Key Terms

abstract nouns

- refer to ideas and concepts that only exist in the mind

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accent

- the distinct pronunciation patterns of a group of people

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accommodation

- where a speaker adapts to another speaker's accent, dialect or sociolect

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acronomy

- abbreviation using the first letter of a group of words and pronounced as a single word (OPEC, NASA, RAM)

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active voice

- clause construction where the subject is also the actor (they are doing or have done something to somebody/something)

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adjacency pair

- a pair of utterances in a conversation that go together (greeting and reply, question and answer)

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adjective

- a word that modifies a noun

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adverb

- a word that modifies a verb (telling you how, where or when an action takes place)
- or modifies an adjective (by telling you how much)

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adverbial

- words, phrases or clauses which act as adverbs (identify where, when and how when modifying the verb)

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affordance

- linguistic and behavioural choices provided by technology

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agenda setting

- where a speaker sets up the main topic of conversation

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analogical overextension

- associating objects which are unrelated but which have one or more features in common (eg both being the same colour)

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anchored relationship

- an online relationship where two participants know each other in the offline world

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article

- a determiner such as 'a' or 'the'

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asymmetrical power

- an imbalance of power between people

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asynchronous

- there is a delay between utterance and response (responses posted on a forum months or even hears after the original post, for example)

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audience

- the person or people reading or hearing the text

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auxiliary verb

- assists the main verb
- primary auxiliary verbs (do, have, be) denote changes of tense

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avatar

- an image used by a user that accompanies a username

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backchannelling

- supportive terms ('oh', 'really')

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bald on-record

- where a speaker is completely blunt and direct ('sit down')

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bias

- a form of prejudice in favour of or against an idea, person or group
- expressed through language/images
- can arise from what is omitted as well as from what is stated or shown

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biadialectalism

- a speaker's ability to use two dialects of the same

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categorical overextension

- related to confusing a hypernym with a hyponym (in CLA)

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catenative

- chain-like structure in a sentence ('so we,,, and then... and then we')

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chaining

- a speaker responds and sets up the speaker's next utterance in a chain that runs on past an adjacency pair

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child-directed speak (CDS)

- speech patterns used by parents and carers when communicating with young children

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clause

- a structural unit that contains at least one subject and one verb (it can include other features as well such as an object, complement and adverbial)

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closer

- spoken expressions which are designed to close

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codification

- a process of standardizing a language

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cohesion

- the many parts of a text that help to draw it together into a recognizable whole (eg the headline, picture and caption in a news article will all have words/images that link together in terms of the meaning and subject matter of the article)

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collocation

- two or more words that are often found together in a group or phrase with distinct meaning (eg 'over the top')

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comparative adjective

- the form of an adjective that designates comparison between two things
- generally made by adding the suffix -er to its base form (eg faster)

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complement

- a clause element that tells you more about the subject or object

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complex sentence

- has two or more clause, one of which is a subordinate clause

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compound

- a word formed from two other words (eg dustbin)

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compound sentence

- has two or more clauses
- usually joined to the main clause by the conjunctions 'and' or 'but'
- depends on the main clause to exist

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compound-complex sentence

- a sentence that has three or more clauses, one of which will be a subordinate clause and one of which will be a coordinate clause

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concrete nouns

- refer to things we can touch or can experience physically (eg snow)

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conditioning

- the process by which humans (and animals) are taught and trained to respond, and learn by positive reinforcement (eg praise by an adult) for whatever is deemed to be appropriate learning within that specific context (eg choosing the correct word)

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conjunction

- a word that joins clauses together

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connotation

- the associated meanings we have with certain words, depending on the person reading or hearing the word, and on the context in which the word appears

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consonant clusters

- groups of consonants (eg 'str' or 'gl') that demand more muscular control than single consonants or vowels
- tend to appear later in the baby's utterances

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constraints

- linguistic and behavioural restrictions provided by technology

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context

- where, when and how a text is produced or received

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convergence

- where a speaker moves towards another speaker's accent, dialect or sociolect

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cooing

- sounds a baby will make like 'goo' and 'ga-ga'
- generally around the age of 6-8 weeks
- during this period the child is discovering their vocal chords

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coordinate clause

- a clause beginning with a coordinating conjunction and is essentially a main clause joined to another main clause

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coordinating conjunction

- these signal the start of a coordinate clause

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copular verb

- a verb that takes a complement (such as 'seems', or 'appears' or a form of the verb 'to be' - 'is'/'was'/'are')

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corpus

- a collection of written texts

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covert prestige

- describes high social status through use of non-standard forms

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declarative

- a statement
- type of sentence which gives information and where the subject typically comes in front of the verb

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definite article

- 'the'

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deixis

- terms that point towards something and place the words in context

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denotation

- the literal, generally accepted, dictionary definition of the word

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determiner

- words determining the number or status of the noun

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diachronic change

- refers to the study of historical language occurring over a period

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dialect

- a non-standard variety of language, including lexis and grammar, particular to a region

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digital technology

- the technique of storing, transmitting and processing data used for mobile phones and computers etc

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direct object

- the part of the clause that is directly acted upon by the subject

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discourse

- describes the structure of any text (or segment of text) that is longer than a single sentence

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discourse marker

- marks a change in direction in an extended piece of written and spoken text (eg 'nevertheless' or 'to sum up')

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discourse structure

- the way a text is structured, according to the typical features of a text's genre

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dismissal formula

- a device used to close a conversation

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dispreferred response

- a response that is unexpected, although not necessarily rude if phrased appropriately

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divergence

- where a speaker actively distances himself/herself from another speaker by accentuating their own accent or dialect

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downward convergence

- making your accent or lexis more informal

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empirical approach

- gaining knowledge by direct and indirect observation or experience

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estuary english

- a dialect of english that is perceived to have spread outwards from london along the southeast of england
- it has features of received pronunciation and london english

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etymology

- the history of a word
- includes the language it came from, and when it began to be regularly used

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exophoric reference

- a reference to something, often cultural, beyond the text

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extra-linguistic variables

- factors that affect the way you speak (eg age/where you live etc)

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Key Terms

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