| A | B |
|---|
| Nonstandard (American English) | pronunciation, vocaabulary, or grammar that differs from what is in dictionaries and prescriptive handbooks |
| Standard American English (SAE) | the variety of American English that is widely shared by middle class, urban, educated speakers and most closely resembles the written form of the language taught in schools |
| Standard Written English | the edited variety of language appropriate for use in writing. also known as Standard Edited English |
| Communicative Competence | the ability to use a language appropriately in a variety of social and cultural circumstances |
| Linguistic Competence | a speaker's knowledge of the phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics of a particular language |
| Textual Competence | the ability to use language for a variety of purposes, such as stories, conversations, and letters |
| Pragmatic Competence | the ability to use language in interpersonal relationships, taking into account such complexities as social distance between speakers and indirectness required in a given situation |
| Dialects | a variant of a language spoken by a group of people sharing the same time (historical period) or space (geographical or social environment) |
| Regional Dialects | a form of speech associated with a geographic area or region |
| Social Dialects | a form of speech used by a group within a society characterized especially by the socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and/or gender of the speakers |
| Hypercorrection | an attempt to be overly "correct" resulting in the production of language different from the standard ("between Harlan and I" instead of "between Harlan and me"). |
| Interlanguage | the language form produced by speakers acquiring a second language that combines linguistic features from both their native and their new languages |
| Developmental Errors | errors made when learning a language based on the speaker's incorrect inference of grammatical rules. for example, in acquiring English, a learner may say "he goed" instead of "he went" |
| Transfer Errors | errors made when aqcuiring a second language in which a speaker substitutes features of the native language in the new language (for example, an Italian speaker saying "he has cold" for the English "he is cold") |
| Linguistic Insecurity | an anxious desire to be correct sometimes felt by speakers who believe their language does not always conform to SAE |
| Style | variation in language use based on the formality or informality of the social setting |
| Informal Style | a speech style used in casual settings, as among friends, for example |
| Formal Style | the language used in public speech, such as lectures, sermons, and political addresses, or in writing |
| Style Shifting | when the speaker adapts language use to the formality or informality of the situation ("goodbye!" as opposed to "see ya!") |
