Written language key words

Written language term definitions

Lexis: Vocabulary connected by a topic.

Tenor: The participants in discourse, their relationships to each other, and their purposes.

Register: The way a speaker uses language differently in different circumstances. Essentially variations in formality.

Tone: Attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. The tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject. The tone can be formal, informal, serious, sarcastic, sad…

Semantic: Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It can be applied to entire texts or to single words. For example, "destination" and "last stop" technically mean the same thing, but students of semantics analyse their subtle shades of meaning.

Hyperbole: Figure of speech that uses extreme exaggeration to make a point or show emphasis.

Lexical field: The way of organizing related words and expressions into a system which shows their relationship to one another.

Genre: Term used to classify types of spoken or written discourse. These are normally classified by content, language, purpose and form. Four main genres: poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction. All of these genres have particular features and functions that distinguish them from one another.

Alliteration: Term to describe a literary device in which a series of words begin with the same consonant sound. A classic example is: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

Sibilance:  A more specific type of alliteration that relies on the repetition of soft consonant sounds in words to create a whooshing or hissing sound in…