English Language Glossary

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Abstract Noun

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A NOUN that refers to a concept, state, quality or emotion.

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Accent

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The distinctive way a speaker from a particular region pronounces words

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Acronym

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A new word made from the initial letters of all the words in a name or phrase e.g. NASA

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Active voice

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When the SUBJECT of the sentence is directly performing the VERB. e.g Steve burst the bubble

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Adjacency pair

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Dialogue that follows a set pattern, e.g. when speakers greet each other

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Adjective

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A class of words that can appear before or after a NOUN to describe it. e.g pretty

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Adverb

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A class of words that modify VERBS according to time, place, manner, frequency, duration or degree. Tehy can also sometimes modify nouns and adjectives too.

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Affixation

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The process of adding an affix before (prefix) or after (suffix) an existing word to change either its meaning or grammatical function.

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Alliteration

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When two or more words close to each other in a PHRASE begin with the same sound, e.g down in the dumps.

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Allusion

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When a text or speaker refers to a saying, idea etc outside the text or conversation.

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Amelioration

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When a word develops a more positive meaning over time.

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Anaphoric reference

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When a word, usually a pronoun, refers back to something or someone that has already been mentioned. e.g. Barry can't come because he's ill.

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Antithesis

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Type of rhetorical language where contrasting ideas or words are balanced against each other.

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Antonyms

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Words with opposite meanings

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Archaism

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An old fashioned word or phrase that isn't used in present day english

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Assimilation

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When sounds next to each other in a spoken word or sentence are pronounded in a different way from normal to make them easier to say.

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Assonance

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When the main vowel sounds of two or more words that are close together in a text are similar or the same, e.g low smoky holes

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Auxiliary verbs

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Verbs used before the main very in a sentence to give extra information about it.

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Babbling

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The production of short vowel/cononant combinations by a baby acquiring langauge

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Behaviourism

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A theory of language acquisition that suggests children learn language through a process of imitation and reinforcement

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Bidialectism

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The ability of speakers to switch between two dialect forms, the most common being between Standard English and a speakers regional variety

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Blending

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When parts of two words are combined to make a new one

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Borrowing

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When words from one language fall into common usage in another as a result of contact

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Broadening

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When a word that has quite a specific meaning becomes more general over time. ( also called expansion or extension).

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Cataphora

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A reference in a text to something that follows in later phrases or sentences e.g These are the directions...

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Characterisation

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The way that a writer conveys information about a character relating to their appearance, speech etc.

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Child directed speech ( CDS)

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The way that caregivers talk to children - usually in simplified and / or exaggerated language.

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Clause

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The simplest meaningful unit of a sentence

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Cliche

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A expression that has lost its novelty value due to being overused

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Clipping

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When a shortened version of a word becomes a word in its own right. e.g demo, phone.

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Cluster reduction

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When a child only pronounces on consonant from a consonant cluster, e.g saying pay instead of play

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Cognitive Theory

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A theory of language acquisition that suggest children need to have developed certain mental abilities before they can acquire language

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Cohesion

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The linking of ideas in texts to ensure the text makes sense

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Coining

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The general term for creating new words

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Collective noun

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A noun that refers to a group of people, animals or things, e.g team

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Collocation

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Words that commonly appear together in order, in specific lexical units, e.g done and dusted.

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Colloquialism

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An informal word or phrase that wouldn't usually be used in formal written english e.g how's it going, mate?

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Common noun

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A noun that refers to a class of things or a concept. Every noun is a common noun expect those that refer to unique things, e.g the names of particular people or places.

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Comparative

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An adjective that makes a degree of comparison, normally by adding an -er suffix e.g fastER

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Complement

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A word or phrase that gives more information about the subject or object in a sentence e.g the boy is actually a cow

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Compound

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A new word created by combining two or more existing words e.g skyscraper or postbox

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Concrete noun

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A noun that refers to things you can physically touch or see e.g chair

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Conjunction

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A linking word that connects phrases and clauses to each other to form sentences, e.g but.

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Connotation

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The associations that are made with a particular word

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Context

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The circumstances that surround a word, phrase or text, e.g time and place produced, intended audience

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Contraction

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A word that's formed by shortening and combining two or more words, e.g can't or might've

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Conversion

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When a word becomes part of a different word class in addition to its original sense e.g text is now both a noun and a verb

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Cooing

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The earliest sounds children are able to make as they experiment with moving their lips and tongue

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Coordinate clause

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An independent clause thats linked to another independent clause in the same sentence.

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Coordinating conjunction

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A linking word like and, but and or that connects independent phrases and clauses to each other e.g he was handsome and she was jolly

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Count noun

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A noun that can be preceded by a number and counted, e.g one book, two books etc.

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Critical Period Hypothesis

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A theory popularised by Lenneberg (1967), which states that if a child does not have any linguistic interaction before the ages of 5 - 6, their language development will be severely limited.

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Declarative Sentence

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A sentence that makes a statement to give information, e.g she enjoyed her scampi

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Deixis

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A reference to something outside of the text or conversation, e.g (location, time) that cant be understood unless you know the context.

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Deletion

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When a child misses out consonants in words, e.g saying sto instead of stop.

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Demonstrative

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Words that refer to specific objects that nly those involved in the discourse can see. They can be pronouns e.g, I like THIS or adjectives, e.g I like THIS bike

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Denotation

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The literal meaning of a word.

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Descriptivism

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The attitude that no use of language is incorrect and that variation should be acknowledged and recorded rather than corrected.

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Determiner

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A word that goes before a noun to show possession or number. ( e.g his, two)

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Dialect

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The distinctive lexis, grammar and pronunciation of a person's spoken english, usually affected by the region they're from and their social background.

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Dialect levelling

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A process of language contact where differences between dialects in proximity to each other are gradually lost.

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Dialogue

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Any exchange between two or more characters or speakers

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Difference model

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Tannen's (1990) theory about gender and conversation which states that men and women have different objectives when they interact.

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Discourse

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An extended piece of written or spoken language

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Dominance Model

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Zimmerman and West's (1975) theory that gender differences in conversations reflect male dominance in society.

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Elision

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When sounds or syllables are left out in speech to make pronunciation easier and quicker. They end up sounding like they're slurred together e.g d'ya instead of do you

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Ellipses

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When part of a grammatical structure is left out of the sentence without affecting the meaning.

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Euphemism

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A word or phrase that is used as a substitute for harsher or more unpleasant sounding words or concepts i.e he passed away rather than he died.

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Exclamative

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A sentence that has an expressive function and ends with an exclamation mark.

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Exophoric Reference

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Referring to something outside a text, e.g that tree over there

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Figurative lexis

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language is used in a non literal way to create images and form comparisons

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Filler

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a sound produced bys peakers to keep a conversation going and avoid silence e.g mm

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Fricative

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A group of consonant sounds in english produced by forcing air through a restricted passage ( e.g between lips or teeth )

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Generic term

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A marked term that is used to refer to men and women e.g chairman

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Genre

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A group of texts with a particular form or purpose. e.g letters, poems, adverts

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Grammar

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The system of rules that governs how words, clauses and sentences are put together

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Grapheme

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The smallest unit of writing that can create contrasts in meaning, e.g. individual letters or symbols

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Graphology

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The study of the appearance of a text, how it looks on the page and how the layout helps to get the meaning across.

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Hedging

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Word choices that show uncertainty in conversations. e.g. probably, maybe

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Holophrase

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In language aquisition, a single word that expresses a complete idea, e.g ball, which could mean the child wants it, or has found it, etc. Caregivers need contextual clues to interpret holophrases.

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Hyperbole

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When exaggeration is used for effect

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Hypernym

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A general word that is a term for many hyponyms e.g vehicle is a hypernym of car, bus, lorry etc.

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Ideology

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A set of ideas and beliefs

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Idiolect

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An individuals accent and dialect features, which are a result of their personal upbringing and experiences