GLOSSARY 60 WORDS

- (Proto)-Indo-European: This is a genetical classification of languages. Indo-European is

the best-known language family. Some of the major Indo-European groups are
Indo-Iranian, Italic, Celtic and Germanic. English belongs to the Anglo-Frisian group of
the West Germanic branch of the Germanic subfamily. An unattested (reconstructed)
language is indicated by the term proto.
- Aboriginal languages: The languages spoken by Aboriginal Australians before the
arrival of English colonisers. Aboriginal English is the technical name given to a
continuum of varieties of English ranging between standard Australian English and
creoles used by Aboriginal Australians.
- Acculturation: It is a gradual process in which changes in the individual or group’s
language, culture and system of values occur through interaction with another majority
group with a different language, culture and system of values. A process of
acculturation typically accompanies language learning/acquisition and the desire to
absorb features of the prevailing culture, including the language.
- Acquisition: This term refers to the ways in which knowledge is gained through
unconscious observation and exposure to the language. Learning is typically contrasted
with acquisition as it includes the types of knowledge that can be intentionally
grasped, knowledge that can be consciously memorised.
- Acrolet (x2): When decreolisation takes place a range of varieties are formed. A
continuum appears in the language and the speakers in the speech community show a
range of different pronunciation features usually associated with social stratification.
The acrolet is the variety which is closer to the standard language and further away
from the creole. The acrolet can evolve into a New English.
- African American vernacular: It refers to the language spoken in black communities in
the United States. Some linguists consider it a significantly different linguistic situation
from the standard dialect since it does not conform to its pronunciation, grammatical
structure, idiomatic usage, vocabulary, etc. In the 1960s it became a source of concern
as it was perceived that black students performed below average in schools.
- Analytic language: Languages can be classified into typological categories based on
how words are formed. An Analytic language is one in which words tend to be on
syllable long with no affixes, such as Chinese or Vietnamese. Analytic languages are
also known as isolating languages.
and communication infrastructures.
- Ascendant bilingualism (x1): It occurs when someone whose ability to function in a
second language is developing due to increased use, so it represents an expansion of
his/her linguistic repertoire. It generally occurs when both languages continue to be
useful and valued. The opposing term is recessive bilingualism where there is a
decrease in an individual’s linguistic competence.
- Auxiliary language (x2): A language that is used for a specific purpose and has, among
others, a specific functional goal. Pidgins are auxiliary languages but there are also
instances of auxiliary languages such as Esperanto, Business English, Maritime English
and Air-Traffic control English. These languages sometimes have a specialised jargon
which tends to be the most difficult part as they are not very complex from a syntactic
point of view.
- Balanced bilingual: This term refers to people who master two different languages in
various contexts and situations. Balanced bilinguals are supposed to be equally fluent
 in both languages across various contexts. This concept is debated due to the difficulty
of encountering similar levels of language competency in any context. They can also be
called “equilinguals” or “ambilinguals”.
- Basilect (x3): When decreolisation takes place a range of varieties are formed. A
continuum appears in the language and the speakers in the speech community show a
range of different pronunciation features usually associated with social stratification.
The basilect is the bottom variety which is closer to the creole and further away from
the standard language.
- Bidialectal: This term is closely related to bilingualism, someone who can use two
dialects can be considered bidialectal. Being bidialectal implies that the differences
between the concerned codes is not so great as to prevent mutual intelligibility.
- Black English Vernacular (or African American Vernacular English): This term refers to
the non-standard English spoken by lower-class African Americans in US urban
communities. In the UK, Black English Vernacular is the result of the linguistic change
from creole languages spoken by Afro-Caribbean immigrants which were influenced by
English as a dominant language in the UK. This language has also become more
English-like for the UK-born descendants of these former immigrants.
- Borrowing (x3): This term is used to refer to words or phrases which have spread from
one language or dialect and are used in another. It is caused for different reasons such
as close contact between two or more language codes in multilingual situations, the
domination of some languages by others, a sense of need because of technological or
cultural advances or a sense of prestige associated with words or expressions coming
from other languages.
- Communicative competence (x1): This term was introduced by Dell Hymes who
considered that speakers have other types of linguistical knowledge about how to use
language properly in society apart from the knowledge of grammar, pronunciation and
lexicon. It is acquired by native speakers of a language but also needs to be acquired by
non-native speakers along with linguistic competence.
- Compound bilingual (x4): This term describes a situation in which one language has
been learnt after the other and, through the first one. Both languages are closely
connected as they may be composed of a single meaning system with two words or
labels for a single meaning. This raises the question of whether both languages develop
together or separately in the brain.
- Consecutive bilingualism (x1): Acquisition of a second language after the age of three.
A typical situation is that of children who are schooled in a different language to their
mother tongue or those who move to another country or language context. The first
language may influence the way they learn and use their second language. It can also
be called sequential bilingualism and is used in contrast with the term simultaneous
bilingualism.
- Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): An approach to second language
learning based on the use of that language as the medium for instruction for the
teaching of curricular content areas. It entails a double focus: the development of
non-linguistic knowledge at the same level as in mainstream education and the
acquisition of a second language aided by scaffolding and other specific teaching
techniques.
- Content-based ESL (x3): A teaching/learning approach in which the contents are taught
in a foreign language with the aim of developing the language skills of the learners in
that foreign language at the same time as they are learning the contents required in
the curriculum. It aims to develop the students’ language and academic skills and its
main advantage is the provision of meaningful contexts for communication in the
classroom.
- Co-ordinate bilingual: This term refers to someone who has learns two languages in
different contexts and keeps them distinct. This probably entails the existence of two
meaning systems with two different words and raises the question of whether both
languages develop together or separately in the brain.
- Corpus planning (x4): Actions undertaken in order to partially modify the nature or
characteristics of a language in some way, such as pronunciation, the incorporation of
new vocabulary or the syntactic or morphological patterns. It is closely related to status
planning which refers to whether the status of a language could or should be raised or
lowered.
- Cultural awareness (x4): The understanding and respect for differences between
people from different countries or different cultural or linguistic backgrounds. It is
supposed to break down national, ethnic and language stereotypes and widen the
understanding of different kinds of societies, this is increasingly important as the world
becomes more of “a global village”. Such awareness may best be achieved through
simultaneous language learning. It is an advantage of the learning of second or third
languages.
- Dialect (x1): Geographical variation affects languages in the form of dialects. People
who speak a dialect often use different words or pronunciation for the same word, this
might also affect syntactic and intonation patterns. The distinction between language
and dialect is not always clear as socio-political factors may play an important role in
the decision and variation is diminished due to the homogenising effect of the media
- Dialectology (x1): It is the study and search for idiosyncratic features in language use
within a geographical area. Dialectologists usually analyse the typical vocabulary,
pronunciation, intonation patterns and other characteristics which they try to match to
specific geographical areas. They draw lines (isoglosses) on maps to try and visualise
areas where certain language features are used.
- Discourse analysis: This field of research refers to the analysis of linguistic units above
sentence level (texts or conversations). By analysing written or aural texts, discourse
analysists explore the different functions of language in social interaction.
- Discourse marker (x1): Words, phrases or sounds that have no content meaning but
play an important role in making conversational structure, signalling conversational
intentions and assuring cooperation on the part of listeners. The types and uses
frequently change across languages.
- Domain: The combination of social and situational factors that influence the speaker’s
choice of code (dialect, register, style…). The same speaker uses different styles
depending on the situation. This concept is frequently used in studies of
code-switching in multilingual contexts where various languages, styles or dialects are
employed in different social settings.
- Dormant bilingual: A bilingual who no longer uses their languages but who acquired
them in the past and reached a comprehensive knowledge and command.

- Endangered language (x3): A language that is at risk because the number of speakers
has decreased. This can be the result of many factors, but it can normally be attributed
 to bad language planning. The lack of importance of a language for business can cause
its death.
- English-lexifier creole: (also see Lexifier) This term refers to any creole which is
English-based and therefore has a vocabulary heavily influenced by English. Due to the
post-creole continuum, that language may still be receiving words from English.
- Ethnography of communication: A term that in addition to the definition of the
ethnography of speaking includes nonverbal aspects of communication (eye contact,
distance between speaker and hearer, etc.).
- Ethnography of speaking (x2): This branch of sociolinguistics studies the norms and
rules for using language in social situations in different cultures. It deals with aspects
like the different types of language to be used under different circumstances; how to
make requests, grant permission or ask a favour; the degree of indirectness, etc.
Researchers hope to provide insight into and improve cross-cultural communication.
- Ethnomethodology: The branch of sociology which deals with the content of what is
being said rather than the way it is being said. Ethnomethodologists study what is
being said and what is not being said because of shared knowledge or common-sense.
- Family language planning (x2): A family’s deliberate efforts to influence the acquisition
of their child’s language. This choice may take the form of a tacit understanding or of a
conscious strategy about with what language to use with the child. It can be very useful
to initiate, establish and maintain childhood bilingualism and is a determining factor in
maintaining minority languages.
- Heritage Language (x2): This is a language spoken by an immigrant group or individual
in another country. It has to be distinguished from Indigenous Language which also
refers to a minority language but in this case is native to that land.
- Heritage language bilingual education (x4): A bilingual education model which allows
minority language children to receive instruction in their native, home or heritage
language. Its goals are to develop full bilingualism and to preserve the ethnic language
and culture of a community. Content is taught through the minority language which is
the students’ home language and also the majority language.
- Hypercorrection (x6): A manifestation of linguistic insecurity. It can manifest itself by
the overuse of the socially desired forms in careful speech or reading, especially in an
attempt to speak or write in an educated manner. English – [h]
- Informant: Any person who provides information to be analysed and is therefore a
source of data for the researcher. This can be anyone from a native speaker to a
student attending a class where research is gathered.
- Interference: In language teaching and learning this term is used to refer to any
negative influence that one languages exerts over the other. It usually hinders the
learning process and causes a problem for the language learner whereas positive
interlinguistic influence helps the language learner.
- International schools (x1): Private, selective and independent schools usually found in
large cities which provide instruction in a majority language and other national or
international languages depending on their location and goals. They offer a curriculum
which is different from the national one, normally to prepare students for entry into
European and North American universities. Students usually share a high
social/economic status.
- Language Academy (x2): In some countries there are institutions which play a role in
safeguarding standards by trying to regulate the evolution of the language by limiting
unwanted foreign influence and by trying to control how the language changes. It is
 more likely to be successful in written language, but the task is difficult due to the
influence exerted by the media and globalisation.
- Language attrition (x2): Gradual language loss in an individual. This can refer to the
loss of a mother tongue that has been acquired and due to lack of use is gradually
forgotten. This is often the case among second and third generation immigrants. It can
also refer to a language that was learnt through formal instruction by gradually
forgotten after a period of disuse.
- Language conflict (x1): In multilingual situations there is usually some type of conflict
regarding the language due to ideological, political or economic reasons. Decisions
regarding the selection of an official language or the choice of language for formal
education, among others, are typical generators of problems. Many current language
conflicts arise from different social statuses and the government’s preferential
treatment of the dominant language.
- Language election/selection: At some point, most developing countries need to make
a decision regarding their socio-political evolution and their international recognition.
These decisions are usually made for practical reasons either because of the need of an
agglutinative language to overcome a wide linguistic variety and/or because of the
advantages in adopting a Language of Wider Communication (LWC).
- Language functions: Language is frequently described as having three main functions:
descriptive (carries factual information), expressive (speaker’s personal feelings,
preferences, etc) and social (maintaining social relations).
- Language loss (x2): This term refers to a situation where language shift in a speech
community ends in the total shift to another language. If a language shift ends with the
total loss of a language from the world it is considered language death. In the area of
individual bilingualism, it can occur in cases in which the minority language is still
unstable, and the dominant language occupies most domains.
- Language of Wider Communication (LWC) (x1): This term is equivalent to lingua
franca, that is a language used by speakers of different languages to communicate with
each other. English became a LWC after World War II.
- Language Policy Division: This department of the EU is located in Strasburg and is
responsible for the progress of language education policies within the EU member
states. It is in charge of the elaboration of guidelines and policies related to language
learning and the development of policy planning regarding linguistic diversity.
- Language revitalisation (x5): Language planning efforts made in order to revive a
language that because of social or economic reasons has decreased in number of
speakers or which was lost. A language shift can lead to the spread of a dominant
language and the loss of the minority language. The reasons can vary but are often
caused by a group’s search for cultural and/or ethnic identity.
- Language spread (x5): This consists of an increase in the use of a language or language
variety for a given communicative function by a specific social or ethnic group. It can
refer to a traditional language within a speech community or a language that is
adopted as lingua franca or LWC. Languages can also spread within a nation as a new
mother tongue instead of as an additional language.

- Lexifier (x2): (also see English-lexifier creole) This term refers to the language from
which most of the vocabulary has been taken to form a pidgin or creole. Common
lexifiers are English, French, Spanish and Portuguese due to their colonial exploits. The
 contact between these European languages and native languages led to the
development of pidgins and creoles.
- Lingua franca (x4): This is commonly used by speakers who have different mother
tongues but need to communicate with each other. They have existed since antient
times but nowadays the most remarkable example is English, for some it is their
mother tongue and for others a second or foreign language, but it is used for
international and intercultural communication. The speaker’s knowledge varies
depending on the domains and contexts where it is used.
- Linguistic competence: It refers to lexical, phonological, syntactical knowledge and
skills and other dimensions of language as a system, independently of the
sociolinguistic value of its variations and the pragmatic functions of its realisations. It
refers to the range and quality of knowledge but also to cognitive organisation and the
way this knowledge is stored.
- Longitudinal study (or observational study): A research method involving repeated
observation of the same variables and the same group of individuals over an extended
period of time. They involve data retrieval at different intervals over a period of time.
This is particularly useful when studying the effectiveness of an educational program
and for gaining insight into cause and effect processes and observing patterns of
change.
- Macro-sociolinguistics (x1): The study of sociolinguistics aspects in large groups of
speakers. It deals with the relationship between sociological factors and language. It is
an umbrella term for a type of research, rather than an area of study itself; so, studies
looking at the Sociology of Language can generally be described as
macro-sociolinguistic because of their scale.
- Mesolect (x1): When decreolisation takes place a range of varieties are formed. A
continuum appears in the language and the speakers in the speech community show a
range of different pronunciation features usually associated with social stratification.
The mesolect is the intermediate variety, with the acrolet and the basilect marking the
extremes of the creole varieties.
- Micro-sociolinguistics: The study of sociolinguistic in relation to small groups of
speakers, speech communities or the speech of individuals. This term is used in
opposition to macro-sociolinguistics which refers to larger scale study of language in
society.
- Minority language: Languages often at risk due to another culturally dominant
language mostly as a result of political or social factors and they are often excluded
from certain spheres such as administration, education or mass media. Minority
language speakers are often bilingual. Language planning and language policies are
ways of promoting these languages. Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic are clear
examples.
- Native speaker (x1): A person who has spoken a language since early childhood. This
term can be controversial because of assumptions made on the capacity of a native
speaker to determine correct or deviant usage. Native and non-native are not clear cut
homogeneous categories. In second-language learning native speakers have
traditionally represented a “model to follow” but this has been proven to be an
inefficient approach.
- New Englishes (x1): This term refers to any of the varieties of English that have
emerged because of the ample spread of this language during the colonial period
(Kenya, India…). It is also known as World English and does not emphasise the
 dichotomy between native and non-native use but embodies the recognition of English
as an international language in multilingual and multicultural contexts.
- Observer’s paradox: This term was coined by Labov to refer to the observation of
language without the speakers knowing that you are doing so. This is a methodological
problem for the gathering of sociolinguistic data because speakers often change their
production when they realize they are being observed.
- Pragmatic competence: This term is concerned with the functional use of linguistic
resources used in aural communication or scripts of interactional exchanges. It also
concerns the mastery of discourse, cohesion and coherence, the identification of text
types and forms, irony, parody, etc.
- Pragmatics: This is a branch of linguistics that studies the use of language in
communication for example the relationship between utterances and the context and
situations in which they are used.
- Proficiency: This is someone’s skill in using a language, generally as a second language.
It describes the degree of skill that someone has attained in a language and his/her
ability over the four basic skills: speaking, reading, writing and listening.
- Sabir: This was a lingua franca used in the Mediterranean area from the middle ages to
the twentieth century. It was kept stable for centuries despite just being a contact
language. Some specialists suggest that all pidgins based on European languages derive
from this lingua franca.
- Semilinguals (x1): Bilingual speakers who display quantitative and/or qualitative
deficiencies in the command of their languages in comparison with monolingual
speakers. Traditionally, this term has had negative connotations since it is used to
define someone who lacks competency/proficiency in either language. It is also used
for people who have acquired several languages at different times but have not
developed a level of proficiency.
- Simultaneous bilingualism (x3): Acquisition of two languages from the early stages of
childhood, usually within the family and before the age of three, a person who is a
simultaneous bilingual usually goes from speaking no languages to speaking two. If the
languages continue to be equally developed, the result is usually quite balanced
bilinguals with the proficiency of a native speaker in both languages. It is also referred
to as “infant bilingualism” or “bilingual first language acquisition”.
- Sociolinguistic competence (x1): This term refers to the sociocultural conditions of
language use. Through its sensitivity to social conventions, the sociolinguistic
competence of language affects all linguistic communication between representatives
of different cultures, and of the same, even though participants are often unaware of
its influence.
- Sociolinguistic interview (x1): This is a technique to collect speech samples to gather
information about a given speaker or group of speakers within a speech community. It
is a qualitative method of research that provides the sociolinguist with face-to-face
interaction with the informant and allows recording for previous analysis and is
therefore of prime importance for the researcher.

- Sociolinguistic relativity (x1): When people from different social and linguistic
backgrounds interact, they tend to analyse and judge each other’s speech by taking
their own as a reference. The more a speaker interacts with different cultures, dialects,
registers, etc. the more referents a speaker will have and the more capable they will be
 of perceiving their culture and way of thinking as just one of many. Sociolinguistic
relativity entails the acknowledgement of sociolinguistic diversity.
- Sociology of language: It is a branch of sociolinguistics that studies large scale
processes of interaction between language and its use in society. It is also referred to
as macro-sociolinguistics and some of the issues it studies are language planning,
multilingualism and language shift.
- Speech act: An utterance that represents a functional unit in interaction. They can have
a locutionary meaning (literal) and/or illocutionary meaning (effect of the speech act or
text on listener or reader).
- Status planning (x3): Actions aiming at raising or lowering the status of a language or
dialect and which basically refers to decisions regarding the selection of particular
varieties for particular purposes or communicative functions. It is closely related to
corpus planning as language planning policies can never be solely corpus-orientated or
status-orientated.
- Synchronic variation: This term refers to the instances and characteristics of variation
which occur at the present time in language, the way variation affects language and a
given point in history (gender, style, register…). It is the opposite of Diachronic
variation which studies language change through time.
- Synthetic language (x2): Synthetic languages have a number of suffixes with carry
different meanings, such as tense or case, and vary their shape according to the word
they are added to. They are also known as inflectional languages. A singles suffix can
express a number of different grammatical concepts, such as in Latin.
- Trilingualism: Use or ability to use three languages. In young children, trilingual
acquisition largely follows the path of bilingual acquisition. Early trilingualism is rarer
than trilingualism achieved through schooling. Nowadays some experts prefer to talk
about multilingualism.
- Turn-taking (x2): In conversation analysis this term describes the fundamental
mechanisms on which the conversation is bases, the right and/or obligation to speak
with the interlocutor. General conversational patterns are arranged in a way that only
one speaker speaks at a time, but this organisation depends on specific cultural
features. Conversation needs to be two-way otherwise it turns into a monologue.
- Variety (x1): This term refers to a sort of language that is considered a separate entity
for some reason, but which generally shares a great deal of common features with
some standard or other varieties. A given dialect, accent, style or register can be
considered a variety but not a different language. They can be widespread and
standardised (Australian or American English) but also very localised (Cockney or
Scouse).