SPOKEN LANGUAGE RETAKE LESSON

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17 Dec 2013 ... what what that Queen Mary wore cami-knickers actually. J: yeah ... did she actually wear knickers well you know (laughter) it's a big question. J:.
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Spoken Language Re-Take Analysing the features of your transcript

Lessonthe 1 features of your transcript TITLE: Analysing L.O: To consider how I use spoken language and how it changes depending on different audiences.

Spontaneous Language NON FLUENCY FEATURES Fillers eg ‘sort of’, ‘I mean’, ‘you know’, ‘kind of’ Sometimes repetition, like stuttering can be filling in time too. Comment on lots close together: is the person talking about difficult ideas or nervous? Filled pauses eg ‘um’ or ‘er Hedge - where someone softens what they’ve just said so as to weaken it, avoid causing offence or being too direct. Repetitions Either single words or several in a sequence False starts - where someone starts then breaks off (because uncomfortable or confused)

TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED for this lesson – a totally spontaneous conversation between teens and their peers versus teens and their parents.

Spoken Language Re-Take Analysing the features of your transcript Back-channelling – giving feedback to show that the message is understood: most common in a conversation rather than an interview. Turn-taking Notice how participants 1. Ask questions for a. information b. social bonding purposes 2. Seek clarification 3. Volunteer interesting information (gossip) 4. Ask further (often social bonding) questions to prolong the interaction 5. Echo the other speaker, to show/create cohesion (bonding) Formal/Informal register (tone) can be patronising, friendly, intimate, ironic, over-friendly, formal, distant, etc. Standard English vs Slang – slang is informal, colloquial words or phrases ‘wicked’ (good) or dialect ‘yarling’ northern dialect for ‘wailing’ (from Old Norse – as spoken by the Vikings), like Cockney rhyming slang. Received pronunciation is ‘standard’ or ‘posh’ English.

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These two speakers repeat themselves. In these instances it seems that the repetition gains them thinking time – rather than pausing in case the talk is taken by another speaker.

J does not say the more casual It’s, but it is; thus emphasising her utterance.

This filler allows thinking time. Spontaneous means unplanned – so we think as we speak and hesitations are a way of gaining time. A speaker can be interrupted during a pause, but this is less likely with a filler.

At a wedding reception, J is talking about family history with her cousin, E, her friend, T, and her aunts M and S. The latter only laughs in this transcript. J: E: knickers J: T: All: E: J: E: J: M: J: M:

so which which of our grandmothers made Queen Mary’s cami-knickers Queen Mary’s camithat is the important question I’m surprised they weren’t signed in whatever some official secrets thing (laughter) what what that Queen Mary wore cami-knickers actually yeah wore cami-knickers she wore cami-knickers did she actually wear knickers well you know (laughter) it’s a big question it is a big question well I do know mum made underwear whether she made (.) for whoever it is I don’t know

Example annotations: Do yours look like this?

This overlap could be a sign of support and it could also be that E anticipates the mention of cami-knickers and finds it amusing. Overlaps are common where a speaker seems to have come to the end of an utterance. Years of listening mean we are attuned to the subtle signals of this and often anticipate it. This overlap is co-operative, showing support for the speaker. An overlap here could mean J wants to speak, but waiting her turn might result in another speaker intercepting and the approval / support being lost. The hedges here could be to spare the listeners’ feelings. M is questioning J’s original assumption that a grandparent made a queen’s underwear, and then is softening the impact further with a laugh and question. Even in friendly chatter, the need to soften contradictions is important to us.

Spoken Language Re-Take Analysing the features of your transcript

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Model Answer

Spoken Language Re-Take Spoken Language Re-Take Analysing the features of your transcript

In a separate transcript, involving me and two teachers of adult literacy, my idiolect dramatically changes, demonstrating the ability to switch between ways of talking in order to create the right impression. The subject matter is more formal (exams) which means the vocabulary is more academic, for example words like ‘module’ and ‘research’. My mother who listened to the conversation commented that I sounded much more ‘nicely spoken’. The language I use is a lot closer to standard English (I use less elision, slang, false starts compared to the first transcript with my friends) and I use a formal polite register. I’ve adapted my speech with my teachers because I don’t need to prove that I am cool and can follow trends in terms of language. In the transcript I recorded with my friend I used informal elisions like ‘whajumean’ if I hadn’t understood what she had said. In the transcript with the teachers I would repeat what they said to clarify, e.g. ‘so (1) that means that you wouldn’t have had exams in year nine when you were at school?’ This shows that I alter my idiolect according to my audience. I slip between different ways of talking to fit in and create the right impression.

Outcome

Spoken Language Re-Take Spoken Language Re-Take Analysing the features of your transcript

1. What is the purpose and the audience of the transcripts? 2. Locate 5 features of spontaneous language used in your transcript. Write down the feature and the example from your transcript. 3. For each of these 5 features - why has it been used? What does it show you about their speakers relationship? 4. Compare your transcript A (Conversation where you spoke to your friends) to your transcript B (speaking to an adult) and explore why you have adapted the way you have spoken.

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Lesson 2

Spoken Language Re-Take Analysing the features of your transcript

1. How do I show an understanding of the way language changes according to the context and audience? 2. Can I support this with examples from the transcripts?

Context A. Two teenagers have met at school at the beginning of the day. They are in the middle of taking their GCSE exams.

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Transcript Mike: What you got today? Chris: Maths. (2) I’m dreading it. Mike: Well, I did some revision |right| Chris: |Mm | Mike: And I couldn’t understand most of what I was reading. Chris: I know what you mean. Mike: I mean (1) I don’t think I studied most of it during lessons. Chris: So, how do you feel? Mike: Frightened. Chris: (4) You need to pass this exam. Do you think you will? Mike: Er, perhaps. Chris: There’s a gert party this evening to celebrate the end of the exams. Mike: Where’s it to? Chris: Down Bowden’s |Farm.| Mike: |Sick! |What time you heading down? Chris: Dunno man (1) umm not even sure how I’m getting there yet. How are you thinking of getting there? Mike: Rents will give me a lift. You want one? Chris: Yeah man, that would be awesome. Cheers. Mike: No problem man. Chris: Sweet. I’ll call you later |then| Mike: |Cool|. Later man.

Context B. A teenager has gone to speak to her head teacher about the school uniform.

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Sue: Thank you for agreeing to see me... As you know, I want to talk to you about the school uniform. Head: And what do you want to say about it? Sue: I think that the dull colours, black and grey, are depressing. I believe that we need a change. Head: In some ways I agree with you. However, the school uniform is popular with the parents. Sue: How do you know that? Head: Because with every survey that we have held the parents have said that they think that the school uniform is a good thing. Sue: But, |I think that | Head: |Sue, I’m afraid| that the parents’ opinions have to be taken into account. The parents are far too important to ignore. Sue: (2) So my opinion doesn’t count? Head: Of course it does Sue, but your opinion is only one of many. We need to take everyone’s opinions into account before we change anything. Sue: (3) What about the students though? Surely they get a say in what they wear every day? Head: Yes, but we have to keep the parents happy too, and to be honest, the majority of students seem quite content with the uniform. Sue: Well, they may seem that way, but they all complain to me (3) and I feel that it is my responsibility as their friend to help get their opinions |heard. | Head: |(laughter)| well that’s very noble of you. Sue: (1) And it is your responsibility to listen to your students. Head: I do listen to my students |but| Sue: |But| do you hear them? Head: This discussion is over Sue, the uniform is not going to change. And that’s the end of it.

Comparing connective

Evidence from Transcript BAND 5 - shows an understanding of the way language changes according to context. This candidate has emboldened examples and highlights the sustained use of exemplification to support what they have said.

Explanation of reason why there is a change according to context and audience.

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The use of slang in Text A makes the conversation very informal, whereas the choice of a more complex vocabulary in Text B creates an air of formality. For example, in Text A the use of the word “Sick!” as a positive is slang, and adds to the informality of the text. The choice of vocabulary in Text B is much more formal and more complex. For example, “...my responsibility as their frie nd...” shows how the language of the teenager in Text B is aimed at sounding more mature than that of the teenagers in Text A.

POINT

Commenting on slang and language choices

Evidence

Reason given

Commenting on overlapping and interruption in detail

Text A shows that when speaking to other teenagers, there is a more frequent use of overlaps than when talking to adults. Text A has an example of this in lines 14 and 15, where Mike starts speaking before Chris has had the chance to finish his sentence. The familiarity between the two speakers allows for this as the overlap is not an interruption, but is Mike knowing the context of the conversation, and he uses shared knowledge to predict what Chris is about to say. There is another example of this in lines 20 and 21, where again Mike overlaps Chris because he is eager to speak and knows what Chris is going to say. Text B shows that there are cases of overlapping in conversations between teenagers and adults, but the overlaps are more often interruptions. This can be clearly seen in lines 9 and 10, where Sue is interrupted by the Headteacher. One reason for the interruptions could be because the Head views themselves as the teenager’s superior, and the interruption allows the Head to gain authority in the conversation. The fact that Sue did not argue against the interruption suggests that she has accepts that she is a person with no power.

Spoken Language Re-Take Analysing the features of your transcript

Lessonthe 3 features of your transcript TITLE: Analysing 1. What is the purpose of slang? 2. What are the positive points of using slang? 3. What are the negative points of using slang? 4. Why does slang change over time?

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In your groups, write your answers to the question given to you. The paper will then be passed from group to group until each group has answered each question.

1. What is the purpose of slang? 2. What are the positive points of using slang? 3. What are the negative points of using slang? 4. Why does slang change over time?

Overview of what we have learnt about Slang

Slang describes informal language. Slang uses non-standard words and

What is slang?

phrases. Slang is a typical feature of spoken,

It is subversive and therefore reflects the

rather than written, language.

desire to rebel against society's norms and values. It can be used to entertain and create humour. It expresses membership of a particular social group so, in turn, also excludes nonmembers of that group. It is a secret language which expresses

What are the purposes of slang?

solidarity.

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Accommodation Theory Howard Giles developed the idea that speakers seeks approval in a social situation and are likely to change their speech so that it is similar to their listener. However, if they don’t want to be associated with the speaker, they may change their speech to show they are different. Do you change your speech depending on who you are talking to? Give examples e.g. parents -I don’t swear.

Teen slang tears into gnarly dogs http://www.independent.co.uk/news/teen-slang-tears-into-gnarly-dogs-1199384.html The research, carried out for Children's BBC for its Big Bash festival in Birmingham, found that the colloquial language of young teenagers was far more diverse than their attitudes. Among the 13 words used for uncool were "gay", "gnarly", "feeble", "gone", "naff", "lean", "shameful", "lame" and "shabby". A person whose clothes were thought out of fashion was described as "dog", "retro", "tat", "nitto", "nytoo", "gay", "queer" or "antique". Gay equality campaigners said they were shocked by the rise in homophobic language in schools. "In the playground, gay is being used as a derogatory term," said Mark Watson of the gay and lesbian campaigning group Stonewall. "It may be because schools have stamped down very heavily on abuse against black people, which has gone out of fashion, and this is what's left.“ Academics specialising in children's development said that many young teenagers tend to shed their racist, homophobic and sexist attitudes as they get older. They said their closed-mindedness was often a symptom of insecurity. "They are very reactionary and conservative at this age. It is very worrying and something that is coming out in research," said Dr John Coleman of the Trust for the Study of Adolescence. "At that age they are desperate to be part of the mainstream and they are deeply dismissive of anything that is different," he said. "That includes people with disfigurement and people wearing the wrong sort of clothes."

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Friends, Romans innit? Shakespeare is given a makeover in street slang But young people are increasingly unable to distinguish when it's appropriate to use it, say some linguists. Their language is becoming saturated by slang, leaving them ill-equipped to communicate in the wider world. Paul Kerswill, professor of sociolinguistics at Lancaster University, is studying street language in London. He says an entirely new dialect is emerging. "Young people are growing up with a new form of composite language. This "multicultural English" is now the ordinary way of speaking for many young people, he says. Instead of just using it to be cool or to fit in with peers, they use it when they speak to everyone. And those who use it are losing any sense of "appropriacy" - the important skill of turning it on and off in different situations.

Pick out two ideas that you agree with and explain in your own words, your point of view.

"Appropriacy simply means using the right variety of language for the right context - using business jargon in business meetings, formal English in exams or slang in school playground," says slang expert Tony Thorne.

The secret world of gang slang The murder of teenager Marvin Henry in a gang brawl last week elicited an outpouring of emotion in his Mill Hill community. Flowers were heaped against a fence near the crime scene but the R.I.P notes stood out for another reason: they were peppered with words such as “liccle” and “peak” — street slang terms in common usage among London's gang culture. Coming soon after Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson spoke out about her dislike of slang words such as “innit' and “like”, urging teenagers to “reinvest in the idea of articulacy as a form of personal freedom and power”, slang is firmly back on our cultural radar, seemingly for all the wrong reasons. Often impenetrable and indecipherable to all but those in the know, street slang has become a separatist form of communication. Almost akin to a whole new language, with its own vocabulary and grammatical structure, it has permeated outside the inner-city neighbourhoods synonymous with gang culture. The roots of London's modern street slang are hard to pinpoint, as the city is a linguistic melting pot of the many races that have left their mark on the capital's language. Traditional “Bow Bells” Cockney English, West Indian patois, Indian and Bangladeshi have all gone to produce Multicultural London English, the academic term for the modern street slang which is spoken from Harlesden to Hackney and from Streatham to Stoke Newington. A hybrid of the various patois spoken by immigrants who have come to London over the past few decades, contemporary street slang has its etymological roots firmly in Jamaican patois, so much so, in fact, that it has become known in certain circles as “Jafaican” — and is the slang of choice for many black British hip-hoppers, grime MCs such as Dizzee Rascal (from Bow), wannabe gangsters or even white middle-class suburban kids. It is hard not to admire the verbal pyrotechnics of London hiphopper Akala or Brooklyn rapper Big Daddy Kane, wordsmiths of the highest order.

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Comments Street Slang, is a euphemism for incomprehensibly poor grammar mixed with the deliberate misuse of words and slang that helps the illiterate feel good about their inability to improve or unwillingness to try to improve their spoken English? Yow man no wo a meen? - Ged, Home, 24/11/2009 09:27 There's that word relevant again. Why does a play written 500 years ago have to be "relevant" to young people so they will watch it? It didn't have to be relevant to all the others down the centuries who went to watch it. they just went because it was well-written drama. Have we dumbed down so much that everuthing has to be simplified and written in the modern argot for young people to understand? - Dave Proctor, Leeds, 23/11/2009 15:32 What a load of rubbish - as a schoolboy I was taken to see the 1953 film starring Marlon Brando as Mark Anthony, James Mason as Brutus, and John Gielgud as Cassius and thoroughly enjoyed it. The idea that there is any merit in an audience being able to follow the plot by converting the language in to pidgin while depriving them of Shakespeare's verse which underpins the dramatic experience of the play is preposterous. - John, Worthing UK, 23/11/2009 15:30 "Mandem" ??? What? - Geoff - expat, TN, USA, 23/11/2009 15:12 but it isnt shakespeare is it. you can't update the classics, thats why they are classics. good luck to the kids involved for doing something constructive with their lives but don't confuse this with drama. - jason, uk, 23/11/2009 14:59 Why is there a need for this?! Yet again, we're being convinced that anything from our past is out-dated and needs modernising for "da youth" of today - utter garbage! - MB, Manchester, 23/11/2009 14:17

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Today's program puts special attention on language and identity — how they coincide and why those intersections matter. Michael Adams is an associate Professor of English at Indiana University who studies one important intersection of language and identity: slang. He says slang keeps us sharp — and that there is creative value in the creation of new language among different social groups. "It's not just slang, but any language that's significantly different from what we expect exercises the brain and engages us," Adams says. "We've got lots of room in language to be creative, to twist a word around a little bit, or the form of a sentence around a little bit to be clever." "We are engaged when we're using slang. It's not a laziness," Adams says. On the contrary, slang can be inventive, and even poetic. But it can also be political. One of the controversial things about slang is that certain language is often acceptable within a community, but not outside of it — or vice versa. "Slang has its place, and other forms of discourse have their places too," Adams says. "We're a little chameleon-like, we change our language as we move from place to place in our lives, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. It just shows how versatile a human being can be."

We're a little chameleon-like, we change our language as we move from place to place in our lives, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. It just shows how versatile a human being can be.— Michael Adams

Pick out two ideas that you agree with and explain in your own words, your point of view.

http://blog.oup.com/2012/10/slang-is-good-for-you/

Write two detailed paragraphs exploring the differing attitudes people have towards slang and Standard English.

1. What is the purpose of slang? 2. What are the positive points of using slang? 3. What are the negative points of using slang? 4. Why does slang change over time?

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