Tuesday 10 April 2018

michael rosen - word of mouth documentary

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09yddxh


Notes :
  • Social media relies on imperative sentences so drops the auxiliaries
  • obscuring the individuality of people using the inclusive "we"
  • people rely on sincerity on social media, should start to rely on the accuracy of what they are actually saying
  • language is a tool for disguising thoughts
  • Language relies on fantasy
  • no agreed standard of public discourse, allows people to express their own opinions
  • people argue with the representation that they created from what someone else has said
  • rhetoric used by female prime ministers eliminates their genders
  • memes are created unconsciously that get spread around
  • hard to differentiate the evaluative and the descriptive eg salty
  • data is very misleading, data is only info when people can transform it from the raw form

Wednesday 21 February 2018

LINKS FOR EXAM REVISION

Assessment Objectives:
AO1: terminology
AO2: theories and concepts
AO3: context
AO4: connections and comparisions
AO5: writing creatively

Links for flash cards for exam revision:


Language change- https://quizlet.com/140460871/english-language-language-change-flash-cards/

Child language theories- https://quizlet.com/186810223/english-language-child-language-theorists-flash-cards/

Sociolect- https://quizlet.com/119509454/english-language-sociolect-theorists-flash-cards/

Spoken language- https://quizlet.com/130162645/a-level-english-language-spoken-language-flash-cards/

Links for documentaries:



THEORIST REVISION

Child Language Development

Noam Chomsky
Chomsky's nativist theory suggests that children are born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which gives them the ability to acquire language.
This theory could suggest why children make virtuous errors such as overgeneralisation.
To further support Chomsky's theory is recent research known as Fox P-2.  It is a gene which plays a major role in how we learn language and shows that we are born with the ability to learn how to talk without interaction with people.
Provides an alternative view to Skinner.

Jean Berko-Gleason
·       Berko-Gleason uses her idea the Wug Test to see if children are able to learn a language that doesn`t exist.
·         She presents the children with a creature that looks like a bird called a "Wug", she then showed them a picture of two Wugs and questioned "two..?" The children who said "two Wugs"means that they understand how to make a word plural.

B.F Skinner
·         Skinner`s behaviourist theory states that children are born a "blank slate" and have to learn language through interaction and imitation of caregivers.
·         His idea of Operant conditioning is to modify behaviour through positive and negative reinforcement. This will help the child correct their errors or do the same again if they`ve said it correctly.

Jerome Bruner
·         Bruner’s theory suggests that every child needs a Language Acquisition Support System (LASS). This highlights that children need to be encouraged to use language and help them become an active participant in the conversation.

Deb Roy
·         His Speech Home Project was created to film his son’s language from the day his was born until he was 3 years old. They particularly focused on how he used the sound "ga ga" to ask for "water". He knew that this would get him a drink which emphasises the point that children know more than they can say.

Vygotsky
·         Part of his theory is known as Zone of proximal development which states that you need caregivers support to help them acquire language.
·         Children need scaffolding to help them is social and cultural situations on their own.

Piaget
·         His Cognitive theory says that he believes that children construct an understanding of the world around them.

Sociolect

William La Bov

·         1966 New York Study- individual speech patterns are “part of a highly systematic structure of social and stylistic stratification”
·         He did a comparison of 3 department stores them being Saks 5th avenue (high end), Macys (middle of the road) and Klein’s (lower end). He used them to test the pronunciation of the `post-vocalic seeing how people would emphasise it at the end of a word. He used the words fourth and floor.
·         The results: Saks 62% Macys 51% Klein’s 20%

Martha’s Vineyard Study
·         It is an island off the East-coast of the USA with over 40,000 visitors each summer.
·         The local population are known as the "islanders."
·         Mainly a fishing industry where fisherman are seen as the desirable social group who everyone would want to be like.

Vera Regan
·         Ted ed talk
·         Worked under La Bov
·         Studied polish transnationals. Looked at the use of the colloquial "like" and the global "like".
·         She came to the conclusion that transnationals with the intention to stay would use language in the same way as the locals to include themselves. Whereas transnationals with the intention of moving on would still use the global like.

Peter Trudgill
      1974 Norwich Study – how gender affects dialect in each social class.
·         H and ing dropping
·         Looking at “walking”& “talking” as the standard form instead of "walkin" and "talkin" in its non- standard form.
·         It assesses participant’s awareness of their own accents as well as how they wished to sound.
·         Men over-reported their non-standard usage – implying that men wished to sound more non-standard, assuming that they used more of the covert prestige forms
·         Women over-reported their standard usage – implying that women wished to sound more standard, assuming that they used more of the overt prestige forms.

Jenny Cheshire
1982 Reading Study – relationship between use of non-standard variables and adherence to peer group norms.
 Identified 11 non-standard features and measured their frequency of use in boys and girls in a Reading playground, differentiating between those who approved or disapproved of minor criminal activities

Bernstein
Language and Social Class – Restricted code and Elaborated code – 1971
·         Restricted code - Has a limited vocabulary, looser syntax, uses more words of simple coordination.
·         Elaborated code - Has a more formally correct syntax, having more subordinate clauses and fewer unfinished sentences.

Jean Aitchison

Damp Spoon Syndrome
  • This theory suggests that language change is caused by sloppiness and laziness. It is often linked to teenagers.
  • However it is difficult to find evidence to state that language change is down to laziness.
  • An example of laziness is the glottal stop.
Crumbling Castle 
  • Sees that the English language as a beautiful building which needs to be preserved. This view states that a rigid system is better than a flexible system.
Infectious Disease
  • This theory suggests that we catch change from the people around us. 
  • Social contact is a big force to cause language change.
Gender

Deborah Tannen
Her theory, the difference model, explains that being two separate genders impacts our language and can cause miscommunication. She tells you that men dominate conversation and interrupt more frequently than a woman to gain status. Tannen basis` her theory on 6 contrasts, one being competition vs co-operation.

Robin Lakoff
·         Her research (1975) is known as the `deficit approach`, this explains that male language is stronger, prestigious and more desirable than a woman’s. It also informs you that men speak more than women.

Pamela Fishman
·         She believes that women use hedges, polite forums and question tags to help continue a conversation and get everyone involved. She calls this “conversational shitwork” to hold the conversation together and keep it flowing.

Janet Hyde
·         She proposes a “gender similarities hypothesis” which explains male and females are similar on most but not all psychological variables. She tells you that there are more similarities between male and female language than differences and any variations in speech could be down to age, occupation, status, class etc.

Christine Howe
·         She explains her theory to return to the point of men and women’s language differences due to their gender. She explains that men are more likely to respond quicker to what is being discussed so they can put their viewpoint across before anyone else.

O'Barr and Atkin's
Her research is interesting, and seems to suggest that it is not so much differences in the sexes' language, more the situations that they face which result in the difference. This theory is known as the dominance theory: if there is a difference in language, it is because males have always dominated in both the home and workplace, and females have had to play the domestic roles.

Language Change

Wednesday 7 February 2018

SPaG TEST

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/614605/STA177733e_2017_key_stage_2_English_grammar__punctuation_and_spelling_paper_1_questions.pdf

SPaG TEST 


https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/614614/STA177735e_2017_key_stage_2_English_grammar__punctuation_and_spelling_mark_schemes.pdf


SPaG TEST markscheme

Monday 13 March 2017

My Style Model: Coursework yr1

  • Use direct address throughout, no names are used 
  • elipsis are used often 
  • 5 lines per paragraph 
  • triadic structure about problems 
  • 'the words werent coming so freely anymore' - Litotes
  • Start sentence with because 
  • repitition of 'first', 'first time', 'first love', 'who came first'
  • personification of a feeling eg love
  • asyndeton 'i came, i saw, i conquered'
  • compares life to a puzzle ~ compare relationships to a game
  • simile ' grey streak like a zebra
  • last paragraph starts with ' i am 42 now' could start with something similar. 
  • ends on a compound sentence

Annotating Style Models

Rhetoricthe art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.


Rhetoric Devices:rhetorical device is a use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience.

Copy and complete the table:

a) Think about the benefits of jobs and local economy and investment and morale.
b) The houses will provide jobs for builders, engineers and salespeople.
c) It is basically a decision to be made between progression and stagnation.
d) There are millions of similar schemes that have been successful.
e) The issue is not without its minor problems.
f) We need.... We need....We need
g) The opportunity isn't a cash cow for the local economy. 
h) The development area.

Feature
Definition
Example
Abstract nouns
A thing which cannot be touched or seen
G - opportunity
Anaphora
Successive clauses beginning with the same word or set of words
F - We need..
Antithesis
Contrasts drawn between two opposing concepts or ideas
C - progression and stagnation
Euphemism
Something unpleasant or vulgar that might be described in less unpleasant terms
H- development area 
Hyperbole
Exaggeration for effect
D- millions of 
Litotes
Form of understatement by negating the negative rather than making a positive statement
E- not without minor problems
Metaphor
Describing something (or someone) in terms of something (or someone) else
G- cash cow
Polysyndeton
Adding conjunctions to a sentence where it might reasonable have been expected that they would have been missed out
A- ... and ...and ...and 
Triadic structure
List of three
B- builders, engineers and salespeople

Effect on the reader: 
Anaphora : adds emphasis, emotive 'need'. 

Antithesis: want to show the opposite, comparing their original idea to the horrible opposite. 

Euphemism: to make the 'rude' word more respectable, more positive. 

Hyperbole: to exaggerate your point, more suggestive of positive upcomings.

Litotes: playing down a negative system.

Polysyndeton: adds emphasis on each factor by using and

Triadic Structure: adds emphasis 

Phonological Devices:
"These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining."

alliteration: brightest beacon 
onomatopoeia: shatter
rhyme: beacon for freedom
sibalance: shatter steel
metaphor: cannot dent the steel of american resolve (antithesis)

Monday 6 February 2017

Assessment Objectives

 ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES

AO1: terminology
AO2: theories and concepts
AO3: context
AO4: connections and comparisions
AO5: writing creatively

michael rosen - word of mouth documentary

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09yddxh Notes : Social media relies on imperative sentences so drops the auxiliaries obscuring the ind...