Analysis of Menus

Menu A has a very distinctive difference to Menu B when it comes to the use of grammar, lexis and graphology. Firstly, menu A's language is an informal register, aimed towards local visitors from the area that the care is set in. This is apparent due to the use of colloquial language, 'bacon barm'. This is a significant feature of the menu as even I didn't know what a 'bacon barn' is, meaning that I cannot understand the language that must be used in the area that the cafe is set. The use of slang and accommodation also demonstrates the informality of this menu. The menu includes words such as 'hot-pot', where the preposition has been taken out to make the menu seem more friendly and punchy to the reader.

Menu B is however a very different style of menu, as the menu is clearly for an expensive dinner menu. The interesting use of grammar in menu B conveys the more formal register as opposed to text A, 'masked in a pink peppercorn sauce...'. The use of adjectives to describe the cuisine is put into complex sentences to appeal to the audience and to tempt them. The language techniques such as alliteration, 'peeled prawns' to enhance the purpose of the menu- to persuade.

Top Tips on How to Start a Narrative

Have you ever just stared at a blank page, biting your nails and rolling your eyes impatiently, waiting for ideas to come to you when trying to start a narrative? Me too. Instead of staring at my computer screen, achieving nothing productive, instead, I searched online some tips on how to start a narrative to try and provoke some ideas for my own narrative. I managed to successfully write my narrative with a continuous flow of ideas, so here some of my top tips to getting started!

Make sure you have created a full profile about your character- You can't write a narrative without knowing your characters inside out; their name, age, personality, likes, dislikes, their reactions and mannerisms etc. You will find knowing these tiny intricate details about your character will help build the narrative when describing scenes, whether it's in first person, second person or third person.

Decide and plan the basic frame of your narrative- Decide whether you're writing your narrative from a first, second or third person perspective, as well as what tense you want the story to be in. This is very important as it could determine where you start your story- that something has already happened and the reader is in the middle of it, then flashing back to the past to finally get to the present of the situation you are in now? Or a story of past events?

Think ahead- You don't need to know the exact details of your story, just the basic frame of it, and make up the finer details on the way. Keep a notebook next to your computer, so that when you are writing, if any ideas or description quotes spring to your mind, make sure you write them down so you can later on refer to them- trust me, this helped me a lot!

Set yourself in the scene- To help write your narrative, perhaps write about something you do often or you can relate to. For example, my character in my story was sat on a bus, and I get the bus regularly. By knowing what the character feels like and what situation they are in, it enabled me to be able to describe the intricate details that people are familiar with, but don't necessarily notice until you point it out.

Don't rush-  If you are frustrated about not knowing where to go with your narrative, don't get too annoyed. Try and think of some ideas, but don't force ideas and panic- it's okay, writer's block is common, so don't fret too much! Just keep a notebook next to you at all times, even just in your bag in the house, or even on your bedside table, so that if you ever you experience something or think of an idea you could use, jot it down in your notebook- of you don't you probably will forget it, or forget the fine details about it at least. A lot of writers use their dreams or inspirations from their dreams to write a novel, so keep a notebook handy.

Don't rely on dialogue too much to start off your narrative- While starting a narrative with dialogue is a strong start, don't rely on it too much- it is so common, you don't want to fall into the trap of copying everyone else. Try to find a more original start to your story, you can do this by deciding depending on what your story will be about. Don't be afraid to try something new or daring.

I hope that a few of my tips help, good luck and enjoy writing!

Child Language Acquisition

Looking at the transcript between Sophie at the age of 2 years and 4 months, and the transcript where she is at 3 years and 5 months, it is clear that the first transcript of her at a younger age is at the telegraphic stage. This is evident by the use of incorrect possessive pronouns that she uses, "me want that", as well as the use of contextual language, missing out the language that joins the sentence together. There is also a use of accommodation as well as colloquial slang, "bissy", which could cause some confusion if you are not aware of the context. Similarly to this, Sophie seems to be in the two word stage, "read that", meaning that actions or context is also needed. This links with theorist Basil Bernstein's view on language, that children acquire the restricted code, meaning that they use the basic language that further means that you need to be aware of the context to fully understand what they are talking about, whereas elaborated code possibly develops later on, where the listener does not need to know the context of the subject that is being spoken about, as the use of full sentences gives the full meaning.

However looking at the transcript where Sophie is a year and 1 month older, there are some clear developments and changes, moving her into the post-telegraphic stage, such as the use of inversions, "is it dark outside". This proposes a question and she understands the use of the term. She proves that she is confident with the use of inversions again, "can I borrow your corder", with the additional use of an auxiliary in "can", and colloquial language/slang, "corder", that is not entirely clear about the context still, but the reader can still assume that perhaps she meant a recorder, however will never be entirely sure. There are uses of concrete nouns, "piano", "shoes", as well as abstract nouns, "colour", "ring up", "tomorrow", which is clear that she understands the concepts of concrete and abstract nouns, unlike the telegraphic stage where children tend to get confused with concrete and abstract nouns.

My Investigation Coursework plan

For my investigation for English Language A2 Coursework, I will be looking at Language and Gender and the power within the language that is used within the gender roles.

My Hypothesis

My hypothesis is: An investigation in the difference between the language of adverts to women and adverts to men (in products- focused on ‘bathroom’ products). In my investigation, I will try to find out the different types of power in the language that tries to sell the products differently to each gender of audience. I am interested in the different types of persuasion and adjectives that will be used to describe the product and the lexis of how the product and the company describes and makes the audience feel.

Data – What (& how much) have you selected already?

So far I have collected 674 words worth of transcribed data. The transcriptions are of television commercials that are for specific cosmetics or ‘bathroom’ products. I have tried to make it fair by trying to collect transcriptions of commercials that are aimed towards men/women to sell their shower gel, perfume or deodorant product. I have also collected some data that only a certain sex can be targets towards due to the product, such as make up for women and aftershave for men.

Methodology – What Processes are you using to make sure that your data is comparable and reliable? (A good way of thinking about this is to make notes about the types of data you are ignoring)-

When transcribing my data from various YouTube videos, I am making sure that they are all real and official by only choosing advertisements that I have already seen on TV or that I am familiar with. I am also using television commercials that are recent within the past couple of years, mostly all 2014 adverts. By doing this and not looking at adverts that were made in for example, 2002, means that my data will be reliable and up to date, as the language of advertising and language and gender could have changed/probably has changed since the end of 20^th century/beginning of the 21^st century. By collecting data of the same subject, promoting the same product but changing the variable of the target audience, means that I can make my investigation comparable. By comparing the language of a shower gel advert for women and a shower gel advert for men means that I can compare and contrast the two types of language used within the adverts, depending on who the target audience is.

Aims, Interests & Hypothesis – What do you consider to be interesting and important about the types of language you are investigating? What are you aiming/ expecting to find?

I consider language and gender and the power within the language and gender very interesting, especially how that it is all highlighted and will be studied in this specific hypothesis.  I am expecting to find a difference in the language between the adverts for women and the adverts for men. For example, the women’s advertisements will include Fairclough’s theory, synthetic personalisation (e.g. L’Oreal “You’re worth it”), whereas the male targeted advertisements will be encouraging how to be a man, or that ‘real’ men use their products. I will also look at Brown and Levinson’s versus theory, for example Feelings vs. Advice.

Theories / Linguistic Concepts – In what ways might your investigation relate to ideas that are significant to language study? Answer in detail.

My investigation might relate to the ideas that are significant to language study, such as the power of language to manipulate/influence us (Fairclough and others), due to the synthetic personalisation. It might also include the significance of language and gender. The fact that women need to be targeted with a different type of language compared to men’s language could be related to Brown and Levinson’s theory. Men tend to not need to be told that they look beautiful, good or happy today. The uses of adjectives are different depending on what gender the advert is aimed towards.

Analysis – Identify at least 3 linguistic frameworks that you expect to provide you with interesting observations. Make this as specific by naming linguistic features (at least 5) that you expect to find. Explain why these features should be significant.

Frameworks that I expect to provide me with interesting observations when looking into this investigation will be:

-          Semantics and lexis- I will look at the lexical field and the difference between the two different target audiences. I will expect to find a more feminine lexis that is self-fulfilling and sugar coated for women, and a strong, hard-working, masculine lexis which may include lexis related to manual work to make men seem strong.

-          Pragmatics – will look at how the context and subtext will imply meaning, and how there are different meanings intended depending on who the advert is talking to/aimed at.

-          Grammar - I will look at the type of language that has been used within the adverts to the specific men and women audience, and how the sentences are structured to give full effect and meaning.

These features should be significant as they will show how the difference in language are adapted and used to be applied for the specific target audience. It will highlight how the type of language and lexis that is used will be the main seller of the product, and how the use of language and persuasion/power will have the effect over the audience.

Elephant Cries As it is Rescued Article

I found this touching article on AOL about a poor mistreated elephant, who was finally rescued by an animal charity. The use of short paragraphs to create a structure to the story interested me, fulfilling its purpose of keeping the reader entertained. Usually the world is full of bad news, however the outcome of this heart-warming story is positive, and it makes me certainly appreciate the people in this world who like to help not only people, but animals.

http://travel.aol.co.uk/2014/07/07/elephant-weeps-rescued-50-years-of-torture-india/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cuk%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk1%26pLid%3D277026

Analysis

Looking at both of the trasncripts, it is clear that the ambulance call transcript has more use of spontaneous speech as opposed to the vlog. The vlog has obviously been scripted to some extent as well as they know what they are going to talk about and it has been planned out. The amount of spontaneous features in the first transcript, such as interruptions and pauses are frequent in the first transcript, however in the second transcript of the vlog, the number of spontaneous language features are fewer. The fact that the video has been edited to cut out any long pauses to decrease the time of the video has been used for effect, influences the amount of spontaneous speech features within the transcript. However, like the use of an outline script on the volg transcript, the woman on the pther end of the phone to the 6 yea old boy, Liam, obviously has trained experience and has a certain criteria to ask the person on the phone to find out certain information about them and the incident that has happened. This then decreases the amount of unknown spontaneous conversation for the phone receptionist.

Transcript no. 2

Marcus Butler - How girls get ready

key: * means the cut of the video, such as editing the clips

Helloo^* how y'all doing* you alright^? (1) yeah? (.) Cool. Anyway, ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, (2)* yep (.) I wanted to talk about girls getting ready today * being a girl must be soo fricking hard * The amount of times some of you girls spend getting ready is craa^zzzyyyyyy * dat shit cray * I'm not talking about all girls, because obviously I (.) don't have a perspective on all girls * Girls'll usually spend about three to four hours getting ready (.) * The first thing will be the most important thingon the agenda, is (.) what to wear. Planning for this event can sometimes go on for daays, weeks and maybe even months before it actually (.) even happens (breathes in through teeth) (2) they'll spend agggess abd aggesss and ages picking out this perfect outfit, (1) and then when it actually comes to the night of getting ready, (.) they usually end up having a little bit of a hissy fit. (high pitched voice to impersonate a girl''s voice) Uhh I've just got not^hing to wear (sobbing) I've got noth^ing to wear-heherr!

Transcript

6 Year Old boy 999 Emergency Call, Liam

Phone receptionist: Hello, Ambulance service (3)

Liam: Um (1)

                |What’s the problem?

Liam: Me mam’s fainted (.)

Phone receptionist: Are you with your mam now?

Liam: Yeah

Phone receptionist: (1) And where is she?

Liam: (2) She’s in the sitting room

                                                                |Ah right, could you take the phone next to where she is?

Liam: (5) Here

Phone receptionist: (4) Hello?

Liam: It’s here

Phone receptionist: Are you next to your mum now?

Liam: (.) Yeah

Phone receptionist: Okay, now what I need you to do is give a good shake of her shoulders (.), and shout her name in her ear and tell me what she does

Liam: (3) um, mam, (1), mam. (3) she’s not, she’s not doing anything

Phone receptionist: Alright, what’s your mum’s name?

Liam: Rebecca

Phone receptionist: ‘n’ what’s your name?

Liam: Liam

Phone receptionist: So is anybody at home with you now Liam?

Liam: (.) No

Phone receptionist: No?

Liam: Just me mam

Phone receptionist: Okay, now does it look like your mum’s been bleeding from anywhere? (1), Can you see any blood?

Liam: No

Phone receptionist: Does she look like she’s hurt at all?

Liam: (2) No

Phone receptionist: No? Okay (2) Now are you alright to get your door open, Liam?

Liam: yeah

Phone receptionist: Yeah? (.) Is your door unlocked?

Liam: I’ll have a look

Phone receptionist: Do you wanna go and have a look? Yeah

Liam: (2) Yeah

Phone receptionist: It’s unlocked, yeah?

Liam: (.) Mhhm

Phone receptionist: (1) And do you just live at home with you mam or do you live at home with anyone else?

Liam: Me dad, but me dad’s not in

Phone receptionist: Ahh where’s your dad?

Liam: he’s at skittles

Phone receptionist: ah is he? Mnn okay (1) Now where abouts is your mam lying, is she on her belly or is she lying on her back, or her side?

Liam: Belly

Phone receptionist: She’s lying on her belly?

Liam: Yeah, I can’t

                    | Can you try and roll her over Liam? Can you roll her over so she’s lying on her side?

Class Work Text

In Tuesday's lesson, my table and I looked at the quote by Johnny Depp:-

"If you love two people at the same time, choose the second one because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second."

After having a group discussion between the group that was on my table, we found out that through analysing the quote, the quotation uses personal pronouns, 'you', using a direct mode of address to speak to the reader specifically. It could also be argued that this quote uses Fairclough's synthetic personalisation, as it assumes that the reader knows what he is on about and also that the reader actually loves the second person more than the first. Without knowing the reader's circumstances, it assumes that the reader can relate to this quotation.

We also discussed Deborah Tannen's theory of Advice Vs Feelings, and it is significant that the quote gives advice as well as being said by a male. This fits perfectly into the category of Language and Gender roles. This specific quotation also has influential power, as it is advice that the reader can choose to take or not, however due to Johnny Depp's high status in society due to his fame, means that there is a use of instrumental power, giving him more power over the reader to listen to his quote.

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The text that we chose out of the texts we were given was the news feed from Twitter. After discussing the elements of language in this text, we decided that there was a combination of both, influential and instrumental power. The use of instrumental power is that the account that had the news feed followed celebrities, and due to their fame and popularity, it means that their higher status gives them more advantages to be followed by the account that we had a screenshot of their news feed. We also discussed that the celebrities have the power over what their followers see and consume. However there is also influential power, as the person's Twitter account has authority over who they follow, meaning that if they see any posts or tweets they do not agree with, they can either unfollow or report/block the celebrity Twitter user. 

Users on Twitter tend to write tweets that are very opinionated, meaning that it could affect the face threatening acts and politeness strategies. This is why we noticed that a lot of celebrities use "in my opinion" to reduce less offence to their followers. 

Difference Theory

Definition: The Difference theory in Language and Gender is the idea that the different genders of male and female have different uses of language and there are significant difference between the language that is used by males and the language that is used by females. No gender is better or wrong (says theorist Tannen), however the different languages can be interpreted differently for different approaches.

Theorist Deborah says that "Your genes don't determine your jeans" meaning that she believes that your gender does not determine the way that you speak.

The techniques that are used within this theory:
For Men:
-Blunt, straight to the point reactions
-Use of modal verbs in the sense of instructing rather than asking
-More likely to use small talk
-More likely to talk about factual subjects
-Less likely to be confrontational (e.g. arguments) - Compromise Vs Conflict

For Women:
-Hedging
-Sentence fillers
-Overlap/interrupt
-More likely to seek sympathy and emotion from the person she is talking to or what she is talking about
-More likely to use gossipy language
-More likely to use
-Back-channel agreement
-More likely to start an argument - Conflict Vs Compromise

Women tend to use sentence fillers such as 'yeah' or 'hmm' whereas men either don't say anything or they will be straight to the point with 'right'. Women will also use hedging to cushion or make whatever they mean seem lighter, such as if they are asked a question- "OMG does my bum look big in this?!', they will say 'no not really, it looks lovely on you!' to consider the feelings of the person asking whereas men are blunt and will say what they mean, 'yeah, I'd change' (clothes).

It is also said that 'women talk too much' meaning that 'men get more air'* (obviously from not being able to get a word in) however I don't know if that was written by a very biased male, perhaps, perhaps not!! It is known that women -I won't say talk too much- but women can create more conversation than men, so maybe that is where that point has come from?!

Orders Vs Proposals - The bluntness between the two genders are also different as a man is more likely to say 'close the door', 'shut the window', whereas women soften the approach, 'let's', 'should we go out for dinner?'. This means that men give orders and use modal verbs whereas women tend to ask it as a question with a preference in mind of what the answer will be.

(Tannen's theory) Women are also more likely to create a relationship with the person she is talking to and build the social skills that she has with them, whereas men communicate to get to the point, making their language just message-orientated based upon the information.

(Tannen's theory) Conflict Vs Compromise - Women tend to attempt to resolve disagreements without any direct confrontation, however the language can be stronger in the sense of power when in a argument. Men tend to confront straight away with something that is bothering them which resolves differences, negotiating status. Tannen stresses that both ways of communicating is to create involvement and strengthening bonds.

This theory can be used in advertisements, novels, transcripts/scripts, movies, TV shows and other types of recorded media. It is best to be used in the form of script/novel or video media purely so it highlights the difference theory between men and women.

Bruce:  Honey, I just don’t see the need to make the bed every day with all those pillows.  Do we have to?
Wife: Yes, because it looks better and what if someone comes over?

Bruce:  Who? The pool man?  These pillows just get in the way and clutter up the room when we go to bed.
Wife (sigh): Dear, just do it for me, okay?

Bruce:  Okay, okay.  Can we talk about this shopping trip you want me to come with you on, please?

Wife:  What about it?

Bruce:  I don’t want any new clothes.  I’m fine with what I've got for our trip.

Wife:  Bruce, most of your clothes should be thrown out.  In fact, if you don’t go through your closet, I will and get rid of most of your horribly out-of-style wardrobe.

Bruce:  Please don’t do that.  I’ll clean out some of the older stuff.  Look, I’m just comfortable wearing the stuff I wear. And, a lot of that stuff has sentimental value to me, just like Pete Maravich’s socks did to him.

There seems to be a balanced status between Bruce and (what I'm assuming is) his wife, however the fact that the wife has no name creates a huge significance that she does not have a name of her own and is being referred as his property or his default role in a marriage. Bruce shows no sign of hedging at all and is blunt with his answers, 'I just don't see the need to make the bed every day with all those pillows', stating his opinionated point with a straight-to-the-point mannerism, not thinking about the emotions that it might provoke. He proves the Orders Vs Proposals theory section right as he says to his wife, Both Bruce and his wife both use the Conflict Vs Compromise theory, 'Can we talk about this shopping trip you want me to come with you on, please?', where Bruce is simply asking to talk about the situation to negotiate something that he is not completely satisfied with. His wife then later responds with "if you don’t go through your closet, I will and get rid of most of your horribly out-of-style wardrobe" creating more of a conflict towards Bruce and the subject.

*see bibliography reference
Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_theory
* http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/gender.htm
http://www.brucesallan.com/2011/01/13/a-conversation-between-a-man-and-a-woman/

Grouping Texts - Formal Register/Language Similarities

 Grouping Texts - Formal Register/Language Similarities

Out of the six texts, I have chosen Text A and Text D as they are both written in a formal register to achieve the purpose that they are written for. Although the purpose of the two texts are slightly different, they both hold a purpose to inform to some extent, however the language that is used shows similarities in terms of form. The target audience for both texts have a very direct audience as they have appeared in a certain place that they know the reader will be interested in the texts. Text A is an advertisement that appeared in a theatre programme for performance at Shakespeare's Globe, and the text is trying to advertise a financial service company. The text has been purposely placed in the theatre programme to attract the specific target audience for the promotion of the company. Text D is an extract from the Higher Education Bill. The register that is held throughout both of the texts is formal, as the choice of words are selected carefully to suit what the message is trying to get across, as well as suiting the target audience's expectations.

Looking at the differences between the two texts, Text D seems to include a constant range of low frequent words, 'institutions providing higher education', indicating that this text is setting a formal approach due to the demands that the bill is asking of the reader. The expectations that need to be followed are carried through this formal language, showing power and authorisation between the text and the reader. Due to Text D's subject being about higher education, there is a frequent lexical field of education connotations and word associations, which could also be seen as jargon, 'students', 'education', 'arts and humanities', signalling the subject that the text is covering and the audience are aware of the language and the topics that are being discussed.

Text A's language is also set out as a formal register, however there is a lack of low frequent words, but high frequent words are used alternatively for a different effect. Using high frequent words means that the audience who are reading the advertisement to understand the language and what is being said in the advertisement. Allowing the audience to have an understanding of the product will persuade them further to discover more about the company as the clear instructions and facts gives the audience the power rather than the text the power. Even though the language is simplified as much as possible to let the readers get the most out of the advertisement as they can, specific jargon is also used throughout the advertisement to make the language formal and professional, 'financial', 'investors', 'policyholders', 'institutions', this signals that even though there is use of jargon, the reader can still understand what the advertisement is about and the jargon is not absolutely needed to know what it fully means due to the clarity of the context.

Target: My target is to revise more terminology so that I can use it effectively throughout my essays
Task: I am going to set myself the task to set myself certain days and times to allow myself to revise 2-3 framework techniques to boost my confidence and knowledge about the terminology that I can use in my essay during my exam. I will review my task with the frequent tasks I set myself.

Text 1:
Pizza Hut Advertisement

Liked this? How about Seconds?

Your own create your own pizza

was just the beginning...

Here are some more mouth-watering

deals to tempt you...

Text 2:

L'Oreal advert starring Cheryl Cole

What if you could transform your skin to look

pixel perfect? Breathtaking. New skin perfection by

L'Oreal. Advanced skincare with powerful formulas

helps transform your appearance of skin quality. 

Texture feels silky soft, pores look virtually undetectable, 

tone appears more even. Cheryl: Look photo-ready at 

every angle.

New Skin Perfection by L'Oreal Paris

Cheryl: Pixel perfect your skin, we're worth it

The two texts that I have chosen are both advertisements, that hold the same primary purpose, to persuade the audience to buy what they are selling. The secondary purpose of the advertisements are to inform the audience about the product that they are trying to sell, telling the audience what effect the product will have on the consumer if they choose to buy the item that is trying to be sold. 

Both texts include Fairclough's synthetic personalisation, as the product from text 1 is assuming that they know the audience's required needs,'mouth-watering deals to tempt you', implying that they are assuming that they know that the deals will have the effect of making the audience's mouth water. Text 2 shows synthetic personalisation, however it also includes Fairclough's idea of building the consumer, as it tells the audience everything that they want to be, making themselves fit into the category of the consumer, 'what if you could transform your skin to look pixel perfect?', along with the list of what the product will help the audience achieve, 'texture feels silky soft, pores look virtually undetectable', making them want to buy the product to achieve the results that they desire. This particular framework allows the product to be advertised successfully to achieve the results that's wanted. 

The fact that the L'Oreal advert also has celebrity Cheryl Cole sponsoring the product allows the audience to relate and wish to look like Cheryl, wanting to buy the product to achieve the same results that Cheryl appears to achieve during the advertisement. The use of choosing a familiar celebrity also encourages the audience to buy the product due to the idea that if Cheryl uses it or rates it highly, then the product must be worth purchasing.

Language and Power Texts

Language and Power Text 1 - Political Speech
Speech from Terence McKenna
"We have to create culture, don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you're giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told 'no', we're unimportant, we're peripheral. 'Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.' And then you're a player, you don't want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world.” 
― Terence McKenna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eu9GfHCpVo

Language and Power Text 2 - Education Extract
Educating Essex clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKa4g3YkQmU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu2MCbeKHG0

Language and Power Text 3 - Interview
Jonathan Ross Show- Interview with Russell Brand 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxjcSzjw8kE

Language and Power Text 4 - Parent/ Child Conversation
Outnumbered clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcpohUL5k4w

Language and Power Text 5 - Article about a specific topic where experts are used
The Guardian article about Language and Power
http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/jun/03/speech-language-determine-success-workplace

Samsung F300 advertisement

The advertisement inside an issue of a woman's magazine for the new music phone from Samsung attracts attention and interest of a subset women that are reading the magazine as well as the stereotypical feminine colours of pink and the appearance of Beyonce holding the new and exclusive product. The way in which Samsung have cleverly portrayed the image of this phone is signaled through the images of pop star Beyonce, holding the phone that is being promoted. The image reflects the caption which is underneath to not only inform the audience about the phone but to connect the image to the phone, "imagine flipping from your music, to your life and back again", linking with the image of Beyonce holding the phone listening to her album through headphones, and then the same image flipped however this time she is holding a phone in the 'normal' home setting. This allows the audience to empathize and imagine themselves in Beyonce's place, having the freedom of listening to music as well as having a normal day to day setting all in one phone. Knowing that Beyonce is a huge inspiration to many people encourages the audience to want to buy the phone.

As well as the advertisement of the phone itself, there is also promotion within the promotion itself as Beyonce's album is shown at the bottom left of the poster, and the music version of the phone is playing Beyonce's album.

Lesson Work: Investigation in the Language of Messaging

For my investigation looking into the language and different abbreviations that are used within messaging, I have decided to look at how differently younger teenagers talk compared to older teenagers. The difference in language, abbreviations and emojis/emoticons will be looked at depending what age the person is.

I have decided to research into the different use of socialect, grammar and use of emoticons/emojis depending on how old the person who is sending the message. I narrowed my category down to look into the messages of teenagers, looking further into the ages of young/pre-teens and old, mature teenagers.

The evidence that I have collected is a few sample conversations of myself talking to my friend. I have been friends with my sample friend for many years, meaning that I am able to look at our very first instant messaging messages, and the present messages we send, noticing a difference in how we speak. It has become apparent that there us a difference between the language that is used when I was a young teen, compared to how I talk now/in the present. There is a similar correlation between my friend's language and how it has changed.

There seems to be a continuous use of emoticons used to set a friendly tone in the messages at a younger age, ':)' is used an extravagant amount to keep the friendly register throughout the conversation. However looking at the recent messages, the register seems to be of a more intimate, jokey form. This is because we are both comfortable with the strong friendship and we know each other well enough to not need to set the friendly tone. It seems that the emoticons that are used in the recent messages are used, however for a different purpose. The emoticons that are used in the conversations are used not to be friendly, but to give a sarcastic tone to what has just been said, 'OK THEN;/////', ':((((((((', the multiple use of brackets and slashes are used for effect to show the messenger that the sender is not serious about what has just been said.

The use of abbreviations is also used during the young-teen period, 'hun' however the use of ‘babes’ during the more recent conversations is purposely put for a sarcastic tone. It seem to be seen as funny and ironic when old abbreviations and socialect is used within conversations. Using old short-hand text talk is seen as 'uncool' nowadays, and people tend to associate people who are young and still using this text talk as 'chavvy'. The short hand messaging is used to be sarcastic or to imitate 'chavvy' people as it is seen as grammatically incorrect/illiterate if you use this type of language.