GLOSSARY OF LINGUISTICS TERMS
AFFIX: A morphological element added to a word as a bound morpheme
APPLIED LINGUISTICS: An area of inquiry which seeks to establish the relevance of theoretical studies of language to everyday problems in which language is implicated
ALLOPHONE: The version of phoneme as actually realized phonetically in speech
COMPETENCE: Knowledge of the grammar of a language as a formal abstraction and distinct from the behaviour of actual use
CONSTITUENT: A unit of grammatical structure, e.g. the sentence My friend passed away. (first constituent: noun phrase (my friend), second constituent: verb phrase: passed away)
DIACHRONIC: Concerned with the process of language development over time
DUALITY: The way meaningless elements of language at one level (sounds and letters) combine to form meaningful units (words) at another level
LAD (Language Acquisition Device) : The innate mental mechanism designed uniquely for the acquisition of language
INFLECTION : The morphological process which adjusts words by grammatical modification.
In the sentence" George played with his toys" played is inflected for past tense and toys for plural
LANGUE : The abstract linguistics system which is common social knowledge and which underlies individual uses of language
PAROLE: The actual behaviour of individual language users, as distinct from the abstract language system
PERFORMANCE: The actual language behaviour as distinct from the knowledge that underlies it
PITCH: Voice level produced by varying tension in the vocal cords.
PROPOSITION: What is talked about in an utterance. That part of the speech act which has to do with reference
SYNCHRONIC: Concerned with the state of language at any one time.
STRESS: The prominence given to certain sounds in speech
SOCIOLINGUISTICS: The study of language and society: how social factors influence the structure and use of a language
CLT: Communicative language teaching
CALP : Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
EFL: English as a foreign language
ESL: English as a second language
ELD: English Language Development
ESP: English for specific purposes
L1: First language
L2: Second language
LAS: Language assessment scales
LEP: Limited English Proficient Students
SLA: Second language acquisition
FLA: First language acquisition
TESOL: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
TOKEN: A particular example of a general type
TURN-TAKING: The exchange of speaker role in verbal interaction
UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (UG): General abstract properties, or parameters of language as a whole which are claimed to be universal and innate
Cognitive strategies: these involve specific conscious ways of tackling L2 learning. See learning strategies
Cognitive style: a person’s typical ways of thinking, seen as a continuum between field-dependent (FD) cognitive style, in which thinking relates to context, and field-independent (FI) style, in which it is independent of context
Comprehensible Input: Input + 1/Zone of Proximal Development- Input/instruction that is just above the students abilities. Instruction that is embedded in a meaningful context, modified (paraphrasing, repetition), collaborative/ interactive and multimodal.
Critical period hypothesis (CPH): the claim that human beings are only capable of learning language between the age of 2 years and the early teens
Instrumental motivation: learning the language for a career goal or other practical reason.
Integrative motivation: learning the language in order to take part in the culture of its people
Learning strategy: a choice that the learner makes while learning or using the second language that affects learning, whether cognitive, or metacognitive
Metacognitive strategies: learning strategies that involve planning and directing learning at a general level
Multi-competence: the knowledge of more than one language in the same mind
Teachability hypothesis: ‘an L2 structure can be learnt from instruction only if the learner’s interlanguage is close to the point when this structure is acquired in the natural setting’ (Pienemann)