Idiolect - The language used by an individual, expressing themselves in their own style depending on how they have been influenced.

Sociolect - The language associated with a particular social group.

Morpheme - the smallest unit of language that has its own meaning, either a word or a part of a word

Syntax - the study of how words form larger structures such as phrases, clauses and sentences

Descriptive - taking an approach to language study that focuses on how language is actually used

Prescriptive - taking an approach to language study that focuses on rules and notions of correctness

Prefix - a morpheme that goes before a root word to modify its meaning

Suffix - a morpheme that comes after a root word to modify its meaning

Affix - the overall term for an addition to a root (a prefix or suffix) to modify its meaning or create a new word

Inflectional function - the way that an affix shows a grammatical category such as a verb tense or a plural noun (-s)

Derivational function - the way that an affix helps form a new word by attaching itself to a root (-un)

Discourse event - an act of communication occurring in a specific time and location involving writers/speakers and readers/listeners

Text producer - the person or people responsible (through writing or speaking) for creating a text

Text receiver - the person or people interpreting (through reading or listening to) a text

Implied reader - a constructed image of an idealised reader

Actual reader - any person or groups of people who engage with and interpret a text

Implied writer - a constructed image of an idealised writer

Actual writer- the ‘real’ person or people responsible for text production

Discourse community- a group or people with shared interests and belief systems who are likely to respond to texts in similar ways.

Iconic Sign - A sign or image that is a direct picture of the thing it represents.

Symbolic Sign - A sign or image where an associated meaning is drawn from some shared degree of knowledge.

Shape and layout of a text helps the reader to identify the purpose and meaning of the text, and is often related to its genre.

Formality - a thing that is done simply to comply with convention, regulations, or custom

Semantic field - A group of words that fulfil the same kind of role and function in speech and writing.

Collocates - Words that typically appear together.

Fixed expressions - A well-used group of words that becomes accepted and used as one long structure.

Synonym - A word that has equivalent meaning to another word.

Hyponymy - The way of viewing the relationship between more general and specific words.

Phonology - The area of study that refers to the more abstract sound system.

Phonetics - The area of study that is concerned with investigating how sounds are actually produced by language users.

Prosodics - The study of how speakers can shape meanings through emphasising certain aspects of intonation, speed and volume.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) - A system for showing the different sounds possible.

Multi purpose text - text that clearly has more than one purpose.

Primary purpose - The main and most easily recognisable purpose.

Secondary purpose - An additional and perhaps more subtle purpose.

Verb phrase- a group of words built around a main verb (the head word) ; example - "Prime minister takes big lead".

• Usually contains a main verb and accompanying auxiliary verbs.

• Join with a main verb to show possibility, probability, certainty, necessity or obligation.
  

• will/would/can/could/shall/should/may/might/must
  

• Example - I may see him / I should have seen him.
  

• Subject - Usually a noun phrase; acts as the key focus of the clause.

• Object - Usually a noun phrase; acted upon by the subject.

• Complement - Usually a noun phrase; gives further information about another element.

• Adverbial - Usually an adverb / prepositional phrase ; adds extra information about the verb being carried out (eg- time, place, manner)