Key Terms

• expletives 


  swear/taboo language
• standard forms 


  the socially accepted way of saying things - use of standard English
• multiple negation


  using more than one negative in a sentence 'i aint done nothing'
• overt prestige


  the social status/value gained when you speak standard english
• covert prestige 


  the social status/value gained when you speak non standard
• divergence


  when two people speak differently and do not alter their speech to fit the situation of conversation
• convergence 


  people convert their language use to mimic others in the same conversation
• genderlect


  the language gender
• sociolect 


  the language of a social group
• ethnolect 


  the language of an ethnic group
• teenspeak 


  the language teenager
• polari


  a secret code used by gay men to communicate when homosexuality was illegal
• code


  a form of language
• initiation


  provokes an answer
• response 


  the child responds
• feedback


  the teacher provides feedback
• politically correct 


  avoiding expressions that appear to offend marginalised groups
• communities of practice 


  this refers to a group of people who share understandings, perspectives + forms of language use as a result of meeting regularly over time
• ethnography 


  method of collecting data often used in social and behavioural sciences normally collected via interviews and observations