Language change and issues

1. ‘Perjoration’ is a process by which words increasingly acquire negative meanings
2. ‘Ethnic cleansing’, ‘collateral damage’ and ‘nuclear deterrent’ are examples of euphemism
3. ‘Dialect levelling’ is a decrease in dialect differences
4. ‘Prescriptivism’ is the study of language with the intention of controlling it- by dictating rules of usage
5. 1755 is significant for the development of the English language because Samuel Johnson published his dictionary
6. ‘Jargon’ is technical language or highly field-specific vocabulary
7. ‘Amelioration’ is a process by which words become more socially acceptable or prestigious
8. Which one of the following processes could the word ‘cupboard’ not be used as an example of:     borrowing
9. The ‘etymological fallacy’ is the mistaken belief that the earliest historical meaning of a word is its only true meaning
10. Time was once pronounced more like team, see like say, now like noo, and so like saw; and are all examples of the phonological differences brought about by the Great Vowel Shift
11. ‘Fax’, ‘flu’, ‘celeb’, ‘bike’, ‘gym’ and ‘memo’ are all examples of abbreviations or shortening
12. The use, in the USA of phrases such as ‘I guess’ ( for ‘I think’) and ‘gotten’ are examples of Americans retaining an earlier English form after its use has largely died out in Britain
13. ‘Bidialectialism’ is a  term used, by Crystal and others to describe the ability to use two dialects of the same language
14. ‘Government’, ‘peasant’, ‘crime’, ‘justice’, ‘fashion’, ‘biscuit’ and ‘leisure’ are words loaned from French
15. The prescriptive ‘Short Introduction to English Grammar’ (1762) was written by   Bishop Robert Lowth
16. The printing press was introduced into England by William Caxton in 1476
17. ‘Accommodation theory’ was developed by Howards Giles to suggest we adjust our accent/speech in response to the person we are addressing
18. The words ‘Children’, ‘oxen’ and ‘men’ are among a handful of now irregular plurals that are a hangover from a time when English had a greater number of inflections
19. What is Jonathan Green describing as ‘the counter language… the language of the rebel, the outlaw, the despised, the marginal, the young’?   Slang
20. ‘The Sapir- Whorf hypothesis’ put forward the theory that language controls or determines the way we think

Revision links

Student response -paper 2


http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77022-CEX.PDF


Article about gendered language:


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/23/allow-me-to-womansplain-the-problem-with-gendered-language


Word of Mouth- Michael Rosen
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08lh6r1
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08g5533

Language questions and answers

What is a ‘question and answer’ and ‘statement and response’ called?  Adjacency pair.

What is a term for saying ‘yeah’ or ‘uh huh’ while someone else is talking? Back- channel agreement.

What is it called when talk flows swiftly from one turn to the next? Latched talk

What’s it called when you affect the data you are studying by investigating it? The observer’s paradox


Your investigation data needs to be ethical, comparable and….? Reliable

What does AO3 award marks for? Context 

What does GRAPE stand for? Genre         Reception              Audience          Purpose          Expectations

You need to analyse texts for how they make meanings and….? Representations

Name two terms from the framework ‘lexis’. Synonyms and Antonyms

Which of the Ds was Tannen’s theory? Difference

Name three deficit features. Tag questions, empty adjectives and hedges

What did Cameron say? ‘’Your genes don’t determine your jeans’’

Where did Trudgill do his NORMS research? Norwich

Did the island locals in Martha’s Vineyard show over or covert prestige? Covert prestige

Was there more or less pronunciation of the post-vocalic R sound in more expensive stores in Labov’s ‘fourth floor’ study? More  

What is it called when children apply standard grammatical rules to irregular verbs and nouns? Overgeneralisation

How many morphemes are in the following quote? ‘’now you can’t exactly be like Jesus (0.5) instead you just get some help’’ 15

What is it the stage after the two-word stage called? Telegraphic stage

What was Halliday’s function for getting your needs met? Instrumental

Who did the research on his son and discovered that caregivers simplify the utterance around a word that is about to be learned? Dr. Deb Roy  

Child Language Development (CLD)

Theory:

• Noam Chomsky FoxP2 - medical research which has identified DNA that is in charge of language. This DNA code enables us to develop language from birth.
• Deb Roy-  ''the speech home project'', where Deb Roy recorded his son's speech every day, since the day he was born until he reached 2, to find out how the child's language changes. In order to do so, the parents converged their language to adapt to the certain development stage (when they child was using simple words the did to, however as the child started using more developed language the parents' language also became more complex). The experiment highlighted that child's semantic awareness outstrips their phonological ability.
• Stephen Pinker- found out that children say things they have never heard before, therefore they are born with an ability to speak.
• Jean Berko Gleason- developed a 'Wug test' which is a strong evidence that we are born with an ability to speak. Therefore, parents/care givers should provide children with different opportunities to speak in a different context, as it enables them for further language development.

Language:

• Language is a unique ability that defines us as humans.
• It is also a sophisticated skill, that children learn with minimal effort.
• If a child is exposed to two languages at the same time they will learn them both.
• At the very early stage of life, children are ale to communicate through the five senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing, taste) without using words

Language development:

• At around 18 months a child learns about 10 words a day (this mostly includes: concrete nouns, proper nouns and common nouns)
• If a person develops language after puberty, they will never be able to fully acquire language
• Children at the age of 18 months will have a productive vocabulary of around 50 words
• We develop our language through: listening to others speaking, imitation and reinforcement (copy+ reproduce), play and using language with others in different contexts

                                                                                                                                                                                       
Useful links:
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-7701-7702-GLOSSARY.PDF - glossary of key terms
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qtnz/episodes/player -''Word of Mouth'' episodes

''Men keep their turn by avoiding pauses at clause boundaries, by using utterance incompletors ('firstly..' 'but..' and 'so..') by fillers ('mm,' 'er'), by raising their voices, speeding up and avoiding 'nominating' eye contact.''


Source: ''Sociolinguistics'', author: Peter Stockwell 2002, London: Routledge

The Comparison of Text A and Text B

Both texts significantly vary in the types of features that are used throughout. Text A uses attractive graphology; animations and images which are quite eye-catching and will mostly appeal to young adults. Whereas the text B features only two images which are not particularly related to the topic. Therefore, this text will mostly attract older audience, because they are more likely to care about the content rather than the images. Looking closer into linguistic features of both texts, text A includes numerous imperatives such as ''find solutions'' and ''take part'' to persuade the readers to interact and engage in what the website has to offer. On the other hand, text B features a range of declaratives ''turnout was'' and ''looses included'' which role is to inform the readers about the results of the elections. Therefore, the purposes of both texts also vary.

Text B BBC News Report

The genre of this text is an online article written in the form of a news report, published on the BBC website. The headline, which is a declarative; ''Labour wins majority on Bristol City Council'' is quite simple because it gives the readers an overview of what the report is actually about. Therefore, readers who have supported the Labour party may be interested in the report, whereas those who are oppose it may not bother reading it, as they can already assume that most of the report will be mostly focused on the Labour party. The use of a dynamic verb ''wins'' gives across a strong meaning as it portrays the success of the Labour party. Providing the reader with a clear summery of the result; may be useful for those who do not have the pragmatic understanding to be able to understand the remaining content of the report. However, the use of a noun ''majority'' is almost like a surprise, because it does not state a particular figure. This noun might have been used to interest the readers and make them want to read the report; as it will be the only way to find out about those figures. Throughout the report I can spot various abbreviations such as '' Greens'' and ''Lib Dems'' which will already be familiar to readers who have an interest in politics. Therefore, the intended audience are adults who have an interest in politics and elections. Another simple yet powerful sentence is '' UKIP lost its only seat in the city'', which suggests of the lack of focus on the UKIP party since it was only mentioned briefly. The use of verb ''lost'' brings out the connotations of failure and disaster, which represents the negative image of the UKIP party that could also possibly suggest the dislike of the party shared by the producer of the report. Different candidates were also represented in different ways, for instance George Ferguson a leader of the Labour party since 2012 was represented as an ''independent candidate''. The adjective 'independent' portrays Ferguson as a strong and successful candidate who managed to hold his position for over 4 years. The producer of the report also stated that Ferguson held a ''leadership position'' which suggests that he had influencial power over others.

Text A YouGov website

The genre of this text is a website, funded by the government. Its primary purpose is to persuade the receivers to have a look at the various articles and read about the aspects that the receiver has the most interest in. This purpose is mostly illustrated by the use of a synthetic personalisation ''welcome''  at the very top of the website, which shows the positive approach that the producer has towards the readers. It also represents the 'bond' that the producer creates with the receiver, to make them feel appreciated; as this will make people want to stay on the website. The use of an interrogative ''What would you like to do?'' suggests of a wide range of options that the website provides for its readers; which helps to hook them into its content as they want to know what is there for them. It also presents that the readers have a choice, which means that the are not being forced to only read a particular article for instance. Whereas, the use a direct address ''you'' presents that the producer prioritises its readers and wants them to feel special and just as if they were being cared for. This will make an impression of kindness which will most likely persuade the readers to stay on the website. The secondary purpose of the YouGov website is to get the readers involved into various actions such as expressing own opinion in a daily poll. This is being done through the use of an affordance which is a 'take part' button, because it allows the readers to take part in the poll and present their views on the current issues. The main reason the readers are given an opportunity of expressing their views in a poll is because it will make them know that they can also contribute in certain actions rather than just read about them. Therefore, they might become willing on visiting the website more often in order to regularly contribute and express their views. However, the graphology of the website, such as its layout is a constraint, because the information is spread out across the page which might discourage some readers from reading further onto the website. The use of modern features such as animations and a combination of grey, white and red colours portrays that the website is aimed at young adults, because they will most likely get attracted to this theme and the unique design. The use of images supported by the range of words from the lexical field of business (membership, debate) present that the website also appeals to business people, as they will share the pragmatic understanding of current issues. The website also features a limited range of adjectives such as ''amazing'' and ''new'' as well as a superlative ''largest''. These present an innovation and improvement, which engages the audience to read the particular sections of the webpage in order to find out more. Whereas, the use of verbs such as ''share'', ''analyse'' and ''support'' represent the action towards significant changes, which can then persuade the reader to contribute in it by sharing their views for instance.

Language and representation task

Throughout the conversation I have spotted several factors which represent me as a speaker in a distinctive way. Paralinguistics such as the quiet tone of voice which I used during the conversation, creates an impression of me not being a very confident speaker. However, the tone of voice applied might have also been adapted, in order to make an impression of a calm and thoughtful speaker. I have also discovered that my voice during the conversation was not only quiet but also gentle, which helps the listeners interpret my personality and some of my personal features such as being very feminine. My accent, representing my national background can be easily noticed by the listener. Being a bilingual speaker also has an impact on the tempo of the conversation, as some of the utterances were pronounced slightly slower due to the longer thinking time. However, this may have also been caused by the uncertainty and lack of planning beforehand. Gestures and facial impressions are also a very important part of paralinguistics, as they enable the listener to identify the aspects of the speaker’s personality. For instance, I have not used any gestures whilst taking part in the conversation which may create an impression of me being quite clear on the topic and having the ability of enhancing the message just through the use compound sentences. The facial expressions which I used were focus and concentration, which can suggest that I was effectively listening to the information shared by the other participant in order to engage in the conversation later. Regarding the conversation and its content, I did not take a great amount of air time hence I did not feel confident enough to explore the topic further. Therefore I only briefly spoke about the jobs of my parents and asked the other participant a few interrogatives linking to her job and responsibilities. I mostly used the third person verbs such as ‘she’ and ‘he’ to avoid the repetition of the personal pronouns ‘mum’ and ‘dad’. I did not use any words of a certain lexical field or jargon as I did not focus on these aspects during the conversation. Colloquial language was not a part of the conversation, but the language used was quite informal as there was a limited number of words used. The reason for this use of less advanced language was the convergence of the language to suit the audience- teenagers. Whilst analysing the transcript of the conversation, I have also noticed that I used certain fillers throughout the conversation such as ‘um’ and ‘well’, which I might have used as a result of stress. These, allowed me to receive some more air time in order to remind myself what I was going to speak about next. However, the use of fillers as such, may come across as the lack of preparation and can make the listener think that they are a part of my idiolect. The conversation did partly support Shegloff’s conversational model, as it was easily flowing following it with one speaker at a time aspect. The transition was also quite quick and simple as both participants were ready to take over and explore the topic. There was no interruptions and clear signs of being an active listener through the use of interrogatives such as ‘’What are your responsibilities?’’

Representation of UNICEF

Donate today and help save children's lives

Every five seconds a child under 5 dies of a preventable cause. It's shocking, but with your help we can change this.
In fact child survival rates are better now than ever before. And we've already improved the lives of more children around the world than any other charity. So it really is possible to make a difference. But there are still millions of children who need our help.
Our goal is to give every child the best possible start in life. Whether that means immunising them against deadly diseases (like the child pictured above in Burundi) or making sure they can go to school. With your support we can continue to be there for children, wherever they need us.
Please donate and support our ongoing work with children around the world.

Source: http://www.unicef.org.uk/landing-pages/donate-unicef-charity/?gclid=?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=charity%20organisation%20uk&utm_campaign=Bing_Generic_Donate_UK%20%5BE%5D&sissr=1

The organisation uses a very powerful and effective strategy presented in the title: 'donate today and help save children's lives'. They encourage people to donate the money as quick as possible by saying that whoever do so will become a hero. The plurality of the verb child makes people want to donate the money even as they will save more than just one life. The use of statistics at the very beginning, already provides the reader with an overview of the issue as they can imagine it. The verb 'preventable' makes the reader think that the cause can be avoided so why isn't it? Therefore the reader may already start thinking of providing those children with the financial help and as reading the next sentence the reader is being encouraged to do so even more by the organisation.
In the next paragraph UNICEF presents its organisational power by stating that they have already improved the lives of more children around the world than any other charity. It also presents their hierarchy and makes the reader think that this organisation is the most effective. The organisation also tries to tell the reader that those who make the donations almost become a part of the organisation. ..''Millions of children who need our help..'' Therefore, they not only contribute in the action of saving children's lives but they also make the organisation stronger and even more successful. UNICEF also clearly states its goal and tries to say that through reader's support and donation this goal can be met. Towards the end of the text, the organisation uses some politeness strategies by using the phrase 'please'. This makes an impression that readers help is needed, otherwise the organisation will not meet its goal and millions of children will die. The organisation is almost begging the reader to donate the money, as every small donation counts and can make a big change.

Language and representation

''When I look at you'' by Miley Cyrus

 

..'Everybody needs inspiration
Everybody needs a song
A beautiful melody
When the night's so long

'Cause there is no guarantee
That this life is easy

Yeah, when my world is falling apart
When there's no light to break up the dark
That's when I, I
I look at you

When the waves
Are flooding the shore and I can't
Find my way home anymore
That's when I, I
I look at you

When I look at you, I see forgiveness
I see the truth
You love me for who I am
Like the stars hold the moon
Right there where they belong
And I know I'm not alone..''

 

The verbs ''flooding'' and ''falling apart'' present a very negative image of destruction. Something that has been destroyed and cannot be repaired. They also suggest of the mental state of the writer and the emptiness which she experiences. However, the writer used an adjective 'beautiful' which shows a contrast in the text as it presents positivity and passion. 'Shore', 'waves', 'stars' and 'moon'- all these nouns are linked to the natural beauty of the world that we live in. Comparing the lover with these nouns presents his importance. A shore needs waves to make a whole, stars need the moon to create the night sky and Miley needs her lover for her life to be completed. 'Dark' and 'alone' present the feeling of sadness and loneliness expressed by Miley in the song. Dark is associated with the fear and uncertainty. A person locked up in the dark room will feel uncertain whether there is also someone else in there who can harm them or if they all alone. Therefore they feel fear, just as Miley does. She also compares her lover to 'forgiveness' and 'truth' suggesting that she would forgive him for whatever he does as she trusts him.

 

 

Language and gender research task

John Grey's popular book 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus':

• It is a proposition that men and women differ fundamentally in the way they use language to communicate.
• Men's goals in using language tend to be about getting things done, whereas women's tend to be about making connections to other people. Men talk more about things and facts, whereas women talk more about people, relationships and feelings.
• Language and communication matter more to women than to men; women talk more than men.
• Women are more verbally skilled than men.
• Men's way of using language is competitive, reflecting their general interest in acquiring and maintaining status; women's use of language is cooperative, reflecting their preference for equality and harmony.
• These differences routinely lead to "miscommunication" between the sexes, with each sex misinterpreting the other's intentions. This causes problems in contexts where men and women regularly interact, and especially in heterosexual relationships.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/01/gender.books

 Mary Beard's ideas about women's voices not being valued

• Historian Mary Beard believes that female broadcasters must lower their voices to sound like men if they want to be successful.
• Professor Beard also believes broadcasters must address the position of women across TV, not just on panel shows, in order to make their voices more valued.
• It’s not a coincidence that even on radio, the successful women presenters tend to have unusually deep (ie male) voices.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572722/Women-need-sound-like-men-succeed-broadcasting-says-Mary-Beard.html

O'Barr and Atkins's challenge to deficit theory

• William O’Barr and Bowman Atkins are known for developing the idea that language differences are situation-specific, relying on who has the authority and power in a conversation, rather than the gender of the people involved.
• This challenged the theory that Lakoff had presented, that variants in speech were due to gender. A simple example to explain their theory may be that in an interview situation, if a man were interviewing a woman, then perhaps the man would seem more assertive in the conversation, not due to his gender, but simply because he has more authority in that circumstance.
• The theorists studied courtroom cases for 30 months, observing a broad spectrum of witnesses, and examining them for the ten basic speech differences between men and women that Lakoff proposed. These differences or “women’s language” components consisted of; hedges, empty adjectives,  super-polite forms, apologising more, speaking less frequently, avoiding coarse language or expletives, tag questions, hyper-correct grammar and punctuation, indirect requests and using tone to emphasise certain words.
• O’Barr and Atkins discovered that Lakoff’s proposed differences were not necessarily the result of being a woman, but of being powerless. They used three men and three women to prove this. The first man and first woman both spoke with a high frequency of “women’s language” components. The woman was a 68-year-old housewife and the man drove an ambulance, suggesting stereotypically that power and control would perhaps be lacking from their lives. Pair number 3, a doctor and policeman respectively, both testified as expert witnesses, suggesting that the power they experienced in their jobs and lives meant that they had less components of “women’s language”. Man and woman number 2 fell between the first two pairs in the frequency of hedges and tag questions in their speech, ie. “Women’s language” component.
• From this study, O’Barr and Atkins concluded that the quoted speech patterns were “neither characteristic of all women, nor limited to only women”. According to the researchers, the women who used the lowest frequency of women’s language traits had an unusually high status

Source: https://aggslanguage.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/obarr-atkins/

The effect of written and computer-mediated forms on gendered language

• This experiment examined what situational and dispositional features moderate the effects of linguistic gender cues on gender stereotyping in anonymous, text-based computer-mediated communication.
•  Participants played a trivia game with an ostensible partner via computer, whose comments represented either masculine or feminine language styles. Consistent with the social identity model of deindividuation effects, those who did not exchange brief personal profiles with their partner (i.e., depersonalization) were more likely to tell their partner’s gender from the language used, than those who did.
• Depersonalization, however, facilitated stereotype-consistent conformity behaviors only among gender-typed individuals; that is, participants conformed more to their masculine- than feminine-comment partners, and men were less conforming than were women, only when they were both gender-typed and depersonalized.

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00310.x/abstract;jsessionid=98590259854FEDB479210F5C28997C27.f01t01?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage

Beattie's challenge to Zimmerman and West - evaluating data

"The problem with this is that you might simply have one very voluble man in the study which has a disproportionate effect on the total."

• Beattie also questions the meaning of interruptions: : "Why do interruptions necessarily reflect dominance? Can interruptions not arise from other sources? Do some interruptions not reflect interest and involvement?
• Beattie’s own study:

He recorded some 10 hours of tutorial discussion and some 557 interruptions (compared with 55 recorded by Zimmerman and West). Beattie found that women and men interrupted with more or less equal frequency (men 34.1, women 33.8) - so men did interrupt more, but by a margin so slight as not to be statistically significant.                                                                                                                        

Source: The student room- powerpoint presentation

 

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.

Re-drafting the paragraph

In the transcript proper nouns are used a great number of times especially when the barrister is speaking. The barrister refers to other participants by their names for instance ''..according to you Mr Neil(.) this ill feeling(.)this grudge on Mr Peterson's..''. The use of proper nouns rather than pronouns make the barrister seem more formal and intimidating which presents that he is the powerful participant, as he is holding the power over the conversation. The Barrister also repeats the proper nouns several times, constantly referring to Mr Neil by his name adding tension and making Mr Neil feel under more pressure.''Police have been to see you so many times Mr Neil that you can't remember''. Some people may interpret it as a humorous part, which was used to keep the audience interested whereas some may find it more sarcastic. However it perfectly reflects the unequal encounter which was a part of the courtroom conversation. The role of the instrumental power which barrister holds, is to make Mr Neil feel stressed and uncomfortable which will make him feel forced to tell the truth.

''Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?''- Jennifer Lawrence

What are the important contextual features of this text?

The context of the text is Jennifer Lawrence responding to the leaked news by expressing her opinion after the Sony incident when she found out she earned significantly less than her male co-star workers. At the beginning, Lawrence presents her uncertainty on the topic of feminism: ''When it comes to the subject of feminism, I've reminded ever so-slightly quiet.'' According to her she does not like when the topic is 'trending' which is the reason she did not speak about feminism before. However after the incident, she finally decided to share her opinion with everyone and stand up for herself as well as other women who may not have equal job opportunities or those who may be treated unfairly. ''I don't think I'm the only woman with this issue. Are we socially conditioned to behave this way?'' The rhetorical question and personal appeal, makes the readers think that due to the stereotypes women are being treated less favourably than men. Therefore Lawrence wants to make everyone aware that they have equal rights and should be treated and respected equally.

Comment on the 'male' and 'female' language features in this text. What is their effect on the reader?

Throughout the text I can detect the mixture of trends of male and female language which are part of Lakoff's ideas of the deficit model. Jennifer Lawrence used several swear words such as f**k and a**hole to express her anger on this issue. However these words may simply belong to her every day speech and be a part of her idiolect. The use of swear words might make some readers think that Lawrence has a lack of politeness and it could result in people starting to dislike her since the way she speaks is not ladylike. According to Lakoff's theory, males swear more than females yet in this case it is very arguable as Lawrence clearly contradicted it. Lawrence did not express any sense of humour whatsoever, which supports Lakoff's idea on the female language. However this could have been done on purpose, because she wanted to get her point across and make it easy to understand for every reader. Therefore this can cause a slight confusion for us readers, as we don't exactly know whether the lack of humour was intended. Lawrence did not use any tag questions, empty adjectives or hedges which presents that she did not entirely followed Lakoff's ideas of female language. This might make readers think that this text was against Lakoff's theory as most of the features were not supported by it. I completely agree with this assumption as most of the Lakoff's female theories have not been covered in this piece.

Do you agree with her conclusion?

I do agree with Lawrence's conclusion, because she stood up for herself and shared her honest opinion with the entire world. ''I'm over trying to find the 'adorable' way to state my opinion and still be likeable! f**k that.''  Lawrence presented her bravery and power by saying that all she wants is to get her point across even if this would mean loosing fans. She also expressed her regret and disappointment with her previous actions.''I'm sure they were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share''. Rather than being angry at the studio for paying her less, she was angry at herself for not being a tough enough negotiator. The reason why Lawrence used this tough and manly language throughout the text, was to present her anger on treating women unfairly and possibly show her personal change, which is 'fighting' for what she deserves.

Change in accents and dialects

Change in British accents and dialects

The United Kingdom consists of a number of dialects shaped by thousands of years of history and change in generation which had influence the language we speak nowadays. English language which is spoken in Britain is divided into different dialects such as Received Pronunciation, Cockney and Midlands English. Received pronunciation is what foreigners may classify as a standard British accent due to the stereotypes of it being posh. In the past, the received pronunciation was only used by people of a higher status, who wanted to emerge and show the power that they have. Margaret Thatcher transformed from a Lincolnshire accent to sounding like the Duchess of Devonshire, to present her power which she had as the prime minister. This also pertains to other famous people such as David Beckham who has changed his cockney dialect into received pronunciation. The reason for this action could have been influenced by the status of his popularity and importance which has increased over the years. The example of David Beckham shows that nowadays people do change their accent to the received pronunciation whenever they want to sound 'posh' or show others that they come from a higher social class.
Possibly the second most famous British accent is cockney which originates in the East End of London. This accent has a number of features which characterises it and makes it recognisable for people living in other parts of England. One of those features is Th-Fronting: The th in words like think or this is pronounced with a more forward consonant depending on the word: thing becomes “fing,” this becomes “dis,” and mother becomes “muhvah.” The cockney dialect also has its own slang- a type of slang in which words are replaced by other words or phrases they rhyme with, for instance apple and pears- stairs. According to one of the BBC articles and a research which found that a new form of accent is replacing the traditional Cockney in some parts of East End. "The majority of young people of school age are of Bangladeshi origin and this has had tremendous impact on the dialect spoken in the area," said Sue Fox, a research fellow at Queen Mary College, University of London. Accents are influenced by the society, as the society changes the accents change too. Midlands English can be divided into East Midlands and West Midlands, however the most famous of these dialects is Brummie which is Birmingham English. The main feature of Midlands English is
a variety of unusual vocabulary where some East Midlands dialects still feature a variant of the word “thou!”. The dialect changes over the years, as there are new words being introduced however some traditional words and phrases are still in use such as Ay up mi duck- hello there.

Why do dialects change?

Many factors influence different dialects and change the way they are. The main factor is age, because as we grow up we adapt our dialect to suit our age. The difference between generations is an evidence of language change. New words are being created and particular dialects are starting to be recognised by them. Young people play a massive role in dialect development and change, as they share those dialects with others, allowing people to learn something new and perhaps make it their idiolect. People moving all around the country or even abroad, they spread their dialect. However some may also try to fit in by changing their dialect in order to make it more similar to the one used in the particular area/country.

Bibliography:
http://dialectblog.com/british-accents/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22183566
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4171644.stm

The barrister transcript

The genre of this text is a transcript which is a part of a cross-examination in a Scottish court. The use of language and its different techniques makes the transcript more powerful as it allows the receiver understand what the conversation was like in real life, and the relationship which each of the participants shared with one another. The use of proper nouns which are 'Mr. Peterson' and 'Mr. Neil' present that the barrister refers to the participants by their surnames. Referring by the surnames shows the profession of his role and the respect which is shown towards the individuals. Perhaps, they could also be used to clarify who the barrister is talking about and avoid any confusion. There are parts of the dialogue which seem to be prepared and practised beforehand, for instance the majority of barrister's speeches. There is a time limit for the trail to be run. Therefore knowing the speeches helps to fit in the time frame and it also seems as if the barrister is well-prepared. The spontaneous parts of the dialogue are those which were said by Mr. Neil.''Er I accidentally (.) bumped it slightly with er the rear of my car'' is an example of the spontaneous speech. The use of 'er' indicates the long-thinking process which Mr Neil has experienced quite frequently throughout the trail. It could also mean that he was unprepared or unsure of what he was going to say. The brief pauses may suggest the beginning of the new sentence or a short break to take the breath back. The spontaneousness of Mr Neil may make other participants think that not everything that is being said is the truth. ''I was prosecuted (0.5) possibly a week or so later I believe'' This doesn't give us a straight forward answer, as the participant took a longer time to think and the answer which he provided didn't specify the date in which he was prosecuted. Therefore this may suggest that Mr Neil was unprepared as no adequate answer was provided. Barrister seems to be the most powerful participant in the dialogue as he has the control over the dialogue and he is the person who keeps it going. ‘’You can’t remember whether they came to see you or not?’’ is a repetition of a question which was previously asked. The use of repetition may suggest that Mr Neil was lying due to the hesitation whilst replying, therefore the barrister has asked him again. Barrister uses complex questions and sentences, to find out as much as he can about the event that has happened, however Mr Neil’s replies are short and blunt often consisting of ‘no’. This also suggests that the barrister has the most power, as he is the one asking questions and making the dialogue flow. One of barrister’s speeches sounds very interesting just as if he was attempting to introduce a bit of humour into the conversation. ‘’Is that because the police have been to see you so many times Mr Neil that you can’t remember what they were up to see you about one incident (.) as compared to another incident?’’ The emphasis on ‘’so many times Mr Neil’’ might make the receiver think that Mr Neil had been in a similar situation previously.

Commentary on character's opinions- controversial issue

Both of the blogpost comments are opinions of two characters on the same sex marriage.The first character Chloe, comes across as an educated teenager. The language which she uses throughout the comment is rather sophisticated and it includes an explanation for the existing ideas through the use of a selection of simple and complex sentences. At the begining of the blogpost Chloe used a phrase 'over the moon' to express her hapiness on legalising same sex marriage. The moon ilustrates the brightness which is the eternal love that people of the same sex share. The use of abbreviations such as ‘sis’ and ‘gf’ suggests that Chloe is a teenager as both words belong to slang. They also are a part of the colloquial language. The word 'strongly' presents how much she supports it and the importance which it has to her. The use of 'miserable' and 'lonely' puts a massive effect on the noun 'life', as it shows that the quality of life can be affected by the same sex orientation. Both negative adjectives were used against straight people, which shows that Chloe may be discriminating them. ''This made me absolutely angry'' presents the anger that she experienced after reading the comment from a man from one of the major Christian groups who did not support same sex marriage. The word 'absolutely' shows the level of anger, which can suggest that she dislikes people who have different views and is not tolerant about opinions of others. Reading throughout the post we can also spot ‘LOL’ which stands for ‘Laughing out loud’ . In this context it is used to show how ‘pathetic’ someone else’s opinion is. The phrase ‘it’s a complete joke’ supports the fact that Chloe did not like the opinion that she seen in the BBC article, and she completely disagrees with it. She also makes a comment about Christian Groups and Catholics who according to her 'hate' on gay people. This phrase was used to present her idea of the lack of sympathy which is shown by Catholics towards same sex couples. She used quite a few lexis which include ‘-ly’ suffix such as ‘lonely and ‘equally’.  Her overall opinion on same sex marriage seems to be very positive and we can clearly see that she strongly supports it. However she seems to be very disrespectful and rude towards people whom decision is different, as she tries to tell them that they’re wrong and they should change. The reception of this blogpost may be quite negative. The audience, which are possibly same age readers or anyone wanting to get to know more about the issue, may feel that their views are being affected by Chloe's comment. Some may feel forced to change their personal opinion yet some may feel persuaded and their opinion and point of view might change after reading the post. The purpose of Chloe’s comment is to tell the readers how she personally feels about the issue and get her ideas across. She makes quite a few relevant points such as ‘people of the same orientation should be able to live a normal life, adopt children’ which many other people would agree with. However towards the end of the comment Chloe seems to be quite selfish and only thinks about what she wants not others. The expectations of the readers are met as they see someone else’s opinion just as they expected but they might be shocked with how biased it is.The second character Lily, seems to be older than Chloe, I tended this character to appeal to be in the stage of an early adulthood, 25 years old. This is because she uses standard English throughout her comment instead of slang. She doesn't use any abbreviations neither which can suggest that her idiolect doesn't consists of them.  Lily used capital letters to write some words such as 'wrong' to emphasise its importance which she wanted to draw the readers attention to. At the beginning she says that in her opinion same sex marriage is completely wrong, however towards the end she made it clear that everyone should have their own opinion, which should not be influenced by anyone else’s. She makes a strong link to the Catholic religion, as she says that ''Gay marriage is entirely against God's actions''. This may be slightly controversial as not every reader will agree with it,yet she still openely expressed her personal opinion which shows her braveness and love which she shares towards her religion. '‘Same sex marriage doesn't create a 'healthy' family’'. This quote presents her view on same sex marriage, and adjective ‘healthy’ can be defined in a variety of different ways. In this context, Lily uses ‘healthy family’ to refer to the family consisting of male, female and their biological children, whereas for the same sex couple this would be impossible. Lily used inverted commas to express ‘real’ and ‘parent’ to show that in real life it is a complete opposite, as it is impossible for same sex couples to be the real parents of their children.  She also used some rhetorical questions to closely appeal to the reader and make them feel just as someone was directly speaking to them. ‘’Would you rather live a normal life just as other members of your family or life that you would possibly regret when you're older? '' This quote might affect some readers opinion or even their actions as they may think that what they do may not exactly be the right thing. The audience of this post were people at the same age range and those who are gay/lesbian and consider a future commitment. The main purpose is to share the personal opinion and to inform people about their actions and possible future outcomes, by the use of rhetorical questions which make readers re-think their actions.The readers expect the post to be mainly based on Lily’s personal opinion yet it is slightly persuasive and tries to tell us that our views should be created based on how we feel not how someone else wants us to feel.

Controversial issue- same sex marriage

Chloe

''I am over the moon with the fact that same sex marriage is being legalised in many countries. I strongly support same sex couples as my sis is a lesbian and seeing her happy with her gf makes me smile every time. She didn't choose to be a lesbian, she was born this way. I love her, as she's my family and I strongly support her life choices. People of the same sex orientation can't help who they fall in love with. I think it's great that they find their other half, instead of living a miserable and lonely life. A year ago, when I heard that gay marriage has been legalised in England and Wales I thought that gay couples will finally be treated equally. It is a wonderful thing that people of the same sexuality can be fully open about it and have the same rights as everyone else. Reading one of the BBC articles I came across the comment of a spokesman for the one of the UK's major Christian groups who said that they believed same- sex couples should not get the same rights as married couples. This made me absolutely angry. It's like saying that smokers shouldn't have the same rights as other people just because they smoke. LOL.. it's a complete joke. I thought that Christian groups were meant to support people instead of discriminating them for their lifestyle choices.  We are all humans and we all should have the same rights and opportunities no matter what our sexual orientation is. We are all equal in the eyes of God. Therefore I don't understand why Catholics are 'hating' on gay people.  People of the same orientation should be able to live a normal life, adopt children and teach them that love is more important than other people' opinions. That also means that a lot more of orphans would be given loving parents, a better home, and a proper education.
I am happy that the society which we live in is slowly adapting and supporting gay marriage as this is what we all should do.''

Lily

''I know everyone has their own opinions on this topic, however I think that same gay marriage is completely WRONG! First of all, it is against the Catholic religion. I am a Catholic myself and I find gay marriage very offensive. God created Adam and Eve for a reason, which was to give us all lives. Whereas gay marriage is entirely against God's actions. I personally find it disrespectful towards God as we should follow the path we were given instead of making our own. Same sex marriage doesn't create a 'healthy' family, it creates an awful environment in which kids are forced to grow up and think that same sex couples are completely normal and there's nothing wrong with same sex marriage. Despite, this the kids will never be the 'real' kids as there's no blood relationship with nether 'parent'. Reading Chloe's comment above, it is gross that she encourages people to support gay marriage and tries to tell someone they're wrong just because they're against it. We live in the 21st century where everyone has the right to express their own opinions. Society SHOULD NOT change their views just because an individual puts a pressure on it. What would happen if everyone right now turned gay/lesbian? We humans would become extinct, as there would be no babies born. Whether you're gay or straight it is entirely up to you. This is the choice you make when you grow up, NOT when you're born. Just think about it first, do you want to have children of your own which you proudly call yours or would you rather adopt a child that would be distant to you. Would you rather live a normal life just as other members of your family or life that you would possibly regret when you're older? ''

Sources used:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4493094.stm
http://www.tfpstudentaction.org/politically-incorrect/homosexuality/10-reasons-why-homosexual-marriage-is-harmful-and-must-be-opposed.html