Phonetics and Morphology
What is the term for a shortened form of a word or phrase, such as "Mr." for "Mister" or "etc." for "et cetera"?
Abbreviation
What is the term for a word that describes or modifies a noun, such as "blue" in "blue car" or "tall" in "tall building"?
Adjective
What is the term for the conversational elements that typically begin and end an interaction, such as greetings ("Hello") and farewells ("Goodbye")?
Openings and Closings.
What is the term for a phrase whose meaning is not directly derived from the literal meanings of its words, such as "kick the bucket" meaning "to die"?
Idiom
What is the term for the variety of language used by a particular social group, which can reflect factors such as occupation or social status?
Sociolect
What is the term for the variation in pitch while speaking that can change the meaning of a sentence, such as the difference between a statement and a question?
Intonation
What is the term for a type of sentence that asks a question, often beginning with words like "who," "what," "where," "when," "why," or "how"?
Interrogative
What is the term for the habitual combination of words that frequently occur together, such as "strong coffee" rather than "powerful coffee"?
Collocation
What is the literary device called when non-human objects or abstract concepts are given human characteristics, such as describing the wind as "whispering"?
Personification
What is the term for the practice of alternating between two or more languages or dialects within a conversation to indicate group membership or identity?
Code Switching.
What is the process called in which vowel sounds in unstressed syllables are pronounced less distinctly, often becoming a schwa sound (ə), as in the second syllable of "sofa" or "banana"?
Vowel Reduction.
What is the linguistic process called when a word from one language is adopted into another language, such as "piano" from Italian into English?
Borrowing
What is the term for the strategies used by speakers to guide the direction and content of a conversation, ensuring that the discussion remains relevant and organized?
Topic Management.
What is the term for a word or phrase that has multiple meanings, which can lead to confusion or multiple interpretations, such as "bat" referring to a flying mammal or a piece of sports equipment?
Lexical Ambiguity.
What is the term for an individual's unique use of language, influenced by personal experiences and characteristics, distinct from their sociolect or other collective language forms?
Idiolect
What is the process called when two or more words are combined to form a new word, as in "toothpaste" or "notebook"?
Compounding
What is the term for a group of words that work together as a unit within a sentence but do not contain both a subject and a verb, such as "under the table" or "running quickly"?
Phrase
What is the cognitive process called in which a listener or reader draws conclusions based on implied information, rather than explicit statements, in a conversation or text?
Inference
What is the rhetorical device called that involves exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally, such as "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse"?
Hyperbole
What term describes the publicly accepted language standards and rules that individuals follow to conform to societal expectations?
Overt Norms
What is the linguistic process called where a new word is formed by removing a perceived affix from an existing word, such as creating "edit" from "editor"?
Backformation.
In the process of nominalisation, how would you transform the verb "decide" into a noun that can be used as the subject of a sentence? Provide an example sentence using the nominalised form.
The verb "decide" can be nominalised to "decision." Example sentence: "The decision to expand the business was met with approval."
What is the term for the use of pronouns to refer back to previously mentioned elements in a text?
Anaphoric reference.
In the phrase "home" versus "house," what is the term for the additional meaning or emotional association that "home" carries beyond its literal definition as a place of residence?
Connotation
List three social groups that would have differences in their language use.
Any of: Age, gender, sexuality, occupation, interests, education, aspirations.