Shortened form of a word or phrase, e.g. 'ad' from 'advertisement'
abbreviation
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Specialist vocabulary associated with a particular occupation or activity
jargon
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adding a group of letters to an existing word in the form of a prefix or suffix
affixes
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process in which words are shortened and then compounded
blends
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process in which words are combined to form a new, larger word or expression
compounds
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refers to the creation of words that are completely new
coinage
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informal speech, often to the point of being racy, rebellious and subversive
slang
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A group of wrods that usually go together, e.g. 'heavy rain'
collocations
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A particular kind of shortening in which a word of one type is shortened to form a word of another type, e.g. 'edit' from 'editor'
back formation
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words borrowed from other languages
borrowings
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When people's accents converge it is known as...
accent levelling
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When people's accents diverge it is known as...
accent strengthening
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accents that originated in London and the South East, which have now spread outwards to several other parts of the country
estuary english
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An approach to the study of language that favours the rules identifying correct and incorrect language use
prescriptivism
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An approach to the study of language that describes how language is used by does not judge language as correct or incorrect
descriptivism
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A trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity and impact by long overuse, e.g. ‘As strong as an ox’
cliche
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The avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against
political correctness
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Refers to words losing over time some of their original force or strength, e.g. ‘soon’ now means in the near future but used to mean ‘immediately’
weakening
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common phrase that has a meaning not deducible from the individual words, e.g. ‘jump the gun’
idiom
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The meaning of the word narrows so that it includes fewer objects/ideas, e.g. ‘weed’ used to mean any plant.
narrowing
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The meaning of the word broadens to include more objects/ideas, e.g. ‘butcher’ once meant slaughterer of goats
broadening
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The meaning of the word is more positive than the original, e.g. ‘pretty’ used to mean ‘cunning’ or ‘crafty’
amelioration
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Shift of meaning or ‘functional shift’ in which the words change their ‘class’, e.g. ‘text’ (noun) and ‘to text’ (verb)
semantic shift
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Meaning becomes more negative, e.g. ‘wench’ used to mean ‘girl’
pejoration
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Making all variations of language conform to the 'correct' usage language
standardisation
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A letter or group of letters at the end of a word serving a grammatical function
inflections
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words clipped down to shortened forms, e.g. 'telly'
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