#13 Cambridge English Terms

Cooperative Principle

The idea that speakers tend to act cooperatively in conversation, working together to ease communication. As developed by Grice in 1975, the principle consists of four maxims.
Ex: A: "What time is it?" B: "It's 3:15." (clear, relevant, truthful response)

Maxim

According to Grice’s cooperative principle, speakers generally follow four rational principles in normal conversation. These are known as the ______ of quality, quantity, relation and manner.

Ex: Saying “I think it might rain” instead of making a false claim → follows the ____ of quality.

Flouting a maxim

Failing to obey one of Grice’s principles of ordinary cooperative conversation.
Ex: A: "Did you like the movie?" B: "Well... the popcorn was good." (avoiding truth → ______ quality)

Labov's Narrative Model

The theory that spoken storytelling typically conforms to a particular structure.
Ex: "I was walking home (orientation), then I heard a noise (complication), I got scared (evaluation), I ran away (resolution), and now I never walk alone (coda)."

Elaborated Code

Language use intended to be understandable to all, without the expectation of shared assumptions and understanding between participants.
Ex: "I believe the reason the experiment failed was due to insufficient temperature control during the reaction."

Restricted Code

Language use that assumes some shared assumptions and understanding between participants, and which might not be fully comprehensible to all.
Ex: "That thing didn't work, you know?" (relies on shared understanding)

Face

An individual's sense of their own self-image and how they are perceived in social contexts. Brown and Levinson (1987) divide this concept into positive ___ and negative ____.
Ex: Someone tries to appear confident and competent in a group discussion to maintain their image.

Face-threatening acts

Verbal and nonverbal actions by participants in a conversation that undermine or challenge the speaker's face.
Ex: "You're wrong." (directly challenges someone's competence)

Negative face

The desire to have one's perceived rights and freedoms respected by others.
Ex: "Could you please close the door?" (respects the listener's freedom to choose)

Positive face

An individual's self-image, and the desire that others approve of it.
Ex: "You did a great job on that project!" (supports someone's self-image)

Politeness Strategies

Methods used by speakers to minimize the negative effects of face-threatening acts.
Ex: "I'm sorry to bother you, but could you help me?" (softens request

Negative Politeness

Conversational strategies used to help one's interlocutor to maintain their negative face.
Ex: "I don't want to impose, but could you lend me your notes?"

Positive Politeness

Conversational strategies used to help one's interlocutor to maintain positive face.
Ex: "Hey, we're both struggling with this—want to study together?"

Speech Act

An utterance that also serves a performative function, including locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts.
Ex: "I apologize." (the act of apologizing is performed by saying it_

Illocutionary Act

Performing a specific act by the use of certain words.
Ex: "Can you open the window?" (intended meaning = request, not a question)

Perlocutionary Act

A speech act notable for the effect it produces on the listener (e.g. persuading them to do something).
Ex: "Watch out!" → makes someone jump back (effect on listener)

Locutionary Act

The performance of an utterance, understood according to its surface meaning.
Ex: "It's cold in here." (literal statement about temperature)

Genderlect

A variety of language considered to be (at least in part) determined by the user's gender.
Ex: Women using more tag questions: "It's nice, isn't it?"

Sociolect

The variety of language shared by people in a particular social group.
Ex: Teen slang: "That's lowkey fire."

Idiolect

An individual's distinctive and personalised use of language.
Ex: One person always says "literally" in every sentence — their unique style.

Self

An individual's idea of themselves as a unique and unified entity, separate from both other people and the external world.
Ex: "I see myself as independent and creative."

Self-esteem

Belief in one's own abilities and worth as a person.
Ex: "I'm confident in my ability to do well on this test."

Self-identity

The characteristics, physical and psychological, which a person sees as making up their sense of self throughout their life.
Ex: "I identify as a student, musician, and athlete."

Linguistic Determinism

A strong form of linguistic relativism, which proposes the idea that the structure of a language fully determines the thought processes of its speakers.
Ex: If your language has no future tense, you think about time differently.

Linguistic Reflectionism

The opposite of linguistic determinism, expressing the view that language reflects the thoughts and ideas of an individual or culture.
Ex: People use more tech-related words because society is focused on technology.

Linguistic Relativism

The idea that the structure of a language affects a person's view of the world.
Ex: Languages with many words for snow lead speakers to notice differences in snow more easily.

Linguistic Universalism

The idea that all humans share common foundations of thought, despite surface-level variations among different languages.
Ex: All humans understand basic concepts like time, space, and relationships regardless of language.

Language of Thought Hypothesis

The idea that thought takes place in a mental language, such that representations in the mind are structured in sentence-like form.
Ex: Thinking through a math problem step-by-step in your head like an internal sentence.