Jack Maida Vermont SC

English Language Summary Notes

-Metalanguage Dictionary-
> Over Arching Themes/Concepts
VCAA Key Knowledge: - the way speakers and writers choose from a vast repertoire of language in
order to vary the style of their language to suit a particular social purpose.

- the features and functions of informal language in written, spoken and electronic interactions,
understanding that the situational and cultural context of an exchange determines the language
used.

-The Fundamentals of Language Choice and Contextual Factors

Language operates on a continuum principle. The mode of language (written to spoken), the register
(formal to informal) and the degree of several other smaller language elements all operate on
different levels depending on several factors. English Language looks at how language choices are
impacted upon by these factors.

There are a few main influences; Function, Audience, Social Purpose, Identity, Register and
Context. NOTE: it helps to think of them not individually but as a group that influences each other
and affects and all of the other factors.

-Social Purpose
Social purpose is the umbrella term to refer to what a particular piece of language use’s wider aim is
in society. It encompasses a myriad of things; some pieces include:

-Politeness and Face; participants engaging in language use must recognise that there is a set of
‘ground rules’ that govern their own actions and use of language and their interpretations of the
linguistic behaviour of others. People can act within these rules and expectations or not depending
on their intentions in a context. Following these conventions can aid in building face, but purposely
breaking them can also be used to build or maintain face or social integrity. Language can be
modified to comply somewhat to these conventions of politeness and cooperation depending on the
speaker’s/writer’s intent. Politeness and face can be a factor in audience, identity, context and
function as well.

-Greater social ramification; how language is used to craft and carry out the writer’s/speaker’s
intentions in greater society. What larger effect does the language have on an issue/particular
domain/idea/climate/perception of some etc. etc. . The societal effects must be looked at on a case-
by-case basis.

Social purpose is, basically put, the ramifications (intentional/unintentional) of the language used in
a piece of speech/writing in influencing something in society.

-Audience
-The readers/interlocutors of language are going to have different perceptions about what language
should be used surrounding an issue or in a particular context. The social distance between the
speaker/writer and the audience will also change the type of language that will be used; namely in a
register sense.
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-Function
The function of a piece refers to the bare thing the piece is trying to do. Whether to persuade or
inform etc different functions of language are going to merit different language choices.

-Context
The context of language is the environment the language is used in, whether it be situational (in a
room at school), political/wider social context (the climate surrounding asylum seeker policy and
morals relating to that), the medium (or mode) it is expressed in (via internet) and the context of the
piece (what has been said in the text/dialogue). It is, basically, what’s going on around the piece or in
the piece that influences the language.

-Identity
Language can be manipulated in order to craft identity or to perpetuate someone’s identity.
Differing language can make to writer/speaker appear very different.

-Register
Socially defined varieties of language are called registers; these involve language that is appropriate
for a specific situation, occupation or subject matter. How speakers/writers create register is by
selecting from a vast collection of different linguistic forms and their stylistic choice such as lexical
choice, grammar, punctuation, pronunciation and paralinguistic features (body language) to conform
to the appropriate standard.

> Metalanguage: Prosodic Features and Vocal Effects

-Prosodic Features
VCAA Key Knowledge: prosodic features: pitch, stress, volume, tempo and intonation.

Pitch- the note of your voice high/low

 Reveals emotions (high pitched- excitement, nervous, scared) (low pitched-sad, angry,
disappointed)
 Gender signifying
 Reliant on context

Emphatic Stress- placing stress on different parts of a word

 Emphasis of a word or syllable (to make a point clear)

 Difference in pronunciation (rhythm)
 Create humour
 Used as an interjection
 Can convey emotion

Volume- loudness or softness

 Shows mood/attitude to a topic

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 Variation in volume can reflect importance of a topic (louder=more important)
 Emphasis
 Reveals the relationship of participants or the contextual settings

Intonation- The modulation/patterning of pitch

 Can dictate sentence type

 Floor holding strategies
 Monotone/boredom, disinterest

Tempo-the speed of speech

 Shows emotions
 Sometimes contexts require it to be quick
 Importance
 Used to allow time to select words

-Vocal Effects
VCAA Key Knowledge: vocal effects: coughs, laughter, breath

Breathing- Sighs, panting, exhaling

 Can show emotion

 Inhaling can mark the beginning of a turn

Laughter-

 Call attention upon oneself

 To hide something sarcastically
 Can be used as a form of back channelling

Coughs-

 Can be used as an interjection; to draw attention

 Show disgust/distaste

Interjection-Type sounds-

 To attempt to take the floor

> Metalanguage: Phonology

Phonology is the study of speech sounds and how a language's speakers systematically use a
selection of sounds in order to express meaning.

-Phonological Processes (Connected Speech Processes)

VCAA Key Knowledge: sounds in connected speech and connected speech processes: assimilation,
vowel reduction, elision, insertion

Phonological processes (connected speech processes) are, more-or-less, unintentional in everyday

speech and occur for ease of pronunciation. It differs from stylistic phonological features (or
phonological patterning) which involve purposefully used manipulation of sounds for effect.
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Assimilation- When sounds assimilate they become more similar to neighbouring sounds.

 Shows informality, national identity, relationship between speaker and interlocutors

 Can be a factor of personality

Elision- The leaving out of any sounds (including vowels) is called elision.

Vowel Reduction- Unstressed vowels are omitted or reduced, particularly at the beginning or middle
of function words.

Insertion- Adding sounds to a consonant cluster for ease of pronunciation. Occurs naturally in
speech.

-Phonological Patterning (Stylistic Features)

VCAA Key Knowledge- alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, rhythm, rhyme

All phonological stylistic features have the same general effects of;

Playfulness, Stress/emphasis, Memorable and Cohesive tying.

Alliteration- the repetition of the initial sounds of a word

 Often found I newspaper headlines

Assonance- vowel sounds in words repeated (eg. ‘Kwik Fix’)

Consonance- consonant sounds repeated (eg. ‘taste, test, toast’)

Onomatopoeia- the use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning. (eg. ‘snap, crackle, pop’)

Rhythm- the patterning of stressed and unstressed syllables in spoken language.

 Often used in poetry to emphasise moods or ideas

Rhyme-the recurring pattern of identical or similar sounds at the end of two or more words.

-Other Phonological Metalanguage

Flapping- occurs when the ‘d’ sound replaces by the ‘t’ sound in certain words (eg. ‘Latter’ may
sound like ‘ladder’)

> Metalanguage: Morphology and Lexicology

Lexicology is the branch of linguistics that studies the stock of words (the lexicon or vocabulary) in a
given language. Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies word structures, especially in
terms of morphemes. Morphology is primarily concerned with the internal structures of words.

-Morphemes
VCAA Key Knowledge: inflection and derivation, root, bound and free morphemes

A morpheme is the smallest unit of language that expresses meaning or serves a grammatical
function. It is always a letter or a group of letters. For example, the word ‘apple’, its meaning is
conveyed by the whole word and cannot be broken down. It is made up of one morpheme. The
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word ‘apples’ has two morphemes, apple which gives the main meaning of the word and –s which
tells us it is plural.

Inflection-Affixes that are used to indicate certain grammatical features. Always suffixes. Examples
are indicating that a word is plural, possessive, past tense, comparative or superlative.

Derivational Morphemes- Affixes that are used to create new words. Can be prefixes, suffixes or
both. Generally changes the word class of a word whilst creating a new term (eg. 'sing’ to ‘singer’)

Root (carrying meaning)- carries the main meaning of a word

Bound Morpheme- Morphemes that have no meaning alone. They MUST be attached to other
morphemes. Eg. un-, -er, -th, -ful, -ness

Free Morpheme- Morphemes that can stand alone as words. Their structure cannot be broken down
further. Eg. apple, train, orange

-Affixation
VCAA Key Knowledge: affixation: prefix, suffix, infix;

suffixation in Australian English

Prefix- an affix which is placed before the root of a word

Suffix- An affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Can be:

Inflectional- used to indicate certain grammatical features. The eight inflectional

morphemes: (s,s,s,e,e,e,e,i) comprise; bugs (plural), Steven’s (possessive), he jumps (third person),
taken (past participle), jumped (past tense), colder (comparitive), coldest (superlative), jumping
(progressive/continuous tense).

Derivational-are used to create (derive) new words. Can be from prefixes or suffixes, or
both. Usually changes the word class of the word.[See ‘Derivational Morphemes\Morphemes above]

Infix- A morpheme inserted inside a word stem (an existing word). (eg. fan-bloody-tastic)

Suffixation in Australian English- used in a derivational sense usually to create diminutives or words
that reflect warmth, friendly temperament. Can be used in some infixes to show
irritation/frustration (fan-bloody-tastic).

-Word Formation Processes

VCAA Key Knowledge: blends, acronyms, initialisms, shortenings, compounding, contractions,
collocations, neologisms

Mnemonic to remember word formation processes: A3 B3 C3 SINS

Acronyms- the initial letters of a phrase or name are taken and formed into a term that is spoken
how it is written (eg. QANTAS, VCAA, ATAR)

Affixations-the addition of morphemes (free or bound) to a stem to produce a new term. [See
‘Affixation\Morphology above]
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Abbreviations- the shortening of a larger term into a shorter one to represent the original term. (eg.
advertisement  ad, Influenzaflu)

Backformation-opposite of affixation; the removal of an affix to produce a new term (eg. edit from
editor)

Blends- the blending of two different parts of different words to form a new term (eg. Brunch (from
breakfast and lunch), Spork (from spoon and fork))

Borrowing-taking terms directly from other languages

Compounding-joining two existing words side-by-side to produce a new lexeme (eg. blackbird,
lighthouse)

Contractions- the shortening of a word with the missing letters replaced by an apostrophe (eg. can’t
(cannot), should’ve (should have)).

Collocations (not a word formation process strictly speaking)- two or more terms that fit together
and appear together in everyday speech. (eg fast food, long haul)

Suffixation- the addition of a morpheme to the end of a stem word to create a new term. Often
changes the word class. Can be inflectional or derivational. [See Suffix\Affixation above]

Initialisms- the initial letters of a phrase or name are taken and formed into a term that is spoken
letter by letter (eg. ICU, RSPCA)

Neologisms- a totally new coined term or phrase.

Shortenings- the omission of morphemes/letters from a word or syllables from a spoken word to
produce a short and succinct referent. Eg. “ad, rad, bro”

-Word Classes
VCAA Key Knowledge: nouns, verbs, auxiliary verbs, modal verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,
pronouns, conjunctions, determiners, interjections, function words and content words

Nouns- ‘naming words’; they are the names we give to people, places, objects, feelings, ideas etc.

Types of Nouns:

 Proper Nouns- usually begin with a capital letter. They refer to specific people and places.
 Common Nouns- are less specific; refer to types of people, places, things, feelings etc. Can be
divided further into:
° Concrete (Physical) Nouns- Refer to things that exist physically; things that we can
see/ feel
° Abstract (quality) Nouns- refer to things that do not exist physically; feelings, idas,
qualities etc.
° Collective Nouns- refer to groups of things.

Verbs- ‘doing words’; verbs may refer to physical or mental actions and states (eg. the house stands
tall).

Auxiliary Verbs- Auxiliary verbs ‘help’ verbs and are found before the main verb (eg. I must have
been thinking-italics is the auxiliary phrase).
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Modal Verbs- are only ever used in conjunction with a main verb. Can be used to express the degree
of profitability or possibility. (eg. Can you pass the salt?).

Can be used to make imperatives more polite (via hedging)

Adjectives- ‘Describing words’; used to describe nouns. Can be put into two categories:

 Comparative- usually formed by putting on the –er suffix. (bigger, better) [more something]
 Superlative- usually formed by adding on the –est suffix. [most something]

Adverbs- supply more information about verbs or adjectives.

Prepositions- Indicate in some way how one thing is related to something else. Relating to
position(at, on, opposite), direction (into, past, to) or time(before, during, after).

Pronouns- words that take the place of nouns. Can be broken up into 5 main types:

 Personal Pronouns- replace the object of a sentence

 Possessive Pronouns- show possession (eg. hers, his)
 Reflexive Pronouns- indicate that the object of a verb is also the subject. (he hit himself)
 Demonstrative Pronouns- have a sense of ‘pointing’ at something/someone (eg. that, those,
these). If placed in front of a noun it is likely to be a determiner, not a pronoun.
 Relative Pronouns- act as linking words in a sentence. They are always placed immediately
after the noun they refer to. (that, whom, which, who)

Conjunctions- ‘joining words’; they join together different parts of a sentence.

 Coordinating Conjunctions- used to join 2 main clauses

 Subordinating Conjunction-used to join a subordinating to a main clause.

Determiners (articles)-Proceed nouns and directly refer to them. Included the definite article (‘the’)
and the indefinite article (‘a/an’).

Interjections-are words or phrases used to exclaim, protest or command.

Function Words- connect content words/ aid in the grammatical cohesion of a piece; they include
conjunctions, prepositions, determiners/articles, interjections and pronouns.

Content Words- carry the weight of the meaning; convey what the piece is about. Include; nouns,
verbs, adjectives, adverbs.

-Other Lexical and Morphological Metalanguage

Jargon-language shared by those who belong to a particular profession, trade or occupational group.
Can be distinguished by phonological, grammatical and discourse features (though is often
characterised by its distinctive vocabulary/lexicon). Jargons can be a part of a register.

Jargons can;

 Serve as a technical or specialist language (for precise and economical communication)

 Promote in-group solidarity (and to perhaps exclude those outsiders who do not use the
jargon)

Slang- an in-group variety in which people with something in common will interact and which is
often bound by time and generation. It is informal, usually spoken not written, and involves mainly
vocabulary (lexicon). A striking feature is also its playfulness, involving; metaphor, irony and sound
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association. (eg. colloquialisms for drunkenness; sloshed, smashed, stewed, steamed are
underpinned by sound association for imagery). Another feature is reduction of form (eg. ‘awkward’
to ‘awks’).

Colloquialism- is a word/phrase that is characteristic of or only appropriate for casual, ordinary,

familiar, and/or informal written or spoken conversation, rather than for formal speech.

Expletive- a curse or swear word.

Intensifier- a word that adds emphasis and colour. Eg. awfully, terribly

> Metalanguage: Syntax

Syntax is the study of the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases,
clauses, and sentences. Syntax is one of the major components of grammar. Syntax (which is
primarily concerned with the ways in which words are put together in sentences) and morphology
(which is primarily concerned with the internal structures of words).

VCAA Key Knowledge: phrases, clauses and sentences

Phrase-A group of words that is smaller than a clause and behaves like a structural unit. It is named
after the head; this is the core/most important word of the phrase.

Clause- A structural unit that is larger than a phrase. (MUST contain a subject and a predicate)

 Independent Clause- a clause that can stand by itself (makes sense by itself)
 Dependant Clause- a clause the augments an independent clause with more information
(cannot stand by itself)

Sentence- words grouped meaningfully to express a statement, question, exclamation,

request, command or suggestion. May be made of one or several clauses.

-Sentence Types
VCAA Key Knowledge: sentence types and their communicative function in texts: declarative,
imperative, interrogative, exclamative

Declarative- Makes a statement

Imperative- issuing a directive (order)

Interrogative- asking/posing a question

Exclamative- making an exclamation. (can be to show emotion or feeling)

-Sentence Structures
VCAA Key Knowledge: sentence structures: sentence fragments; simple, compound, complex and
compound-complex sentences; ellipsis; nominalisation; and coordination and subordination

Fragments-an incomplete utterance that does not express a full thought.

Simple Sentences- Contains a single independent clause. (‘I like butter’)

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Compound Sentences- Two or more independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction. (‘I like
butter and he likes margarine’)

Complex Sentences- An independent clause with one or more dependant clauses. (‘I like butter
because I think it’s better for you’)

Compound-Complex Sentences- contains 2 or more independent clauses with one or more

dependant clause (‘I like butter and he likes margarine, although he doesn’t eat it much’)

Ellipsis- the deletion of items in a sentence because they appear elsewhere or can be found from the
context.

Nominalisation- the process in which whole clauses are turned into noun-like structures (eg. “the
chef’s use of powdered eggs was unexpected”). It takes away directness of agents in performing an
action and thus allows speakers and writers to be non-committal as to who is doing what to whom.

Coordination- the combining of two or more elements- words, phrases or clauses- that are equal in
function and status.

Subordination- the combining of clauses that are syntactically non-equivalent.

Parataxis- the arrangement of independent clauses without coordinating conjunctions. Eg. “I came. I
saw. I conquered.”

-Sentence Voice
VCAA Key Knowledge- active and passive voice, including agentless passives

Active-the most common type of ‘grammatical voice’, whereby the actor or agent in a clause occurs
as the subject and the patient occurs as the object (eg. Fred kicked the dog- agent, verb, patient)

Passive-the promotion of an object to the subject and the simultaneous demotion of the subject to a
by phrase(‘…by Fred’). Eg. “the dog was kicked by Fred”.

Agentless Passive-a passive without an agent (or ‘doer’) of the action. Eg “the dog was kicked.
Removes responsibility away from the agent.

-Other Syntactical Metalanguage

Interrogative Tags- a type or interrogative that ‘tacks’ the interrogative onto the end of a
declarative. It requests the reader to express agreement/disagreement about the declarative.

Information Flow- the arrangement of new or old information in sentences to aid in cohesion.

 Front Focus- What would normally be found at the end of a sentence is promoted to the
front for emphasis. Eg. “ Ice-cream, I love”. Creates emphasis on the front-focused item.
 Left-dislocation- promotion of what would normally be found at the end of the sentence to
the front (like front focus) be replacing it with a copy of it. Eg. “Ice-cream, I just love it”.
Makes the item stand out even more.
 End Focus- a word that would normally be found at the front of a sentence is demoted to
the end of the sentence for emphasis of importance.
 Left-dislocation- a word is demoted to the end of a sentence (like end focus) but is given a
pronoun to to reference it before it is mentioned. This creates an effective way of ‘building
up’ emphasis. Eg. “I love it, icecream”.
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Clefting- Splitting a sentence into two in order to give prominence. Two clauses are formed with the
first given an empty pronoun ‘it’ and the second beginning with ‘that’. Eg. “it was last year that I saw
him”.

Antithesis- the juxtapositioning of contrasting phrases. A type of parallelism that presnts two
opposing ideas in the same sentence construction. Eg, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of
times”.

Parallelism- the use of similar sounds, words or grammatical constructions. Repetition of a similar
structure that expresses two ideas that are equally important (unlike antithesis). Eg. “signed, sealed
and delivered”, “when I am a child, when I am a writer”

> Metalanguage: Semantics

The field of linguistics concerned with the study of meaning in language

-Sematic Patterning and Lexical Choice

VCAA Key Knowledge: semantic fields lexical choice and semantic patterning in texts: irony,
metaphor, oxymoron, simile, personification, animation, puns, lexical ambiguity, euphemism and
dysphemism

Some effects that these sematic choices make are; humour or social wit, enhance intrest, enhance
understanding and create imagery.

Euphemism- language that maintains politeness and face on issues that they are not comfortable
discussing. Can be used to mask taboo or controversial topics.

Dysphemism-involves the substitution of a polite phrase for one with negative connotation. Shows
hatred, dislike and attacks on a person or topic depending on the context.

Doublespeak- Language that conceals the true meaning of a word or utterance by making the
negative appear positive. Generally involved with politics/media dialouges.

Irony- language that expresses absurdity from what is said compared to what was expected to be
said. Eg. ‘Wonderful work’ when something is clearly woeful.

Idioms- Complex expressions (sometimes involving imigry) that make up a single unit of meaning.
Eg. “bit the dust” –died. The full meaning cannot be seduced from the individual lexical units.

Metaphor- comparing something or a quality of something to an object. Eg. “her hair was silk”

Simile- a figurative expression that involves a comparison between things. Eg. “her hair was like
silk”.

Oxymoron- a phrase that combines two contradictory terms. “deafening silence”

Personification- A figure of speech that gives something non-human a human quality.

Pun- a type of word play that uses different meanings of a word or brings together words that are
similar in sound but have different meanings.

Taboo Words- Taboo is words and phrases that are generally considered inappropriate in certain
contexts; language users will usually try and adjust social taboos (inappropriate words) through the
use of euphemisms, non-discriminatory language and political correctness. No Taboo holds for all
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people, time and contexts. Taboos of social conventions are set by social parameters such as age,
sex, education and social status.

Paraprosdokians – figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is suprising or
unexpected. Eg. “where there’s a will, I want to be in it”

-Lexical Meaning
VCAA Key Knowledge: lexical meaning, especially sense relations: synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy,
idiom, denotation and connotation

Synonym- a word that has the same or similar denotative meaning as another

Antonym- a word that means the complete opposite of another

Hyponymy- describes the relationship between words that are bound by the same sematic field. Eg.
green and red are both hyponyms of colour

Denotation-is the referential meaning that is constantly associated with a word

Connotation- the emotional implications and associations that a word may carry.

> Metalanguage: Discourse Analysis

Discourse Analysis the study of connected stretch of language written or spoken, (usually bigger
than a sentence, letter, conversation, essay ect.) in context. Deals with interactions between two of
more speakers, or between a writer and a reader.

-Cohesion
A text with clearly connected sentences is said to be cohesive. Cohesion describes the way in which a
text is tied together by linguistic devices; there are three main categories through which cohesion is
achieved, the lexical choice (Vocab), referencing (going back and forth) and use of conjunctions.

VCAA Key Knowledge- factors that contribute to a text’s cohesion: information flow including
clefting, front focus and end focus; anaphoric and cataphoric reference; deictics; repetition;
synonymy, antonymy and hyponymy; collocation; ellipses; substitution; conjunctions and adverbials

Anaphoric Referencing- Expressions that refer back to something that has come before in the
discourse (antecedent). Eg. “there was a cat in the yard. It was grey.”

Cataphoric Referencing- Refering forward to another expression that follows it. “If you want it, you
can have it.”

Information Flow-the way the content of a message is structured. Comprise clefting, right/left
dislocation, front focus and end focus.

Deictic Expressions- expressions that point or indicate to the temporal situation; what is happening
now.
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Substitution- the replacement of a phrase/clause with a shorter word. Eg. “to be or not to be, that is
the question.

Connecting Adverbials- used to establish connections between another part of the text. Eg.
however, nevertheless, since, similarly

Collocations

Antonyms

Synonyms

Hyponymy

Conjunctions-establish a relationship between two clauses.

Ellipsis

Conjunctions

Repetition- key words or phrases are repeated to help the reader make connections between one
part of the text and another

-Coherence
A text has coherence if its constituent sentences follow on one from the other in an orderly fashion
so that the reader can make sense of the entire text. Coherence means that the text is easy to read
and makes sense. Coherence is generally achieved through inference, the reader is able to infer the
writers intentions and logical order of information. Coherence is subjective and is based on context.

VCAA Key Knowledge: factors that contribute to a text’s coherence: cohesion, inference, logical
ordering, formatting, consistency and conventions

Cohesion-Enables ideas to be linked and elaborated on which enables a text to have more sense and
have meaning

Inference- the additional information assumed by hearers/readers in order to make a connection

between what has been said/written and what is meant. Using personal, cultural, previous and
contextual knowledge to make sense of a text.

Logical Ordering- paragraphing in a logical format. i.e with a topic heading, examples, explanation

Formatting- Paragraphs, headings, paragraphs, fonts, parenthesis. Enable to reader to foretell what
is going to occur in a text and enable the text to be ordered appropriately to make sense.

Conventions- the way to which a text adheres to the expected format of that type.

-Features of Spoken Discourse

VCAA Key Knowledge: features of spoken discourse: pauses, false starts, repetition, repairs, openings
and closings, adjacency pairs, overlapping speech, interrogative tags, and discourse particles

Pauses-

 Allows thinking time/cognition to occur

 Used for emphasis or effect
 Can occur during a transitional phase where no one has been selected to take the floor
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 Lack of content; can indicate social distance or trouble

False Starts- occurs when a person starts to speak, stops, and repeats the exact same thing they just
said. The reason for this is context-related:

 Interruption may have occurred

 The speaker may want ensure that they are heard
 The speaker considered altering their utterance but decided against it

Repetition- the repetition of the exact same utterance as was just said. Could be self-repetition or
other-repetition.

Self:

 Clarify meaning
 Emphasis
 Show strength of argument
 Unsure of what you are going to say in the succeeding utterance

Other: by another interlocutor (not speaking)

 Clarification
 Mockery

Repairs- occurs when a speaker stops and restates what he has just said correcting grammar,
pronunciation, word choice or other language features

 Can be required to maintain face needs

 Can be required due to political correctness/politeness

Openings- the terms, vocatives or other language choices used to open a topic or conversation.
Different openings rely on the context. Can include:

 Jokes
 Greetings
 Adjacency Pairs
 Anecdotes
 Names/nicknames

Closings- the terms, vocatives or other language used to end a topic or conversation. Closings rely
on context. Can include:

 Farewells
 Completion of the adjacency pair
 Prosodic or paralinguistics cues

Overlapping Speech- overlapping speech can be the result of a few things:

° Mistiming- where the speaker has misjudged the end of the first speaker’s utterance.
° Collaborative Completion- where the next speaker is agreeing with the first by usig the same
words.
° Back-channelling- Sounds such as uhuh, yeah, um etc.
° Attempted Interruption- occurs when another speaker attempts to cut in a nd take the floor
during a speaker’s utterance
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Interrogative Tags- a type or interrogative that ‘tacks’ the interrogative onto the end of a
declarative. It requests the reader to express agreement/disagreement about the declarative.
Indicate informality (non-standard).

Discourse Particles- words or phrases that serve a functional or facilitating role in a spoken
discourse.

 Facilitate turn-taking
 Aide in topic management
 Give feedback
 Indicate understanding
 Hedging

Fillers- used by speakers to hold the floor by regaining thought. Can also be used as a hedge
depending on context. Include sounds such as erm, um, ahh.

-Strategies in Spoken Discourse

VCAA Key Knowledge: strategies in spoken discourse: topic management, turn-taking, holding the
floor, minimal responses

Topic Management- includes the initiation of the topic, topic development and also topic change.
Factors used to facilitate it are:

 Openings and closings

 Discourse particles
 Adjacency pairs

Turn-taking- the process of alternating turns from one speaker to another.

Holding the Floor- the process of maintaining one’s turn in the discourse. Factors that can be
involved in this are:

 Prosodic Features (intonation, volume)

 Discourse particles
 Lack of pauses
 Paralingustic features
 Adjancency Pairs
 Conjunctions

Back–channelling (Minimal Responses)- can be supportive or non-committal.

[see; back-channelling\overlapping speech\features of spoken discourse\discourse analysis]
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> General Vocab: Glossary (add your own)

Term Definition
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Term Definition
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> Metalanguage Vocab: Glossary

Term Subsystem Definition