Language+Terms

Glossary of Language Terms

letter(s) or shortened word used instead of a full word or phrase the features of pronunciation which indicate the regional or the social identity of a speaker the process by which language skills are developed – particularly in infancy a word which modifies a noun or a pronoun (happy, sad, tall, short) a word which modifies a verb, an adverb, or an adjective (slowly, quickly, happily, reluctantly) the grammatical logic and coherence between parts of a sentence the repetition of consonant sounds – usually at the beginning of words a raised comma used to denote either possession or contraction a word that specifies whether a noun is definite or indefinite (a, an, the) the repetition of vowel sounds the person or persons receiving a speech or piece of writing Curved or square punctuation marks enclosing words inserted into a text Upper-case letters used to indicate names, titles, and important words a structural unit of language which is smaller than the sentence but larger than phrases or words, and which contains a finite verb an over-used phrase or expression a punctuation mark indicating a pause ranking between a semicolon and a full stop a punctuation mark indicating a short pause in a sentence a word which connects words or other constructions an alphabetic element other than a vowel the setting in which speech or writing takes place a form of speech peculiar to a district, class, or person the existence of two official languages in a society two vowel characters representing the sound of a single vowel the omission of words from a sentence expressive use language in non-literal form to produce striking effect the outward appearance or structure of language, as opposed to its function, meaning, or social use a punctuation mark indicating the end of a sentence the role language plays to express ideas or attitudes the study of sentence structure, especially with reference to syntax and semantics the smallest unit in the writing system of a language the study of writing systems words with the same spelling but with different meanings a short horizontal mark used to connect words or syllables, or to divide words into parts a sequence of words which forms a whole unit of meaning (Hold your horses!) saying [or writing] one thing, whilst meaning the opposite the use of pitch in speech to create contrast and variation the technical language of an occupation or group the development and changes in a language the vocabulary of a language, especially in dictionary form a figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another a figure of speech in which an attribute is substituted for the whole the smallest unit of meaning in grammar a branch of grammar which studies the structure of words the person (named or unknown) who is telling a story a word which names an object (a person, place or thing) a word that sounds like the thing it describes a figure of speech which yokes two contradictory terms a figure of speech in which an apparent contradiction contains a truth a distinct passage of writing which is unified by an idea or a topic a word, clause or even sentence which is inserted into a sentence to which it does not grammatically belong a word derived from a verb and used as an adjective or a noun the study of the production, transmission, and reception of speech sounds a study of the sounds in any language a group of words, smaller than a clause, which forms a grammatical unit a term from literary studies which describes the perspective or source of a piece of writing a word which governs and typically precedes a noun or a pronoun a word that can substitute for a noun or a noun phrase a system of marks used to introduce pauses and interruption into writing the regionally neutral, prestige accent of British English the study of linguistic meaning a punctuation mark which indicates a pause longer than a comma, but shorter than a colon a set of words which form a grammatically complete statement, usually containing a subject, verb, and object a figure of speech in which one thing is directly likened to another (You walk like a snail) informal, non-standard vocabulary the oral medium of transmission for language the convention governing the representation of words by letters in writing systems a dialect representing English speech and writing comprehensible to most users the arrangement of parts or ideas in a piece of writing aspects of writing (or speech) which have an identifiable character generally used in a positive sense to indicate ‘pleasing effects’ the study of stylistic effects in writing an object which represents something other than its self a word which means (almost) the same as another (happy, content) the arrangement of words to show relationships of meaning within a sentence the form taken by a verb to indicate time (as in past-present-future) any piece of writing or object being studied an author’s or speaker’s attitude, as revealed in ‘quality of voice’ or ’selection of language’ a term expressing an action or a state of being the particular selection or types of words chosen in speech or writing the open sounds made in speech – as (mainly) distinct from consonants the use of visual symbols to represent words which act as a code for communication
 * Abbreviations**
 * Accent**
 * Acquisition**
 * Adjectives**
 * Adverbs**
 * Agreement**
 * Alliteration**
 * Apostrophes**
 * Articles**
 * Assonance**
 * Audience**
 * Brackets**
 * Capitals**
 * Clauses**
 * Cliché**
 * Colons**
 * Commas**
 * Conjunction**
 * Consonant**
 * Context**
 * Dialect**
 * Diglossia**
 * Diphthong**
 * Ellipsis**
 * Figure of speech**
 * Form**
 * Full stop**
 * Function**
 * Grammar**
 * Grapheme**
 * Graphology**
 * Homonyms**
 * Hyphen**
 * Idiom**
 * Irony**
 * Intonation**
 * Jargon**
 * Language change**
 * Lexis**
 * Metaphor**
 * Metonymy**
 * Morpheme**
 * Morphology**
 * Narrator**
 * Noun**
 * Onomatopoeia**
 * Oxymoron**
 * Paradox**
 * Paragraph**
 * Parenthesis**
 * Participle**
 * Phonetics**
 * Phonology**
 * Phrase**
 * Point of view**
 * Preposition**
 * Pronoun**
 * Punctuation**
 * Received pronunciation**
 * Semantics**
 * Semicolon**
 * Sentence**
 * Simile**
 * Slang**
 * Speech**
 * Spelling**
 * Standard English**
 * Structure**
 * Style**
 * Stylistic analysis**
 * Symbol**
 * Synonym**
 * Syntax**
 * Tense**
 * Text**
 * Tone**
 * Verb**
 * Vocabulary**
 * Vowel**
 * Writing**