Glossary

a noun used to refer to an abstract (non-touchable, non-physical) thing

a form of language use where the subject is the agent

a power technique where, instead of responding to the logic of the argument itself, a speaker attacks the person making the argument, focusing on personal qualities that have nothing to do with the argument

names or titles we use when we address other people, like 'mister', 'buddy', 'ma'am', or 'honey'. They can be respectful, neutral, or intimate.

who the speaker or writer is addressing or speaking to, part of the audience (which may include non-addressees)

a word that describes or modifies a noun, e.g. 'happy', 'big', or 'unbelievable'

a phrase of one or more adjective, sometimes with a modifying adverb, functioning together as a complement

the alignment or correspondence of a subject and its verb, or of a pronoun and its antecedent, in person, number, case, and gender

a short story or example meant to prove a point, although it may be subjective and not provable

a referent that comes before its pronoun. More common than postcedents.

a determiner that specifies whether a noun is definite (specific) or indefinite (general)

the 'how' quality of a verb, either progressive or perfect

an adjective that comes directly before the noun that it modifies, as opposed to a predicative adjective

a helping verb that plays a grammatical function to a main verb. Auxiliaries in English are forms of 'be', 'have', 'do', and the modals.

the plain, uninflected form of an adjective

a linguistic register found in governmental and traditional institutions that is characterized by excessive jargon, euphemism, and weasel language, that is, language that obfuscates agency, authority, and responsibility

the phrase in a passive voice sentence starting with 'by' that indicates the agent, or doer of the action

in grammar is a category of syntactic function, i.e. what role the word or phrase plays in the sentence. In general, subject case is for what does the action, and object case is for what receives the action.

the deliberate suppression, prohibition, or control of access to media, art, film, literature, news, etc. that is considered offensive, threatening, or unacceptable

articles, demonstratives, and possessives

an element of a sentence that has a subject and a predicate. Sentences can have one or more clauses.

a part of speech that cannot be added to: determiners, pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions

the use of a familiar perspective or narrative to make sense of and evaluate new information

a noun that refers to a group but is in the singular

a noun that is not one-of-a-kind, i.e., not proper. In English they are only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence.

the -er or more - form of an adjective used for comparison

conceptual metaphors used by opposing sides of an issue or argument that may produce cognitive dissonance when juxtaposed

a word or phrase that follows a verb and may be required by it, e.g. an object or a subject complement

a sentence of at least one clause that expresses a complete thought

a sentence comprised of a main clause and at least one dependent clause, connected by a subordinating conjunction

a noun phrase comprised of two or more nouns

a sentence comprised of two or more independent clauses, connected by a coordinating conjunction

a two or three word verb with an auxiliary (or two) and a lexical (main) verb

the theory that metaphors are fundamental to how humans conceptualize the world and their existence in it

a noun used to refer to a concrete (touchable, physical) thing

The mood used to discuss hypotheticals and past, present, and future possibilities; it is typified by the modal 'would'

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

the result of excessive use of doublespeak, especially when opposite terminology is used deliberately; it can also result from gaslighting. It can ultimately lead to mistrust and insecurity about whether there is an actual truth.

a different form of a base word, e.g. 'am' is a conjugation of 'be', and 'speaks' is a conjugation of 'speak'

an association or suggestion of a word or idea

a belief or explanation that suggests that events or situations are the result of a secret, often sinister, and usually complex plot by a group of people or organizations working together covertly

the skills and knowledge to consume goods and services wisely and safely, and to spend and save money free of exploitation

a word that refers to something with a concrete or abstract meaning; content words are open class

where, when, with what, by whom, and to whom something is said, rather than just the what

to influence the interpretation and virality or popularity of a particular story or narrative in a way that benefits the controller

a word that connects two words, phrases, or independent clauses; they are: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, & so

examination of a body or database of language use by means of analytical tools in order to identify patterns and trends not apparent through conventional analytic reading techniques

a noun that can be counted, be singular or plural, and modified with determiners like 'many' or 'few'

critical examination of language use as texts or discourse (at levels higher than a sentence), often in consideration of social context

critical understanding of the social, political, and ideological aspects of language, linguistic variation, and discourse

the determiner 'the', usually used to mean that the noun referent is known

a determiner that specifies which one or ones out of a group according to proximity

this, that, these, & those. They can also be determiners.

are pronouns that point towards specific things and are marked for number (singular or plural) and proximity to the speaker (near or far). They include this, that, these, & those, and can also be demonstrative determiners.

the literal or actual meaning of a word

refers to whether a metaphor is obviously stated (shallow) or if it points to a deeper understanding (deep)

a word that specifies or determines which noun, e.g. 'the', 'a', 'whose', 'many', etc.

the public discussion including texts -- print and spoken -- that surround a particular topic

Information that is purposefully false and meant to mislead or deceive, sometimes equated with propaganda. Recently it's been called "fake news".

the passive voice applied to a sentence with both a direct and an indirect object, allowing for two passive possibilities, e.g. 'Flowers were sent her' and 'She was sent flowers' (by someone).

discussing something else or changing the subject; doublespeak can be considered a form of diversion

the use of a form of 'do' with simple tenses for interrogative and negative forms

euphemistic doublespeak that covertly signals meaning only to receptive audiences

a language power technique involving the renaming of a concept that obscures its original negative meaning, allows for ambiguous interpretation, and may shift responsibility as to its cause.

the substitution of a disagreeable, offensive, or disparaging expression for an agreeable or inoffensive one, e.g. 'kick the bucket' for 'die'

an echo chamber is a situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system and are insulated from rebuttal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_chamber_(media)

a term or phrase for someone or something that includes a descriptor and usually the name of the person or thing

an agreeable or inoffensive expression substituted for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant, e.g. 'pass away' for 'die'

the use of 'we' and equivalent first person plural pronouns to refer to the speaker and others, NOT including the addressee, i.e. 'I and others, but not you'

disinformation presented as news; it is particularly dangerous because it can spread virally like media

a fallacious way of presenting choices that implies there are two, and only two, opposing options; also called false dilemma or either/or

a form of pronoun (usually 2P) that is used for informal interaction, implying equality. Until the 1800s in English, 'thou' was the familiar 2P pronoun form in contrast to the formal form 'you'. Other languages like Spanish, French, and German still have distinct familiar and formal 'you' pronouns.

in English, the term for the pronouns 'she, hers' and the determiner 'her'

the symbolic or metaphorical sense of a word, as opposed to its literal or denotative sense

a verb that is conjugated to agree with the subject

First person (or '1P') means from the perspective of 'I'. 1P pronouns are I, me, mine, myself, we, us, ours, & ourselves.

a form of pronoun (usually 2P) that is used for formal interaction, implying respect and distance. Until the 1800s in English, 'you' was the formal 2P pronoun form in contrast to the informal form 'thou'. Other languages like Spanish, French, and German still have distinct familiar and formal 'you' pronouns.

narrative (story), description (of things and people), exposition (analysis or explanation), and argument (persuasion)

a word or word part that plays a grammatical function; corresponds to closed class

the tense in English expressed with 'will', 'be going to', simple present, or present progressive

in English grammar refers to the sex of the human referent -- male (he, him, his), female (she, her, hers), or neutral (they, them, theirs).

pronouns that can refer to humans without specifying their gender, e.g. English 'they' and proposed pronouns like 'hir', 'xe', and 'co'

the use of 'you' to mean 'one' or 'anyone'-- addressing not a specific individual but anyone

a type of written or spoken text that is socially recognized to have particular purposes, audiences, and authors, e.g. academic essay, news article, social media post, sermon, poem

a VERB-ing form that acts as a noun

a passive construction that uses 'get' instead of 'be', to emphasize emotion (good or bad)

an adjective that describes a quality that can be graded or in degrees, e.g. 'hot'. A gradable adjective can be modified with 'very'

a feature of grammar such as parts of speech or syntactic functions

a system where all nouns are assigned a gender, even when their referents are non-animal, lessening ambiguity and supporting coherence across discourse

a grammatical feature that indicates modality, often through verbal forms. In English these are indicative, imperative, conditional, and subjunctive.

the network of discourses and narratives that all relate to one another and provide a culture with their historical sense of identity

the key noun of a noun phrase; all other words of the phrase can be removed, leaving this, and the phrase will still retain meaning

a word or phrase that downplays or lessens commitment to an assertion

an act meant to deceive through fraud or fabrication, sometimes for entertainment and usually for the benefit of the deceiver

a title or address form like 'Dr.', 'Mrs.', or 'sir' that shows respect to the addressee or referent

a language power technique or figure of speech that exaggerates the facts of an event, idea, or person to garner an emotional response like fear, shock, concern, or amusement from the audience

systems of ideas and ideals about how the world is and how it should be, e.g. liberalism, conservatism, socialism, capitalism, colonialism, etc.

the conditional or 'if' clause is the dependent clause in a complex sentence; it can also be marked by conjunctions like 'unless' or 'provided that', or by subj-aux inversion.

the grammatical voice used to give commands in English. 2P uses just the plain verb (e.g. 'go!'), and 1P uses 'let's' (e.g. 'let's go!').

The mood used to make commands in English. This is the plain form for 2nd person and 'Let's' + plain form for 1st person.

the use of 'we' and equivalent first person plural pronouns to refer to the speaker and others that may include the addressee (i.e., when 'we' means 'you and I')

a sentence-like string of words that does not have a required element, e.g. a subject or a predicate, even though it may be or imply a complete thought

the determiner 'a' or 'an', usually used to mean that the noun referent is new

determiners that can specify new referents, including the indefinite article but also other quantifiers

a pronoun that specifies a quantity of a referent, or an unspecific referent. These include the SANE-BOT compounds.

The most common mood in English, used to make general statements and questions.

a changed form of a verb (i.e. conjugation) or of a noun or adjective (i.e. declension) to show grammatical information

an adverb that intensifies an adjective's power, e.g. really, very, extremely, or totally

having to do with a question (a yes/no or a wh- question)

a question word functioning as a pronoun, e.g. who, what, which, whom, whose

address forms that show informality and intimacy between the speaker and the addressee, e.g. 'dear', 'honey', 'baby', 'bro', 'girl', etc.

a verb that does not require an object

an exception to the rule or pattern

a verb whose forms do not conform to the regular paradigm (-s, -ed, -ing). They often have stem changes and a perfect form that differs from preterite form.

the specialized words and linguistic registers associated with an activity or group of experts that is difficult to understand for outsiders

a technique of using language to persuade, convince or otherwise influence the listener, reader, or interlocutor (audience)

a verb that holds the verb’s lexical meaning regardless of tense or finiteness

the vocabulary (lexicon) and the grammar of a language seen as interconnected and interdependent

a verb like 'be', 'become', 'seem', 'appear', 'smell', 'taste', etc. that is followed by a subject complement

the most obvious, concrete, or actual sense of a word

an argument or reasoning that can be proven wrong through logic; they often involve weasel language and other deceptive techniques

in English, the term for the pronouns 'he, him, his' and the determiner 'his'

a noun that refers to a thing that when used in non-count refers to the substance and must be quantified, but when used in count refers to a singular serving, item, or piece

private media entities and news organizations often present news that are coherent with a particular political ideology or perspective. For example, in the US, Fox News is considered conservative and MSNBC is considered liberal.

a rhetorical device that enables us to connect two disparate words, concepts or things together such that some sort of transference of qualities or activity takes place from one to the other

the use of the name of an attribute or part of a thing to mean the whole thing or something related to the concept, or vice-versa, e.g. 'Washington' for 'the US government', or 'hand' for 'applause'

Information that is not true or partially untrue. Misinformation may be unintentional, unlike disinformation, which is purposeful.

a helping verb that shows speaker stance towards a main verb. In English they are will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might, and must.

a system in language used to express relationships or attitudes towards the quality or truth of a proposition, e.g. ability, volition, or possibility

in grammar, an optional word that modifies or alters the meaning of another word

a multiplier number word like 'double' or 'three times' used as a determiner

the pejorative or derogatory use of an epithet, that is, a descriptive name, to address or refer to someone

a story or account of events, whether true or fictitious

the elements of a story like characters, settings, acts, scenes, and plots

an approach to making sense of the world through stories, personal experience, and anecodotes rather than rational logic

the use of present tenses to describe a past action; also called historic present. It serves to make a past event more immediate and relatable.

a system where the biological, ascribed, or chosen gender of the referent implicates the grammar form used to refer to the referent

a word, phrase, or clause including 'not', 'no', or 'never' that negates the verb or noun

in English, the term for the singular pronouns 'it, its' and the determiner 'its'

in English, the term for pronouns used to refer to any gender, i.e., all except masculine and feminine pronouns

the quality of a story that makes it worth publishing, broadcasting, or sharing, including proximity, human interest, prominence, and oddity

a short name used in place of a full name, usually to show affection or solidarity, but also to show power over the person being nicknamed

a noun that cannot be counted without a quantifier, is singular, and is modified with determiners like 'much' or 'little'

a verb that is in its plain or participle (unconjugated) form

an adjective that describes a quality that cannot be graded or thought of in degrees, e.g. 'dead'.

a person, place, thing, or concept

a noun, e.g. 'barbecue', often with other words around it, e.g. 'the best barbecue in the world', usually functioning as a subject or object

in grammar refers to the quality of being singular or plural (i.e. more than one)

the receiver of the action or doing, as opposed to the subject

me, you, him, her, it, us, them, who, whom -- any personal pronoun that can serve as an object

not mentioning or answering something; euphemistic doublespeak can entail omission because it is by definition avoidance of another term

a part of speech that can be added to: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

refers to whether a metaphor is newly invented by a user or is conventionally understood

the view that metaphors are extra, superfluous, or not fundamental

a grammatical category assignable to every use of every word

adjectives made from past participles that may or may not be derived from a passive construction

VERB-ing forms that act as verbs, as in progressive aspect and in participial phrases

determiners that specify a selection or part of the noun

a passive form using 'get' or 'have' implying that someone or something did or caused something for someone else (the subject)

a form of language use where an object becomes the new subject and the original subject and its agency is deemphasized or omitted

a form of a verb used in perfect and passive; with regular verbs it is the -ed form, but with regular it is different from the preterite (e.g. 'gotten', 'spoken', 'eaten', etc.)

a tense-aspect in English used to relate a past event to another time in the past, using HAD + past participle

a tense-aspect in English used to describe something that happened in the past, emphasizing its continuous or ongoing quality. It is made with past BE (was/were) + present participle (-ing form).

a tense using the preterite form to refer to completed, past events

a verb form that relates two times: an earlier time and a later time (with present perfect, the present)

in grammar refers to perspective of the speaker or writer: first person (e.g. I, we), second person (e.g. you), and third person (e.g. it, they)

the pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them, marked for person, gender, number, and case

a pronoun like 'I, them, yours' that is often marked for person (first, second, third), number (singular or plural), case (subject, object, possessive), and gender (masculine, feminine, neuter, neutral)

a power or propaganda technique used to convince audiences that the speaker/subject is common or average, e.g., if a politician advertises themselves eating street food at a fair or taking public transportation

the basic, non-conjugated form of a verb, e.g. 'be' or 'speak'

two or more, as opposed to singular, which is one

a pragmatics system used to maintain or disrupt social harmony by redressing affronts to a person's face, or sense of self-esteem

a term used by cultural and political conservatives to label and dismiss new, euphemistic terms created by progressives to replace older terms considered racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory

a possessive word acting as a determiner; it must agree in person, number, and gender with the noun

the pronouns mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs, & whose, marked for person, number, and gender. Not to be confused with possessive determiners my, your, his, her, its, our, their, & whose, although his, its, & whose are the same.

a pronoun that means 'something belonging to' in the possessive case, marked for person (first, second, third), number (singular or plural), and gender (masculine, feminine, neuter, neutral). In English they are 'mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs'; note that 'my, your, his, her, its, our, their' are technically possessive determiners, not pronouns, because they modify a noun.

determiners that, if in a string, come after the central determiner; numbers

an adjective that follows its noun; rare in English

a referent that comes after its pronoun

a determiner that comes first in a string of them, usually referring to amounts

in a clause, the verb plus its complement

an adjective that follows a linking verb and is part of a subject complement, describing the subject

the object of a preposition, i.e., the head noun of the phrase that follows a preposition

a preposition plus a noun phrase as its complement or object. PPs can function as adverbials, modifying verbs or adjectives.

the perspective that language should be used one way or another depending on the author's purpose, audience, etc.

the form of the verb used to refer to the present tense. With regular verbs, the third person singular present form has an -s ending.

the '-ing' form of a verb when used as a verb

a tense-aspect in English used to relate a past event to the time of speaking, using HAVE + past participle

a tense-aspect in English used to describe something happening at the time of speaking/writing, emphasizing its continuous or ongoing quality. It is made with present BE (am/are/is) + present participle (-ing form).

the past tense form of the verb; with regular verbs the preterite uses the '-ed' ending

formed with a form of BE (am, is, are, was, or were) and a present participle (-ing form); refers to an ongoing, continuous activity

a word like 'we', 'hers', or 'someone' that represents and replaces a noun or noun phrase

Information that deliberately promotes a particular perspective, regardless of its veracity.

a noun of which there is only one; in English they are capitalized

a word or phrase that specifies how many, how much, or what part of a noun is being referred to

determiners that specify how many or which

social solidarity or similar social status maintained through positive face appeals and avoiding positive face threats

an approach to thinking that uses both logical reasoning and objective evidence to make decisions and conclusions about the world

an approach to making sense of the world through evidence, logic, and argumentation rather than through stories, personal experience, and anecdotes

the noun or noun phrase that a pronoun replaces, represents, or refers to

the 'self' and 'selves' pronouns

pronouns that include the -self or -selves suffix. They are marked for number (singular or plural), and can only be used as appositives and objects, not subjects.

a kind of language used in a particular situation for a particular purpose

a verb whose five forms are always regular (-s, -ed, -ing)

that, which, who, and whom when they are used as pronouns to relate two clauses

a type of speech used when reporting or relaying what someone else said. Usually the verb tenses go backwards, from present to past or past to past perfect.

social distance or differing social status maintained through negative face appeals and avoiding negative face threats

address forms like honorifics and formal pronouns that show respect from (or distance between) the speaker to the addressee

the size of what a metaphor refers to -- from a single situation (small) to a larger, broader phenomenon (large)

blaming a person or group that cannot defend themself for a problem they did not actually cause

Second person (or '2P') means from the perspective of 'you'. 2P pronouns are you, yours, yourself, & yourselves.

multi-word verb phrases that add modality to a statement or question, acting like lexical verbs, not like auxiliaries (e.g. 'be able to', 'have to')

the practice of playing up emotionally evocative aspects of a story, e.g. empathy, fear, shock, or disgust

a string of words that contains at least one clause to express a complete thought

the tense used in English to describe past events or states, made with the preterite form (spoke, ate, walked, etc.)

a tense used to describe actions happening at the time of speaking/writing or that are habitual

a sentence that equates to one clause

one, as opposed to plural, which is two or more

the use of the pronouns they, them, and theirs to refer to a single individual, which allows not having to refer to the individual's gender identity

the use of 'you' to mean a specific addressee that the speaker/writer knows or implies they know

the human tendency to attribute a single or a few traits to an entire group of people. Stereotyping can be dangerously dehumanizing because it overlooks diversity and individual complexity.

the linguistic means by which humans share ideas, humor, beliefs, and histories, and relate to one another

the actor, doer, or primary noun or pronoun of a clause. In English it comes first.

a word or phrase that comes after a linking verb (e.g. 'is') that describes, or is equatable, to the subject

I, you, he, she, it, we, they, who -- any personal pronoun that can serve as a subject

the normal word order of English sentences

a mood used in English for hypotheticals; it is increasingly archaic and being replaced by conditional

a word that connects a dependent or subordinate clause to a main clause, e.g. although, after, before, because, if, once, since, until, unless, & when

a word part added to the end of a word that adds to its meaning and often changes its part of speech

the "-est" or "(the) most -" form of an adjective used for superlatives

a word that has a similar meaning to another word, e.g. 'glad' for 'happy'

the arrangement or order of words in language

a little question at the end of statement that repeats the auxiliary (or uses DO) and the subject in pronoun form

past, present, and future as represented in language use

Third person (or '3P') means from the perspective of 'he, she, it', or 'they'. 3P pronouns are he, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, them, themself, & themselves. 'Who', 'whom', and indefinite pronouns are also 3P.

a verb that requires or 'takes' an object

the state of being organized into groups defined by common identities and loyalty to the tribe over all else

a language power technique that relies on false dichotomy fallacy to build in-group solidarity and identity through contrast with outsiders

a word that describes an action, state, or occurrence

a verb plus any required complement and modifier (e.g. an adverb). A predicate is a VP, but not all VPs are predicates.

language that allows the speaker or writer to be vague, to generalize, and to hide or mask authority on purpose