59 terms in Paper 1
Language Change
Language change refers to systematic alterations in linguistic systems over time. Changes may affect phonology, morpholo
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Language Contact and Convergence
Language contact occurs when speakers of different languages interact regularly; convergence refers to the process where
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Language Variation
Language variation encompasses the systematic differences in how language is used across speakers, geographical regions,
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Linguistic Competence
Linguistic competence refers to the internalized knowledge of language that enables a speaker to produce and understand
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Linguistic Relativity and Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Linguistic relativity (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) proposes that language influences or shapes speakers' thought patterns, p
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Paper 1, Individual Variation, Social Factors: Language and Gender
Language and gender examines how gender (social categories of masculinity and femininity) influences language use and ho
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Paper 1, Individual Variation, Social Factors: Language and Gender
Language and age examines how age influences language use, including differences between children and adults, age-gradin
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Paper 1, Individual Variation, Social Factors: Language and Gender
Language and class examines how socioeconomic class (determined by education, income, and occupation) influences languag
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Paper 1, Individual Variation, Social Factors: Language and Gender
Language and ethnicity examines how ethnic group membership influences language use and how language serves as a marker
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Paper 1, Individual Variation, Social Factors: Language and Gender
Language and occupation examines how different professions and work contexts develop distinctive language varieties, inc
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Paper 1, Individual Variation, Social Factors: Language and Gender
Cameron's framework challenges essentialist views of gender differences in language, arguing instead that language and g
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that studies the physical properties of speech sounds, including their production
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized into systems within particular languages and how sound patterns contr
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Prosody refers to the suprasegmental features of speech—stress, rhythm, and intonation—that extend beyond individual sou
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words, including morphemes (the smallest units of meaning), word fo
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Syntax is the study of the rules governing how words are arranged into phrases and sentences. It examines sentence struc
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language, examining how words, sentences, and utterances convey meaning and how con
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Pragmatics is the study of how language is used in social contexts to accomplish communicative goals. It examines speake
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Graphology is the study of the writing system of a language and the visual presentation of written text, including choic
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Discourse refers to extended language use in context—texts, conversations, and extended utterances—and the patterns that
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Lexis refers to the vocabulary or word stock of a language. Lexical analysis examines word choice in texts, word relatio
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Determiners are words that precede and modify nouns or noun phrases to specify or quantify them. They include articles (
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Prepositions are words that establish relationships between nouns (or pronouns) and other sentence elements, expressing
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Conjunctions are words that link grammatical elements—words, phrases, or clauses—creating complex structures and relatio
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Paper 1, Language Levels, Key Frameworks: Phonetics
Modal verbs (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, ought to) are auxiliary verbs that express modali
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Accent and Dialect: Estuary English
Estuary English is an accent variety emerging in Southeast England that blends features of Received Pronunciation with f
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Accent and Dialect: Estuary English
Multicultural London English (MLE) is a dynamic variety emerging in ethnically diverse London communities, incorporating
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Accent and Dialect: Estuary English
Yorkshire English features include distinctive pronunciation (broad Yorkshire vowel system), grammatical features (use o
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Accent and Dialect: Estuary English
Scottish English features a distinctive phonological system (rhoticity, vowel distinctions), grammatical forms (modal ve
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Content: Mode
Mode refers to the medium of communication available to language users. The three primary modes are spoken (communicatio
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Content: Mode
Field refers to the subject domain or professional/social area of a text. It encompasses the topic being discussed and t
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Content: Mode
Function refers to the communicative purpose or intended outcome of a text. Different functions require different langua
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Content: Mode
Audience refers to the real or imagined person or group for whom a text is produced. Speakers and writers adapt their la
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Individual Variation: Dialect
A dialect is a variety of a language associated with a particular region or social group and distinguished by consistent
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Individual Variation: Dialect
An accent is a variety of language distinguished by characteristic pronunciation patterns and phonological features. Acc
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Individual Variation: Dialect
A sociolect is a language variety defined by social variables such as class, age, gender, ethnicity, or occupation rathe
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Individual Variation: Dialect
An idiolect is the personal language system of an individual, comprising their unique combination of vocabulary choices,
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Individual Variation: Dialect
Code-switching is the practice of moving between different language varieties, dialects, sociolects, or languages within
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Paper 1, Language Variation, Individual Variation: Dialect
Received Pronunciation (RP) is a non-regional accent of English historically associated with speakers from the Southeast
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Paper 1, Register and Formality: Colloquialism
Colloquialism refers to informal language, words, and expressions typical of casual conversation rather than formal spee
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Paper 1, Register and Formality: Colloquialism
Slang refers to highly informal vocabulary and expressions that are typically used by specific social groups, often for
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Change: Prescriptivism
Prescriptivism is an approach to language based on establishing and enforcing rules about correct language use. Prescrip
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Change: Prescriptivism
Descriptivism is the approach to language study based on observing and describing how language is actually used by speak
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Change: Prescriptivism
Standardisation is the historical and social process through which one variety of a language becomes codified, promoted,
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Change: Prescriptivism
Standard English is the codified variety of English used in formal writing, education, law, and formal speech. It is bas
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Change: Prescriptivism
The Great Vowel Shift is a major historical phonological change affecting Middle English long vowels, occurring over sev
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Levels: Phonological Change
Phonological change refers to shifts in the sound systems of languages, affecting which sounds exist, how they are produ
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Levels: Phonological Change
Semantic change is the process through which the meaning of a word or expression alters over time. Changes may involve n
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Levels: Phonological Change
Lexical change refers to transformations in a language's vocabulary over time, including the birth of new words, the dea
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Levels: Phonological Change
English spelling history traces the evolution from variable medieval spelling practices through the gradual standardizat
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Levels: Phonological Change
Punctuation history traces the development of marks used to organize written text and indicate meaning, from medieval mi
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Levels: Phonological Change
Lexical innovation refers to the creation of new words or new meanings for existing words, driven by technological chang
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Levels: Phonological Change
A pidgin is a simplified contact language created when speakers of mutually unintelligible languages interact, typically
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Paper 1, Variation Over Time, Language Levels: Phonological Change
A creole is a language that develops when speakers of a pidgin have children who grow up speaking the pidgin as their fi
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Prescriptive Attitudes vs. Descriptive Practice
Prescriptive attitudes are beliefs about 'correct' language use, while descriptive practice refers to actual language us
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