The English Language Metalanguage Quiz

Metalanguage

Language used to describe language

Subsystem

English is divided into five subsystems that form the language's organisation and structure each with their own conventions.

Phonology

The study of the sound system of a language

Lexicology

The study of the word stock of the language

Morphology

the study of word structure

Syntax

The study of sentence structure

Semantics

The study of word meaning

Discourse analysis

The study of grammatical structures longer than a sentence

Lexeme

A word and any words derived from them

Example:

eat, ate,

eating, eaten

Noun

Word class, person place thing quality feeling

Example:

Cake

Verb

Word class, denote actions, states, occurrence and processes

Vary via tense, person and plural

Example:

Eat

Auxiliary verb

A verb used in conjunction with the main verb giving info such as tense and modality.

Example:

is (she is going)

do (i do like it)

could (i could do it)

Modal Auxiliary verb

type of auxiliary verb used to modality (permission, obligation)

Example:

can could shall should will would may might must

Tense

A grammatical category used to show the time in which the action occurs

Adjective

Word class, describes a noun

Example

Big

Adverb

Word class, describes a verb and also adjectives

Example:

Really (Angry)

Quickly (Eats)

Preposition

Word class, words that show the relationship between nouns and other words in sentence and show other info about noun such as position, place and time

Example:

Under, Around

Conjunction

Word class, used to connect clauses together

Two types, subordinating and coordinating

Example:

and, but

Pronoun

Word class, words that can replace nouns

Example:

He, She, They

Determiner

introduces a noun phrase and functions as modifier.

Used to indicate such things as possession, quantity, definiteness or indefiniteness.

Three articles (a, an, the)

Interjection

Word Class, used to show emotion or feeling from speaker

Example:

Eww

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in language

Place of articulation

The position of speech organs during a articulation of a sound

Example:

Bilabial - /b/

Dental - /th/

Manner of articulation

The way in which the airflow is constricted when producing a constant sound

Example:

Stop - /b/

Nasal - /n/

Fricative -

Affricate

Approximant

Lateral approximant

Diphthong

A sound formed using two vowels in a single syllable

Example:

Buy

Coin

Monophthong

A single vowel sound

Example:

Hot

Prosodic features

Features of speech other than sound relating to the pronounciation of sound, syllables and phrases

They are:

Stress

Pitch

Intonation

Tempo

Volume

Morpheme

smallest unit of meaning in a language

Prefix

Morpheme added to the beginning of the word

Example:

Impossible

Suffix

Morpheme added at the end of the word

Example:

Volumise

Infix

A morpheme added in the middle of a word

Example:

Abso-bloody-lutely

Affix

A category of morphemes which include Infix, Suffix and Prefix

Inflectional morpheme

A morpheme which provides grammatical info such as tense, plural and possession. Not changes meaning

Example:

cat -> cats

Derivational morpheme

A morpheme which change the meaning of the word, create new words or change the word class of the of the word

Example:

Swim -> Swimmer

Bound morpheme

A morpheme which cannot stand alone and must be attached to a free morpheme.

Example:

-ing

Free morpheme

A morpheme which can stand alone

Example:

banana

Phrase

A group of words that have a grammatical relationship with each other.

They contain either a subject, or a predicate but not both.

There are phrases for the following word classes (something like that)

Noun Phrase

Verb Phrase

Adjective Phrase

Preposition Phrase

Adverb Phrase

Example:

The Dancing Goat

Clause

A group of words which minimally contain atleast a verb and a noun. Can make sense by themselves. They only contain one main verb.

They can be broken into two types:

Main and independent

Clauses are joined together by conjuctions

Example:

The cat ate

Subject

The noun that is doing the action or being

Example:

(The cat) ate

Object

The noun that is being acted upon

Example:

I ate (food)

Adverbial

Any phrase that adds extra info such as place, time, manner. Can be found put by asking What, How When, Why, Where, Which

Can be removed without changing the fundamental meaning of the sentence

Example:

I read three books (last night)

Complement

A phrase which provides extra info about a element in a sentence.

Cannot be removed without changing the fundamental meaning of sentence

Example:

The water is (quite warm)

Subordination

the joining of two clauses using a subordinating conjunction where one is independent and other is dependent clause

Coordination

The joining of two independent clauses using a coordinating conjunction

Coordinating conjunction

FANBOYS=for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

can join independent words together

Subordinating conjunction

used to join a main clause to dependent

Example:

but, because

Simple sentence

1 main

Compound sentence

2 main

Compound complex sentence

2 main, 1 dependent

sentence

A group of words that contain atleast one main clause.

Sentence fragment

Group of words that do not form a complete sentence

Example:

Potato cakes 3 for $1

Declarative

Statement sentence

Example:

I am stupid

Interrogative

A sentence that asks a question

Example:

Am i stupid?

Imperative

Instruction sentence

Example:

Go away!

Exclamative

Sentences that express a strong feeling of emotion

Example:

What a catch!

Passive sentence

a sentence in which the subject is acted upon

Example:

The cake was eaten

Active sentence

A sentence in which the subject is performing the action

Example:

I ate the cake

Nominalisation

A word formation in which a noun is formed from a adjective or a verb

Example:

Judge - Judgement

Admire - Admiration

Function word

A word that conveys grammatical meaning in a sentence

Example:

for, in

Content word

A word which conveys meaning

Example:

Mouse, green, ran

Connotation

The associations and feelings connected to a word.

Example:

Gold = Wealth

Denotation

The literal meaning of word

Example:

Gold = a mineral found in the earth

Paralinguistic features

aspects of spoken communication that do not involve words

Example:

body language

Contractions

A shortened form of a groups of words with an apostrophe marking the missing letters.

Example:

won't

They're

Reductions

The shortening of a word

Example:

Arvo

Colloquialisms

A word or phrase that is not formal and used in casual conversations.

Example:

swear words

Collocations

words that are often used together

Example:

flat battery

bad temper

Repairs and repetitions

Repairs: Process in which the speakers stops speaking an utterance to correct their mistake.

Repetitions: The process of a speaker unconsciously repeating part of a utterance

False starts

The process of a speaker stopping part way through a utterance and then starting again

Filled pauses

Using words such as "umm" to fill pauses during utterances

Discourse markers

They include things like: oh, well, right, umm, yeah

Used to convey subtle messages such as turn taking, checking for turn taking

Ellipsis

the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context.

Example:

Skyla and Stella went to the beach and then (they went to) the bar.

Non-fluency features

Features that are characteristic of spoken language such as false starts, repairs, filled pauses etc

Hedges

Words/phrases which are used to reduce the severity of a utterance

Example:

I'm not really sure... you could try

Register

Scale of the formality of the discourse. Refers to difference in language usage depending upon different contexts

For example:

Talk to your family = Informal

Function

The purpose for which language is used

These purposes are:

To Inform

To entertain

To persuade

Instruments of thought

Show relationship - friend

Social Interaction

Play

Seek Information

Expression of identity

Record facts

Dialect

Regional variety of language

Example:

Australian English

Sociolect

Social variety of language

Example:

Broad and Cultivated Australian English

Ethnolect

Ethnic variety of language

Example:

Australian-Lebanese English

Standard English

The generally accepted, prestigious form of the English Language.

It is the one used commonly in media such as books, TV etc

Indo-European language family

A language family containing many related languages around Europe, India and Middle East.

English is part of it

Prescriptivism

The notion that language has fixed principles and rules which should be followed. It is strict in the way language is used

Descriptivism

The approach to studying language that describes the way that language is actually used, without reference to standards or rules.

Borrowings

Words taken from other languages and adopted into English

Example:

Shampoo (Hindi)

Neologisms

Words that are new

Example:

Internet

Commonisation

The process in which a brand name or other proper name becomes a proper noun.

Example:

Google - To search

Acronym

A word formed from the first letter of each word in a series.

The new word is pronounced as a word of its own, without saying pronouncing each individual letter by itself

Example:

SCUBA - Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

Initialisms

A word formed from the first letter of each word in a series.

The new word has each letter be pronounced separately

Example:

OMG

Compounding

The process of combining two words to create a new word

Example:

Basketball

Blending

The process of combing elements of two words to create a new word

Example:

Smog - Smoke and fog

Shortenings

The process of shortening a word to create a new word

Example:

Laboratory - Lab

Affixation

The process of creating a new word by adding an affix to it

Example:

Volumise

Conversion

The process of converting a word from one word class to another

Example:

email - Noun

emailed - Verb

Backformation

The process of reducing a word by taking out an affix (or a incorrectly identified one).

Example:

Rover - Rove

Word death

When a word becomes obselete

Reasons:

- The word's concept or idea or object no longer exists or is commonly used

- They become too short

- Replaced by new words

- Sound too much like other words

Example:

Groke

Broadening

The process of a word broadening to mean more than what it originally meant in its context

Example:

business

Narrowing

The process of a word narrowing to mean less than what it meant originally in its context

Example:

girl

Semantic Shift

A semantic change in meaning of word to mean something else within a different context

Example:

mouse

Elevation

The process of a word going from a negative connotative meaning to a positive one

Example:

Sophisticated

Deterioration

The process of a word going from positive connotation to negative connotation

Example:

Artificial