aqa english language vocab

Phoneme

basic unit of sound

Diphthong

vowel sound that is the combination of two separate sounds, where a speaker glides  from one to another. 

Accommodation

the ways that individuals adjust their speech patterns to match others.

Sound iconicity

the use of the sound system to mirror form or meaning

Semantic fields

groups of words connected by a shared meaning. 

Hypernyms

words whose meanings contain other words, (eg *animal* contains *dog*, *cat* and *fish*).

hyponyms

words that can be included in a larger, more general category (eg the hyponyms *car*,  *bus*, *aeroplane* as a form of the hypernym *transport*). 

Jargon

a technical vocabulary associated with a particular occupation or activity

sociolect

a language style associated with a particular social group. 

Neology

the process of new word formation, including the following: blends, compounds,  acronyms, initialisms, eponyms. 

amelioration

the upgrading or elevation of a word's meaning, as when a word with a negative sense develops a positive one

pejoration

the downgrading or depreciation of a word's meaning, as when a word with a positive sense develops a negative one

semantic narrowing

when words begin to develop more specific, more particular meanings, e.g. meat. In Old English, meat referred to any and all items of foods

semantic broadening

when a word evolves over time to represent a more general concept or thing than it did originally

Clause

a group of words centred around a verb, which may be either grammatically complete  (main clause) or incomplete (subordinate clause)

Active voice

a clause where the agent (doer) of an action is the subject.  

passive voice

a clause where the patient (the entity affected by an action) is in the subject  position, and the agent either follows or is left out. 

Coordination

the joining of two or more independent clauses via co-ordinating conjunctions.  Single words and longer phrases can also be co-ordinated

Subordination

the joining of two or more clauses where only one is independent (the main  clause) and the others dependent (subordinate clause/clauses)

declaratives

sentences that make a statement, provides information or expresses opinion

interrogatives

words used to ask questions, gather information and seek clarification. e.g. "who," "what," "where," "when," "why," and "how."

imperatives

verbs used to give orders, commands,warning or instructions, and (if you use "please") to make a request

determinative

words – such as the, a, each, some, which, this, and six – that are most commonly used with nouns to specify their referents.

Implicature

an implied meaning that has to be inferred as a result of a conversational maxim  being broken

Inference

understanding of implied meanings

Deixis

words that are context-bound where meaning depends on who is using them, and where  and when they are being used

homodiegetic

a narrator who is also a character in the story, i.e. 1st person

heterodiegetic narrator

a narrator who is not a character in the story, omniscient i.e. 3rd person

**speech acts**

communicative acts that carry meaning beyond the words and phrases used within  them, for example, apologies and promises

positive politeness

intended to avoid giving offence by highlighting friendliness. e.g. juxtaposing criticism with compliments, establishing common ground, jokes, nicknames, jargon, slang

negative politeness

emphasise formality, social distance, apologies,

positive face

the wish or desire to gain approval of others.

negative face

the wish to be unimpeded by others in one’s actions

Cooperative principles

how interaction is generally based upon various kinds of  cooperative behaviour between speakers

Discourse markers

words, phrases or clauses that help to organise what we say or write (e.g.  *OK*, *So*, “As I was saying…”). 

Adjuncts

non-essential elements of clauses (usually adverbials) that can be omitted (e.g. “I’ll see  you *in the morning****”***).

Disjuncts

sentence adverbs that work to express an attitude or stance towards material that  follows (eg “*Frankly*, I’m appalled at what she said” or “*Sadly*, not one of them survived”).

Anaphoric reference

making reference back to something previously identified in a text (often  using pronouns to refer to an already established reference point

**Cataphoric reference**

making reference forwards to something as yet unidentified in a text. Eg “*It*  was warm. *It* was living. It was *Uncle George*.” 

Interdiscursivity

the use of discourses from one field as part of another (eg the use of science discourses in the selling of beauty products, or the use of commercial discourses in education).

Deontic modality

a kind of modality which has to do with obligation and permission, e.g. should, ought, may

Epistemic modality

a kind of modality which expresses possibility and prediction, e.g. might, could

Typographical features

the features of fonts used in texts such as font type, size and colour.

Orthographical features

the features of the writing system such as spelling, capitalisation and  punctuation. 

Multimodal texts

texts that rely on the interplay of different codes (eg the visual, the written and  the auditory) to help shape meaning.

Foregrounding

the way in which texts emphasise key events or ideas through the use of  attention-seeking devices

parallelism

 repeat  content

external deviation

breaking from the normal conventions of language use, for example in the use of  nonsense words or ungrammatical constructions  

internal deviation

breaking from a pattern that has previously been set up in the text for a striking  effect. 

register

the way a speaker uses language differently in different circumstances, linked with context