Glossary

AAL – African American Languages

accent -A way of describing the set of features which characterise a speaker’s language. Accent is about pronunciation and may provide social or regional information. See also dialect.

accommodation - adjusting the way one speaks to be more like a real or imagined interlocutor.

active and passive – verbs can be in the active or passive form. This changes the location of the agent of the verb. In active constructions, the Agent is first; in passive constructions the Agent is last and can be deleted. ‘Fido at the biscuit’ is active; ‘The biscuit was eaten by Fido’ is passive.

address forms – a word or phrase used when speaking to a person in order to identify them. The form used depends on the context and the relationship between the two people. Address forms include titles like ‘Mr’ and ‘Ma’am’ and also less formal terms like ‘darling’ or ‘mate’.

adjective – words used to modify a noun or provide further information about it. For example, the underlined terms are adjectives: ‘the hungry dog’ or ‘the intelligent woman’.

affective – related to affect, that is, emotion. Tag questions may have an affective function, that is, to signal concern for another speaker or invite them to participate in a conversation.

agency/agentive – Agency can describe the role of the Agent in a sentence (see active/passive). It can also be used to describe the power people have over particular actions, events or processes.

asynchronous communication – communication that takes place when interlocutors are not present in the same temporal location. In asynchronous communication there is a lag between turns. Letter writing and email are asynchronous. See also synchronous communication.

asymmetry/asymmetrical see symmetry.

 

back channel support – the practices that listeners engage in to display they are paying attention to a speaker. This includes nodding, facial expressions and minimal responses.

bilingual – strictly, having two (bi-) languages; but also used for someone who speaks more than one language

binomial – a noun phrase that consists of two nouns placed together, usually separated by ‘and’. For example, ‘fish and chips’ is a binomial.

child directed language (CDL) – Language used by adults to speak to children.  CDL is characterised by slower and more explicit language that is perceived to facilitate language acquisition.

closed question – a question with a small number of answers predetermined by the form of the question. Questions that require a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response are closed questions. This contrasts with open questions which often begin with ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’.

code - a general term that may refer to a language (linguistic code) or any other semiotic code, including colour, typeface, dress and so on.

code switching – when a speaker changes from one language or variety to another. This may occur in a variety of linguistic contexts such a word, phrase or a longer stretch of talk.

collocation/collocate - combinations of words that frequently appear together such as ‘salt and pepper, often in a noun phrase. Frequent collocations can indicate the connotations of a word, and other associations.

communicative competence – in contrast to competence and performance, communicative competence is the knowledge a speaker uses to construct utterances that are appropriate for a particular speech community.

community of practice – a group of people who come together for a common aim or activity. Communities of practice often develop their own ways of using language. Sociolinguistics has taken up this model of interaction to examine local language use.

competence and performance – competence is knowledge of the rules of a language, its syntax, semantics and so on. Performance is actual use of the language, how competence is exploited. See also communicative competence

connotations - the associations of word, over and above its denotative meaning.

corpus – in linguistics, a collection of texts. Corpus linguists examine large volumes of text using automated tools in order to discern patterns of language use. A corpus may be general (like the British National Corpus) or it may contain specific kinds of texts.

covert prestige – the assignment of positive value to a language or variety that exists only within a particular group.  A variety that has covert prestige is valued within the community is it used but not the wider community. See also overt prestige.

creole – a language that has emerged from two or more languages in contact.  In contrast to a pidgin, a creole functions as a first language for its speakers.

crossing – the use of a language variety by a person who is not a member of that variety’s speech community in order to express a particular attitude stance.

cultural capital see symbolic capital

deictic – a word that depends on context in order to communicate meaning. Common deictics include ‘here’ and ‘there’. A physical sign may also perform deictic functions by pointing to something. This relies on spatial context.

denotation – the literal meaning of something, that is, what a term refers to. See also connotation.

density see social networks

descriptive/description – the approach to language that seeks to describe the features of language as it is used by speakers rather than to prescribe the form that should be used. See prescriptivist.

diachronic – examining a situation as it changes over time. See also synchronic.

dialect- a way of describing the varying features (e.g. syntactic, phonological, lexical) of a language. Dialects may be linked to region, social group or other identity. See also variety.

discourse – at term used in linguistics with a range of meanings.  Firstly it refers to various forms of communication such as conversation among people written texts, and the like. Secondly, it refers to the ideology that underpins a text.  For example, ‘the discourse of romantic love’ refers to a set of ideas about behaviour and conduct relating to love.  Further, it refers to even larger ideological structures that are referred to as ‘dominant’ discourses.

discourse marker – a word whose function is to structure speech rather than provide meaning. ‘So’, ‘well’, ‘now’, ‘really’ and the like are all discourse markers.

epistemic – related to knowledge or certainty. Tag questions may function as epietsmic markers (signalling that someone is checking knowledge). Verbs may express levels I certainty (‘I think they were there’ vs ‘I know they were there’)

epistemic modal forms – a form of modal auxiliary verb that expresses uncertainty.

ethnographic – a research methodology which seeks to describe a particular society or event trough such methods as participant observation and interviews, usually over a long period of time.

ethos – one of three persuasive strategies. Ethos involves appealing to or relying on the credibility, status or reliability of the speaker. See also pathos and logos.

euphemism –a word to refer to something unpleasant or offensive in a more appealing or positive way. Dysphemism does the opposite, making something pleasant seem unappealing.

foreground – to draw attention to something; this is a visual metaphor, that is, something that is put in the foreground is made more prominent. This can also be done linguistically, through the use of marked terms, stress in speech or other modes of emphasis.

given information – in contrast to new information, given information has already been explicitly introduced in a text or is assumed by other structures. See also presupposition.

hedges - linguistic devices or forms that minimise at utterance in some way. This may take the form of epistemic modals, tag questions or other discourse markers. For example, one might say ‘I think she arrived’ to hedge the claim that she did in fact arrive.

hegemonic (adj) /hegemony (n)– refers to the social, political or cultural dominance of one group or ideology.

ideology – an organised collection of values or beliefs.

imperative –a verb form, which is both a command and the simplest verb form in English. ‘Come!’ or ‘Speak!’ are both imperative forms.

imply, to – a way of communicating something without directly saying it. This is very similar to pragmatic presupposition.

index – to point to something. A pronoun indexes a person – it points to a person. Texts, discourses can also point to an ideology, that is, we can see evidence of the ideology in the text. This latter meaning has become common in linguistics in recent years.

interlocutor – another way of describing an addressee.

interruption – variously defined as simultaneous speech and an utterance that stops the interrupted person speaking.

intertextuality – generally used to refer to the referencing of or allusion to one text by another. This may be done by obvious quotation, parody or borrowing a textual feature readily associated with another text.

intransitive – see transitive.

L1 and L2 – an abbreviation for Language 1 and Language 2, that is, a person’s first language (L1) and their second language (L2).

langue - the language system or building codes, according to Saussure. The language people actually produce depends on langue, but is called parole.

lexical item – a term used by linguists to refer to ‘a word’.

lexicographer – a person who documents the changing meaning of works in a language and writes dictionaries.
life stage (perspective)– this perspective considers age as defined by the various periods that people pass through as they get older rather than as determined by how old a person is in years.

liminal – a space or time that is between one thing and the other. An entrance may be a liminal space; it is neither completely inside nor completely outside.

lingua franca –  A language that is not native to either speaker or listener but is used for communication.

linguistic determinism/relativism – also known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, this is the idea that language influences thought. The strong version, linguistic determinism, holds that a person cannot conceive of things that are not expressed by their language. The weaker, and more accepted version, suggests that people are influenced by things that are expressed by their language.

linguistic imperialism - is the imposition of one culture’s language upon another culture.

linguistic insecurity – refers to the belief that one’s own language variety is somehow inferior to others, especially standard varieties.

linguistic market –The linguistic market can be understood as a metaphoric ‘market’ where people can ‘spend and trade’ their social/cultural capital. Integral to this metaphor is the metaphoric value of a particular language variety that is allocated according to the social/cultural capital that the variety is associated with. 

linguistic variable: a linguistic feature (phoneme, morpheme, lexeme, and so on), which has identifiable alternative form which means the same thing but is associated with varying non-linguistic meaning. Negation in English, for example can be expressed in different ways and these differences convey meanings to the interlocutor in addition to the negation (e.g. I have no money and I ain’t got no money).

linguistic subordination –The devaluation or stigmatization of language used by less powerful groups

linguistic variation – refers to the inevitable differences across and within languages and dialects.

literacy – usually used to refer to the ability to read and write but can also be used to describe the ability to interpret and produce different kinds of texts and semiotic codes.

logos – one of three persuasive strategies. Logos involves appealing to or relying on the logic of an argument, including the use of verifiable facts. See also ethos and pathos.

marked - generally speaking, ‘marked’ means noticeably unusual. More specifically, linguistic forms that are marked reflect a deviation from what is perceived as the norm. This deviation can be signalled in a variety of ways (e.g. morphemically, lexically). Unmarked linguistic forms are neutral in so far as they represent the perceived ‘norm’. For example, the unmarked form nurse is often assumed to refer to a woman. To refer to a nurse who is a man, the additional term male is often added: male nurse (the marked form).

metalinguistic (adj)/metalingual (n.) -  literally, above (meta-) the linguistic, thus, the metalingual function of language describes how language can be used to talk about language. It is common when dealing with comprehension issues.

metaphor/metaphorical a metaphor is a type of figurative way of describing something by comparing it to something else.  It may be compared to something abstract or concrete. Unlike simile, metaphorical expressions make an implicit comparison. Metaphors have the structure ‘x is y’ as in ‘John is a bear’. It should be noted that metaphors in Lakoff and Johnson’s model (1980) are slightly different as it refers to metaphors that exist at a cognitive level and result in metaphorical expressions in language. For example, the metaphor used in the phrase ‘Bob attacked Jane’s statement’ is understood because of the existence of an unspoken cognitive metaphor ‘argument is war’.

minimal responses – in conversations, the contributions that speakers make to show that they agree or that they are listening; for example, ‘mm hm’, ‘yeah’ and so on. See also back channel support.

modal auxiliary verb - the modal auxiliary verbs of English include ‘will’, ‘shall’, ‘can’, ‘may’ and so on. Modal auxiliaries have several meaning functions, including the indication of certainty or uncertainty (epistemic modality).  For example, compare ‘I will be coming’ and ‘I may be coming. Tag questions (‘isn’t it?’) may also have a modal function, and express uncertainty.

modality –  this refers to the different possible modes of communication, including speech, writing and visual modes including sign language. The term is also used to discuss texts which combine modalities in ‘mutli-modal’ texts which are common in Computer Mediated Communication.

morphology – refers to the function and forms of morphemes, the smallest meaningful parts of language.

multimodal – see modality.

multiple negation – refers to the use of more than one form of negation in an expression in English.  For example, the phrase I didn’t eat anything has one negative form (didn’t) while the phrase I didn’t eat nothing has two (didn’t  and  nothing).  Multiple negation is also referred to as ‘double negatives’.  Prescriptivists argue that multiple negation is non-standard.

narrative – ‘narrative’ may be used in different ways. In sociolinguistics, it generally refers to a text (written or spoken) which relates events, in the past tense, with a temporal relationship between them. For example, ‘Tom went out. Tom came back’ is a a minimal narrative. Both clauses are in the past tense, and the ordering suggests he first went out and then came back. Narrative can also be used as a partial synonym for discourse.

new information – something used for the first time in a text. See also given information.

nominalization- the process of making a noun from another kind of word. Nominalizations may have the suffix ‘-tion’ or ‘-ness’. For example, ‘facilitation’ is a nominalization of the verb ‘to facilitate’; and ‘cleverness’ nominalises the adjective ‘clever’.

noun phrase – a term that linguists use to refer to a noun.  A noun phrase may be consist of a noun and other words such as the and blue in the blue book, or it may be ‘bare’ such as book.

overlap –an overlap is an instance of simultaneous talk which does not result in a speaker stopping what they were saying; it is distinct from interruption.

overt prestige – the positive value overtly associated with linguistic forms of language through the public acknowledgement of them as 'correct' by users. See also covert prestige

paradigmatic –The paradigmatic axis of language refers to the notion that words that are used are chosen from among all possible choices and, such choices can be said to be meaningful. For example, to call a woman a ‘girl’ rather than a ‘lady’ depicts her as young. This is part of the structuralist view of language. See also syntagmatic.

parallelism – when there is the same or similar syntactic structure in two or more parts of a text. This similarity asks the reader to understand the two parts in relation to each other. This is a stylistic choice common in persuasive speech.

parole- the language we actually produce, according to Saussure. Parole acts depend on langue.

passive voice see active voice.

pathos – one of three persuasive strategies. Pathos involves appealing to or relying on the emotion. See also ethos and logos.

performance – see competence

personification – to describe an entity that is not a person as though it is a person. For example, the weather may be described as ‘angry’ attributing it human emotions and thus personifying the weather.

phatic – one of Jakobson’s six functions of language. The phatic function involves building or sustaining relationships. ‘Small talk’ is an example of the phatic function of language.

phonetics/phonetic - the study of individual speech sounds. This includes attention to how these sounds are made as well as to variation among speakers with respect to these sounds.

phonology/phonological - phonology is the study of the organisation of sounds, or sound systems, of languages.

plexity see social networks

pragmatic presupposition see presupposition

prescription/prescriptivist – the belief/people that believe that there is a ‘correct’ form of the language, including specific syntactic and semantic rules that should be followed.ideolog

presupposition- there are two kinds of presupposition. Semantic presupposition is embedded in an utterance or phrase and remains true even if the utterance is negated. For example, ‘My mother is coming to the party’ presupposes that I have a mother and there is a party. Pragmatic presupposition is something that is implied by the utterance. For example, ‘I forgot my umbrella’ implies that it is raining.

problem-solution structure – a textual structure that is based on the idea that once a problem has been identified, a solution should follow.  This is a common structure in advertising discourse.

pronoun- a class of words which can replace a noun or noun phrase in a sentence. Pronouns in English include ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘she’, ‘her’ and so on.

repetition – a particular kind of parallelism where content is repeated.

rhoticity- refers to the ‘r’ sound in language.  For example, in the English language, the word fourth has an ‘r’ after a vowel sound.  This linguistic variable is relevant to the concept of language variety because some varieties of English pronounce this ‘r’ (e.g. US English) while others don’t (e.g. UK English).  Thus a rhotic variety pronounces the ‘r’ while a non-rhotic variety does not. In addition, this linguistic variable is associated with language ideology because it has different values associated with it. 

semantic derogation - process in which, over time, a word can take on a second or new meaning and/or connotations which are negative or demeaning. For example, the word spinster in English referred to a profession, spinning yarn, in the 14th century. In modern English, it is a negative word that refers to an older woman who is not married.

semantic presupposition see presupposition

semantics – the study of the meaning of words.

semiotic – something that is meaningful as a sign; semiotics is the study of signs. Language is a semiotic, but so too are colours, typefaces, layout and so on.

sexism -  the unequal treatment of people on the basis of their sex.

shared floor – in conversations, if more than one person is allowed to speak at a time it an be described as a shared (conversational) floor. The norm is generally considered to be the one-at-a-time floor where only one speaker has speaking rights at any given moment.

sign- the combination of the signifier and the signified. The relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.

signified – the concept represented by the sign.

signifier – the form representing the sign.

simile - an explicit comparison made between two things usually employing the word ‘like’. For example, ‘her eyes are like stars’ is a simile. In contrast, ‘her eyes are stars’ is a metaphor.

social network – a way of describing a person’s social connections in a community in terms of the type and frequency of interactions they have with other members. Relations can be described in terms of plexity (uniplex or multiplex) and density (dense or loose).  For example, if A is a work associate and cousin of B, their relationship is multiplex because they know each other in more than one capacity. If they only know each other in one context, their relationship is uniplex. Density refers to the relationships between members of a particular person’s network. If many members of A’s network know one another, A’s network is dense. If very few people in A’s network know one another, A’s network is loose.

standard language – refers to the variety of language that is perceived to be the most correct version of that community’s language.  The definition of ‘correct’ varies according to the community, thus, there is not a single standard variety of a language.

stratified/stratification - division into layers, where a layer can be ‘above’ or ‘below’ another layer. In terms of social stratification, people in any one layer share certain social characteristics and are ‘equals’ but differ from and are not ‘equal’ to people in other layers. One example of social stratification by social class is: upper, middle and lower or ‘working’ class.

structuralism – for linguistics, the idea that the system of signs is structured, and that the meaning of signs depends on their position relative to other signs.

style – a particular meaning conveyed by the use of a set of linguistic forms that are associated with that meaning.

symbolic capital – symbolic (or cultural) capital refers to intangible assets that individuals accumulate or inherit which, like real capital (money), can be used to procure things.  Such intangible assess might take the form of self-presentation, language, relationships, education and so on. In this book, we use ‘symbolic capital’ to include cultural and social capital. See also linguistic market.

symmetry - as used in linguistics, symmetry refers to a balanced distribution of related expressions. For example, standard English shows symmetry between the first person singular and plural pronouns I/we, that is, there is a different pronoun for singular and plural. However, the relationship of second person singular and plural pronouns is not symmetrical. There is only one second person pronoun, you and it has a singular meaning. There is no second person plural pronoun in ‘standard’ English (note that many varieties of English have resolved this asymmetry with forms such as y’all and youse). Asymmetry can be seen lexical relationships as well. For example, address forms for women Mrs, Miss and Ms while there is only Mr for men.

synchronic –to examine something at a particular point in time. See also diachronic.

synchronous communication – communication that happens when both interlocutors are in the same time frame. A face to face conversation is synchronous communication. See also asynchronous communication.

syntagmatic – as opposed to paradigmatic. The syntagmatic axis of language describes the way words are ordered in relation to each other, from left to right.

syntax - describes the rules and structures of a language at the level of clauses, phrases and sentences (i.e. word order). Different languages have different syntactic ‘rules’. In English, for example, the typical word order is Subject-Verb-Object.

tag questions – a question that is added to the end of a declarative statement that turns the statement into a question.  For example the addition of isn’t it? to the end of the statement the weather is nice results in the question the weather is nice, isn’t it?.

text – text may refer to a piece of writing, a spoken utterance (especially an extended one) or an act of computer mediated communication. ‘Text’ provides a single word to refer to a piece of language in a range of modalities.

three part list – a common feature of persuasive language. This is a particular form of parallelism involving three components. For example, ‘ready, willing and able’ is a three part list.

transitive – a type of verb. A transitive verb requires a direct object in order to make sense, whereas an intransitive verb does not. For example, the verb to buy does not make sense without an object; Frank bought is meaningless but . Frank bought a book is meaningful.  An intransitive verb such as vote does not need a direct object to make sense: Sarah voted.

transitivity analysis (model) – a way of analysing the structure of sentences that includes semantics as well as syntactic structure. It is considers the actors, their actions, and the objects of their actions rather than only the positions of nouns, verbs and other parts of speech.

turn/turn taking – a turn is a contribution to a conversation; turn taking describes the way these conversational contributions are ordered, that is, who is allowed to speak and when.

unmarked see marked.

variety – a form of language used by a group of speakers; although similar to the term ‘dialect’ ‘variety’ is preferred because it avoids the negative associations of ‘dialect’.

vocative - The vocative case is a grammaticalisation of socially directed speech. It is a special marker that tells the named person they are being searched for or spoken to.