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.  

3 Language and Gender Theories

·       

•   Dominance Theory-   this is a claim that states that in a dialogue between a man and a woman, the man is more likely to interrupt.  This theory arose from a study carried out by Don Zimmerman and Candace West in which they observed 31 conversations between men and women. Their report showed that 11/31 conversations show men interrupting a total of 46 times whilst women only interrupted during 2/31 conversations. However some people argue (Geoffrey Bettie) interruptions doesn’t have to necessarily mean an assertion of dominance but could be seen as a sign of interest and involvement.

·      

•   Deborah Tannen and difference- Professor Tannen summarised in an article related to her book ‘’You Just Don’t Understand’’ the six main differences in men and women’s language:

1)      Status vs. Support - For men conversation is seen as a competition and a way to assert their dominance to prevent others from asserting theirs. Women on the other hand conversation is a way to gain approval and support for their ideas.  The world to man is seen as a way of gaining status, whilst women see it as ‘’a network of connections seeking support and consensus.’’ 

2)      Independence vs. Intimacy - Professor Tannen states that women usually think in terms of in closeness and support, whilst men are more concerned with independence and their status. An example that Tannen gives on this is that a woman would ask her husband if they could have a guest over because she likes telling her friends that she has to check with her husband. The man on the other hand would invite the guest without checking with his wife because to do so would mean losing his status.

3)      Advices vs. Understanding - Men often see complaints as challenge and will strive to find a solution but in this scenario all a woman wants is sympathy.

4)      Information vs. Feelings - Men are more concerned with obtaining and giving information whilst women are more likely to talk about emotions.

5)      Orders vs. Proposal - Women tend to use cloaked imperatives, or use indirect imperatives e.g.  ‘’lets’’ ‘’why don’t we?’’ Men on the other hand prefer to hear/ give direct imperatives.

6)      Conflict vs. Compromise- men are more likely to argue and resist things vocally whilst women often concede but complain or try and find a middle ground. 

• Robin Lakoff- during 1975 published ‘Language and a Woman’s Place’ which contains an account of women’s language. In another similar article she wrote assumptions about what marks a woman’s language from a man’s, some of these claims are:

o   Hedge -  women use phrases such as ‘’sort of’’ ‘’kind of’’ ‘’it seems like’’

o   Use super polite forms - ‘’would you mind’’ ‘’I’d appreciate it if’’

o   Use tag questions – ‘’you’re going to dinner aren’t you?’’

o   Avoid coarse language or expletives

o   Use empty adjective e.g. divine, lovely, adorable, cute

o   Use more intensifiers e.g. ‘’so’’ ‘’very’’

o   Use cloaked imperatives – ‘’it’s a bit cold in here isn’t it? ‘’ 

Source: http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/gend

Analysis of Written Text

Q3) with relevance to Text I and relevant ideas from language, explore how language is used to assert power.

Because Text I is the first page of an Employee Handbook we can assume that it will be in a formal register, with a high frequency use of jargon. The text could also contain lots of imperatives, as well as power in the discourse because it might be written be someone with lots of power and they might want this known so that they take the handbook seriously.

One way the text creates power over its audience is through the use of building the consumer, a technique used by advertisers and identified by Fairclough. Although the handbook is not advert it still uses the technique effectively. Building the consumer includes knowing who your target audience is and therefore creating the perfect image of who they should be/ would like to be. The paragraph opens with a declarative about Waterstone being a ‘’strong brand’’ and how this is due to ‘’commitment and passion everyone in Waterstone’s has for what they do.’’ The abstract nouns ‘’commitment’’ and ‘’passion’’ is used to describe the kind of people the staff should be, and could be seen as positive face. By describing the staff as passionate and committed, it makes them seem hard-working and dedicated. This in turn could make the staff more loyal to the company as it makes them feel valued. On the other hand, if the staffs reading this are not passionate or committed the declarative could then be seen as guideline for the kind of staff they should be. The pronoun ‘’everyone’’ makes all the member of staff feel included, and could be a way of building employees confidence; this assumes that everyone is indeed actually passionate and committed to the company. Although building the consumer is used for advertising, it is effective here because it creates an image that some employees can strive for, or empowers those employees who are already committed and passionate.

Throughout Text I imperatives are used, and coupled with power behind the discourse these are a very effective way of asserting power. An example of an imperative in Text I is ‘’ they have to give the highest levels of customer service.’’ The deontic verb ‘’have’’ creates a sense of importance and makes the audience feel like they are obliged to do as the text says. The superlative ‘’highest’’ could be seen as a way of telling the staff that only the absolute best is accepted by the company. This might show us the amount of power the writer has, because not only are they using an imperative but they are also asking maximum effort from their staff. This imperative is only effective due to the pragmatic understanding the audience would have of the power the writer holds. At the bottom of the page we can see that it is written by ‘’Nick Williams- Operations Director’’ because we are not the intended audience we do not know the amount of power he holds. However we can assume that he holds a lot of power, and this imperative is an example of him using the power his role gives him otherwise known as instrumental power. Another example of an imperative is ‘’please participate fully with your ideas and suggestions.’’  The adverb ‘’please’’ could be seen as way of softening the imperative, or a way of highlighting its importance. The adverb ‘’fully’’ again shows that participating is not enough, and that the staff must ‘’participate’’ to the best of their abilities; further highlighting that the store will only accept those who are willing to work as hard as they can.

Divergence is also another technique that can be used in order to assert one’s power. One way that divergence is achieved in Text I is through the use of low frequency lexis and hypercorrect grammar: ‘’Over a series of meetings, the NCST worked together to draw out the key issues from customer service, their thoughts and ideas, and of their colleagues.’’ The use of the verb ‘’draw’’ in order to describe gathering data is an example of low frequency lexis, and could show that the writer is very knowledgeable and therefore the staff might be more inclined to listen to them. The use of jargon like ‘’NCST’’ also adds to the importance of the message as it shows that the organisations is very official. On the other hand some staff might find the use of overt prestige condescending, making it harder for the writer to achieve its aim. However overt prestige is a way of asserting power, because only dominant speakers who already hold power can diverge away from a group. It is another mean of making sure that people are aware of the power they hold, and because some people might find it condescending only those who aren’t affected by the thoughts of other people because of their status can use overt prestige.

Building the consumer is an advertising technique that makes the target audience feel like the advert is addressed specifically to them, Text I however use this to make the staff reading the page feel like it is only targeted at them and maybe therefore makes them feel special. For example the last paragraph reads: ‘’thank you for your efforts so far. I know you’ll put everything you have into making your branch customer service better than ever.’’  The use of the 3^rd person direct address ‘’you’’ makes the reader fell singled out and special, the repetition highlights this point even further. It might also make the reader think that even though they are just one person they are responsible for the image of the branch, which is an example of positive face as it highlights the importance of each reader. ‘’ I know you’ll put everything you have into making your branch customer service better than ever’’ could be seen as a declarative however if we look deeper into it, it is actually a cloaked imperative, this is because without ‘’ I know’’ the sentence reads as an imperative, and is another way that the writer is asserting his power. The intensifier ‘’than’’ shows us that once again the staff need to push themselves to the best of their abilities in order to achieve the standard of customer service that the writer wants. 

Legal Transcript Analysis

1)      With relevance to the Legal Transcript Text and relevant ideas from language, explore how language is used to assert power.

 

Because the text is set in a courtroom we can predict that during the conversation the Bar has more power over the witness (Mr Neil) this could be due to the Bar’s instrumental power. In this text the Bar also has Political power over the witness and because of this he has the ability to ask questions and be answered, immediately giving him more power, however the judge in this scenario would have the most power and although we do no hear from him we can assume that he is there and has the highest form of instrumental power.

One clear example of the Bar being the more dominant speaker is when he is asking for clarification and states: ‘’ is that because the police have been to see you so many times Mr Neil‘’.  The use of the intensifier ‘’so’’ to modify ‘’many’’ shows that Mr Neil has been trouble with the police before, by doing this the Bar could be achieving his primary purpose of trying to convince the judge that Mr Neil is guilty of the crime he is convicted for.  ‘’so many times’’ can also be seen as ironic and therefore it might show that the Bar is mocking Mr Neil. The use of bald on record strategy and flouting Grice’s Maxim of manner, to assert his power as well as lowering Mr Neil’s own status could be seen as unprofessional. However ‘’so many time’’ is also a common idiom and in this case the Bar might just be using to get his point across. The emphasis on the idiom and Mr Neil’s name makes the implicature seem mocking.  By starting the interrogative with ‘’is that because’’ the Bar has made it harder for Mr Neil to answer the question, the conjunction ‘’because’’ means that Mr Neil can only answer ‘’yes’’ or ‘’no’’ to the question. This means that the Bar isn’t giving Mr Neil much chance to defend himself, this makes the Bar more powerful and it is helping him achieve his primary purpose.

Earlier in the text before the Bar could finish his interrogative, Mr Neil interrupts with a response: ‘’ I don’t think they did no.’’ The overlap could be seen as competitive however because we know that Mr Neil is trying to defend himself we could assume that he is eager in trying to prove his innocence and so interrupts the Bar. Mr Neil could have also thought that the Bar has finished his question; ‘’you can’t remember whether they came to see you’’ could’ve been the end of the question whether ‘’or no’’ was added the intonation would have been the same. Based on this we can assume that Mr Neil was not trying to take power away from the Bar and from this we can say that the overlap might actually be in fact cooperative. The dynamic verb ''think'' shows that Mr Neil is unsure and is trying not to impilicate himself by making such a bold declarative, this makes it less powerful and in doing so Mr Neil is also lessening his power. The determiner  ‘’no’’ emphasizes the main subject of his declarative, which is that to the best of his knowledge the police hasn't been to see him.

 

 

 

Grouping Texts Task

Grouping 1:  

 

Texts A, C and D all have a secondary purpose to inform which helps them achieve their primary purpose to persuade. Text A is a job specification for a waitress in café, in order to persuade people to apply the first piece of information the audience – anyone interested in waitressing of any gender aged 16 and over- receives is the job title : ‘’ Front of House Team (Part-time, weekend)  - Clifton.’’  This might have been done to carefully select the people who are suited for the job from those who aren’t, the use of jargon in '’Part of House Team’’ shows us that the writer wants someone who already has experience in waitressing, we can tell this because anyone who has worked in waitressing before would know what this term means but those who haven’t won't. By saying where the café is located and the number of hours required it further eliminates those who aren’t interested in part time work, or those who live too far away for the job to be suitable to them.  For those who meet the requirements this could be a form of persuasion as it might entice them to apply for the job.  The job advert also contains a small description of the company: ‘’ our mission is to serve simple & well prepared food and drinks made with great ingredients, skill & love.’’ The use of the first person pronoun of ‘’our’’ makes the company seem like a family which is then supported by the abstract noun ‘’love,’’ this gives a welcoming vibe and might persuade the audience to apply.  By stating what the company is about, it also informs the audience what kind of environment they would be working in, as well as provide an idea of what kind of employee the company is looking for. Text C also uses information in order to persuade however unlike the other text, C relies heavily on it. Text C is the back of an Innocent Smoothies bottle; Innocent Smoothies are well known for their healthy drinks that are 100% natural. All packaging contains a list of the ingredients, however to stand out Innocent Smoothies puts the exact amount of ingredients in each bottle: ‘’2 ½ pressed apples, ½ mashed banana, 12 crushed raspberries, ½ freshly squeezed orange etc.’’ By adding adjectives in front of the ingredient it conveys just how much work and effort goes into each bottle, as well as inform the consumer how fresh the produce is. The preciseness of the measurements ensures the consumer that what they are drinking is 100% natural and therefore convinces them to maybe buy the product. Similarly to A, the back of the Innocent bottle also contains information about the company, this makes the consumer trust them more as they are informed on the company and therefore might convince them to stay loyal to the company.Text D is the blurb of a book and has a main target audience of female teenagers. One way we can tell who the book is aimed for is the language it uses:  ‘’but when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Support Group…’’ the use of the adjective ‘’gorgeous’’ suggests to us that the book could be written from Hazel’s point view, showing us that the book might be mainly aimed at girls as they would be able to relate more with the character therefore convincing them to buy it. Through orthography the audience can also be persuaded to buy the book, written in bold and in yellow colouring at the top of the book is ‘’ #1 New York Times Bestseller.’’ This convinces people to buy the book as the New York Times is a well respected magazine, and therefore shows the audience that the book is highly regarded.  The bright yellow colour has positive connotations of happiness and sunshine which might persuade the reader to buy the book. 

Grouping 2:

 

Texts B and E both use rhyming couplets in order to achieve their primary purpose which is to entertain.

Text B is an extract from a popular children’s book The Gruffalo. The vocabulary used in the book are of a simple nature and doesn’t contain more than 3 syllables, because of this the rhymes have a set rhythm. This makes the book easier to and read more enjoyable for the children as they are not caught up on bigger words that they cannot understand. It also makes the book more memorable. An example of the simplistic language and rhyme used is: ‘’ a mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood, a fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.’’ The use of the determiner and indefinite article of ‘’a’’ when referring to the characters depersonalizes them, in doing this the author makes it seem like it could be any fox or any mouse that this story is about making it more exciting for the audience. By only having 10 syllables in each verse also makes the book more memorable. The use of plosives in ‘’deep dark wood’’ makes a heavy sound which makes it easier for the reader to imagine the setting of the story, this then might make it seem like we are walking through the woods with the together making the story more interactive. The next line in the excerpt is ‘’where are you going to little brown mouse?’’ and could be seen as a form of colloquial language. The language used here is similar to that of a child, this clearly shows us who the target audience is and is also an example of accommodation. It also creates a light atmosphere within the whole story as even the speech rhymes.  Text E is a poem by Daniel Gabriel Rosetti known as ‘The Woodspurge’ and although has similar techniques as B it has a different target audience. Like Text B ‘The Woodspurge’ has an AAAA rhyme scheme throughout the whole poem, however in the poem it is used to create a dull and repetitive atmosphere. The rhymes in the poem aren’t quite as simple as the rhymes in B as it occasionally uses half rhymes, however the strengths of the rhyme are the same: ‘’from perfect grief there need not be, wisdom or even memory:’’ The use of oxymoron in ‘’perfect grief’’ conveys to us the powerful sadness that the writer feels, and also creates the monotonous atmosphere that the writer is trying to create. The next line adds to the feeling of hopelessness that the poet feels as it is saying that sometimes grief doesn’t have a point and it’s just there to be felt. The two verses show us that the language used in this poem is more sophisticated than the language used in Text B. This is because it contains disyllabic and polysyllabic words; the use of formal language could be attributed to the fact that it is aimed at an older target audience or the age of the poem.  

Grouping Texts

Texts A, C and E all have the purpose to persuade, however they do it for different reasons; A and C are all trying to make the audience do a task whilst E is trying to get the audience to buy the product.  Text A is a missing’s poster for a lost cat and is asking the audience- any person that may have the cat- to call the owner. A does this through the use of emotive language, when describing the cat, the writer states ‘’ he loves food and will definitely respond to the words ‘dinner time’, ‘’ the use of anthropomorphism makes the cat seem more human and so creates an image of importance which might make people more willing to look for the cat. It also adds light hearted humour in a relatively serious text which allows the writer to persuade the audience to help him/her more as it might make them more likable and so the audience feels more willing to help out.  Text A also uses emotive language to persuade the reader similarly with Text E. However Text E’s use of emotive language isn’t as strong as that of A’s, this could be attributed to the fact that in order to read the back of the bottle the audience would already have interest in the product, which means they don’t require as much persuading as the audience of A’s. Text’s E is the back of a shampoo bottle and therefore contains information about the brand, under the heading ‘’Our Philosophy’’ the bottle reads ‘’ we believe that every woman deserves to look fabulous without spending a fortune.’’  By using the first person plural of ‘’we’’ it makes the company seem like one big group of friends which might make the audience trust them more. The verb ‘’deserves’’ is a form of flattery which in turn is a form persuasion but also it raises the status of the brand as well as the audience. It makes it seem like women should only get the best and the best is this brand of shampoo. The noun ‘fortune’ is informal and in this case is an example of colloquial language, this gives us an idea of who the audience for this shampoo bottle is; average working woman who want the best products but for a reasonable price. ‘’Fortune’’ in this case could be an example of accommodation which is a persuasive technique as subconsciously l it makes us trust the brand because they are similar to us.  Text C could be categorised as a weak inclusion as it doesn’t use emotive language to persuade the audience to quit smoking but uses graphology, facts and imperatives. The main fact that the poster is centred around is ‘’ you are four times more likely to quit with our help than on your own,’’ the use of a different colour on the first half of the sentence highlights the importance of the fact and therefore makes it stay in people’s heads more. Fact is a form of persuasive technique as people are more likely to trust it rather than an opinion, and by putting the NHS logo on the poster it further heightens the importance and reliability of it. Another word highlighted in the text is ‘’free, ’’ ‘’patches,’’ ‘’gum’’ this could be used to convey to people how it can be to quit smoking. It might make more people willing to quit smoking. The main focal point of the poster is ‘’take the next step,’’ this is in bold and in a bigger font than the rest of the other words. The imperative implies that it is up to the person to quit smoking, it also has positive connotations because ‘‘take the next step’’ implies moving forward onto a better and healthier life away from smoking. This is supported by the image of a woman’s shoe stepping on a packet of cigarettes.  

Twitter Trolls; Hiding Behind Affordances

Twitter is a popular social media site that has over 284 million active users every month. It allows users to 'tweet' their views and opinions in no more than 140 characters. Twitter also enables it's users to 'retweet' and 'favourite' tweets that they like, as well as allowing them to follow other people. 

Like many social media site one affordance of Twitter is that it allows people to create an online persona; people can re-invent themselves and make their voices be heard and no-one even has to know who you really are. However people take this affordance one step too far, and use Twitter to troll celebrities and other users. Trolling is an act of anti-social behaviour on the internet with the sole purpose of creating conflict between users. An example of a Twitter troll is '@plasticbieber' who's Twitter account is dedicated to Justin Bieber and sending hate to boy-band One Direction. '@plasticbieber's' many tweets include racism, hatred, bigotry etc. which are all commonly found in trolling. ''@OneDirection can you please put your ugly fans back in their cage? or do i have to call animal control seriously..'' is just one example of her tweets. By including One Direction's user name in her tweet she has made sure that this will appear in their 'notifications' which increase One Direction's chance of seeing it; although this is  another affordance of Twitter this is also an example of how it can be abused. Including user name's in tweets is one convention of Twitter and allows users to talk directly to each other, yet another affordance of the site.

The Princess Phone; A Short History

During 1959 the first compact telephone with a light up dial was introduced by Bell System. It was designed for convenient use in the bedroom and was primarily targeted at women; because of this the Princess Phone came in a range of different colours: pink, red, yellow, moss green, ivory, light blue etc. The phone was primarily advertised with the slogan ‘’it’s little, it’s lovely, it lights.’

The telephone was designed by Henry Dreyfuss Associates along with Bell’s Lab engineers and Indianapolis Model Shop. Before hitting the mass market a prototype of the Princess Phone was underwent a product trial and was given to a focus group to try out. The initial response to the phone was negative many people said the phone was ‘too light’ and ‘moved around a lot.’ Bell Labs however disregarded the feedback and gave Western Electric permission to manufacture the phone. Throughout its lifetime the Princess Phone received more negative feedback and because of this underwent some technological changes: lead weights were added to make them heavier, so as to not move around so much; a single gong ringer replaced the external ringer.After these changes the phone's popularity increased; some even said that the First Lady at the time (Jackie Kennedy) bought one herself.  Despite the problems it had, the Princess Phone still stands as one of today's best loved phone. 

Excerpt from a Transcript of a conversation

Participants: Ruby(R) and Sam (S)

R: Ok right(.) and then at the bottom left hand corner

S: yeah

R: draw like a square/

                         S: /yeah

                        R: / but don’t fill in the top that’s facing the circle/

                          

  S: / how big’s the square?

R: Quite small(.) kind of (2) actually medium(.)

S: Ok (1)

R: And then at the top of the square there’s kind of like a sideway’s ‘S’(.) that’s like along the top of the square. (2) If that makes sense.

Analysis of Transcript:

In the middle of the transcript we can see Sam interrupting Ruby whilst she is describing the next shape that Sam has to draw. The interruption is indicated with ‘/,’ Ruby however talks over this interruption which is also indicated with yet another slash. This is known as a back channel, and is a co-operative form of interruption; this is because Sam is not really interrupting Ruby but is talking under her instead. This can show that the speakers have a good relationship, because by saying ‘yeah’ Sam is encouraging Ruby to continue with her description and is re-assuring her that her description is understandable. We can also see that they have a good relationship because Ruby does not stop with her description when Sam interrupts her. When Ruby continues with her description Sam interrupts her with an interrogative: ‘how big’s the square?’ From this we can gather that Ruby was not being descriptive enough in her description which resulted in Sam having to ask for more detail. To answer Sam’s question Ruby replies with: ‘ Quite small(.) kind of (2) actually medium.’ The pause between the first and second sentence is not significant and it just shows us the rhythm of Ruby’s speech. However the 2 second pause is significant, from the long pause we can guess that Ruby is re-evaluating what she has said, as well as thinking about what to say next. We can see that after the pause Ruby changes her first answer, which shows us that she was re-evaluating her answer and after finding it to be incorrect she chose to change it. Sam then replies with an ‘ok’ which could be to show that she has taken into consideration what Ruby has said. The short pause might be due to Ruby giving Sam time to draw. The last sentence shows Ruby having a 2 second pause before saying ‘if that makes sense.’ The pause again could be Ruby giving Sam time to draw what she has just described. However it could also be her, re-evaluating her description of the shape which is what prompts her to say ‘if that makes sense,’ because she might have thought it might not have been very clear which is why she is asking for clarification from Sam.

Lilies

‘‘I need to go’’ She made no reply.  

‘‘I’ll visit again tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that, as promised. And I’ll bring more lilies. They’re still your favourite right?’’

Still she remained silent. But what did he expect? It’s not as if gravestones can speak. 

Commentary on 'Gods Among #5' Article

The ‘Gods Among Us’ article I have written is mainly targeted at the readers of Empire magazine, with the main purpose to persuade the readers that Jennifer Lawrence is a ‘god among us.’ This is because many people who read the magazine will be aware of who Jennifer Lawrence, or maybe will recognize her from a movie. However they might not agree with my point of view, which is why I have used literary and language techniques such as simile’s and metaphors to convince them. Due to the fact that the article can be accessed online another purpose of the article is to entertain people who already like Jennifer Lawrence and just like reading articles about her.

One way I have tried to persuade the reader is by creating a list of the movies that Jennifer Lawrence has starred in; ‘X-Men… The Silver Linings Playbook… Winter Bone.’ The list has several purposes; one of them is to show the readers that Jennifer Lawrence can play a variety of roles and because of this people will be able to see that she is in fact talented. The list also connotes that Jennifer Lawrence is very hard working and dedicated to her job; this will make her seem more likable to the readers and helps me convince them of her talent. Another purpose of the list is to create a connection between the reader and Jennifer Lawrence; most people who read Empire will be into films and will most likely have watched a film that Jennifer Lawrence has starred in. However they might not have realised who she was, and so by providing a list of the most popular movies she’s been in they’ll recognise who she is. This then creates a connection between the person and Jennifer Lawrence, creating more interest for the reader which forces them to read more of the article.

Using the interest created from the opening paragraphs I then use metaphors to try and convince them of my point of view. The style model I based this article on also used metaphors; ‘this is a cat so cool’ is just one example. I therefore used this technique in my writing an example of this is when  I state that Jennifer Lawrence is ‘the sun, a dazzling ball of talent.’ This metaphor suggests that Hollywood needs Jennifer Lawrence just as much as we need the sun, it can also work as a pun. This is because the sun is a huge star in our galaxy, and in terms of film and the media Jennifer Lawrence is a huge star. This creates a light hearted humour in the article, making the reader feel relaxed making it easier for me as the writer to persuade them. I then extended the metaphor by describing Jennifer Lawrence as a ‘dazzling ball of talent.’ I have used the adjective ‘dazzling’ to carry on theme of Jennifer Lawrence of being a star; it also suggests that Jennifer Lawrence is extremely beautiful. In addition to this the adjective can be placed in the lexical field of stars, which further emphasizes my point on just how brilliant Jennifer Lawrence is. Other words that belong in the lexical field of stars that I have used throughout this article are; ‘shine’ and ‘brighter.’ The style model that I used also used lexical fields to get their point across; however instead of using the lexical field of gods I used the lexical field of stars.

 Another technique that Simon Braund uses in his ‘God’s Among Us’ article is contrasting Paul Newman to other celebrities, and so I also used this technique in my writing. For my article I contrasted Jennifer Lawrence to Jennifer Aniston, this is because Jennifer Aniston is a very well known superstar and a celebrity that I feel all my target audience will know. One way I have contrasted them us by comparing how many awards Jennifer Lawrence has won in comparison with Jennifer Aniston; Lawrence… won 99… whilst Aniston has only won 28.’ This shows that although Aniston has been in the industry twice as long as Lawrence, she hasn’t won as many awards and maybe therefore isn’t as talented as Lawrence is. By using factual information to compare the two actresses I have solidified my opinion that Lawrence is a better actress, it also makes my point more valid. Moreover it will make the reader realize that Jennifer Lawrence is actually a great actress, this is because it is hard to argue with facts. I then compared Jennifer Lawrence to even more successful actresses like Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts; I chose to compare her to these two actresses because in the world of film they are thought of being at the top. By comparing Jennifer Lawrence to two of the top actresses currently, it makes it seem like she could also be one of the most successful actresses of our time. 

Gods Among Us #5

Move over Jennifer Aniston and make room for the new blonde bombshell that’s taking Hollywood by storm. With her easy going attitude, carefree personality and sparkling smile it’s no wonder that she’s got the entire media fixated on her every move. Being a celebrity is no easy feat but Jennifer Lawrence makes it seem so effortless, almost as if she was born to be on a red carpet.
Many people will know her as the Girl on Fire a.ka. Katniss Everdeen, or maybe as Mystique the blue skinned, yellow eyed villain in X-Men, or the recently widowed Tiffany Maxwell in The Silver Linings Playbook, or maybe you know her from her breakthrough role as Ree Dolly in Winter Bone. Because not only is Jennifer Lawrence incredibly beautiful she is also extremely talented, a quick at her filmography will prove this. An actresses’ or actor’s talent is not measured by the amount of awards they have, if this however was the standard at which we judge someone’s stardom then Jennifer Lawrence would without a doubt would win the title of best female actress of the century by a landslide. At the young age of 24 Lawrence has been nominated for 103 awards in total, and out of these nominations she has won 99 of them. Whilst actresses like Jennifer Aniston have only been nominated for 88 awards and won 28 of them, despite the fact Aniston has been in the industry twice as long as Jennifer Lawrence has. Of course many would argue that Lawrence can’t compare to the brilliance of actresses like Meryl Streep or Julia Roberts, and although no-one can deny the star quality that both actresses hold I believe when given time Lawrence can amount if not surpass their brilliance.

Jennifer Lawrence is the modern Hepburn. A brave statement that I’m sure many would disagree with. Audrey Hepburn everyone would agree revolutionised film and fashion, which is probably why she holds the title of being the third greatest screen legend of all time by the American Film Institute. I am in no position to dispute this, even if I were in a position to do so I wouldn’t because no-one with a sane mind can deny the star quality that Hepburn had. However it is with the standard that Hepburn has set, that I say my previous statement. In an industry so saturated with talent and star quality it is hard to shine brighter than the rest, Lawrence however accomplishes this task with great ease. In the world of Hollywood Jennifer Lawrence would be the sun, a dazzling ball of talent, which actresses like Jennifer Aniston circle around.

Many people revere celebrities as some kind of celestial beings, forgetting the fact that just like everyone else on planet earth they are also human. Jennifer Lawrence however is the exception to that rule, because along with her beauty and looks, she is also witty, kind and humble. In my opinion Jennifer Lawrence is more perfect than Aphrodite, which leads me to the conclusion that she is not human but actually a goddess among us.

The Hardest thing in life? Forget working 9-5, try having siblings

(An Excerpt) 

The hardest thing in life in my opinion is having brothers and sisters, and before you start lecturing me about the struggles of giving birth or having a 9-5 job, then I would kindly remind you to cast your mind back (and for some it may be a struggle, I know) to when you were 16 and had to baby sit your siblings. For those unlucky enough to have had this experience; I’m sure we can happily or lamentably agree in this case that it is probably the worst night of a person’s existence right? For those rare and lucky few out there who have never had to endure this kind of torture, you’re all probably sat there peacefully drinking your cup of tea and judging me. I would however like to point out that, that very course of action would not be possible for me. Not the judging part, that’s just human nature, I mean the peacefully drinking part. Because the thing with having siblings is that peace and quiet becomes a far flung fantasy. Even sitting down becomes a chore because they’ve either occupied the sofa, managing to stretch out their miniature frames to hog every square inch of it, or it’s littered with toys which then requires effort to move them. That’s bearable of course; I mean I’m not some spoilt upper class girl.  But Friday nights spent babysitting is when the real torture begins.

The thing with little kids is that they’re smart. Like Fantastic Mr. Fox Smart, which is just a nice way of saying their sneaky and sly. Because if were really honest Mr. Fox is a bit of a dick, I mean since when was stealing from hard working farmers commendable? And yes I know he did it to feed his family and the farmers weren’t all that nice, but that doesn’t make stealing from them acceptable. And why does he have to eat turkey and goose anyway? All the other foxes seem to survive perfectly fine without having the need to raid a farmhouse. And don’t even get me started on the fact that if he just ate squirrels or whatever average foxes eat, the farmers wouldn’t have felt the need to destroy the surrounding hills looking for him. And a good example of my siblings’ being sly is when I’m babysitting them, and it’s the start of the night. My parents are putting on their shoes and coats and reminding them that I’m in charge and that they should always listen to their older sister. And of course like any good parents, my mum and dad are always sceptical about leaving all 3 of us alone and so before they leave they always ask my siblings to repeat what they have said. And do you know what they do? They actually repeat my parent’s instructions word for word, like they were actually listening; they even had the audacity to reassure my parents that everything will be fine. And just like all parents they fall for it, because how could you not believe such angelic faces? So my parents leave the house, guilt free, and their minds at ease. The first hour of babysitting is endurable but that’s only because they’re entertained by the Television and the tablets, and when I say tablets I mean the electronic device not drugs. After 8 o’clock or so it’s a different story because all the kid appropriate programmes have finished and it’s around this point that they start to get restless, and so they try to entertain themselves. And for some reason their imagination seems to be heightened during the night and they start spouting crazy ideas like; ‘Hey Sam can we go for a midnight walk,’ ‘Can we build a den?’ ‘Can we make some cookies for mum and dad for when they get back?’ or ‘Hey Sam can we please build a rocket ship to the moon so that we can see if it’s really made of cheese?’ As a responsible baby sitter I of course have to say no, and that’s when they start whining and whinging and crying and throwing tantrums, and start demanding that they want mum and dad back. And it is usually around this point that the house phones rings, as if my mum has some sort of secret radar that tells her when were fighting. It’s always my sister that gets to the phone first, and do you know what she does? She re-assures my mum that everything is fine and that yes she’s behaving herself and yes she’ll go to bed soon and no Sam doesn’t want to talk, and then she hangs up the phone with massive smile on her face. 

Style Model: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/11/want-to-silence-a-two-year-old-charlie-brooker

Dramatic Monologue

Sara is sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea clasped tightly between her thin hands. She is wearing a thick cardigan. It is a summer’s evening.

Rae asked me today why her daddy was never around. I couldn’t see her face because they were bent over her drawing, but I could see her eyebrows, they were knotted together in concentration. Or confusion. Maybe both. I knew she was bound to start asking these sorts of questions, for a 6 year old she’s pretty clever; I don’t know where she gets it from, not from me that’s for sure and definitely not from her dad. But how do you tell a 6 year old child that her own daddy doesn’t want her? You can’t. It would be like kicking a dog; no matter how many times you apologize and explain that it was an accident, it wouldn’t be able to understand. And so you’ll end up spending the rest of your day thinking about the cry of pain that you caused it to make. Huh. You’re probably sat there thinking I’m mad; comparing my beautiful six years old to a dog, you’re probably thinking I’m not fit to be a mother. My parents certainly didn’t think so, but me and Rae proved them wrong. We managed alright for a few years, but then the council threatened to cut my benefits if I didn’t get a job. It all got a bit messy after that, but me and Rae pulled through. And now here I am a dinner lady at Rae’s school; it all worked out for the best. I drop Rae off in the morning then I come back to the school, do my shift (11:00 – 1:00), go home to relax for a bit and then go back and pick up Rae. We’ve got each other and that’s all that matters. That’s what I told her when she asked why her dad was never around. She looked up from her drawing then, her big brown eyes (that’s so like her dads) fixed onto my face. Thinking about it now she probably didn’t like that answer, but she must have seen something in my eyes because instead of asking another question she just nodded and went back to her drawing. Smart kid.