So here is a fine link which takes you to 15 common gramma mistakes. Some are obvious but some are new! See what you know and do wrong!
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Thursday, 26 March 2015
CLA Theorists
Chomsky (1959)
Who: a theorist who supported the nature debate = believed we are born with innate ability to use language.
What: LAD - Language Acquisition Device. His theory suggests we are pre-programmed with this deep structure so that language can devlop. Chomsky's theory explains how children can understand sentences they've never heard before
Refuting this theory: Bard and Sachs (1977) argue that children don't learn to speak automatically. They need to communicate and interact with others – innateness alone is not enough.
"wrong when he suggests that children are born with detailed linguistic knowledge which is triggered by only minimal exposure to language"
B.F. Skinner (1959)
Who: a behaviourist theorist who supported the nurture debate.
What: language is gained through imitation and reinforcement. Aproval for a caregiver means that the child has more motivation to say it that way the next time.
Refuting this thoery: Children have to learn tens of thousands of words and complex grammar and syntax in a very short space of time. Virtuos errors are not from immitation such as "I cleaning my tooth" because caregivers/adults don't speak like that.
Piaget (1936)
Who: took a cognitive approach to language development.
What: Piaget observes that children initially view themselves as the centre of the universe believing that objects exist only in relation to themselves. At around 18 months children begin to realise that objects have an existence that is nothing to do with them. About relationship between language and thought.
Refuting this theory: though the theory only seems to stand up for the first 18 months of a child's life.
http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Lenneburg
Who: came up with the Critical Acquisition Hypothesis.
What: children need to be learning language before the ages of 12 - 13 and that once this period has passed language learning slowed down or in effect was no longer possible. Examples come from Geni and Victor (the feral child).
Refuting this theory: Some ask the question: Were Genie and Victor intellectually damaged from birth and incapable of learning how to speak?
Other ask: Were the speech therapists and specialists' methods inadequate in helping Genie and Victor? Would they have fared better in the care of others?
Vygostky (1978)
What: argued that a child is only able to acquire language when they are interacting with people in their environment and, in particular, in co-operation with his peers. Obviously, neither Genie nor Victor had the opportunity to do this.
http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Brunner
Who: suggests there is a LASS = Language Acquisition Support System.
What: caregiver support children's language development through social situations.
http://www.simplypsychology.org/bruner.html
Deb Roy (2010)
Who: theorist who filmed his son's development from 0 - 3. Named it the Speech Home Project.
What: that children's semantical ability outstrips their phonological ability. Also, caregivers scaffold their children's language, converge to it and use CDS.
Test yourself: http://quizlet.com/23965396/child-language-acquisition-theorists-flash-cards/
(there are some on here though which we won't use but there are the basics)
Click here for more: http://www.simplypsychology.org/language.html
Who: a theorist who supported the nature debate = believed we are born with innate ability to use language.
What: LAD - Language Acquisition Device. His theory suggests we are pre-programmed with this deep structure so that language can devlop. Chomsky's theory explains how children can understand sentences they've never heard before
Refuting this theory: Bard and Sachs (1977) argue that children don't learn to speak automatically. They need to communicate and interact with others – innateness alone is not enough.
"wrong when he suggests that children are born with detailed linguistic knowledge which is triggered by only minimal exposure to language"
B.F. Skinner (1959)
Who: a behaviourist theorist who supported the nurture debate.
What: language is gained through imitation and reinforcement. Aproval for a caregiver means that the child has more motivation to say it that way the next time.
Refuting this thoery: Children have to learn tens of thousands of words and complex grammar and syntax in a very short space of time. Virtuos errors are not from immitation such as "I cleaning my tooth" because caregivers/adults don't speak like that.
Piaget (1936)
Who: took a cognitive approach to language development.
What: Piaget observes that children initially view themselves as the centre of the universe believing that objects exist only in relation to themselves. At around 18 months children begin to realise that objects have an existence that is nothing to do with them. About relationship between language and thought.
Refuting this theory: though the theory only seems to stand up for the first 18 months of a child's life.
http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Lenneburg
Who: came up with the Critical Acquisition Hypothesis.
What: children need to be learning language before the ages of 12 - 13 and that once this period has passed language learning slowed down or in effect was no longer possible. Examples come from Geni and Victor (the feral child).
Refuting this theory: Some ask the question: Were Genie and Victor intellectually damaged from birth and incapable of learning how to speak?
Other ask: Were the speech therapists and specialists' methods inadequate in helping Genie and Victor? Would they have fared better in the care of others?
Vygostky (1978)
What: argued that a child is only able to acquire language when they are interacting with people in their environment and, in particular, in co-operation with his peers. Obviously, neither Genie nor Victor had the opportunity to do this.
http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Brunner
Who: suggests there is a LASS = Language Acquisition Support System.
What: caregiver support children's language development through social situations.
http://www.simplypsychology.org/bruner.html
Deb Roy (2010)
Who: theorist who filmed his son's development from 0 - 3. Named it the Speech Home Project.
What: that children's semantical ability outstrips their phonological ability. Also, caregivers scaffold their children's language, converge to it and use CDS.
Test yourself: http://quizlet.com/23965396/child-language-acquisition-theorists-flash-cards/
(there are some on here though which we won't use but there are the basics)
Click here for more: http://www.simplypsychology.org/language.html
Thursday, 19 March 2015
Spoken Language Terminology
Here is some is imporant terminlogy to revise from when you are looking at a spoken language text like a trasncript for CLA, Language Change or both.
Spoken Language – Genres of Speech
Referential Interaction – These are utterances communicate facts, such as the passing on of information in the classroom.
Planned speech – almost always written down first with the intention of being spoken later. Charcteristics
are: fewer non-fluency features, in ‘conversations' there are fewer overlaps and interruptions, the words that are used are very carefully chosen and in many cases the
register is more formal
Unplanned Speech - When conversation is free-flowing. Characteristics are: the
register is informal, there's a lot of interaction, there are a number of deictic expressions and there are interruptions and overlaps
Phatic Utterances – These are short greetings or exchanges that show that we are being polite or that we want to begin a conversation. They don't contain much meaning in themselves – but as indicators of our feelings and intentions, they are very important.
A deictic expression - It cannot be understood unless the context
of the utterance is known. Examples are ‘here’ and ‘there’.
Active Voice - When the subject in a sentence is doing the
action, the verb is said to be in the active voice.
Passive Voice - When the subject of the sentence is not
doing the action but is the recipient of the action, the verb is said to be in
the passive voice.
Interactions for writing - Writers have to
use different approaches e.g using the interrogative mood and/or the second person.
Colloquial - Characteristic of informal spoken language
or conversation.
Rhetorical - A persuasive variety of language (speech
and writing) often used in the public/political arena.
Pattern of three – This is a rhetorical
technique.
Connotation - The
association(s) suggested by a word. The subjective or personal part of lexical
meaning - which may include individual emotional associations.Overlapping - Where two or more speakers speak simultaneously.
Spoken Language – Conversation analysis
Verbal Cues -
asking a
direct question;
mentioning the name of the person you want to talk next, using tag
questions to prompt a
response, dropping the volume of speech and elongating a final syllable.
Non-Verbal
Cues – These are when the speaker wishes to stop talking.
Examples are: leaning back in a chair, adopting a relaxed pose and looking at a listener.
Examples are: leaning back in a chair, adopting a relaxed pose and looking at a listener.
Conversational
Dominance -
where one participant has more control over what is said than others.
|
Face
- Irving Goffman developed the idea of ‘face
needs' in the 1950s. He felt that we present a
particular image of ourselves to others in our conversations and that we try to
approach the person we are talking to in the ‘right' way – we adjust what he
termed our conversational ‘footing' to suit the individual.
Positive face - It means that we
want to be liked and approved of. We show an awareness of a person's positive
face needs when we greet or address them appropriately or offer compliments.
Negative face - It is not the opposite of positive face! It means that we know that
someone doesn't want to be imposed on or threatened. We show a sense of
someone's negative face needs by beginning a request with ‘I'm sorry to bother
you, but...' or we soften potentially unpleasant remarks by saying, ‘I don't
like to mention it, but...'.
The
Politeness Principle - Robin Lakoff maintained that speakers usually try
to follow three rules when talking to others. These rules were: don't impose, give
options and make your receiver feel good.
Brown and Levinson –
Positive politeness is shown when we: show people that we
like/admire/have sympathy with them and make jokes (that we know the person
will like), avoid disagreements – e.g. by choosing ‘safe' topics to talk about,
or by softening our own disagreements and assert what we have in common and are
in agreement.
Negative
Politeness is shown when we: are indirect to avoid intrusion, use hedges or
questions, defer to someone by giving a superior form of address – e.g. ‘sir'
and are apologetic.
Systematic frameworks for analysis, Exam techniques
Assonance – The repetition within successive words of similar vowel sounds.
Semantic Field – This is
a grouping of words with related and similar meanings by being connected
through a certain context.
Determiner – A words used before a noun to indicate quality, identity
and significance.
Preposition – A word that relates one words to another
Spoken Language, Exam techniques
Utterance - a spoken word, statement, or vocal sound.
Unvoiced
Pauses – a silent pause in speech.
Tag
Questions – A question attached to the end
of a statement.
Direct
Speech - This term is used to refer to
the exact words spoken by a speaker. The words are given between quotation
marks (" ") in writing.
Non
– fluency Features - Features
which demonstrate that speech is spontaneous rather than planned such as
hesitation, repetition, fillers.
Click on this link for more terminolgy: http://xtlearn.net/CCache/2/epic_FK2_Spoken%20language,%20Genres%20of%20speech/html/glossary.htm
Friday, 13 March 2015
Question and answers for language change
Language Change questions:
What are the main causes for language change?
Technology,
migration, political like wars, trade, work and urbanisation, popular culture,
globalisation/travel, religion, gender, science and technology, transport and
communication.
What are the ways in which language changes?
Semantic
shifts and narrowing, broadening, euphemism and cliché, lexical changes like
borrowing, affixation, compounds, blends and jargon, pragmatics of the
implication of language become shared knowledge, spellings being irregular,
discourse of how the text is laid out in relation to purpose and audience,
phonetics like accents, dialect, vowel shift and Estuary English and finally
graphology looking at fonts, images, colours and layouts for formality, moods and
feelings and how to capture the audience’s attention.
What are the key influential factors on the development of the English as accessible to all?
The
invention of the printing press by William Caxton so therefore a mass audience
for texts, Samuel Johnsons OE dictionary,
Prescriptive and descriptive attitudes, the need for Standard English,
the increase in the written word, the idea of disintegration by Robert Burchfield (1978), the invention of
the internet and it being able to be quickly updated like news articles.
What is the difference between prescriptive and
descriptive attitude to language use?
Prescriptive
– wants language to stay standard and keep grammar and punctuation the same. It
rejects non-standard terms like slang. Language change is seen as decay for
language. “ [Prescriptivism is the] policy of describing languages
as we would like them to be, rather than as we find them. Typical examples of
prescriptivist attitudes are the condemnation of preposition stranding and of
the split infinitive and a demand for It's I in place of the normal It's
me."
Descriptive
– where language changes without a judgement and recognises the importance of a
standard and a non-standard form. It is part of how language changes and is
worth studying wherever it is used. Supported by David Crystal and him saying:
“you can’t go into a garden and say that one flower is better that the other”
What did Johnson think his problems were with his dictionary? Are these problems still evident in dictionaries today?
What did Johnson think his problems were with his dictionary? Are these problems still evident in dictionaries today?
The
problems with his dictionary is that even though he tried to keep the
prescriptive approach is in idea to “fix” the English Language, it couldn’t
keep up with the ever changing use of lexis and semantics (the nature of the
language itself). Dictionaries defiantly going through the same problems today
as language is changing every year. However, they are more accepting of this
and try to include as many new words as possible which have become popular and
even non-standard like selfie and vape.
What is a “lingua franca” and to what extent was/is
English one?
Definition
from the OED: A language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
To
some extent this is true as the English has many word borrowed from languages
around the world like Latin and French, countries that used to belong to the
empire, however from the beginning it started as basic anglo-saxon and lots of
conquering has developed the English Language ever since. English has a West
Germanic language.
What are the prestigious forms of English now?
They are known as covert and
overt and are linked to dialects. Overt prestige is when a dialect is widely
recognised as being used by a culturally dominated group like RP for England.
Covert is when a dialect is used by a culturally known group but is seen as
inferior and is used to belong to a community like the idea of “street cred”.
How has politically correct language and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis influenced modern English usages?
Political Correctness - a term used to
describe language, ideas, policies, or behavior seen as seeking to minimize
offence to gender, racial, cultural, disabled, aged or other identity groups.
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - the theory that an individual's thoughts and
actions are determined by the language or languages that individual speaks.
These
two things are interlinked and are influential because they seem to control
language use and if thoughts or actions are negative then they should be
corrected. Example: you can’t sing “baa baa black sheep” anymore due to racist
connotations. There are some suggested that could be taken too far but in the
past you could consider this idea as important for the English language as it
helped to improve social progress.
Three examples of obsolete English grammar that you can make a reference to in the exam.
1.
"Thou", "thee", "thine" and "thy" -
pronouns that have dropped out of the main dialects of Modern English.
2. “Start’d” – contractions to show the past
3. Use of
the medial s in words
Find three features of modern
punctuation that take advantage of a lessening of prescriptivism.
1.'In order to protect your computer, you should do
the following: run a trustworthy anti-virus system such as AVG and keep
it updated.' - colon usage
2.The use of multiple '?!' as expression and shock
3. ':-)' use of punctuation to create faces
and expression
Find three neologisms from the past five years.
Find three neologisms from the past five years.
Oversharers, digital detox and tweet cred
Do an internet search to find an article that interests you on language uses. Find a key quote to memorize. How does that writer communicate their ideas?
“This is not the first time this has happened in history but certainly the increase in the pace of change has resulted in our language changing equally rapidly, and with it, our thoughts.” – From http://theconversation.com/how-technology-is-changing-language-and-the-way-we-think-about-the-world-35856.The author uses technology as an example for how language has changed over time and affected ho we know language today.
Read at least one chapter from a book
from a library about language change; identify how the attitudes expressed in
it are a product of when it was written.
'Language Change' by Adrian Beard. Page 49-51 - Text Messaging. Published in 2004.
Descriptive. - Although gives examples of how it would be prescriptive. Doesn't seem to take sides. 'emoticons are the sketch of imagination, iconic representations of an action or emotion'. There are reasons for the conventions; the limit of words, 60 characters, to be playful and inventive, privacy - silly, sexual, informative. 'ideal for criminals, stalkers and bullies'. When text language is used in a GCSE exam, is it really wrong? Should it be marked as incorrect? If people can understand what is meant, and that’s how people in reality speak, why should it be any different in an exam?
'Language Change' by Adrian Beard. Page 49-51 - Text Messaging. Published in 2004.
Descriptive. - Although gives examples of how it would be prescriptive. Doesn't seem to take sides. 'emoticons are the sketch of imagination, iconic representations of an action or emotion'. There are reasons for the conventions; the limit of words, 60 characters, to be playful and inventive, privacy - silly, sexual, informative. 'ideal for criminals, stalkers and bullies'. When text language is used in a GCSE exam, is it really wrong? Should it be marked as incorrect? If people can understand what is meant, and that’s how people in reality speak, why should it be any different in an exam?
What does gender theory reveal about English use
through the ages?
Stereotypical language use for females has changed e.g lots of adjectives and attributes that make women seem inferior and looked down on by men have been challenged and made women as equal as men. Also, language that women could use has changed. For example in Tudor times women weren’t allowed to use colloquial and offensive terms against men whereas today they can.
Stereotypical language use for females has changed e.g lots of adjectives and attributes that make women seem inferior and looked down on by men have been challenged and made women as equal as men. Also, language that women could use has changed. For example in Tudor times women weren’t allowed to use colloquial and offensive terms against men whereas today they can.
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