Taboo Language - Zimbabwean English

Words and phrases that are generally considered inappropriate in certain contexts.

A question added to the end of a declarative sentence.

A word or phrase at the end of a clause used to clarify, strengthen, extend, or emphasize a topic that was previously introduced.

Lofty, pompous, and extravagantly colorful speech or writing.

Undignified language that debases a person or thing.

In a conceptual metaphor, the quality or experience described by the source domain. Unlike the source domain, which is concrete and based on sensory experience, the target domain is abstract.

(1) The needless repetition of an idea using different words. (2) In logic, a statement that is unconditionally true by virtue of its form alone.

Excessive repetition of the same vowel or consonant sound.

In classical rhetoric, a true art or discipline.

Written communications done on the job, especially in fields with specialized vocabularies, such as science, engineering, technology, and the health sciences.

A simplified manner of speech in which only the most important content words are used to express ideas, while grammatical function words and inflectional endings are often omitted.

The underlying idea or the principal subject that is the meaning of a metaphor.

In grammar, tense is the time of a verb's action or state of being, such as past, present, or future.

A word, phrase, name, or title (or some combination of these) used in addressing someone.

A person's account of an event or state of affairs.

A series of four members.

(1) The original words of something written, printed, or spoken, in contrast to a summary or paraphrase. (2) A coherent stretch of language that may be regarded as an object of critical analysis.

The process of sending and receiving brief written messages using a cellular (mobile) phone or similar handheld device.

An informal term for the abbreviated language used in text messaging.

In linguistics, the property by which successive sentences form a coherent text in contrast to a random sequence.

A thank-you note is a type of correspondence in which the writer expresses gratitude for a gift, service, or opportunity.

(1) The main idea of a text, expressed directly or indirectly. (2) A short composition assigned as a writing exercise.

The conventional writing assignments (including five-paragraph essays) required in many composition classes.

Theoretical grammar is the study of the essential components of any human language.

See "theoretical grammar."

A metaphor (or figurative comparison) used by a therapist to assist a client in the process of personal transformation, healing, and growth.

A structure in which the expletive "there" is added at the beginning of a sentence and the subject is moved to a position after a form of "be."

A thesaurus is a book of synonyms, often including related words and antonyms.

The main idea of an essay or report, often written as a single declarative sentence.

The use of third-person pronouns such as "he," "she," and "they" to relate events in a work of fiction or nonfiction.

Third-person pronouns are pronouns that refer to people or things other than the speaker (or writer) and the person(s) addressed.

In psycholinguistics, the feeling that a name, word, or phrase--though momentarily unrecallable--is known and will soon be recalled.

A word or phrase given to an essay, article, chapter, report, or other work to identify the subject and attract the reader's attention.

One of the conventions used for capitalizing the words in a title, subtitle, heading, or headline: capitalize the first word, the last word, and all major words in between.

The euphemistic practice of assigning a more impressive-sounding name to a job position, usually without providing additional responsibilities, resources, or benefits.

The separation of the parts of a compound word by another word or words.

A Tom Swifty is a type of word play in which there is a punning relationship between an adverb and the statement it refers to.

A writer's attitude toward subject, audience, and self.

A phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly.

The particular issue or idea that serves as the subject of a paragraph, essay, report, or speech.

The sentence, often at the beginning of a paragraph, that states or suggests the main idea.

Stock formulas such as puns, proverbs, cause and effect, and comparison, which rhetors use to produce arguments.

A place name or a word coined in association with the name of a place.

A six-part model of argument introduced by British philosopher Stephen Toulmin. The Toulmin model can be used as a tool for analyzing and categorizing arguments.

A distinctive word, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies a product and is legally owned by its manufacturer or inventor.

Traditional grammar is the collection of rules and concepts about the structure of language that is commonly taught in schools.

A figure of speech in which an epithet (or adjective) grammatically qualifies a noun other than the person or thing it is actually describing.

A type of syntactic rule that can move an element from one position to another.

Transformational grammar is a theory of grammar that accounts for the constructions of a language by linguistic transformations and phrase structures.

The connection between two parts of a piece of writing, contributing to coherence.

A word or phrase that shows how the meaning of one sentence is related to the meaning of the preceding sentence.

A transitive verb is a verb that takes a direct object.

(1) The process of turning an original or "source" text into a text in another language. (2) A translated version of a text.

A form of creative nonfiction in which the narrator's encounters with foreign places serve as the dominant subject.

Series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses.

Triplets are three distinct words derived from the same source but at different times and by different routes of transmission

The lower division of the seven liberal arts in medieval schools, consisting of grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

(1) A figure of speech. (2) A rhetorical device that produces a shift in the meanings of words--in contrast to a scheme, which changes only the shape of a phrase.

In linguistics, a main clause plus any subordinate clauses that may be attached to it.

A type of ad hominem argument in which a person turns a charge back on his or her accuser: a logical fallacy.

The manner in which orderly conversation normally takes place.

An error in typing or printing, especially one caused by striking an incorrect key on a keyboard.

Figure of speech in which a writer deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.

Definition, discussion, and examples of the fallacy of the undistributed middle term.

The quality of oneness in a paragraph or essay that results when all the words and sentences contribute to a single main idea.

The system of categories, operations, and principles shared by all human languages and considered to be innate.

A univocalic is a text that uses only one vowel.

A speech pattern in which phrases and sentences habitually end with a rising sound, as if the statement were a question.

The conventional ways in which words or phrases are used, spoken, or written in a speech community.

In linguistics, a unit of speech. In phonetic terms, a stretch of spoken language that is preceded by silence and followed by silence or a change of speaker.

In a deductive argument, the principle that if all the premises are true, the conclusion must also be true.

In a metaphor, the figure itself. A metaphor carries two ideas: the vehicle and the tenor, or underlying idea.

The part of speech that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being.

A verb form that functions in a sentence as a noun or a modifier rather than as a verb.

A word or phrase that makes statements less forceful or assertive.

A phrase coined by British linguist Deborah Cameron to describe "the urge to meddle in matters of language": the inclination to improve or correct speech and writing or to arrest change in a language.

A trope (or figure of speech) in which the intended meaning of a statement differs from the meaning that the words appear to express.

A noun that is derived from a verb (usually by adding the suffix "-ing") and that exhibits the ordinary properties of a noun.

A figure of speech in which a seemingly self-contradictory statement is nevertheless found to be true.

In sociolinguistics, the deliberate manipulation of aspects of language for playful purposes.

Literally, "the murder of a word": the deliberate distortion or weakening of a word's meaning.

A type of conversion (or functional shift) in which a noun is used as a verb.

A clause-like construction in which a verb element is implied but not present.

A construction that lacks a verb but functions as a sentence.

Wordiness.

(1) In traditional grammar, a word group that includes a verb and its auxiliaries. (2) In generative grammar, a predicate: that is, a lexical verb and all the words governed by that verb except a subject.

The language of a particular group, profession, region, or country, especially as spoken rather than formally written.

A vignette is a verbal sketch, a brief essay, or any carefully crafted short work of prose, either fiction or nonfiction.

See "slash."

The substitution of a pleasing or inoffensive image for one considered unpleasant, distasteful, or distressingly explicit

The representation of a person, place, thing, or idea by way of a visual image that suggests a particular association or point of similarity.

A branch of rhetorical studies concerned with the persuasive use of images.

All the words of a language, or the words used by a particular person or group.

A word or phrase used to address a reader or listener directly, usually in the form of a personal name, title, or term of endearment.

A fashionable word or phrase that tends to lose its effectiveness through overuse.

In traditional grammar, the quality of a verb that indicates whether its subject acts (active voice) or is acted upon (passive voice).

In phonetics, the speech sounds produced by the vocal cords.

The distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or of a narrator in a text.

A vowel is a letter of the alphabet (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y) that represents a speech sound created by the relatively free passage of breath through the larynx and oral cavity.

A "wanna construction" is a linguistic phenomenon involving the contracted form of "want to."

In the Toulmin model of argument, a general rule indicating the relevance of a claim.

See "regular verb."

A modifying word that undermines or contradicts the meaning of the word, phrase, or clause it accompanies.

A variety of the English language that is used in Wales.

The conversational convention of casting an imperative statement in question or declarative form to communicate a request without causing offense.

A term in generative grammar for a question that is formed with an interrogative word and that expects an answer other than "yes" or "no."

One of the function words used to begin a wh- question.

A sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or of a combination of morphemes.

A set of words that display the same formal properties, especially their inflections and distribution. Similar to (but not synonymous with) the more traditional term "part of speech."

A group of words that share a common base, to which different prefixes and suffixes are added.

In linguistics, word-formation refers to the ways in which new words are made on the basis of other words or morphemes.

A theory of language structure which holds that grammatical knowledge is largely a body (or network) of knowledge about words.

The use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning in speech or writing.

See "neologism."

The order in which elements occur in a phrase, clause, or sentence.

The manipulation of language (in particular, the sounds and meanings of words) with the intent to amuse; verbal wit.

Word salad refers to the practice of stringing together words that have no apparent connection to one another--an extreme form of incomprehensible speech.

A word word is a term coined by Paul Dickson to describe a word that's repeated to distinguish it from a seemingly identical word.

The English language as it is used throughout the world.

(a) A person who writes (articles, stories, books, etc.). (b) An author: a person who writes professionally.

A kind of private or personal writing: a text that is composed for oneself.

A condition in which a skilled writer with the desire to write finds herself unable to write.

A writer's notebook is a record of impressions, observations, and ideas that may eventually serve as the basis for more formal writings.

(1) A system of graphic symbols that can be used to convey meaning. (2) the act of composing a text.

The use of writing in the teaching and learning of college and university subjects other than those offered by conventional composition or writing programs.

In many colleges and universities (as well as in some elementary schools and high schools), a place on campus where trained tutors provide student writers with individual assistance in all aspects of the composing process.

A group of people (typically four or five) who meet regularly to read and respond to one another's writing.

In composition studies, the writing portfolio is a collection of student writing that is intended to demonstrate the writer's development over the course of one or more academic terms.

The series of overlapping steps that most writers follow in producing texts.

A writing system is a symbolic method for visually recording language.

The ways in which the English language is transmitted through a system of graphic symbols.

An interrogative construction that expects an answer of "yes" or "no."

An occasion in speech or writing where a noun or noun phrase is not preceded by an article

The zero copula is the absence of an explicit auxiliary verb (usually a form of the verb "be") in certain constructions where it is customarily found in standard English.

See "conversion"

A type of complement with an infinitive verb form that is not preceded by the particle "to." Also known as the "bare infinitive."

A plural form of a noun that is identical to the singular form. "Zero plural marking" refers to the absence of the plural markers "s" and "es."

The missing element at the beginning of a relative clause in which the relative pronoun has been omitted.

Use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.

The variety of the English language spoken in Zimbabwe.