E303 Book 2 - Key Terms

Front 1

systemic functional linguistics

Back 1

Specifically, SFL proposes that the style of language used will reflect, or be influenced by (a) field (b) tenor (c) mode

Front 2

experiential

Back 2

elements related to field (subject matter/domain of experience)

Front 3

interpersonal

Back 3

related to tenor (social roles and relationships)

Front 4

textual

Back 4

related to mode (nature of text as communicative event)

Front 5

relative social status

Back 5

Equality/Inequality

Front 6

Shared Situation

Back 6

speakers can refer to that situation with third-person pronouns without being explicit about the intended meaning

Front 7

Spontaneity

Back 7

Is text pre scripted or spontaneous

Front 8

interactivity

Back 8

The level of interaction between a writer/speaker in a text with other participants or readers and the nature of the interaction

Front 9

semantic domain

Back 9

The type of topic or Genre - ie Medicine

Front 10

synthetic personalisation

Back 10

Where a jounalist writes for a mass unknown audience but uses language that is associated more with contexts of familarity

Front 11

classifier

Back 11

An element of the NOUN PHRASE indicating the class or category of the HEAD word. It answers the question ‘What type is it?’ and is typically realised by a noun (an oil painting)oran adjective (solar energy).

Front 12

collocation

Back 12

The tendency for two or more words to occur within a short distance of each other. A combination of LEXICAL WORDS that frequently occur together in TEXTS (little + baby, small + amount, make +[a]+ mistake).

Front 13

describer

Back 13

A describer (or epithet)isan element of the NOUN PHRASE that describes some attribute or quality of the HEAD word. It answers the question ‘What is it like?’ and is typically realised by an adjective (this nebulous picture, a blue haziness). DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR 1 Aims to describe the way

Front 14

determiner

Back 14

A FUNCTION WORD that specifies the kind of REFERENCE a noun has, e.g. definite (the walls, those experiences), indefinite (a bell), negative (no time).

Front 15

head

Back 15

The required element in any PHRASE; e.g. a NOUN PHRASE has a noun (or PRONOUN) as the head (the standard rules of behaviour).
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Front 16

nominalisation

Back 16

When events and qualities are represented as THINGS, using an abstract noun instead of a verb or adjective (submit → submission, free → freedom).

Front 17

numerative

Back 17

An element of the NOUN PHRASE that indicates some numerical feature of the HEAD word, such as number, quantity or order (several pages, a gallon of water, the last bus).

Front 18

qualifier

Back 18

Any element in the NOUN PHRASE that follows the HEAD word (the man in the moon, the lady I bought the dog from). Also known as a POSTMODIFIER.

Front 19

rank scale

Back 19

The rank system (or rank scale) is a hierarchy of the constituents of grammar: MORPHEMES combine to form words; words combine to form PHRASES; and phrases combine to form CLAUSES.

Front 20

congruent

Back 20

A grammatical form is congruent when it encodes EXPERIENCE in the most natural way, with nouns for PARTICIPANTS, verbs for PROCESSES, adverbs and PREPOSITION PHRASES for CIRCUMSTANCES, and CONJUNCTIONS for relations between processes

Front 21

deictic

Back 21

From the noun DEIXIS. Deictic words point to the situation in which the speaker is speaking (this, those, here, then). In a NOUN PHRASE, the DETERMINER has a deictic function.

Front 22

polar interrogative

Back 22

An interrogative that requires a yes or no answer (Did you come by bus?).

Front 23

productive

Back 23

A productive pattern is one that can be widely used. A premodifying noun is said to be productive if it can be combined with many other nouns (headache, headboard, headland, headline, head man, head office, headroom, headstone

Front 24

relator

Back 24

Expresses a relation between CLAUSES, and is realised grammatically by a CONJUNCTION

Front 25

rheme

Back 25

The part of a CLAUSE which is not the THEME (The meeting’s been cancelled).

Front 26

thematise

Back 26

A thematised element is one that has been placed in initial position in the CLAUSE.

Front 27

theme

Back 27

The departure point of a CLAUSE, realised in English by the part of the clause up to and including the first EXPERIENTIAL element (The meeting’s been cancelled). See also RHEME.

Front 28

unmarked theme

Back 28

Typically in a declarative clause the subject and the theme are the same, but often speakers/writers vary this expected or unmarked starting point to achieve a variety of effects

Front 29

wh-interrogative

Back 29

An INTERROGATIVE with a wh-question word like what, why, where, when or how (What are you eating?).

Front 30

Thing

Back 30

The noun or PRONOUN that forms the semantic core of the NOUN PHRASE. Also known as the HEAD of the noun phrase.

Front 31

intensifier

Back 31

An adverb used to intensify meaning (very late, awfully hungry). Also known as an AMPLIFIER.

Front 32

interrogative

Back 32

A CLAUSE where the AUXILIARY VERB comes before the SUBJECT; typically used for questions (Did they take the wrong turn? Is the battery running out?).

Front 33

modal finite (modal verb)

Back 33

An AUXILIARY VERB used to express MODALITY (He may be out. You can’t smoke here). Also known as MODAL VERBS.

Front 34

Word Frequency

Back 34

what words are common

Front 35

persona

Back 35

The way that individual writers represent themselves within a TEXT