Glossary Of Terms

• Alliterative Phrasing - A number of words close to each other starting with the same letter or sound
• Americanisms - A characteristic feature of American English especially as contrasted with British English. May also relate to an attachment or allegiance to the intersts or ideals of the United States
• Asides - Additional information given within brackets or dashes
• Assonance - The reptition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences
• Audience - The group of people watching or listening to a play, film, speech, television or radio programme, etc. The individuals who are reading a particular text, website, etc.
• Axiom - A statement which is regarded as being established, accepted or self-evidently true
• Bias - The action of supporting or opposing a particular person or thing in an unfair way. Allowing personal opinions to influence your judgement
• Cliche - A phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought
• Context-bound References - Special words or expressions used by a professional or group that are difficult for tohers to understand
• Dexsis - Words and phrases that cannot be fully understood without additional contextual information. (Three types: Personal (pronoun), temporal (time), Spatial (place))
• Digression - A temporary departure from the main subject in speech or writing
• Direct Address - The name of the person (normally) who is being directly spoken to. It is always a proper noun. It does not have any grammatical relationship to any part of the sentence. It is set off by commas.
• Discourse Marker - A word or phrase which organises text into segments. E.g. Firstly, however, consequently
• Euphemism - A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing
• Figurative Language - Using figures of speech to be more effecctive, persuasive and impactful. Figures of speech such as metaphors, similies, allusions go beyond the literal meanings of the words to five the readers new insights
• Graphology - Focuses on the writer's choices of language features such as paragraphing, headlings, images, layout, blank spaces, tables, bullets, sub-headings, font styles and so on. It looks at the visual form of a text
• Humour - The quality of being amusing or comic
• Hyperbole - A puposeful mass exaggeration. A literary device wherein the author uses specific words and phrases that exafferae and overemohasize a basic statement in order to produce a grander, more noticeable effect. The purpose of hyperbole is to create a larger-than-life effect and overly stress a specific point
• Intertextuality - A literary device that creates an 'interrelationship between texts' and generates related understanding in separate works. These references are made to influence the reader and add layers of depth to a text, based on the reader's prior knowledge and understanding
• Jargon - Vocabulary linked to a particular group or idea
• Juxtaposition - The practise of putting two contrasting things close together to highlight their differences
• Lexis - The total bank of words and phrases of a particular language. This is shaped by social factors, dialect and personal choice
• Mode - The overall style, technique or form. A socially and culturally shaped resource for making meaning. Image, writing, layout, speech, moving images are examples of different modes
• Multimodal - Describes communication practices in terms of the textual, aural, linguistic, spatial and visual resources - or modes- used to compose messages. Several modes may create a single 'artifact'
• Neologism - A newly coined word or expression
• Oblique - Not expressed or done in a direct way
• Onomatopeia - The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named
• Pithy Statement - Using few words to say something substantial
• Pragmatics - A branch of linguistics and semiotics that studies the way in which context (background) contributes to meaning. It is concerned with the relationship of words/sentences to the environment in which they occur. Therefore, many examples of pragmatics refer to cultual assumptions
• Pre-modified Noun Phrase - A noun with a description added before the noun. This may be an adjective, but that is not always the case
• Purpose - The reason why the writer is writing (PIE: To persuade, inform or to entertain)
• Persona - The aspect of someone's character that is presented to or perceived by others. A role or character adopted by an author or an actor
• Register - Refers to whether speech or writing if formal or informal
• Repetition - The recurrence of something that has already been said or written
• Satire - A technique employed by writers to bring attention to an issue. A genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, governments or society itself into improvement. Employs the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule or the like
• Semantic Field - A set of words that are linked semantically
• Semiotics - The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation
• Sensuous Semantic Fields - Relating to the physical senses
• Tone - The general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc
• Triadic Structure - A group of three, especially of three closely related persons or things