Chapter 1: Preliminary knowledge by subsystem

Question 1

Phonetics and phonology

Answer 1

Phonetics is the study of how we make speech sounds and how we organize these sounds. Phonology is the study of the patterns that speech sounds form within a language.

Question 2

Phonological patterning

Answer 2

Phonological patterning refers to a set of phonological language features in written and spoken texts. Phonological patterning consists of alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, rhythm and rhyme.

Question 3

Alliteration

Answer 3

Alliteration is the repetition of phonemes at the beginning of words in a phrase, clause or sentence. Example: Those are pretty practical pants you’re wearing.

Question 4

Assonance

Answer 4

Assonance is the repetition of vowel phonemes across phrases, clauses or sentences. Example: The fleet of jeeps drove through the streets.

Question 5

Consonance

Answer 5

Consonance refers to the repetition of consonant phonemes, often at syllable final boundaries. Example: The bees in the trees buzzed with ease

Question 6

Onomatopoeia

Answer 6

Onomatopoeia is the process by which evocative words are created from the sounds they represent. Example: The crow squawked loudly, causing a rustle in the bushes.

Question 7

Rhythm

Answer 7

Rhythm is created when the intonation of a set of words is repeated across two or more phrases, clauses or sentences. Example: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary. - Edgar
Allen Poe

Question 8

Rhyme

Answer 8

Rhyme refers to the repetition of similar phonemes at the ends of two or more words. This entails the direct manipulation of consonance and assonance in
word-final syllables. Example:
The potato cake was fake.

Question 9

Morphology

Answer 9

Morphology is the study ofwords and their parts. Each word consists of one or
more morphemes, which is the smallest unit of meaning within a word.

Question 10

Lexicology

Answer 10

Lexicology is the study of the form, meaning and behaviour of words

Question 11

Syntax

Answer 11

Syntax is the study of how words are ordered in structures that communicate meaning - phrases, clauses and sentences.

Question 12

Active and passive voice

Answer 12

There are two types of voice in the English language

Question 13

Agentless passive

Answer 13

The passive voice is more common in formal writing, and it can allow speakers and writers to avoid specifying the performer of the action (the agent). Passive constructs that omit the agent are known as agentless passives. Agentless
passives can be useful in some circumstances as they reduce the responsibility of the agent or avoid giving unnecessary detail. Examples:
- The train was delayed, (the reason for the train being delayed is not
relevant)
- The vase was broken, (the speaker avoids specifying who broke the vase)

Question 14

Active voice

Answer 14

In the active voice, the subject of a verb performs the action. Example: Frida threw the basketball, (active voice)

Question 15

Passive voice

Answer 15

the passive voice
the subject of the verb receives the action. Example: The basketball was thrown by Frida, (passive voice)

Question 16

Syntactic patterning

Answer 16

Syntactic patterning is often employed by authors to support a function or purpose, allowing them to create rhythmic and memorable pieces of texts.
Syntactic patterns serve to draw readers’ or listeners’ attention to a component of a text in a way that reinforces meaning and understanding. Syntactic patterns consist of parallelism, antithesis and listing.

Question 17

Parallelism

Answer 17

Parallelism is the repetition of grammatical structures two or more times in succession. Example: work hard, stay focused (verb + adjective repeated structure)

Question 18

Antithesis

Answer 18

Antithesis is the presentation of two contrasting ideas near one another in parallel structures. Antithesis is used to create a balance between opposing ideas
and to emphasise this contrast. Antithetical phrases can use antonymy (use of opposites), irony, contrast in scale or other means to juxtapose the ideas.
Examples:
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …’ - Charles Dickens
(antonymy creates contrast)
‘That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’ - Neil
Armstrong (contrasts scale of significance)

Question 19

Listing

Answer 19

Listing is used to present a series of related ideas, items or elements, usually in a
similar grammatical form. Words, phrases or clauses in a list are often introduced
by a colon and are separated by commas or semicolons (for longer items or those
already containing commas).
Lists can provide clarity by separating elements into a simple format, to create
a rhythm in language and to emphasise a point or build an argument.

Question 20

You can use the acronym ‘PAL’ when recalling syntactic patterns

Answer 20

Parallelism, Antithesis, and Listing

Question 21

Discourse and pragmatics

Answer 21

Discourse refers to written or spoken texts that are longer than a sentence. Pragmatics is the study of how language is used within a given context, and how context contributes to meaning.