English Language - Informal Language

Elision

the omission of a sound or syllable when speaking

Assimilation

phonemes change to be more similar to neighbouring sounds

Insertion

adding an extra phoneme or sound to a word

Assonance

repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity

Alliteration

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words

Onomatopoeia

the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named

Neologism

new word

Collocation

two or more words that co-occur in a language more often that would be expected by chance

Commonisation

the process whereby a proper noun or brand name becomes a common noun

Shortening/Reduction

removing a sound from a word to form a shorter word with the same meaning

Blending

joining the beginning of one word and the ending of another word to make a new word

Metaphor

comparison not using like or as

Irony

the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning

Abbreviation

a shortened form of words or phrases

Acronym

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

Initialism

an abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately

Contraction

a shortened form of a word or groups of words (can't)

Interrogative tags

a question added onto the end of declarative statement that lessens the impact of that statement (You're John, aren't you?)

Ellipsis

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

Slang

a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people

Register

the formality of a discourse

Positive Face

desire to be liked and admired by others

Negative Face

desire to be autonomous, free and respected by others

Adjacency Pairs

regular two-turn exchanges in spoken discourse (A: How are you? B: I'm fine, thanks. And you?)

Back Channeling

Signals that show the speaker that their message is understood and listened to (Uh huh)

Colloquialism

a word or phrase used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing (y'all, ain't)

Emphatic Stress

emphasis placed upon syllables or words in spoken discourse

Discourse Markers

words, phrases or clauses that help to organise what we say and manage the flow of a conversation (okay, right)

False starts

when a speaker begins an utterance then re-starts

Flapping

an assimilation process in which a dental or alveolar stop changes to a flap (shwa) in the environment of other continuants

Formulaic Expression

regular use of a preset group of words in a predictable metric setting (Hello, how may I help you today?)

Hedges

a qualifier such as probably, that makes a statement ambiguous

Overlapping Speech

two or more speakers talking simultaneously

Pauses

hesitations and brief silences in speech or conversation

Pause Fillers

words in conversation that have little meaning, but give thinking time for the speaker (erm, well)

Intonation

the rising and falling pitch of the voice

Repairs

an alteration that is suggested or made by a speaker, the addressee, or audience in order to correct or clarify a previous conversational contribution

Tempo

speed of speech

Volume

how loud or soft the speech is

Topic Management

the way topics in a conversation are organised or handed from speaker to speaker

Turn Taking

in a conversation, nonverbal regulators that indicate who talks when and to whom

The Floor

the power to speak

Holding the Floor

speaking until you have finished what you wish to say (pause fillers, rising intonation, conjunctions, pauses)

Passing the Floor

handing the floor to another interlocutor (interrogatives, low intonation, direct command)

Building Rapport

closing social distance

Euphemism

an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

Dysphemism

a derogatory or unpleasant term used instead of a pleasant or neutral one

Functions of Swearing

to harm, to build rapport, expletive, stylistic choice

diminutive

addition of the morphemes 'o' 'ie' 'a' to the end of words (common in Australian slang)

Anaphora

referent established before the pronoun

Cataphora

referent established after the pronoun (rare in informal speech)

Deixis

words that are context-bound where meaning depends on who is being referred to, where something is happening or when it is happening

Cohesion

the way in which elements of a discourse tie together to aid in coherency

Coherence

This is a quality in writing, in which ideas are presented in a clear, logical manner. Writing which lacks this quality may be hard or impossible to understand.

Imperative Sentence

sentence used to command

Interrogative Sentence

a sentence that asks a question

Declarative Sentence

a sentence that makes a statement

Exclamative Sentence

sentence conveying emotion

Adjacency Pairs

regular two-turn exchanges in spoken discourse. e.g.: A: How are you? B: I'm fine, thanks. And you?