English language terminology - written and spoken

accent

The way in which words are pronounced. Can be according to region, social class etc.

Acronomy

Abbreviation using the first letter of a group of words and pronounced as a single worda

Adjency pairs

In conversation analysis- an adjacency pair is when somebody says something and someone replies

Affordance

Linguistic and behavioural choices provided by technology

Analogical overextension

Associating objects which are unrelated but which have one or more features in common (e.g. both being the same colour)

agenda setting

where a speaker sets up the main topic of conversation

Anchored relationship

An online relationship where two participants know each other in the offline world

Asymmetrical power

An imbalance of power between people

Asynchronous

a delay between utterance and response

Avatar

an image or character that represents a person online

audience

Person or people reading or hearing the text

Adverb

A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

accommodation

A speaker adapts to another speakers accent, dialect or sociolect

Adjective

A word that describes a noun

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Ambiguity

uncertainty or inexactness of meaning in language

Anaphoric reference

A word or expression in a text that refers back to another part of the text.

Antithesis

Direct opposite in meanings

Archaism

A word or expression that has fallen out of use

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds

Asyndetic listing

Listing which does not involve the use of conjunctions

auxiliary verb

a verb used in forming the tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs.

blank verse

Unrhymed poetry based on the iambic pentameter

back channeling

Words, phrases and non-verbal utterances [e.g. 'I see', 'oh', 'uh huh', 'really'] used by a listener to give feedback to a speaker that the message is being followed and understood

bald on record

Where a speaker is completely blunt and direct

Bias

Form of prejudice in favour or against an idea, person or group and is expressed through language and images

Bidialectalism

a speaker's ability to use two dialects of the same language

What can bias take form of

Obvious or implicit forms, can arise from what is omitted or stated or shown

contraction

A reduced form often marked by an apostrophe in writing

Cataphoric reference

A word or expression in a text that refers forward to another part of the text.

Cohesion

Techniques used to link together different parts of a text

comparative

An adjective that makes a comparison such as bigger, worse, better

complex sentence

A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause

compound sentence

Two simple sentences combined to form a single sentence by the use of a co-ordinating conjunction

Conjunction

A word used to join words or groups of words

Connotations

The associations that a word has

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

conditioning

process by which one is taught or trained to respond, by positive reinforcement for appropriate learning within specific contexts

connotation

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

consonant clusters

groups of consonants (e.g. 'str' or 'gl') that demand more muscular control than single consonants or vowels, so tend to appear later in the baby's utterances

constraints

linguistic and behavioural restrictions provided by technology

cooing

baby sounds between 6-8 weeks, child is discovering vocal chords

corpus

collection of written texts

declarative sentence

A sentence that makes a statement or gives information

Deictic

Words which refer backwards or forwards or outside a text - verbal pointing

Dialect

Distinctive grammar and vocabulary which is associated with a regional or social use of a language

Discourse marker

Words that indicate links or divisions between parts of text or speech. (Eg. Anyway, furthermore, well)

Denotation

The straightforward, objective dictionary meaning of a word

Determiner

Words placed in front of a noun to indicate quantity, or identify the noun in some way.

dramatic irony

when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't

Elision

Omission of a sound or syllable

Elipsis/ellipse

When elements are missing from a clause or sentence

Emotive language

Language intended to produce an emotional response in the reader or listener

Enjambment

the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

exclamatory sentence

an emphatic sentence ending in an exclamation mark

empirical approach

Gaining knowledge by direct and indirect observation or experience

estuary english

dialect of English perceived to have spread outwards from London along south east of England. Features RP and London English

Etymology

history of a word

extra-linguistic variables

Factors that affect the way you speak (e.g. age, where you live, etc.)

false start

This is when the speaker begins an utterance, then stops and either repeats or reformulates it. Sometimes called self-correction.

field- specific lexis

words associated with a particular topic or field

filled pause

A hesitation such as 'um' or 'er'.

filler

A word or expression of little meaning commonly inserted into speech (e.g. 'you know', 'like')

First person

use of first person pronouns such as 'I'

foregrounding

Using word order to highlight part of a sentence

feral children

children assumed to have been raised by animals, in the wilderness, isolated from humans

field

words used in a text which relate to the text's main subject

flaming

offensive/insulting post in a chatroom

formality

degree to which texts stick to certain conventions + how impersonal they are.

french/latinatelexis

words derived from French or Latin or both that are more rarely used, seen as having a higher status/ more specialist

greater spoken features =

more informal the text

genre

a type of text

gestural

communication that relates to movement and/or body language, either instead of words or (as would be likely in a multimodal media text) in addition to them

glottal stp[s

form of stop consonant made at the back of the throat to replace the 't' sound

Grice's Maxims

quantity, quality, relevance, manner

grammarian

scholar of grammar

hyperbole

intentional exaggeration

Hedge

Words and phrases which soften or weaken the force with which something is said e.g. 'perhaps', 'maybe', 'sort of', 'possibly', 'I think'

Grapheme-phoneme relationship

The correspondence between the written shape of a letter and its sound

idiolect

the way language is used by a particular individual

iambic pentameter

a poetic meter that is made up of 5 stressed syllables each followed by an unstressed syllable

imagery

aspect of a text that appeals to the reader's senses. Also used more specifically to refer to the use in literature of similes and metaphors

imperative sentence

sentence used to command or enjoin

intensifier

words that increase or decreases the strength

interrogative sentence

A sentence that asks a question

intonation

tone of voice

interactional talk

Language in conversation used for interpersonal reasons and/or socialising

irony

A contrast between expectation and reality

metaphor

a comparison that is not literally true because it refers to something as if it were something else

monologue

an extended speech uttered by one speaker, either to others or as if alone

monosyllabic

having only one syllable

neologism

new word or expression

non-fluency features

Features that interrupt flow of speech.

noun

A person, place, thing, or idea

omniscient narrator

a narrator who is able to know, see, and tell all, including the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters

onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

oral signal

an expressive sound such as mmm or a laugh, sigh etc.

parallelism

when parts of sentences have similar pattern or structure

passive voice

using a verb in a way that emphasises the object of an action rather than the thing

pathetic fallacy

The attribution of human emotions or characteristics to inanimate objects or to nature