EngLang U3A1 Metalanguage

prosodic features

Features relating to sound production (pitch, stress, volume, tempo, intonation)

pitch

How high or low a sound is

stress

Emphasis placed on a syllable or word

volume

Loudness or softness of speech

tempo

Speed of speech

intonation

Change in pitch across an utterance

vocal effects

Non-lexical sounds like coughing, laughter, fillers

connected speech processes

Changes to sounds in speech (assimilation, elision, insertion, vowel reduction)

assimilation

Sounds become more similar to nearby sounds

elision

Sounds are omitted in connected speech

insertion

Adding extra sounds between words

vowel reduction

Vowel sound weakens to a schwa

alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds

consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds

phonetics

Study of speech sounds

phonology

Study of sound systems in a language

morphology

Study of word formation and structure

lexicology

Study of vocabulary

syntax

Study of sentence structure

semantics

Study of meaning

pragmatics

Study of meaning in context

discourse

Study of language beyond the sentence

noun

A word naming a person, place, thing or idea

verb

A word expressing action or state

adjective

Describes a noun

adverb

Describes a verb, adjective or adverb

pronoun

Replaces a noun

conjunction

Joins clauses or ideas

preposition

Shows relationship between words

determiner

Introduces a noun (e.g. the, a, this)

interjection

Expresses emotion (e.g. oh!, wow!)

phrase

Group of words without a finite verb

clause

Group of words with a subject and verb

independent clause

Can stand alone as a sentence

dependent clause

Cannot stand alone

simple sentence

One independent clause

compound sentence

Two independent clauses joined by coordination

complex sentence

One independent and one dependent clause

compound-complex sentence

Multiple independent and dependent clauses

coordination

Linking clauses with coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS)

subordination

Linking clauses using subordinating conjunctions

active voice

Subject performs the action

passive voice

Subject receives the action

agentless passive

Passive without naming the doer

nominalisation

Turning verbs or adjectives into nouns

parallelism

Repetition of similar grammatical structures

antithesis

Contrasting ideas in parallel structure

listing

Series of related items

textual cohesion

How a text is held together

cohesive ties

Links that connect parts of a text

reference

Using pronouns to refer to something else

anaphoric reference

Referring back to something previously mentioned

cataphoric reference

Referring forward to something later mentioned

substitution

Replacing a word to avoid repetition

ellipsis

Omitting words that are understood

conjunctions

Words that link ideas

lexical cohesion

Connection through vocabulary choice

collocation

Words that commonly occur together

repetition

Repeating words or ideas for cohesion

synonymy

Using words with similar meanings for cohesion

antonymy

Using opposite meanings for contrast

hyponymy

Specific words within a broader category