FORMAL METALANGUAGE

alliteration

same consonant sound at the start of the lexeme/word

assonance

same vowel sound anywhere in the word

consonance

same consonant sound anywhere in the lexeme, such as a tongue twister

onomatopoeia

words sounds like the action

rhythm

pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

affixation

adding suffixes or prefixes, can make words more jargonistic and serves the social purpose of establishing expertise or exerting authority

compounds

joining two full words together

acronyms

letter represents a lexeme, then read aloud as a word, for example VCAA, NASA, AUKUS

initialismm

letter represents a lexeme, then read the letters out, for example AFL, VCE

borrowings

from high prestige language to display knowledge (in particular contexts). Adopting a word from another language

jargon

lexis that is specific to a professional field.

neologism

new words, formation could be through borrowings, affixations, initialisms. e.g. Housing bottle

archaism

old, nearly obsolete, used in very fixed contexts and creates an in-group because only few will understand

subordination

subordinating clause, dependency, conjunctions

coordination

main/independent clauses. FANBOYS

passive

voice. the agent and subject are sepereated.

to be + past particle

The vase was broken (BY ME)-agent

nominalisation

making verbs into nouns, conversion of word classes

the completion of my tax return

parallelism

same syntactic structure of pattern. Cohesive tie because it shows predictability and planning, which reflects the thought process

antithesis

opposite meaning, negation can be used to show this. Tall and not tall

listing

things after eachother, reduces lexical density

fronting

place something that isnt usually at the front before the subject

front/end weight

where are most of the words? changes depending on how many words are before or after the verb

rhetoric

playfulness, ability to use a range of stylistic features to impress the reader.

monologue

one person talking

dialogue

two people talking

layout/formatting

important to extract information easily, such as in an emergency poster

euphemisms

lexical or semantic choice that mitigates a taboo

metaphor

something **is** something else

simile

something **is like** something else

animation

inanimate object given animate qualities

personification

personal qualities to a non-personal being, usually done by applying a dynamic verb

dysphemism

draws attention to the taboo. e.g. Taking a shit

puns

rhetoric device that uses lexical ambiguity which would be coherent to an educated audience

denotation

literal meaning

connotation

implied meaning

figurative language

anything that is not literal

hyperbole

an exaggeration

irony

say one thing when the opposite is true

oxymoron

use something antithetical as a modifier. Bitter sweet

lexical ambiguity

word is unclear. I hit an eagle (3 on par or bird?) on the golf course

structural ambiguity

the way you phrase the sentence makes it unclear. Done in order to obfuscate something. Double speak

implicature and inference

writer/speaker plants it in the text and what the reader/listener picks up

substitution

switching word/phrase/clause such as anaphora, cataphora (a substitution could be done with pronouns, and can build suspense or end focus)

deictics

relating to me, here, now

synonymy

the same meaning

antonymy

the opposite meaning

hyponymy

same semantic field. cat and dog are hyponyms under field of animals

coherence

* ease of comprehension
* ease to extract information
* ease to understand

inference

reading between the lines

logical ordering

sequencing information to make the most sense to the audience

formating

bolding, layout, font, makes it clear what is important

consistency

of style, tense, register which can make it more comprehendible

conventions

expected elements; discourse markers, discourse particles

cohesion

binds part of the text together, connects elements, ideas, supports coherence

information flow

movement of given information and new information through the position of topic and comment

lexical choices

synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, collocation, to achieve cohesion

referencing

anaphora and cataphora, intraphoric and exophoric

repetition

the same form appearing over again - make sure you say what type (phonological, morphological, syntactic)

ellipsis

removal of words that have been stated before

adverbials

link ideas and indicate relationship between them

conjunctions

join items or ideas together

mitigate taboo

purpose of euphemisms?

political correctness

referring to people as they would like to be referred to

inclusive/exclusive language

allows people to feel part of the action: lexicon, syntax, connotations, or code-switching.

topic

what the sentence is about. the first lexeme you encounter (pragmatics)

comment

modifies or provides information on the topic. (pragmatics)

fronting

put something in front of the topic to topicalise the first part.

given information

known to the reader, may be something that was already mentioned, or assumed knowledge. often coincides with the topic.

new information

drives the discourse forward. Typically the focus of the sentence, builds on or modifies the topic and coincides with the comment

zig zap

new information is the given information of the next, which creates ____ movement or chaining of information

front weight

more words before the verb. Can obfuscate and might use passives or transposition to change it.

end weight

more words after the verb. Makes it more coherent and comprehendible because it is more natural.

clefting

take one idea that should have 1 verb and gives it 2 verbs, therefore making the sentence complex. Gives it more emphasis.

it-cleft

Uses a dummy subject ‘it’ and then cataphoric referencing to create front focus on the subject.

Wh-cleft

Use interrogative pronouns (who, what, when, where, why) to create end focus on the subject.

bureacratese

specialised style that can be overly precise, but in doing so can obfuscate. Powerful for companies, government etc.

legalese

specialised style pertaining to the law, being related syntactically to bureacratese. e.g. Magna Carta

* lengthy sentences
* hypotaxis
* frequent clefting
* main clause at the end
* passives
* litotes

features of legalese and bureacratese

Behagels law

that subject and verb should be together, a law of coherence.

litotes

double negation

plain english movement

translate legal documents to plain english to increase clarity and coherence, including reducing lexical density, obeying Behagels law, and place main clause at the start. Has been done to the australian constitution

what does nominalisation do?

* fit more information in a sentence
* topicalise an action
* facilitate information flow (through zig zag)
* increase lexical density