Linguistics Key Concepts: Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics & Sociolinguistics

What is the structure and order of components within a sentence?

Syntax

What is the grammatical connection between two parts of a sentence?

Agreement

What approach to language describes what it should be like?

Prescriptive approach

What approach to language describes what it is actually like?

Descriptive approach

What are verbs that don't have an object called?

Intransitive verb

What are verbs that have a single object called?

Transitive verb

What are verbs that have two objects called?

Ditransitive verb

What is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences?

Semantics

What is a word with a meaning that is included in the meaning of another word?

Hyponym

What is substituting the word for part of something for the whole thing called?

Metonymy

What is the relationship between words that frequently occur together called?

Collocation

What is meant by the speaker given the context of the utterance?

Pragmatics (or Speaker Meaning)

What are words that 'point' via language and have a meaning determined by context?

Deixis

What are short expressions that indicate the speaker's attitude to the listener called?

Pragmatic markers

What does a speaker assume is true or known by the listener?

Presupposition

What is the study of language beyond the sentence level called?

Discourse analysis

What is the unit of talk by one speaker, ended by the next speaker's unit of talk?

Turn

What is a conversational element with a first part and a second part called?

Adjacency pair

What is an expression that seems to repeat an element with no apparent meaning?

Tautology

What are words or phrases used to indicate uncertainty in correctness or completeness?

Hedges

What is the study of the relationship between language and the brain called?

Neurolinguistics

What phenomenon occurs when a speaker knows a word but feels it is eluding them?

Tip of the tongue phenomenon

What is a speech error in which one word is used instead of another with similar characteristics?

Malapropism

What is the manner in which adults tend to speak with children called?

Caregiver speech

What is the gradual development of language ability through natural communication called?

Language acquisition

What is a language that uses the hands as articulators called?

Sign language

What are non-verbal signals that function like fixed phrases called?

Emblems

What teaching method is designed to teach deaf students to speak and read lips?

Oralism

What aspects of pronunciation identify where a speaker is from?

Accent

What is the boundary between areas regarding a particular linguistic item called?

Isogloss

What is the practice of alternating between two or more languages in conversation called?

Code-switching

What is the degree of esteem attached to certain languages or dialects called?

Linguistic prestige (or Social prestige)

What is an individual way of speaking, a personal dialect called?

Idiolect

What is the conventional way of using language appropriate in a specific context called?

Register

What field of linguistics studies the relationship between language and society?

Sociolinguistics