English Language AS/A2 - AO1 Terminology

Emotions, qualities, occasions etc.

A person's accent is the way he or she speaks, with differences in the sounds that can show the place a person comes from, or their social class.

Parallel pairs in conversational chat. E.g “It’s cold outside today isn’t it / Yes it is.”

When there is a gap between the message being written and the message being read.

Verb that supports main verbs e.g. ‘to be’ ‘to have’ ‘to do.’

When the receiver gives feedback to the speaker. E.g. “Oh I see.”

words used to name general items rather than specific ones. E.g common noun – jeans. Proper noun – Levis.

A concrete noun is a noun which can be identified through one of the five senses (taste, touch, sight, hearing, smell).

A word that is marked with an apostrophe in order for it to be shortened. E.g. cannot becomes can’t.

A direct meaning or a set of meanings of a word or expression. E.g. ‘Poodle’ is a denotation of a breed of dog.

A descriptivist accepts the change in language and believes that it is necessary for the language process.

the version of language spoken by particular people in a particular area, such as Scots.

two vowel characters representing the sound of a single vowel. (Cow, Now, Loud. Boy, Toy Foil).

Written or spoken communication.

the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase.

What is presented to us when in conversation – Either positive or negative face.

Language/Actions that reject the face in which someone presents.

A filler word is an apparently meaningless word, phrase, or sound that marks a pause or hesitation in speech.

The act of posting aggressive posts, threats or responses.

The moment in conversation where the receiver is greeted.

When a sentence is softened by a particular word.

When a word is replaced by a number in conversation. E.g. ‘For’ becomes ‘4’

A belief, point of view or set of values.

The particular way a person talks.

These are words like very or really that occur before an adjective or an adverb and boost the strength of its meaning.

Tone/quality of voice

explicit power of the sort imposed by the state, by its laws and conventions or by the organizations for which we work. It operates in business, education and various kinds of management.

Talk about talk e.g “It’s been great talking to you.”

Body language during conversation.

Small Talk (How are you? / Fine.)

the branch of linguistics dealing with language in use and the contexts in which it is used.

The part of conversation which is about to come to an end.

Believes that language is better kept ‘pure’ (Based on a dictionary/books) whereas new language is bad.

This is the collective term used to describe variations in pitch, loudness, tempo, and rhythm.

When a group of the same social background has power.

When there is instant communication within the conversation (Mostly seen in instant messaging such as MSN or Facetime).

the arrangement of words to show relationships of meaning within a sentence.

the process of addressing mass audiences as though they were individuals through inclusive language usage (One of Norman Fairclough's processes of advertising)

Making a statement and putting an auxiliary verb and a pronoun at the end. “The weather is nice today, isn’t it?”

A topic area initiated by a post to which others can respond to.

Where a word is spelt differently for different meanings yet they have the same sound. (There, Their, They’re)