The colossal world of Teenspeak: is it like advantageous or insignificant?
In society, there are several different attitudes to the way teenagers decide to communicate. Some say that their language helps to shape your identity as you develop therefore it should be celebrated, such as linguist Vera Regan who concluded that language reflected and performed individuals' profiles as its a way for someone to express their identity. Whereas others hold the view that the informal, non-standard variants of English they often use and the slang they express should be questioned for the unprofessionalism it creates, therefore is judged for being restrictive and inferior. This being said, the biggest critics seem to be the teachers of the teenspeak on teenagers today; parents and teachers. So is it fair to make such an immediate verdict and label us as 'uneducated' when in reality, nothing can be changed? I think not. It is clear to me that the teenage language is much more wise than some may think and the fact that it get's disenchanted is unnecessary. Let me explain why...
For centuries, slang has been seen in a negative light as it has been justified by many as 'lazy language' used by teenagers and in general it is just too hard to understand. Why should this matter though? As recent research suggests, Eckert (2003) for example reinforces the idea that "slang is used to 'establish a connection to youth culture and to set themselves off from the older generation.. to signal coolness, toughness or attitude." and to an extent I agree. If speaking differently to how others have in different generations make teenagers feel better about themselves then I don't see why their language should be championed. This leads me on to support another current linguist, Vivian de Klerk (2005) who draws to the conclusion that teenagers feel the need to diverge to establish themselves as different from 'their parents, other adults and other young people' meanwhile distinguish themselves as a distinctive social group. She argues that young people have the freedom to 'challenge linguistic norms' so this is the strategy they should take to do so.
Additionally, slang should not be blamed for fabricating diversity in society or giving modern language a bad reputation because words we commonly use now have been used for as long as language has existed and some are yet to realise this. For example, children use the word 'like' but this same preposition has been used for years on end, by people of all ages, just in a different way. So isn't it a bit hypocritical that teenagers should have their speech criticised despite the fact it's stemmed from previous generations? Let's think about this. Yes. We all know you all love to stereotype all us teens into one unsocialble group and boast about how we're all the same, that our textspeak is becoming a part of our everyday, face to face communication if that's even an occurance anymore etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. But surprisingly, linguistic change is far more common in teenagers than anyone else, especially in the coining of new lexical terms for example. Shock? Well, instead of being so quick to judge and tarring us all under the same brush, it needs to be taken into consideration that, as Penelope Eckert establishes, we can't state that all people in an age group will share the same linguistic characteristics because as I previously expressed, no teenager is the same! Instead, we need to consider that 'age is a person's place at any given time in relation to the social order: a stage, a condition, a place in history'. It's agreeable, textspeak has had a huge influence on teenspeak in the past few years, positively and negatively, and as John McWhorter mentioned in his 2013 TED talk; 'Texting is killing language' that texting is now called 'fingered speech', meaning we're starting to text the way we talk. Nevertheless, I think that with the knowledge teenagers have today, it's easy not to get our text talk and formal language mixed up, especially with important job interviews I can assure you sentences wouldn't end with 'innit' or 'wtf'. And with there being a 'GCSE results rise in 2018 despite exams shake up', we seem to be doing just fine.
In closing, I think that attempting to mute teenager's voices and not allowing them to use language how they please is simply a silly idea. Language is constantly evolving and new words are continuously entering the scene, so before you blame teenagers for the cause of this, maybe think about focusing on more widespread issues than this mediocre one.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Teenspeak and Attitudes to Teenspeak Article Questions
Teenspeak
1. If we are to assume that we do speak differently at various times in our life, how could you argue that age is the most significant factor?
We could argue that age is the most significant factor due to the fact we speak differently at various times in our lives because we sometimes converge our language to fit a specific social group. For example, the way we speak as a teenager in the company of our group of friends would be different to how we speak to our grandparents as language is more restricted around those where we think carefully about what we say, as we most likely wouldn't swear.
2. What is your opinion on the view that 'life events' are more influential and more significant on our language than age?
Occupational lexis could come from life events such as particular jobs that could influence your language, as in different working environments they require different communication skills not only to customers but also to colleagues.
3. What 'life events' may influence your language? (Consider the age groups 13-17, 18-25, 30's, 50's, elderly/retired) Becoming a teenager may influence your language as you begin to associate yourself with a larger group of different people and pick up things said by others. But as you turn an adult, you start working so you take things said more into consideration but you also have the right to speak more freely, for example use taboo language as much as you please. In your 30's you may have children so your language is bound to mature, as you want your child to grow up properly adapting the right language skills and when you're elderly/retired you're at the stage when you have learnt all you need to know about different ways of speaking so it should stay the same for years forward.
Attitudes to Teenspeak
A 2010 newspaper article entitled 'The teens who can barely talk' presents a far less positive view of teenspeak.
1. What does the article suggest contributes to the drop from knowing 40,000 words to using 800?
The article states that children are being warned they may become unemployable or it will be harder to find jobs if action doesn't take place on their communication skills. They are said to be spending too much time communicating through electronic media and text messaging which is short and brief, restricting them from understanding the difference between their textspeak and formal language needed to succeed in life.
2. Do you agree with this argument?
I do agree to some extent that social media is limiting communication as it is a fact that teenagers spend far too much time on their phones and much less time speaking in real life, and even sometimes text speak like the word 'lol' can be brought into everyday communication. However a lot can be learnt through social media and it can help to broaden individual's vocabulary so this argument isn't completely true in my opinion.
3. Do you agree that teenagers having their own language is their way of saying 'we are different'. Is it inventive, ever changing and brilliant? I think that teenagers language is different to someone in their 50's for example but I don't think it is something intentional that teenagers to use to expose their uniqueness and brilliance. It is one of the most significant periods in your life where you and your language develops so it is bound to be constantly changing depending on who you choose to associate yourself with.
4. What is your opinion on the comment that 'some disadvantaged children don't know that there is a different way of speaking in a job interview'?
I think that this statement is true for some because those disadvantaged may not get the same opportunities as some to get a job interview therefore won't know that you have to converge your language from the norm to make it more appropriate to the mature setting an interview takes place in. But if you're disadvantaged but have still been brought up properly to be polite and formal then this should not be an issue for all.
1. If we are to assume that we do speak differently at various times in our life, how could you argue that age is the most significant factor?
We could argue that age is the most significant factor due to the fact we speak differently at various times in our lives because we sometimes converge our language to fit a specific social group. For example, the way we speak as a teenager in the company of our group of friends would be different to how we speak to our grandparents as language is more restricted around those where we think carefully about what we say, as we most likely wouldn't swear.
2. What is your opinion on the view that 'life events' are more influential and more significant on our language than age?
Occupational lexis could come from life events such as particular jobs that could influence your language, as in different working environments they require different communication skills not only to customers but also to colleagues.
3. What 'life events' may influence your language? (Consider the age groups 13-17, 18-25, 30's, 50's, elderly/retired) Becoming a teenager may influence your language as you begin to associate yourself with a larger group of different people and pick up things said by others. But as you turn an adult, you start working so you take things said more into consideration but you also have the right to speak more freely, for example use taboo language as much as you please. In your 30's you may have children so your language is bound to mature, as you want your child to grow up properly adapting the right language skills and when you're elderly/retired you're at the stage when you have learnt all you need to know about different ways of speaking so it should stay the same for years forward.
Attitudes to Teenspeak
A 2010 newspaper article entitled 'The teens who can barely talk' presents a far less positive view of teenspeak.
1. What does the article suggest contributes to the drop from knowing 40,000 words to using 800?
The article states that children are being warned they may become unemployable or it will be harder to find jobs if action doesn't take place on their communication skills. They are said to be spending too much time communicating through electronic media and text messaging which is short and brief, restricting them from understanding the difference between their textspeak and formal language needed to succeed in life.
2. Do you agree with this argument?
I do agree to some extent that social media is limiting communication as it is a fact that teenagers spend far too much time on their phones and much less time speaking in real life, and even sometimes text speak like the word 'lol' can be brought into everyday communication. However a lot can be learnt through social media and it can help to broaden individual's vocabulary so this argument isn't completely true in my opinion.
3. Do you agree that teenagers having their own language is their way of saying 'we are different'. Is it inventive, ever changing and brilliant? I think that teenagers language is different to someone in their 50's for example but I don't think it is something intentional that teenagers to use to expose their uniqueness and brilliance. It is one of the most significant periods in your life where you and your language develops so it is bound to be constantly changing depending on who you choose to associate yourself with.
4. What is your opinion on the comment that 'some disadvantaged children don't know that there is a different way of speaking in a job interview'?
I think that this statement is true for some because those disadvantaged may not get the same opportunities as some to get a job interview therefore won't know that you have to converge your language from the norm to make it more appropriate to the mature setting an interview takes place in. But if you're disadvantaged but have still been brought up properly to be polite and formal then this should not be an issue for all.
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Language & Gender Xmas Essay
Evaluate the notion that male language is superior and more authoritative when compared to female language.
Overtime, there has been a heavy and heated argument over male and female language and whose is more superior in this case. It has been indepthly studied by several linguists, some arguing on one hand that male language has and always will be more superior due to the twisted gender norms existent in our modern, patriarchal society today, but others still hold rigid views at the opposite end of the spectrum conveying that there is evidence that female language is not as incapacitated as many may think. Nevertheless, in this essay I will prove to you that in a body, despite immense progress in women's language throughout time, that male language is in fact more superior and more authoritative when compared to female language.
A debate to support this statement that male language is more superior and authoritative to female language is to firstly contrast their differences in language through a biological aspect. An article from newspaper 'The Guardian' called 'Male and Female brains: the REAL differences' helps to outline this as the confirmation proving the differences which came from the study has been roundly criticised by neuroscientists. However, they discovered some genuine differences that simply can't be denied. The article uses the lexical term 'confirms' in inverted commas to reinforce the idea that it's easy to 'confirm' even the most surreal of notions with brain imaging techniques, as well as putting emphasis on not only the term but the topic as a whole. However, more towards the point - The Guardian states there have been scientific factors discovered such as genetics, location, size, connections, pain sensation and specialisation which all link to the brain and how different parts of male and female's brains contrast. They suggest that male brains are bigger which could evoke they have more knowledge, as their brains are 'hardwired to be paid more, occupy more powerful roles and positions etc' whereas the female brain is 'hardwired to get more harassment and oppression, develop worrying obsessions with physical appearance'. The adjective 'hardwired' automatically makes the reader assume that men's authority is a natural trait, and society has only had a little influence in shaping their identity. It also makes out men to be seen as more superior to women not only mentally but physically too while trying to communicate.
A theorist who supports the view that women are the weaker sex in terms of language, automatically putting men in a position of authority and superiorness is Robin Lakoff. Lakoff, who created the Deficit Approach (1975) asserted that in a nutshell, women's language is more polite and because they are better well mannered, the features they use demonstrate their weakness. He also conveys the attitude that women are 'socialised to believe that asserting themselves strongly isn't nice or ladylike or even feminine' which could evoke why the amount of time women get to speak is sparse, due to women being held back over speaking up by men. Although a critism of Lakoff's approach is that it is outdated as it is over 40 years old, so the accuracy of his findings could be questioned as they may no longer be relevant. Despite this, the fact that women's femininity is being questioned here shows the extent of how inferior they are compared to the opposite sex which makes the age of Lakoff's findings inapplicable in this case.
Another reason that helps to prove that men's language is more superior is to look at how those labelled as an authority figure view gendered language. Let's take Professor Richard Lynn for example, who is known as one of Britain's 'top dons'. In an article he made for the daily mail, he highlighted in the title 'Sorry, men ARE more brainy than women'. Firstly, the adjective 'Sorry' at the beginning of this syntax demonstrates an unapologetic tone as clearly the writer does not want to apologise for admitting the truth. This is the followed by the conjunction 'ARE' in capital letters which reinforces the idea that this is a straight fact that deserves no argument. The adjective 'brainy' also used in this syntax suggests that again, men's authority and knowledge is being referred back to the power of science. The article then discusses the psychologists perspectives on the lexical term 'ingtellegence' - as it is described to be made up of a range of cognitive abilities including reasoning, problem solving, spatial ability, general knowledge and memory. In all of these, men outperform women which helps to explain why in terms of evolutionary psychology, men have emerged as the more intellegent sex. They have possessed far sharper minds of those of women and their superior foreign language skills also help to explain this. For that reason, this knowledge could imply why men hold such a high status as they use their intellgence over women in their everyday language to be more provocative.
However, not everyone would agree with this viewpoint as some hold the belief that simply not all women's language is inferior and in some cases can even be seen as superior to men's. This is coincidential as a male individual who argues this who again, is known as an authority figure, is the previous president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, who has had high experience in language in various regions and nationalities from all the speeches he's made and political debates he has encountered. In an online opinion article taken from The Guardian, author Julie Bindel, a lifelong feminist, freelance journalist and political activist, proposes that due to the forcefulness of patriarchy, women are evidently more competent than men. She believes that after years of living in an unequal society, women have developed certain skills as a result of this tyranny, and she even enforces that as Barack Obama argues, women make better bosses and leaders because "men seem to be having some problems these days". As well as this, linguist Deborah Cameron shares this different perspective with her modern (2008) Dynamic Approach. Cameron challenges the ideas by Lakoff that language between men and women is different as she expresses "the idea that men and women...use language in very different ways and for very different reasons is one of the great myths of our time." The lexical term 'myth' metaphorically used here is implying that she doesn't believe in the idea of supposed miscommunication. Almost as if it's a fairytale. Her work is also representative of recent language and gender studies that have moved away from categorising male and female speech styles as polarised, as well as analysing gender identities, how speakers perform and construct them and how language is influenced by stereotypes. Similarily, theorist and psychologist Janet Hyde, also contributed to the Dynamic Approach in 2005 but with her gender similarities hypothesis. She practically refuses that men are indeed more superior as she states there are more similarities than differences in male and female language and that gender does not really make much of an impact. She says where there are differences, they may be due to other variables such as age, class, ethnicity etc.
To conclude, it is obvious that men's language is more superior and authoritative than women's. Despite gendered language reflecting the enduring issues society faces on a day to day basis, and therefore helping to imply sexist ideas, there still remains an abundance of evidence to support this statement and further research has too. It is highly likely that this notion will stay relevant for years to come regardless of gradual change or progress in language.
Overtime, there has been a heavy and heated argument over male and female language and whose is more superior in this case. It has been indepthly studied by several linguists, some arguing on one hand that male language has and always will be more superior due to the twisted gender norms existent in our modern, patriarchal society today, but others still hold rigid views at the opposite end of the spectrum conveying that there is evidence that female language is not as incapacitated as many may think. Nevertheless, in this essay I will prove to you that in a body, despite immense progress in women's language throughout time, that male language is in fact more superior and more authoritative when compared to female language.
A debate to support this statement that male language is more superior and authoritative to female language is to firstly contrast their differences in language through a biological aspect. An article from newspaper 'The Guardian' called 'Male and Female brains: the REAL differences' helps to outline this as the confirmation proving the differences which came from the study has been roundly criticised by neuroscientists. However, they discovered some genuine differences that simply can't be denied. The article uses the lexical term 'confirms' in inverted commas to reinforce the idea that it's easy to 'confirm' even the most surreal of notions with brain imaging techniques, as well as putting emphasis on not only the term but the topic as a whole. However, more towards the point - The Guardian states there have been scientific factors discovered such as genetics, location, size, connections, pain sensation and specialisation which all link to the brain and how different parts of male and female's brains contrast. They suggest that male brains are bigger which could evoke they have more knowledge, as their brains are 'hardwired to be paid more, occupy more powerful roles and positions etc' whereas the female brain is 'hardwired to get more harassment and oppression, develop worrying obsessions with physical appearance'. The adjective 'hardwired' automatically makes the reader assume that men's authority is a natural trait, and society has only had a little influence in shaping their identity. It also makes out men to be seen as more superior to women not only mentally but physically too while trying to communicate.
A theorist who supports the view that women are the weaker sex in terms of language, automatically putting men in a position of authority and superiorness is Robin Lakoff. Lakoff, who created the Deficit Approach (1975) asserted that in a nutshell, women's language is more polite and because they are better well mannered, the features they use demonstrate their weakness. He also conveys the attitude that women are 'socialised to believe that asserting themselves strongly isn't nice or ladylike or even feminine' which could evoke why the amount of time women get to speak is sparse, due to women being held back over speaking up by men. Although a critism of Lakoff's approach is that it is outdated as it is over 40 years old, so the accuracy of his findings could be questioned as they may no longer be relevant. Despite this, the fact that women's femininity is being questioned here shows the extent of how inferior they are compared to the opposite sex which makes the age of Lakoff's findings inapplicable in this case.
Another reason that helps to prove that men's language is more superior is to look at how those labelled as an authority figure view gendered language. Let's take Professor Richard Lynn for example, who is known as one of Britain's 'top dons'. In an article he made for the daily mail, he highlighted in the title 'Sorry, men ARE more brainy than women'. Firstly, the adjective 'Sorry' at the beginning of this syntax demonstrates an unapologetic tone as clearly the writer does not want to apologise for admitting the truth. This is the followed by the conjunction 'ARE' in capital letters which reinforces the idea that this is a straight fact that deserves no argument. The adjective 'brainy' also used in this syntax suggests that again, men's authority and knowledge is being referred back to the power of science. The article then discusses the psychologists perspectives on the lexical term 'ingtellegence' - as it is described to be made up of a range of cognitive abilities including reasoning, problem solving, spatial ability, general knowledge and memory. In all of these, men outperform women which helps to explain why in terms of evolutionary psychology, men have emerged as the more intellegent sex. They have possessed far sharper minds of those of women and their superior foreign language skills also help to explain this. For that reason, this knowledge could imply why men hold such a high status as they use their intellgence over women in their everyday language to be more provocative.
However, not everyone would agree with this viewpoint as some hold the belief that simply not all women's language is inferior and in some cases can even be seen as superior to men's. This is coincidential as a male individual who argues this who again, is known as an authority figure, is the previous president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, who has had high experience in language in various regions and nationalities from all the speeches he's made and political debates he has encountered. In an online opinion article taken from The Guardian, author Julie Bindel, a lifelong feminist, freelance journalist and political activist, proposes that due to the forcefulness of patriarchy, women are evidently more competent than men. She believes that after years of living in an unequal society, women have developed certain skills as a result of this tyranny, and she even enforces that as Barack Obama argues, women make better bosses and leaders because "men seem to be having some problems these days". As well as this, linguist Deborah Cameron shares this different perspective with her modern (2008) Dynamic Approach. Cameron challenges the ideas by Lakoff that language between men and women is different as she expresses "the idea that men and women...use language in very different ways and for very different reasons is one of the great myths of our time." The lexical term 'myth' metaphorically used here is implying that she doesn't believe in the idea of supposed miscommunication. Almost as if it's a fairytale. Her work is also representative of recent language and gender studies that have moved away from categorising male and female speech styles as polarised, as well as analysing gender identities, how speakers perform and construct them and how language is influenced by stereotypes. Similarily, theorist and psychologist Janet Hyde, also contributed to the Dynamic Approach in 2005 but with her gender similarities hypothesis. She practically refuses that men are indeed more superior as she states there are more similarities than differences in male and female language and that gender does not really make much of an impact. She says where there are differences, they may be due to other variables such as age, class, ethnicity etc.
To conclude, it is obvious that men's language is more superior and authoritative than women's. Despite gendered language reflecting the enduring issues society faces on a day to day basis, and therefore helping to imply sexist ideas, there still remains an abundance of evidence to support this statement and further research has too. It is highly likely that this notion will stay relevant for years to come regardless of gradual change or progress in language.
Saturday, December 8, 2018
Accent and Dialect Exam Question
To what extent do you agree that accent and dialect is a performance of our identity?
I completely agree that accent and dialect is a performance of our identity and has been progressively over time. This is because in modern society, different types of groups speak with different ethnolects. This is most evident in grime artists outside London who have hugely increased in popularity as the culture has become much more widespread.
Furthermore, I also believe that the growth of MLE transforming into MUBE (Multicultural Urban British English) has produced further evidence to suggest that our accent is a performance of our identity, which is often a conscious decision. I maintain this because adding to the impact grime music has on modern society, many artists from various ethnicities and different backgrounds have become more well known as they seem to have the bigger influence on listeners. Initially, grime artists from other regions adopted MLE as a way of emulating the successful London movement, however gradually regional variation began to slip through which eventually made some grime artists outside London decide to rap in their own dialects, with some not choosing to mask this part of their identity. Therefore they are using their ethnolinguistic repertoire of music to identify themselves in a powerful way.
However, the performance of our identity being controlled by accent and dialect can not always be portrayed in a positive way. Instead, it sometimes has the ability to expose individuals true identities. This is proven by the controversial hip-hop persona Iggy Azalea. In a post published on 'Linguabishes', linguists reveal the false identity that Azalea shows through being a part of the music industry. She is not only conveyed to perpetuate several stereotypes but shows her complete ignorance and obliviousness through the non-regional lexical terms she uses in the content she produces and by not sticking to her true language background which several other white rappers have demonstrated they are capable off.
So, in conclusion, despite accent and dialect illustrating the pros and the cons of them being a performance of our identity, I still completely agree that is what it really is in any circumstance, as it can also be interpreted as a type of socialisation that helps us develop into a community and shapes us as an individual in society.
I completely agree that accent and dialect is a performance of our identity and has been progressively over time. This is because in modern society, different types of groups speak with different ethnolects. This is most evident in grime artists outside London who have hugely increased in popularity as the culture has become much more widespread.
Furthermore, I also believe that the growth of MLE transforming into MUBE (Multicultural Urban British English) has produced further evidence to suggest that our accent is a performance of our identity, which is often a conscious decision. I maintain this because adding to the impact grime music has on modern society, many artists from various ethnicities and different backgrounds have become more well known as they seem to have the bigger influence on listeners. Initially, grime artists from other regions adopted MLE as a way of emulating the successful London movement, however gradually regional variation began to slip through which eventually made some grime artists outside London decide to rap in their own dialects, with some not choosing to mask this part of their identity. Therefore they are using their ethnolinguistic repertoire of music to identify themselves in a powerful way.
However, the performance of our identity being controlled by accent and dialect can not always be portrayed in a positive way. Instead, it sometimes has the ability to expose individuals true identities. This is proven by the controversial hip-hop persona Iggy Azalea. In a post published on 'Linguabishes', linguists reveal the false identity that Azalea shows through being a part of the music industry. She is not only conveyed to perpetuate several stereotypes but shows her complete ignorance and obliviousness through the non-regional lexical terms she uses in the content she produces and by not sticking to her true language background which several other white rappers have demonstrated they are capable off.
So, in conclusion, despite accent and dialect illustrating the pros and the cons of them being a performance of our identity, I still completely agree that is what it really is in any circumstance, as it can also be interpreted as a type of socialisation that helps us develop into a community and shapes us as an individual in society.
Iggy Azalea LinguaBishes Article Summary
In this article, it is discussed through in depth linguistic analysis by linguists such as Maeve Eberhardt and Kara Freeman about how music artist Iggy Azalea, also known as a hip-hop persona, is a reference for linguistic appropriation as she uses her white privilege to identify herself but in an ignorant way that doesn't meet cultural standards or expectations. It suggests that in this era, 2018, there are plenty of artists in the industry successfully monetising hip hop and black culture who are white, which is significant as white people now comprise the majority of listeners. There are also many white rappers such as Eminem who is approved of as they stay true to their language backgrounds by only using the linguistic features he grew up with and not trying to portray another image or cross over into linguistic varieties from groups they don't belong to. This is comparison to people such as 'linguistic blackface' Azalea who is described to not only promote several stereotypes including her hyper-sexuality and support subvert standards as for example she stated in one of her interviews 'everybody loves a pretty white girl' which implies her lack of knowledge towards the importance of race in the US. Therefore the article as a whole criticises the fact Azalea uses her music as a way so obliviously to make herself known and more popular by using non-regional lexical items so freely and using AAE (African American English) features in her performances, ignoring their grammatical rules which is an issue as it can be seen as supporting a racist status.
https://linguabishes.com/2018/01/01/first-things-first-im-the-realest/
https://linguabishes.com/2018/01/01/first-things-first-im-the-realest/
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Regional Variations: Changing London Dialects Tasks
Task 1: Cockney Accent Article Summary - James Orr
In the article, the writer immediately states that Cockney rhyming slang is dying out 'amid London's diverse, multicultural society'. This is due to almost half of the people who polled, which were Londoners, having a lack of recognition towards certain words spoken in their society. It is also becoming noticable that much more new rhyming slang is being invented, so the idea of Cockney rhyming slang dying out is becoming much more widespread due to this and the fact that it orignially started out as a code language for London thieves who stopped using it once people began to find out what particular words meant.
Task 2:
1. Nikesh Shukla believes that 'Cockney rhyming slang is nang' as the title of her article suggests. He thinks Cockney is no longer spoken in East London and that it has moved to Essex with the minority.
2. He believes that rhyming slang is being replaced by the entry of different communities making the language more multicultural.
3. The reasons he gives for this is because people are moving from elsewhere to Cockney and they all 'need a new language' to represent us and our 'manors, our yard, our ends'.
4. The origins of MLE (multicultural London English) are that at first rhyming slang was in the East Ends of London, but ever since it has moved due to society becoming more multicultural, therefore people of other languages and cultures who have migrated have influenced slang making it more widespread.
Task 3: Paul Kerswill:
Summary of his ideas:
- Paul Kerswill was a professor of socio-linguistics at York University who said that there are two things going on, youth slang that many people use but also core users of MLE and to them it is a dialect and an accent. It doesn't have to have slang in it. He states 'it's a new kind of Cockney in a way.'
1. The main linguistic elements of MLE are...
- Linguistic researchers / professors identified the 'new cockney hybrid dialect
- It has West Indian, South Asian, Cockney and Estuary roots. (What the dialect has been influenced by) and it was originally named Jafaican - fake Jamaican .
- The dialect is most prevalent in East London, among people with few oppurtunities.
2. It has developed from West Indian, South Asian, Cockney and Estuary roots and the dialect has been helped to popularise by famous individuals such as rap artist Dizzee Rascal and Hackney born actor Idris Elba.
3. People use it because if they are one of the core speakers in the East End of London, where they have low opportunities, they use MLE to speak differently, using it as an 'exclusionary strategy' as one of the mechanisms when people find themselves unable to make progress in life or are discriminated against.
4. You can relate this to William Labov due to his findings on Martha's vineyard in 1961. This is because Labov was interested in how social class affected language usage, therefore it can be related as MLE is used in places such as the East End of London, a place where people have low opportunities, so you can investigate how the less fortunate people are affected in contrast to different parts of the population - to see how the results vary and if your social class actually determines this.
In the article, the writer immediately states that Cockney rhyming slang is dying out 'amid London's diverse, multicultural society'. This is due to almost half of the people who polled, which were Londoners, having a lack of recognition towards certain words spoken in their society. It is also becoming noticable that much more new rhyming slang is being invented, so the idea of Cockney rhyming slang dying out is becoming much more widespread due to this and the fact that it orignially started out as a code language for London thieves who stopped using it once people began to find out what particular words meant.
Task 2:
1. Nikesh Shukla believes that 'Cockney rhyming slang is nang' as the title of her article suggests. He thinks Cockney is no longer spoken in East London and that it has moved to Essex with the minority.
2. He believes that rhyming slang is being replaced by the entry of different communities making the language more multicultural.
3. The reasons he gives for this is because people are moving from elsewhere to Cockney and they all 'need a new language' to represent us and our 'manors, our yard, our ends'.
4. The origins of MLE (multicultural London English) are that at first rhyming slang was in the East Ends of London, but ever since it has moved due to society becoming more multicultural, therefore people of other languages and cultures who have migrated have influenced slang making it more widespread.
Task 3: Paul Kerswill:
Summary of his ideas:
- Paul Kerswill was a professor of socio-linguistics at York University who said that there are two things going on, youth slang that many people use but also core users of MLE and to them it is a dialect and an accent. It doesn't have to have slang in it. He states 'it's a new kind of Cockney in a way.'
1. The main linguistic elements of MLE are...
- Linguistic researchers / professors identified the 'new cockney hybrid dialect
- It has West Indian, South Asian, Cockney and Estuary roots. (What the dialect has been influenced by) and it was originally named Jafaican - fake Jamaican .
- The dialect is most prevalent in East London, among people with few oppurtunities.
2. It has developed from West Indian, South Asian, Cockney and Estuary roots and the dialect has been helped to popularise by famous individuals such as rap artist Dizzee Rascal and Hackney born actor Idris Elba.
3. People use it because if they are one of the core speakers in the East End of London, where they have low opportunities, they use MLE to speak differently, using it as an 'exclusionary strategy' as one of the mechanisms when people find themselves unable to make progress in life or are discriminated against.
4. You can relate this to William Labov due to his findings on Martha's vineyard in 1961. This is because Labov was interested in how social class affected language usage, therefore it can be related as MLE is used in places such as the East End of London, a place where people have low opportunities, so you can investigate how the less fortunate people are affected in contrast to different parts of the population - to see how the results vary and if your social class actually determines this.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Language and Gender Exam Question
Discuss the idea that women and men use language differently.
In your answer you should discuss concepts and issues from language study. You should use your own supporting examples and the data in Table 1.
There is a heavy, long winded debate over the fact that women and men use language differently, held by several linguists. Many argue that women's language is inferior, and the linguistic techniques they use in attempt of communicating are seen as weak or unnecessary therefore they are belittled for it. This is in large comparison to male's whose language is seen as more authoritative, in a more naturalistic way as they are labelled to be the more dominant sex, who are less likely to be criticised or questioned for every little thing they do. Simultaneously, men and women do hold some similarities in their language but these are not as common as the differences both of the genders portray. Nevertheless, in this essay I will argue that in a body, the idea that men and women hold a variety of differences is a certainty and a number of theorists will also help me to explain why...
As the data in table 1 suggests, female speakers contrast a considerable amount to the five male speakers. This is proven through the difference in the average number of seconds per turn. Like Table 1 shows, women get a lot less time to speak in comparison to men which could immediately illustrate the dominance men hold over women. A theorist who then supports this idea that this is the attitude conveyed is Robin Lakoff, who created the Deficit Approach (1975). Lakoff asserted that women are 'socialised to believe that asserting themselves strongly isn't nice or ladylike or even feminine' which could suggest why women get a sparse amount of time to speak than men because they are held back over speaking up. This is again established through the theorist's identification of faulty characteristics in women's language, more specifically through their use of hedges, fillers alongside tag questions which Lakoff says women only use to seek validation from men or because they are too talkative and indecisive. Therefore this could evoke the significant difference in social status between men and women, however this approach is argued against by linguist Pamela Fishman who declares tag questions are only used to start dialogue, arguing against the fact that women use them to seek validation from men and instead accepts this is primarily down to male dominance as they are reluctant to the usual conversation starting as they label it as 'shitwork'. So, there is a shorter average for women in the time they have to speak than men as demonstrated in table 1 because asking questions requires longer responses.
Another point to show that women and men use language differently is through Zimmerman and West's dominance approach (1975). This theory discusses that during mixed-sex conversations, men are more likely to interrupt than women, and this concluded is then proven in table 1 as the men's 'did interrupt' average was once again higher than women's. They argue that this is again a reflection of male dominance in society, however Beattie criticises this approach as he questioned interruptions being a reflect of interest and involvement and interestingly when he repeated the experiment, the results contradicted the findings of Zimmerman and West as he found that women and men interrupted with more or less equal frequency. Table 1 also reinforces this idea as Woman D and Man E have the same average result of 2.0 on interrupting per meeting, so this disproportionate result could change everything. It's agreeable, the majority of theorists help to prove that there is a difference between how men and women differentiate but additionally, multiple sources such as newspapers, online articles or even documentaries have helped to support this idea too. Take 'The Guardian' for example, and it's article 'Do men and women speak the same language?'. This is where it is debated whether there is a language barrier in communication between men and women and if it is truism or not. It endorses that this difference is a 'Mars-and-Venus theory' reinforcing the idea that the gap between the two could be so big that it could be elucidated as being even worlds away. Although this could be disputed as throughout time, the topic of male and females and the stigma that surrounds the equality between theme as made sufficient progress. But who really knows?
Furthermore, the hypothesis that dominance is the main lead to miscommunication in language between men and women, likewise to Zimmerman and West's theory as mentioned previously, and resulting in their differences is again supported by another linguist, Deborah Tannen. Tannen created the Difference Approach in 1990 where she claimed six main differences between the ways men and women use language, one of which that assists the data given in the first column of table 1 is 'status vs support'. Men on one hand see language as a means of asserting dominance, whereas women see it from a more positive perspective as a way of confirming or supporting ideas, but sometimes by unintentionally encouraging men. This proposes that women aim for more positive politeness strategies and that men are less supportive and complimentary to each other. This then could be an accurate evaluation as it is proven multiple times in different forms of speech that men usually take control over many conversations, but in the theory alone she is missing concrete evidence to back this statement up, therefore this approach could be criticised as Tannen is perpetuating stereotypes as it is clear that not all gender's are the same and in society, communication and language skills are bound to differ based on different cultures, classes or ethnicities so it is wrong to imply your gender is the only feature that determines this. Maybe this topic as a whole is simply just one big misinterpretation.
In your answer you should discuss concepts and issues from language study. You should use your own supporting examples and the data in Table 1.
There is a heavy, long winded debate over the fact that women and men use language differently, held by several linguists. Many argue that women's language is inferior, and the linguistic techniques they use in attempt of communicating are seen as weak or unnecessary therefore they are belittled for it. This is in large comparison to male's whose language is seen as more authoritative, in a more naturalistic way as they are labelled to be the more dominant sex, who are less likely to be criticised or questioned for every little thing they do. Simultaneously, men and women do hold some similarities in their language but these are not as common as the differences both of the genders portray. Nevertheless, in this essay I will argue that in a body, the idea that men and women hold a variety of differences is a certainty and a number of theorists will also help me to explain why...
As the data in table 1 suggests, female speakers contrast a considerable amount to the five male speakers. This is proven through the difference in the average number of seconds per turn. Like Table 1 shows, women get a lot less time to speak in comparison to men which could immediately illustrate the dominance men hold over women. A theorist who then supports this idea that this is the attitude conveyed is Robin Lakoff, who created the Deficit Approach (1975). Lakoff asserted that women are 'socialised to believe that asserting themselves strongly isn't nice or ladylike or even feminine' which could suggest why women get a sparse amount of time to speak than men because they are held back over speaking up. This is again established through the theorist's identification of faulty characteristics in women's language, more specifically through their use of hedges, fillers alongside tag questions which Lakoff says women only use to seek validation from men or because they are too talkative and indecisive. Therefore this could evoke the significant difference in social status between men and women, however this approach is argued against by linguist Pamela Fishman who declares tag questions are only used to start dialogue, arguing against the fact that women use them to seek validation from men and instead accepts this is primarily down to male dominance as they are reluctant to the usual conversation starting as they label it as 'shitwork'. So, there is a shorter average for women in the time they have to speak than men as demonstrated in table 1 because asking questions requires longer responses.
Another point to show that women and men use language differently is through Zimmerman and West's dominance approach (1975). This theory discusses that during mixed-sex conversations, men are more likely to interrupt than women, and this concluded is then proven in table 1 as the men's 'did interrupt' average was once again higher than women's. They argue that this is again a reflection of male dominance in society, however Beattie criticises this approach as he questioned interruptions being a reflect of interest and involvement and interestingly when he repeated the experiment, the results contradicted the findings of Zimmerman and West as he found that women and men interrupted with more or less equal frequency. Table 1 also reinforces this idea as Woman D and Man E have the same average result of 2.0 on interrupting per meeting, so this disproportionate result could change everything. It's agreeable, the majority of theorists help to prove that there is a difference between how men and women differentiate but additionally, multiple sources such as newspapers, online articles or even documentaries have helped to support this idea too. Take 'The Guardian' for example, and it's article 'Do men and women speak the same language?'. This is where it is debated whether there is a language barrier in communication between men and women and if it is truism or not. It endorses that this difference is a 'Mars-and-Venus theory' reinforcing the idea that the gap between the two could be so big that it could be elucidated as being even worlds away. Although this could be disputed as throughout time, the topic of male and females and the stigma that surrounds the equality between theme as made sufficient progress. But who really knows?
Furthermore, the hypothesis that dominance is the main lead to miscommunication in language between men and women, likewise to Zimmerman and West's theory as mentioned previously, and resulting in their differences is again supported by another linguist, Deborah Tannen. Tannen created the Difference Approach in 1990 where she claimed six main differences between the ways men and women use language, one of which that assists the data given in the first column of table 1 is 'status vs support'. Men on one hand see language as a means of asserting dominance, whereas women see it from a more positive perspective as a way of confirming or supporting ideas, but sometimes by unintentionally encouraging men. This proposes that women aim for more positive politeness strategies and that men are less supportive and complimentary to each other. This then could be an accurate evaluation as it is proven multiple times in different forms of speech that men usually take control over many conversations, but in the theory alone she is missing concrete evidence to back this statement up, therefore this approach could be criticised as Tannen is perpetuating stereotypes as it is clear that not all gender's are the same and in society, communication and language skills are bound to differ based on different cultures, classes or ethnicities so it is wrong to imply your gender is the only feature that determines this. Maybe this topic as a whole is simply just one big misinterpretation.
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