Accent abuse
by Daria Jakubisiak for 'Young linguistics' magazine

Three quarters of people in the UK think they hear a lot more accents in every day life than they used to and almost 80% enjoys hearing a variety of accents. What about the remaining 20% of the nation? Does the diversity of accents bothers them?

Teachers from St. Bernard's High School in Ealing, London carried out the survey where they asked a group of teenagers from different ethnic backgrounds about how they feel towards their accents. The results were absolutely shocking. 42 out of 50 students admitted to converge their accents in order to fit into the community. Even harder to believe is that the only reason for it was to avoid the issues which could be caused by other student's negative attitudes towards accents. This is truly outrageous. Being forced to hide the sense of your personal identity just so you don't get discriminated.

Accent stereotyping is one of the main issues which have always existed. People make assumptions about others based on where they come from. 'Can you hear that received pronunciation? She must be very arrogant as she is definitely from London.' However, not everyone realises that sounding 'posh' does not make you arrogant. It makes you sound intelligent, which presents your high status. To be able to speak with the received pronunciation you don't need to come from London. You can come from any part of the world, because it is about the way you were brought up. You don't like someone's accent? That is completely understandable as everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But remember not to make any wrong assumptions towards others based on their accents as you can offend them.                                                            

We are judged by the way we speak on a daily basics, friends may laugh at us just because our accent might sound 'funny' to them as well as many employers may turn down our chances of employment due to their dislike towards our accent.. but is this the right thing to do? Being discriminated just because of the accent might cause mental breakdowns for many of us as well as other health issues which link to it. It can also make us feel isolated and disliked by others.No form of discrimination is acceptable so why would accent discrimination be right?

Analysing the NHS parking notice

The car park notice is mainly aimed at people parking at the hospital car park who may be visitors, patients and staff working at the hospital. Some people may not pay attention to the sign, however some may feel 'forced' to read it because they may want to avoid the parking fine.
The primary purpose of the parking notice is to inform the reader about the terms and conditions of hospital car park. The name of the NHS health organisation is written at the very top of the notice to inform the reader about the text producer. NHS being a national health organisation is much more official than any other private organisations, due to its high status. Therefore it also holds influential power as it has influence over the nation by providing advice and support as well as persuading individuals to act in certain, acceptable ways. This power and strength of the NHS makes drivers think that the notice is actually very important therefore they should read it. The graphology of this parking notice consists of variety of different fonts and sizes as well as colourful images.'Terms and conditions' sign is written in capital letters, using bold type of font in order to make it stand out. The use of this type of font, will make the text very clear for readers of all ages. It will also catch everyone's attention, even those who may have their car parked further away from the sign. Underneath, the 'Terms and conditions' sign there also is an important notice written in capital letters and its context written in slightly smaller font. As the capital letters will catch reader's attention, they will be more likely to also read the rest of the notice as it will already make them interested in its context. ''Do not park in this car park unless you agree to the Terms and Conditions in full''. The contraction 'don't' is replaced with 'do not' in order to make the piece more formal. This important notice is almost like a warning to all drivers, as a mean to avoid the disappointment which could be caused by the misuse of the car park.

The secondary purpose of the notice is to make the reader aware of the possible consequences which can be caused by parking beyond the permissible period of time. The notice is split into four little paragraphs followed by a picture provided for each of them. This layout of the text allows the producer to include everything that is necessary and make the reader aware of all the information that they need to know about. Instead of writing the terms and conditions in one big paragraph, the text producer decided to split it up into several sections which also helps to make the notice more interesting and easier to read. The sentences are either simple or compound, in order to keep the context very brief yet informal and easy to understand. The lack of complex and minor sentences suggests that the use of them would not be as effective and would not make the reader hook into the context of this informative text. Throughout the context, the verb 'notice' is being used very frequently. ''Vehicles must not park in a time controlled zone beyond the permissible period'' The verb determinates driver's behaviour by adapting it to the command that they were given. It also makes them feel more obedient and act in the way they are told to in order to avoid the penalty.
Despite the use of strong, informative lexis there are also more soft and polite phrases. ''..Please be aware that you may receive a Parking Charge Notice..'' The mitigated imperative 'please be aware' makes the sentence sound more polite and makes it come across more as a request not a command. The use of mitigated imperatives is important because it makes the reader feel more respected and it also creates the synthetic personalisation, between the reader and the writer.
The receivers expect the text to be formal and informative therefore they will not be surprise after reading it all.