Unit 10 Vocabulary

Self

An individual’s separate existence from other people.

Early Childhood Development

The physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development which takes place from birth to primary school years.

Self-Identity

An individual’s awareness of their own unique characteristics in relation to the social groups around them.

Idiolect

The distinctive pattern of an individual’s speech.

Sociolect

The style of speech shared by people in a particular region or social group.

Cooperative Principle

The principle that speakers usually mean what they say and that hearers accept this and try to work out the meaning.

Conversational Face

The image that a person has of themselves as a conversationalist.

Face-Threatening Acts

Acts or words which appear to threaten the self-esteem of a speaker in conversation.

Positive Politeness

Friendly strategies to make the participants feel good about themselves.

Negative Politeness

Strategies intended to avoid giving offense and opposing on others by showing respect.

Adversative Conjunction

A connecting word which starts an idea opposing the one which has just been stated. (but, however)

Cognitive Skills

Brain skills which are needed to perform any mental and physical task. They are concerned with mechanisms of carrying out these tasks rather than with any knowledge.

Perception

Recognition and interpretation through the senses.

Attention

Being able to concentrate on a particular mental or physical task and sustaining that concentration over other distractions in the environment.

Memory

The storage and retrieval of information in the brain. It is divided into short-term and long-term memory.

Motor Skills

The ability to move the body and to manipulate objects.

Language

The skill which changes sound into words to be spoken.

Visual and Spatial Processing

The ability to understand relationships between objects and to visualize images and ideas in your imagination.

Historical Background

Language acquisition is part of a person's general ability to reason, without any cognitive abilities.

Using the Brain

Learning a language involves knowledge of how to put meaning to the words and phrases learned, with cognitive skills involving the brain developing alongside the lexis and grammar of a language learned.

Behaviorism

The development of language springs directly from the child's observation and imitation of those in the world around them, with all thoughts and emotions explained in terms of encouraging desired behavior.

Empiricism

Language comes through our senses and experiences, instead of through any reasoning or logical argument. (no measurement)

Innatism

There is something about the human brain that allows it to master the complexities of language.

Nativism

The individual is born with genetic abilities which include the development of language.

Linguistic Determinism

The idea that the structure of a language determines the thought processes of its speakers. 

Example: Language expressed through thoughts.

Linguistic Reflectionism

The idea that language reflects the thoughts and ideas of a culture, the opposite of linguistic determinism. 

Example: Thoughts expressed through language.

Linguistic Relativity

The idea that the structure of language affects a person’s view of the world very indirectly.

Stereotype

A very generalized opinion or idea about a type of person. It is a simplified and biased image and often produces negative feelings about those concerned.

Political Correctness

Avoiding offense to any group of people who may be seen to be at a disadvantage because of their race, gender, disability, or any social disadvantages.

Convergence

When we make our language style similar to those speakers around us.

Divergence

When we make our language style more distinctly different from those speakers around us.

Speech Communities

Groups of people who use the same variety of language and have a shared understanding of its style.

Linguistic Prestige

The degree of respect and value given to a particular style of language by a speech community.

Patois

A particular variety of speech used by a group. Which may be regarded as having a low status.

Code Switch

Switching between different varieties or register of language.

Inclusion

The making of certain people or groups to feel that they belong and are valued.

Exclusion

The making of certain people or groups to feel left out and unimportant.

Computer-Mediated Communication

Communication between people by means of electronic devices such as email, texting, and chat rooms.