A Level English Language V2

V2 of the AQA A Level English Language glossary made by me.

Accent

The way you pronounce words.

Adjacency pairs

Two part exchanges that follow a predictable pattern. They can come in different forms, e.g greetings ("Hello, how are you?" "Fine thanks, you?").

Affordance

A good thing about something.

Abbreviation

A shortened form of a word or phrase.

Acronym

An abbreviation formed from the first letters of other words and pronounced as a word itself (e.g NATO, NASA).

Alphanumeric combinations

A combination of letters and numbers.

Audience address

Relates to the way a writer or a speaker addresses the people they are writing for or speaking to.

Audience positioning

The assumptions made in a text about its readers' background knowledge and understanding, attitudes and values in order to guide them towards an interpretation.

Backchanneling

Short speech contributions provided by a listener in a conversation, signifying positive attention and that they do not wish to take a full turn (e.g mm-hmm, yeah, great).

Building on topics

Can be seen as a co-operative move in conversation.

Blending

Where parts of two or more words are combined to make a new word (e.g infotech).

Colloquial expressions

Informal expressions, more common in speech than in writing.

Complement

Words, phrases or clauses that are essential to complete the meaning of a given expression.

Continuous tense

Shows an action that is, was, or will be in progress at a certain time. It is formed with the various forms of the verb 'to be' and the present participle of a verb (e.g I am walking away).

Capitalisation

Writing or printing a word with the first letter as a capital letter, or entirely in capitals.

Clipping

Word formation by removing some segments of an existing word to create a diminutive word (e.g 'robot' becomes 'bot'). It also known as a lexical truncation.

Coinage

The invention of a new word or phrase. It is also known as a neologism.

Conversational threads

An online discussion format where people talk by posting messages and replies in an organised way under topics or groups.

Conversion

A word formation process where a word is assigned to a new word class or part of speech without any change in form (e.g a noun becomes a verb - the noun 'email' becomes the verb 'to email').

Composites

Two or more words that are combined together to form a new word (e.g desktop). The process of this is known as compounding.

Declarative

Statement sentence.

Deictic expressions

Words or expressions that rely on the context to convey meaning (e.g it, this and there).

Dialect

The accent, lexis and grammar of a specific geographical area.

Discourse marker

Words or phrases used to signify the relationships and connections between utterances and ideas in speech and writing.

Directive

A command.

Dysphemism

A harsh, disparaging or unpleasant expression used in the place of a more neutral one.

Disparaging

Expressing the opinion that something is of little worth (derogatory).

Dynamic verbs

Often referred to as 'action verbs', they refer to actions we can take, and can be both physical and verbal. They have a definitive start and end (e.g shout, hit, run).

Discourse structure

The way in which an entire text is organised.

Diminutive word

A 'small' version of a word.

Diphthong

A sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another (e.g 'coin' and 'loud').

Ellipsis

The omission of one or more words from a sentence which can be understood from context.

Equal power encounters

When people conversing hold the same amount of power in the conversation.

Exclamative

A statement which displays strong emotion. They typically end in an exclamation mark.

Euphemism

A mild or indirect word/phrase used to avoid saying an unpleasant or offensive word.

Expressive function

Utterances that express the speaker's feelings.

Elision

The omission of a word or syllable when speaking (e.g I'm, let's).

Emoticon

A representation of a facial expression formed by a short sequence of keyboard characters to express a particular emotion (e.g :D).

False start

The phenomenon of starting an utterance twice, or rephrasing.

Feedback

A convention of conversation. Includes verbal responses, backchanneling and paralinguistics.

Field-specific lexis

Words that relate to a certain group.

Filler

Words, sounds or phrases that people use to 'fill in' empty spaces in communication (e.g like, um, er). They have little meaning and are added out of habit or to give a speaker time to think.

Face needs

What we need in order to feel like somebody is being polite to us.

Face threatening acts

When a person's face needs are threatened or ignored.

Finite verbs

Verbs that show the tense, person and number of the subject (e.g I go, she goes, we went). Modal auxiliary verbs are always finite.

Grammar

The rules about how words change their form and combine with other words to make sentences.

Graphology

The study of written and printed symbols and of writing systems.

Hedge

Linguistic forms that suggest uncertainty. They are linked to politeness, and can 'soften' opinions.

High-frequency lexis

Words that appear often in everyday speech. They are typically more informal.

Idiolect

A speaker's linguistic fingerprint, including their accent, pitch, word choice and style.

Initiator

Words that signal a person is about to speak.

Interactional function

Used when speakers are socialising. Emphasis is placed upon this social relationship between the speakers.

Interrogative

Asks a question. They generally end in question marks.

Imperative

A statement that issues a command, makes a request or gives instructions.

Intransitive verbs

Verbs that do not require a direct object to make sense, for example 'vote', 'stand' and 'laugh'.

Infinitive verb

A verb in its base, or most simple, form. It is often used with 'to' in front of it (e.g to eat, to go, to take).

Initialism

An abbreviation consisting of the first letters of words that are pronounced separately (e.g BBC).

IRF structure

A pattern of discussion between a teacher and a learner (also known as Initiation-Response-Feedback).

Jargon

specialist vocabulary for a particular subject or profession. It can confuse those who aren't familiar with it.

Lexical field

A group of words that are similar in some way.

Low-frequency lexis

Words that are used rarely. They are typically more formal.

Lexis

All of the words in a language .

Lexical truncation

Word formation by removing some segments of an existing word to create a diminutive word (e.g 'robot' becomes 'bot'). It is also known as clipping.

Loanword

A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification (e.g emoji was adopted from Japanese).

Minimal response

Sounds/words indicating the listener's positive attention.

Mode

The method of communication being used (e.g speaking or writing).

Monitoring feature

Words and phrases that check that the addressee is listening.

Multi-modal texts

Texts with more than one mode (e.g a text that is accompanied by audio or images).

Minor sentence

An incomplete sentence that still makes sense (e.g the more the merrier).

Natural end to a conversation

All participants must agree that the conversation has ended and there must be a build up to it (e.g the end of a story).

Non-fluency features

Repetition, stumbling over words, false starts/repairs, fillers.

Non-verbal closing sequences

Ways of indicating a conversation is about to close through non-verbal sequences (e.g collecting belongings or getting up).

Negative face needs

Our need for privacy, independence, autonomy, freedom and the right to make our own decisions.

Negative politeness

Avoidance based - presumes that the speaker will be imposing on the listener, therefore respecting their negative face needs.

Non-finite verbs

Verbs that do not show person, tense or number, and do not have a subject. They cannot serve as the main verb in a sentence, and are typically infinitive forms with or without the word 'to' preceding them (e.g go, to go) or -ing and -ed forms (going, gone).

Neologism

The invention of a new word or phrase. It is also known as coinage

Non-standard utterances

An utterance spoken in non-standard English.

Non-standard English

The 'informal version' of English. It can change depending on where it is being spoken.

Object

A person or thing to which a specified action is being directed.

Omission

When a word that should be in a sentence or utterance is missing.

Omitted punctuation

When punctuation is not included.

Orthography

The conventional spelling system of a language.

Positive face needs

Our need to be respected, honoured, included, approved of, liked, and considered competent and trustworthy.

Positive politeness

Minimises threats to the listener's positive face and makes them feel good about themselves.

Present participle

The '-ing' form of a verb. They can be used as adjectives (e.g a thrilling story) and to form continuous verb tenses (e.g the present continuous - we are partying).

Past participle

The '-ed' form of a verb, though the past participles of irregular verbs have numerous endings such as '-en', '-n', '-ne' and '-t' (e.g spotted, knelt). They can be used as adjectives (the broken box) or to indicate tense (e.g I have forgotten my lines). It typically expresses a completed action.

Pragmatics

How context contributes to the meaning of an utterance.

Phonetics

The study and classification of speech sounds.

Phonology

The study of sounds within a language or across languages generally.

Paralinguistic signs

Paralinguistic features that are used to convey a meaning (e.g shrugging of the shoulders to convey confusion).

Prosodic representation

Prosodic features that are used to represent or convey something (e.g a raised voice may convey anger).

Prestige

The level of respect and status given to language varieties.

Prestige variety

The variety of a language that is regarded as the most superior within a society. It is also known as the prestige dialect.

Paralinguistic features

Gestures and accompanying facial expressions which contribute to the communication of meanings in speech.

Phatic talk

Small talk.

Pre-closing sequences

Ways of indicating a conversation is about to close (e.g "well, I've got to go").

Prosodic features

Aspects of the use of the voice (intonation, stress, tempo, volume and pitch) which contribute to meanings communicated in speech.

Question and answer sequences

A type of adjacency pair ("Do you have the time?" "Yes, it's 10 o'clock).

Register/tenor

The way in which a person speaks based on their audience.

Repair

Where speakers make a mistake and correct themselves. Also known as self-correction.