Joanna Thornborrow

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

Stephen Fry

'Language and accent shape and define our identity'- Stephen Fry

Language and identity

Standard English- dialect of English that's considered to have the most prestige.
Slang- referring to words and phrases, which are considered informal.
Dialect- can be lexical features or variations in grammar.
Taboo- lexical choices, which could be considered to be offensive.
Technology influenced words and phrases- words and phrases in speech, which are normally associated with written terminology forms such as tweets.
Neologisms- new words are constantly entering English language- coinage.
Occupational register- sometimes stemming from personal interests, an occupational register or jargon is based or shared understanding between certain groups or individuals.
Received pronunciation- this accent is used in the teaching of English as a foreign language and is used in dictionaries, which give pronunciations- language of power.
Regional accent- this is the way you pronounce certain words depending on where you live.

Spontaneous speech transcript

 

This is my spontaneous speech transcript, which I have analysed.

Universal teacher- language and occupation

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

• Occupations could not really exist without language, especially those in which many people work together, and need to pass on information about how to do things, or about current tasks.
• Occupations develop their own special language features, and use those of the common language in novel or distinctive ways.
•  We can understand forms
  • in an explicit sense as those kinds of activity that we can name (job interview, team briefing, disciplinary tribunal, conference, marriage ceremony) or
  • in a looser descriptive sense (discussing a problem, telling a manager about an incident, asking an expert for guidance).
• Language interactions may occur between or among those within a given occupation, or between those inside and those outside (customers, clients, the “general public”). This distinction will affect significantly a speaker's (or writer's) language choices.
• Some uses are exclusive, because they shut out people who do not know them. This happens when doctors share a common lexicon (think of things like ECG, CAT-scan, myocardial infarction, prima gravida).
• You should also look at how speech interactions reveal hierarchies, and changing attitudes to these.
•  Almost every occupation has its own special lexicon - a vocabulary that is specific to the occupation.
• New media and technology have created new forms (or radically adapted old forms) of communication. These are fascinating to linguists (they are quite easy to study - the data are readily available, and already in computer text form) and a popular subject for students to investigate. You should certainly consider electronic mail (e-mail), instant messaging and net meetings.
• "Face" (as in "lose face") refers to a speaker's sense of linguistic and social identity. Any speech act may impose on this sense, and is therefore face threatening. And speakers have strategies for lessening the threat. Positive politeness means being complimentary and gracious to the addressee (but if this is overdone, the speaker may alienate the other party). Negative politeness is found in ways of mitigating the imposition:
  
  • Hedging: Er, could you, er, perhaps, close the, um , window?
  • Pessimism: I don't suppose you could close the window, could you?
  • Indicating deference: Excuse me, sir, would you mind if I asked you to close the window?
  • Apologizing: I'm terribly sorry to put you out, but could you close the window?
  • Impersonalizing: The management requires all windows to be closed.

AQA assessment resources

http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-language-7701-7702/assessment-resources


Specimen papers, mark schemes, example answers and more.

Femvertising

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/12/femvertising-branded-feminism


How brands are selling #empowerment to women.

Awkward interview- Roy Keane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFulcDJDJEU






This is an awkward interview as Roy doesn't hold back when someone's phone goes off. It is clear that this bothers him due to his paralinguistic features. This includes the change in his tone of his voice, which determines his attitude without him having to actually comment on how he feels.

Awkward interview- Joaquin Phoenix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENJr98KXs5g

This is an awkward interview as Joaquin comes across as very uncomfortable, which makes the audience feel uncomfortable. There is no example of chaining in this interview, which is another reason it is so uncomfortable because it doesn't flow. Also, the quantity is very limited as he doesn't really say much. David Letterman uses many fillers and phatic talk to try and keep the conversation flowing smoothly.

Speech Terminology Quiz

• Adjacency pairs- A pattern of speech in which one utterance is followed by an appropriate linked response.
• Side sequencing- lasting for a number of utterances, it may effect topic or clarify something previously uttered.
• An example of a tag question is, 'It's cold isn't it?'
• Three examples of non-fluency features are, hesitations, repetitions and false starts.
• Phatic language is small talk e.g. 'Hi, how are you?', 'Doing anything nice today?'
• Non-verbal aspects of speech or 'paralinguistic features' such as 'fillers' can help reveal a speaker's attitudes and feelings. Two other non-verbal aspects of speech are facial expressions and pitch of voice.
• 'elp me orf this orse' is an example of phonetic spelling, which means the spelling of words to represent how they are pronounced.
• Grice's maxims: quantity- too much/little, quality- truth, relevance- on topic, manner- communication.
• Grice was interested in suggesting what helps to create an informative conversation.
• When analysing spontaneous speech we do not refer to 'sentences' but utterances.
• Brown and Levinson put forward some theories about politeness. These are four positive politeness strategies we might employ if we want to be liked: Positive face- the need to be connected, self and other- don't say anything e.g. look in bag for pen and person next to you may offer one, positive politeness- gives a greater risk for the speaker of suffering refusal and on record- if speaker directly addresses other as a means of expressing the speakers needs.
• In order to analyse a transcript the three things you must establish an awareness of from the outset are: establish the context- who wrote it, code your material- assigning attributes to specific units of analysis and examine the structure of the text.