the conscious adoption of features of African American Vernacular English
that have covert prestige. This may be contrasted with change from below,
which does not reflect prestige norms or rules but is more likely the product
of unconscious, long-term language drift. An example is the recent vowel
shift in several varieties of American English in which low tense vowels rise
and other vowels move into the vacated space. Change from above has been
compared to monitoring in second language learning and use.change from belown
see change from above
channel n
1 (in sociolinguistics) the way in which a message is conveyed from
one person to another.
The two most common channels of communication are speech and writ-
ing. Other examples are the use of drum beats, smoke signals, or flags.
2 (in information theory) the path along which information is sent.
In telephone communication, for example, the message is changed into
electrical signals by the telephone and the channel of communication is
the telephone wire.
charged wordsn
also loaded words
words which have a degree of connotation (i.e. which carry either positive
or negative as opposed to neutral meaning). For example:
charged word neutral word
crazy eccentric
jock athlete
fag homosexual
checklistn
in assessing or measuring behaviour, the use of a list of skills or behaviours
that an observer checks off while observing someone doing something, such
as while observing a student-teacher teach a lesson.
child centredadj
in teaching or curriculum development, approaches in which teaching and
learning are organized around the child’s needs, interests, learning styles, etc.
see learner-centred
child directed speechn
another term for caretaker speech
child directed speech