english language metalanguage

Assimilation

a sound changing to become a nearby sound. EG. goodboy to gooboy

vowel reduction

unstressed vowel are pronounced more weakly often as schwa

elision

leaving out a sound in rapid speech. EG. friendship to frienship

Insertion

addition of a sound between words to ease transition EG. go on to gowon

noun

people places things qualities ideas or concepts

pronouns

replaces nouns and noun phrases that dont modify meaning

verbs

Words that show action or a state of being. One of these is required in a sentence

primary auxiliary verb (be, do, have)

Modify the main verb to indicate tense, aspect, or voice.

Modal auxiliary verb (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would)

Verbs that combine with a main verb to express possibility, obligation, or permission.

Adjectives

words that describe nouns and pronouns providing more information about them

Adverbs

Tells more about a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Tells how, how many, when.

Preposition

words used before nouns that indicate elements such as direction, time, place, or location

Conjunctions

Connects words and phrases; always followed by a comma

Remember FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

Determiners

Words that help to show which or how many people or things are being referenced. EX: This, that, those, some, any, much, enough, a few

interjections

Expresses strong emotions. Followed by an exclamation point or a comma depending on the strength of emotion. Examples: Wow!, Yuck!, Yes, Holy cow!

Affixation

process of forming words by adding affixes to morphemes EG govern adding ment to make government

abreviation

A shortened form of a word or phrase

Nominalization

turning a verb or adjective into a noun EG decide to decision

compounding

process of joining 2 words together EG swimsuit

blending

combining 2 words to 1 eg adult and kid to kidult

contraction

removing letters from words EG she is to shes

openings and closings

phrases that indicates start or end of a conversation

Adjacencey pairs

common exchanges with in a conversation EG how are you... good

minimal response/backchannel

brief verbal or nonverbal reply to show engagement in conversation

overlapping speech

Two or more speakers talking simultaneously intentionally or unintentionally

discourse markers

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

Non-fluency features

pauses, filled pauses/voiced hesitations, false starts, repetition, repairs

positive and negative face

referring to a persons self esteem or public image

euphamism

a soft way to refer to something harsh

Disphamism

harshening language

Inference

meaning derived from context rather that words

semantic patterning

irony, metaphor, oxymoron, simile, personification, animation, puns, lexical ambiguity