Synthetic Personalisation

Synthetic Personalisation is the process of addressing mass audiences as if they were in a one on one conversation. An example of this is an advertisement.

Martin Joos' Five Levels of Formality 1962

Level 1: Frozen Levels - Set phrases or conventional structures 
For example : Wedding vows - https://www.theknot.com/content/traditional-wedding-vows-from-various-religions
 

Level 2: Formal Level - Speaker and audience, speech, lecture, no ususal interaction or interruption. 
For example: Wedding speech - http://www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-speeches/example_best-man_speeches_1/adam_3013.htm?selection=Best
 

Level 3: Consultative Level - where interaction is the norm between anyone. 
For example: Tutor and student - https://goodreadingfor.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/a-dialogue-between-teacher-and-student_12.html
 

Level 4: Casual level - Informal setting between who know each other well, colloquialisms, interruptions. 
For example: work collegues - https://www.easypacelearning.com/all-lessons/english-lessons-level-3/1238-conversation-about-promotion-at-work-between-2-colleagues
 

Level 5: Intimate level - reserved for close friends and family in private, may have code words or shared context.  
For example: husband and wives - http://lqcollections.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/husband-wife-funny-conversation-must.html

Mumsnet.com forum analysis about Prom Fairs.

Paper 1 Language and Representations-example response

Text A is from Mumsnet and is a forum discussion about school Proms. The purpose of the discussion, initiated by the participant woollyideas, is to seek reassurance from other Mums about

her view that school Proms and unnecessary and extreme.  

The purpose of the website, Mumsnet is to promote the site and encourage other parents to join. Some affordances of using forums are: that an individual can interact with many users, and they are distant from other participants, so they can afford to convey their opinions strongly.   

However, some constraints of forums are that the absence of face-to-face conversation means that ideas mean that meanings can be misconstrued, mainly due to the fact that participants cannot use paralingustic features, emphatic stress and intonation.    

The overall representation of school Proms in text A is that they are ridiculous, extreme and unnecessary and Mumsnet is represented as authoritative, useful but also friendly.

The participant woollyideas uses the stative verb “want” in the interrogative “What sane parent would want to pay an entry fee to go to a “Prom Fair”...?” This represents parents as emotionally

involved in and passionate about school Proms which, as it is used within the interrogative shows that the efforts parents go to for their child’s Prom is ridiculous.  The expressing of strong opinions

like these represents Mumsnet as a place for debate. The mode of text A means that woollyideas is distant from the group of parents whom she is targeting, so she can afford to convey her opinion

more strongly without directly offending them. By attacking this group of parents, woollyideas positions herself above them.

Woollyideas  goes on to target this group of parents even more later on in the response when she

groups them by using the determiner “these” in the interrogative “Who are these parents who think that this sort of expenditure... is ok?”. In the post, woollyideas  goes from saying “What parent” to “these parents”- in the earlier part of the response; she is being more general and using the singular form, then she later using the plural grouping “these” parents in order to target them more directly, which again puts them in a lower position than herself.  It represents such parents as ridiculous and conveys woollyideas’ disgust at the amount of money they spend.

The participant MuckyCarpet uses the subordinating conjunction “although” in her response: “Don’t be a grump!, Although the helicopter is way OTT!”

At first, she expresses her strong opinion about Proms but makes this more moderate by using the subordinating conjunction to contrast her view. This allows her to conform with the other

participants, perhaps because she wants to avoid starting an argument or causing offence. This shows that whilst Mumsnet is a place for debate, it is still friendly. The use of the subordinating

conjunction shows that the participant has a balanced viewpoint.

Within the first paragraph of the text explaining the rules of the forum, a complex sentence is used:

“Please bear in mind that whilst this topic does canvass opinions, it is not a fight club.” The conjunction  “whilst” is used to introduce the subordinate clause “whilst this topic does canvass

opinions”. The fact that this clause is subordinate shows that the offering of opinions is not the most important thing about the forum. “It is not a fight club” is the main clause of the sentence,

which shows that the most important thing to the creators of the website is that users stay safe and that the debate is friendly. 

This represents Mumsnet as a safe place for debate that welcomes

everyone. A constraint of an online message board is that if arguments occur, there is not a person there to mediate as the interaction is not face-to-face. Therefore, the use of sentence structure here almost acts as this mediator. Furthermore, the positioning of this sentence right at the beginning of the forum makes it clear to participants the conventions of the debate in order to make them think before they post.

Language and Gender, Do we speak differently?

Are men really from Mars and women from Venus? 

The media nowadays highlights three main theories that discuss how men and women use language differently. The deficit model, the dominant model and the difference model. 

The deficit model was founded by Robin Lakoff, Language & Womens place (1975). Robin provided a vision for language theories and researchers to come. She says in her theory that women are more polite and have a poorer sense of humour than men. Lakoff noted that there was specific linguistic and discourse patterns that marked powerlessness of women arguing that women are putting themselves in the position of a subserviant to men. Examples of these features are things like answering a question with another question and super polite forms. 
 This model is extremely controversial as it was made over 40 years ago when at the time females were only just breaking away from the stereotype that women were slaves to men. It is also hard to eliminate the personal factors that would impact language for example confidence when speaking. Lakoff's remark about humour is much harder to relate to just gender, as people have a huge range of what they would class as funny to someone else who would have a completely different ideas of what is humour. 
 A contradictory view point of the deficit theory is the work done by William O'Barr and Bowman Atkins in 1980. They analysed courtroom cases and witnesses' speech. The results that they found challenges Lakoff's view on women's language. In researching what they describe as 'powerless language' they show that linguistic patterns depend on the situation, specific authority or power, not gender. 
  
The dominance model was founded by Zimmerman and West in (1975). They found that men interrupt conversations more than women. They found that within 11 conversations between men and women, men interrupted 46 times compared to women only twice. They conclude that since men tend to interrupt more they are dominating or at least trying to dominate. 
 As a contradiction to this Geoffrey Beattie points out that there may have been one loud man who had a disproportionate effect on the total of interruptions. As he completed his own research and analysed 10 hours worth of conversation and found that men and women interrupt with more or less equal frequency. Beattie then carries on to question that since when do the amount of interruptions reflect the dominance of someone? Do some interruptions reflect acknowledgement and interest rather than dominance? 

The difference model was made popular by Deborah Tannen in 1990 through her book 'You Just Don't Understand'. The difference theory states that men and women belong to different subcultures, this approach avoids blaming or being prejudiced towards men or women, it merely suggests that they communicate differently. She has come up with a series of 6 contrasts which are: Status vs support, Independence vs Intimacy, Advice vs understanding, information vs feelings, orders vs proposals and conflict vs compromise. 
 In status vs support the difference approach suggests that men seek to achieve dominance over others in the conversation whereas women prefer supporting and giving conformation to the others.
 In independence vs intimacy the difference approach suggests that men are focused on keeping their place in the hierachy so refuse to ask if things are okay with their significant other whereas women indulge in the fact they console with their partners as a sense of intimacy. 
 In advice vs understanding Tannen suggests that men would try and find a solution to the problem whereas women would give emotional support and stability. 
 In information vs feelings the difference approach suggests that men only talk about informative subjects and that there conversations have a meaning behind them whereas women talk more about feelings and things that are not instructions or facts. 
In orders vs proposals men would tend to use direct imperatives when women say "shall we.." and "lets.."  
 In conflict vs compromise Tannen suggests men will announce their problem vocally whereas women would comply but complain a substantial amount. 

Koenraad Kuiper in 1991 suggested with evidence that many men use insults as a way of expressing solidarity with one another whereas women would be more focused on saving face and not hurting each other. 

The argument of if men speak differently to women will always continue no matter what theories people come up with. There will be no physical end to the disagreement in the foreseeable future.

Remaining frameworks

Graphology - is the study of images within a piece of text. 

Pragmatics - is the study of the 'underlying' meaning once you look at the text in context.
Discourse structure - is the organisation of the text. 

An example of graphology is the o2 logo. There is a meaning behind it of the symbol o2 is also the symbol for oxygen. The company could have done this as a implied meaning that you need their phone services to survive. 


An example of pragmatics is: 
" oh well done!" As it stands this is a compliment to someone however if we were to know the context it could have been said in a sarcastic manner. For example the person who is being congratulated could have done something silly like spill a glass of water over the floor. In this context it would have been said in a sarcastic manner.

The discourse structure in a formal letter starts with the date, your name, address and your position (if it is work based)in the top right hand corner. You then would write the recievers name and adress in the left hand corner. You would then begin your letter with 'Dear Sir or Madam', 'To whom it may concern' or 'Dear (Persons name)'. This would indicate the introduction as such of the letter. The main body of writing would be the middle of the text. You would add the date you have written the letter near where you started writing. Finally you would end the letter with 'Sincerly' or 'yours faithfully' underneath the body of writing, this would indicate the last part of the text.

The discourse structure of a website would vary with the target audience and context. Text would be seperated into sections which are related, for example a paragraph about a pug would be seperate to a paragraph about a german shepard. Website owners make it easier for people to find what they are looking for using sub headings for each paragraph. Sometimes points would be listed like a recipe for easier access. 

'Hoody' article and GRAMPS

An ode to the hoody ~

G- The concrete noun 'chuff' implies that the article is supposed to be humorous. Using slang words can add to the impact of humour and it will help it relate to the audience. Derogatory terms also help the text and the writer to relate to the audience and it also gives the impression that the writer is younger.

R- The register of this text is informal. We can tell this through the use of nouns used within the text. For example words like 'chuff' and 'buggers' are used and they are slang words and slang is used in informal situations. 

A- The audience of this text would be older teenagers and young adults. We can tell this by the use of slang given before and that the text also uses swear words and the story that is being given in the article is something that would happen to teenagers more than any other age groups. The story is about being hungover after just waking up and having to go to the shop. This would get the attention of teenagers because they would be able to relate to it more than any other group of people.

M- The mode of this article would be a magazine or newspaper article it is a persuasive text to try and help people appreciate how good that the use of a hoody is. It is also being used to show the rest of the world that not everyone who wears a hoody is going to be a criminal. 

P- The purpose of this text is to stand up to people who are discriminating against the hoody. The text assumes that the readers automatically agree with them by using personal pronouns to make them feel the same as the writers.

S- The subject of this article is an anti hoody government propaganda.

Implied Audience

Chuff- This concrete noun suggest that the implied audience is of a young age because it isn't really something that anyone who isn't a teenager would say. Most adults would not use that type of language in a written piece of writing because they may find it offensive.

Hangover- This abstract noun suggests that the implied audience is a teenager because that is what most teenagers would wake up with after a weekend. It helps the readers to relate more to the text because they would understand how the person who is in the text is feeling, it would also help them to understand the comfort of the hoody.

Kebab Meat- This concrete noun is associated with the lifestyle led by teens and young adults either the go to food when you are drunk or too lazy to make actual food. This helps the writer to catch and hold the attention of the implied audience as it would help them to relate and understand more of what the writer is trying to say. 

Personal Pronouns 

The word 'we' is a personal pronoun which is used throughout the article because it is a good way of including the audience in your writing helping them to think and evaluate the points of your article. Using personal pronouns are clever ways of persuasion as it already assumes that the writer and the audience have the same thoughts and feelings towards the articles subject. It implies that the audience is the same age of the writer because they would have the same opinions. 

Verbs 

Shagging- The verb 'shagging' is more of a sociolect term that is used mostly by teenagers to describe having sex. This reflects the register of the article being informal and that the implied audience is a teen themselves. 

Waiting- The verb 'waiting' is used to describe the hoodie waiting to be worn to 'brave the elements' this is using personification because it is written as if the hoodie was a best friend. In the context of this situation it relates to the implied audience of teenagers because every teen has the hoodie that is there go to comfort for an early morning walk to the corner shop. It helps the audience to relate to the text.  

Drumming- This verb gives the readers the opportunity to use another sense to relate and understand the writers point. It lets the reader put themselves in the situation of the person in the text. Drumming is being used to describe the rain hitting the windows. However it could be a hidden meaning to describe the hangover the teen is suffering with. 

Adjectives

Pompous- The adjective pompous is a derogatory term used to describe the politicians who are working to ban the hoody. It shows that the implied audience is a teenager as they would use the same word to describe the politicians. 

Innovative - This word describes the idea of a hoody being creative and multipurpose. It implies tht the design of a hoody is revolutionary and unprecedented. The method of advertising the concept of a hoody is an effective way of selling the argument in itself.

Summer Task ~ 4 things that interest me

4 blogs of things that interest me ~ 

http://thefashionguitar.com/  is a blog full of the new latest styles, low down on NYC and London fashion weeks. I have an interest in fashion because I find it interesting how it can change dramatically,how things can be brought back into fashion quickly and how the same style of clothing can be worn for years without it going out of fashion. 

http://celeryandcupcakes.com/ is a blog for healthy living comfort food, I have an interest in this because I have an interest in living healthily. 

http://www.nme.com/blogs/festivals-blog is a blog about music and festivals, I have an interest in this because I enjoy listening to music and taking part in festivals whenever I can. 

http://vicsecret-angels.tumblr.com/ is a blog full of the latest Victoria's Secret styles, I am interested in all of this because I work there and it is nice to catch up on the latest fashions. 

Terminology.

A proper noun is a name used for an individual person, place, or organization spelled with an initial capital letter. For example Italy, Ben, NHS. 

A common noun is a  noun denoting a class of objects or a concept as opposed to a particular individual.

A pronoun is a word that can function as a noun phrase used by itself and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g. I, you ) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g.she, it, this ).

An adverbial phrase is two or more words that act the same as an adverb. 

Should slang be banned in schools??

Writing my opinion to the following artical -
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/03/dialiects-slang-children-language-english

One argument in this article is saying that slang words should be banned in school and that parents and older people need to teach their children to stop saying words that aren't 'proper English'. 

Whereas the other side of the argument is trying to say that schools have been trying to do this for "more than 100 years to no avail" and that children should be allowed to use slag words in social settings and that they are mature enough to not use them in a context that would have an impact on their future life for example a job interview. 

The first argument has many different facts and opinions to put forward which would help them fight their own corner. As an example of this Ongar Academy have said that 'they are not banning words but "evolving" their pupils speech' David Grant the head teacher has said that students' dialect "may not favorably reflect on them when they attend college and job interviews. 

As a counter argument they have come back with many ways to contradict their points. For example they have said it would be hard to show children what they shouldn't be saying whilst at the same time trying to teach the children that there is nothing wrong with their natural expressions and dialects. They have also said that assuming students who use slang (most of them) would use the same slang words in a formal situation is a disservice. They carry this on by using different examples such as "we may wear a t shirt at home but a suit and tie at work" they use this example to suggest that the words you use with friends whilst you are out is different to words you would use in your workplace talking to your bosses. 

In my opinion I strongly agree with the counter argument because now a days children and students are so sensitive to how they are perceived from a peer or an older figure that punishing them for using their every day speech can be extremely harmful, and it could possibly do more harm than good. I do agree with the first aggument slightly but instead of banning students from using their everyday language that they teach them the correct context that they should be used in. 

Linguistics

Definitions of types of linguistic types

• Dialect - Variations in words and structures associated with different geographical locations.
• Sociolect - Variations in language use associated with membership of a particular social group.
• Accent - Variations in pronunciation associated with a particular geographical location.
• Idiolect - Variation in language use associated with an individual's personalised speech.

My linguistic fingerprint:

I was born in Bristol and I have lived here all my life. My dad is Sicilian and can read and speak Italian. However some words that my dad uses I cannot understand because I learnt Italian and not the dialect of Sicilian. For example 'lui' in Sicilian means 'him' whereas in Italian it is a boys name even though it is pronounced the same way. I work in Victoria's Secret and we are told to use phrases such as 'cash wrap' for tills, 'the fits' for changing rooms, 'stock out' for delivery, so even though I am of an English background I use the American dialect because the company I work for is American. Personally I think that I use a lot of sociolect terms because of my age group, this would include words like 'bare' meaning lots of, 'bait' meaning obvious and 'peak' meaning something bad.