Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Power in Language


  • Politeness features - typically female
  • Face needs - positive and negative
  • FPAC - Form, Purpose, Audience, Context
  • Converge and Diverge - male and female - status elevation

Tuesday, 10 November 2015

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77012-SQP.PDF

AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE (7701/2)

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77012-COM.PDF

AS English Language SAMs commentary Paper 2

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77012-CEX.PDF

Bristol University guide to grammar and punctuation - Improve your writing

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/index.htm

A. Handy for revision
B. Punctuation Structure – the structure of sentences, where we put punctuation marks, layout,                  graphology, discourse.
     Form, Purpose, Audience – Syntax (compound, complex, simple), clauses, utterance.
     Functions of syntax – imperative (command), interrogative (question), exclamative, declarative.  
C. Common Confusions:
     Homophones, Comparatives, Lexis, Semantics, Pragmatics.
D. Exam responses
E. Other pitfalls and problems – Grammar, Lexis
F. Style - Form, Purpose, Audience

G. Handy for revision

Monday, 2 November 2015

Language and Identity

Standard English - formal register, language of power, expected in professional environments - signifies status, perhaps an indicator of social class, language of academia

Slang - informal language

Dialect - words, phrases and grammatical structures dependent on your region

Taboo - offensive, inappropriate, unacceptable language, including swearing

Technology influenced words and phrases - words that are normally associated with technology, e.g. "lol", "FaceTime" etc

Neologisms - coinage, new words - e.g. Oxford English Dictionary add words all the time; recent additions include "bestie", "selfie" and "emoji"

Occupational register - often associated with standard English, based on a shared understanding

Received pronunciation - 'correct', prestigious accent, formal, language of power

Regional accent - the way you pronounce certain words based on where you're from, multiple accents for each individual - accent may vary based on contextual features

Language and Identity


"One of the most fundamental ways we have of establishing our identity, and of shaping other peoples' views of who we are, is through the use of language" ~ Joanna Thornborrow (2004)

Tuesday, 13 October 2015

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Form, Purpose, Audience

The Guardian


Form - Newspaper.
Purpose - To tell stories and to inform people about what happening in today's society.
Audience - The general public.

NASA News Magazine


Form - Magazine/News article.
Purpose - To inform people who are interested in astronomy what NASA have recently discovered and general news about the organisation as a whole.
Audience - Astronomers/people interested in astronomy.

Made in Bristol


Form - TV Channel Website.
Purpose - to inform people about what is on the channel and when/what events are coming up around Bristol.
Audience - people who want to find out what is going on in Bristol in general, people who are interested in seeing the work from around the Bristol area.


Steven Pinker - What our language habits reveal

https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_language_and_thought


  • language change:
    • descriptive attitudes - you can't discriminate against words, all language is vital
    • prescriptive attitudes - only one way, standard English is the only thing that should be used
    • descriptivism/prescriptivism
  • language is a window onto human nature:
    • language emerges from human minds interacting with one another
    • visible in unstoppable language changes
      • slang&jargon, historical change, dialect divergence, language formation
  • communication model:
    • sender - message - receiver
  • euphemistic language to talk about topics that are hard to discuss
  • social, historical and cultural context

Ted Talks

https://www.ted.com/talks

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Why do we use slang?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11426737

This article explores the theme of slang and why teenagers use it with different kinds of people. It talks about the different uses of slang and what impact they are having on today's modern English.

Frameworks

Phonetics, Phonology and Prosodies - accents, onomatopoeia: how speech sounds and effects are articulated and analysed.
Graphology - the visual aspects of textual design and appearance (form, audience and purpose) e.g fonts, punctuation, emoji and technology.
Lexis and Semantics - words and meanings.
Grammar, including Morphology - the structural patterns and shapes of English at sentence, clause phrase and word level.
Pragmatics - the contextual aspects of language use, (context/meaning).
Discourse - extended stretches of communications occurring in different genres, modes and contexts.

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

Why Do We Swear?

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/03/30/why-do-we-swear/

This article explains why people swear and why swearing usually makes people feel better. It also goes on to talk about the severity of different swear words and why we use these.

AQA A Level Specification

Specimen papers and mark schemes.

http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-language-a-2700

All raait! It's a new black-white lingo

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/from-the-mouths-of-teens-422688.html

This article is about the common use of MLE (Multicultural English), a dialect spoken within inner London by the modern youths of today. This article explains and questions why the youngsters of today choose to speak like this. It talks about the impact of the dialect and the use of slang in modern day. It also talks about how MLE is being spoken in other areas, possibly due to music that includes this type of language, which is becoming increasingly popular. This article also includes slang words and thier meanings.

Year 6 Grammar Test

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/quiz/2013/feb/04/grammar-punctuation-quiz-test