Accent Article . . .

In the style of the guardian

Audience are someone interested in how accents affect the way people are perceived

Does your accent define your personality?

oo-rite me babbers, dead yampy, proper job.

Survey of attractive accents results ^

All over the UK we are brought up in our local communities and learn how to speak with an accent which sounds the same as our family and friends' from the area, but how many people dislike the way we are naturally tuned speak? Every day there are over 47 accents used in Britain, surely we should celebrate such diversity?

'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder', or in this case intelligence is in the ear of the listener. No matter where you come from people make assumptions on your character based on the way you behave, but it seems that most of all the way you speak and look (using body language) are the key factors in this judgemental decision making. Although there is now a much more diverse range of accents in the media, the judgement of certain people caused by accent is still very much present.

Dr Alexander Baratta from the University of Manchester did a study regarding something he calls 'accentism', this is where people are discriminated against because of their accents, he describes it as somewhat similar to racism. A third of people questioned said that they were "ashamed" about thinning or changing their accents, and they only do so to 'fit in'. Professor Baratta says that going in to the world with a voice that is not your true self can "undermine your sense of being", and that those who do may have a problem with their identity.

Although there are still prejudices surrounding accents, they should not and do not define our personalities, nobody should feel as if they need to change the way they interact using speech. Talk in a certain way for you, not for fear of judgement.

Bibliography:
Dr Alexander Baratta's Study of accentism

Milroy's Belfast Study . . .

During his studies in Belfast Milroy investigated three working-class communities, Ballymacarrett (a Protestant area in East Belfast), the Hammer (a Protestant area in West Belfast) and the Clonard (a Catholic area in West Belfast), all of these areas had a high rate of unemployment. She found that the Hammer and the Clonard communities both had unemployment rates of around 35%, which the study shows affected the social relationships.
Men from these areas were shown to be doing more domestic tasks and the communities seem to have blurred stereotypical gender roles with men and women swapping 'duties' around the house. When researching in to this Milroy used both an interview style and a spontaneous style of questioning, revealing older men used slang in both types of questioning.
She discovered that men used rounded vowels 61% of the time where as women only used the 20% of the time. The conclusion Milroy drew from this was that women are more linguistically aware/ better at languages generally, they make a better effort to use the pronunciation they judge as appropriate to the situation, also ''women were much more inclined than men to look for work outside the locality'' meaning they had weaker links. 

Bibliography

http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language/research/milroy.html

https://prezi.com/imbhlnfxy2re/milroy-and-milroy-belfast-study/

Jennifer Lawrence . . .

The context of this text explains that actress Jennifer Lawrence is both upset and angered after reading the postings from the Sony hack which revealed that she was earning a substantial amount less than her male co-stars in one recent film. The text is a post by Jennifer Lawrence on the social media site facebook, explaining her thoughts and views on this recent discovery. During the post she writes about how she has never talked about feminism much before as she didn't want to seem like she was only talking about an issue because it was ''trending', but the Sony hack seems to have given Lawrence the last push to make her talk about these views and feelings. 

When reading this text I noticed that Jennifer Lawrence has used both some 'male' and 'female' features (according to Robin Lakoff) in her writing. The use of the short sentence ''Fuck that.'' is a typically male way of speaking as it is classed as vulgar behaviour showing frustration. Another way Jennifer Lawrence uses masculine language is when she talks about somebody who worked for her, ''I spoke my mind and gave my opinion in a clear and no-bullshit kind of way'' This type of language is viewed as a typically male way to speak, being blunt and concise with words, according to Lakoff. One sentence in particular at the beginning of the text stands out to me as she has used both a 'male' and 'female' style of speech simultaneously, ''but I fucking forgot, okay?'' This is interesting because according to Robin Lakoff's book 'language and the woman's place' when the word ''fucking'' is used it is seen as a male thing to do often adding to the stereotypical image of masculinity and anger whereas the use of tag questions such as the one Lawrence used '', okay?'' is something stereotypically a woman uses to gain reassurance. This could be a subtle way of showing feminist ideas, by destroying stereotypes set by older views and making speech equally used by men and women. Personally, I do not agree with Robin Lakoff's opinions of spoken language and genders, describing women as detailed, shy and humorless and men as blunt, angry and loud.

Overall, I agree with Jennifer Lawrence's post as it is unfair and incorrect for someone to be paid less than an equal co-star because of their gender. As time goes on and women are becoming very much an equally accepted power in society, why shouldn't women (both highly successful and less well known) be payed as much as men of equal positions in the workplace. However this can be argued against as for the recent film 'american hustle' which is the film in question Jennifer Lawrence worked 19 days, however her male co-stars Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale both worked for 46 and 45 days for double the pay that Lawrence received, as these numbers show she may have just been paid less as she did not work as many days as Cooper and Bale did. Although she wouldn't have earned exactly the same amount if she worked the same hours, the numbers would not be so dramatically different.

Bibliography: 

 http://deadline.com/2015/10/jennifer-lawrences-equal-pay-american-hustle-star-salaries-political-films-1201586975/

Jennifer Lawrence's post source- sheet handed out in class

Article on accent and dialect . . .

A change in accents and dialect?

As England is a small country many people who do not live here or haven't visited may believe in that classic stereotype of everyone sounding like they live in middle class London. When in actual fact we have an extremely diverse amount of different dialects, which are now growing with more accents being created at increasing rates by mixing several different accents together. 

At this point in time there are a lot more ways for people to move around cities and countries on a regular basis, meaning other parts of the world's languages and accents are heard and remembered by travellers and they then come home and tell friends and family who then begin to use it, this is how it starts, soon after several groups start using a word or phrase and it becomes part of their dialect. The dialects of many cities are growing rapidly because of this and the fact that many places have such a diverse culture. It's not only travel which causes language diversity, the likes of social media, t.v, radio etc all have had a part to play in this dramatic increase.

There are many different types of dialects including Geographical dialect (Where the way you talk depends on your geographical location) and Social dialect (Where the way you speak depends on your class and/or the people you are surrounded by). The main dialects used throughout the UK include: Northern, Cheshire, Cumbrian, Geordie, Lancastrian, Mackem. Mancunian, Northumbrian, Pitmatic, Scouse, Smoggie, Yorkshire, East midlands, West midlands, Black country, Brummie, Potteries, Telford, East anglian, Norfolk, Suffolk, Southern, Received pronunciation, Higher received pronunciation, Cockney, Essaxon, Estuary, Kentish, Multi-cultural London, Sussex, West country, Anglo-cornish, Bristolian, Scottish English, Highland english,Welsh english, Cardiff, Gower, Ulster english, Belfast, Derry, South ulster, Manx english, Guernsey english, Jersey english. Each one of these is a unique way of using the English language, with these being mixed together with accents from other countries our way of communicating with each other becomes more diverse each day.


Bibliography:

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/dialectsofenglish.html   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialects_of_the_English_language#United_Kingdom

Language Diversity . . .

Sociolinguistics- The study of Language Diversity, the social variables that influence language ( gender,age,region,ethnicity,occupation).

Sex- What makes someone male or female biologically determined (in relation to their reproductive organs).

Gender- What makes someone maleor female in relation to social/ cultural expectations.

Theory- Based on research not just personal experience/ observation


Group task- language and gender activities

Things men discuss in men only social groups:

Relationships
Gossip

Things women discuss in women only social groups:

Relationships

Appearance

Gossip

Menstruation

Things men and women discuss in mixed gender social groups:

Advice, General topics (tv, music, games, places), Sexuality, Masturbation, Relationships, Food, Education, Work, Family, Friends

What do men want from a conversation with other men:

Validation for actions (reassurance)

Acceptance of masculinity

Banter/ Jokes

What do women want from a conversation with other women:

Emotional support

Validation for actions (reassurance)

Advice

What do men want from a conversation with women:

Emotional support

Advice on the opposite sex

What do women want from a conversation with men:

Compliments

Advice on other sex

To be treated equally

What men use to insult other men:

Gay 

A****e

D**k

C**k

P***y

Girl

F****t

What men use to insult women:

C**t

A*****e

S**t

S**g

W***e

Spoilt

What women use to insult other women:

A****e

S**t

S**g

W***e

Chav

What women use to insult men:

Little S**t

F**k Boy

A*****e

Pig

Chav

Arrogant

Men use language in a competitive way:

Men use more direct statements

Men speak quickly and loudly

Men use insults a lot to assure dominance

Men speak all at once

Women use language to reinforce personal relationships:

Women use language to show they care

Women speak slowly to give reassurance

Women use past experiences to make a situation better

Women use more detail

TED Talks on language

1 Ethan Zuckerman: Listening to global voices

Ethan Zuckerman explains how we often choose to only see things on social media that we have similar interests to or people that we relate with. When talking about the early stages of technology and the internet he says'' the prediction was that the internet was going to be an incredibly powerful force to smooth out cultural differences '' Although when searching online or using social media we may think we are involved with a variety of cultures when infact we are just browsing our own interests and are most likely just viewing images of a place different to where we live which is tricking us into thinking that we are knowledgeable on several cultures/ countries.

2 Jamila Lyiscott: 3 ways to speak English

Jamila Lyiscott show how one person can use the English language in so many different ways, she lists the different 'tongues' that she uses ''Home, School and Friends''. She talks about these types of speech as if they are all completely different languages and she calls herself ''tri-lingual'' suggesting that is is a skill for people to understand and speak these versions of the English language on a daily basis; as many of us do now.

3 John McWhorter: Txting is killing language. JK!!!

John McWhorter explains how texting has enabled us to type text in the way we speak he gives an example using 'LOL'. McWhorter goes on to explain how 'lol' is now used as a way of expressing empathy. One person might text ''I love the font your using, btw'' then a reply from the other reading ''lol thanks gmail is being slow rn'' -This shows empathy towards their feelings about the font being used being terrible.

Language & Power Transcript . . .

1)  What do you notice about the use of proper nouns and/ or pronouns in referring to people and events concerned?

In this text I have noticed that Barrister uses pronouns very often when talking to Mr Neil, ''the rear of your car (.) now (.) did anything happen to you (.) as a result of driving your car'' This shows that the Barrister is intent on making it clear that everything said was because of Mr Neil's actions. The use of personal pronouns emphasises the sense of 'finger pointing' at Mr Neil and his current situation in court. The micro pauses ''(.)'' shows that the Barrister is thinking about what he will ask Mr Neil and it also suggests that he could be trying not to slip up and loose his temper with the way Mr Neil isn't taking the questions in the court room very seriously show by the when he is ''[laughing quietly]''.

2) Which parts of the dialogue seem prepared or part of courtroom conventions and which seem spontaneous?

The Barrister uses both spontaneous and court room talk, an example of the spontaneous is, ''you put two and two together Mr Neil and made five'' This shows his frustration with Mr Neil's response to being criticised about his actions. An example of courtroom conventions is, ''that didn't cross your mind at all?'' This is an example of double questioning which shows that he wants to be sure of Mr Neil's response being the truth. 

3) Who seems to have the most power in the dialogue and why?

Although the Barrister is in a position of power and seems as if he would come across as the most powerful speaker in the text it seems that Mr Neil is in fact the one in power in this conversation. I can infer this from the text when the conversation over laps with Mr Neil talking over the Barrister ''or not?'' from the Barrister and '' I don't'' from Mr Neil as he answers the question before the Barrister is finished asking it. This suggests that Mr Neil is not afraid of the Barrister and dares to talk over him in a formal setting such as in the court, the fact that it is in court makes it all the more powerful as it is the Barristers job which would put him in a place of power over the interviewee (Mr Neil). Another reason that Mr Neil seems to have the most power in this text is the amount of micro pauses the Barrister uses throughout, ''(.)''. This frequent use of the micro pause shows that the Barrister id 'treading carefully' with his speech as he is supposed to act in a formal and respectful manner at his place of work in the court. The use of micro pauses could however also suggest that he is nervous around Mr Neil and feels uncomfortable in the current situation.

4) What else seems puzzling/ interesting/ unusual and why?

Something unusual in this text is the emphasised words shown by the underlined text, ''shopped you to the police'' This shows when the Barrister is putting emotion in to what he is saying and it also suggests that he is frustrated with Mr Neil's denial of knowing anything about the incident. This seems to be used most when the Barrister is talking spontaneously and expressing his emotions rather than using courtroom conventions and formal monotone speech. 

Comments on controversial issues blog post. . .

The controversial Issue I had chosen was Climate change.

The person voicing their opinion in blog post 1 was a sixteen year old female who was extremely interested in the natural world, for this person's voice I used some of my own views on the topic chosen as well as adding some facts I had found from a website and some I already knew of. (Website linked in bibliography)

To make this post more realistic I used facts and statistics such as ''The 2010 Anderegg study found that 97-98% of publishers that are active in the field of climate research agree that human activity is primarily responsible for climate change.'' This makes the character seem knowledgeable and helps to portray their personality as a person who likes to validate their opinion with evidence. At the end of her post she lists a number of ways people can help to stop climate change ''There is so much you can do to save this world we live in, from small tasks such as recycling and...'' This was used to show how enthusiastic she is to make a change and better the world by reducing the damage humans cause on a daily basis. This person comes across as someone who is interested in science and how the earth works, this is shown by how much evidence she uses and how she speaks with conviction ''As the most self aware and knowledgeable organisms on this planet we must act now if we are ever going to save our precious planet.''. When describing the amount of evidence there is to support her point she says ''Humans have caused climate change and there is an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence to say so.'' The adjective ''overwhelming'' is very strong here as not only does it describe the amount of reasons we have caused pollution and what it has done to our earth, but i feel that it also describes the amount of pollution in the atmosphere as if it is choking our planet of any naturally produced gasses which help to keep the ecosystem going as we pump unnatural fossil fuels into it by burning oil and coal at an ''overwhelming'' rate.

The target audience of this post is people who are unsure about the causes of climate change and those who wish to find out what they can help to stop it. The audience could also be people who disagree with humans being blamed for climate change as the writer could be trying to convince them otherwise. The reader could find this post by looking up the title of the blog post or typing into Google (other search engines available) a sentence or words that are  in this blog post, the viewer may already follow the blog so could also find it by looking in their reading list on Blogger.

The person voicing their opinion in blog post 2 was a twenty year old male who was built upon the stereotype set by older people on the way young people speak and behave, he uses slang when speaking and it's rather than it is.

The reason he is writing about this topic is expressed in his first sentence ''I'm fed up of climate change being blamed on us for no reason.'' This suggests to the audience that he has seen/heard a lot of accusations that humans are responsible for the current state of the earth and that he does not agree with what has been said. This person uses several techniques in their post such as rhetorical questions, ''so why be bothered?'' This makes this person seem like a social individual however it could also come across as if they have a fairly care free approach to life. Another reason he uses rhetorical questions often within this post could be because he feels as if the points he is making are extremely obvious and that everybody should know the fact he is stating is blatantly true. To improve the sense of personality to fit the stereotype I have used some slang words such as ''fink'' and ''don't'' this conveys their idiolect in a casual light, fitting them to this stereotype created by the older generation. Considering blog post 2 is about how this person disagrees with how humans are being 'blamed' for climate change he knows a lot of facts about it, this suggests that this person wanted to prove himself with facts and statistics such as ''the temperature of the earth has been within the -/+5 °f range of the past 3,000 ish years'' meaning he may feel like people would not take him seriously if he could not prove any points he made with scientific evidence. 

The target audience of this post is anyone who is unsure of the causes of climate change or someone who believes that climate change is happening because of the human race. The audience could find this blog post by typing in the title of the post into Google (other search engines are available) or by typing in words or sentences which are in the blog post into the search engine, alternatively if the reader follows the blog by person 2 it will be reachable via the reading list on blogger. Blog 2 is also a lot shorter than blog 1 this may be due to the fact that they are not as enthusiastic as person 1 is about this topic.

View the original post here
Edited 13/10/15

Opinionated blog posts on Climate Change. . .

The 'controversial issue' chosen was climate change

Blogger 1 is a 16 year old female who is a wildlife enthusiast.

Blogger 2 is a 20 year old male who's voice is a stereotype of how 'the youth of today' are viewed by older people.

Blog 1-

Causes of Climate change:

Humans have caused climate change and there is an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence to say so. The 2010 Anderegg study found that 97-98% of publishers that are active in the field of climate research agree that human activity is primarily responsible for climate change. Also a survey that was carried out by German scientists Bray and Von Storch found that 83.5% of climate scientists believe human activity is causing ''most of recent'' global climate change. 

Rising levels of gases produced by humans has created the greenhouse effect which is warming the earth. As sunlight hits the earth, some of the warm this absorbed into the atmosphere such as CO2 Methane and Nitrous Oxide. These gases trap heat and cause the planet to warm through a process called the greenhouse effect. Since 1751 around 337 billion metric tons of CO2 have been released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels.

The rise in atmospheric CO2 over the last century was clearly caused by human activity, as it has occurred at an extremely fast rate much faster than natural climate changes could produce. Over the past 650,000 years, atmospheric CO2 levels did not rise above 300 ppm until the mid 20th century. Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have risen from about 317 ppm in 1958 to 400 ppm in 2013.
As the most self aware and knowledgeable organisms on this planet we must act now if we are ever going to save our precious planet. There is so much you can do to save this world we live in, from small tasks such as recycling and using a bus rather than driving or even walking or cycling if possible, turning off lights and switches when they are not being used, trim your waste by making a compost and using brown food bins to larger parts we can play by reducing our carbon footprint by flying less, switching to energy efficient cars using electric power rather than fuel, getting involved with local projects to raise awareness and speaking to local representatives about changes we can make in the community. Lots of people plus frequent small actions equals a big change and this could make a fantastic difference to our planet in a major way.

Blog 2-

Why climate change is made  up:

I'm fed up of climate change being blamed on us for no reason. 
The rise in the temperature of the earth has been within the -/+5 °f range of the past 3,000 ish years meaning it's not a crazy change, so why be bothered? Plus big levels of carbon dioxide don't mean warming, shown by the earth's climate around 450 million years ago which was a time of glaciation not warming with carbon levels 5 times higher than now. Global cooling and warming is caused by change in the heat of the sun, not by people. Sea levels have been slowly getting higher for thousands of years and this rise has nothing to do with humans. I fink 'global warming' is a lie to get people to stop driving and littering so much.

Bibliography -

 http://climatechange.procon.org/#arguments

Edited- 09/10/15

Kanye for president 2020. . .

Article 1 - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3247863/Kanye-West-confirms-plan-run-president-2020-calls-Ben-Carson-brilliant-guy-revealing-spent-weeks-trying-contact-Republican-hopeful.html

Article 2 - http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/sep/03/why-kanye-west-would-be-the-best-president-in-us-history-seriously

The article in The Guardian is different to the article in the Daily Mail in many different ways. Firstly The Daily Mail uses quotes from an interview with Kanye West where as The Guardian uses quotes from several of Kanye's songs and talks about what kind of president this could make him. The mail is more about Kanye's views on becoming president, when speaking in an interview on this topic Kanye said '' I’ve got five years before I go and run for office and I’ve got a lot of research to do, I’ve got a lot of growing up to do. '' Where as the guardian seems focused on What type of president he might become based on the lyrics he uses in his music ''And if you're losin' your high then smoke again- Get 'em high (2004)'' They use this lyric to suggest that West will probably be pro-drug reform.
The Daily Mail also seems to be more formal than the Guardian as it uses facts and quotes whereas The Guardian seems to be making suggestions and accusations towards what Kanye is going to do if he is elected leader. '' West said; 'It’s fun to be a rock star, and I’ll never not be one I guess, but there’ll be a point where I become my mother’s child. 

'With all the things I’ve done that people would consider to be accomplishments, what’s the point where I become the person that Donda and Raymond West raised? My parents’ child.' '' -The Daily Mail

'' He understands whats wrong with contemporary america: 'The system broken, the schools closed, the prisons open- power(2010)' '' - The Guardian 

The Daily Mail also has more mixed media than The Guardian...

The Daily Mail contains:

• Images
• Text
• Videos
• Links
• Quotes
• summary
• captions
• headline

The Guardian contains:

• Text
• Images
• Quotes
• Headline

The use of mixed mode in The Daily Mail makes the article more appealing as most people would rather look at a piece of text that has images and colour to accompany it rather than a wall of writing.

English Language Poems. . .

Love's Language By Ella Wheeler Wilcox - http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/love-s-language/

This poem describes the way love is portrayed using the English language and body language, and how someone who has fallen in love would behave. I think that this poem is about one person falling in love with another and eventually finding out that the other person loves them back. This poem starts each stanza with a rhetorical question asking how love speaks and then this question is answered throughout the rest of the stanza. The poem has five verses and it also uses several rhyming couplets (e.g... 'fire' and 'higher')


English Language By Linda Winchell - http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/english-language-2/

This poem explains how the English language is both perfect and imperfect with all of the ways language is graded with grammar spelling and nouns ect and how everyone makes mistakes and can still understand what each other are saying. This poem contains 11 stanzas and has rhyming couplets (e.g... 'told' and 'bold'). I like this poem as it shows how despite having an extremely complex language full of perfect words for everything we are still able to understand the mistakes we make and how we are able to understand what other people mean when they make grammatical errors.

My language themed poem:

Language is used all over the globe,
Used to love,
Used to hate,
Used for all of the above,

Language is written across the world,
Written to show you care,
Written to show emotion,
Written to show your there,

Language is spoken on every continent,
Spoken in grief,
Spoken in happiness,
Spoken to show relief,

Language is shown over Earth,
Shown through stance,
Shown through actions,
Shown through dance,

Language is interpreted by everyone,
Interpreted in art,
Interpreted in life,
Interpreted in death,

Language has many modes.

Youth speech article. . .

If you look at the change in the English language over the last 20 years you might think that it is not the same language at all.

Slang/abbreviations 

Over the last 5 years a new type of dialect has emerged in the English language, with words like 'Fleek' (looking good) and 'Bae' (before anyone else) being used more and more in daily conversations between friends. More words have been emerging in the last 2 years because of things like social media which are causing these words to become so popular.The use of this 'text speech' is baffling parents and adults who don't have any link to social media as they are hearing it more often when out in public. A survey was carried out and 86% of parents who took part in the survey said that they felt teens spoke an entirely different language on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. This is proof that the English language is evolving over time into a set of sub-languages frequently used by young people across the British Isles.

Fillers

When you think of fillers you most likely think of 'um' and 'er' but now teenagers are using words as fillers such as 'Like'. The use of word fillers is infuriating to several people such as actress Emma Thompson who says that this makes her feel ''insane''. However some Language experts say that this is simply a way of breaking up sentences as our brains process what to say next. John Ayto editor of the oxford dictionary of slang says, ''Fillers are a way we all stall time when speaking and historically always have. it has nothing to do with sloppiness''. But why does this irritate some people? Robert Groves explains that ''using 'um may seem more correct to Emma Thompson because using 'like' as a filler is not a feature in her language'' So if a word is not a feature of some peoples idiolect they can become confused as to why they use it and the more often they hear this word the more aggravated they become. We all have our own quirky phrases and we pick them up and pass them on from person to person so the example of the word 'like' it has caught on by being passed from friend to friend. if they (young people) do deploy the sort of language they're using on the streets in formal settings then it could well be a disadvantage to them but at other times its quite clearly the way they get along, the way that they signal they belong in a group, the way that they fit in.'' ''And we all do that in out professional lives as well. We've got all our acronyms and our little words that we use to send a signal.- I'm one of the club'' says Professor Clive Upton.


Sources-  http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/01/icymi-english-language-is-changing-faster-than-ever-says-expert

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11426737

How diversity in English Language is valued. . .

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/article209405.ece - last accessed 15/09/15

It's all raait! It's a new black-white lingo

In this article linguists have discovered England's first multi-ethnic dialect; meaning that we have adapted to speaking using phrases, words and sounds from places all around the world. The most prominent ones seem to be Cockney, Geordie, Jamaican Creole and Bengali. It seems that this type of speech is becoming more and more popular amongst people in England as the cultural diversity increases. The majority of people appear to be thinking that this is a great thing for London as it is allowing people to mix with several cultures and have more diverse friendship groups. This type of speech has mostly been affecting young people and teens as they are growing through online role-models and their presence in social media. However some people think that this is not a good thing for youth as it is affecting their understanding of the standard English language.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/from-the-mouths-of-teens-422688.html - last access 16/09/15

From the mouths of teens


This article is all about how slang has become apart of everyday language for teens across England. The reporters in this article record a conversation between two teens and later got one boy from a secondary school in London to 'translate' and explain what the slang words mean. Researchers are calling this type of multicultural slang speech MLE (Multicultural London English) whereas most people would describe someone speaking this way as ''he's speaking like a black boy but he's just speaking like a London boy''. Professor Paul Kerswill of Lancaster University says that ''Adolescence is the life stage at which people most willingly take on new visible or audible symbols of group identification... fashions specific to this age group change rapidly. Fashion and music often go together, and these in turn are often associated with social class and ethnicity. The same is true of language'' This explains that teens are the most likely to have picked this up from music and fashion meaning that they have been influenced to talk this way by something/someone. The study shows that this type of language is most noticeable when they express them selves, such as when explaining a conversation ''i was like'' instead of ''i said''. Kerswill also describes this way of speaking as "It's a real dialect rather than simply a mode of speech, and there's already evidence that it's spreading to other multicultural cities like Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester. It'll become more mainstream through force of numbers and continued migration, and because it's considered cool." Where he can see that this is a new phenomenon others do not see it in that light such as one young boys mother who says "I can't understand a word he's saying sometimes''. With the way this type of dialect is growing in numbers we will soon all have no choice but to understand what is being said.

Spoken elements in advertisment texts. . .

Here is a summary of the adverts I have found and what I think they mean...

I found an advert on a billboard about Virgin Holidays, it read :

'' It's time to escape with virgin''

The word ''It's'' is the spoken element in this text, I think it is used to appear friendly to people viewing the advert who are potential customers, this is used to seem as if a friend is talking to you and is recommending Virgin holidays to you as this is an informal way of writing which is not something you expect from a large respected company like Virgin. 

I also found an advert for Ribena in a news paper, it read:

'' The fruitiest, Tastiest, Juiciest, Blackcurrantiest Ribena. You can't get any more Ribenary''

In this advert they have made up some words to describe the new Ribena drink, making this advert informal. If this was a formal advert you would expect to see real descriptive words not made up words such as ''Ribenary''. However with this informal element and the unique tactic of creating words it makes people talk about the advert for the product which will in turn make people talk about their product.

Liked and disliked words of the English language. . .

A group of people were asked to write down a word they liked and a word they disliked, this is a list of the outcomes:

Slut, c**t, bellend, flower, love, pop, bubbles, literally, like, trust, sweat, mint, nugget, gravy, asparagus, honey, sprout, amazing, lush, naive, inconvenient, peng, sanguine, fraught.

The words highlighted in green are liked words and the ones highlighted red are disliked words.
From this I grouped these words into some categories:

1 Derogative words/insults:
   Slut, C**t, Bellend

2 Pretty words:
   Flower, Love, Pop, Bubbles

3 Words people missuse/ slang:
    Literally, like, sweat, mint, trust

4 Food;
   Nugget, Gravy, Asparagus, Honey, Sprout

5 Adjectives:
   Amazing, Lush, Naive, Inconvenient, Peng, Sanguine, Fraught

From these groups I noticed some patterns some of which several groups fell into. Groups 1,3 and 4 were full of words that are mostly disliked. Group 5 was mostly liked words. Group 2 was full of words that were all liked.
From this I can establish that most people dislike when words are strongly hateful or when they are used in the wrong context or as a form of slang. I can also deter that people disliked the words of food that they didn't enjoy eating, as if the word made them think of the horrible taste in their mouths when eating it. Also I can see that people liked words that sounded euphonious and words that had meaning behind them.