English Glossary Flashcards

1
Q

Abbreviation

A

Shortening

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2
Q

Accommodation

A

Process of modifying one’s mental processes in order to meet the demands of one’s environment (NB this is Jean Piaget’s definition which is broader than the exclusively linguistic definition coined by Howard Giles and his team)

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3
Q

Acronym

A

Initialism which can be sounded as a word

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4
Q

Advanced stage (writing)

A

Stage of writing in which the child will comprehend families of words and the ways inflections work and be able to deploy a varied vocabulary, generally appropriately spelled, and a range of sophisticated punctuation including paragraphing

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5
Q

Affected RP

A

Traditional, clipped accent and intonation of the upper classes in England

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6
Q

Affixation

A

Morphological process where (a) prefix(es) or suffix(es) are added to words to create new ones

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7
Q

Affricative

A

Of a consonant, pronounced using a combination of a plosive and a fricative sound as in ch, dge

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8
Q

Amelioration

A

Semantic change whereby a word gains a more positive meaning

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9
Q

Analogical overextension

A

Overextension in which a term is applied to a person/object/setting/idea which is perceived to be similar because of the role it plays in the speaker’s experience

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10
Q

Analytical phonics

A

System of phonics where a child will break down words into the smallest elements. See phonics

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11
Q

Angle

A

Particular slant on a news story

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12
Q

Anglo-Saxons

A

Collection of peoples, from what are now parts of northern Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, who settled in England after the Romans left

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13
Q

Answering

A

One of John Dore’s taxonomy of functions or primitive speech acts: where language is used to give a direct response to an utterance from another speaker

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14
Q

Anthropomorphism

A

Writing about animals as if they were human

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15
Q

Antiphrasis

A

Figurative technique whereby an idea or object is referred to in
terms which are contradictory to its actual meaning

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16
Q

Antonym

A

Word which is opposite of another word

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17
Q

Approximate

A

Of a consonant, voiced like a vowel as in r, j, w

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18
Q

Archaic

A

Fallen out of use. See obsolete

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19
Q

Assimilation

A

Experience of physical objects which Jean Piaget believed was necessary before children could modify their mental processes in order to meet the demands of their environment

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20
Q

Auto-antonymy

A

Word which can be understood in two completely different ways

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21
Q

Babbling

A

Repetitions of similar sounds by about 7 months (see reduplications); here the child appears to have some awareness of the purpose of speech and to be intending to make meaning

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22
Q

Back formation

A

Imagined process by which supposed affixes have been removed from word (usually nouns) to create (usually) verbs

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23
Q

Backronym

A

Word assumed to be acronyms – often false etymologies

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24
Q

Behaviourism

A

School of psychology which believes that everything which a person does, even thinking, should be described as a behaviour which can be changed

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25
Q

Blend

A

Word composed of a free morpheme and a part of another free morpheme or of parts of two free morphemes. Also known as portmanteau word

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26
Q

Borrowing

A

Loan word

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27
Q

Bound morpheme

A

Morpheme which cannot stand on its own

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28
Q

Breaking news

A

News which is just being brought into the public domain

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29
Q

Break the fourth wall

A

Of acting, to destroy the illusion that the world on stage is self-contained by speaking directly to the audience

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30
Q

Broadening

A

Process of semantic change whereby a word gains in scope or acquires more meanings

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31
Q

Burbling

A

Crying and burbling

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32
Q

Calling

A

One of John Dore’s taxonomy of functions or primitive speech acts:
where language is used to attract attention by raising the voice

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33
Q

Categorical overextension

A

Overextension in which a term is used to denote a person/object/ setting/idea is used to refer to others in the same category

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34
Q

Chancery Standard

A

Standard of English based on the English spoken and written in the political, religious, academic and commercial triangle linking London, Oxford and Cambridge; imposed in the fifteenth century

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35
Q

Child directed speech

A

Very specific ways in which adults speak to the children whom they encounter or who are in their care

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36
Q

Clausal analysis

A

Division of a sentence into main and subordinate clauses

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37
Q

Clipping

A

Process by which a word is shortened by cutting off its last letters. Also
known as end clipping

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38
Q

Cognitivism

A

Set of theories about the ways children learn

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39
Q

Coin

A

Of a word, to create

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40
Q

Coinage

A

Word which is completely new and which bears no relation to any existing word; often used as a synonym for neologism

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41
Q

Complex word

A

Word made up of more than one morpheme, for instance a base word and an affix

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42
Q

Compounding

A

Morphological process where existing words are joined together to make new words

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43
Q

Concrete operational stage

A

Period, specified by Jean Piaget, from ages 2–7, in which, although children have begun to think logically, they tend to do so in very concrete rather than abstract terms

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44
Q

Conditioning

A

Type of psychological learning whereby the learner changes his/her behaviour by associating the behaviour with a particular stimulus

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45
Q

Confirmation and fluency

A

Stage two of Jeanne Chall’s reading development where the child becomes a more fluent reader and begins to grapple with the meanings of texts – 7–8 years

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46
Q

Contraction

A

Shortening, often by removing letters from inside a word

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47
Q

Consolidation

A

B M Kroll’s second stage of writing where the child writes as s/he
speaks – 7–8 years

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48
Q

Construction and reconstruction

A

Stage five of Jeanne Chall’s reading development where the young person becomes a fully independent reader – 18+

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49
Q

Conventional stage

A

Stage of writing in which the child writes fluently, spelling most words correctly though opting for phonic spelling for difficult or unknown words and sometimes muddling homophones

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50
Q

Conversion

A

Process in language change where a word is used in a word class different from the one where it has previously been seen

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51
Q

Cooing

A

Specific soft, birdlike sounds at about 2 months. See vocal play

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52
Q

Critical period

A

Period somewhere between 7 and 13 years after which non-

speaking children may never acquire language successfully

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53
Q

Crying and burbling

A

Pre-lexical articulations at 0 to 4 months, probably not true language since although it is communicative, the infant in unlikely to be aware that its sounds have specific meanings

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54
Q

Cursive

A

Of handwriting, joined up

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55
Q

Dead metaphor

A

Metaphor which is so familiar that users are scarcely aware that
it is not literal

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56
Q

Deformation

A

Spelling of a word in a different way by transposing or substituting letters in it, often in order to avoid giving offence

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57
Q

Derivational morphology

A

Change in the meaning of words due to the addition of non-inflectional suffixes

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58
Q

Descriptive analysis

A

Analysis which merely outlines what is obvious

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59
Q

Didactic

A

Of a text, intended to teach

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60
Q

Differentiation

A

B M Kroll’s third stage of writing where the child is conscious of the differences between writing and speech - 9 – 10 years

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61
Q

Digraph

A

Pair of letters used to articulate one discrete sound

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62
Q

Dipthong

A

Sound made up of more than one clear vowel sound

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63
Q

Dysphemism

A

Term which makes an idea or object seem worse than it actually is. Often used humorously

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64
Q

Early emergent stage

A

Stage of writing in which the child becomes more competent at wielding and manipulating a writing implement though writing doesn’t yet represent actual letters

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65
Q

Early Modern English

A

The English spoken and written in Britain from about 1450 to about 1700

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66
Q

Early multi-word stage

A

Telegraphic stage

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67
Q

Egocentric

A

Seeing the world (or able to see the world) from one’s own perspective only

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68
Q

Egocentric speech

A

Talking to oneself, often in order to make sense of the world. According to Lev Vygotsky, this leads to the inner speech of thought; according to Jean Piaget, it dies out

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69
Q

Egocentrism

A

Child’s tendency to talk to him/herself as s/he attempts to make sense of his/her environment; also, according to Jean Piaget, child’s tendency to be more preoccupied with constructing his/her own understanding of the world than in engaging socially with others

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70
Q

Elaboration

A

Paragraphs immediately after the intro which tell readers of a news story more about what occurred

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71
Q

Elision

A

Process by which letters on the middle of words are omitted or two words are collapsed into one

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72
Q

Emergent stage

A

Stage of writing in which the child can write letter strings, sometimes as long as a line, often using real letters learned from her/his own name

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73
Q

Enactive stage

A

Action-based stage of development, up to 3 years, proposed by Jerome Bruner, where the child learns about its environment by seeing, touching , moving

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74
Q

End clipping

A

Clipping

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75
Q

Environmental print

A

Examples of the printed word which appear in the

environment

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76
Q

Epistemologist

A

Academic who studies epistemology or the study of the nature of knowledge

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77
Q

Eponym

A

Word for an object or idea which is derived from a person

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78
Q

Estuary English

A

Language and accent used by ordinary people living on and around the Thames estuary

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79
Q

Etymology

A

History and background of words

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80
Q

Euphemism

A

Way of expressing an idea which makes it seem more pleasant than it actually is

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81
Q

Euphemism treadmill, the

A

Way that the need for new euphemisms arises as old ones become semantically pejorated

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82
Q

Expressive

A

Of early language, using a greater proportion of action and social words than of naming words. See referential OR First stage of James Britton’s early writing genres where children write in the first person, articulating personal preferences

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83
Q

Extrapolate

A

Infer or imply something unknown from something known

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84
Q

Falling out of use

A

In the process of becoming obsolete

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85
Q

False etymology

A

Process whereby a word, or part of a word, is accorded a meaning or derivation to which it is not entitled

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86
Q

Families of fonts

A

Fonts which are variations of each other

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87
Q

Feature article

A

Article whose scope, though newsworthy, is not restricted to very recent events and which is topic- rather than news-focused

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88
Q

Feedback

A

Fourth stage of Bruner’s set of carer-child interactions in the pre- reading phase: getting the child to look at a picture: responding to the child’s utterance(s)

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89
Q

Formal operation stage

A

Period, specified by Jean Piaget, from ages 11 and 16 onwards, when abstract reasoning develops

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90
Q

Framework for Teaching

A

2006 initiative which continues to advocate the daily teaching of literacy though, increasingly, encouraging a greater variety of approaches and extending this teaching across the curriculum rather than focusing on texts traditionally studied in English lessons

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91
Q

Free morpheme

A

Morpheme which can stand on its own

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92
Q

Fricative

A

Of a consonant, pronounced so that the air stream is partially blocked
so that some air moves through the lips as in f, h, s, sh, th, v, z

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93
Q

Full alphabetic writing

A

Phase 3 of J Richard Gentry’s writing stages where the child writes simple stories with beginning-middle-end and some grasp of genre

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94
Q

Gaining attention

A

Initial aspect of Bruner’s set of carer-child interactions in the pre-reading phase: getting the child to look at a picture

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95
Q

Gestalt word

A

Term made up of two or three words which is heard by a child as one word. See pivot word

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96
Q

Great Vowel Shift, the

A

Change in the pronunciation of words which occurred between about 1400 and about 1650

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97
Q

Greeting

A

One of John Dore’s taxonomy of functions or primitive speech acts: where the child speaks or shouts to welcome or start conversation

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98
Q

Heuristic function

A

One of Michael Halliday’s taxonomy of functions: where language is used to learn about and to explore the environment

99
Q

Holophrastic stage

A

Stage at which a child expresses itself in one word minor sentences with context, paralinguistics and especially intonation conveying much of its meaning

100
Q

Hyperbole

A

Exaggeration

101
Q

Hypothesis

A

Proposition put forward to be tested in an experiment or

investigation

102
Q

Iconic stage

A

Image-based stage of development, from 3 years, proposed by Jerome Bruner, where the child begins to imagine events and actions and where visual memory is formed

103
Q

Idiom

A

Figure of speech or extended metaphor which cannot readily be translated into another language

104
Q

Imaginative function

A

One of Michael Halliday’s taxonomy of functions: where language is used to develop the imagination

105
Q

Indo-European

A

Language believed to have existed thousands of years ago, the putative ancestor of languages from India to Iceland

106
Q

Inflectional morphology

A

Change in the meaning of words due to inflection

107
Q

Informalisation

A

Process by which a more informal language register becomes

acceptable in a particular context

108
Q

Initialism

A

Abbreviation consisting of (usually) initial letters of a series of words; occasionally used to refer to blends which consist of initials and part-words

109
Q

Initial reading and decoding

A

Stage one of Jeanne Chall’s reading development where the child recognises the link between sounds and letters and reads simple texts – between 6 and 7

110
Q

Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA)

A

Phonetic alphabet invented in the 1960s by Sir James Pitman and designed as a stepping stone to help children to read

111
Q

Insertion

A

Type of spelling error where unnecessary letters are added to a word, sometimes by analogy with a known word

112
Q

Instrumental function

A

One of Michael Halliday’s taxonomy of functions: where language is used to fulfil the speaker’s needs

113
Q

Integration

A

B M Kroll’s fourth stage of writing – where the young person develops a personal voice – mid-teens

114
Q

Internalisation

A

Process by which, for example, cultural values and information can be used for the child’s own purposes

115
Q

Interactional function

A

One of Michael Halliday’s taxonomy of functions: where language is used to initiate, develop and maintain social relationships

116
Q

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

A

Alphabet devised so as to represent the sounds in all the world’s languages phonetically

117
Q

Intransitive

A

Of a verb, that cannot take a direct object

118
Q

Intro

A

First and introductory paragraph of a news story which often outlines the
whole story

119
Q

Jargon

A

Language, particularly of a technical or occupational nature, exclusive to a small group of language users

120
Q

Key Stages

A

Stages in the British education system by which children are expected to have reached certain objectives. Key stage 1 extends from Reception to Year 2 (4–7); Key Stage 2 extends from Year 3 – Year 6 (7–11)

121
Q

Labelling

A

One of John Dore’s taxonomy of functions or primitive speech acts: where language is used to give a name to a person, object, behaviour or experience OR in Jean Aitchison’s semantic model, a category of language usage where a child will understand the concept of labels, reliably associating sound with objects and linking words to things OR third stage of Bruner’s set of carer-child interactions in the pre-reading phase: telling the child what the object is

122
Q

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

A

Neurological mechanism (proposed by Noam Chomsky to be present in all human brains) which helps infants subconsciously to deduce the grammatical rules of their own languages without being explicitly taught them

123
Q

Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)

A

Variety of structures, provided by carers, which help children to acquire language

124
Q

Lateral

A

Of a consonant, pronounced with the tongue placed on the ridge of the teeth so that air moves up through the side of the mouth as in l

125
Q

Leader article/column

A

Article which offers editorial opinion usually on one or more specific news stories of the day

126
Q

Literacy Hour, the

A

Government programme launched in 1998 which established a specifically structured hour-long English lesson in primary schools daily

127
Q

Litotes

A

Understatement

128
Q

Loan word

A

Word which has come into English from overseas. Also known as
borrowing

129
Q

Look and Say

A

Reading approach which focuses on teaching children complete words at a time so that they learn the shape of words and do not necessarily break them down into individual graphemes and phonemes. Also known as the whole word or whole language approach

130
Q

Look, say, cover, write and check

A

Complementary reading and spelling strategy

131
Q

Magical thinking

A

Type of reasoning which expects some causal, seemingly

illogical or irrational relation between acts/utterances and events

132
Q

Masthead

A

Title of regular publication, usually in distinctive font

133
Q

Meaning relation

A

Relationship between words based on meaning rather than grammar

134
Q

Mean length of utterance (MLU)

A

System of classification, introduced by Roger Brown, calculated by the number of morphemes uttered by a child per 100 words

135
Q

Metonymy

A

Figurative technique in which ideas or objects are expressed by using ideas or objects which are related to them

136
Q

Middle English

A

The English of mediaeval times, from about 1000 to 1450, a hybrid of Anglo-Saxon and Norman French

137
Q

Miscue

A

Mistake made by a child when learning to read

138
Q

Mismatch

A

Mismatch Overextension which occurs when the child is trying to convey some more abstract information – for example, Rescorla’s instance of a child who labelled an empty cot doll referring to the doll which was not there. Also referred to as predicate statement

139
Q

Morpheme

A

Smallest element of meaning

140
Q

Multiplicity and complexity

A

Stage four of Jeanne Chall’s reading development where the child attempts more complex material, analysing it, and often finds reading comprehensions easier than listening ones – 14–16 years

141
Q

Narrative

A

Fourth stage of Joan Rothery’s early genres where the child adopts an orientation-complication-resolution-coda structure to her/his fiction

142
Q

Narrowing

A

Word which has lost some of its meanings or which finds its scope restricted

143
Q

Nasal

A

Of a consonant, pronounced so that air is sent through the nose as in m, n, ng

144
Q

Nativism

A

Acquisition theory, associated with Noam Chomsky, which suggests that human brains possess a set of linguistic principles which are inborn and which help them to pick up their own language

145
Q

Negative reinforcement

A

obvious

146
Q

Neologism

A

New word

147
Q

Network building

A

Jean Aitchison’s semantic model, a category of language usage where a child will make connections between the labels she has developed, can grasp the concepts of opposites and similarities and begin to explore relationships between and contrasts in words

148
Q

News values

A

Criteria by which journalists decide what will appeal to their audiences

149
Q

Newsworthy

A

Of news, that audiences will find interesting

150
Q

NIBs

A

Acronym for ‘news in brief’, small snippets of news

151
Q

No letter use

A

Phase 0 of J Richard Gentry’s writing stages where the child draws, scribbles and pretends to write

152
Q

Non-alphabetic writing

A

Phase 1 of J Richard Gentry’s writing stages where the child attempts to label, often using random letters

153
Q

Non-U

A

Term coined in the 1950s and used of language and culture to denote ‘lower class’,‘unsophisticated’. See U

154
Q

Object permanence

A

Realisation that an object does not cease to exist just because one cannot see it

155
Q

Observation/comment

A

First stage of Joan Rothery’s early genres where the child makes an observation and links it with an evaluative comment

156
Q

Obsolete

A

Fallen out of use. See archaic

157
Q

Omission

A

Type of spelling error where letters are left out

158
Q

Onset and rime

A

Method for the teaching of reading where monosyllabic words are split into two and the initial consonant sound is considered separately from and then combined with the rest of the word

159
Q

Orthographical

A

To do with spelling and punctuation

160
Q

Overextension

A

Inaccurate labelling where a term is used to refer to a lexical
field wider than it should do. See underextension

161
Q

Overgeneralisation

A

Application of a perceived rule where it should not be used

162
Q

Packaging

A

In Jean Aitchison’s semantic model, category of language usage where a child will start to explore the extent of labels. At this stage over- and underextensions will frequently occur

163
Q

Parallel play

A

Phenomenon in which children play side by side but do not really engage with each other socially

164
Q

Partial alphabetic writing

A

Phase 2 of J Richard Gentry’s writing stages where the child writes simple narratives of 3–6 lines

165
Q

Pejoration

A

Semantic change whereby the meaning of a word becomes more negative

166
Q

Personal function

A

One of Michael Halliday’s taxonomy of functions: where language is used to express the speaker’s personal preferences and promote the speaker’s identity

167
Q

Phonetic spelling

A

Type of spelling error where the child spells a word as s/he hears it, using the grapheme which s/he has most frequently associated with the sound

168
Q

Phonetic stage

A

Stage of writing in which the child will include first and last consonants in most of her/his words and spell some familiar words correctly, though phonetic spelling predominates

169
Q

Phonics

A

System for teaching reading where the child is systematically taught the letters of the alphabet and then combinations of these and how these correspond to sounds (phonemic-graphemic correspondence)

170
Q

Pivot word

A

Key word or gestalt expression which is used by a small child very frequently and in a versatile way so that utterances seem to revolve around it

171
Q

Plosive

A

Of a consonant, pronounced so that the air stream is briefly blocked in various parts of the mouth as in b, d, g, k, p, t

172
Q

Poetic

A

Second stage of James Britton’s early writing genres where children consciously craft their work

173
Q

Polite

A

Good mannered, considerate and gracious; mostly archaic: refined and upper/upper middle class

174
Q

Political correctness (PC)

A

Principle by which words are consciously selected to avoid giving offence

175
Q

Positive reinforcement

A

obvious

176
Q

Poverty of the stimulus

A

Seemingly inadequate amount of linguistic experience – i.e. limited number of actual words heard in and often fragmented syntax of ordinary conversation – to which children are exposed before they start to speak and understand language

177
Q

Practising

A

One of John Dore’s taxonomy of functions or primitive speech acts: where language is used and repeated when no adult is present – egocentric speech

178
Q

Predicate statement

A

Mismatch

179
Q

Prefix

A

Affix, or free/bound morpheme, which is added to the beginning of a
word

180
Q

Preliterate stage

A

Stage just before writing where the child scribbles in a way which resembles true writing

181
Q

Pre-operational stage

A

Period, specified by Jean Piaget, from ages 2–7 in which children are not able to think logically about causes and effects. See magical thinking

182
Q

Preparation

A

B M Kroll’s first writing stage where the child acquires basic necessary motor skills needed to manipulate a writing implement and learns simple spelling – up to six years

183
Q

Pre-reading and pseudo-reading

A

Stage zero of Jeanne’s Chall’s reading development where children pretend to read and recognise/write some letters – up to 6 years

184
Q

Prescriptivism

A

Insistence that language norms are adhered to and that language does not change

185
Q

Progressive verb

A

Form of the verb which implies a continuous action

186
Q

Projection

A

Part of a news story which tells the reader what might happen next

187
Q

Protesting

A

One of John Dore’s taxonomy of functions or primitive speech acts: where language is used to object to requests, behaviour, moods

188
Q

Protoconversation

A

Early form of conversation in which an infant may play a turntaking role, even initiate, though without necessarily using actual words

189
Q

Protoword

A

Very early sound intended to be (and often sounding like) an actual word

190
Q

Querying

A

Second stage of Bruner’s set of carer-child interactions in the pre- reading phase: asking the child what the object in the picture is

191
Q

Quotes

A

Abbreviation of ‘quotations’ used in the media

192
Q

Reading for learning

A

Stage three of Jeanne Chall’s reading development where reading becomes a tool, not an end in itself 9–13 years

193
Q

Received pronunciation (RP)

A

Overtly prestigious accent associated with educated people who live in the south-east of England

194
Q

Recount

A

Second stage of Joan Rothery’s early genres where the child makes a (usually chronological) account

195
Q

Reduplications

A

Sequences of similar or repeated sounds by about 7 months

196
Q

Register drfit

A

Movement which occurs when language which is generally considered appropriate for a situation becomes more or less formal than before

197
Q

Regulatory function

A

One of Michael Halliday’s taxonomy of functions: where language is used to influence others’ behaviour

198
Q

Reinforcement

A

Response to a subject’s behaviour which makes it more likely, according to behaviourists such as B F Skinner, that the subject will repeat it; can be positive or definitely affirming, such as praise or a treat or negative, consisting in the withdrawal of something unpleasant

199
Q

Referential

A

Of early language, using a greater proportion of naming words than of action and social words. See expressive

200
Q

Repeating

A

One of John Dore’s taxonomy of functions or primitive speech acts: where language is used to echo something said by another speaker

201
Q

Representational function

A

One of Michael Halliday’s taxonomy of functions: where language is used to exchange information

202
Q

Report

A

Third stage of Joan Rothery’s early genres where the child writes a strictly dispassionate, usually not chronological description of something that has taken place or of a person or object

203
Q

Requesting action

A

One of John Dore’s taxonomy of functions or primitive speech acts: where language requires that something be done

204
Q

Requesting answer

A

One of John Dore’s taxonomy of functions or primitive speech acts: where language is used to ask a question which needs an answer

205
Q

Salient sounds

A

Most significant sounds of a word

206
Q

Sans serif

A

Type of font whose letters lack a serif or thickened edge

207
Q

Scaffolding

A

Term coined by Jerome Bruner to describe the way adults help children in their learning by gradually withdrawing their support as children become more competent

208
Q

Semi-phonetic stage

A

Stage of writing in which the child is consciously using specific letters to match sounds though s/he may write ‘words’ which consist simply of one or two letters

209
Q

Sensori-motor stage

A

Period, specified by Jean Piaget, from birth to age 2 where children experience the world through their five senses

210
Q

Seriation

A

Sense that many objects or ideas have a place in a sequence

211
Q

Social interactionism

A

Belief that interaction between people in necessary for the learning process

212
Q

Sound it out

A

Say letters or blends of letters out loud

213
Q

Stages

A

Periods of development – a better ways of classifying children’s progress than by ages

214
Q

Structural analysis

A

Analysis based on structure, whether grammatical or semantic, of a text

215
Q

Substitution

A

Type of spelling error where one letter takes the place of another letter or digraph

216
Q

Suffix

A

Affix, or free/bound morpheme, which is added to the end of a word

217
Q

Symbolic stage

A

Language-based stage of development, proposed by Jerome Bruner, at which point the child’s language is capable of representing and organising what has been learnt and of dealing with abstract concepts

218
Q

Synecdoche

A

Figurative technique in which an object or idea is expressed by a term which refers to part of it

219
Q

Synonym

A

Word which has the same or a very similar meaning to that of another word

220
Q

Synthetic phonics

A

System of phonics whereby a child learns longer phoneme- grapheme correspondences – up to 44 of them – rather than single letters

221
Q

Tally

A

Count items which are similar in a text

222
Q

Telegraphic stage

A

Stage of language acquisition where children express themselves using the key (usually lexical rather than functional) words in a sentence only. Also termed early multi-word stage

223
Q

Tools of intellectual adaptation

A

Mental processes, techniques and habits, as termed by Lev Vygotsky

224
Q

Transactional

A

Third stage of James Britton’s early writing genres where children write from a detached, third person perspective

225
Q

Transitional stage

A

Stage of writing in which the child’s writing is quite fluent and spellings and punctuation are often correct though s/he will invent his own spellings when s/he is unsure

226
Q

Transitive

A

Of a verb, that can take a direct object

227
Q

Transposition

A

Type of spelling error where the correct letters are used but in the wrong order

228
Q

U

A

Term coined in the 1950s and used of language and culture to denote ‘upper class’, ‘sophisticated’

229
Q

Underextension

A

Inaccurate labelling where a term is used to refer to a lexical field of people/objects/settings/ideas which is too small. See overextension

230
Q

Universal Grammar

A

The innate set of linguistic principles believed by Noam Chomsky to be shared by all humans

231
Q

Unvoiced

A

Of a consonant, articulated in such as way that the vocal chords do not vibrate

232
Q

Variable

A

Attribute which can differ within a context such as a text

233
Q

Virgule

A

/; used as a minor stop in mediaeval times

234
Q

Virtuous error

A

Logical mistake

235
Q

Vocabulary spurt

A

Sudden rapid acquisition of lexis

236
Q

Vocal play

A

Gurgles, squeals, giggles and growls by about 4 months; as with cooing the child may not mean anything specific here but seems to be taking pleasure in the sounds s/he can make

237
Q

Voiced

A

Of a consonant, articulated in such a way that the vocal chords vibrate

238
Q

Wh-questions

A

Questions introduced by where, what, when, who, why and how

239
Q

Whole language

A

See look and see

240
Q

Whole word

A

See look and see

241
Q

Wug test

A

Test, formulated by Jean Berko and using her invented word to describe an imaginary creature , to show how children extract and use grammatical rules

242
Q

Writing in chunks of spelling patterns

A

Phase 4 of J Richard Gentry’s writing stages where the child writes more elaborate stories using first-then-next- last structure

243
Q

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

A

Distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or collaboration with more capable peers