VCE English Language Exam Revision: U3AOS1

Unit 3: Area of Study 1

Subsystem Patterning

The main subsystems: Phonology (Sounds), Morphology (Words), Syntax (Word Arrangement), Semantics (Meaning), Discourse (Patterned Structures in Larger Stretches of Language), Phonetics (Physical Properties of Speech Sounds)

Colloquial Language

The informal, casual, and conversational style of speech used in everyday life (e.g. contractions, shortenings, diminutives, general common nouns)

Slang

An informal, non-standard variety of speech characterized by newly coined and rapidly changing words and phrases. Marker of in-group solidarity.

Taboo Language

Words or phrases that are deliberately offensive, shocking, or confrontational and are restricted by social, cultural, and moral norms. (e.g. Swearing and profanity, insults, slurs, dysphemism).

Dysphemism

The opposite of a euphemism, a dysphemism is a harsh or offensive term used intentionally to express negative emotions or to speak negatively about something.

Swearing

The use of a subset of taboo language, specifically offensive words and expressions used to convey emotion, insult others, or establish social rapport. 

Emoticons, emojis and context-specific graphemes

Non-lexical elements that reflect paralinguistic cues.

Intimacy

A sense of close, personal relationships between participants. Reflects low social distance and high-solidarity.

Solidarity

Feeling of mutual support, togetherness, and group identity.

Equality

Refers to the perception of a balanced power dynamic between participants, where no single person has linguistic dominance. 

Politeness Strategies

Linguistic choices people make to maintain face in social interactions.

Promoting linguistic innovation

Creative ways in which speakers and writers adapt, alter, and invent new language features to suit their communicative needs in specific contexts. Occur in high-solidarity and informal settings.

Promoting Social Harmony

Using language in a way that minimizing conflict and fosters positive social relationships within a group or society.

Negotiating Social Taboos

Refers to the strategies used to talk about sensitive, offensive, or forbidden topics without causing offense or violating social norms. Involves the careful use of language to navigate socially risky subjects. 

Building Rapport

Process of establishing a connection of trust, friendliness, and understanding with another person. Key social function of informal language directly linked to promoting solidarity and intimacy.

Supporting in-group membership

The conscious and subconscious linguistic choices people make to reinforce their identity and signal their belonging to a specific social, cultural, or professional group.

Standard English

The prestige variety of English used in public contexts, formal writing, education, and mainstream media. Often associated with power and status within a speech community, referred to as Standard Australian English (SAE).

Non-Standard English

Any variety of English that does not conform to the codification and norms of Standard English. 

Functions of Language

A framework for analyzing the different purposes that language serves in communication.

Referential Function

To convey factual, objective, and verifiable information.

Emotive Function

Express subjective feelings rather than objective facts.

Conative Function

To influence or persuade the listener to act or think in a certain way. 

Phatic Function

To establish, prolong, or discontinue communication by checking if the channel is open. Focuses on social connection rather than information.

Metalinguistic Function

To talk about language, clarify meaning, or check understanding of the linguistic code.

Poetic Function

To foreground the aesthetic, creative, or formal qualities of the language, rather than just the content.

Connected Speech Processes

The changes that sounds undergo in natural, fluent speech. 

Assimilation

Involves a sound changing to become more like a neighboring sound, making the transition between sounds smoother and easier to articulate.

Elision

Deletion or omission of a sound in connected speech, typically to increase the speed and fluidity of an utterance.

Insertion

The addition of a sound to create a smoother transition between words. 

Vowel Reduction

The tendency for unstressed vowels in natural, fluent speech to be reduced to a centralized, neutral vowel sound known as the schwa. 

Situational Context

The specific circumstances and immediate environment in which communication occurs. These heavily influence choices a person makes and how it is interpreted.

Setting

The physical or virtual location where communication takes place. Determines some other parts of the situational context as well.

Mode

The channel through which communication is delivered, such a spoken, written, or sign language.

Field

The topic or subject matter of the conversation.

Tenor

Refers to the relationships and roles of the participants in a communicative act. It concerns how the participants relate to each other, which in turn influences their language choices, level of formality, and politeness strategies. 

Text Type

The classification of a text based on its purpose and characteristics. Each has its own set of conventional features.

Cultural Context

The broader, non-immediate circumstances in which communication takes place. Includes the attitudes, values, beliefs, ideas, and customs shared by a speech community.

Register

The level of formality or informality in language used for a specific purpose in a particular social situation. Shaped by three main contextual factors: Field, Tenor, Mode.

Purpose

The overarching reason why a text is produced. Distinct from function, which is the specific linguistic task being performed at a given moment. Purpose is the ultimate goal. 

Vocal Effects

Non-lexical sounds that accompany speech. Considered to be paralinguistic features as they are discrete events that occur.

Laughter

Can build rapport, be polite, or express embarrassment or nervousness.

Whisper

Convey intimacy and confidentiality, signal social distance, or reduce imposition.

Breath

Express emotion, like gasps, pause for emphasis, indicate informality as it may be seen as polished in formal contexts. 

Prosodic Features

Variations in speech that accompany speech.

Pitch

The perceived height of a speaker’s voice. Often marks different sentence types, expresses emotion, and emphasise.

Stress

Emphasis placed on a particular syllable or word in an utterance.

Volume

The perceived loudness or softness of a speaker’s voice. Creates emphasis and expresses emotion, while also having good turn-taking. 

Tempo

The pace or speed at which someone speaks. Conveys emotion, topic management, and clarity.

Intonation

The overall pattern of pitch changes across a phrase or sentence. Clarifies grammatical function, expresses attitude and structures speech.

Non-fluency Features

Non-lexical elements that disrupt the flow of a speaker’s speech. They are natural and functional aspects of spontaneous communication.

Pauses

Filled pauses like ‘um’, ‘uh’ or ‘er’ are used to indicate that the speaker is holding the floor and formulating their next thought. Silent gaps in speech can show thinking or formulating a response, emphasis, or reluctance and hesitation. 

False Starts

Begins utterance, stops, then restarts with a new or corrected phrase. Could show they started with an inappropriate phrase to begin with.

Repetition

A speaker repeats a word or phrase, often for emphasis or to provide themselves with more time to think.

Repairs

Fixing a mistake or false start made earlier.

Positive and Negative Face

Refers to an individual’s public self-image and social worth, which they claim for themselves in every social interaction. 

Positive Face

The desire to be liked, admired, accepted, and approved of by others. It is a person’s need for their self-image to be validated and treated as a member of an in-group. Can be done with compliments and in-group terms of address.

Negative Face

The desire for autonomy, freedom of action, and not to be imposed upon. It is the need to be independent and to have one’s personal space and time respected. Done with indirect requests, hedging and apologizing for imposition.

Threatening Positive Face

Damages a person’s self-esteem or makes them feel disliked or excluded (e.g. Criticism and disapproval, insults, contradiction, taboo).

Threatening Negative Face

Constrains a person’s freedom or imposes upon their time and resources (e.g. orders or commands, requests, threats or warnings, insistent offers or promises).

Openings and Closings

The conversational routines to begin and end conversations or topics.

Adjacency Pairs

Two-part exchanges with a predictable structure, such as a question-and-answer or greeting-greeting.

Overlapping Speech

When two or more speakers speak at the same time. This may be cooperative or interruptive. 

Interrogative Tags

A short question at the end of a statement, like ‘isn’t it?’ or ‘don’t you think’.

Discourse Particles

Words and phrases that signal the connection between what is being said and the wider context, structuring the conversation.

Minimal Responses

Using ‘mm’ or ‘yeah’ to maintain positive face needs and show that you’re paying attention.

Social Distance

The perceived level of familiarity or intimacy between individuals in a social interaction. It is a key aspect of tenor, a component of situational context, and fundamentally influences the linguistic choices made, including register, politeness strategies, and lexical choices. 

Semantic Domains

A group of words or lexemes that are related by meaning and share a common subject or theme.

Strategies in Spoken Discourse

The techniques speakers use to manage conversations effectively and achieve their social purpose.

Taking the floor

Using cues to signal the desire to speak.

Holding the floor

Strategies used to continue speaking, like filled pauses and discourse particles. 

Passing the floor

Signaling that another speaker can take a turn.

Topic Management

Help introduce, develop, and change the topic of conversation (e.g. topic shift, topic loop, topic avoidance). Often done through discourse particles.

Management of repair sequences

Refers to the process by which speakers correct, clarify, or revise utterances to address communication problems.