A Level English Language AQA Terminology

accent

The way that people pronounce sounds.

Accent variation

The way that pronunciations vary between different speakers, or the variations a single speaker might produce in different contexts.

Acrolect

A term used to refer to a standard or official language variety in contexts where creole is spoken

Acronym

Initials that can be pronounced as words

Active Voice

In this verb form, the subject of the sentence performs the action denoted by the verb

Adjancency

The positioning of elements in an interaction, so that one follows on from another, although they don't have to occur immediately afterwards.

Adjective/Adjectival

Give more information about nouns, describing the qualities of people and things.

Adverb/Adverbial

Give more information about verbs - typically, where, when and in what manner the action of the verb takes place.

Affordances

Things that are made possible. For example, a website can be read by many people simultaneously.

Agent

An alternative word for the subject in a sentence.

Amerlioration

A process whereby a word or phrase develops more positive connotations.

Analogical overextension

Extending a label from one item to another by connecting their functions or how they are perceived

Anthropomorphism

Attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object.

Arbitrary

Having no real connection beyond that of social interaction.

Aspect

This refers to the way in which certain grammatical markings on verb forms indicate whether an action or state is ongoing. For example, the 'ing' form in 'looking' suggests continuous action: the 'ing' ending is called a 'progressive'.

Asymmetrical

Unequal

Audience construction

In language study, texts are seen as making audiences, not just addressing them. This means that texts create an idea of who the audience is, by 'speaking' to them in a certain way.

Auxiliary verb

A verb used in forming the tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs.

Basilect

A term used in creole studies to refer to the most creole-like variety.

Blending

Using parts of existing words to form a new word.

Borrowing

A word or expression taken from another language.

bound morpheme

A morpheme that cannot stand alone as a separate word

Broadening

A process by which words acquire a wider reference.

Clauses

A group of words in a sentence that contains a subject and a verb (predicate).

Clause of condition

A clause introduced by conjunctions such as 'if' or 'unless', suggesting that something will happen only if certain conditions are met.

Code mixing

The inclusion of words and phrases from one language in another.

Code Switching

Changing between two languages when speaking

Cohesion

The way sentences or utterances join together to form a whole text.

collocation

Two or more words that co-occur in a language more often that would be expected by chance.

colloquial

Characteristic of ordinary conversation rather than formal speech or writing.

Complaint tradition

A tradition of complaining about the state of language.

Complex sentence

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

Compounding

Adding two existing words together to create a new word.

compound sentence

a sentence with two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined by one or more conjunctions.

Comprehension

The ability to understand language, which might differ from how much an individual can produce.

Connective

a word or phrase that joins the ideas of a speech and indicates the relationship between them.

Connotation

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Constructed dialogue

Dialogue that is artificially created rather than occurring naturally. For example, in novels or playscripts.

Construction

In language acquisition, these are ready-made chunks of language that can be used productively to express many ideas.

convergence

In language study, changing one's language in order to move towards that of another individual.

Co-ordination

-joining elements together by using a co~ordinating conjunction, such as "and" or "or"

covert prestige

Status gained from peer group recognition, rather than public acknowledgement

Creole

A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.

Declarative

a sentence that makes a statement

Deixis

The act of pointing to something by using certain language items.

Descriptivism/descriptivist

The belief that correctness is dependent on context and should be defined by what is appropriate in any context. Descriptivists take their norms from observing what the majority of people do, not what any particular authority says they should do.

Determiner

Help to determine what a noun refers to. They can be wide-ranging in their reference, including quantity, definiteness, possession and demonstrativeness.

Determinism

The idea that language determines the way we think and behave.

diachronic variation

Variation through time

Dialect

A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.

discourse

written or spoken communication or debate

discourse community

A group of people with shared interests and belief systems who are likely to respond to texts in similar ways

Discourse structure

The internal structure of a text

Disjunct

An adverb that expresses a writer's or speaker's attitude, such as 'frankly' and 'fortunately'.

Distribution

Where a feature is used, within the language inventory of an individual or group

Divergence

Language mannerisms that emphasize a communicator's differences from others.

Dysphemistic/Dysphemism

A direct form of language that doesn't attempt to disguise sensitive or difficult topics.

Endonormative

Looking within the immediate community for the norms of language use.

English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)

English used as a contact language between speakers of different first languages

Estuary English

An accent that originated in London and the south-east and that has spread outwards to other parts of the country

ethnic identity

Feeling connected with people who have similar cultural backgrounds, heritage or family ties.

Ethography

The study of how a group of people communicate.

Ethnolect

a dialect spoken by a particular ethnic group

etymology

the study of word origins

Euphemism

An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

Exonormative

Looking beyond the immediate community for the norms of language use

external factor

Something to do with forces beyond oneself. For example, many French terms came into English after the Norman conquest of 1066.

Facework

a term that is used to describe the verbal and nonverbal ways we act to maintain our own presenting image

Familect

A style of language used within a family

First Language (L1)

The first language learned by an individual, usually in childhood

Framing

The idea that speakers mark their understanding of the context they are in. For example, by smiling or laughing to show that they are being playful.

Free morpheme

A unit of meaning that can exist as an independent word.

Functional

Emphasising what something is for, its purposes.

Functional Theory

The idea that language changes because society does.

Gender

the socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female

Genderlect

a term suggesting that masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects

generic

For general use or general reference.

Genre

In language study, a type of text in any mode which is defined by its purpose, its features, or both.

Genre Theory

How different genres of writing are structured and how people learn to produce them

Gestalt

German for shape or form and refers to the way in which children at a certain stage can compress a string of words into a single utterance. For example, while an adult would say 'what is that?' a child might say 'wassat?'

Global English

The idea of English as a worldwide language

glottal stop

an allophonic variation of /t/ or /d/, produced when the release of the stop is at the level of the vocal folds instead of at the alveolar ridge

grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

Grapheme

A written representation of a sound using one or more letters.

graphology

All the visual aspects of textual design, including colour, typeface, layout, images and logos.

Heteronormativity

the belief that heterosexuality is and should be the norm

halophrase

a single word that is used to express a complete, meaningful thought

Hybrid

Blends of two or more elements. For example, new forms of communication are often seen as having some of the characteristics of both spoken and written language.

Hypernym

a word that is more general than another (e.g. animal is a hypernym for horse, plant is a hypernym for flower)

Hyponym

a more specific word within a category or under a hypernym

Idiom

A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.

Inferential framework

Knowledge built up over time and used in order to understand meanings that are implicit

infix

A type of bound morpheme that is inserted into the middle of the stem.

inflection

A morpheme on the end of a word to indicate a grammatical relationship or category

Initialism

an abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately

innate

something in-built, already in place.

interlocutor

someone who participates in a conversation

Intertextuality

relationship between texts

Language reform

A term used, usually by liberal commentators, to support the idea of consciously changing language because it is considered unfair to different groups

lingua franca

A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages