Both text A and text B show Tom learning with the aid of his care givers.
For example there are several uses of modelling and repetition of the adult pronunciation of utterances, ''''it make noises'' to ''it makes noises'' and ''dad bike'' to ''dad's bike''. We see that this is an effective method of teaching as Tom repeats ''dad's bike'' several times throughout the conversation. This is then reinforced toward the end of text A using positive reinforcement, according to B F Skinner's operant conditioning theory this will enhance the childs learning as they are rewarded with attention when doing something the correct way. In this instance Tom's dad says ''my bike'' as a form of confirmation after Tom repeats dad's bike several times.
Negative reinforcement is also used when tom calls his own bike ''dad's bike'' this appears to be an example of over-extension as he has just learnt this he calls all resembling items ''dad's bike'', Tom's mum uses negative language to correct him as she recognises this ''you're not on dad's bike(.)you're on dad's bike'', The response he gives is an example of a coordinating conjunction, ''I am on dad's bike but I not on dad's bike'' the use of the coordinating conjunction shows that Tom is in the telegraphic stage of speech. Halliday's imaginative function also applies to this utterance as it reveals to us that he is aware that it is not his fathers bike but that in fact he is using his imagination in play pretending he is on his fathers bike.
Text B also uses Skinner's positive reinforcement as Tom's mum vocally reinforces his actions, ''fantastic'' ''well done''. In this transcript Tom shows his development in language as he uses overextension when trying to ask his mother a question ''is these drawing cartoon network cup of tea mum'' this is used as he is trying to ask what is on the cup but does not know how to form the utterance so he overextends the words ''cartoon network'' as it is the most familiar description at this stage of his development.
Monday, 5 December 2016
Friday, 14 October 2016
Methodology . . .
Deborah Tannen
Analyse male and female language and compare it to the difference model and the points:
Status vs. support Independence vs. intimacy Advice vs. understanding Information vs. feelings Orders vs. proposals Conflict vs. compromise
Also think about report talk and rapport talk:
Women-
Talk too much
Speak in private contexts
Build relations
Overlap
Speak symmetrically
Men-
Get more air time
Speak in public
Negotiate status/avoid failure
Speak one at a time
Speak asymmetrically
Speak in public
Negotiate status/avoid failure
Speak one at a time
Speak asymmetrically
Converse on the same topic with males and females and analyse how they fit the contrast points.
Alternatively analyse a mixed sex conversation and assess under the same criteria.
Alternatively analyse a mixed sex conversation and assess under the same criteria.
Ethicality:
To ensure it is an ethical test I will inform participants that I will be recording their language and ask for permission.
Fair test:
To ensure it's a fair test I will think about how not all participants are the same, to make sure it is fair I will also calculate averages. Think about comparability, same age ect
Use: newsnight, a discussion programme, 12-15 mins total, several samples (eg two pairs two groups mixed sex) , (if recording own prepare a stimulous eg photo)
Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Mixed Sex Conversations . . .
Lakoff discussed in her book 'language and womans place' that the language we use is gender specific, she described some features of womens speech as uncertainty features.
Lakoff's uncertainty features:
- Hedging/hedges - shows uncertainty and lack of authority ''sort of''
- Super polite forms - ''if you dont mind please could you''
- Hyper correct grammar and pronunciation- women avoid using ''aint'' or double negatives
- Tag questions- ''im coming too, alright?'' Women seek approval
- Speaking in italics – women use exaggerated intonation or stress for emphasis, expresses uncertainty e.g. ‘I am very frustrated with you’
Hypothesis:
Women will use more uncertainty features than men in a mixed gender conversation according to Robin Lakoffs ideas
Lakoff's uncertainty features:
- Hedging/hedges - shows uncertainty and lack of authority ''sort of''
- Super polite forms - ''if you dont mind please could you''
- Hyper correct grammar and pronunciation- women avoid using ''aint'' or double negatives
- Tag questions- ''im coming too, alright?'' Women seek approval
- Speaking in italics – women use exaggerated intonation or stress for emphasis, expresses uncertainty e.g. ‘I am very frustrated with you’
- Empty adjectives - Robin Lakoff claims that if a man uses these terms he appears more feminine as it damages his masculine prestige e.g. ‘divine, lovely, adorable, delightful and sweetie’
- Use of implication- Lakoff claimed women use this because they do not feel the authority to give orders e.g. ‘it’s cold in here, isn’t it’ instead of ‘shut the window’
- Special lexicon- Lakoff states that such words are trivial and evidence of the fact that women have been allowed control over unimportant things e.g. blue based purple women would say ‘lilac’ or ‘violet’
- Questions in declarative statements- women raise the pitch of their voice at the end of statements expressing uncertainty e.g. ‘Dinner’s in half an hour?’
Hypothesis:
Women will use more uncertainty features than men in a mixed gender conversation according to Robin Lakoffs ideas
Converstion used in analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsXNxEl7CN0
This conversation consists of one female and two male participants.
Girl: I don't think the dress code is wrong entirely the dress codes fine (.) i think its (.) just completely normal and sane to have a dress code because obviously its a public school and some people do decide to wear very tiny clothing and it just like it makes some people uncomfortable
/jump cut in video/
Girl: if its violating the dress code then everybody as a whole is just uncomfortable by that exposing that's fine its just part of the dress code (.) but the fact that the dress code makes it a sexual thing and it objectifies the girls in our school and i say girls (.) we are teenagers we are not (.) women who (.) you know (.) there's a very big difference between women being objectified and girls being objectified because girls here are as (stuttering) young as fourteen and they're being made in to sexual objects which i think is a very big problem(.) and so the dress code being a dress code is fine because it's party of society to have regulations (.) thats just what people do (unaudable) that's what they should be doing but its just the way they go about it and its kinda what it represents because when i think of the dress code i dont think of baggy pants or i can see your boxers go pull up your pants i think of girls getting dress coded for their midrift showing which i think is also a controversial issue because for me midrift is not a sexual thing at all its just your stomach and if its really hot (unaudable) and you know its style these days thats what they wear they wear high wasted with the (.) little shirts (.) and i dont think theres anything sexual about it (stuttering) if its like an extremely low cut top and youre wearing really really short shorts youre presenting yourself like that and its obvious i understand that the administration have to take it into account (.) but its just that the overall dress code represents the sexual objectification of girls
/jump cut in video/
Boy 1: Well because girls like tend to wear the well violate the rules more often/
Boy 2 : But you know like sagging like sagging like uhh (.) she said i mean like its (.) but its not showing skin thats the thing(2)
Girl: Its showing your under garments
Boy 2 : Yeah but um(.) a lot(.) a lot of the dress code for females especially is because theres (.) theres just to much skin exposure(.) and (1) i think thats the reason why guys dont get included in the school dress code (2) because yeah i mean(2) (stuttering) guys the max they can do is wear a tank top or wear like (.) one of those chubby shorts like (.) and thats it thats the thing
Boy1: [laughter]
From this text the hypothesis has been proven wrong, thus disproving Lakoffs uncertainty features according to the book 'Language And Womans Place'
During this video the female participant does not use hyper correct grammar through out as she uses slang such as ''kinda''. However she does speak using italics when she says ''really really short shorts'' with the exaggeration on the word really both times. Also going against the theory is the use of hedges by the male participants in the discussion, ''like'' was the most commonly used.
/jump cut in video/
Boy 1: Well because girls like tend to wear the well violate the rules more often/
Boy 2 : But you know like sagging like sagging like uhh (.) she said i mean like its (.) but its not showing skin thats the thing(2)
Girl: Its showing your under garments
Boy 2 : Yeah but um(.) a lot(.) a lot of the dress code for females especially is because theres (.) theres just to much skin exposure(.) and (1) i think thats the reason why guys dont get included in the school dress code (2) because yeah i mean(2) (stuttering) guys the max they can do is wear a tank top or wear like (.) one of those chubby shorts like (.) and thats it thats the thing
Boy1: [laughter]
From this text the hypothesis has been proven wrong, thus disproving Lakoffs uncertainty features according to the book 'Language And Womans Place'
During this video the female participant does not use hyper correct grammar through out as she uses slang such as ''kinda''. However she does speak using italics when she says ''really really short shorts'' with the exaggeration on the word really both times. Also going against the theory is the use of hedges by the male participants in the discussion, ''like'' was the most commonly used.
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
Harvard Reference Notes . . .
Book1
'How Children Think And Learn' by David Wood 1988
1st edition Published by The Open University
Bernstein's Restricted and Elaborated codes
To test the codes one group of children/ teens from the same class and see if they stick to the same code
Book2
'Language And Power' by Norman Fairclough 1989
2nd edition Published by Routledge
In face to face discourse they adapt their language and keep adapting throughout an encounter
Book3
'The Dialects Of England' by Peter Trudgill 1990
1st edition Published by Blackwell Oxford
Trudgill discusses standard and non standard forms of English
Non standard forms such as
I done it
A man what I know
He don't want none
She aint coming
We seen him
Standard forms such as
I did it
A man that I know
He doesnt want any
She isnt coming
We saw him
'How Children Think And Learn' by David Wood 1988
1st edition Published by The Open University
Bernstein's Restricted and Elaborated codes
To test the codes one group of children/ teens from the same class and see if they stick to the same code
Book2
'Language And Power' by Norman Fairclough 1989
2nd edition Published by Routledge
In face to face discourse they adapt their language and keep adapting throughout an encounter
Book3
'The Dialects Of England' by Peter Trudgill 1990
1st edition Published by Blackwell Oxford
Trudgill discusses standard and non standard forms of English
Non standard forms such as
I done it
A man what I know
He don't want none
She aint coming
We seen him
Standard forms such as
I did it
A man that I know
He doesnt want any
She isnt coming
We saw him
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Class work 10/05/16
Q1 Analyse how text A uses language to create meanings and representations.
The genre of text A is a webpage. This webpage is very interactive and has an interface which allows users to answer questions for polls and to view results of polls easily. The text would've been received via email or recommendation or perhaps searching for YouGov in an internet browser. The audience of this text would be someone who is interested in politics and wants to find out the response to a specific poll or and individual who wants to take part in a poll.The primary purpose of this text is to gather information in the form of running polls. The secondary purpose is to inform by uploading the results of previous polls. The expectations the audience would have of this text is that it would be an easy to use site, this is met via the simplistic design and interactive features.
At the top of the text the interrogative ''What would you like to do?'' instantly invites the reader to the website, giving them power by asking for their input. This technique is clever as it makes the reader feel in control of the way the website runs. The interactivity of the website adds to this by allowing the audience to control which aspects of the website they view. This text portrays a negative face (according to Brown and Levinson's face models) this means it enhances and meets our wish to have the freedom to do what we want and to have independence. Below the interrogative there are two imperatives ''take part'' ''see results'', this contradicts the interrogative at the top of the webpage as these are seemingly forceful added to by the graphology of this part of the text being in all caps.
Q2
The genre of the text is an online article, this particular article is by BBC News. This text would have been received by email, recommendation or found through a search on an internet search engine. The intended audience for this text would be someone who is interested in politics and is looking to find out which political party has taken over Bristol in the form of an elected mayor. The primary purpose of this text is to inform, this text would inform the audience about political agenda in Bristol. The secondary purpose would be to entertain, this is achieved through the use of images and links to other articles. The expectations of the reader would be that since this is a BBC article it would be factual and user friendly.
Q3
Text A and text B are both political texts, however Text B is more bias as it only covers one party and one event. The YouGov website explores several aspects of politics and various events, the BBC article covers the election of mayor in Bristol and focuses on the Labour party.
The graphology in the texts is the most noticeable initial aspect of the two. Text A has a modern layout in terms of colours and the way that when you scroll down the page a small red dot points out your location on the site.This text also has a red 'join' button at the top of the webpage, the colour chosen means that the button stands out from the rest of the page, enhancing the fact that YouGov want more members. Text B is less modern and has a more traditional BBC feel with the red banner and logo, and relatively generic layout for a news paper/ BBC webpage. The more informal language and modern layout of Text A would appeal to a younger audience, this combined with the words ''Take part'' encourages the younger audience to join in where they would usually feel out of place, especially when talking about politics.
The graphology in the texts is the most noticeable initial aspect of the two. Text A has a modern layout in terms of colours and the way that when you scroll down the page a small red dot points out your location on the site.This text also has a red 'join' button at the top of the webpage, the colour chosen means that the button stands out from the rest of the page, enhancing the fact that YouGov want more members. Text B is less modern and has a more traditional BBC feel with the red banner and logo, and relatively generic layout for a news paper/ BBC webpage. The more informal language and modern layout of Text A would appeal to a younger audience, this combined with the words ''Take part'' encourages the younger audience to join in where they would usually feel out of place, especially when talking about politics.
Friday, 29 April 2016
Opinionated Article . . .
An opinion article on work lexis outside of the workplace for The Guardian
Work, Work, Work
We all have a specialist field whether that's law or catering we use specialist language so often we may use that specialist terminology at home or when out with friends, is this a good or bad thing?As a conservationist I am surrounded by scientific and environmental terminology on a daily basis. This can often lead to me using terms in general conversations forgetting that not everyone I know understands the same language I do (this can often be referred to as a lexical field).
When in conversation I often find that I flout the maxim quantity according to a theorist named Grice's maxims for the theory on how conversation works. The maxim quantity is about whether a participant in conversation gives too little or too much information. In my case I give too much as I go into depth using terminology others who don't work in the area of conservation may not understand, for example when talking about forests or forestry I may talk about coppicing and pollarding, these are techniques used in cycles to increase biodiversity and soil. This can often mean I have small amounts of input from others in these types of conversation making it a very unequal conversation. This type of conversation often means the power is un balanced, with me being the more powerful participant and the other participant the less powerful.
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Gender speech . . .
Casual sexism . . .
(Aimed at a young audience to attempt to show them the problems with casual sexism)
... = pause for effect
'What a b***h', 'shes smart and pretty', 'swearing is so un-ladylike' ...
These are just some of the things you may hear on a day to day basis, this language is referred to as casual sexism.
But why do we use this word casual in conjunction with the word sexism? Surely this just makes it seem normal.. ok even. It should not be acceptable now to use sexist terms on a daily basis. Young girls should no longer have to grow up seeing verbal abuse towards women as a normal experience that they have to put up with. If we teach children that this sort of language is not acceptable it may become less frequently used by future generations...
There are hundreds of incidents regarding sexism everyday, upon further research I managed to find several facts including that the UK is joint 57th in the world for parliament gender equality, 18 out of 108 high court judges are female, in the national gallery out of 2300 works only 10 females work is displayed.
These are just a few of the potential examples i could give...
Many different people experience everyday sexism and the 'Everyday Sexism Project' was set up to enable people from across the world of all different backgrounds to share their stories from comments to assault men and women enter their experiences of sexism for others to view, this website encourages a sense of community enabling people to know that they are not alone.
The awareness that this site raised has meant that some more positive stories have been posted where people have stood up to sexism, stories such as one about a woman who was catcalled 'show us your tits' from across the street by two men only for a man who was walking in front of her to turn around and raise his top towards the two men, and another of a woman how goes jogging regularly when she was called over to a car and asked for directions where she was assaulted after telling the man which way to travel...
So next time you hear someone make a sexist remark think about the everyday sexism project ...and be the person who steps in when someone is assaulted on the bus stop ...or be the person to say actually what you just said is offensive...
strive to prevent sexism ...for everyone... everywhere
(Aimed at a young audience to attempt to show them the problems with casual sexism)
... = pause for effect
'What a b***h', 'shes smart and pretty', 'swearing is so un-ladylike' ...
These are just some of the things you may hear on a day to day basis, this language is referred to as casual sexism.
But why do we use this word casual in conjunction with the word sexism? Surely this just makes it seem normal.. ok even. It should not be acceptable now to use sexist terms on a daily basis. Young girls should no longer have to grow up seeing verbal abuse towards women as a normal experience that they have to put up with. If we teach children that this sort of language is not acceptable it may become less frequently used by future generations...
There are hundreds of incidents regarding sexism everyday, upon further research I managed to find several facts including that the UK is joint 57th in the world for parliament gender equality, 18 out of 108 high court judges are female, in the national gallery out of 2300 works only 10 females work is displayed.
These are just a few of the potential examples i could give...
Many different people experience everyday sexism and the 'Everyday Sexism Project' was set up to enable people from across the world of all different backgrounds to share their stories from comments to assault men and women enter their experiences of sexism for others to view, this website encourages a sense of community enabling people to know that they are not alone.
The awareness that this site raised has meant that some more positive stories have been posted where people have stood up to sexism, stories such as one about a woman who was catcalled 'show us your tits' from across the street by two men only for a man who was walking in front of her to turn around and raise his top towards the two men, and another of a woman how goes jogging regularly when she was called over to a car and asked for directions where she was assaulted after telling the man which way to travel...
So next time you hear someone make a sexist remark think about the everyday sexism project ...and be the person who steps in when someone is assaulted on the bus stop ...or be the person to say actually what you just said is offensive...
strive to prevent sexism ...for everyone... everywhere
Monday, 11 April 2016
Holiday hwk- opinionated blog post
(target audience: someone with little knowledge on gender-neutral language and gender inequality)
Gender equality?
Whats with the fuss over gender equality and is our language changing to accommodate this? The following post is a small summary of gender equality and language use.
In summary a gender neutral pronoun is a pronoun which everyone can be referred to using, the same way she/her or he/him would be used however it is not gender specific. This could be extremely useful in the future as our language evolves with the growing amount of gender fluid individuals in society.
As suggested in this guardian article as humans we are cautious of anything that does not fit into a strict category; eg male/ female, gay/straight. This could be one of the major contributing factors of why we do not yet have any strictly set gender neutral pronouns. However in reality many people do not view themselves as one gender or another they are gender fluid or non binary. For people who view gender as a construct this is not too difficult to understand however written and spoken language fails to display a term for these members of society. Although there is no finalised term for people who are bigender there have been several options discussed, including:
Gender equality?
Whats with the fuss over gender equality and is our language changing to accommodate this? The following post is a small summary of gender equality and language use.
In summary a gender neutral pronoun is a pronoun which everyone can be referred to using, the same way she/her or he/him would be used however it is not gender specific. This could be extremely useful in the future as our language evolves with the growing amount of gender fluid individuals in society.
As suggested in this guardian article as humans we are cautious of anything that does not fit into a strict category; eg male/ female, gay/straight. This could be one of the major contributing factors of why we do not yet have any strictly set gender neutral pronouns. However in reality many people do not view themselves as one gender or another they are gender fluid or non binary. For people who view gender as a construct this is not too difficult to understand however written and spoken language fails to display a term for these members of society. Although there is no finalised term for people who are bigender there have been several options discussed, including:
- sie/ hir (sie laughed, I kissed hir)
- ze/ hir (ze laughed, I kissed hir)
- xe (xe laughed, I kissed xem)
Although these didn't stick the most common gender neutral term used is they/them, this has been determined as not the best word choice but it seems to be the most popular as it is commonly used within society.
If our language is to evolve to be less discerning we will need more than just a noun to call people who are non-binary. A large percentage of women experience casual sexism everyday, this is because we were brought up in a society which sees it as acceptable to slander women as a way to make men feel more powerful. Some phrases which are used often are 'she must be on her period', 'she's pretty and smart', 'swearing is so unlady like' . This does not mean men don't experience sexism, just that the majority of sexist actions/ comments are made towards women.
John Grey's popular book 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' links to this closely, covering the way men and women diverge when communicating, the book has a patronising tone towards men suggesting that they are emotionless bullies.The theorist Mary Beard's ideas about women's voices not being valued also links into this, she suggests that women aren't perceived to be as powerful as men because of the way we have always valued men's opinions more through previous generations. Despite this women do have more power than ever before, could things become equal after all?
If our language is to evolve to be less discerning we will need more than just a noun to call people who are non-binary. A large percentage of women experience casual sexism everyday, this is because we were brought up in a society which sees it as acceptable to slander women as a way to make men feel more powerful. Some phrases which are used often are 'she must be on her period', 'she's pretty and smart', 'swearing is so unlady like' . This does not mean men don't experience sexism, just that the majority of sexist actions/ comments are made towards women.
John Grey's popular book 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' links to this closely, covering the way men and women diverge when communicating, the book has a patronising tone towards men suggesting that they are emotionless bullies.The theorist Mary Beard's ideas about women's voices not being valued also links into this, she suggests that women aren't perceived to be as powerful as men because of the way we have always valued men's opinions more through previous generations. Despite this women do have more power than ever before, could things become equal after all?
Thursday, 31 March 2016
'How are meanings and representations communicated in the two texts?'
A) Text 1
The genre of this text is a website, this website is about the charity action aid and is supporting fairtrade fortnight. This would be recieved by teachers who have either researched into the topic or have been told about it by other teachers who are covering fairtrade in their lessons. This text would be found by teachers who are looking for fairtrade teaching resources, they would want to engage with this text as it is very informative and offers several links to resources which can be easily found via the easily accessible drop down list system. The purpose of this text is to inform and educate as teachers would use this website to provide tools in the form of texts and work sheets for teaching school children. As a teacher the audience would expect a colourful and informative website which has a variety of choices of materials to use within lessons.
The use of the red banner at the top of the page makes the name of the charity 'act!onaid' stand out, informing the reader that this text was provided by the charity. The use of the exclamation mark in the logo for the charity actionaid gives an impression of importance and urgency, this graphology could have been chosen to represent the importance and urgency of the work carried out by actionaid. This text is well laid out which is very useful for teachers who often need to use their time efficiently, the use of the caption under each image is used to show the resource type, this makes for efficient browsing of the website. This text allows the reader to empathise with the farmers that fairtrade are aiming to help, the use of the images in this text allows people to see the type of conditions the people are in and what things supporting fairtrade does to help the workers.
B) Text 2
The genre of this text is an article, this particular article is about fairtrade and the problems with it. This text would be received by readers of the mail online or people who are interested in reading about the topic of fairtrade. The purpose of this text is to inform, it aims to inform people about the way fairtrade works and what flaws the scheme has. The audience may expect that this text is bias as the title seems to be very strongly opinionated against fairtrade.
The summary/strapline at the top of this article summarises the article and is written to intrigue the reader into continuing to read the full article. One point in this particular summary reads 'They found a widespread use of child labour with some workers aged just 10' the intensifying adverb 'just' affects the viewer's experience by making the point an example of emotive language with the age of the workers being exaggerated by the adverb, causing the reader to be impacted emotionally.
C) Comparison
Both texts use verbs, in text one the verb 'helping' is used, this word has positive connotations as it suggests a good deed. In text two the verb 'fails' is used, unlike text one this word has negative
meaning suggesting that something wasn't done correctly or that it had gone wrong. In both texts this is an example of emotive language. Text one shows happy/positive words and phrases which in turn means the audience feels positively towards it. However, text two presents sad/ negative words, ending with the audience feeling negatively towards what was talked about in the text. In text one the emotive language is enhanced by the images which show people working on fairtrade farms, these people are smiling and look happy, pushing the positive emotional impact of this text. Text two on the other hand hand has images of people working hard with little or no expression on their faces, jiving the reader a negative feeling.
Both of the websites hold different purposes. The first websites purpose is to provide a teaching resource that teachers can use to inform children about fair trade. It is a resource which is easily accessible shown by the use drop down boxes to take the reader to different parts of the website. The second websites purpose is to inform, this article informs people about the bad things that happen to do with the charity 'fairtrade'
The genre of this text is a website, this website is about the charity action aid and is supporting fairtrade fortnight. This would be recieved by teachers who have either researched into the topic or have been told about it by other teachers who are covering fairtrade in their lessons. This text would be found by teachers who are looking for fairtrade teaching resources, they would want to engage with this text as it is very informative and offers several links to resources which can be easily found via the easily accessible drop down list system. The purpose of this text is to inform and educate as teachers would use this website to provide tools in the form of texts and work sheets for teaching school children. As a teacher the audience would expect a colourful and informative website which has a variety of choices of materials to use within lessons.
The use of the red banner at the top of the page makes the name of the charity 'act!onaid' stand out, informing the reader that this text was provided by the charity. The use of the exclamation mark in the logo for the charity actionaid gives an impression of importance and urgency, this graphology could have been chosen to represent the importance and urgency of the work carried out by actionaid. This text is well laid out which is very useful for teachers who often need to use their time efficiently, the use of the caption under each image is used to show the resource type, this makes for efficient browsing of the website. This text allows the reader to empathise with the farmers that fairtrade are aiming to help, the use of the images in this text allows people to see the type of conditions the people are in and what things supporting fairtrade does to help the workers.
B) Text 2
The genre of this text is an article, this particular article is about fairtrade and the problems with it. This text would be received by readers of the mail online or people who are interested in reading about the topic of fairtrade. The purpose of this text is to inform, it aims to inform people about the way fairtrade works and what flaws the scheme has. The audience may expect that this text is bias as the title seems to be very strongly opinionated against fairtrade.
The summary/strapline at the top of this article summarises the article and is written to intrigue the reader into continuing to read the full article. One point in this particular summary reads 'They found a widespread use of child labour with some workers aged just 10' the intensifying adverb 'just' affects the viewer's experience by making the point an example of emotive language with the age of the workers being exaggerated by the adverb, causing the reader to be impacted emotionally.
C) Comparison
Both texts use verbs, in text one the verb 'helping' is used, this word has positive connotations as it suggests a good deed. In text two the verb 'fails' is used, unlike text one this word has negative
meaning suggesting that something wasn't done correctly or that it had gone wrong. In both texts this is an example of emotive language. Text one shows happy/positive words and phrases which in turn means the audience feels positively towards it. However, text two presents sad/ negative words, ending with the audience feeling negatively towards what was talked about in the text. In text one the emotive language is enhanced by the images which show people working on fairtrade farms, these people are smiling and look happy, pushing the positive emotional impact of this text. Text two on the other hand hand has images of people working hard with little or no expression on their faces, jiving the reader a negative feeling.
Both of the websites hold different purposes. The first websites purpose is to provide a teaching resource that teachers can use to inform children about fair trade. It is a resource which is easily accessible shown by the use drop down boxes to take the reader to different parts of the website. The second websites purpose is to inform, this article informs people about the bad things that happen to do with the charity 'fairtrade'
Thursday, 10 March 2016
Cambridge Elivate 13.5.1- 13.5.5
13.5.1
analysis of Olympic logo:
5 colours represent the five main inhabited regions of the world, with the interlinked rings representing friendship and connection.
13.5.2 Representations
''the great green con, green zealots, climate enforcers, alarmist climate science, climate McCarthyism'' These all describe believers in climate change in a powerful and negative way. The noun phrases use words like ''alarmist'' and ''enforcers'' which have violent connotations making believers in climate change seem like bullies or aggressive people. The word ''alarmist'' makes the climate seem exaggerated or over played.
13.5.3
''cool Antarctica''
Skua- Another word for thief, after the arctic skua a bird which steals eggs to eat
Weather guesser- Meteorologist, as i9t is a difficult job and weather patterns are hard to understand
13.5.4
Jonathan Freedman refers to other nationalities (European ones) as a cliché. He says it is too easy for people to accept the simple images that these phrases conjure up. ''Brits are portrayed as class-conscious binge-drinkers utterly obsessed with the war. It's a thumbnail sketch, not the whole picture... The European image of the Brit- either pukingly drunk football fan or snooty city gent, both living off of past imperial glories, sullenly resenting being in Europe rather than ruling the world it's self is a cliché. Just as Brits know that every good French man wears a striped shirt and a beret, and that ruddy-faced Germans subsist on a diet of beer and sausage, so we know precisely what all those Europeans think of us''-Guardian. The phrase ''not the whole picture'' implies that reality is far more complicated than the stereotypes.
13.3.3 Hegemony
Hegemony- The control of a powerful group has over another (the dominant group influences opinion about what is being described)
Pejorative terms- A judgemental term that usually implies disapproval or criticism.
Representations can be turned into stereotypes and can be used by powerful groups to manipulate the public into accepting attitudes and points of view that are convenient for them (Hegemony)
analysis of Olympic logo:
5 colours represent the five main inhabited regions of the world, with the interlinked rings representing friendship and connection.
13.5.2 Representations
''the great green con, green zealots, climate enforcers, alarmist climate science, climate McCarthyism'' These all describe believers in climate change in a powerful and negative way. The noun phrases use words like ''alarmist'' and ''enforcers'' which have violent connotations making believers in climate change seem like bullies or aggressive people. The word ''alarmist'' makes the climate seem exaggerated or over played.
13.5.3
''cool Antarctica''
Skua- Another word for thief, after the arctic skua a bird which steals eggs to eat
Weather guesser- Meteorologist, as i9t is a difficult job and weather patterns are hard to understand
13.5.4
Jonathan Freedman refers to other nationalities (European ones) as a cliché. He says it is too easy for people to accept the simple images that these phrases conjure up. ''Brits are portrayed as class-conscious binge-drinkers utterly obsessed with the war. It's a thumbnail sketch, not the whole picture... The European image of the Brit- either pukingly drunk football fan or snooty city gent, both living off of past imperial glories, sullenly resenting being in Europe rather than ruling the world it's self is a cliché. Just as Brits know that every good French man wears a striped shirt and a beret, and that ruddy-faced Germans subsist on a diet of beer and sausage, so we know precisely what all those Europeans think of us''-Guardian. The phrase ''not the whole picture'' implies that reality is far more complicated than the stereotypes.
13.3.3 Hegemony
Hegemony- The control of a powerful group has over another (the dominant group influences opinion about what is being described)
Pejorative terms- A judgemental term that usually implies disapproval or criticism.
Representations can be turned into stereotypes and can be used by powerful groups to manipulate the public into accepting attitudes and points of view that are convenient for them (Hegemony)
Wednesday, 9 March 2016
Analysis of text in section 13.5
Representations text 13.5.2
The genre of this text is a newspaper article, this article is by Jonathan freedman. This text would have been found in a physical copy of a newspaper or an online version . The audience of this text would be someone who reads the guardian often or someone who is researching into stereotypes and how people react to them. The primary purpose of the text is to entertain, this is achieved by the sarcastic undertones of the text. The use of the stereotypes add to the elements of entertainment as they are laughable, this would appeal to a mainly English and European audience, this is because we are able to laugh about the stereotypes set by people who do not live in England/ Europe. The second purpose is to inform, this is achieved through the word ''cliché'', the noun plays off the stereotype set about British people, informing the reader that the stereotype is not valid. The readers expectations of this text would be that this is a serious article due to the use of the word ''war'' in the title as this word has violent connotations. By saying the phrase ''not the whole picture'' the writer is implying that the reality is far more complicated than the stereotypes set by society. The opening word ''Brits'' is a contraction for 'Britons' This adjective may have been selected to engage the audience via the use of contraction.
Monday, 22 February 2016
Conversation and Representation . . .
Transcript analysis
Libby: Hi (.) I work in a hairdressers and (.) I like (.) answer the phone do the tills and stuff/
Louise: /What stuff
- This interruption could show Louise trying to be supportive of Libby and attempting to get her to talk more specifically about the 'stuff' she is referring to.
Libby: like answer the phone (.) make sure like when people have like booked an appointment I'm gonna like get it in the right time to give them like about (.) give the hairdresser the right amount of time they need to do the hair (.) and uhm yeah that's a responsibility cos obviously if I get it wrong like four people could come in at once
- The use of the filler uhm could show that Libby is feeling uncomfortable talking about her occupation, this could also be because she is the most powerful participant in this situation and does not like to be the centre of attention. She also uses the word 'like' several times, this could show nervousness or that Libby is putting thought into what she is going to say about her job. Libby uses the elision 'gonna' and slang 'cos' when explaining how her job makes her responsible, this was said toward the end of Libby's air time this could be due to the fact that she has become more comfortable talking to her peers about her roles in the workplace.
Louise: Okay
Libby: And uhm yeah (.) great
_ This could show that she has run out of things, to say about her job, despite saying the word and which implies she had more to say, and wants someone else to take over the power role she is in.
A 4 second pause then happens as the most powerful participant wants to shift the power.
Neve: *Laughs*
-This could be a sign of nervousness shown by the participant as there has been a long period of silence where the power is free for anyone to take.
Libby: So what do you want to do
- The interrogative asked by Libby was aimed at Neve during this conversation although not vocalised she was looking in my (Neve's) direction which showed who the target of the question was.
Neve: Uhm dunno
- The use of the filler 'uhm' here shows that I am thinking about how to answer the question. This is also an example of an adjacency pair as the participant knew that the question was aimed at her even though this was not vocalised.
Libby: Do you have any responsibilities
Neve: No I don't have a job (.) I'm not cool enough to have a job (3) anyone else have any responsibilities(.)
- The long pause during the speakers turn could show anxiousness to talk about the subject, the open question 'anyone else have any responsibilities' is then asked showing the participant want's to shift the power suggesting they could feel uncomfortable being the centre of attention.
Louise: Yeah I drive a car (.) that's it
Neve: You do have to have responsibility driving along(.) like looking out for other cars(.) knowing when to stop.
- This could show the participant feels more comfortable when she wasn't the most powerful participant in the conversation.
Louise: I don't wanna crash (.) get injured
- Louise's airtime is short, this could be due to the fact that she is uncomfortable being the most powerful participant or it could be because the situation the conversation was carried out under was formal as it was a set task.
Alice: I did a life guard course (.) and first aid to learn how to be a life guard
-Although the participant Alice did not contribute to the conversation earlier on, this late contribution suggests that she is shy and prefers not to hold the power in conversations.
Neve: Ooohh
- This use of filler suggests that the participant is intrigued and could also propose that she has caught on to the fact that Alice is shy in this conversation and is attempting to get her to feel more comfortable and open up.
Alice: I learnt how to treat spinal injuries
- This contribution was spoken clearly and with power, suggesting that the participant had been building up the courage to add this to the discussion, showing that Alice is a timid speaker but that once she has built up enough courage she is able to talk using the position of power.
Saturday, 13 February 2016
Gender Representation . . .
Yorkie
The yorkie chocolate bar by nestle has an interestingly unique wrapper compared to other chocolate bars, it contains the slogans ''it's not for girls'' and ''do not feed the birds''. This wrapper conforms to gender stereotypes, pointing girls out as different and deficient. This links to Lakoff's Deficit model, suggesting that women are not as powerful as men and that their speech and actions are less important than men's. The words ''do not feed the birds'' makes it seem as if women are not worthy of this food, fitting the Deficit theory. This is also an example of semantic derogation with the key word being ''birds'' referring to women, although the origin of this word was used to talk about women in a good way it seems the new use of it is equal to saying a word like 'babe'.
BIC Pens For Her
This set of pens designed for women are in the colour scheme of mostly pinks, purples and pastel colours. As if the stereotypically female colours of the pens was not enough, the packaging the pens are surrounded by has a soft purple floral design to add to the stereotypes set for women. The fact that BIC released a range of pens for women comes across as slightly offencive to the female customers of BIC as it seems to suggest that they should not be using the regular pens as they are unsuitable for females. This connects to the deficit model with men being higher in status than women, eg the normal BIC pens are male and thus BIC created pens for women.
The yorkie chocolate bar by nestle has an interestingly unique wrapper compared to other chocolate bars, it contains the slogans ''it's not for girls'' and ''do not feed the birds''. This wrapper conforms to gender stereotypes, pointing girls out as different and deficient. This links to Lakoff's Deficit model, suggesting that women are not as powerful as men and that their speech and actions are less important than men's. The words ''do not feed the birds'' makes it seem as if women are not worthy of this food, fitting the Deficit theory. This is also an example of semantic derogation with the key word being ''birds'' referring to women, although the origin of this word was used to talk about women in a good way it seems the new use of it is equal to saying a word like 'babe'.
BIC Pens For Her
This set of pens designed for women are in the colour scheme of mostly pinks, purples and pastel colours. As if the stereotypically female colours of the pens was not enough, the packaging the pens are surrounded by has a soft purple floral design to add to the stereotypes set for women. The fact that BIC released a range of pens for women comes across as slightly offencive to the female customers of BIC as it seems to suggest that they should not be using the regular pens as they are unsuitable for females. This connects to the deficit model with men being higher in status than women, eg the normal BIC pens are male and thus BIC created pens for women.
Tuesday, 2 February 2016
Charity Language Representation. . .
RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)
This text has interesting graphology as when the webpage is first opened the reader is greeted by a large photograph of a bee, this mixed mode makes the website appealing to younger audiences as it is colorful and contains several images. Although this web page may appeal to younger audiences it also contains a variety of information about projects which the charity have carried out. Owing to the fact that the RSPB is a large and widely respected charity it has a large amount of organisational power. At the top of this website there are various clickable tabs which will take the visitor to different links surrounding information about the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
The next section of the page is titled ''Our mission'' this is surrounded by the vivid colour blue, this colour was chosen as blue is the first colour the human eye sees, making this part of the text very attractive. Under the title ''Our mission'' the text reads ''Our birds and wildlife are increasingly vulnerable in a rapidly-changing world. Together, we will create bigger, better, more joined-up spaces for nature to save our wildlife, and our shared home.'' This makes the reader feel included as the words ''our'' ''together'' ''we'' all give the reader a sense of responsibility and belonging with the rspb, this could be a use of the politeness strategy positive face.
As this particular text is a webpage the majority of the people visiting this page will be visiting it because they are already aware of the charity and would like to find out more about what the rspb do for wildlife or to find out about the reserves across the UK. The other main reason someone would look at this website is for research, eg students or children researching about the aims of the charity for school/college/uni work.
At the very top of this page the RSPBs logo and slogan is shown. The slogan reading ''giving nature a home'' personifies nature as if it is like a homeless person which the public can help by supporting the RSPB. This appeals to the more sensitive side of the audience in turn persuading them to donate to/ join the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.Link to the website- https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/whatwedo/
Language and representation- song lyrics . . .
Take your guess// Tom Rosenthal
I didn't walk how you said I should walk
I walk how I do walk, and that's fine
I didn't go how you said it would go
It went how it did go, and that's fine
[Whistling]
I look out the window some days
I see a million ways and that's fine
I didn't dance how I wanted to dance
I did a bit of prance and that's fine
Take your guess, spurious at best, can't you see its all just chaos
[Whistling]
I breathe in and then I breathe out
I've got a trillion doubts and that's fine
I took a road that wasn't but it was something
I chose and that's fine
Take your guess, spurious at best, can't you see its all just chaos
Take your guess, spurious at best, can't you see its all just chaos
I didn't go how you said it would go
It went how it did go, and that's fine
Take your guess, spurious at best
Can't you see its all just chaos
The phrase ''take your guess spurious at best, can't you see its all just chaos'' is repeated several times. The adjective ''spurious'', meaning false or fake, seems to be aimed at someone, suggesting this song is about an individual who may have treated the speaker poorly. Running with this theory, the phrase ''can't you see its all just chaos'' could be referring to their relationship, with the noun ''chaos'' describing the current situation. The speaker also says ''I've got a trillion doubts'' this could represent the speakers feeling of uncertainty about his relationship with the person this song is about. The words ''that's fine'' are repeated often in this text. The word ''fine'' is an interesting choice as feeling fine is to feel satisfied however it comes across as a snappy remark. the opposite of the true meaning of the word.
To summarise I think in this song the speaker is talking about a relationship, whether that is friendship or a romantic relationship, which has taken a bad turn with the other person in the relationship becoming controlling over the speaker.
I didn't walk how you said I should walk
I walk how I do walk, and that's fine
I didn't go how you said it would go
It went how it did go, and that's fine
[Whistling]
I look out the window some days
I see a million ways and that's fine
I didn't dance how I wanted to dance
I did a bit of prance and that's fine
Take your guess, spurious at best, can't you see its all just chaos
[Whistling]
I breathe in and then I breathe out
I've got a trillion doubts and that's fine
I took a road that wasn't but it was something
I chose and that's fine
Take your guess, spurious at best, can't you see its all just chaos
Take your guess, spurious at best, can't you see its all just chaos
I didn't go how you said it would go
It went how it did go, and that's fine
Take your guess, spurious at best
Can't you see its all just chaos
The phrase ''take your guess spurious at best, can't you see its all just chaos'' is repeated several times. The adjective ''spurious'', meaning false or fake, seems to be aimed at someone, suggesting this song is about an individual who may have treated the speaker poorly. Running with this theory, the phrase ''can't you see its all just chaos'' could be referring to their relationship, with the noun ''chaos'' describing the current situation. The speaker also says ''I've got a trillion doubts'' this could represent the speakers feeling of uncertainty about his relationship with the person this song is about. The words ''that's fine'' are repeated often in this text. The word ''fine'' is an interesting choice as feeling fine is to feel satisfied however it comes across as a snappy remark. the opposite of the true meaning of the word.
To summarise I think in this song the speaker is talking about a relationship, whether that is friendship or a romantic relationship, which has taken a bad turn with the other person in the relationship becoming controlling over the speaker.
Friday, 22 January 2016
Gender Research in Halla's absence
John Grey's popular book 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'
Most versions of the mars and venus myth cover these points:
- Language and communication matters more to women than it does to men.
- Women have better verbal skills than men.
- The goals using language of men tend to be about getting things done. However women's are more about making connections to other people.
- Men talk about facts and material things. Whereas women talk about feelings, people and relationships.
- Men have a competitive use of language and women have a cooperative use of language.
- Men and women tend to miscommunicate because of these differences in their use of language.
The book 'Man are from mars and women are from venus' comes across as patronising to men making them seem like emotionless bullies. This book seems to mostly cover old fashioned views of both sexes which can be proven wrong easily in this day and age.
O'Barr and Atkins's challenge to deficit theory
The 'women’s language' according to Lakoff consisted of; super-polite forms, apologising more, avoiding coarse language or expletives, speaking less frequently, hedges, empty adjectives, tag questions, hyper-correct grammar and punctuation, indirect requests and using tone to emphasise some words (usually at the end of a statement).
However when O'Barr and Atkins carried out a study of three men and three women they concluded that the speech patterns were “neither characteristic of all women, nor limited to only women”, proving Lakoff's theory wrong and supporting theirs.
This topic discusses gender differences in the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and written forms. In this study it was confirmed that gender related stereotypical patterns do exist in virtual environments as they do in face-to-face environments.
Beattie's challenge to Zimmerman and West
Dale Spender and Pamela Fishman challenge theories
The effect of written and computer-mediated forms on gendered language
Overall 321 independent effects were taken from 50 studies involving a total of 63889 users investigating gender differences in the use of computer-mediated communication. On average, female users had a much higher frequency of collaborative situations using computer mediated communication than males. And men used more authoritative statements, supporting Lakoff's theories on gender influencing language.
Geoffrey Beattie claims to have recorded 557 interruptions in around 10 hours of discussion (compared with Zimmerman and West recording 55). Beattie found that women and men interrupted
an equal ammount (men 34.1, women 33.8) – showing men did interrupt more, but not a statistically significant amount to back up Zimmerman and West's theories.
Dale Spender and Pamela Fishman challenge theories
Dale Spender advocates a reforming view of language ideas that sustain male power. She refers to the theories of Zimmerman and West, the view of the male as norm, she gives her own viewpoint on their work. She claims that it is especially difficult to challenge this power system, since the way that we think of the world reinforces the idea of male power.
Pamela Fishman argues in 'Interaction: the Work Women Do' (1983) that conversation between the opposite sexes sometimes fails, not because of differences in the way women talk, but because of how men respond in conversation, or don’t respond.
Also Fishman questions Robin Lakoff’s theories. 'In Conversational Insecurity (1990)' Lakoff suggests that asking questions shows insecurity and hesitancy in the way women communicate, Fishman however says that Women ask questions because of the power of using them as they are an attribute of interactions. Fishman also claims that men speak on average for twice as long as women in mixed-sex language interactions, dismissing Lakoff's theories.
Mary Beard's ideas about women's voices not being valued
Mary Beard discusses how women aren't perceived to be as powerful as men because of the way we have always valued men's opinions more throughout generations. She said ''as listeners we hear a female voice, we don't hear a voice that connotes authority; or rather we haven't learned how to hear authority in it''. She speaks about how we can not move away from this old fashioned way of thinking until people begin to realise that we see the female voice this way because of our history and the views passed down. Beard mentioned in an interview that if women aim to work in/ talk about a traditionally male role abuse will soon come and it's not what the woman would have said it's the fact that she said it.
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