Glossary Grab Bag
This branch of linguistics deals with words and vocabulary.
What is lexis?
When a word develops a more positive meaning, linguists give the change this name
What is amelioration?
Halliday would approve: language changes because speakers need it to do new jobs.
What is functional theory?
Sounds, phonemes and pronunciation all live in this area of linguistics.
What is phonology?
Praise, imitation and reinforcement? This psychologist says learning language is all about behaviour
Who is B.F. Skinner?
If you’re analysing meaning, you’re working in this linguistic field.
What is semantics?
A word that becomes more negative over time has suffered this semantic fate.
What is pejoration?
You hear it, copy it, use it, and pass it on. This theory explains language spreading socially.
What is cultural transmission theory?
“Question → answer” is a classic example of one of these conversational pairings.
What is an adjacency pair?
This theorist gave us LASS and the idea that adults scaffold children’s language.
Who is Bruner?
“Strong coffee,” “heavy rain,” and “make a decision” are examples of words that regularly appear together. Linguists call this relationship…
What is collocation?
Footwear, legwear and sportswear were built through this word-formation process.
What is compounding?
According to Hockett, sometimes language change happens without an obvious social or functional reason.
What is Random Fluctuation Theory?
Drinked is not random nonsense—it is this developmental process
What is overgeneralization?
This linguist argued that children are born with an innate capacity for language and are able to work out grammatical rules for themselves.
Who is Chomsky?
Meaning created through context and interaction belongs to this branch of linguistics.
What is pragmatics?
Boy once had a more restricted meaning. Its modern wider meaning demonstrates this.
What is semantic broadening?
A new linguistic form starts slowly, suddenly takes off, then levels out once it becomes established. This model gets its name from the shape of the graph.
What is the S-curve model?
An adult quietly reformulates a child’s incorrect sentence without saying “That’s wrong.”
What is recasting?
This psychologist argued that children’s language development is closely connected to their wider cognitive development, including stages such as pre-operational and concrete operational.
Who is Piaget (not pigeon)
A child replaces the fricative /ð/ with the plosive /d/. Linguists call this process…
What is stopping?
Sometimes speakers have a concept they want to express, but their language has no established single word for it. This “missing vocabulary slot” can encourage borrowing or coinage.
What is lexical gap?
When speakers of different varieties come into contact, features from one variety can influence the language of another community.
What is Substratum Theory?
When /r/ becomes /w/, as in red → wed, this phonological process is happening.
What is gliding?
Regulatory, heuristic, imaginative and interactional all belong to this theorist’s model.
Who is Halliday?