Natasha's English Language Blog

To what extent do you agree that accent and dialect is a performance of our identity? There is a lot of evidence to agree that accent and dialect is a performance of our identity. MLE language is perceived as 'sounding black' but ethnically neutral. Another word used to describe a type of MLE is 'Jafacian' also known as 'fake Jamaican'. MLE language features include shorter trajectories of the vowel sounds in words like face or goat, words like food use vowels that resemble 'tu' so they pronounce the word 'footu' instead, words pronounced with a 'th' are changed to 'd' or 't' e.g. they becomes dey. Grime music increased in popularity as the culture has spread. Grime artists outside of London decide to rap in their own dialects. Rappers like to use their own cultural language as helps represent where they are from and shapes who they are as a person and an artist. This causes young people to not only pick up on the MLE l...

Task 1: Cockney Rhyming Slang Article Summary In the article 'Londoners baffled by Cockney rhyming slang' the main message is that Cockney rhyming slang is dying out as even modern Londoners don't know what most of the rhyming slang means. Cockney rhyming slang is still used however, but with only a few like 'porky pies' and 'apples and pears' being recognized on a large scale.    Task 2:  Multicultural London English/ Multicultural Urban British English https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/26/rhyming-slang-nang-chill-cockneys 1. What does Nikesh Shukla believe has happened to Cockney rhyming slang? He believes that Cockney rhyming slang has died out, rather just migrated with Cockneys moving away from the area. 2. What does he believe has replaced rhyming slang? Language in the East End is now being replaced by grime, hip hop and the internet rather than from traditional rhyming slang. 3. What reasons does he give...

Task 2 Use the data below to write 6 statements. This is your interpretation and analysis of the raw data. Man H was interrupted more than Woman A Woman B had roughly the same seconds to speak as Man H Man I had nearly double the amount of turns as Woman C Man I had less turns than Woman D On average men have more terms per meeting than women Woman D has more turns than Man D Task 3 How can each of the theorists we have looked at be applied to this data, or the statement? Does the data prove or disprove that particular theorist? O'Barr & Atkins Their theory that women interrupt more in a courtroom is disproved by this data as it shows that men interrupt more than women. Geoffrey Beatty Beatty said that women and men interrupt equally but this is disproved in the data. However, although he did conclude that men interrupted slightly more, he said it wasn't statistically clear whereas these results clearly show men interrupted more. ...

Language & Gender Introductory Task - Shower gel for women 1. What types of reader knowledge does this text assume? The text assumes the reader is female with a male partner. 2. This text was found on the side of the shower gel bottle. How might this have influenced the kinds of linguistic decisions the text producer made? They assumes customers are likely to read the side of the product to find out whether it interests them or not. Therefore, the text producer uses colloquial language to engage with and include the reader. 3) How does the text represent males and females? Males are represented as messy and a nuisance, whereas females are represented as wanting to smell good and that they have to look after males. 4) Why do you think the text makes such extensive use of the intensifier 'blooming'? To exaggerate how much of a pain males are and so the reader can relate to the shower gel. The word 'blooming' could also be used as it has connotation...

Text message analysis In the text message 'where r u', the opening is formed and implied as a question however, there is no use of a question mark. Ellipsis of 'r' and 'u' show the informality of the text and could suggest that the text was sent in a rush or the participants understand the way each other write. There is also no use of capital letters which further shows the informality of the text. John McWhorter said that language is constantly developing and adapting over the generations and this text perfectly shows the grammar of the teenage language. The shortening of the sentence to make it as quick to send and receive as possible shows how quickly messages are expected to get across now.

An Ode To The Hoody - Analysis 'An Ode To The Hoody' is an article written by Minsky in which he argues that there are bigger issues than hoodies. The article is targeted at young males which is shown through the use of playful and informal lexis e.g. 'buggers' and 'arrgh'. As the article begins with 'arrgh' it immediately draws in its target audience and gives a clear message who the article is for. The exclamation 'arrgh' is also a phonetic term as it shows stress and frustration. This then links back to the emotions of the target audience and their feelings towards hoodies. Minsky uses the possessive pronoun 'our' to make the reader feel as though they have the same views. The author uses humour and informality to make the reader feel as though they know each other. The metaphor 'drier than a nun's chuff' is evidence of this and shows he is trying to reach a younger generation. The author, throughout the article, ...

Trainee teachers from northern England told to modify their accents   This article is a lot more formal than the previous one about the brummie accent and more factual rather than biased towards a side. This article had quotes from people affected by the story and included different points of view so it could cater to anyone. The writer wrote this article not to get across his opinion but to inform people and to let people hear both sides of the story. The article didn’t reflect any of the writer’s opinion and chose his words carefully as to not offend any of the people in or surrounding the topic.

‘Accentism is a real thing – just ask us Brummies’   The attitude in this article is very much biased and slightly informal as the writer wants to get his raw emotions through in his writing. The phrase ‘everyone in the UK detests’ is an opinionated sentence as the writer wants you to side with their view and to exaggerate their argument. It also shows he is hurt by the topic and that he is personally involved. The writer uses the adverb ‘painfully’ to reflect his emotions into the article and to show people who do use accentism to see how much it actually affects others. The writer uses the rhetorical question ‘How many more of these studies must we conduct before we’re satisfied that Brummie is the most repulsive sound in the known universe?’ to show his frustration towards the treatment of brummies. The adjective ‘repulsive’ exaggerates how awful he feels about the stigma around the brummie accent and how much he dislikes the hate towards it.

This article is about anti fracking and anti tori. The intended audience is people who are against fracking in the UK because the article talks negatively about fracking. The purpose of this article is so more people become aware of fracking and help prevent it. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/03/fracking-england-tories-lancashire-council-government"></a>

This article is about why disabled actors are ignored in roles like elephant man. The intended audience are people who want more disabled actors to be cast and think that disabled actors should be allowed to play roles of disabled characters. The purpose of this article is to bring attention to how the industry treats disabled actors and so change can be made. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/02/disabled-actors-bbc-elephant-man-normalised-exclusion"></a>

This article is written to try and promote a TV series called 'doctors'. The intended audience is people who regularly watch the show and who have been missing it out on it over the summer. This is shown in the article when it says 'it’s been a long summer while it’s been off air. Thank God it’s back'. The purpose of this article is to remind people who have the 'summer blues' that their favourite show is coming back. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/03/summer-blues-doctors-daytime-tv"></a>

This article is about Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. The intended audience is people who are anti Trump and who are interested in American politics as the article uses adjectives like 'dangerous' to describe Trump. This make the reader feel as if Donald Trump is a negative person and suggests the writer does not like him. This also lets the reader know straight away what the writers opinion is on Donald Trump and people might want to read on to find out why. The purpose of this article is to inform the audience about Trump's latest action from a non-supporters point of view. The lexis of 'hoo-ha' creates an immature tone and reflects the writers view on Trump's behaviour. The writer also used a one word sentence of 'hogwash' to strongly apply his feelings to the situation. The use of the noun 'implosion' shows how much the writer disagrees with Trump and how much they think he is ruining America and the rest of the world. <a href="...

This article is about Boris Johnson's 'latest brexit outburst'. The intended audience is for people who do not support Boris Johnson as the article is written negatively about him. The purpose of the article is to inform the audience about Boris' latest decisions revolving brexit. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/03/boris-johnson-brexit-outburst-tory-leadership-challenge