Language and Identity

"One of the most fundamental ways we have of establishing our identity, and of shaping other peoples' views of who we are, is through the use of language" ~ Joanna Thornborrow (2004)

Andrew Moore - Universal Teacher

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/

AQA English Language Specimen Papers and Mark Schemes

http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-language-7701-7702/assessment-resources

Sample exam papers and mark schemes for AQA English Language A-Level.

"Femvertising"

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/12/femvertising-branded-feminism

Article about advertising aimed at women and feminists.

Transcript Analysis

Conversation at College, outside by the fountain.

A: what did you do last weekend?
B: I started my new job
A: what was it like?
B: I was on the tills (2) *name of speaker A* what did you do on the weekend?
A: umm my brother went to uni on Sunday (.) we went down Southampton and then yeah basically
B: greaaaat
C: I was working all day on Saturday and then that was about it
D: umm I was doing homework all weekend (.) didn't really
B: yeah umm I had my first driving lesson as well
A: how was that?
B: that was really good actually yeah (.) I can't wait to be able to drive (.) yeah
A: umm what else did I do (3) I had dance on Saturday
C: how was dance?
A: great (.) getting ready for competitions and performances (.) yeah


Analysis
Phatic talk -  sticks to safe topics, to avoid disagreement and controversial topics; this is a positive politeness strategy
Chaining of adjacency pairs - conversation follows expected pattern of adjacency pairs to prevent awkwardness
Dispreferred response - although this response is relevant, it does not follow the expected pattern of this adjacency pair
Dialect - this is geographical specific lexis, as Southampton is south of Bristol
Back-channeling - this shows support to the other speakers and prevents an awkward silence
Preferred response - allows the expected chaining of adjacency pairs to continue
Grice's maxim of quantity - flouted by speakers C and D who do not talk as much, especially when compared to the other speakers
Fillers - key feature of spoken language, not present in written language, could suggest the speakers are nervous or hesitant, perhaps uncomfortable Utterance tails off, incomplete, differs to written mode
Overlaps/interruptions - no one overlaps or interrupts the other speakers, possibly suggesting the group don't know each other very well

Brown and Levinson

Linguists Brown and Levinson put forward ideas about politeness, suggesting that people have positive face needs and negative face needs.

Positive face needs are wanting to be liked and approved of in our exchanges with others. Due to positive face needs, people use positive politeness strategies, which may include:

• paying attention
• seeking agreement (safe topics)
• pretend agreement (white lies, hedging)
• using humour
• using appropriate address terms
• compliments

Negative face needs are having to deal with difficult conversations in tactful ways. People use negative politeness strategies to deal with negative face needs and these may include:

• being indirect
• questioning and hedging
• being apologetic
• giving deference (reducing your own status)

Spontaneous Speech Terminology Quiz

1) 'A pattern of speech in which one utterance is followed by an appropriate linked response' - is the definition of the term:

• Adjacency pairs

2) Explain the term 'side-sequencing':

• Side sequencing is when Grice's maxim of relevance is flouted and the conversation goes off-topic

3) Give an example of a 'tag-question':

• "isn't it?"

4) Give three terms that are examples of non-fluency features:

• hesitation
• false starts
• repetition

5) Explain the term 'phatic language and give two examples of 'phatic' language:

• Phatic language is small talk such as
• "how are you?
• "nice weather we're having"

6) Non-verbal aspects of speech or 'paralinguistic features' such as 'fillers' can help reveal a speaker;s attitudes and feelings. Name two other non-verbal aspects of speech:

• gestures
• facial expressions

7) 'elp me orf this 'orse' is an example of phonetic spelling which means the spelling of words to represent how they are pronounced

8) List Grice's maxims and briefly state what each one refers to:

• quantity - too much/too little
• quality - truth
• relevance - on topic
• manner - clear communication

9) Grice was interested in suggesting what helps to create flowing conversation

10)When analysing spontaneous speech we do not refer to 'sentences' but:

• utterances

11) Brown and Levinson put forward some theories about politeness. Name four positive politeness strategies we might employ if we want to be liked?

• paying attention
• pretend agreement
• compliments

Features of Spoken Language Test

1) "Three men in a pub" and "Goin' to the party?" are examples of

• elision
• dialect
• ellipsis

2) "er", "um" and "you know" are examples of

• prosodic features
• fillers
• tag questions

3) Idiolect is

• the language of fools
• an individually distinctive style of speaking
• a collective idiomatic phrase

4) "sort of", "like", "and so on", "or whatever" and "kind of thing" are examples of

• vague language
• voiced pauses
• accent

5) "Back-channelling" is

• repeating the other talker's words
• an intrusive medical procedure
• listener feedback signalling support or understanding

6) "Deixis" is

• words which point to something 'outside' the text
• a word which signals a change of subject
• often misspellt

7) Pitch, pace, stress and rhythm are examples of

• paralinguistic features
• accent
• prosodic features

8) "gonna", "gimme" and "loadsa" are examples of

• synonyms
• elision
• phatic talk

9) "We was going down the road" and "He didn't know nothing" are examples of

• non-standard grammar
• poor English
• transactional language

10) Hesitation, repetition and false starts are examples of

• paralinguistic features
• interactional language
• non-fluency features

11) Question-answer and greeting-return are examples of

• paralinguistic features
• transactional language
• adjacency pairs

12) Phatic talk is

• stressed or highly intonated words
• conversation with a derious topic
• small talk

13) "It's OK here, isn't it?" and "That's cheap, don't you think?" are examples of

• sibilance
• tag questions
• ellipsis

14) Gestures and facial expressions are examples of

• prosodic features
• paralinguistic features
• hypercorrection

15) "Anyway", "so" and "next thing" are examples of

• discourse markers
• unvoiced pauses
• colloquial language

16) Pragmatics is the study of 

• conversations involving the request for goods or services
• dialect terms
• what a speaker means rather than simply the words they say

17) Rather than use the term 'sentences' in describing a stretch of spoken language, we should say

• turn taking
• utterance
• discourse marker

Functional Categories of Spontaneous Conversation

• Transactional - getting something done
• Expressive - giving expression to feelings
• Instructional - giving information about how to do something
• Phatic - socialising through "small talk"
• Referential - conveying factual knowledge

Few discourses fit neatly into just one function category.

Accent Levelling

http://www.panmacmillan.com/book/bencrystal/yousaypotato

• There is accent leveling across the country due to geographical movement, usually for employment.
• There is no 1 accent.
• Accent is potentially influenced by social class

Grice's Maxims of Conversation

• Adjacency pairs are small units of spoken language that follow an expected pattern
• preferred and dispreferred responses
• chaining of adjacency pairs help the expected flow of conversation

• quantity - too much/too little
• quality - truth
• relevance - on/off topic - off topic referred to as side sequences
• manner - clear communication

Grice's Maxims are only important when they're flouted.

Spoken Language

Conventions of Transcripts

• Pauses - can be various lengths
• micropauses (equivalent of a comma)
• timed pauses
• Utterances - like sentences but are in spoken language
• don't start with capital letters
• Intonation - rising, falling or flat
• Names - replaced with 'A', 'B' etc to preserve confidentiality of speakers
• Interruptions and overlaps - if someone begins talking while someone is already talking, a slash is used to show when second speaker starts
• if first people stops speaking, it's an interruption
• if both continue to speak, it's an overlap
• Paralinguistic features - body language, actions and tone of voice
• can be indicated in square brackets

RSA Animate

https://www.thersa.org/discover/videos/rsa-animate/