Note list 1-4 (AICE LANG A)

Amelioration

When a word's meaning becomes more positive over time.

Archaic/Archaism

A word or phrase that's old-fashioned or no longer used.

Backformation

Making a new word by removing a suffix or prefix (e.g., 'edit' from 'editor').

Blending

Combining parts of two words (e.g., 'smoke' + 'fog' = 'smog').

Borrowing

Taking words from another language.

Broadening

When a word's meaning becomes more general.

Coalescence

When sounds merge into one in speech.

Coinage

Creating a completely new word (e.g., 'Kleenex').

Compounding

Joining two words to form one (e.g., 'toothbrush').

Derivation

Forming a new word by adding prefixes or suffixes.

Eponym

A word derived from a person's name (e.g., 'sandwich').

Etymology

The study of word origins and history.

Narrowing

When a word's meaning becomes more specific.

Neologism

A newly invented word or expression.

Pejoration

When a word's meaning becomes more negative over time.

Prefix

A group of letters added at the start of a word.

Reduplication

Repeating sounds or words for emphasis or meaning (e.g., 'bye-bye').

Root/Stem

The main part of a word without affixes.

Suffix

A group of letters added at the end of a word.

Telescoping

Combining two words by overlapping sounds (e.g., 'infotainment').

Computer-mediated discourse

Communication through computers or digital platforms.

Conversion

Changing a word's grammatical class without altering its form (e.g., 'text' as verb/noun).

Creole

A stable, natural language formed from mixing different languages.

Descriptivism

Describing how language is actually used, not how it 'should' be used.

Discourse genre

A category of spoken or written communication (e.g., interview, debate).

Grammar

The system of rules in a language.

Graphology

The study of a language's writing system and appearance.

Inflection

Changing a word's form to express tense, number, or case.

Language family

A group of related languages from a common ancestor.

Lexis

The total set of words in a language.

Morphology

The study of word structure and formation.

Neuter

A gender category that is neither masculine nor feminine.

Orthography

The correct spelling system of a language.

Phonology

The study of how sounds function in a language.

Pidgin

A simplified form of speech used between speakers of different languages.

Pragmatics

The study of meaning in context.

Prescriptivism

Belief that language should follow fixed rules.

Protolanguage

An early ancestral language from which others evolved.

Semantics

The study of meaning in language.

Syntax

The arrangement of words to form sentences.

Acronym

A word made from initial letters (e.g., 'NASA').

Closed question

A question with a fixed or limited answer (e.g., yes/no).

Collocation

Words that commonly occur together (e.g., 'fast food').

Concordance

A list showing where words occur in a text or corpus.

Corpus

A large collection of written or spoken texts for study.

Corpus data

Language data drawn from a corpus.

Corpus linguistics

The study of language using digital text collections.

Diachronic linguistics

The study of how language changes over time.

Field of study

An area of academic research or learning.

Hypothesis

A testable idea or prediction in research.

Interval

A scale of measurement with equal distances between values.

Lemma

A word's base form as found in a dictionary.

N-gram graphs

Charts showing frequency of word sequences in texts.

Nominal data

Categorical data without order (e.g., colors, names).

Open question

A question allowing detailed or varied answers.

Ordinal data

Data arranged in a ranked order.

Pilot survey

A small test study before full research.

Plagiarism

Using others' work or words without giving credit.

Random sample

Selecting participants by chance to avoid bias.

Ratio

A scale with equal intervals and a true zero point.

Research ethics

Rules about fairness, honesty, and consent in studies.

Respondent

A person who answers questions in a survey.

Sample

A small group taken from a larger population.

Synchronic linguistics

The study of language at a specific time.

Word sketch

A summary of a word's grammatical and collocational patterns.

Accent

The way someone pronounces words, showing regional or social identity.

Adjacency pair

Two linked turns in conversation (e.g., question → answer).

Back-channeling

Small responses like 'yeah' or 'uh-huh' showing you're listening.

Clashing

When two speakers talk over each other.

Conversational floor

The right to speak or control a conversation.

Deixis/Deictic language

Words needing context (e.g., 'this,' 'there,' 'now').

Discourse markers

Words that organize speech (e.g., 'so,' 'well').

Elision

Omitting sounds or syllables (e.g., 'gonna' for 'going to').

Ellipsis

Leaving out parts of a sentence understood from context.

False starts

Beginning to speak, then stopping or restarting.

Feedback

Listener responses showing understanding or attention.

Hedges & vague language

Softeners like 'maybe' or 'sort of.'

Homophones

Words that sound alike but have different meanings (e.g., 'two,' 'too').

Idioms

Expressions whose meanings aren't literal (e.g., 'spill the beans').

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning in a word.

Overlaps & interruptions

When one speaker cuts into another's speech.

Paralinguistic features

Non-verbal cues like gestures or tone.

Phatic communion

Small talk used to build social connection (e.g., 'How are you?').

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in a language.

Phonemic expansion & contraction

Increase or reduction in distinct sounds over time.

Phonetics

The study of speech sounds and how they're produced.

Prosodic features

Aspects like pitch, stress, and intonation in speech.

Repairing

Correcting mistakes or misunderstandings in conversation.

Repetition

Using the same word or phrase for emphasis or clarity.

Tag questions

Short questions added to statements (e.g., 'It's cold, isn't it?').

Topic shift

Changing the subject in conversation.

Transcription/Transcript

A written version of spoken language.

Turn-taking

The pattern of when speakers take turns in talk.

Utterance

A spoken unit, smaller than a sentence.

Voiced pauses/Fillers

Sounds like 'um' or 'uh' that fill pauses.