Language techniques

• Nouns


  person, place, or thing
• Verbs


  Show action or state of being
• Adjectives and adverbs


  words that describe or modify., Adjectives describe things (nouns and pronouns) and adverbs describe action (verbs).
• Pronouns and Antecedents


  is a word that stands for noun, a noun phase or another pronoun known as the pronouns antecedent.

  Example:

  -Number(single or Plural)

  -Person(first, second, third)

  -Gender(Feminine, Masculine, or Neuter)
• Prepositions


  a word that shows a relationship between nouns or pronouns and some other words in a sentence
• Determiners: Examples


  Examples with determiner phrases in italics: a little dog, the little dogs (indefinite or definite article) this little dog, those little dogs (demonstrative) my little dogs, their little dog (possessive adjective) Sheila's little dog, the Queen of England's little dog (noun phrase + 's) every little dog, each little dog, some little dog, either dog (quantifying)

  'the','an'','a
• Conjunctions (FANBOYS)


  FOR, AND, NOR, BUT, OR, YET, and SO

  There are seven coordinating conjunctions that connect words, phrases, and clauses.
• Lexis & Semantics


  related words e.g books, pens, teachers,pupils belong to the semantic field of school
• Phonology


  the sound system of the language, including the sounds that are used and how they may be combined
• Pragmatics of language


  "practical" rules of using language

  
  

  the meaning of words and grammar used semantically, except within context (inferred meanings); taking turns speaking

  
  

  -->idioms "he could eat a horse"=hungry
• Grammar


  in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others
• Discourse Community


  a group of people who share common goals, a public forum, common knowledge, and a specialised language
• Graphology


  the study of handwriting and how it relates to a person's character
• Context


  the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.
• Audience


  One's listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed.
• Genre


  a major category or type of literature e.g text A is a newspaper article
• Mode


  How the text is received, it's features and if it's spoken or received
• Register


  style of the text
• Purpose


  One's intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.
• Representation


  portrayal of events, people and circumstances through language and other meaning making resources e.g images and sound
• Audience position


  concept of writer/speaker imagining audience, look at assumptions made about the audience and the tenor of the text
• Subject position


  The perspective from which events or issues are perceived and recounted.
• Tenor


  The relationship between the writer and the audience in a text

  can be close, distant, intimate, e.g
• Close Tenor Pronouns


  'you','us','we
• Production (the writer)


  - subject positioning, what perspective is the writer writing from?

  - individual ideas/knowledge/experience

  - gender/social background

  - social/historical events

  - mode, how will the text be received?

  - degree of planning
• Reception (the audience)


  - audience positioning, how the writer imagines the audience vs the actual reader and audience

  -individual idea/knowledge/experience of audience

  -social/historical events

  - does the text rely on any 'shared cultural understanding'?

  - mode, how is it received and how does this affect it's meaning?
• Written Language


  - received via the eyes

  - is permanent, can be checked again and again

  - is impersonal, writer doesn't know who will read it

  - is delayed, takes time to write before it's received

  - is planned and structured

  - usually uses Standard English and Grammar

  - more able to use low frequency lexis

  - is asynchronous
• Spoken Language


  - received via the ears

  - is temporary, we retain it in memory

  - is personal, speaker is addressing an individual/group

  - is immediate, it's heard simultaneously to being said

  - is spontaneous, not usually planned

  - isn't always full/ correct grammatical structures but it's in utterances

  - includes more high frequency lexis

  - is synchronous
• Synchronous/Asynchronous


  Synchronous - everyone has to be there at the same time

  Asynchronous - you don't have to be there at the same time
• High Frequency/Low Frequency Lexis

  High Frequency Lexis - common words

  Low Frequency Lexis - uncommon words
• Blended Mode


  - Things to consider are:

  - The primary channel of reception and it's effect (is it visual or aural text?)

  - How interactive the text is (monologic/dialogic)

  - What is the relationship between writer/speaker and the audience and how does it manifest in the text?

  - The degree of spontaneity or pre-planning and how that impacts the text

  - In electronic texts, does the lexis show features of "text lang" e.g. acronyms

  - How formal (or otherwise) is the text in terms of lexis, structure, etc
• Common Nouns, Proper Nouns, Collective Nouns, Concrete Nouns, Abstract Nouns

  - C.N. names any one of group of persons, places, things, or ideas

  - P.N. particular person, place, thing, or idea

  - C.N. names of a group of people/things (not plurals)

  - C.N. always physical things which can be touched and measured

  - A.N. refer to ideas, processes, occasions, times which refer to what cannot be touched or seen
• Dynamic/Stative verbs


  Dynamic - implies movement, an action word e.g. running

  Stative - state of being or thought process e.g. be, have, believe, need
• Modal Auxiliary Verbs


  verbs, such as can/could, may/might, shall/should, and will/would used in the creation of future tense verbs and especially in conditional mood verb tenses
• Primary Auxiliary Verbs


  be, have, do
• Semantics


  The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.
• Semantic Field


  Group of words which are related in meaning
• Euphemism


  an inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive
• Dysphemism


  an offensive or disparaging expression that is substituted for an inoffensive one
• Colloquialism


  informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing