English Langauge Terminology

Nouns

Words that name a person place or thing

Adjectives

Words that are used to describe a noun

Verbs

Words that are used to express an action or state of being

Adverbs

Words used to modify, qualify or give more information about an adjective or verb

Prepositions

Words that describe the relationship between a noun and a pronoun or another noun, often indicating the physical location - position - of a thing

Interjections

Words used to express surprise, delight or other emotions

Determiners

Words used to establish the number, owner or familiarity of a noun

Pronouns

Words that are used in place of nouns

Conjunctions

Words that are used to join a word, sentence or phrase

Etymology

The study of the origin of words and how their meaning has changed throughout history

Words

One or more letters and sounds put together to communicate something

Familect

A group of terms used just by a family

Lexis/Lexicon

Collective words of a language

Lexeme

A minimal, meaningful unit of language. This can be in the form of single words or whole phrases

Semantics

The analysis of word meanings and the relations bewteen them

Lexis and Semantics

Words and their meanings

Neologism - and how this can occur

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

Borrowings/loan words, blending, compounding, onomatopoeia or abbreviations, acronyms

Coinage

The invention of new words or phrases

Denotation

The literal meaning of a word ( primary meaning )

Connotation

An idea or feeling that a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning

Figurative devices

Onomatopoeia, Metaphors, Similes, Sibilance, Pathetic Fallacy, Alliteration, Personification, Symbolism etc

Discourse

Written or spoken communication or debate