ENGLISH LANGUAGE TERMINOLGY

Noun

Words that names a person, place or thing

Adjective

Words that are used to describe nouns

Verb

Words that express an action or a state of being

Adverb

Words that modify, qualify or give us more information about verbs or adjectives

Prepositions

Words that describe the relationship between a noun and a pronoun or another noun. Often indicating the physical location (position) of a thing

Conjunctions

Words used to join together words, phrases or sentences

Determiners

Words that describe the number, owner or familiarity of the noun

Interjections

Words that are used to express delight, surprise or other emotions

Pronouns

Words that are used in place of nouns

Etymology

The study of the origin of words and how their meanings have changed in history

Word

One or more sounds or letters used to communicate something

Lexis/ Lexicon

The collective words of a language

Lexeme

A minimal meaningful unit of language . This can be in the form of singular words or a whole phrase

Familect

Words and phrases used just by a family

Semantics

The analysis of word meanings and the relations between them

Lexis and Semantics

Words and their meanings

Neologisms

It is the introduction of new words or giving new meanings to existing words.

Can be in the form of - borrowing/loan words, compounding (home+work= homework), blending (yogalates), abbreviations, onomatopoeia or acronyms

Coinage

Invention of a new word or phrase

Denotation

Literal meaning of a word - primary meaning

Connotation

What links to a word, a feeling, theme or emotion - what it makes you think of. An idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning

Figurative devices

Metaphor, Simile, Symbolism, Pathetic Fallacy, Personification, Sibilance etc

Discourse

Written or spoken communication or debate

Pragmatics

The study of meaning in context. This could be both the implied and literal meanings in the context of the discourse

Pragmatic Particles

Words, phrases or methods used to fill gaps in discourse

Idiom/Idiomatic Phrase

A group of words established as having a common meaning that doesn’t relate to the literal meaning of the words. Single words or [phrases can be used in place of more substantial ones in certain contexts

Mode

Method of communication - written, spoke, electronic etc

Sociolinguistic Factors

Refers to the various social influences that affect language use and variation eg age, gender, power, social class, race etc