When you are sitting in that daunting hall ready to sit an exam, and you see the papers slowly being handed out, there's always a page in that paper notifying you what you have to do. It is telling you certain rules and what you need to pay attention too. It does this by asserting the power of the language used so that you pay more attention.

Firstly, the first thing I saw on the page was in the biggest letter in the page was the title: ‘warming to all candidates’. In this situation the use of big letters is used to give the title a kind of authority showing the readers that this is important. Straight away it sets the tone of the piece you are about to read as it is the title and is shown in big letters. Therefore the way power has been asserted straight away is by making the title the biggest thing on the page.

Something else worth noting on, is the bold letters in most points made. The use of bold letters stands out and makes people go, ‘I need to pay attention’. Although, I have also noticed that the same word or phrase ‘must/must not’ are the only words in bold, these words aren't just suggesting something or perhaps saying maybe you should do this, in fact it is the complete opposite. This set of alternate phrases are commanding that you MUST or you MUST NOT do this, they are telling you exactly what you should do and they are not giving the reader any other thing they can possibly do. This is asserting power as it is letting you know you are not in charge, and that you must follow what they say and it is as simple as that.

Also, this whole piece is finished with a closing sentence that is bigger than the general text of this piece and is also in bold letters. This when glancing makes us look at what it is saying because it is noticeable and can be seen easily. Being one of the biggest, boldest things on the page it stands out amongst everything else so automatically without it even been read it has an asserting power about it already. After setting it self a important piece of the writing once you get reading it asserts more power by again like I mentioned earlier using the word must. Therefore, the fact we have a sentence in bigger and bold writing using an assertive word it seems like it must be read due to the power asserted within it.

Finally, the case seems to be amongst this piece that every important part of it that must be seen is presented in either bigger or bold text. These are two very important things when in need to assert power so show us that power is asserted throughout this piece through the use of; assertive words/phrases, bold writing and bigger writing. Although these are just some of the ways power is asserted in day to day pieces.

How does langauge effect you? - Research task

Analysis:

After handing out several questionnaires to family and friends about language and how it effects people, I found certain findings. The first that I want to talk about is how 8/9 of the people that actually filled in my questionnaire and gave it back to me seemed to find that those who speak of ‘Urban Slang’ normally recognisable from those living in the East London area. The reasons for this could be of many, and one in which I think is key is the way in which they project their voice using made up slang words quite aggressively, this is commonly known as ‘black English’. The reason those 8 people chose this could also be that they know the area as they ae not far away and are aware of what people from the area using ‘urban slang’ are actually like. The other options I put with this were ‘a strong manc speaker’ which could be quite intimidating due to the strength in which these people speak, which is similar to a ‘scouse speaker’ which for me would have the same effect as a strong manc accent. Reason for these two being intimidating would be that these are unknown by people of this area who filled out my questionnaires and so therefore would be quite intimidating at first, when coming across one of these speakers.

Question 5: If you were to meet one of the following people with one of these certain accents for the first time, would you find any of these intimidating?

Urban Slang speaker (8)  Strong manc speaker (Manchester) (0)   Scouse speaker (1)   Formal Language speaker (0)   

Above I have put the question I have just spoke about and out next to the answers how many people chose that answer. And as I’ve already said, all but one found the urban slang speaker most intimidating with one person differentiating, saying that they would find a scouse speaker most intimdiaitng due to the strength of a scouse person.

In my questionnaire findings I found something that came of a shock to me, one of the people who handed the questionnaire back to me stated in that when they speak to someone of higher class, they changed the way they speak dramatically. Meaning they completely change their tone and voice when speaking to someone like the queen. This came as a shock to me because even though I and most other people would change the way they speak when speaking to those of higher class, not everything would change, and I would just avoid the way in which I use slang so I don’t look like an idiot, they seemed to change everything that makes up the way the speak. The answer they gave was as followed:

‘I would change the way I speak to someone of higher class to me because they are of higher class, simple as that. I would change everything involving the way in which I usually speak so I can set a good first impression, because at the end of the day if they are of higher class, you don’t want to look like an idiot.’

This answer was quite stern and straight to the point, and perhaps tells me that they may be intimidated by someone of higher class if they are changing the way they speak when faced with someone of higher class.

Overall, nothing really came much of a surprise to me when receiving back my questionnaire, all but a few was of sensible answers and I expected what I got back. There was a few hiccups though but those were what was commented on above.

 

Research task
Accent
When we talk about accent, we need to remember that this doesn’t relate to grammar or vocabulary, but instead pronunciation and intonation instead, this is going to be very important. Two people speaking the same language, who use the same grammar and word choices will always be interpreting things slightly different due to how the words they use for certain things changes. While we listen we naturally pick up these interpretations of people from different regions about people’s ethnic, socioeconomic and geographical background, experiments from researchers have shown that listeners can also judge on others’ intelligence, warmth and even how tall they are just by listening to recorded accented speech.
Slang
London English has a new pronoun, Young people living in multicultural areas of the inner city use man as an alternative to I, this is used very frequently in hose multicultural areas as they are all trying to fit in with one another. Sometimes the meaning could be indecisive in the fact it is not quite clear why they are using it: some people would say ‘man don’t want to do that’, this is used as a sentence quite a lot, alongside the fact it is included in a line of a multicultural song – this does not help. The word ‘man’ is just one example of words used instead of the correct word to fit in, which represents slang in itself.
Man is not the only new plural form of the noun: mens, mans and mandem are also heard in London, as well as the expected men. Mandem seems a straightforward borrowing from Jamaican culture, as if you came across any Jamaican people you may here these words very regularly in their normal speech. The other forms result from the way that children acquire English in linguistically diverse inner city areas – in an unguided, informal fashion, in their friendship groups.  Many different varieties of English are used in these groups, resulting in much linguistic variation and linguistic flexibility.
As a plural noun, man always refers to a group of individuals: either to people who are there with the speaker or to a group of people that the speaker has just been talking about. This paves the way for the development of the pronoun, since this is exactly how pronouns are used: I refers to a person who is there (the speaker), while he or she refer either to another person who is there or to a person the speaker has just mentioned. Since the plural noun man refers to a group of people, speakers can present themselves as symbolically belonging to that group. This again is used a lot in multicultural places, used more in my opinion the closer and closer into London you get.
Linguistic changes in different regions – Scotland:
Jane Stuart-Smith, Gwilym Pryce, Claire Timmins and Barrie Gunter investigated the possible factors involved in the spread of some linguistic changes in Glasgow, Scotland, and also the ways in which people from different regions like Scotland change the way they speak. They focused on two changes that have been underway for the last 60 years but which have recently increased in usage in the vernacular of working class Glaswegian youngsters:  saying ‘f’ instead of ‘th’ in words like think and mouth and pronouncing the ‘l’ in words like milk and people as a type of vowel, for example as miwulk or peepul . This is the typical pronunciation of what many of us would consider a traditional London ‘Cockney’ accent, although it is now mainly heard in Essex. The researchers were interested to find out whether these two changes were indeed taking place and if so, why this was happening.  They conducted their research in an area of Glasgow that is characterised by low unemployment and urban deprivation, concentrating on 48 young people over a period of 18 months.  They collected recordings of spontaneous conversations and readings from wordlists and conducted interviews with the adolescents.]
They found that the pronunciation of ‘f’ for ‘th’ and ‘l’ as a vowel sound were both used mainly by speakers who didn’t like conforming to correct school uniform, preferring the look of Glasgow street style, and also by those who regularly watched and engaged with television shows, especially Eastenders.  The ‘f’ pronunciation was mostly used in spontaneous speech at the end of words (such as mouth) rather than at the beginning of words like think.]
So, both of these changes seem to be linked with the development of Glasgow street style and its visible appearance: wearing tracksuits, trainers with socks over trousers, jewellery and particular hairstyles and especially with trying to introduce elements of this into school uniform instead of conforming to the rules.  Speakers who are adopting these pronunciation changes and this particular street style seem to be trying to say, through their looks and speech, that they are ‘not posh’; rather,  they are ’cool youth’ and ‘urban tough’.
From my point of view I found this all very interesting as it allowed me to understand more why and how the different regions change the way they pronounce words when they speak, and also the way in which they talk. I'm used to just the basic Essex accent and pronunciation as that is where I am from, so it was interesting for me to look at another regions pronunciation and they way in which they talk.

Accent and dialect:

Accent: Accent is the distinctive way in which a person from different places speak. These accents make people stand out to people from different places. It is the different ways in which people from different places speak.

Dialect: This is a form or type of language that is found peculiar to a specific type of place or region as to where the person that has this type of language is from.

Regions and how they speak differently to the standard English:
Newcastle:

• 'Aye' instead of yes
• 'Lass' referring to a girl 
• 'Mam' and not mother or mum
• 'Naught' in place of nothing

Liverpool:

• 'Bevvy' over beer 
• 'Butty' instead of sandwich 
• 'Abar' in place of about 
• 'Raar' and not right

Manchester:

• 'Dead' instead of extremely 
• 'Mint' over great 
• 'Angin' in place of disgusting 
• 'Sound' good or great 

Poem on a West Ham football programme

Claret and blue,
The two colours for you,
At the Boleyn ground,
There is no greater sound,
Bubbles in the air,
And James Collins' ginger hair,
But why do we support this club?
Maybe because of the old Boleyn pub'
But let me tell you why,
It's because even when the spirits aren't flying high,
The fans won't stop,
The atmosphere is always tip top,
Because we all love this mighty club,
West Ham United, the greatest there is.

Analysis:
In this poem which would be seen by West Ham fans who purchase the match day programme each week, I have tried to rhyme at almost every line as it is probably essential for them to remember the poem.
The audience would be of family's who support the club and friends so should be acceptable for all age groups and it doesn't want to represent the club in a bad light by using perhaps taboo topics and words. It is quite a informal piece as it wants to keep the fans interested and if it was formal they wouldn't even take a first look.

Analysis of text 1: ‘Times running out… Write a letter today’

The peace we studied has a clear audience it is aimed at, a clear purpose and the form of the peace is also easy to tell. Starting with the audience, when you read the peace it is clear to see it is aimed at the general citizens of the place Bishops Waltham. This is because it is a local aimed peace. Following that, the purpose of the poem is to get people to write a letter to the city council explaining their objection. Finally the last point obviously is about the form and although the the form of this peace should be a letter which it sort of is, it is more like a leaflet layout. This is due to its columns and the text bubbles and pictures etc, which normally you wouldn't find in a letter.

Firstly, the graphology on this peace is seen quite clear as there seems to be lots of different fonts, logos, pictures and slogans. The logos are there to show the audience what the peace is ran by perhaps the company who set this up or who it is about. By the slogan in the middle which is also used as my title, there is a picture of a clock showing the time 11.58. I think this goes hand in hand with the slogan as it is talking about time running out and the picture shows there is only two minutes left until 12, which suggest time is running out. Talking about the logo’s used again, the logo’s are used on this peace because it stamps its authority on the peace and let's people know who is in charge. There are two text boxes which suggest that the things that are contained in the text box would be more important over anything else, so perhaps should be looked at first. Other parts are in bold and in bigger font than the rest of the writing which shows these are headings and are more important parts of the peace.

After that, the discourse structure is nice and simple in this leaflet/letter, this is because as I've already spoke about how it is laid out like a leaflet when in actual fact it is a letter. The layout procedure starts with a big bold box with big bold writing showing what the following is going to be about and what it represents. This is followed by the clear indicator that it is a letter, but then goes into two columns full of paragraphs in a more leaflet like structure. Each new point is instructed with a bolder peace of writing above it to show what the next peace of writing is going to be about. There are different information, where so,e is more important that others meaning that they are in text boxes, even though text boxes could change the course of the structure, they seem to be with in course of the structure and jus sit in nicely with how the peace is running along a laid out. There are pictures/logos at the bottom and top of the peace which fit into the structure nicely. This type of structure is a narrative account as it is laid out like a report just going on about what the subject is in two columns.

Finally, the grammar of this peace is easy to spot as their isn't excessive amounts of writing, so I will start with how the use of 2nd person pronouns are used to make people feel uneasy and guilty as if they should or have to write a letter. The fact these 2nd person pronouns are used create a relationship with the reader as it makes them think about what they should do. Also, the use of imperative verbs create quite an effect too, the effect created by these imperative verbs is the sense of enthusiasm. They enthuses the urgency that is to write a letter by using the imperative verb ‘write’ this is a command so is telling the reader what to do instead of maybe suggesting what sound be done.

Euphemism

" friendly fire "
This is a term used to say when someone is shooting at their own team perhaps in a war or accidentally shooting at someone. It is used as a quick sharp phrase to shout out in war perhaps instead of using the long sentence of "you are shooting at your own team". It also softens up the meaning as it uses friendly which is not a aggressive word.

" to sleep with someone"
This is a term used as to when someone has had sex with someone else. This is used because saying sex straight up could be quite up front or shocking to some people making them feel uncomfortable so it used to make it less uncomfortable and easier to talk about, basically softening up what it means.

"Senior citizen"
This is a good term as it is used to talk about an old person. This is a good one because some people may take offence to saying old people and this softens it up. Not only does it soften it up but it makes the people sound more titled as they have a citizen class. It masks the fact that they are old and just classes them as a senior citizen.