English Language Glossary

accelerando

a term used to describe speech that is getting faster

acceptable

a term used to describe language that native speakers feel is allowed

accommodation

a term used to describe the changes that people make to their speech prosodic features and gestures in order to emphasise or minimise the differences between them

acronym

an abbreviation formed by taking letters from a series of words which is pronounced as a word

active voice

a grammatical structure in which the subject is the actor in a sentence

adjacency pair

a sequence of two connected utterances by different speakers one after the other this may take a range of forms: question/ answer, greetings, complaint/ explanation or remedy, statement/ affirmation, command/ action

adjective phrase

group of words with an adjective as the head

adjunct

an adverb that provides more information about a verb answering the questions when

adverbial

a clause which provides additional information about time, manner, place and reason in a sentence

adverbial clause

a dependent clause introduced by a subordinating conjunction such as after, since, when, as, because, which functions as an adverbial element within a sentence

adverb phrase

a group of words with an adverb as the head

adverb

a word that defines the action of a verb that can act as an intensifier that can express contrasts and that can function as a sentence connector

affix

a bound morpheme used to form a new word

agreement

a term used to describe the relationship between words (concord)

ambiguous

a term used to describe language with multiple meanings

anaphoric

a term to describe referencing in which a pronoun points backwards to an earlier noun phrase

antithesis

a rhetorical device which sets two contrasting ideas in opposition often with a grammatical pattern drawing attention to the linked ideas

apposition

a noun phrase separated from the rest of the sentence with commas, dashes, or brackets which elaborates on the noun phrase preceding it

archaic

a term used to describe lexis syntax or orthography that is no longer common

aspect

the timescale of the action expressed by the verb phrase, which may be complete

assimilation

in phonology the way in which the sounds of one word can change the sounds of neighbouring words in connected speech

assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds

asyndetic

lists of words phrases or clauses that are not connected by a conjunction

attributive

a term used to describe modifiers that precede the noun they are describing

back channeling

interactive features such as minimal responses that demonstrate an interlocutor is listening

back formation

a process for forming words in which an affix is removed from an existing word creating a new word in a different word class

base

the minimal form of a word to which affixes can be added

binomial pair

an expression containing two words joined by a conjunction often with a fixed order (collocation)

blend

a word formed by containing two words to create a new word combining the meaning of the originals (portmanteau words)

borrowing

introducing a loan word from another language

bound morpheme

a prefix or suffix that can only occur attached to a free morpheme

cardinal number

the basic form of a number

caretaker speech

the distinctive speech adults use when talking to young children

cataphoric reference

a term used to describe referencing in which a pronoun points forwards to a later noun phrase

cliché

an image that has lost its original meaning or novelty through overuse

clipping

the creation of a new word with the same word class and denotation by dropping a syllable (truncation)

closed class

a group of words with a grammatical function to which new words are rarely added

cleft sentence

a sentence which has been rearranged with a dummy subject it + to be followed by the focus of the sentence and a relative clause

cohesion

linguistic connections which link elements of a discourse

coinage

the construction and addition of new words to a word stock

collocation

a recognisable group of words that frequently occur together

colloquialism

an informal word, phrase or pronunciation often associated with informal speech

comment clause

a commonly occurring clause in speech which adds a remark to another clause

complement

a clause element that adds extra information about the subject after a copula verb

compound

a word or phrase made up of at least two free morphemes

conjunct

an adverb that has a linking function

conjunction

a closed class word used to join other words or phrases together

consonant cluster

a group of consonants occuring at the beginning of a word

convergence

a process in which two speakers adapt their language and pronunciation to reduce the difference between them

copula verb

a verb that is followed by a complement

count noun

a noun that refers to things that can be counted and which has a plural form

degree adverb

an adverb which indicates the extent of a quality

deixis

a term describing expressions that rely on the context for interpretation

demonstrative

a term used to describe pronouns and determiners that distinguish between similar items

denotation

the dictionary meaning of a word

deontic

a modal verb expressing ability, necessity or obligation

derivation

a term used to describe words that are formed by adding affixes to create new words

descriptivism

an approach to language based on observation of language in use, focusing on appropriateness and acceptability rather than on making judgements

dialect levelling

the reduction in differences between dialects caused by language contact and mass media

direct object

a clause element that is directly affected by the action or process of the verb

direct speech

a form of speech in which the actual words spoken are recorded usually between speech marks

discourse

any spoken or written language longer than a sentence

discourse markers

words or phrases that stand outside the clause and act as fillers topic changers hedges etc.

disjunct

a sentence or adverb allowing the speaker or writer to comment on the content or style of a sentence

divergence

a process in which two speakers adapt their language and pronunciation to increase the difference between them

double negative

a structure in which more than one negative particle is used in a single verb phrase

dummy word

a word which fills a grammatical function in a clause but has no meaning

dynamic verb

a verb which expresses an action rather than a state and which has a progressive form

-ed particle

a non-finite verb formed by adding an -ed inflection to the base of regular verbs which occurs with an auxiliary in a tensed verb phrase or by itself as a non-finite clause

elision

the omission of connected sounds in speech

ellipsis

the omission of part of a sentence that can be understood by the context

embedded clause

a subordinate clause which functions as a part of a clause element

emphatic stress

emphasis placed upon syllables or words in spoken discourse

enclitic

an unstressed morpheme which joins phonetically to the preceding word

end focus

the positioning of information at the end of a clause for emphasis

enjambement

the overlapping of meaning from one line to another in verse without punctuation

enumerators

cardinal and ordinal numbers

epistemic modality

a modal verb expressing a speaker's assesment of the reality or likelihood of an event taking place

etymology

a study of the origins and history of words

euphemism

a word that replaces another that is seen as taboo or socially unacceptable

exclamation

the tone communicated by the use of an exclamation mark

exclamatory sentence

a sentence beginning with how or what in the initial position to communicate strong feelings

existential there

a sentence in which ‘there’ is used as a dummy subject with a delayed subject occuring after the verb for emphasis

exophoric

a term to describe referencing in which a lexical item points to the wider linguist context

false start

an utterance that is started left incomplete and then restarted with a different grammatical structure

field

an area of meaning linked to the subject matter of a discourse which will contain lexical items

figurative language

a term used to describe any language use that is non-literal using devices such as metaphors similes etc. to create poetic and descriptive effects

filled pause

a voiced hesitation in spoken language

filler

words usually with no semantic value which are inserted into speech either from habit or to give a participant thinking time as they search for a word

finite

a term used to describe verb phrases marked for tense person and number

foregrounding

a change in the order of clause elements to draw attention to a particular linguist item

form

the class of a word or the type of phrase

free morpheme

the smallest meaningful unit of language that can occur by itself

function

the role of words, phrases or clauses within a sentence

function word

closed words like prepositions, conjunctions, determiner etc. that express grammatical functions within a sentence

future time

a verb phrase that indicates actions/ processes that have not yet taken place using the modal will, the multimodal verb to be +going to or the simple present in the subordinate clause

gradable

a term to describe adjectives and adverbs that can be compared

grammatical mood

a term describing the relationship between the verb phrase and the intention of a sentence

head word

the main linguistic item in a phrase

hedging

the use of mitigating words or sounds to lessen the impact of an utterance