English Language AS Level Terms
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Mode
- Means adopted for communication e.g. speech, writing, engraving on a stone
- Tenor/Tone
- Social relationships being enacted. Politeness, degrees of formality and relative status of participants.
- Back channel behaviour/Minimal responses
- Listener does this to encourage speaker to continue - 'Uh huh', 'Mmmm'
- Referential talk
- Giving information or talking about a particular topic
- Lexical
- A verb that gives meaning in a verb phrase, e.g. 'I am COOKING'
- Field
- Activity taking place at the time or the subject matter.
- Expressives
- Speaker expresses an attitude about a state of affairs e.g. 'apologise', 'deplore', 'thank', 'welcome'
- Count nouns
- Names for things which can be counted. Have a plural form. e.g. 'teabag', 'girl', 'child'
- Semantics
- Study of meanings within a text
- Register
- The relationship between the language and its context.
- Directives
- Speaker tries to get a hearer to do something e.g. 'ask', 'challenge', 'command', 'request'
- Fillers
- 'Um', 'Ah', 'Er' - sounds for thinking time
- Vocal effects
- Sounds - sighing, yawning, huffing, laughing, humming
- Auxiliary taboo
- Swearing attatched to something other than a person e.g. 'it's bloody raining'
- Idiolect
- Language use that is typical of a particular person
- Lexis
- Vocabulary
- Connotation
- An association, idea or feeling that is conjured up
- Pauses
- When speaker stops for a breath - expressed as (4) or (.)
- Graphology
- Study of visual features of a text
- Abusive taboo
- Swearing towards another person; derogatory; to offend
- Overlap
- Two people speaking at the same time - can be supportive
- Markers of sympathetic circularity/Hedges
- Speakers does this. 'Well', 'Sort of', 'Kind of', 'Right?', 'You know?'
- Humorous taboo
- Swearing towards another person teasing; can convey a close relationship
- Syllables
- Beats in a word
- Representatives
- Speaker committed to the truth of a proposition - words such as 'affirm', 'believe', 'conclude', 'report' used
- Adjectives
- Words that describe nouns
- Infinitive
- The base form of a verb
- Commissives
- Speaker committed to a certain course of action e.g. 'bet', 'guarantee', 'promise', 'swear'
- Common nouns
- Classify things into types or general categories e.g. 'dog', 'flower', 'aeroplane'
- Taboo
- Forbidden, swearing
- Expletive taboo
- Swearing to express emotion, not directed towards others
- Repetitions
- When speaker says a word or phrase again unplanned
- Intonation
- Tone/Quality of voice
- Declarations
- Speaker alters the status quo by making the utterance e.g. 'I resign', 'you're nicked', 'I name this child'
- Pragmatics
- Study of implicit meanings
- Expressive talk
- Communicating feelings, ideas, emotions and opinions.
- Prescriptivism
- Belief that one type of language is acceptable - judgemental
- Supporting/Following up
- Supports the speaker, following up on the topic
- Prosodic features/Supra-segmentals
- Non-verbal aspects of speech
- Proper nouns
- Names we give to specific people and places. Usually begin with a capital letter. e.g. 'Tony Blair', 'France', 'Cardiff'
- Pace
- How fast
- Pitch
- Low/Medium/High voice
- Semantic field
- Group of words which are related in meaning
- Auxiliary
- Verb that supports the main verbs. Can be used to indicate the time of action. Main ones are 'to be', 'to have' and 'to do'
- Transactional talk
- Interchange between at least two people with purpose of achieving a goal
- Pauses
- Natural breathing spaces
- Non-count nouns
- Names for things [e.g. substances] which cannot be counted e.g. 'bread', 'water', 'flour', 'tea'
- Phonology
- Study of sounds in a language
- Volume
- How loud
- Framing
- Phatic talk, e.g 'hi, how're you?', 'see you soon'
- Focussing
- Focus on initiated conversation
- Initiating
- Starting up a new topic
- Stress
- Emphasis on a word
- Descriptivism
- Belief that all types of language are acceptable - non judgemental
- Grammar
- Organisation of language
- Abstract nouns
- Names we have for ideas, emotions, qualities, processes, occasions and times. Invisible and tangible. e.g. 'joy', 'gentleness', 'wedding'
- Challenging
- Not seeing eye to eye, arguing. Confronting the topic.
- Non-fluency features
- Occur because we seldom plan exactly what we're going to say in advance
- False starts and self corrections
- Start something, stop, change mind
- Verbs
- Words which express actions and states
- Cohesion
- When lexis in a text creates a chain of meanings throughout a text
- Modifiers
- Words that describe a noun that can include adjectives, verbs and nouns themselves
- Phatic talk
- Not necessary, but polite, Makes conversations run smoothly.
- Interruption
- Cutting someone off
- Discourse
- Language of a particular field
- Sociolect
- The variety of language that is typically used by the members of a particular social group
- Concrete nouns
- Words for things which are visible and tangible e.g. 'potato', 'house', 'fox'
- Paralinguistic features
- Body language - shrugging, facial expressions
- Denotation
- Literal meaning of a word as it appears in the dictionary