MONOUX PLC

A-LEVEL English

Language

Contents (click to go directly to section)

Child language:

Spoken

Written

Accent and Dialect:

Language and Region

Occupation

English around the world

Gender

Language change

Text analysis

Social groups

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Checklist for Child Language Spoken

Terms, theories & ideas Unsure

Nearly

Confident

Context: age of child, place, relationship between speakers etc.

Comprehension, production & productive vocabulary (by 18 months usually around 50 words)

Pre-verbal stages: vegetative, cooing, babbling & proto word

Nelson (1973) – early words into 4 categories: naming, action, social and modifying (naming biggest category)

Bloom (2004) – argues noun bias on relative frequency

Overextension & underextension

Hypernym & hyponym

Mismatch statement

Aitchison (1987) – 3 stages: labelling, packaging & network building (page 111)

Sounds & pronunciation problems: addition, deletion, reduplication, substitution, consonant cluster reduction, deletion of unstressed syllables, assimilation (page 111)

Utterance: how much they say = ‘mean length of utterance’ (MLU) – term used by linguists

Morphemes – free and bound

Typical stages: proto-word, one-word (holophrastic), two-word, telegraphic and post telegraphic (page 113)

Auxiliary verb – helping verb

Pivot schema – the use of certain words as a ‘pivot’ to generate many utterances

Aspect – progressive aspect = ing form - ongoing

Tenses, noun phrases – building more complex structures

Virtuous errors and logical mistakes: overgeneralisation

Unwritten rules & structures: turn-taking etc.

Diminutives – reduce the scale of an object by ‘addition’ – doggie, piggy, dolly

Jean Berko Gleason (1958) The ‘wug’ test (page 119)

B. F. Skinner (1957) - Behaviourism

Noam Chomsky (1959) - Nativism

Language acquisition device (LAD) – Chomsky’s idea

Tabula rasa – meaning ‘blank slate’ in Latin – at birth. Chomsky argued a programmed ability to learn language

Nature/Nurture

Child directed speech (CDS) – check on page 121 for features

Cognitive theories – Jean Piaget (1964) & Lev Vygotsky (1934) – zone of proximal development

Seriation – the idea of objects being in a series

Object permanence

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Politeness theory – link with work on pragmatics

Orthography – the spelling system

More knowledgeable other (MKO)/caregiver

Operant conditioning: the idea that a positive or negative response by a caregiver can influence the child’s speech

Positive/negative reinforcement

Scaffolding/modelling

Egocentric: children thinking only of themselves

Case study of Genie

Case study of Jim

Phonemic alphabet – will be given as glossary

Sentence moods: declarative, interrogative, imperative & exclamatory

IRF Structure –Initiation, response, feedback: what do we say to Granny? Thank you for the sweets Granny. Well done John.

Stretch

Read Paul Ibbotson’s chapter ‘Child Language Acquisition’ in Language: a student handbook (ask me)

Research the ideas of Michael Tomasello on language use theory; the idea that language develops according to how a child needs to use it: this is quite an academic document but you could skim read for interesting parts: https://www.princeton.edu/~adele/LIN_106:_UCB_files/Tomasello-BavinChapter09.pdf An interesting essay: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/language-acquisition-accounts-by-chomsky-and-tomasello-english-language-essay.php

Print off the booklet: Child Language Revision notes from the higher grade tookit on Teams – or ask me to direct you to this

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Checklist for Child Language Written

Terms, theories & ideas Unsure Nearly Confident

Context: where is the writing being done, is anyone assisting, if at school: what is the intention of the teacher, how does the marking show what is being practised. What is the influence of book reading or cognitive development/associations?

Development of handwriting: Emergent writing, tripod grip, fine motor skills, directionality, print and cursive script

Developmental model and Functional model of learning literacy

Attitudes – the creative model versus the rule-based model

The idea that a phoneme is represented by a grapheme – a sound is represented by a symbol (Grapho-phonemic)

An awareness of how language is all around us before we begin to read and write

The importance of storytelling, the use of familiar texts to facilitate writing

Scaffolding – and the various forms this can take

The importance of a key adult or knowledgeable other – environmental factors – writing at school and home

Lev Vygotsky – social constructivism – Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Shirley Brice Heath – 1970’s community literacy

The importance of books – repeated patterns, images, creativity and playfulness with language as well as the structure of the written mode

Sociocultural knowledge through narrative and representations

Multimodal literacies

Non linear – webpages for example, clicking around a page

Richard Gentry (1978) stages of spelling development

How spelling is taught

Aspects of misspelling

Punctuation and sentence construction

Phases in development – Barry Kroll’s research followed by Katherine Perera’s (1984) – Preparatory, Consolidation, Differentiation, Integration

Genre audience and purpose – Narratives, Recounts, Report, Observation – Joan Rothery 1980’s

Genre theorists – Jim Martin and Joan Rothery

Chronological and non-chronological ways of structuring writing

Cognitive awareness – Piaget, awareness of tenses, writing in character etc.

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Marie Clay and Yetta Goodman’s principles of development page 130

Awareness of developments/current thinking – latest on SAT’s testing, news articles for example

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Be prepared for CMC (computer mediated communication) and the possibility that the sample may include the work of older children. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum-assessments-practice-materials#key-stage-1-past-papers This link will take you to SATs sample papers for all age ranges; you can see what children are expected to know at various age ranges.

Log into emagazine (ask your teacher for login details) keep up to date with any recent articles on child literacy.

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Checklist for Accent and Dialect – Language and Region

Terms, theories & ideas Unsure Nearly Confident

Received Pronunciation (RP) Non regional Standard English Slang Linguistic variable Covert prestige Overt prestige Convergence & divergence Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) Giles Multicultural London English Estuary English Dialect levelling Matched guise technique Howard Giles William Labov New York department store study (1966) Martha’s Vineyard study (1963) Peter Trudgill Norwich study (1974) Cheshire’s Reading study (1982) Prescriptivism and Descriptivism Attitudes to regional accents i.e. Birmingham Ideas around regional pride and belonging Stretch International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) – look more closely at this and perhaps learn some of the sounds that you could use in an essay – choose a few linguistic variables that may be useful

Read the chapters on language variation in Language a Student Handbook on Key Topics & Theories: 1. Social Factors by Paul Kerswill and 2. Patterns of Accent Variation by Kevin Watson

Watch the clip of David Crystal speaking about regional variation: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+david+crystal+regional+variation+accent+and+dialect&view=detail&mid=D6BA2A62160327656FD5D6BA2A62160327656FD5&FORM=VIRE

Check the Guardian online for any recent articles on accent and dialect or regional variation

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Checklist for Accent and Dialect – Occupation

Terms, theories & ideas Unsure Nearly Confident

John Swales – discourse community Almut Koester – the importance of phatic talk in the workplace Michael Nelson – Corpus of business language Drew and Heritage - Inferential framework Asymmetric language - unequal Restricted lexis – used only within a specific context Corpus – a collection of searchable language data stored on a computer The Plain English Campaign Syntactical arrangement of speech – example: police or legal declarations Howard Giles – convergence and divergence Code-switching Accommodation theory Phonology: accent, tone of voice, pitch, intonation etc. Graphology/orthography: changing the spelling of words Jargon/inferential frameworks as inclusive and positive or isolating and negative

Solidarity – a feeling of connection with others or mutual support Occupation and international English Growth of international workplaces – how this affects occupational language

Stretch Suzi Dent’s book ‘Modern Tribes’ see the YouTube talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hrJpNj-LWw

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Checklist for English around the world

Terms, theories & ideas Unsure Nearly Confident

English as a lingua franca (ELF) Terms: Global English and International English Diaspora – The dispersal of people (and their languages) First language (L1), second language (L2) Pidgin – A trade language, not the language of either speaker Creole Braj Kachru (1992) 3 circles model McArthur’s circle of World English Schneider’s dynamic model Exonormative Endonormative Jennifer Jenkins – major theorist in this area Attitudes to English in the world Phonology – Retroflex, Schwa, Stress-timed, Syllable-based Page. 188 in text book

Post-colonial – the time since former colonies gained independence Stretch Jennifer Jenkins – theorist with current ideas on the use of English as a lingua franca. Research her ideas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvWCqvxK9Hg

Read the chapter: English around the world by Dr Jane Setter in: Language a Student Handbook on Key Topics & Theories – (ask me)

Watch the interview with David Crystal on world English: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+world+english+david+crystal&view=detail&mid=9276A91086E9B634CE119276A91086E9B634CE11&FORM=VIRE

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Personal Learning Checklist (PLC) for Language and Gender

Terms/people Unsure Nearly Confident Generic form of reference (he) ‘mankind’ etc.

Marking Biological sex and gender as a social construction

Gender neutrality/pronouns Robin Lakoff – Deficit theory: ‘Language and Woman’s Place’ (1975)

Tag questions, empty adjectives, less taboo, apologising more, intensifiers etc.

The modal auxiliary verbs:

Dale Spender – Dominance theory Deborah Cameron – Diversity ‘The Myth of Mars and Venus 2007)

Deborah Tannen – Difference: ‘You Just Don’t understand’

Jennifer Coates – men competitive and women collaborative and co-operative

O’Barr and Atkins (1980) – courtroom cases

Arguments around miscommunication between men and women

Awareness of other factors other than language: age, social groups, employment, ethnicity, cultural background etc. Consider.

Anthropomorphism – imposing human qualities on the animals and objects around us Representation

Objectification Pejorative terms

Gendered pronouns and using ‘man’ for both

Otto Jesperson (1922) - Deficit Sapir and Whorf Hypothesis

Lexical priming Stretch

Janet Hyde (2005) – ‘gender similarities hypothesis’ – this is quite an academic article but

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you could skim read and pick out any parts that are interesting: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-606581.pdf Judith Butler – book ‘Gender Trouble’ suggests ‘performative’ – start your research with this link: www.openculture.com/2018/02/judith-butler-on-gender-

performativity.html

Podesva: The use of falsetto

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Checklist for Language Change

Terms, theories & ideas Unsure Nearly Confident Diachronic and synchronic variation

Awareness of timeline: Old, middle and early modern English

Functional theory Amelioration / Pejoration

Reflectionism / determinism Neologism

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Broadening / narrowing

Logical progression or random fluctuation

S curve and wave models of change Driving forces of language change: movement of people, technology, war/conflict, politics, youth culture, creativity

Change from above – Change from below Attitudes to language change: Prescriptivism/Descriptivism

Vocal fry, uptalk and inflections

Jean Aichison – damp spoon & crumbling castle Sticklerism

Political correctness

Who cares about language change? Borrowing

Euphemism & dysphemism Acronyms & initialisms

Coining & citations (first citation)

Internal & external factors Blending & compounding

Graphology & orthography (e.g. emojis) Changes in syntax and the ordering of words

Morphology – prefixes and suffixes contributing to the creation of new words

Key influences: invasion of 1066, the influence of Latin, printing press, Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer etc.

Innovation – the creation of a neologism

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Diffusion – the spread of this, who first said Brexit?

Stretch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVqcoB798Is Watch the David Crystal clip on language change and the effect of new technologies on language.

https://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/ Take a look at the blog by Dan Clayton – there is lots of information on language change here

Read the chapter on language change in: A Student Handbook on Key Topics & Theories by The English and Media Centre (ask me)

Buy the Workbook from AQA with language change questions (£7.99)

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Checklist for textual analysis

Terms, theories & ideas Unsure Nearly Confident Age of text

Context of text Mode - written, spoken etc.

Intention Multimodal – uses more than one method

Archaic language or little used today

Text producer Intended text receiver

Audience positioning or construction Producer positioning themselves

Sentence types

Sentence moods Representations

Connotations Inverted syntax

Graphology Narratee – fictional receiver

Narrator – fictional/or real ‘teller’

Active and passive voice Computer mediated communication (CMC)

Limitations – prevented or restricted Critical discourse analysis – unpicking the way discourses work revealing power structures within society through language

Lexical and semantic aspects:

Formality and informality (register)

Colloquial

Taboo

Euphemism & dysphemism

Connotation

Collocation

Semantic field

Idiomatic language

Language device: metaphor, simile etc.

Pragmatic aspects:

Inference

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Politeness

Phonological aspects:

Sounds – alliteration, onomatopoeia etc.

Grammatical aspects:

Pronouns, modifiers, verbs, sentence types and functions, word and clause ordering etc.

Graphological aspects:

Design, colour, layout, logo, symbols, images etc.

Positive face theory – the need for positive reinforcement

Subject position – some aspects emphasised and some played down

Word, phrase or clause ordering or positioning – are clauses used first for example to gain attention

Rhetoric – the study or art of persuasive language

Stretch

Read the chapter: Textual Analysis & Stylistics by Peter Stockwell in: Language, A Student Handbook on Key Topics & Theories

Begin to collect your own examples of language and analyse these independently. Interesting articles, leaflets that come through your door, photograph advertisements etc. Remember every text has a text producer, an intended reader and a sense of audience/author positioning and intention

Buy or borrow from the LRC a book on grammar – check anything that you are unsure about. David Crystal is one of the best authors to look for.

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Personal Learning Checklist (PLC) for Social Groups

Terms/people Unsure Nearly Confident What is a social group – micro and macro levels

Convergence & Divergence Howard Giles 1970’s Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT)

William Labov – class studies (post-vocalic /r/)

Peter Trudgill’s 1974 study of Norwich speech Social networks and multiplexity

Dialect

Ethnolect

Familect

Genderlect Social practices – the ways in which people in groups habitually behave

Sociolect

Sociolinguistics

Jenny Cheshire (1982) – work on peer group culture

Community of practice Pragmatic rules

Language and age – Penelope Eckert Overt and covert prestige

Inclusion and exclusion Jargon, slang, neologisms, amelioration and pejoration

Ideas around ‘teenspeak’

Vocal fry and uptalk

Stretch

emagazine – ask me for login details, articles on language and social groups

Blog about vocal fry: Mark Liberman: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3626 Google: Mark Liberman vocal fry blog

Language and sexuality: Podesva’s 2007 study into the use of falsetto by a gay male in constructing his persona:

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