A2 Coursework Investigation Idea

Investigation 1


*Hypothesis - Parents talk to their child in accordance with their gender --> Men will use more directive language strategies when talking to boys, lexical precision and politeness strategies are used more with girls, boys are given more commands than girls especially by their dad's. 


* Methodology -  To record the interaction between a dad and his two children ( girl: 10 years old, boy: years old) when carrying out an activity, in this case it is a puzzle. I will be collecting data such as the turns taken, average number of air time, number of commands given to each child, politeness strategies etc. I will then create another stimulus but this time it will be the father alone with one child, this is to see how the father's language changes as well as to see if the patterns found in the first stimulus continues. Creating another stimulus will also allow me to compare the results that I have found and will enable me to create a more valid conclusion. I will then supplement the recordings with a questionnaire for the father and children, this will mainly be questions regarding the language used by the father and to see if this is typical.


*Issues - The main issue with my investigation is the observer's paradox; this is where the participants involved change their behaviour due to the knowledge of being observed. In order to avoid this I will ask the mum of the two children to record both interactions, this will make it more natural and hopefully minimise the effects of the observer's paradox. I will of course make sure to ask the permission of the children and the father, both before and after the interaction to make my investigation ethical. 
              

Child Language Acquisition: Speaking

Stages of vocal development -

·       Stage 1 ( 0-8 weeks) – basic biological noise, i.e. spluttering, reflexive noises

·       Stage 2 (8-20 weeks) – quiet musical noises, i.e. cooing and laughter. This teaches the child control of their vocal organ muscles as well as the importance of tongue movement.

·       Stage 3 ( 20-30 weeks) – vocal play, i.e. use of vowel/consonant like sounds, fricatives and nasal sounds

·       Stage 4 (25-50 weeks) – babbling/repetition of monosyllables, i.e. abababa, mamamama. The range of sounds uttered is more limited than that of stage 3 but they are said with more confidence.

·       Stage 5( 9-18 months) – melodic utterances, tone and rhythm of the child’s voice develops

·       Stage 6 – most children at 18 months have shown an ability to speak around 50 words; research however also shows that children can understand up to 250 words at this stage. Most children often start talking about their surroundings i.e. objects/people

·       Stage 7 – the child’s vocabulary usually develops to include around 200 words, overextension and under extension can also be seen at this stage.

Wider Reading for A2

Jon Reed (2014) How social media is changing language. Available: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2014/06/social-media-changing-language/. Last accessed 9/4/2015.  Short blog posts detailing how social media has affected the language, topics discussed include the introduction of new words/meanings as well as the rapid rise in the usage of emoticons and acronyms.

James Broadbidge (2003) An investigation into differences between Women’s and Men’s Speech. Available: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-artslaw/cels/essays/sociolinguistics/jamesbroadbridgesociolinguisticsaninvestigationintodifferencesbetweenwomensandmensspeech.pdf . Last accessed 9/4/2015. Detailed investigation into how women’s speech differs to men’s, includes a brief history of language and gender, methodology analysis and a conclusion. The investigation involved recording a conversation between two men and women working for the same school. The analysis was broken down into four parts; conversational dominance, swearing and vulgar language, verbosity and assertive and tentative speech styles, each section revealed the findings of the author as well as whether those findings conformed to any theories.

Bjorn Carey (2013) Talking directly to toddlers strengthens their language skills, Stanford Research shows. Available: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/october/fernald-vocab-development-101513.html.  Last accessed 9/5/2015. A report on a study carried out by Stanford psychologists; the study involved analysing interactions between 19 month old children and those in their home environment.  The psychologists concluded that the children who had more direct conversations with adults had a larger vocabulary by 24 months and could process instructions/ words quicker.

Dr.Robert Beard (2010) Bad Grammar or Language Change? Available: http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/bad_grammar.html.  Last accessed 9/6/2015. A short article detailing how English speakers are misusing plurals, Dr.Beard explores whether the reason behind this could just be attributed to the fact that the language is evolving and therefore plurals are becoming redundant.

Author unknown (date unknown) 4.1 Child Language Acquisition Theory. Available: https://aggslanguage.wordpress.com/chomsky/ . Last accessed 9/6/2015. A blog post describing four different CLA theories from Chomsky, Crystal, Piaget, and Aitchison. Each section contained a transcript in support of the theory. 

A2 English Language

Investigating Language on Twitter 

Introduction:

·        I have chosen to focus on language and power and how this has been affected by modern technology.

·        Hypothesis – People with political power use a higher level of formality when using Twitter

·        In order to conduct this investigation we will specifically look at the use of textisms, grammar, and punctuation.

Methodology:

·      We chose to compare the tweets of a person with political power and a person with influential power we therefore chose Ed Milliband and Fearne Cotton à they are both powerful people that are constantly in the public eye. They are also of similar age and are both British, this makes them comparable.

·        In order to avoid bias we chose a systematic way of sampling; we went to each person’s Twitter profile and picked every 5^th tweet.

·        Using the tweets that we picked we counted different formality features; use of non-standard English, multimodality, use of first person pronoun, emotive language.

Analysis:

Feature	Ed Milliband	Fearne Cotton
Non-standard English		IIIII IIIII II
Multimodality	I	II
1st Person	IIIII	IIIII IIII
Emotive Language	IIIII IIIII II	IIIII II

·        Fearne is more informal à uses 12 x more non standard English than Ed Milliband, this could be attributed to the fact that because she holds no political power she doesn’t feel like she has to be formal

·        Ed uses more emotive languageà almost twice as much more than Fearne, this could be because he is using emotive language as a way of persuading people

·        Fearne Cotton uses more multimodality with her tweets ( pictures, emojis, links etc.) this could be considered less formal as it is behaviour associated with those of the younger generation

·        Fearne uses more 1^st person pronoun, this is exclusive language.

Evaluation and Conclusion:

·        Data supported the hypothesis, therefore we can accept it. Those who have Political Power use a higher level of formality than those who have influential power.

·        The investigation was successful however very limited; in order to improve the investigation we could have increased the number of tweets analysed to make the data more reliable.

·        Although we tried to make the two people comparable other factors could have also influenced the formality of the language used. In order to make the data more reliable we needed to use more control variables; e.g. same sex, same age, same upbringing/ background etc. This is to make sure that the only thing that would affect their language is their position of power. 

Analysis of ‘’Nora’s First Job’’ in relation to Language and Gender

Analysis of ‘’Nora’s First Job’’ in relation to Language and Gender

 

1)      With detailed reference to Text H and to relevant ideas from language study, explore how language is used to represent gender.

 

Text H is a third person narrative written in the 1960’ about a woman named Nora and her job, from this we can assume that the main target audience are young females who might be able to relate to Nora’s experience. Like most narrative the primary purpose of text H is to entertain.

During the opening we meet two potential main characters of this story: Nora Robinson and Lisette Alexander; through the use of verbs, adjectives and lexical field of fashion the author uses both women to represent each gender. Nora Robinson is said to be wearing ‘’new-high heeled shoes, new tan-coloured suit and a gay little hat.’’ The adjective ‘’new’’ is used as a pre-modifier to describe her clothes, this shows that she might have bought her clothes specifically for this occasion and is therefore making a lot of effort. From the title we can assume that Nora did this because she badly wants the job, the audience might find this relatable as maybe they might have been in this situation before. The adjective ‘’gay’’ when describing the hat could also be seen as a representation as to what Nora herself is like as a person: happy, carefree and bubbly, because of the age of the narrative this might have been the standard expectation of women back then. ‘’little’’ could suggest that Nora herself is physically small which again could suggest that this is what women were meant to be.  Throughout the narrative Nora is shown to be the weaker person of the two women, which could be further evidence to the fact that she is meant to represent females, she is also portrayed to be the more emotional one.  When telling Lisette about her job interview she did so ‘’eagerly,’’ when realizing that her and Lisette had the same job interview she was said to let out a ‘’little gasp.’’ The adverb ‘’eagerly’’ shows that Nora is a very enthusiastic person as does ‘’little gasp,’’ this again could imply that women are very emotional person. Lisette Alexander contrasts against Nora greatly, and because of this we can assume that she is meant to represent the male gender. One way we can see this is through Lisette’s speech: ‘’you should be more careful!’’ this fits in with Lakoff’s theory that suggests men use more imperatives than women.  The exclamatory suggests that Lisette was displeased by Nora barging into her; it also shows that Lisette is the more dominant speaker and holds the most power. This is because only those who are sure of their power would be able to use an imperative, and in such a tone. Nora’s language on the other hand is more deficient, this is due to her over use of intensifiers ‘’so much’’ as well as empty adjectives.  In comparison to Nora, Lisette’s actions contains more force with them for example ‘’examined.’’ The dynamic verb suggests a methodical and emotionless approach to her actions. It also suggests power behind her actions as well as sureness. Nora’s actions lack more the confidence that Lisette’s contains and is generally more incompetent. When seeing Lisette enter the building of her interview Nora ‘’hesitated;’’ the verb shows that Nora was second-guessing her decision.  This situation might appeal to the target audience because they too might feel that they are unqualified for a job and can therefore understand Nora’s in-decision.

 

Grouping Texts Task

Texts A, C, D, G and F all contain imperatives; texts C, D, F are forms of advertisement and therefore have the primary purpose of to persuade.  Text F could be considered a weak inclusion because unlike the others it uses cloak imperatives.

Text A is a collection of transcripts of some messages left on an answer phone because of this the messages have a low level of formality. From message 1 we can assume that the caller and the receiver are very good friends as they are talking about meeting later up that night for a drink. The caller is confirming their plans and is apologizing as they will be late, they end the message with ‘’get the drinks in while ya waiting. Byeeee.’’ The replacement of the pronoun ‘’you’’ to ‘’ya’’ could be due to the sociolect of the person; however by using the informal version it shows that the caller have a good relationship, this is due to the fact that the caller didn’t feel the need to use the correct pronoun when leaving the message. Their good relationship could also be why the caller felt it was acceptable to give the imperative ‘’get the drinks in.’’ The sentence is very informal which can be seen through the use of the verb ‘’get’’ and the adverb ‘’in.’’ From the rest of the message we can assume that the main purpose of the imperative isn’t for it to be followed, the receiver could be using it as another means of apologizing for the fact that they will be late; they are trying to make up for this by re-assuring the receiver that there is no need to wait for them and to have fun without them.  Similarly to Text A, the imperatives in Text G don’t have a primary purpose of to be followed. Text G is a copy of card found inside a pack of high quality tights. In order to carry on the image of quality, the card contains information about the tights as well as instructions on how to fit them. The first step on the card ‘’ from a sitting position gently gather the tights with your hands and ease over each foot.’’ The use of the adverb ‘’gently’’ carries on the theme of luxury and might make the consumer feel that their tights are delicate and should be handled with care, the verb ‘’ease’’ also carries the same connotations. The rest of the card contains the rest of the instructions and uses soft verbs that put forward the image of high quality and luxury. Most women know how to fit tights properly, which is why we can assume that the main purpose of the instructions aren’t to instruct but are there in order to make the consumer feel like they have bought into ‘’a new concept of hosiery.’’ The instructions are there to inform the customer that the company’s tights are different and therefore should be treated differently to other tights. Texts C, D, F could be a sub group due to the fact they are different forms of adverts that use imperatives.  Text C is the back of CD cover, and therefore has the primary purpose of persuading the audience to buy the CD they do this through the use of imperatives. They try to convince the audience by listing the different occasions the CD could be used for ‘’ play it while you travel by train, stash it in your tent, or keep it cranked up while you’re tooling down the A303…’’ The imperatives show that the CD has many different uses and suggest that you will be able to get your money’s worth out of it. The use of informal language such as the dynamic verbs ‘’cranked’’ ‘’tooling’’ ‘’stash’’ show that the main target audience of the CD are males and females of the young generation who would be attracted to the following list.  Text D is a poster advert for a phone company and uses two imperatives; ‘’Prove it. Phone her while the football’s still on.’’ From the imperatives we can assume that the advert might targeted at males, due to the football reference. The slogan of the company is ‘’bringing people together,’’ this helps us understand the advert better, they are telling the target audience to prove their love to their girlfriend by phoning them when the football is still on. The use of the contraction of ‘’football’s’’ makes the imperative shorter and therefore more effective. The short direct imperatives might also be appealing to the target audience as maybe they won’t like adverts that are too consuming to read.  Text F could be seen as a weak inclusion as it uses cloaked imperatives, however it belongs to the same sub group as C and D as it has the primary purpose of persuasion.  The advert is for a charity, which could be a reason as to why it doesn’t use direct imperatives. The advert asks for volunteers or donations ‘’ if not we really need your money.’’  The intensifier ‘’really’’ shows the audience that the charity desperately requires donations. This could make the audience feel sympathy towards the company because they are working hard to help other people but still require help themselves. The cloaked imperative works more effectively than a direct imperative would have been, this is because the charity is asking for money but is offering nothing in return. People would already be reluctant to part with their money, they if are being directly told to do so they might even be more reluctant. However by hiding behind the cloaked imperative the company is able to make the audience feel sympathy and therefore help them achieve their primary purpose.

A short extract from a romantic novel

She re-adjusted her bag, and stepped onto the train carriage. As she did so, a strong hand enclosed her delicate wrist pulling her back. Unwillingly she turned around, already knowing who she was going to face. Being on the train meant that she was just about the same height as him, his dark eyes stared knowingly into hers. She tried to stare defiantly back, but she felt a tear roll down her cheek and she was furious at herself for letting him see how much he had hurt her.

‘’I am so sorry B. Really really sorry’’ he apologized in his deep voice

She shook her head in response and tried to release her hands but his only just tightened in return.

‘’It was a drunken mistake, the stupidest fucking mistake I’ve ever made, you've got to believe me! She meant nothing to me. God B. you have to forgive me, just say you’ll forgive me! ’’

The tears flowed freely down her face; he used his free hand to wipe them away. At his touch, her resolve crumbled and she pressed her face into his hands.

‘’I trusted you Cal, everyone told me to stay away, but I trusted you’’

Calum hated the sadness and hurt in her voice, and hated the fact that it was him who had caused that. She looked so small, her narrow shoulders hunched over in defeat. He let go of her wrists and enveloped her in a hug, trying to convey all the regret he felt in the simple gesture.Brooke breathed in his familiar scent, and pressed her face closer into his chest. Calum was still wearing a suit, which meant that he had probably just returned from work when he found the note Brooke had left. The note was an act of weakness on her part, but she knew that if she gave him a chance to explain she would be persuaded into forgiving him. That was the thing with Calum; he was handsome, charismatic, smart. And he knew it too. It was a deadly combination, and she should have known better but his smile was so dazzling and just like every other girl she fell for it. Because that's what she was, a silly girl who had the misfortune to fall in love with her boss.