What are the language levels?

The language levels are the distinct layers a linguist looks at when describing how a text works. A strong analysis moves across several levels and always links a feature to its function and context.

• Phonetics/phonology & prosodics — sounds and the patterns of stress, rhythm and intonation.
• Graphology — the visual: layout, typography, colour, images.
• Lexis & semantics — word choice and meaning.
• Grammar & morphology — how words are built and combined.
• Pragmatics — implied meaning, and language in social context.
• Discourse — how whole texts and conversations are organised.

Method: name the feature, use the correct terminology, then explain the effect in relation to audience, purpose and context. Terminology without effect scores little.

Phonetics, phonology and prosodics

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds; phonology is how sounds pattern in a particular language. Prosodics covers stress, rhythm, intonation, pace, pitch and volume.

• Elision — sounds dropped (gonna, fish n chips).
• Onomatopoeia, alliteration, sibilance — sound patterning often used in adverts and literary texts.
• Accent is about pronunciation (e.g. Received Pronunciation) — do not confuse it with dialect (words and grammar).

Tip: in written texts you can still analyse phonology where sound is represented — dialect spelling, sound symbolism in poetry, or the rhythm of a slogan.

Which level?

Graphology

Graphology is the study of the visual appearance of a text: typography (font, size, bold, italics), colour, layout, use of images, bullet points, capitalisation and orthography (spelling and punctuation conventions).

Why it matters: graphology signals genre and register instantly — a tabloid front page, a legal contract and an emoji-filled text message each look distinctive before a word is read. Always connect a graphological choice to audience and purpose.

Lexis and semantics

Lexis is vocabulary — the words themselves. Semantics is meaning. Key tools:

• Denotation — the literal, dictionary meaning. Connotation — the associations a word carries (home denotes a dwelling but connotes warmth and belonging).
• Semantic field — a group of words linked by meaning (a text about sport: goal, tackle, striker).
• Figurative language — metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole.
• Register-marking lexis — formality, jargon, colloquialism, slang.

Also useful: synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy (car is a hyponym of vehicle), and amelioration/pejoration when meanings shift over time.

Denotation or connotation?

Grammar and morphology

Morphology is how words are built from morphemes. Grammar (syntax) is how words combine into phrases, clauses and sentences.

• Word classes: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, determiner, conjunction.
• Inflectional morphology changes the grammatical form but not the word class (walk → walked, cat → cats).
• Derivational morphology creates a new word, often a new class (happy → happiness, kind → unkind).
• Syntax: phrases, main and subordinate clauses, sentence functions (declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamative) and moods.

Watch: a determiner (the, a, this, my) is a distinct word class — do not call it an adjective.

Sort each feature to its level

Tap a feature, then tap the language level it belongs to.

Inflection or derivation?

Pragmatics

Pragmatics is meaning in context — what is implied rather than literally said.

• Grice's cooperative principle and its four maxims: quantity (right amount), quality (be truthful), relation (be relevant), manner (be clear). Flouting a maxim creates implicature — an implied meaning.
• Face and politeness (Brown & Levinson): positive face is the wish to be liked; negative face is the wish not to be imposed on. A face-threatening act is softened by politeness strategies.
• Deixis — words that point to context (here, now, this, you, tomorrow) and only make sense in the situation.

Attribute carefully: maxims are Grice's; face/politeness is Brown & Levinson's.

Which Gricean maxim?

Discourse

Discourse is the level of whole texts and interactions — how they are structured and hold together.

• Cohesion — the links that tie a text together: reference (pronouns, deixis), lexical cohesion (repetition, synonyms), conjunctions and ellipsis.
• Coherence — whether the text makes overall sense to the reader.
• In spoken discourse: adjacency pairs (question/answer, greeting/greeting), turn-taking, openings and closings, and topic management.

Exam skill: discourse structure explains how a text guides its reader — a news report front-loads key information; a narrative delays it.

Match each level to its focus

Tap a level on the left, then its correct focus on the right.

Spot the discourse feature

The big ideas to take away

You now have the full frameworks toolkit AQA expects you to apply to any text. Press Finish to see your score.