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

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

Rhetoric Devices:A 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)

Assessment Objectives

 ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES

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

Accent and Dialect

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/uk/regional-accents-losing-battle-standard-english/ comparing the accent of words in the 1950's and 2016.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/05/26/revealed-how-london-accents-have-killed-off-local-dialects-acros/ how accents from London have eliminated the way other places in England say things comparison of 1950 and 2016

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/im-professor-working-class-accent-get-over-it maths lecturer wasn't taken seriously because he didn't speak in RP and had a working class background.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/23/northern-accent-working-class-middle-class-northerner-barm-cake-john-lewis

Evaluate the idea that spoken interactions between men and women are characterised by miscommunication [30 marks

Evaluate the idea that spoken interactions between men and women are characterised by miscommunication [30 marks]

The idea that men and women are characterised by miscommunication has been researched for many years. It is proven that men and women have physical differences obviously, however there may be some underlying differences which are difficult to uncover about the use of spoken language between the two genders. The topic of men and women using language differently is a highly controversial topic and it is the ideal research topic for many linguists to either, support, oppose or create a new idea completely.

One language theory that supports the main idea that men and women are different is the Deficit Model, Robin Lakoff. Lakoff provided a vision and a template for generations of further research, she suggested that women are more polite and have a poorer sense of humour than men. It was also proposed that men speak more than women. It was also suggested that specific linguistic and discoursive features marked the powerlessness of women within society and their subservient role to men. An example of these is tag questions, for example “this is nice, isn’t it?” and the use of hedges, “I’m not an expert but, you might want to restart your computer”. The use of a hedge is to lessen the impact of an utterance.

Lakoff’s theory is supported by the data in the table above. It is evident in the first column of the table that men do speak more than women, the average turns per meeting for women was 9.9 whereas  the male average turns per meeting was 24.7 which is a staggering difference of 14.8 turns on average.

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 result 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. This could relate to the data in the table above as the men may be the higher authority within the meeting room and women lower, for example the men may be managers and the women staff. This could then explain the anomalies in the table like woman D and man E who do not comply too the ‘norms’ of their gender average so as an example woman D could be a manager and man E being an apprentice.

The dominance model is another theory which was founded by Zimmerman and West in (1975). They found that men interrupt conversations more than women, whom they concluded from their study of 11 conversations between men and women where men interrupted a total of 46 times compared to the women which was a total of 2. They concluded that since men interrupt more they are dominate or trying to gain dominance.

As demonstrated in the table above, women were recorded to interrupt between 0 and 2 times per meeting compared to an astonishing difference of 2 and 8 for men. These findings also support the theory of the Dominance Model as the men are interrupting more than the women. However, it can be seen in the table that the men are interrupting the other men as well as the women. This could be said to show that the men were worrying about their social hierarchy within the meeting and wanted to show confidence and dominance to make them respected. This idea would also explain the anomaly of woman D; the men could be seeing her as more of a threat as she is talking at the same levels as the other men. If they were to see her as a threat to their dominance it would clarify why she is being interrupted more than everyone else. This is a theory that is not mentioned within the dominance theory. This means that the data in the table goes further to show the difference in miscommunication amongst the two genders than the theory itself. 

The third and final model is the difference model by Deborah Tannen in 1990, '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. This would be supported by the data in the table as the women do not tend to interrupt anyone meaning they may try to be supportive and not discouraging to the others. In independence vs intimacy the difference approach suggests that men are focused on keeping their place in the hierarchy 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...”. This is disputed by the data in the table above as if men were only using direct imperatives then their seconds per turn would be lower than the women, but this is not the case. In conflict vs compromise Tannen suggests men will announce their problem vocally whereas women would comply but complain a substantial amount.

There has been a recent story in the media, 31^st May 2016, about Kit Harrington accusing the film industry of ‘sexism against men’. Harrington says that he accepts attitudes of sexism towards women in the industry however there isn’t much recognition for sexism towards men. He believes that if a woman said she did not appreciate being called a babe people would respect that whereas with him people laugh and say he is being silly or egotistical. Some bloggers have been criticising this as it would be argued that he was only employed for Game of Thrones because of his looks. Female blogger Jezebel pointed out that what Harington is talking about is feeling objectified, which is not something that just sticks with one gender. Harington’s comments have been ridiculed by many, including Jezebel who was quite clearly using sarcastic words when saying “wants the world to know there is more to him than being really, really, really ridiculously good-looking”.

Overall all the linguists that have research the differences between male and female speech all have valid, well-argued points however each of the arguments cancel out the other. There still needs to be an extensive amount of further research to actually prove whether men and women speak differently, nevertheless it may always be a matter of opinion. Many factors could affect many different people with the way they use language, nature, nurture and also people may face speech problems due to disabilities or issues. It is hard to separate the reasons why we talk how we do, it is also hard to tell what factors impact in different ways in how we use language. 

Evaluate the idea that spoken interactions between men and women are characterised by miscommunication

Evaluate the idea that spoken interactions between men and women are characterised by miscommunication [30 marks]

• Lakoff, Zimmerman and West and Tannen
• Stop calling women 'girls', patronising or sexually suggestive
• Johnson "why men interrupt"
• Terrible Female emojis.
• Film industry guilty of sexism towards men

2. Johnson, Why men interrupt?

• Soraya Chemaly " Every woman should learn the following ten words 'stop interrupting me. I just said that. No explanation needed'"

3. Terrible use of female emojis March 2, 2016

• "#Likeagirlcampaign" says that female emojis are terrible, woefully stereotypical
• At the date of this article the only female emojis were princess, bride, dancer in a red dress and a series of information desk characters. Two gender ambiguous athletes with long hair.
• Lucy Walker "Society has a tendency to send subtle messages that can limit girls to stereotypes, as someone who has studied sociolinguistics, I know the kind of impact even seemingly innocuous language choices can have on girls"
• Dove noticed "one size fits all hair type, straight and sleek, the tradition beauty ideal", they created their own curly hair emoji keyboard.
• Michele Baeten "We know that girls, especially during puberty, try to fit in and are therefore easily influenced by society. In fact, we found that 7 out of 10 girls even felt that society limits them, by projecting what they should or should not do, or be. The girls in emojis wear pink, are princesses or dancing bunnies, no other activites, no sports no jobs"
• This is an old article, since this was published at the beginning of march 2016 there has been recent emoji updates that include 2 construction workers, doctor, farmer, chef, graduate, teacher, artist, judge, firefighter, astronaut and various athletes. 
• This update was released on the 13th of september 2016, so 7 months later. 

4. Film industry guilty of sexism towards men: COMPARISON POINT

•   Kit Harrington has said he feels people are being sexist towards men in the film industry. " I like to think of myself as more than a head of hair or a set of looks"
• Feminist blogger Jezebel said “I think what he is actually describing is feeling objectified, which certainly isn’t a phenomenon belonging to a single gender.”
• the Wraps reported wrote:  "Game of Thrones star Kit Harington wants the world to know there’s more to him than being really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking.”

IMPORTANT LINKS FOR MYSELF

Recommended Reading List
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-7702-READING-LIST.PDF
terminology 
http://www.slideshare.net/BCALevels/alevel-english-glossary
Past Paper 
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77011-SQP.PDF - past paper
MS http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77011-SMS.PDF - mark scheme 
 
Exam Help
student response with examiner commentary 
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77011-CEX.PDF -
commentary
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77011-COM.PDF

Articles

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11574196/new-forms-of-social-media-terms-which-parents-do-not-understand.html
How children of the internet have "come up" with a language used on social media that parents don't understand.