DUPLE (C2) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Conversational implicature

A meaning conveyed by deliberately flouting a maxim, inferred by the hearer and cancellable without contradiction, unlike entailment, which is a truth-conditional relation.

Bridging inference

An inference that links a referring expression to an antecedent not explicitly mentioned, as when 'the engine' is understood to belong to a previously mentioned car.

Presupposition trigger

A lexical or syntactic element, such as a factive verb, definite description, or cleft, that carries an assumption surviving negation and questioning of the sentence.

Given-new contract

The principle that clauses begin with information the reader already has and end with new information, which is thereby placed in focus position.

Scanning versus skimming

Scanning searches a text for specific forms such as names or figures without sequential reading; skimming samples headings and topic sentences to extract overall gist.

Topic sentence function

The sentence stating a paragraph's controlling idea, usually placed first, against which every other sentence in the paragraph is tested for relevance and unity.

Hedging scale

An ordered set of epistemic markers from weak to strong, such as may, might, suggests, indicates, demonstrates, chosen according to the strength of the evidence presented.

Agentless passive

A passive construction omitting the agent, appropriate when the agent is unknown, obvious, or deliberately suppressed, but risky because it hides responsibility.

Nominalization effect

Converting verbs or adjectives into nouns, which raises register and information density while removing agency and often lengthening the clause considerably.

Editing pass order

A staged revision sequence moving from argument and content, to structure, to paragraph, to sentence, to mechanics, so that later edits are not undone by earlier ones.

Head noun agreement

The rule that subject-verb agreement follows the head of the noun phrase rather than the nearest noun, so 'the list of items is' takes a singular verb.

Restrictive relative clause

A clause identifying which referent is meant, written without commas and permitting 'that'; non-restrictive clauses take commas and exclude 'that'.

Dangling modifier

An introductory participial phrase whose implied subject differs from the main clause subject, producing an unintended and often absurd reading.

Mandative subjunctive

The base verb form used after verbs and adjectives of demand or necessity, as in 'insist that he be present' or 'essential that it remain'.

Third conditional

A counterfactual past conditional formed with past perfect in the if-clause and would have plus past participle in the main clause.

Comprise versus compose

The whole comprises its parts, while the parts compose the whole; 'is comprised of' is widely criticized because comprise is already inclusive.

Collocation

A conventional word partnership such as 'heavy rain' or 'make a decision' that is arbitrary rather than predictable from meaning and must be learned as a chunk.

Register tiers of synonyms

Layered near-synonyms differing in formality, typically Germanic for everyday use and Latinate for formal use, as in get, obtain, acquire.

Productive lexical knowledge

Knowing a word well enough to use it, including its grammatical frames, collocations, and register, not merely recognising its meaning receptively.

Cohesion versus coherence

Cohesion is the surface linking of a text through reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexis; coherence is the underlying relevance that makes it a text.

Theme and rheme

The theme is the clause-initial element anchoring the message; the rheme is the remainder carrying the new information, which may become the next theme.

Linear thematic progression

A pattern in which the rheme of one clause becomes the theme of the next, producing a chain that carries the argument forward step by step.

Substitution versus ellipsis

Substitution replaces an item with a pro-form such as 'one' or 'do so'; ellipsis omits the item entirely, leaving the gap to be recovered from context.

Conjunction types

The four cohesive conjunction categories are additive, adversative, causal, and temporal; misassigning a relation, such as treating contrast as cause, distorts the text.

Negative politeness

A redressive strategy acknowledging the hearer's freedom from imposition, realised through hedging, apology, impersonalization, or conventional indirectness in requests.

Illocutionary force

The act performed in uttering something, such as requesting or promising, as distinct from the literal content and from the effect produced on the hearer.

Register variables

Field, tenor, and mode: the subject matter, the relationship between participants, and the channel of communication, whose combination determines appropriate language.

Deixis

Context-dependent reference through person, place, time, and discourse markers such as I, here, now, and the former, whose meaning shifts with the utterance situation.

Face-threatening act

A speech act such as a request, refusal, or criticism that imposes on the hearer's autonomy or esteem and therefore normally requires mitigation.

Skopos theory

The principle that a translation strategy is justified by the purpose the target text must serve in the target culture, rather than by source-text form.

Transposition and modulation

Two micro-strategies: transposition changes word class, as noun to verb; modulation changes viewpoint, as 'no entry' becomes 'keep out'.

Explicitation

Making implicit source-text information explicit in the target text, typically by supplying connectives, subjects, or referents that the target language requires.