took the Camry to work"

Hedging expression

A word or phrase that makes a statement less forceful or assertive. Avoid a definite commitment on the speaker's part, which may be advantageous in certain circumstances. Common examples include: 'perhaps, 'hopefully', 'probably', 'approximately' and 'maybe',

Interrogative tag

A grammatical structure in which a declarative statement or imperative is turned into a question by the addition of an interrogative tag, which is always separated by a comma. Its often used for checking information that we think we know is true.

e.g:

"There isn't training after school today, is there?"

"Take care, won't you?"

Pause filler

Expressions such as 'um' and 'err' that are used by a speaker to indicate that a turn has not finished, even though he or she may have briefly stopped speaking. Allow a speaker some thinking time in order to plan what he or she will say next. Indicates a desire to retain the floor, which is subconsciously understood by the audience.

Phatic communication

Technical term for small talk or social chit-chat. Play an important role in establishing, maintaining social relationships and building rapport.

Politeness marker

Expressions that are used to show courtesy and respect towards others, and to mark social status and/or social distance. Common expressions include 'please' and 'thank you'.

Vocative

Type of lexeme used by the speaker to name or refer to someone else when talking to them. Has two functions:

To call someone in order to gain their attention ("John, it's time to go to school") or to address someone, expressing particular social relationships or attitudes ("Waiter, my soup is cold").

Common terms: Mr, Ms, Mrs, Sir, Madam, etc.

Colloquial language

Informal language used everyday that is not rude, but would not be used in formal situations and is understood by all ages. Makes discourse more personal, direct, sincere, sociable, blunt, playful or amusing. e.g

"She'll be right"

"I wasnt born yesterday"

"Ain't" "gonna" etc.

Clause

Consists of a subject-verb combination. Subject can be a noun, pronoun or phrase. Two types; Independant and dependant

Simple

Sentence that contains only one independent clause.

Complex

Sentence that contains an independent clause plus one or more subordinate clauses. e.g."I BURNED DINNER but not the cake."

Inference

Use of knowledge brought to the text by the reader that isn't expressed explicitly within it.

Coherence

The semantic connections that exist within a text to make it meaningful/make sense. Bold headings, Sub-headings, implied sub-headings, conventions, inference, logical development of ideas, listing, dot-points, markers, parenthesis, spelling, punctuation, subject-specific lexis.

Cohesion

The linguistic connections and ties that exist between the words and sentences to give structure to a text. Anaphoric/Cataphoric referencing, deictic words, antonyms, synonyms, hyponymy, collocation, conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, adverbials, ellipsis, repetition, subject-specific lexis, substitution.

Non-fluency features

Include false starts, interruptions, self corrections, repetitions, hesitations, fillers and voiced hesitations.

Clefting

A construction in which some element in a sentence is moved from its normal position into a separate clause to give it greater emphasis. Also known as a cleft sentence, a cleft construction, and a cleft clause. e.g.

It was DI who read a poem in the cafe last night.

It was A POEM that Di read in the cafe last night.

It was IN THE CAFE that Di read a poem last night.

It was LAST NIGHT that Di read a poem in the cafe.

Accent

A characteristic way of pronouncing a language or variety that is identified with national, regional, social or ethnic background. Sometimes confused with 'dialect'.

Active Voice

Most common type of grammatical voice, whereby the actor or agent of a transitive clause occurs as the subject and the patient occurs as the object. (e.g: Fred kicked the dog)

Adverbial

A word or phrase functioning as a major clause constituent and typically expressing place (in the garden), time (in May), or manner (in a strange way).

Agentless passive

A passive without an agent or doer of the action. May be used because the speaker does not know who the agent is, thinks it unimportant to specify the agent, or wants to avoid specifying the agent. e.g.

All the chocolate was eaten

Auxiliary verbs

Type of verb that is used to help the main verbs of a clause too indicate the different tenses, moods, or voices. They are: be, do, have, will, shall, would, should, can, could, may, might, must, ought etc. I was running.

Covert prestige

The linguistic features that are valued by a sub-group within a community, usually associated with non-standard language. e.g: surfers, bikers, gangstaz.

Diminutive

A suffix added to a common or proper noun that indicates smallness and usually expressed affection (sometimes dismissal). Very common in Australian English. e.g: Tassie, Salvo.

Doublespeak (Semantics)

Deliberately used Language that distorts phrases/speech with an intent of misleading or deceiving the listener. Similar too euphemism however it has different intents e.g.

"sanitary techninician' is said instead of garbage man

Positive face

Shows closeness, intimacy, solidarity and rapport. Notices or attends to the other person's wants, needs or possessions. Intensifies one's interest, approval or sympathy of the speaker. e.g. That's a nice suit, where did you get it from?

Negative face

a person's need to be independent and not be imposed on by others. Gives the other person choices, allowing them to maintain their freedom e.g. You couldn't possibly tell me the time, please?

Figurative language

Language that is used in a non-literal way in order to invoke revealing comparisons. Includes metaphors, similes and oxymorons.

Left-dislocation

A way of focusing a constituent without changing the grammatical functions. Simply moving the constituent to the extreme left of a sentence.

e.g: Ice cream, I just love it.

Modal auxiliary

The type of verbs such as; can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might and must, that signal the attitude of the speaker and express notions such as probability, possibility, doubt, contingency, wishing and so on.

Orthography

The study of the use of the conventional letters in a language and includes the conventional rules of spelling.

Overt prestige

The linguistic features that are recognised by the culturally dominant group, usually associated with standard language.

Right-dislocation

Involves moving something to the end of a sentence and leaving behind a pronoun copy.

Slang

An in-group variety in which people with something in common will interact and is often bound by time and generation. Is informal, usually spoken and involves mainly vocabulary. Playfulness a striking feature.

Interjections (Lexicology)

Words used to express strong feeling or sudden emotion. They are included in a sentence (usually at the start) to express a sentiment such as surprise, disgust, joy, excitement, or enthusiasm. It is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence.

Stylisitic Features

devices that make your speeches, essays etc. more interesting and lively and help you to get and keep your reader's / listener's attention e.g.

Context

refers to the words and sentences that surround any part of a discourse and that help to determine its meaning.

Identity

The values, background, motivations etc. of a person seen trough the language they use and how they use it.

Understatement

A statement is deliberately weakened to sound ironical or softened to sound more polite. e.g.

I know a little about running a company. (a successful businessman might modestly say.)

I think we have slightly different opinions on this topic. (instead of: I don't agree with you at all.)

Dialect

A subset of a language containing its own vocabulary, grammar, idioms and pronounciation that are different from other varieties

Function and purpose relationship

They work together to make sure the message of a text is delivers Cleary

Social purposes of formal language

- reinforce social distance and authority

- establish expertise

- promote social harmony and negotiate taboos

- clarify, manipulate and obfuscate

Social purposes of informal language

- encourage intimacy, solidarity and equality

- promote linguistic innovation

- support in group membership

- inclusive language

- neologisms promote linguistic innovation and age specific neologisms

Functions of spoken language

-inform (speeches)

-instruct (seminar)

-persuade (political speech)

-entertain infotainment)

-ceremony/ritual (rights (police))

-rapport (convos)

Functions of written language

Inform (professional letter)

Instruction (questionaire)

Persuade (editorial)

Entertainment (poem)

Ceremony/ritual (obituary)

Rapport (letter)

Non Rhotic

Australian speech feature where the r is not pronounced e.g. Caa instead of car

Flapping

Thirdly to thirty. The changing of d to t because of the tongues sound productuon

What does Phonological patterning include?

- Alliteration

- assonance

- rhyme

- consonance

- rhythm

- onomatopoeia

Monophthongs

vowel sounds which have one place of articulation

e.g. hArd, hAIr

Diphthongs

vowel sounds which occur over two places of articulation

e.g. ahOy, hOtel

Tempo

the speed at which we speak

- reflects the emotional state of the speaker and indicate grammatical features

- fast speech can indicate excitement or nervousness whilst slow speech can can indicate deliberation or reflection by the speaker

Intonation

change in pitch that occurs over the course of an utterance

- rising intonation indicates questioning

- when someone doesn't make much use of it, they are said to be 'monotone'

- can signal grammatical structure or communicate a speakers emotions or attitudes

Vocal Effects

- coughing, laughing and breaths

- reflect our moods or attitudes

- contribute to the way our messages are given and received

e.g. laughter can indicate enjoyment, coughing may indicate nervousness

Assimilation

when a sound changes to become more like a neighbouring sound e.g. 'bitter' may become 'bide'

Vowel Reduction

speakers leaving off vowels to make articulation easier

e.g. 'Rosa's roses' will sound the same because the 'a' and 'e' are both being reduced

Elision

the deletion of a sound in connected speech

- used to make pronunciation easier

e.g. temporary becomes 'tempori'

Insertion

adding a sound where there wouldn't normally be one

e.g. 'athlete' pronounced as 'ath-a-lete'

Broad Australian English

- stereotypically attached to the Australian people, as it is most distinctive and the accent most non-Australians are familiar with

- typically associated with mateship and friendliness

Cultivated Australian English

traditionally associated with high social class or education but no longer carries the same social prestige

General Australian Accent

- the majority accent in Australia

- most commonly heard in the media

Alliteration

sequence of words that use the same consonant sound at the beginning

- can help make a text more memorable

e.g. tricky Tracy tweeted tacklessly

Assonance

sequence of words that use the same vowel sound

e.g. a fat cat sat on the mat

Consonance

sequence of words that contain alliteration within them

e.g. pitter patter

Onomatopoeia

words that sound like the thing they describe

e.g. buzz, crack, fizz

Rhythm

patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables

e.g. shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmers DAY?

Rhyme

recurrent syllables of similar sounds, usually in poetic verse

e.g. baa baa black sheep, have you any WOOL? yes sir, yes sir three bags FULL

Auxiliary Verbs

words that combine with verbs to create aspect; a means of indicating that an action is complete, ongoing or constant

e.g. i HAVE been to Queensland

Modal Verbs

words that mark for possibility, probability, obligation or necessity

e.g. can, could, may, must, might

Conjunctions

joining words that connect clauses together

e.g. FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, only, yet, so

Interjections

words/phrases that express a sudden or strong emotion or feeling

- can include swear words, greetings and other signalling words

e.g. ouch, oh no!, sorry