Opinion based article from the Guardian

The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/18/judd-apatow-attack-hollywood-the-martian-golden-globes-critics-choice-awards

Form

This is a newspaper article from the Guardian.

Purpose

Its purpose is to give viewers an insight into what film director Judd Apatow thinks about the recent controversy at the 2016 Golden Globe awards, when The Martian won best comedy.

Audience

The audience is anyone who is interested in film and cinema.

Dan Clayton's English language blog

This is a blog from an A-Level language student, take a look!

http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/27/quiz-do-you-know-your-bants-from-your-manspreading?CMP=share_btn_link

Test your knowledge on the modern day slang our younger generation uses daily in today's society!

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/nov/28/how-to-talk-to-anyone-the-experts-guide

This article expresses how we talk to different people under different contexts.

The conversation...

 http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2015/nov/28/the-conversation-that-changed-my-life
 This article talks about how technology is taking over modern day speech and language, within different scenarios.

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

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

Article about modern-day grammar in the English language

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/nov/03/morgan-grammar-test-right-answer-spag-english-spelling-punctuation-grammar

English is weird!

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)

Andrew Moore

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/occupation.htm

A vital resource for revision of any English Language specification.

Form, Purpose, Audience

The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

Form - Newspaper.

Purpose - To tell stories and to inform people about what happening in today's society.

Audience - The general public.

NASA News Magazine

http://www.nasa.gov/news/releases/latest/index.html

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

http://www.madeinbristol.tv/

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

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.