Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Transcript of recorded lunchtime conversation

Transcript taken from lunchtime conversation

Person 1: You got a free next

Person 2: yeah I do 

Person 3: He tried to sell it to me for like twenty quid (1) [-I was like[ what th]e fuck are you on 
                                                                                        Person 1 [whistles] 

(Laugh) (3)

Person 3: do you have a lot of frees? 

Person 1: yeah (.) all the time

Person 3: did you know person 4 saw person 5 e[arlier?] 
                                                             Person 1: [where?!]

Person 4: at the train station (2)

Person 1 (cough) 

Person 3: He didn’t ask about you though (.) [ha-ha] 
                                                     person 1: [ah why?] 
                                                           Person 4: [nah he did ask about you] (.) he said (.) how’s person 2 

Person 1: n[o]
    person 4: [nah he did seriously] (1) he said he aint seen you since May. 

 (.) Person 1: merr

 (3) Person 2: You got a free fifth? 

 Person 3: y[eah]
  Person 2: [oi p]erson four we have one now init

 Person 4: yeah [mate]
         person 2: [Every]one’s going home, sick

 Person 4: He aint going home

 Person 1: i[nit Aaah]h!
 Person 2: [I'm going ]sleep (2) gonna have a wild one tonight 

 Person 4: nice (.) 

Person 1: why you going sleep 

 Person 2: Beca[use (.) I want to?]
         Person 4: [I'm behind on sleep by] like 8 hours, ah shit!

By Dan Hunt

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Linguistic guide


 

A guide to Linguistic methods
Linguist – Another word for language
Before we begin I must run you through the basic methods to find out why we use certain linguistic patterns. Here they are:
Graphology – the text, what it looks like visually
Discourse structure – structure of the text
Lexis – Another way of saying ‘words’
Semantics – The meaning of words
Pragmatics – Implied meaning of words
Grammar – spelling, punctuation, structure of language
Phonology – The sound of language, how certain words are said. E.g.: advertising uses this a lot
 Now I will go over the key linguistic methods to help you to understand it further.
Graphology
The features that contribute to the appearance of a text on a page. Here’s a list of factors you should be looking for when searching for signs of graphology:
.Layout
.Font
.Size
.Style
.Paragraph size
.Colour of text
.Pictures/illustrations
.Subheadings
.Italics
Another feature you should look out for which is slightly more difficult than the others is juxtaposition.
Juxtaposition is the placement of two contrasting ideas. (Usually concepts though it can refer to physical objects) near each other. That would be great for you to remember, because I am sure it will help you score high in your exams.
 
Discourse structure
The way in which texts are organized and sequenced, for example:
.How does the text start?
.How does it finish?
.What’s in the middle?
Majority of people have preconceived ideas of how texts should be presented. In A-level English language you will have to change your views, if that is the case, because a piece of text can be presented in whatever form the writer intends.
Discourse structure applies to both written and spoken texts.
For example let’s look at the structure of a fairy tale.
Introduction
Characters introduced
Opportunity arises
Everything goes horribly wrong
Problem is miraculously solved
Everyone is happy ever after
In discourse structure this would be changed. For example the end could be at the beginning, much like action before narrative. The change of the structure can change the whole story.

Semantics
This is the study of meaning and how meaning is created within a text.
There are two types of semantics, conceptual and associative.
Conceptual – (denotive, referential)
Associative – (connotative, stylistic, affective)
Here are some examples; I would like you to figure out whether the statement is conceptual or associative. The answers will be on the back page.
Statements
Q1 .Ford is the name of the company started by Henry Ford
Q2. John calls his pet tiger “you are a tiger!”
Q3. John calls his girlfriend “you are a tiger!”
That’s all the questions to answer, easy eh!
 
Synonymy  
Where two or more words have the same meaning. E.g. big – large
It’s a lexical relationship.
 Antonym
Opposite in meaning. E.g. big – small
 Hyponym
A specific term used to designate a member of a class. For instance, daisy and rose are hyponyms of flowers.
Before we go any further into semantics you must understand what a semantic field is.
A semantic field is a set of words grouped by meaning referring to a specific subject. For example: child, toddler, kid.
 
Lexical Frameworks
Lexical frameworks are various types of lexis. Every word in the English language can be categorised into a particular lexical framework. Here is the list of lexical frameworks I know.
.British English
.American English
.Australian English
.Formal lexis
.Informal lexis
.Humorous lexis
.Biblical lexis
.Legal lexis
.Taboo lexis
.Technical lexis
.Everyday lexis
.Impolite lexis
.Spoken lexis
.Trademarks
.Written lexis
.Medical lexis
.Literary lexis
.Archaic lexis
.Old fashioned lexis
Conclusion
I hope you now have a further understanding of linguistic methods. And to end, here are the answers to my previous questions for semantics.
A1. Conceptual
A2. Conceptual
A3. Associative
Thanks for reading
Dan Hunt



 

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Grammar and syntax homework

Historic cottage that stood for SIX HUNDRED years faces demolition after 174 mph Audi RS4 smashes through its living room - daily mail

The first thing that you notice about the headline is the two words 'SIX HUNDRED'. This is because it is written in larger font and put all in capitals. This is to emphasise how large an amount of time that actually is.. The headline is long and contains lots of details, such as statistics, e.g: speed of the car. It also uses a proper noun 'Audi' This is a proper noun because it is the name of a brand. As in the style of the daily mail it is written in a very sensationalist manner. This is typical of many tabloid newspapers.

Abandoned NHS IT system has cost £10bn so far - the guardian

This headline is much smaller than the last one, it gets straight to the point. it once again involves statistics e.g:£10bn. The writer included a pre-modifier, Abandoned before NHS, this makes the NHS look weaker than it would do had they put, lets say bustling NHS. It adds a more dramatic feel to it. The fact that it says 'so far' suggests that these current events going to continue.This also uses a proper noun 'NHS'.

Wiggins wins time trial to take lead in Tour of Britain - The Guardian

This title starts with a proper noun 'Wiggins', this is used to make it clear to the reader who they are reading about. Another proper noun is 'Britain' because it is the name of a place, gives the reader a clear outline of the story. The writer also uses a post-modifier 'Wiggins wins' by putting 'wins' after Wiggins (which was a proper noun) he has explained further what has happened. 'Wiggins wins' is also alliteration, this draws the attention of the reader.

Yes, David Cameron, 'Yid'  really is a race-hate word. Here's why - the guardian

Much like the last one it includes a proper pronoun 'David Cameron'. Including this name draws the readers attention because every reader of the guardian knows who he is. If instead, they had said 'he, no'one would have had a clue who they were talking about. The way in which the writer ended the headline on 'here's how' influenced the reader to read on because they want to know why 'Yid' is a race-hate word. And to find out the context in which he said it.

'You'd be better off on benefits': Council advisor tells single mother to give up her job because she'd get £3000 a year MORE - daily mail

This headline once again includes a proper noun 'council advisor' This was very specific, if they were to put just 'council' it would have been a collective noun. But this, instead of making the council look bad, only makes the council advisor look bad. Much like the first headline, this one included statistics. '£3000', this is simply used to give a clearer picture of the story. I couldn't find any other nouns however i noticed how the word 'MORE' was in a bolder font than the rest of the headline. This made it stand out. The writer clearly did this to inform the reader of how shocking it actually is, that someone who doesn't work can earn more than someone who does.

Overview
Towards the end I noticed the difference between the two papers. For example the daily mail included more statistics than The Guardian. And the fact that the Guardian used proper nouns in all of their headlines whereas the daily mail did not. And of-course The Guardian was the only paper i found to use a pre-modifier in its headline. I link these differences to the fact that the daily mail is a tabloid newspaper whereas the guardian is broadsheet. The daily mail explains it's stories thoroughly in the headline perhaps because the target audience are not so intellectual as the guardian readers.

By Dan Hunt