terminology

accommodation

where a speaker adapts another speaker’s accent, dialect or sociolect

acronomy

abbreviation using the first letter of a group of words and pronounced as a single word e.g. NASA, RAM

adverbial

words, phrases or clauses which act as adverbs and which identify where, when and how when modifying the verb

affordance

linguistic and behavioural choices provided by technology

agenda setting

where a speaker sets out the main topic of conversation

analogical overextension

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

anchored relationship

an online relationship where two pps now each other in the offline world

asymmetrical power

an imbalance of power between two people

asynchronous

unlike synchronous, there is a delay between utterance and response. responses posted on a forum, which may occur months or even years after the original post, are an example of discourse that is asynchronous

auxiliary verb

assists the main verb; primary auxiliary verbs do, have and be denote changes of tense

backchanneling

supportive terms such as ‘oh’ and ‘really’

bald on-record

where a speaker is completely blunt and direct e.g. sit down!

bidialectalism

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

categorical overextension

the mot commonly occurring form of overextension in a child’s language and relates to confusing a hypernym (broad category e.g. fruit) with a hyponym (specific example)

catenative

chain-like structure in a sentence (so we… and then… and then we…)

chaining

a speaker responds and sets up the other speaker’s next utterance in a chain that runs on past an adjacency pair

clause

a structural unit that contains at least one subject and one verb - it can include other features as well such as object, complement and adverbial

closer

spoken expressions which as designed to close

codification

a process of standardising language

cohesion

the many parts of a text that help to draw it together into a recognizable whole e.g. the headline, picture and caption in a news article will all have words/images that link together in terms of the meaning and subject matter of the article

collocation

two or more words that are often found together in a group or phrase with a distinct meaning e.g. over the top, fish and chips, back to front

comparative adjective

the form of adjective that designates comparison between two things, generally made by adding the suffix -er to its base form e.g. this is a faster car

complement

a clause element that tells you more about the subject or object

complex sentence

has two or more clauses, one of which is a subordinate clause

compound

a word formed from two other words e.g. dustbin

compound sentence

has two or more clauses, usually joined to the main clause by the conjunctions ‘and’ or ‘but’ and depends on the main clause to exist

compound-complex sentence

a sentence that have three or ore clauses, one of which will be a subordinate clause and one of which will be a coordinate clause

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

convergence

where a speaker moves towards another speaker’s accent, dialect or sociolect

cooing

sounds a baby will make like ‘goo’ and ‘ga-ga’ generally around he age of 6-8 weeks. it is believed that during this period, the child is discovering their vocal chords

coordinate clause

a clause beginning with a coordinating conjunction and is essentially a main clause joined to another main clause

coordinating conjunctions

these signal the start of a coordinate clause

copular verb

a verb that takes a complement such as seems, appears or a form of the verb to be - is, was, are etc.

corpus

a collection of written texts

covert prestige

describes high social status through the use of non-standard forms

declarative

a statement - a type of sentence which gives information and where the subject typically comes in front of the verb ‘two fish as in a tank’

definite article

‘the’

deixis

terms that point towards something and place the words in context

denotation

the literal, generally accepted, dictionary definition of a word

determiner

words determining the number or status of the noun

diachronic change

refers to the study of historical language occurring over a period of time

direct object

the part of the clause that is directly acted upon by the subject

discourse marker

marks a change in direction in an extended piece of written or spoken text e.g. nevertheless, to sum up

dismissal formula

a device used to close a conversation

dispreferred response

a response that is unexpected, although not necessarily rude if phrased appropriately e.g. speaker A: dinner’s ready at 7. speaker B: not dinner, I’ve only just had breakfast!

divergence

where a speaker actively tries to distance him/herself from another speaker by accentuating their own accent or dialect

downward convergence

making your accent or lexis more informal

empirical approach

gaining knowledge by direct and indirect observation or experience

Estuary English

a dialect of English that is perceived to have spread outwards from London along the south east of England. it has features of RP and London English

exophoric reference

a reference to something, often cultural, beyond the text

extra-linguistic variables

factors that affect the way you speak e.g. age, where you live etc.

field

words used in a text which relate to the text’s subject matter e.g. the field of medicine, the field of golf etc.

flaming

making an offensive and insulting post in a chatroom

framing

controlling the agenda of a conversation (its direction and subject) or making utterances that encourage a child to fill in the blanks

glottal stops

a form of stop consonant made at the back of the throat to replace the ‘t’ sound e.g. wha? instead of what

grammarian

a scholar of grammar

grapheme-phoneme relationship

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

head noun

the main noun at the centre of a noun phrase

high-frequency lexis

words that appear often in everyday speech

holophrase

a single word representing a more complex though generally created by a child. e.g. the word juice may be used to signify ‘i want some juice’ - in this context, ‘juice’ would be a holophrase. ‘up’ is another commonly used holophrase, usually signifying ‘please lift me up’

hospitality token

a polite utterance relating to context designed to put speakers at their ease

hypernyms

categories e.g. pets, vehicles and sweets

hyponyms

examples within categories e.g. pony, truck and sherbet lemons

illocutionary act

implying something in what we say

indefinite article

‘a’ or ‘an’

indirect object

receives the action

interrogative

a question - a type of sentence indicated by the swapping round of subject and verb e.g. are you happy? rather than ‘you are happy’ by the use of question words (who, what, when, where, how) or simply by using a question mark, ‘you’re coming by train?’

intertextuality/intertextual reference

a subtle reference to another text that helps to create a sense of shaped context and can operate on a pragmatic level, creating a sense of imagines closeness between write/producer and reader/recipient

isogloss

the divisions that linguists draw between regions according to different dialects

labelling

the process of attaching words to objects; as the child learns more about the world their capacity to connect words with an increasing range of objects grows

Labov’s narrative categories

a way of breaking down the typical discourse structure of a spoken story

language academics

bodies established by governments in countries such as France and Italy to prescribe the correct form of the language

language acquisition device (LAD)

a term coined by Chomsky to denote the inherent capacity of humans for learning language

language acquisition support system (LASS)

the support provided by parents and other carers to the child’s language development

left-branching sentence

has the subordinate clauses before the main clause

lexical field

identifies the main subject matter of a text e.g. food in a recipe, money in an article on economics

linear

a text in which the discourse is organised into some sort of sequence e.g. a narrative with a beginning, middle and end. there may be an implied expectation that the reader will read the text in the order in which it appears

loanword

an English word that has come into use having been borrowed from another language

locutionary act

saying something

main verb

the verb that carries the main meaning or process in a verb phrase and therefore in a clause/sentence

metatalk

explicit talk about grammar and language

minor sentence

a sentence that has some missing elements, such as the subject or the verb, making is technically ungrammatical

mixed mode

features of speech and writing in the same text

modal auxiliary verb

a sub-category of auxiliary verb that expresses degrees of possibility, probability, necessity or obligation

mode

texts can be in spoken more e.g. spontaneous conversation between friends, or in written mode e.g. an English essay, or mixed mode e.g. a political speech which will be written but delivered as a speech

modification

description in the form of words, phrases or whole clauses that alters our understanding of the thing described

modifier

any word that describes a noun, can be an adjective, adverb or noun

morphological derivation

the process of creating a new word out of an old word or affix e.g. the suffix -ly changes adjectives into adverbs - nice becomes nicely

multimodal

a text that becomes more that one mode; often used for texts that have a combination of text and images

negative face

our desire to avoid doing something we don’t want to do, such as giving money to a stranger. this is part of Goffman’s ideas about face

network building

having labelled objects, children start to identify connections between them, recognising similarities and differences

neutral comment

speaker makes a comment on something neutral in the surroundings like the weather

nonce formation

a ‘nonsense’ new word that is created for a special occasion e.g. just before lunch ‘feeling hungryish’ may be used

non-finite subordinate clause

clauses in which the verb is not ‘finished’ and the tense is therefore not shown e.g. clauses with to- infinitives like to buy some cheese or with an -ing form of the verb such as running down the road

non-linear

a text with no expected sequence for reading - the cohesion may be less obvious and this may be reflected in the layout e.g. more use may be made of features such as text boxes and hyperlinks than if the text was linear

noun phrase

a group of words with a noun at the centre of it

number homophones

where numbers are used to replace all or part of a word whose sound they resemble, usually within the context of an electronic text e.g. 2 for to or gr8 for great

object

this normally receives the action that comes after the verb

off-record

in conversation where no threat is made to someone’s face e.g. this room’s pretty messy isn’t it