Notes 22.09.14

Children struggle with  

·         Auxiliary verbs

·         Grammar tenses

·         Indefinite/ definite article

Adults unconsciously converge towards the child’s language. (Debroy)

Parents talk to their children as if they understand.

18 months- 50 odd words are known (context dependent)

·         Mainly nouns

·         Some words but pronounced differently ‘’see-saw.’’ ‘’see-saw?’’

Sexism? Girls are encouraged ‘’clever girl’’, boys are expected to be clever.

Lots of onomatopoeia ‘’moo moo’’ ‘’baa baa’’

Two and a half years- slight conversation

Nursery rhymes are popular, they allow children to talk for 30 seconds or longer in one go.

Adults set the agenda for the conversation by asking questions.

3 years old

·         possessive pronouns are learnt

3/4/5 years

·         start to understand tense

·         compound syntax (two main clauses joined by and/but/or)

5 years

·         More aware of external influences

100,000 words as an adult

Young children go off on side sequence.

Transcript Analysis- January 2013, Question 1

Context: Text A is a transcript of Ruby (3 years 4 months) with her Auntie Lou. Ruby has just 

arrived at her aunt’s house and they are in the kitchen. Thelma, Fergal and Simba 

are cats.

Referring in detail to the transcript and to relevant ideas from language study, analyse 

the language used by children and their caregivers. (48 marks)

Text for Question 1

Key: (.) indicates a normal pause.

Numbers within brackets indicate length of pause in seconds.

Words between vertical lines are spoken simultaneously.

:: indicates elongated sounds.

Words in capitals indicate an increase in volume.

Other contextual information is in italics in square brackets.

CLA Notes

It has become apparent that all human beings are born with a Gene called FOXP2 which enables them to have the genetic ability to form words and allow them to speak.

This became knowledge to many English Language experts through the investigation into the KE Family of which 15 of the 30 members where born with an inherited gene on chromosome 7 from their Grandmother. This was due to Chromosome being slightly broken meaning that they had a speech and language disorder which portrayed them to speak as if they were deaf. This disorder is called Development Verbal Dyspraxia.

The fact that we are born with the ability to speak within our genes supports Chomsky’s LAD ‘language acquisition device) theory. This is the idea that it is an instinctive mental capacity which allows young children to acquire and produce language. It also extends on the idea that the gene FOXP2 needs to be stimulated to become an ability and that language only becomes apparent once the infant is spoken to by another person. This is supported by the case of Genie who was kept away from society from a very young age for a long period of time and was unable to produce and acquire language once she had been discovered.

AQA English Language

http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-language-b-2705

Deficit

Jesperson (1922):

Jesperson thought that men’s language is the standard vocabulary and that female language is inefficient in comparison to the male ‘norm’. He believed that women had a less extensive vocabulary than men, have less complex sentence structures, and speak with less prior though, often leaving their sentences unfinished.

Robin Lakoff 1975):

Lakoff considered the male language as dominant but not ‘’better than’’ women’s language. She also proposes that women's speech can be distinguished from that of men in a number of ways, including:

Hedges: Phrases like "sort of", "kind of", "it seems like"

Empty adjectives: "divine", "adorable", "gorgeous"

Super-polite forms: "Would you mind..." "...if it’s not too much to ask" "Is it o.k if...?"

Apologize more: "I'm sorry, but I think that..."

Speak less frequently

Avoid coarse language or expletives

Tag questions: "You don't mind eating this, do you?".

Hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation: Use of prestige grammar and clear articulation

Indirect requests: "Wow, I'm so thirsty." – really asking for a drink

Speak in italics: Use tone to emphasis certain words, e.g., "so", "very", "quite"

Lakoff also developed the "Politeness Principle", in which she thought up three maxims that are usually followed in interaction. These are: Don't impose, give the receiver options, and make the receiver feel good. She said that these are paramount in good interaction. By not following these maxims, a speaker is said to be 'flouting the maxims'.

She suggests that women are disadvantaged relative to men by a basically inferior, less forceful ‘’women’s language’’ which they learn through socialization. She highlights various female forms and styles showing weakness, uncertainty and unimportance. She also implies that women who use ‘’women’s language’’ are ‘’systematically denied access to power’’ as the typical ‘’neutral’’ language (men’s language) is seen as superior.

https://archive.org/details/afa5370.0001.001.umich.edu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Jespersen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Lakoff

formal language within texts A and D

Both text A and D use formal language, each to fill the purpose to inform and educate their audience. Text A is used to inform people about one of the UK’s leading financial services companies, by using formal language throughout the piece it shows status from the producer of the advert.  Things that are included such as facts and figures ‘’over 4.5 million people rely on Legal and General for like assurance…’’ make the text seem reliable and encourage the target audience to look into it more as it is not just sentences that are ‘empty’ and don’t have any solid meaning and proof behind them. By using the word ‘rely’ it makes the audience feel as if they need it and have to investigate into it further as if has connotations of the service being a necessity.  Text D also uses formal language in the form of an extract of a Bill from the Higher Education during 2004. This uses language that will appeal to an older audience and inform them of the provision about research in the Arts and Humanities. If they were to use informal language and register then the person writing the text would most definitely not be taken as seriously as they intend to be. Text D also uses names proper nouns of a high status ‘’be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal…’’ By using the high status names such as ‘The Queen’ it gives it connotations that it has to be obeyed, or done without question or doubt from the person reading it.

self evaluation

After looking through and highlighting various points in my half term assessment I have come to the conclusion that I need to identify and related to the APF and context more. To do this I am going to identify the audience, purpose and form early on and when making points throughout the essay I will mention them and how they help to prove these ideas.

I also need to create a well thought through plan before I start writing. I need to think more about the structure of the piece and how each individual point can link to the next making the essay more interesting to write.

Another point that I need to work on is my terminology and how I write my sentences. Using terms such as ‘adverb’ and ‘personal pronouns’ to describe quotes that I am using. By using this is will improve my sentence structure and how well the essay comes across to the reader throughout.

Samsung F300 advert

The advert featuring Beyonce uses many techniques including Synthetic Personalisation in the way that it adresses the audience as a whole, as individuals. The advert uses things such as ''your personality.'' This is a way in which the writer can use language to make the reader feel as if the text is aimed specifically at them where as a matter of fact they are actually aiming it at a large number of people. This attracts people to be more inclined to buy the product as they are convinced through the language used that this is the right thing for them as it makes it more personal. By using the first person pronoun 'your' the writer is essentially portraying that they know the person and what they want from the product.

The advert also uses the picture to tie into the language. This is due to the fact that they have used words like ''Dual'' which means two and therefore the picture features Beyonce twice and gives the connection between the written language. Also many people like to be known as being complex and having 'two sides' to their personality, this is a good motivational scheme as they think that well know celebrities such as Beyonce can relate and also feel the same.

It has also been used as an advertising scheme too promote Beyonce's album as they have a picture of it in the bottom left hand corner with the caption ''Beyonce B'day Deluxe Album in stores now.'' This gives it the sense of a younger target audience which would be the type of people that would buy Beyonce's new album and the type that would maybe buy the phone. It also ties in with the fact that the phone is being advertised as a music player and Beyonce is well known for her part within the music industry.

My mini technology investigation

I have noticed from analysing my research that many over 40 year olds use abreviations in their texts. Aswell as this i saw that they use puncuation more frequently than the younger generation. Texts such as ''Ok. Will find out how much n let u know k. Xx' show that they are more interested in the convience of shortening their words than how the text is portrayed by the reader. By using shortened words is gives the text a more informal feel. This is due to the fact that by using lengthened words is shows that time and care has been taken when thinking about what and how to write it. The more frequent use of punctuation in the text by older generations may be to do with the fact that when they were growing up there was a less dominant use of texting and instant messaging therefore they were accustomed to writing in with length letters which involveed puntuation so they use it more in texts.

Another thing that i noticed in the texts is that the reasoning behind using abbreviations is to make social networking quicker and simpler. It gives people ease when writing things that do not need to be spelt properly and in full length. It also became clear that this is the way people think, as they beleive that this is a social cocept of how you text, what texting means and also how other people do it so it becomes more apparent for them to follow the same 'trends'.

My Invesitgation:

How often people over the age of 40 use abreviations in their language when talking to their children.

In the guradian article ''2b or not 2b'' David Crystal argues that texting is ''pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentances; raping our vocabulary.''

i will be testing this hypothesis by carrying out an investigation on how older people type when they write texts to their family members.