Glossary

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Person-First Language(also: People-First Language, PFL)

Person-first language is a linguistic convention that places the person before the disability or condition, such as "person with a disability" or "person with autism," with the intent of emphasizing personhood over diagnosis. While widely adopted in professional and medical…

Personal Narrative(also: Storytelling, Conversational Narrative)

The act of telling others about one's own experiences, events, and feelings — a fundamental aspect of human social interaction. Personal narrative serves multiple functions: building and maintaining relationships, developing identity and sense of self, processing experiences…

Polysemy(also: Polysemous Words)

The property of a word having multiple related meanings or senses. For example, the word "bank" can refer to a financial institution or the edge of a river. Polysemy creates particular challenges for text simplification and accessibility tools because choosing an appropriate…

Pragmatic Language(also: Pragmatics, Social Language)

The aspect of language that deals with how context, social norms, and communicative intent shape how language is used and interpreted in real social interactions. Pragmatic language skills include understanding conversational turn-taking, using appropriate backchanneling,…

Pragmatics(also: Pragmatic Language)

The social use of language—how context, relationship, and conversational norms affect what we say and how we interpret others. Pragmatics includes understanding implied meaning, adjusting speech for different audiences, taking turns in conversation, and recognizing non-literal…

Protactile Language(also: Pro-Tactile, PT)

A fully touch-based language developed by the DeafBlind community that redefines communication through physical contact, including taps, squeezes, and shared contact space. Protactile Language represents a striking example of a communication micro-culture, where a community…

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