Thursday, 4 February 2016

Analysis of JCQ poster

JCQ Poster Analysis

 The graphology of this poster represents its power and authority over the reader mainly because of the big piece of branding at the top of the poster. This well known examination board company hold all their authority over everybody below them, seeing as they have the authority of bringing a student out of an exam and removing them from any future ones and can even press charges if any rules are broken. This is Deontic modality and instrumental power.
 Second of all, this poster uses repeated imagery in order to make sure that the ideology has been sent across. These are also to catch the eye of someone walking past or looking around and it also works from a distance, so someone across a room can see it. 
 The title in itself is showing its authority through its demeaning word choice. Using the buzzword 'warning; means that the students will automatically follow the orders of the poster as they have been warned to follow it. On top of this, the title even shows direct mode of address as it straight up says 'to candidates' pointing out its primary audience. The secondary audience is the group of teachers and exam leaders that will put the poster up and around the school and exam room, this is seen when you look at the bottom of the poster where it says 'copies of this poster must be displayed in a prominent place both inside and outside each examination room'.
 The text is set up into numerical values, a list with just numbers to divide them up, like a recipe. But then inside part 2, the text is set up into four bullet points as a subsection. This shows precise, formal and authoritative talk in the poster. 
 Finally, throughout the poster, there are words in bold. These words are modal verbs and it consists of 'must' and 'must not' mostly. These modal words show instrumental power over the reader and the person that this poster is targeted to, as this is what they have to do otherwise if they misbehave they get sanctioned and maybe even removed from the exam. This may cause the exam board to tell the other exam boards this, meaning that the student ruins everything with just one form of malpractice.

Analysis of Tesco Coupon

Tesco Coupon Analysis

 First of all, the most invasive way that this coupon exaggerates authority and power is through the repetition of the branding and the logo of Tesco itself. Especially considering the colour of the logo. The colouring of the logo is the only form of colour on the back of this coupon as the rest of the text is fully black and just a wall of text, rather than spread out. Finally, the logo is repeated three times, excessively big. Three is supposed to be the magic number within advertising, as if Tesco is marking their power and territory using this advertising convention. 
 The purpose of this text is to prevent the liability, to be precise, to protect the company, to be targeted at the customer and to be clear, meaning no complaints, and the way that this text does this is repeated throughout most coupons. This piece of text is here in fine print in order for the information to be there, but because the customers don't really care about it, they don't read it. But when something goes wrong, Tesco can always say that it was on the back of this coupon. This text is written in a way that it'll stop any confusion, much like a legal document, where everything has to be clear, and the style of writing and the language used in this proves that.
 The way this block of text is presented is in unconventional bullet points, as if it were a list or recipe, telling you what to do. Although it is visually unappealing, this block of text is designed to take up little space as to fit on the back of this coupon, fitting all the right information in.
 The language in this text is fairly simple as so the customer can understand it, there are few words to instruct the target audience and the sentences are shortened and simplified so they are quick to read and straight to the point. Finally, in the text there are a lot of modal verbs and imperative verbs, telling you what to do and the outcome of it, so the customer (demographic) can easily understand the instructions.

Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Analysis of Passport Leaflet

Passport Leaflet Analysis

 The graphology on this leaflet shows connotations of many different things, such as the main image. The main image holds the target audiences focus when they first look at the leaflet as this is on the front cover. This is because of the denotation of the word 'PASSPORT' in big, capital letters, taken straight from a close up image of a passport. This shows authority and genuine connotations as this is the first thing the audience sees and because of the logo, the font and the image of an official passport, this leaflet proves its identity as genuine. On top of this, on the front cover, the title is in capital letters, in white on a dark background, to stand out and grab the attention of the consumer, so they know what they are reading quickly. Also, the font of this title is sans-serif, comparing this to the font of the logo above, it shows a more relaxed tone compared to the authoritative company that holds power over this leaflet and the information inside of it. Coming to the logo, it holds the crest that is similar to the one on the passport, branding the leaflet to belong to the foreign and commonwealth office, along with the serif font beneath it, suggesting royalty and importance as well as the non-English language in among the crest. Finally, at the bottom of this font cover, you can see the website that the company is assuming the consumer is going to go to, as well as follow the road sign looking arrow symbol that is next to it, suggesting moving on to the next page. 
 Overall, the way the leaflet is set out, using different aspects of mise en scene(colour, layout, house style). The page is split up in different ways, with a dark background behind the titles and light backgrounds behind the adverts and behind the main block of text. As well as this, there is a block of colour behind the logos and the website in order to make these stand out too. Altogether, these blocks of colour and backgrounds make the leaflet look geometrical and informative.
 On the second page, with the main block of information, it is split up into bullet points and using imperatives in order to tell the audience what to do, giving them instructions, as they have consequences and must be obeyed otherwise the person will not be able to go on holiday or abroad if these rules are not followed. Also, the second section is bullet pointed and under the title of 'INSURANCE' which then links this page to the back side of the booklet, in which there is a Halifax advert which is advertising travel insurance(obviously the highest bidder!). 
 Finally, on the back page, there is a repeat of the design from the front cover, as there is a repeat of the logo and branding and also a repeat of the website that was at the bottom of the page. On top of this is the repeat of the arrow, but bigger next to the feedback section, showing the power this simple symbol has over the demographic, just because of where the leaflet was made. On top of this, the logo does not have to be this big, but to show its authority and demand over the reader, it is quite a bit larger than it needs to be. Finally, the repeat of the website throughout the text also shows massive authority over the reader, shoving the idea and reminding the reader what they are and where to find them, so they won't forget.

Thursday, 14 January 2016

Should schools ban street slang?

Should schools ban street slang?

 Some people have started arguing that schools and the younger generation are being encouraged to speak informally and use taboo language when speaking to adults and their friends. This could be a problem for the generation as it is placing this stereotype on them and creating the idea that all young people are the same and behave this way just because they are in school. However, schools around the nation have been discussing whether to ban street slang from the premises of any educational building.
 Slang is a mixture of shortenings, abbreviations, taboo language and other informal uses of lexis. This 'street slang' tends to only be used in social groups, such as teenagers and pupils when talking to their friends, as to develop a certain grounding and understanding among the group, as if to separate them from other people, as they know the people in their social groups will understand them. This is where the problem of schools come into the situation, some young people have been using street slang whilst talking to adults such as teachers, parents and other older people which is considered disrespectful. 
 When young people call out to their teachers as if they are their 'buddy' or 'bestie' this can cause a problem of respect and disregarding of the teacher, and the teacher may take offence to this. This however could be solved through other solutions than banning the slang completely, such as putting rules against taboo language and swearing, giving detention to the disrespectful young people and to send letters home to parents if it carries on, as the children that are constantly using this need to be taught a lesson without completely restricting them of their own way of communicating.
 On the one hand, very young adults swearing and using street slang can become a very judgmental thing as others will believe that this child had been brought up by their family to swear and be rude to their peers and this child would be looked down upon. This problem has also caused a large stereotype along with the ideology that 'all teenagers are dangerous', which doesn't help, meaning that adults and elderly people can become scared of teenagers just because of their accent and the way they speak. In contrast to this, getting used to this could be the way past this problem, but some people just won't accept anything but the Queen's English.
 On the other hand, banning street slang altogether would stop the problem within school but the problem could get worse outside of school. It is the same situation as banning illegal drugs and their usage in the law, because you have banned it, people are more likely to use it and/or keep it a secret, people will still carry on doing it, even if it is banned, and maybe even get worse. This could revive the high prestige of the teachers in school but it would also be demoralizing the young people and depriving them of their rights and freedom of speech. 
 As well as this, if everybody sounded the same and used received pronunciation constantly, it would remove the unique set of language and identity behind a person, making everybody the same and as if they were in some sort of army or group of surveillanced people. The language barrier is changing over time and it always has been, some people believe that the Queen's English is all fully English, but it is not, some words and part of our language is from Latin, Anglo-Saxons and the French, This proves that this could just be another step in our language and the way we speak.
 I believe the best way to stop children and young adults from treating their teachers and peers like crap would to put some rules on the language they can use in school, for example, stopping them swearing at their teachers. Even though they may swear in their friend groups, they would understand the boundaries as to not hurt their friends feelings or anything similar. I also believe banning street slang completely would be the wrong thing to do because some people are brought up with it and are used to it, most people would understand when they need to code shift and talk with a higher prestige. Some people even bother with changing their accent because of this, sometimes accommodation theory comes into this because of the way some people converge their speech closer to the other person, such as in interviews or when talking with a teacher or headmaster. We need to stop stereotyping the idea that all young people are like this and they are all disrespectful and punishing them for it, we need to deal with the problem where it is, otherwise it will not work.

Thursday, 10 December 2015

My Idiolect

My Idiolect by Eleanor Williams

 It is quite difficult to define what my idiolect is exactly. This is because my spoken language depends on where I am, how I am feeling and who I am speaking to, such as social groups, multiplex's and regional groups. However, there are a lot of features of my idiolect which distinguish me as a person, making my voice different and more recognizable individually to my audience, no matter who I am talking to or how I am feeling.
 My accent is influenced greatly from where me and my family around me come from. Because my family are French and come from Calais, I can sometimes have a different style of speech to those who are English speakers. Although I can speak fluent English, it is my accent that can be quite different at times. Although the French language can be quite similar to the English language in ways, the phonology tends to be more consistent of fricatives rather than harsh sounds like plosives which the English tend to use more. For example, whilst the English say /ch/ I say /sh/, so instead of saying 'chocolate' i say 'shocolate'. this is because I was taught to read with flowing expression through received English, so i would read and say the words how they were written and say them in almost old English, making the words flow and sound more poetic. This was also affected by my mother who tended to have a nasally accent and used quieter fricatives rather than loud plosives. Once I had moved to England on the other hand, I started to learn to pronounce every phoneme because of the stereotype of the English language being 'posh' and of high prestige, meaning I never dropped my 't's and still don't to this day.
 Estuary English is also common among English speakers, including me, as I tend to mess up 'l' vocalization, where words such as 'milk' are pronounced as 'miwk'. Another thing I tend to do is using diphthongs like making 'buy' into 'boi' and 'pint' into 'point' just because of the Norfolk/ London accent I have got myself accustomed to.
 My idiolect is then also affected by a lot of different things on top of being geographically different, such as things like the media, jobs I have had, my friends and my places of education. For example from the internet I have gotten phrases such as shortenings much like 'wtf', 'ty', 'brb' and 'lol' which i have ended up saying as part of my speech too, no matter how hard I try to avoid it. I also tend to use 'like' and 'literally' excessively in sentences as fillers for when I am interrupted or not sure what to say. As well as this, I have included code shifting into my idiolect because of the different jobs I have had in the past. This is due to face threatening acts (FTA) and politeness when addressing a customer (the more polite you are the more likely you are to get money from it, because being rude is an expectancy these days). This means that I have started using 'ty' when around my friends and family but 'please' and 'thank you' when at work.
 My family background also influences my idiolect. For example, I call my mother 'mumma' when I am with my family and then 'mum' when I am with my friends. Some words such as taboo language aren't allowed to be used inside the house (by me) as far as I know, because of the face value behind the words and the intent that could be behind them, these include things like saying 'shit' or 'fuck' when accidentally stubbing your toe on the lounge cabinet. On the other hand, I do tend to use quite a lot of blasphemy recently such as 'Jesus Christ' when I am shocked at something, but I never use 'oh my god' unless it really is a dire situation as I prefer to use 'oh my gosh'. Sometimes I will use French phrases to say good morning or thank you, especially when talking to my mother, I will say 'bonjour' and 'merci beaucoup'. As well as this, because I am very interested in the Japanese language, I tend to use lexis from there too, such as yes and thank you, 'hai' and 'arigato', but these tend to be to only very close family members or friends. If I am happy I tend to use this variety of language in my informal speech.

Thursday, 26 November 2015

Rhetoric Words and Definition

  • Alliteration: repetition of the same sound beginning several words in sequence.
  • Antistrophe: repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.
  • Archaism: use of an older or obsolete form.
  • Anacoluthon: lack of grammatical sequence; a change in the grammatical construction within the same sentence
  • Antithesis: when two opposites are mentioned together for contrasting effects against each other.
  • Assonance: repetition of the same sound in words close to each other.
  • Anadiplosis: ("doubling back") the rhetorical repetition of one or several words; specifically, repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next.
  • Aporia: expression of doubt (often feigned) by which a speaker appears uncertain as to what he should think, say, or do.
  • Asyndeton: lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.
  • Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines.
  • Aposiopesis: a form of ellipse by which a speaker comes to an abrupt halt, seemingly overcome by passion or modesty.
  • Anastrophe: transposition of normal word order; most often found in Latin in the case of prepositions and the words they control. Anastrophe is a form of hyperbaton.
  • Apostrophe: a sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction absent or present.
  • Catachresis: a harsh metaphor involving the use of a word beyond its strict sphere.
  • Hypallage: transferred epithet; grammatical agreement of a word with another word which it does not logically qualify. More common in poetry.
  • Litotes: understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed. (Sometimes used synonymously with meiosis.)
  • Paradox: an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it.
  • Polysyndeton: the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses.
  • Synchysis: interlocked word order.
  • Chiasmus: two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels (a-b-a-b) but in inverted order (a-b-b-a); from shape of the Greek letter chi (X).
  • Hyperbaton: separation of words which belong together, often to emphasize the first of the separated words or to create a certain image.
  • Metaphor: implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it.
  • Paraprosdokian: surprise or unexpected ending of a phrase or series.
  • Praeteritio: pretended omission for rhetorical effect.
  • Synecdoche: understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part. 
  • Climax: arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of ascending power. Often the last emphatic word in one phrase or clause is repeated as the first emphatic word of the next.
  • Hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect.
  • Metonymy: substitution of one word for another which it suggests.
  • Paranomasia: use of similar sounding words; often etymological word-play.
  • Prolepsis: the anticipation, in adjectives or nouns, of the result of the action of a verb; also, the positioning of a relative clause before its antecedent.
  • Synesis: the agreement of words according to logic, and not by the grammatical form; a kind of anacoluthon.
  • Brachylogy: a general term for abbreviated or condensed expression, of which asyndeton and zeugma are types. Ellipse is often used synonymously. The suppressed word or phrase can usually be supplied easily from the surrounding context.
  • Euphemism: substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant.
  • Hysteron-Proteron: inversion of the natural sequence of events, often meant to stress the event which, though later in time, is considered the more important.
  • Onomatopoeia: use of words to imitate natural sounds; accommodation of sound to sense.
  • Personification: attribution of personality to an impersonal thing.
  • Simile: an explicit comparison between two things using 'like' or 'as'
  • Tautology: repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence.
  • Cacophony: harsh joining of sounds.
  • Hendiadys: use of two words connected by a conjunction, instead of subordinating one to the other, to express a single complex idea.
  • Irony: expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning; the words say one thing but mean another.
  • Oxymoron: apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another.
  • Pleonasm: use of superfluous or redundant words, often enriching the thought.
  • Syllepsis: use of a word with two others, with each of which it is understood differently.
  • Zeugma: two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them.