metalanguage flashcards

Phonetics and Phonology

• Phonetics

The study and classification of speech sounds occurring in language.

• Phonology:

• The study of the patterns that speech sounds form within a language to express meaning.

• Connected Speech Processes:

• Phonetic changes that occur when people speak naturally to make production more efficient.

• Assimilation:

• When a sound changes to become more like a neighboring sound.

• Vowel reduction:

• Occurs in unstressed syllables where a vowel becomes less distinct, typically reducing to a schwa /ə/.

• Elision:

• The omission of a sound or syllable in spoken language.

• Insertion:

• The addition of sounds to a word for ease of pronunciation.

• Volume:

• The relative increase or decrease in decibels across an intonation unit.

• Pitch:

• The relative height of auditory sound.

• Intonation:

• The patterns of pitch variation across phrases and sentences.

• Stress:

• The intensity placed on a specific syllable through increased length, volume, or pitch.

• Tempo:

• The pace or speed of an intonation unit.

• Phonological Patterning

• Alliteration:

• The repetition of phonemes at the beginning of words.

• Assonance:

• The repetition of vowel phonemes.

• Consonance:

• The repetition of consonant phonemes, often at syllable-final boundaries.

• Onomatopoeia:

• Words created from the sounds they represent.

• Rhythm:

• Created when the intonation is repeated across phrases or sentences.

• Rhyme:

• The repetition of similar phonemes at the ends of words.

Morphology and Lexicology

• Morphology:

• The study of the internal structure of words and word formation processes.

• Morphemes:

• The smallest units of meaning or function within a word.

• Root:

• The base form of a word to which other morphemes are attached.

• Stem:

• The part of the word remaining once inflectional affixes are removed.

• Free:

• Morphemes that can stand alone as words.

• Bound:

• Morphemes that must be attached to others

• Affix:

• A bound morpheme (including prefixes, suffixes, and infixes) attached to a root or stem.

• Inflectional Morphemes

• Morphemes indicating grammatical features like tense or number.

• Derivational:

• Morphemes used to create new words, often changing the word class.

• Word Formation Processes / Morphological Patterning:

• Affixation:

• The use of affixes to create new words (neologisms).

• Abbreviation:

• Shortened forms of words or phrases, including shortenings, initialisms, and acronyms.

• Shortening:

• Reducing the length of a word (e.g., "pram" from "perambulator").

• Compounding:

• Joining two or more whole words to create a single word.

• Blending:

• Combining two or more words where at least one is abbreviated (e.g., "kidult").

• Backformation:

• Creating a new word by removing a falsely perceived affix (e.g., "televise" from "television").

• Conversion of word class:

• Changing a word's grammatical role without changing its morphology.

• Initialism:

• An abbreviation formed from the first letters of words, pronounced as letters.

• Acronym:

• An abbreviation formed from the first letters of words, pronounced as a new word.

• Contraction:

• A word formed by omitting letters, marked by an apostrophe.

• Hypocoristic use of suffixes:

• An Australian English characteristic where words are shortened and a suffix like "-o" or "-ie" is added.

• Lexicology:

• The study of the form, meaning, and behavior of words within a language.

• Word Classes:

• Nouns:

• Words naming places, people, things, qualities, or concepts.

• Pronouns

• replace nouns and noun phrases.

• Verbs: Words expressing actions, states, or occurrences. Auxiliary verbs support main verbs; modal verbs indicate modes like possibility or necessity.

• Words expressing actions, states, or occurrences. Auxiliary verbs support main verbs; modal verbs indicate modes like possibility or necessity.

• Adjectives:

• Words that describe or modify nouns and pronouns.

• Adverbs:

• Words modifying verbs, adjectives, or sentences, providing information on time, place, or manner.

• Prepositions:

• Words used before nouns to indicate direction, location, or spatial relationships.

• Conjunctions:

• Coordinators link elements of equal rank; subordinators introduce dependent clauses.

• Determiners:

• Words placed in front of nouns to clarify quantity or possession.

• Interjections:

• Standalone words or phrases expressing emotions or requests.

• Lexical Word Formation:

• Neologism:

• A newly coined word, expression, or usage.

• Borrowings:

• Words adopted from one language into another.

• Commonisation:

• The process by which proper nouns become common nouns.

• Nominalisation:

• Transforming verbs or adjectives into nouns.

• Obsolescence:

• The process where words gradually fall out of use.

• Archaism:

• Words that are no longer in everyday use and considered part of a past era.

Syntax

• Syntax:

• The study of the conventions and processes by which words are ordered into phrases, clauses, and sentences.

• Phrases:

• A group of words acting as a unit without both a subject and a predicate. (Types: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and prepositional).

• Clauses:

• A group of words containing both a subject and a predicate.

• Subject:

• The entity performing the action.

• Predicate:

• The part of the clause describing what the subject is doing.

• Object:

• The entity affected by the action.

• Complement:

• Words following copula verbs that complete the predicate's meaning.

• Adverbial:

• Optional information about a verb regarding how, when, or where.

• Combining Clauses:

• Coordination links equal ranks; subordination links a dependent clause to a main clause.

• Sentences:

• Sentence Structures:

• Sentence fragments (incomplete); simple (one clause); compound (two independent); complex (one independent, one dependent); compound-complex (two independent, one dependent).

• Sentence Types:

• Declarative (statement); imperative (command); interrogative (question); exclamative (strong emotion).

• Word Order:

• The convention of ordering words, typically Subject, Verb, Object (SVO) in English.

• Active and Passive Voice:

• In active voice, the subject performs the action; in passive voice, the subject receives it. Agentless passives omit the performer to reduce responsibility or unnecessary detail.

• Syntactic Patterning (PAL):

• Parallelism:

• Repetition of grammatical structures two or more times.

• Antithesis:

• Presentation of two contrasting ideas in parallel structures.

• Listing:

• Presenting a series of related items in similar grammatical form.

Discourse and Pragmatics

• Discourse:

• Spoken or written texts longer than a sentence.

• Pragmatics:

• The study of how language is used in context to contribute to meaning.

• Paralinguistic Features:

• Non-verbal elements essential for meaning, including vocal effects (whispers, laughter), non-verbal signals (gestures, eye contact), creakiness, and breathiness.

• Code Switching:

• Alternating between two or more languages to demonstrate group membership or shared cultural background.

• Textual Cohesion (SCARED CASHH FACCE):

• Grammatical and lexical techniques used to link words together.

• Synonymy/Antonymy:

• Words with similar or opposite meanings.

• Hyponymy/Hypernymy:

• Specific words vs. their general categories.

• Collocation:

• Words that typically appear together.

• Information Flow:

• Clefting (modifying syntax for focus), front focus (moving information to the start), and end focus (moving information to the end).

• Reference:

• Anaphoric (referring back), cataphoric (referring forward), and deictics (context-dependent signaling of time/place/person).

• Repetition/Substitution/Ellipsis:

• Restating words, replacing them, or omitting them.

• Conjunctions and Adverbials: .

• Used to link clauses and signpost text order.

• Textual Coherence (FLICC):

• The logical organisation of a text.

• Inference:

• Meaning derived from information not overtly stated.

• Logical Ordering:

• Arranging information to maximise understanding.

• Formatting:

• Visual features like font style and headings.

• Consistency and Conventions:

• Adhering to established rules and patterns.

• Features of Spoken Discourse:

• Openings and Closings:

• Initial and final phases to establish contact or wrap up.

• Adjacency Pairs:

• Sequentially linked turns with preferred or dispreferred responses.