English - Formality
Neologisms | Some words are, as far as practical, ‘invented’ words that have no reference to any other existing word. • ‘googol’ (not the search engine, but a lexeme meaning ‘1 followed by 100 zeroes’, invented in the 1930s. |
Blends | Amalgamations of two free morphemes. In general, only a part of each original morpheme is included. Semantically, the meaning of the new word is also a combination of the two morphemes. • spoon + fork = spork; iPod + broadcast = podcast |
Initialisms | Words formed from the initials of a sequence of words. They are pronounced as a string of letters. • ‘FBI’, ‘CD’, ‘USB’ |
Acronyms | Words formed from the initials of a sequence of words. They are pronounced as a whole word. • ‘QANTAS’, ‘RAM’ |
Shortenings/reductions | Reduced forms of words that are used to save time or space. They often contribute to an informal register in a text. • university > uni; telephone > phone |
Compounding | The combination of two free morphemes into one new word. However, they are distinguished from blends by the fact that no part of either morpheme is lost. • car + port = carport, Face + book = Facebook |
Conversion | Occurs when a new word is formed by changing the word class of an existing word. Conversion is termed zero-derivation if the word has not been altered by any derivational affix. • email (noun) > to email (verb), Google (noun) > to Google (verb) |
Contractions | Standardised shortenings of two words that frequently occur together. Words that contract include pronouns, the negative ‘not’ and auxiliary verbs. In writing, an apostrophe replaces the omitted letters. • I will > I’ll; do not > don’t |
Collocations | Groups of words that go together in a predictable way. As they frequently occur together, there is a strong association between them. • hustle and bustle; salt and pepper; man and wife |
Borrowing | Borrowing of lexemes from other languages. • ‘café’ (French), ‘boomerang’ (Darug), ‘algebra’ (Arabic) |
Commonisation | Proper nouns that have broadened their semantic meaning over time. • ‘biro’, ‘kleenex’, ‘hoover’, ‘esky’ (all originally brandnames) |
Archaism | Any lexeme that has fallen out of regular use in the English language. • ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ for ‘you’; ‘coney’ for ‘rabbit’ |
Elision | The omission (deletion of a sound) in connected speech, whether it be a vowel, consonant, or whole syllable. • ‘library’ > ‘li-bry’ • ‘camera’ > ‘kam-ra’ • ‘going to’ > ‘gonna’ |
Vowel Reduction | Similar to elision, but instead of disappearing completely, vowels in unstressed positions are reduced to a schwa /ə/ • ‘you’ > ‘ya’ (/jə/) • ‘to’ > ‘ta’ (/tə/), or even ‘want to’ > ‘wanna’ (/wʌnə/) • ‘and’ > ‘en’ (/ən/) (as in ‘fish ‘n chips’) |
Assimilation | When sounds change to be more like the sounds around them so they can be pronounced more easily. • ‘handbag’ > ‘hambag’ • ‘sandwich’ > ‘samwich’ • ‘kitten’ > ‘kidden’ |
Insertion | Adding consonants or vowels that don’t technically belong there but make things easier to pronounce. • ‘tuna oil’ > ‘tuna roil’ • ‘hamster’ > ‘hampster’ • ‘athlete’ > ‘ath-e-lete’ |
Simple Lexical Patterning | Involves the repetition of a word in its identical form or with very simple changes: • ‘sing’ (first person) and ‘sings’ (third person) • ‘horse’ (singular’) and ‘horses’ (plural) |
Complex Lexical Patterning | Involves the repeated use of words and any forms of them created through affixation: • the presence of ‘category’, ‘categorise’ and ‘categorical’ within a text is also lexical patterning |
Conversion of word class | This is similar to, but not identical to ‘conversion’ as a word-formation process. Conversion of word class is a primary function of suffixes, after all, and not only for the coining of new words. • -able (‘read’ to ‘readable’ - verb turns into an adjective) • -er (‘teach’ to ‘teacher’ – verb turns into a noun) |
Creative word formation | See ‘Word-Formation Processes’ |
Affixation (Nominalisation) | Not all affixes convert word classes, but can present a stylistic pattern in texts worthy of identification. • -ist (‘art’ > ‘artist’ - noun into noun denoting a career) • -ism (‘age’ > ‘ageism’ - noun into noun denoting a state, condition or system of belief) ‘Nominalisation’ happens where a noun or noun phrase is created from any other word class. In general, nominalisation is used to create a more formal register, or to pack more into a sentence by creating lexical density. • -ion (‘discuss’ > ‘discussion’ – ‘We undertook a discussion’ instead of ‘We discussed’) |
Reduplication | A specific type of diminutive, which repeats part of a word. • ‘Night night’ for ‘goodnight’, ‘cuddle-wuddle’, ‘school-schmool’ |
Diminutives | Diminutives are special forms of shortenings where a diminutive suffix (typically a vowel like –ie, -o) is added. This can be used to indicate intimacy or fondness, or alternately to insult, to dismiss. • barbeque > barbie; service station > servo, David > Davo |
Alliteration | The repetition of a phoneme at the beginning of more than one word. • Big blue balloons |
Assonance | The repetition of the same vowel sound in a sequence. May be spelled differently. • Save the whales! |
Consonance | The repetition of the same consonant sound anywhere in a sequence. • red-head, willy-nilly |
Onomatopoeia | Where the sound of a word resembles its meaning. • Snap, Crackle, Pop! |
Rhythm (meter) | Refers to the pattern of syllables in a text. It is determined by the number of syllables in each line, the number of syllables in each word, and the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. • In ‘Jack fell down and broke his crown’, each word has only one syllable, and each syllable alternates between stressed and unstressed. |
Rhyme | The repetition of a sound unit at the end of a line. This includes the final vowel sound, and, if there is one, the final consonant sound. • I’m a little teapot / short and stout / here is my handle / here is my spout. |
Simile | A type of figurative language that compares or connects two things because they share similar qualities, or transfers the qualities of one thing to another. Similes often (but not always) use the words like or as to make the connection. • White as a sheet • Sleeps like a log |
Idiom | Fixed expressions where the words used, and the word order, cannot be changed, and whose semantic meaning is conveyed as a whole, not by the literal interpretation of the individual words. • It’s raining cats and dogs • Keep an eye on the children • Bring a plate • Do a Bradbury • Buckley’s chance |
Pun | A type of linguistic humour where the word and the meaning does not always correspond. Puns often make use of words that sound the same, leading to lexical ambiguity if it is not clear which semantic meaning is intended. • ‘Flu York City’ (news headline about influenza in New York) Sometimes the pun is unintentional: • ‘I’m feeling effluent today’ (Kim, from Kath and Kim) |
Personification | A kind of metaphor that involves the transfer of human qualities to things, concepts, animals and natural phenomena. • The stars winked cheerfully in the sky above • The computer hates me! |
Animation | A similar type of metaphor to personification, but it involves the transfer of animate qualities rather than strictly human qualities • The wind howled through the trees • The waffle leapt out of the toaster • The lawn is crying out for some rain |
Metaphor | A type of figurative language that transfers the qualities of one thing or person to another. In literal terms, one thing is being equated to another. • Love is a harsh and pure honey • You’re being such a dog about this! |
Irony | A type of figurative language in which the real meaning of the message is different or opposite from the literal meaning of the words used. It relies on the audience understanding that the idea expressed is untrue. • ‘We are committed to excellense’ (Billboard outside a school) |
Lexical ambiguity | The potential for multiple interpretations of spoken or written language that renders it difficult or impossible to understand without some additional information. • ‘Flying planes can be dangerous.’ (is the act of flying, or aeroplanes themselves, the thing that is dangerous?) |
Oxymoron | The expression of a paradox; that is, when seemingly opposite qualities coexist and are both true at the same time. • Parting is such sweet sorrow • The living dead |
Listing | A process by which three or more related elements are placed together, separated by punctuation such as commas or bullet points. • ‘Syntactical patterning is characterised by structures like listing, parallelisms, and antithesis…’ |
Parallelism | When two or more phrases, clauses or sentences are structurally similar and appear near one another. • ‘I stand before you today the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning before a world in shock.’ (three prepositional phrases, similarly constructed) • ‘It’s time that we take a stand. It’s time that we unite as one people!’ |
Antithesis | A form of parallelism where two or more contrasting ideas or phrases are repeated in sequence. Antithesis often involves antonymy (the use of words with opposite meanings) • ‘There’s a long version and a short version.’ • ‘There’s a time to live, and a time to die…’ |
Positive Face - The need to feel valued, wanted and appreciated
Negative Face - The desire to be independent
Face-threatening act - requests that might challenge ones positive or negative face
Face-saving act - politeness strategies that acknowledge face needs
Positive politeness - refers to the strategies we use to create and maintain social harmony by demonstrating empathy and building rapport.
Negative politeness - Focuses on reducing the imposition placed on the listener, achieved by indirectness, showing deference and demonstrating respect for the listener’s autonomy.
Referential - Describes speaker’s information with the audience, message is presented as factored and objective whether or not it is true
Emotive - Allows users to express emotions/desires. about users presentation of emotion- real or not
Conative - Involves directions, questions and commands. this Function aims to cause the audience to react in some way.
Phatic - Creates and maintains social connections between the user and their audience. These messages tend to be somewhat meaningless outside a social context.
Metalinguistic - Describes language itself (is the language used to talk about language, such as when metalanguage is used). Allows the speakers to check whether they have been understood or are using the right type of language for the conversation.
Poetic - Focuses on the message itself, rather than on the communicators. These texts are created with consideration of the beauty or wit of the words within them.
REMEMBER - FLICCC
F (Formatting): Graphically stylized
CAPITALISATION
Typography
Headings
Listing
L (Logical Ordering): Sequence of topics and information
Chronological
topic sentences
I (Inferencing): Assumed knowledge
Jargon
C (Consistency): Recurrent patterns or consistency
Topic sentences
Verb tenses
C (Conventions): Accepted features of the text type
Letters (date, city, salutations)
Recipe (Imperative, Listing)
C (Cohesion)
REMEMBER - DR SLICER
D (Deixis): references to assumed knowledge
Time (now, later, then, before)
Person (I, you, they, she)
R (Repetition): Unifies the text; Reinforces arguments/points
Basic lexical patterning (out, out, out!)
Complex lexical patterning (Eat/Eats/Eating)
Parallelisms (easy come, easy go)
S (Substitution): Replacing a word/phrase for something else
Nominal (I want a car, I’ll go buy one!)
Verbal (You will fall before I do)
L (Lexical Choice): Fields of words to tie discourse together
Synonyms + Antonyms
Hyponymy (Sports Cars= Ferrari, Porches, McLaren)
I (Information Flow): ordering of information so the most relevant is first
Clefting (It-Wh cleft;) - “It was the exam she aced”
Front Focus - “Pineapples, I hate them!”
End Focus - “she are the fly, that cat”
C (Conjunctions): Used to ‘glue’ words or phrases together
FANBOYS
Cause + effect (because, therefore, and so)
Contrasting (However, to contrast, on the other hand)
Timing (Previously, Just before, Earlier)
E (Ellipses): Removal of irrelevant words to avoid repetition
“I wanted to go, but I couldn’t [go]”
R (Referencing): kind of a more specific type of Deixis…
Anaphoric (Ashley… She)
Cataphoric (She… Ashley)
Neologisms | Some words are, as far as practical, ‘invented’ words that have no reference to any other existing word. • ‘googol’ (not the search engine, but a lexeme meaning ‘1 followed by 100 zeroes’, invented in the 1930s. |
Blends | Amalgamations of two free morphemes. In general, only a part of each original morpheme is included. Semantically, the meaning of the new word is also a combination of the two morphemes. • spoon + fork = spork; iPod + broadcast = podcast |
Initialisms | Words formed from the initials of a sequence of words. They are pronounced as a string of letters. • ‘FBI’, ‘CD’, ‘USB’ |
Acronyms | Words formed from the initials of a sequence of words. They are pronounced as a whole word. • ‘QANTAS’, ‘RAM’ |
Shortenings/reductions | Reduced forms of words that are used to save time or space. They often contribute to an informal register in a text. • university > uni; telephone > phone |
Compounding | The combination of two free morphemes into one new word. However, they are distinguished from blends by the fact that no part of either morpheme is lost. • car + port = carport, Face + book = Facebook |
Conversion | Occurs when a new word is formed by changing the word class of an existing word. Conversion is termed zero-derivation if the word has not been altered by any derivational affix. • email (noun) > to email (verb), Google (noun) > to Google (verb) |
Contractions | Standardised shortenings of two words that frequently occur together. Words that contract include pronouns, the negative ‘not’ and auxiliary verbs. In writing, an apostrophe replaces the omitted letters. • I will > I’ll; do not > don’t |
Collocations | Groups of words that go together in a predictable way. As they frequently occur together, there is a strong association between them. • hustle and bustle; salt and pepper; man and wife |
Borrowing | Borrowing of lexemes from other languages. • ‘café’ (French), ‘boomerang’ (Darug), ‘algebra’ (Arabic) |
Commonisation | Proper nouns that have broadened their semantic meaning over time. • ‘biro’, ‘kleenex’, ‘hoover’, ‘esky’ (all originally brandnames) |
Archaism | Any lexeme that has fallen out of regular use in the English language. • ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ for ‘you’; ‘coney’ for ‘rabbit’ |
Elision | The omission (deletion of a sound) in connected speech, whether it be a vowel, consonant, or whole syllable. • ‘library’ > ‘li-bry’ • ‘camera’ > ‘kam-ra’ • ‘going to’ > ‘gonna’ |
Vowel Reduction | Similar to elision, but instead of disappearing completely, vowels in unstressed positions are reduced to a schwa /ə/ • ‘you’ > ‘ya’ (/jə/) • ‘to’ > ‘ta’ (/tə/), or even ‘want to’ > ‘wanna’ (/wʌnə/) • ‘and’ > ‘en’ (/ən/) (as in ‘fish ‘n chips’) |
Assimilation | When sounds change to be more like the sounds around them so they can be pronounced more easily. • ‘handbag’ > ‘hambag’ • ‘sandwich’ > ‘samwich’ • ‘kitten’ > ‘kidden’ |
Insertion | Adding consonants or vowels that don’t technically belong there but make things easier to pronounce. • ‘tuna oil’ > ‘tuna roil’ • ‘hamster’ > ‘hampster’ • ‘athlete’ > ‘ath-e-lete’ |
Simple Lexical Patterning | Involves the repetition of a word in its identical form or with very simple changes: • ‘sing’ (first person) and ‘sings’ (third person) • ‘horse’ (singular’) and ‘horses’ (plural) |
Complex Lexical Patterning | Involves the repeated use of words and any forms of them created through affixation: • the presence of ‘category’, ‘categorise’ and ‘categorical’ within a text is also lexical patterning |
Conversion of word class | This is similar to, but not identical to ‘conversion’ as a word-formation process. Conversion of word class is a primary function of suffixes, after all, and not only for the coining of new words. • -able (‘read’ to ‘readable’ - verb turns into an adjective) • -er (‘teach’ to ‘teacher’ – verb turns into a noun) |
Creative word formation | See ‘Word-Formation Processes’ |
Affixation (Nominalisation) | Not all affixes convert word classes, but can present a stylistic pattern in texts worthy of identification. • -ist (‘art’ > ‘artist’ - noun into noun denoting a career) • -ism (‘age’ > ‘ageism’ - noun into noun denoting a state, condition or system of belief) ‘Nominalisation’ happens where a noun or noun phrase is created from any other word class. In general, nominalisation is used to create a more formal register, or to pack more into a sentence by creating lexical density. • -ion (‘discuss’ > ‘discussion’ – ‘We undertook a discussion’ instead of ‘We discussed’) |
Reduplication | A specific type of diminutive, which repeats part of a word. • ‘Night night’ for ‘goodnight’, ‘cuddle-wuddle’, ‘school-schmool’ |
Diminutives | Diminutives are special forms of shortenings where a diminutive suffix (typically a vowel like –ie, -o) is added. This can be used to indicate intimacy or fondness, or alternately to insult, to dismiss. • barbeque > barbie; service station > servo, David > Davo |
Alliteration | The repetition of a phoneme at the beginning of more than one word. • Big blue balloons |
Assonance | The repetition of the same vowel sound in a sequence. May be spelled differently. • Save the whales! |
Consonance | The repetition of the same consonant sound anywhere in a sequence. • red-head, willy-nilly |
Onomatopoeia | Where the sound of a word resembles its meaning. • Snap, Crackle, Pop! |
Rhythm (meter) | Refers to the pattern of syllables in a text. It is determined by the number of syllables in each line, the number of syllables in each word, and the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. • In ‘Jack fell down and broke his crown’, each word has only one syllable, and each syllable alternates between stressed and unstressed. |
Rhyme | The repetition of a sound unit at the end of a line. This includes the final vowel sound, and, if there is one, the final consonant sound. • I’m a little teapot / short and stout / here is my handle / here is my spout. |
Simile | A type of figurative language that compares or connects two things because they share similar qualities, or transfers the qualities of one thing to another. Similes often (but not always) use the words like or as to make the connection. • White as a sheet • Sleeps like a log |
Idiom | Fixed expressions where the words used, and the word order, cannot be changed, and whose semantic meaning is conveyed as a whole, not by the literal interpretation of the individual words. • It’s raining cats and dogs • Keep an eye on the children • Bring a plate • Do a Bradbury • Buckley’s chance |
Pun | A type of linguistic humour where the word and the meaning does not always correspond. Puns often make use of words that sound the same, leading to lexical ambiguity if it is not clear which semantic meaning is intended. • ‘Flu York City’ (news headline about influenza in New York) Sometimes the pun is unintentional: • ‘I’m feeling effluent today’ (Kim, from Kath and Kim) |
Personification | A kind of metaphor that involves the transfer of human qualities to things, concepts, animals and natural phenomena. • The stars winked cheerfully in the sky above • The computer hates me! |
Animation | A similar type of metaphor to personification, but it involves the transfer of animate qualities rather than strictly human qualities • The wind howled through the trees • The waffle leapt out of the toaster • The lawn is crying out for some rain |
Metaphor | A type of figurative language that transfers the qualities of one thing or person to another. In literal terms, one thing is being equated to another. • Love is a harsh and pure honey • You’re being such a dog about this! |
Irony | A type of figurative language in which the real meaning of the message is different or opposite from the literal meaning of the words used. It relies on the audience understanding that the idea expressed is untrue. • ‘We are committed to excellense’ (Billboard outside a school) |
Lexical ambiguity | The potential for multiple interpretations of spoken or written language that renders it difficult or impossible to understand without some additional information. • ‘Flying planes can be dangerous.’ (is the act of flying, or aeroplanes themselves, the thing that is dangerous?) |
Oxymoron | The expression of a paradox; that is, when seemingly opposite qualities coexist and are both true at the same time. • Parting is such sweet sorrow • The living dead |
Listing | A process by which three or more related elements are placed together, separated by punctuation such as commas or bullet points. • ‘Syntactical patterning is characterised by structures like listing, parallelisms, and antithesis…’ |
Parallelism | When two or more phrases, clauses or sentences are structurally similar and appear near one another. • ‘I stand before you today the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning before a world in shock.’ (three prepositional phrases, similarly constructed) • ‘It’s time that we take a stand. It’s time that we unite as one people!’ |
Antithesis | A form of parallelism where two or more contrasting ideas or phrases are repeated in sequence. Antithesis often involves antonymy (the use of words with opposite meanings) • ‘There’s a long version and a short version.’ • ‘There’s a time to live, and a time to die…’ |
Positive Face - The need to feel valued, wanted and appreciated
Negative Face - The desire to be independent
Face-threatening act - requests that might challenge ones positive or negative face
Face-saving act - politeness strategies that acknowledge face needs
Positive politeness - refers to the strategies we use to create and maintain social harmony by demonstrating empathy and building rapport.
Negative politeness - Focuses on reducing the imposition placed on the listener, achieved by indirectness, showing deference and demonstrating respect for the listener’s autonomy.
Referential - Describes speaker’s information with the audience, message is presented as factored and objective whether or not it is true
Emotive - Allows users to express emotions/desires. about users presentation of emotion- real or not
Conative - Involves directions, questions and commands. this Function aims to cause the audience to react in some way.
Phatic - Creates and maintains social connections between the user and their audience. These messages tend to be somewhat meaningless outside a social context.
Metalinguistic - Describes language itself (is the language used to talk about language, such as when metalanguage is used). Allows the speakers to check whether they have been understood or are using the right type of language for the conversation.
Poetic - Focuses on the message itself, rather than on the communicators. These texts are created with consideration of the beauty or wit of the words within them.
REMEMBER - FLICCC
F (Formatting): Graphically stylized
CAPITALISATION
Typography
Headings
Listing
L (Logical Ordering): Sequence of topics and information
Chronological
topic sentences
I (Inferencing): Assumed knowledge
Jargon
C (Consistency): Recurrent patterns or consistency
Topic sentences
Verb tenses
C (Conventions): Accepted features of the text type
Letters (date, city, salutations)
Recipe (Imperative, Listing)
C (Cohesion)
REMEMBER - DR SLICER
D (Deixis): references to assumed knowledge
Time (now, later, then, before)
Person (I, you, they, she)
R (Repetition): Unifies the text; Reinforces arguments/points
Basic lexical patterning (out, out, out!)
Complex lexical patterning (Eat/Eats/Eating)
Parallelisms (easy come, easy go)
S (Substitution): Replacing a word/phrase for something else
Nominal (I want a car, I’ll go buy one!)
Verbal (You will fall before I do)
L (Lexical Choice): Fields of words to tie discourse together
Synonyms + Antonyms
Hyponymy (Sports Cars= Ferrari, Porches, McLaren)
I (Information Flow): ordering of information so the most relevant is first
Clefting (It-Wh cleft;) - “It was the exam she aced”
Front Focus - “Pineapples, I hate them!”
End Focus - “she are the fly, that cat”
C (Conjunctions): Used to ‘glue’ words or phrases together
FANBOYS
Cause + effect (because, therefore, and so)
Contrasting (However, to contrast, on the other hand)
Timing (Previously, Just before, Earlier)
E (Ellipses): Removal of irrelevant words to avoid repetition
“I wanted to go, but I couldn’t [go]”
R (Referencing): kind of a more specific type of Deixis…
Anaphoric (Ashley… She)
Cataphoric (She… Ashley)
