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Flashcards

A Level English Language (Language Levels)

Kaitlyn I English Language A level English 96 cards

Cards in this deck (96)

  1. 1HEGOMONYHow one social group can use language to get other people to accept it's way of seeing the world as natural
  2. 2PEJORATIVE TERMA judgemental term that usually implies disapproval or criticism
  3. 3METALANGUAGELanguage about language i.e. a metajoke is a joke about jokes or 'word' 'phrase'
  4. 4UTTERANCEA segment of speech
  5. 5CONTEXTThe background against which a text convey it's meanings
  6. 6FILLERA non-verbal sound that acts like a pause - either to signal uncertainty or simply as a 'breathing space' for the speaker i.e. Er, erm
  7. 7FALSE STARTWhen a speaker begins to speak, stops and then starts again i.e. Well I was (1) well I was going to the shops
  8. 8REPAIRWhen a speaker corrects some aspect of what they have said-the error might be a grammatical one or the use of a wrong word, either by accident or mentioning something that is inappropriate i.e. We was (.) were going out
  9. 9SKIP-CONNECTORA word or phrase that returns the conversation to a previous topic i.e. Anyway, coming back to our original discussion
  10. 10ELLIPSISThe omission of words for economical reasons and/or because the context means that the person listening understands the shortened utterance
    i.e. A: What do you want for lunch?
    B: ham sandwich
    ('I would like' is ellipted)
  11. 11SPEAKER SUPPORTWords or phrases (both verbal and non-verbal) that show attention or agreement, and encourage a speaker to carry on talking i.e. Mmm, yeah, Ok
  12. 12ACCENTThe ways in which words are pronounced. Accent can vary according to the region or social class of a speaker
  13. 13ADJACENCY PAIRSParallel expressions used across the boundaries of individual speaking turns. They are usually ritualistic and formulaic socially i.e. 'How are you?' / 'Fine thanks;
  14. 14BACK-CHANNELWords, 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.
  15. 15CONTRACTIONA reduced form often marked by an apostrophe in writing - e.g. can't = cannot; she'll = she will. See also ELISION
  16. 16DEIXIS / DEICTICSWords such as 'this', 'that', 'here', 'there' which refer backwards or forwards or outside a text - a sort of verbal pointing. Very much a context dependent feature of talk
  17. 17DIALECTThe distinctive grammar and vocabulary which is associated with a regional or social use of a language.
  18. 18DISCOURSE MARKERWords and phrases which are used to signal the relationships and connections between utterances and to signpost that what is said can be followed by the listener or reader e.g. 'first', 'on the other hand', 'now', 'what's more', 'so anyway' etc.
  19. 19ELISIONThe omission or slurring [eliding] of one or more sounds or syllables - e.g. gonna = going to; wannabe = want to be; wassup = what is up
  20. 20ELLIPSISThe omission of a part of a grammatical structure. For example, in the dialogue: 'You going to the party?' / 'Might be.' - the verb 'are' and the pronoun 'I' are missed out. The resulting ellipsis conveys a more causal and informal tone.
  21. 21FALSE STARTThis is when the speaker begins an utterance, then stops and either repeats or reformulates it. Sometimes called self-correction. See also REPAIRS.
  22. 22GRICE'S MAXIMSGrice proposed four basic conversational
    'rules' [maxims] as criteria for successful conversation: quantity [don't say too much or too little]; relevance [keep to the point]; manner [speak in a clear, coherent and orderly way]; quality [be truthful]
  23. 23HEDGEWords and phrases which soften or weaken the force with which something is said - e.g. 'perhaps', 'maybe', 'sort of'. 'possibly', 'I think'.
  24. 24IDIOLECTAn individually distinct style of speaking
  25. 25COMMON NOUNThe name of any person, place or thing. Common nouns do not have capital letters.
  26. 26PROPER NOUNThe name of a particular person, place or thing
  27. 27COLLECTIVE NOUNThe name of a group of people or things all of one kind e.g. goverment
  28. 28ABSTRACT NOUNThe name of something you cannot touch or see e.g. honesty, love, humour
  29. 29PHONEMEThe basic unit of sound
  30. 30DIPHTHONGA vowel sound that is the combination of two separate sounds, where a speaker glides from one to another.
  31. 31VOICINGThe act of the vocal cords either vibrating
    (voiced) or not vibrating (unvoiced) in the product of a constant sound.
  32. 32PLACE OF ARTICULATIONThe position in the mouth where a consonant sound is produced
  33. 33MANNER OF ARTICULATIONThe extent to which airflow is interrupted by the parts of the mouth in the production of consonant sounds.
  34. 34SYLLABLEA sound unit with a vowel at its centre.
  35. 35ACCOMODATIONThe ways that individuals adjust their speech patterns to match others.
  36. 36SOUND ICONICITYThe use of the sound system to mirror form or meaning.
  37. 37INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA)An internationally recognised system of phonetic transcription.
  38. 38DENOTATIVE AND CONNOTATIVE MEANINGSThe literal (denotative) and associated (connotative) meanings of words
  39. 39FIGURATIVE LANGUAGELanguage used in a non-literal way in order to describe something in another's terms i.e. simile, metaphor
  40. 40SEMANTIC FIELDSGroups of words connected by a shared field of reference e.g. medicine, art
  41. 41SYNONYMSWords that have equivalent meanings
  42. 42ANTONYMSWords that have contrasting meanings.
  43. 43HYPERNYMSWords that label categories e.g. animal (this category includes for example dog, cat and rabbit)
  44. 44HYPONYMSWords that can be included in a larger, more general category (e.g. the hyponyms car, bus, aeroplane as a form of the hypernym transport)
  45. 45LEVELS OF FORMALITYVocabulary styles including slang, colloquialisms, taboo, formal and fixed levels
  46. 46OCCUPATIONAL REGISTERA technical vocabulary associated with a particular occupation or activity
  47. 47SOCIOLECTA language style associated with a particular social group
  48. 48NEOLOGYThe process of a new word formation, including the following blends, compounds, acronyms, initialisms, eponyms
  49. 49SEMANTIC CHANGEThe process of words changing meaning, including the following: narrowing, broadening, amelioration, pejoration, semantic reclamation.
  50. 50MORPHEMEThe smallest grammatical unit
  51. 51FREE MORPHEMEA morpheme that can stand on its own as a word
  52. 52AFFIX (OR BOUND MORPHEME)A morpheme that cannot stand on its own as a word, but combines with others to create a new word
  53. 53PHRASEA group of words centred around a head word
  54. 54HEAD WORDThe central word in a phrase which gives the phrase its name (e.g. noun phrase, adjective phrase) and may be modified by other words.
  55. 55MODIFICATIONThe adding of additional words to provide more detail to a head word in a phrase either before it (pre-modification) or after it (post-modification)
  56. 56CLAUSEA group of words centred around a verb, which may be either grammatically complete (main clause) or incomplete (subordinate clause)
  57. 57ACTIVE VOICEA clause where the agent (doer) of an action is the subject.
  58. 58PASSIVE VOICEA clause where the patient (the entity effected by an action) is in the subject position, and the agent either follows or is left out.
  59. 59TENSEHow the time of an event is marked
    9usally through verb inflection): past, present & future)*
  60. 60ASPECTAnother element of marking the time of an event, by specifying whether they are progressive (ongoing) or perfective (completed)
  61. 61COORDINATIONThe joining of two or more independent clauses via coordination conjunctions. Single words and longer phrases can also be co-ordinated.
  62. 62SUBORDINATIONThe joining of two or more clauses where only one is independent (the main clause) and the others dependent (subordinate clause/clauses)
  63. 63SENTENCEA larger unit of meaning, which may be formed of a single clause (simple sentence) or several clauses (compound or complex sentences). Minor sentences are sentences without a verb.
  64. 64SENTENCE FUNCTIONThe purpose of a sentence fulfils in communication: as a statement, question, command or exclamation. These are also referred in many grammar books as (respectively): declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives and exclamatives.
  65. 65WORD CLASSThe grammatical category into which words can be placed, including noun, adjective, verb, adverb, determiner, pronoun, preposition, conjunction.
  66. 66IMPLICATUREAn implied meaning that has to be referred as a result of a conversational maxim being broken
  67. 67INFERENCEThe process of deriving implied meanings.
  68. 68IRONYUsing language to signal an attitude other than what has been literally expressed.
  69. 69SPEECH ACTSCommunicative acts that carry meaning beyond the words and phrases used within them, for example, apologies and promises.
  70. 70POLITENESSThe awareness of others' needs to be approved of and liked (positive politeness) and/or given freedom to express their own identity and choices (negative politeness).
  71. 71FACEThe concept of how all communication relies on presenting a 'face' to listeners and audiences, and how the management of positive and negative face needs to contribute to the interaction.
  72. 72COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLESIn conversation: how interaction is thought to be based upon various kinds of cooperative behaviour between speakers.
  73. 73ADJUNCTSNon-essential elements of clauses (usually adverbials) that can be omitted (e.g. 'I'll see you in the morning')
  74. 74DISJUNCTSSentence adverbs that work to express an attitude or stance towards material that follows (e.g. 'FRANKLY, I'm appalled at what she said' or 'SADLY, not one of them survived').
  75. 75NARRATIVE STRUCTURESHow events, actions and processes are sequenced when recounting a story.
  76. 76ANAPHORIC REFERENCEMaking reference back to something previously identified in a text (often using pronouns to refer to an already established reference point e.g. 'The woman stood by the door. SHE made detailed notes of what SHE could see').
  77. 77CATOPHORIC REFERENCEMaking reference forwards to something as yet unidentified in a text e.g. 'It was warm. It was living, It was a rabbit'
  78. 78EXOPHORIC REFERENCEMaking reference to things beyond the language of a text itself (as opposed to endophoric, which is within the language of the text), perhaps within a speaker's immediate physical context e.g. 'Look at that'
  79. 79INTERDISCURSIVITY (OR INTERTEXTUALITY)The use of discourses from one field as part of another (e.g. the use of science discourses in the selling of beauty products, or the use of commercial discourses in education).
  80. 80CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSISThe use of linguistic analysis to explore and challenge the ideologies, positions and values of texts and their producers.
  81. 81LAYOUTThe way in which a text is physically structured
  82. 82TYPOGRAPHICAL FEATURESThe features of fonts used in texts such as font type, size and colour
  83. 83ORTHOGRAPHICAL FEATURESThe features of the writing system such as spelling, capitalisation and punctuation.
  84. 84MULTIMODAL TEXTSTexts that rely on the interplay of different modes (e.g. images, writing and sound) to help shape meaning) see definition of MODE
  85. 85AUDIENCEThe receivers or intended receivers of a text (written, spoken, multimodal). The concept of an ideal audience/reader/narratee is often found in critical discourse. Texts might also have multiple audiences.
  86. 86DISCOURSESUsed in many different ways in language study. Can be used to refer to a mode of language (e.g. spoken or written discourse), a register (e.g. medical or legal discourse), a way of thinking about and presenting something (e.g. representing language using a discourse of decay).
  87. 87FOREGROUNDINGThe ways in which the texts emphasise key events or ideas through the use of attention-seeking (in terms of lexis, semantics, phonology or grammar) that either repeat content (parallelism) or break established patterns (deviation)
  88. 88DEVIATIONExternal: breaking from the normal conversation of language use, for example in the use of nonsense words or ungrammatical constructions.
    Internal: Breaking from a pattern that has previously been set up in the text for a striking effect.
  89. 89GENREThe way of categorising and classifying different types of texts according to their features or expected shared conventions or functions. Genres come into being as the result of people agreeing about perceived similar characteristics in terms of content and style. Genres are fluid and dynamic and new genres continually evolve as a result of new technologies and cultural practices.
  90. 90LITERARINESSThe degree to which a text displays qualities that mean the people see it as literary and as literature. However, since so many so called 'non-literary' texts display aspects of creative language use that is often seen as a marker of being literary, it is best to think of literariness as a continuum rather than viewing texts as absolutely 'literary' or 'non-literary'
  91. 91MODEThe way in which language is communicated between text producer and text receiver e.g. as an image, in writing, in speech or as a logo. The term mode (from semiotics and linguistics) is related to the term medium (from media studies) which is how messages are mediated (e.g. paper or digital texts) and also to the term channel (from communication studies) which is the physical means of transmission (e.g. auditory, visual or olfactory). Mode also encompasses ideas around planning and spontaneity, distance between text producer and receiver, how transitory or long-lasting a text is. Mode is more than a binary opposition, is sometimes visualised as a continuum and is constantly changing as new communication technologies blur the lines between older forms.
  92. 92NARRATIVEA type of text or discourse that functions to tell a series of events. A narrative is the organisation of experiences told by a narrator to any number of narrates.
  93. 93NARRATIVE DISCOURSEThe particular shaping of those building blocks into something worth telling through specific choices in language and structure.
  94. 94POETIC VOICEThe way in which a sense of identity is projected through language choices so as to give the impression of a distinct persona with a personal history and a set of beliefs and values.
  95. 95REGISTERA variety of language that is associated with a particular field of reference e.g. occupational discourse. Register may be either written, spoken or multimodal.
  96. 96STYLEThe level of formality in a text. This can be seen as distinct from its register (e.g. an occupational register can exist on different levels of formality)

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Copied from an AQA Cambridge approved English Language A Level Student book.
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Kaitlyn I
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