Stephen Fry : Planet word - origins of language

• over 7000 languages
• 2 year olds tend to start speaking - listen for two years, listening in the womb
• first words - mumma, dada
• human language for collaboration - food, hunting
• could have been leant via song - alphabet
• fox p2 - medical research- part of dna - incharge of language
• a window or language development which closes around puberty
• Dr deb roy - recored his child for three years - tracked the pronounciation of 'water' over 7 months
• Stephen pinker - children are born with the ability to speak as they 'make up' words to replace the correct ones
• jean berko gleason developed the 'WUG' test (1955) - strong evidence born to speak - 'this is a Wug, now there are two '...'
• parents need to provide context, different opportunities to speak in different contexts
• the childs semantic awarenesses outstrips their phonological ability highlighted by deb roy

michael rosen : word of mouth

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qtnz/episodes/player

child language devlopment

Theory:

• Deb Roy set up his house as a lad to record his childs language until he was three
• Dr Kathy Price - key elements in the brain that have language use - born with it?
• Noam Chomsky (godfather of linguistics)

Language:

• despite decades of research, how we learnt to talk remains a mystery
• Fox p2 is innate as its in the genes

language theory:

• parents simplify their language to suit the child (as they develop sentences so do the parents) (convergence)
• care giver language
• all animals would have the ability to talk
• picking up sounds whilst in the womb - recognise mums voice/tone
• innate ability for language  - born with the ability to speak
• L.A.D - language acquisition device
• we all have blueprints to language but need to be exposed to it early on
• children learnt to speak with minimal effort

AQA A2 Specification

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-7701-7702-GLOSSARY.PDF

a2 coursework ideas

Child development

John Holt - How Children Learn    (1967)
Foreword: children have a style of learning that fits their conditions and which they use naturally until we train them out of it


Holt.JH.1967.how children learn.1st.USA.pitman publishing corporation

Power

Dale Spencer - Men Made Language   (1980)
Thorne & Henley 1975: the correct way of speaking for women - page37










HOW TEENAGERS LANGUAGE CHANGE AS THEY GROW UP?
-accent and dialect
                                                                                            relate to music?
                                                                                            the use of swear words?
                                                                                               -black vs white - racist?

• dialect levelling?
• Milroy:Belfast
• Bernstein's codes

Bee and Boyd - Lifespan development
-21/2 years average vocab = 600         - Pinker 1994
-5-6 years average = 15000


-3 years acquired basic tools needed to form sentences and make conversation    - Bloom 1991

practice paper 1

Question 1-

The online article from the BBC News talks about Labour winning Bristol’s vote for the elections. It is targeted at the audience who take an interest in politics and have the knowledge for that topic. It also targets the older adults range as they are more experienced with the government choices and have a wider knowledge on how to improve for future generations such as their children. The younger audience are not widely affected by the issues as they can’t vote however would benefit them for when they are older; changes in society and way of life. To come across this text, it would have been searched and it might have been the first website to pop up as the BBC is well known throughout the country and is very trustworthy when it comes to local news and even debates on politics. By them having that organisational power over the public it seems like all of their stories are true and convincing. The purpose of the article is to inform the local people (Bristolians) as well as the rest of the country that Labour has won the majority of peoples vote. It also informs people that there is a new ‘party’ that would be running the county for future generations. The expectations when reading this article are quite dull and boring as the subject of politics can be quite frustrating and annoying for some of the audience which makes them not want to read on. Although, if some people are a regular visitor then they would find it easier to read as the page is split into two main pictures and the paragraphs are fairly short along with long sentence structures. The side bar shown has different pictures which may distract and hook the audience too as the graphology shows people with missing teeth and natural disasters. Especially people who dislike the subject of politics, they might have more of a risk to click on another page as they might get tired of the topic. The text is multimodal as the headline states that Labour ‘win’ which is related to the picture underneath of people hugging and being happy. This shows that peoples vote count and they are happy that the decision has been made for the right ‘party’ to be one. The article also uses persuasion to engage with the audience by saying ‘gaining seven seats’. This implies that they have done something this year to have more people compared to the other parties. It shows how powerful they can be. The use of nicknames suggest that most people are friendly enough to talk about the ‘Lib Dems’ rather than calling them ‘Liberal Democrats’. It shows that their party is good because of the nickname basis but that it is also not as good as Labour considering they won. The logo at the top of the page suggests that it is official and that is it representing the overall elections for when it is combined with the rest of the UK’s vote.

Question 2-

YouGov is a website where people can express their views, take polls and have conversations all about politics and small debates which might affect the future such as ‘should the penny be used or not?’. People might come across this website if they are involved with the site as the affordances are ‘Log on’ and ‘Register’ to keep the audience involved in the local issues. It is also a site where people could click on to see the latest debates and discussions related to politics. The target audience would be people who are interested in politics and seeing how the future could affect generations to come. This age group could range from the middle aged adults as they have more experience and knowledge which can be passed on to generations such as their children. The purpose of the website is to inform people what ‘YouGov’ is about and how they can make a change. They want people to get involved as the icons as you open the site has the latest polls and issues surrounding the country and the rest of the world. YouGov also plans to engage and persuade the audience as the title says ‘What would you like to do?’ This indicates that it is all about the target audience and it is them that make the choices for the future. By them using direct address it engages with the audience and seems like they are talking directly to them although it gives them the option and they can do anything they like because it is in their hands. They also use ‘our’ within the website which shows that everyone is part of the community and they would be with us for what choice we make. The expectations when you open the website is quite dull using black, white and grey colours however when the mouse is hovered over it lights up red and makes it easier to come across. The language used through is quite sophisticated and educated as it is a serious issue which affects everyday life but also the fact that before you click on the webpage, there is a section about ‘YouGov- Cambridge’. This shows that the people are well educated as they went to a well know university/ area. ‘YouGov’ is also a blend of words that can mean ‘Your Government’. This gives the impression that you are in charge of the government and how it is run which is also why they have discussions and polls about news. It is also shortened which makes it easier to remember. The pictures that are shown are related to the topics of politics or debates rather than reading a small sentence about what the hyperlink will tell you in another page. The sentences are quite short which makes it easier to read but the pictures also help the audience. At the bottom there are also links to share with friends and social media which is a part of getting involved with the community. This says that if people are really interested in some conversations then they can find out more information at events, reports and blogs that they have done as well as getting careers. The subheading ‘welcome’ suggests direct address even though it is not directly talking to the audience with personal pronouns. It implies that they are inviting you for read and take part in the website too.

Question 3-

Both of the texts are on politics which can be a strong hard subject for some people. This means that people might find this interesting but most of the audience might be bored and faze out when hearing about the topic. This is also because it can be hard to understand even though everyone should have a bit of information about it because it will help change and manage how we live for future generations. To break up the big chunks of information about the topic, both texts use pictures so that they stand out which makes it easier to read. The also relate to the topic too. As well as pictures, both of them use small paragraphs but have long sentences. This is because they would break it down for some people and make it simpler to read as politics can be a heavy topic to read if the text was just one big paragraph. They also do this to engage and hook the audience as they try to give as much information in small quantities so everyone understands it better. However, in text a when you continue to read the next paragraph, it could have been one paragraph but they have split in into two or three. The text could have been one paragraph as they were only talking about interviews and discussions rather than heavy information about some issues.  Both texts also have power as they are well-known throughout the world which also has people believing that what they are advertising is the truth.

However text a is only an article stating that Labour has won majority of votes compared to text b which gets people involved in debates, polls and discussions. This attracts the audience more as they would get bored reading an article and would like to see some change which matters by talking to other people about the same topic. Text b offers more as it can change how society is compared to text a which shows no outcome or much resolved only the fact that Labour has one. Text b also engaged with people across the world and how everyone can work together. Text a however is well known throughout the world (BBC) but it not really selling to worldwide readers that Labour has won the vote- only in Bristol compared to the rest of the UK.

opinionated article - occupation

Don’t be a bore at the dinner table!

Should we be bringing the work language into the household? It is a different environment to working facilities and shouldn’t be brought back as the people around you wouldn’t know what it is about unless they do the same job.

When your family member or friends talk about their day at work, most people are interested as they care about them and how they are getting on at work- whether they have had a bad day or not. The amount of conversation between the two (or more) people can be small talk ranging from a conversation about the whole day, start to finish. This is ok, right? This is normal. But when you drag the terminology from the workplace into an everyday conversation to people who don’t know that much about it, they can lose interest and get lost in the conversation.

In the working environment, people tend to use phatic tokens – research which was done by Labov. The use of self-orientated tokens in the work environment suggests that the conversation has one person with a higher status job title such as making a tool within engineering. They might also use neutral tokens as they both know what they mean within the workplace. This is fine. This doesn’t require any more explaining to people not within that job ad they already know the meaning. However, if you were to explain this jargon to me outside of the work place then I wouldn’t have a clue. Milling, Vernier, height gauge- what’s that?

Some of the tools and equipment which are used in a work environment, such as an engineering company, might have different terminology compared to someone working in a hospital. When at the dinner table discussing their days, people might lose interest in the conversation because they don’t know what they mean themselves. ‘I spent all day making a plumb bob’. Excuse me? What’s that? While on the topic of conversation people might be zoning out the conversation as it might get boring for them because they work in a different environment and are still unsure on what they mean. They might take an interest but not in depth about the whole industry.

However, within the conversation people might use Giles CAT theory which he researched about how spoken language affects your voice within the workplace. Because they might be talking to friends and family about their job, they seem friendlier and comfortable to talk about it. Maybe it’s because they take an interest or just want to find out. Therefore, by them being comfortable they can be open about it. Within your job you can also diverge your language to colleagues- by changing your accent and dialect slightly to suit them. This could also be done to seem like a better teammate. Within work you might also converge as you could be comfortable around them without seeming different to others and not want to be different from the crowd. This way at work everyone can get on better and also have banter as well as being serious for tools and equipment.