Key Terms - English Language

Morpheme - The smallest unit of meaning.

Syntax - The study of grammatical relationships between words in sentences.

Denotations - The literal meaning of words.

Synonyms - Different words with nearly the same meaning.

Antonym - Words that are opposite in meaning.

Hyponym - The relationships between words in which the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another.

Pragmatics - Implied meanings, particular meanings dependant on the context.

Phonology - The sound features of language.

Discourse - Any spoken or wrriten language which is longer than a sentence.

Complex Sentence - A sentence having two or more clauses with subordinating connectives.

Subject - A noun phrase or pronoun which is usually the actor of the verb.

Imperative - Commands, describes the structure as well as function and start with the verb.

Object - Something directly affected by the verb.

Compelement - Gives extra information about the subject.

Adverbial - Gives information about time, manner and place.

Active Sentence - Where the subject of the sentence is clear.

Passive Sentence - Where the subject of the sentence is not stated or included at the end.

Adverb - Words used to describe or modify verbs.

Preposition - Words which convey a sense of the position of two objects or clauses.

Subordinating Connectives - Connectives create subordinate clauses/complex sentences.

Coordinating Connectives - Joining two equal clauses and create compound sentences.

Definite and Indefinite Article - "The" and "A".

Fronting - The movement of a clause element.

Inversion - Reversing the order of clause elements.

Proper Nouns - People and places.

Abstract Nouns - Conveys ideas, emotions or thoughts, rather than concrete objects.

Concrete Nouns - Names for objects.

Idiolect - Each individual has a specific way of using language.

Sociolect - A language variety due to any sort of social group.

Dialect - Accent, lexis and grammar to a specific region.

Adjacency Pair - Two speech turns by different speakers that are consecutive and related to each other.

Co-operative Overlap - Speaking at the same time as another person to reinforce their speech.

Quotative - Words used in place of "said".

Utterance - A stretch of speech, one persons turn.

Elision - Missing out parts of certain words.

Ellipsis - Missing out whole words from sentence.

Hedges - Vague terms to reduce imposing on others, opposite to an imperative to still wants to achieve the same function.

Prosody - Describes the phonology or sounds of speech, including the rythm and intonation.

Tag Question - A statement followed by a question.

Filler - Lexis that maintains the speakers turn while they decide what to say next.

Paralingustic Features - Features that are not based on language, such as facial expressions.

Transactional Language - Language that has an aim to actually convey information and get something done.

Convergence - Where speakers adopt the language patterns of another speaker.

Discourse Marker - Lexis typical of a particular discourse type used for signposting the text, creating cohesion and helping the audience to follow the text.