Linguistic Theories

Grice's Maxims

Grice suggested that conversation is based on a shared principle of cooperation, something like: "Make your conversational contribution what is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged."

This principle was fleshed out in a series of maxims.

1.      The maxim of quantity, where one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed, and no more.

2.      The maxim of quality, where one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence.

3.      The maxim of relation, where one tries to be relevant, and says things that are pertinent to the discussion.

4.      The maxim of manner, when one tries to be as clear, as brief, and as orderly as one can in what one says, and where one avoids obscurity and ambiguity.

Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault (1926–1984) was a French historian and philosopher, associated with the structuralist and post-structuralist movements. He has had strong influence not only (or even primarily) in philosophy but also in a wide range of humanistic and social scientific disciplines

Bourdieu

The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu approaches power within the context of a comprehensive ‘theory of society’ which – like that of Foucault – his subject was mainly Algerian and French society, Bourdieu’s approach is useful in analysing power in development and social change processes. While Foucault sees power as ‘ubiquitous’ and beyond agency or structure, Bourdieu sees power as culturally and symbolically created, and constantly re-legitimised through an interplay of agency and structure. The main way this happens is through what he calls ‘habitus’ or socialised norms or tendencies that guide behaviour and thinking.

 

Commentry on Table Talk

Table Talk combines several elements well to create an effective review of the Kirazu, a cross of a Japanese and Tapas restaurant in Soho. One thing the review does very well is striking the right balance between a formal and informal lexis, ensuring the review does not come out to dry or to chatty. An example of this is the line "Most dishes cost under a fiver", while taking a neural standard English approach for most of the review this interesting piece of phonology makes a nice change.

The review also does a nice job on blending the context, atmosphere and food.

Change

 

Change. Humanity has never stood still, never content with what they’ve got, nothing’s ever good enough.

It’s me. It’s always been me. Right from the beginning, I don’t regret it, I feel no need to repent, my actions are for God to judge, no one else. It all started twenty two years ago, the summer of ’63. I remember the day well, hot and sticky, the Arizona sun high in the sky, I remember the thick shadow I cast on the dust as I left the house. I remember him. He saw me leave, slowed down at the gate and leant against the steel mesh. He stood tall, hands in his pockets barely breaking a sweat in his black suit and necktie. “Curtis Walton Jr”

“Yes, sir, what can I help you with?”

“Mighty fine patch of land you have Mr Walton”

“Well yes sir, I take pride in my property”

“I can see that, Mr Walton how would you feel if I were to offer you a sum of money for the land”

The man was confident, a small smirk around his face, he was sure that he’d get what he came for. I decided that I’d oblige. For now.

“Well sir I’d be happy to sell… for the right price of course, why don’t you come on in and take a seat, can’t stay out in this heat all day.

He’s the sort of person I despise, in his world everything revolves around money, well there’s more to life than expensive suits.

He strolled in through the doorway and sat down on the couch, he placed his briefcase on his lap and opened it, he shuffled through some papers and pulled out a large blueprint.

"This is what we want to do" He said, a smile growing on his face

"We're going to buy out all this property here on the eastern side of town" His finger made a ring around the paper "After we have everything we're going to bulldoze the lot and build shops, restaurants and new homes .This is the future Mr Walton and you could be part of it"

I was silent. I don't know how long I sat there before I spoke, it could have been seconds or minutes but it felt like hours. "Interesting" I brought myself to say. I could feel the rage in my bones, rampaging through my body. What I did next was not as spontaneous as it might seem, from the second I saw him I knew why he was here, I knew he was here to bring about change.

I reached behind me and grabbed a bottle from the table, in a swipe I smashed it down on to the sharp corner. I pulled it up and held it in the man’s face. I could see him gulp. I could sense the fear. I fed off this.

“Come now Mr Walton" he pleaded "Please stay calm there really is no need for this, I'm sure we can work something out."

I bit my lip, I could feel the desire building inside of me "I'm afraid it's too late for that, you've already had your turn, now it's mine"
 

In one clean swipe I slashed his throat open, the blood gushed down my hands and spilled onto the couch, it pooled on the floor in a puddle beneath my feet.

That was the first time, that was how it all began. The reasons may seem trivial but but that was what happened, some things shouldn’t change.

Transcript

Person 1: It's like half an hour until the end of the lesson

Person 2: You got dismissed half an h[our early, (.) ]why?

                           Person 3: Just to do [some research]


Person 1: Ah ok, should probably go and do that th[en]

 

                                                                      Person 3: [I am im doing it now]

 

Person 1: Fuckin' hell, that's alright

 

Person 3: (2) Yeah, what you doing?

 

Person 1: Nothing

 

Person 3: Is that geography?

 

Person 1: Yeah

Linguistic methods

Major Methods

These are some of the major most basic methods when we think about linguistic methods. We use all of these regually either through written, spoken or all methods of communication in English

 

Graphology: The visual features of the text

Lexis: Words of all types and varieties

Semantics: Meaning of texts and words

Pragmatics: Implies meaning, usually requiring a context to make sense e.g. sarcasm

Phonology: Sounds of a language, (only spoken)

Discourse structure: Structure of the text

Grammar

· Study of the system and structure of a language

· Syntax (sentence structures)

· Types of sentences

· Morphology (words)

· Punctuation and spelling

 

 Lexical Frameworks

 

Lexical frameworks are  types of lexis, there are many different types of lexical frameworks. Every word in English can be categorized into a lexical framework. The way a word is classified varies widely, it can be informal or it could be  classed as Australian., it could be both. By knowing what lexical frameworks a word fits into you are able to better understand what context it may be used in.

 

Some examples of lexical frameworks:

 

· British English   

· American English

· Australian English

· Formal lexis

· Informal lexis

· Humorous lexis

· Biblical lexis

· Legal lexis

· Taboo lexis

· Technical lexis

· Everyday lexis

· Impolite lexis

· Spoken  lexis

· Trademarks

· Written lexis

· Medical lexis

· Literary lexis

· Archaic lexis

· Old-fashioned lexis

Graphology

 

All of these things are classed as graphology as they affect the way that a text displays

.Layout

 

.Font

.Size

.Style

.Paragraph size

.Colour of text

.Pictures/illustrations

.Subheadings

.Italics

 

 

 

 

Headline Analysis

Historic cottage that stood for SIX HUNDRED years faces demolition after 174mph Audi RS4 smashes through its living room - Daily Mail

The first thing that you notice about the headline is the two words written in the larger font and put in capitals, this is supposedly in order to emphasise them. The headline is long and contains lots of details such as statistics. As is the fashion with the Daily Mail the headline is written in a very sensationalist manner, this is also typical of many tabloid newspapers.

Abandoned NHS IT system has cost £10bn so far- The guardian

This headline is noticeably smaller than the last, it cuts straight to the point. It again contains a statistic. The word 'abandoned' is a pre-modifier, it's dramatic and causes the NHS to look weaker as a result,  the words 'so far' suggest that it is going to continue loosing money.

Wiggins wins time trial to take lead in Tour of Britain- The guardian

This title starts with a proper noun 'Wiggins', this is used to make it clear to the reader who they are reading about. Another proper noun is 'Britain' because it is the name of a place, gives the reader a clear outline of the story. The writer also uses a  'Wiggins wins' by putting 'wins' after Wiggins (which was a proper noun) he has explained further what has happened. 'Wiggins wins' is also alliteration, this draws the attention of the reader.

Yes, David Cameron, 'Yid' really is a race-hate word. Here's why - the guardian

Much like the last one it includes a proper pronoun 'David Cameron'. Including this name draws the readers attention because every reader of the guardian knows who he is. If instead, they had said 'he, nobody would have had a clue who they were talking about. The way in which the writer ended the headline on 'here's how' influenced the reader to read on because they want to know why 'Yid' is a race-hate word. And to find out the context in which he said it.

'You'd be better off on benefits': Council advisor tells single mother to give up her job because she'd get £3000 a year MORE - daily mail

This headline once again includes a proper noun 'council advisor' This was very specific, if they were to put just 'council' it would have been a collective noun. But this, instead of making the council look bad, only makes the council advisor look bad. Much like the first headline, this one included statistics. '£3000', this is simply used to give a clearer picture of the story. I couldn't find any other nouns however i noticed how the word 'MORE' was in a bolder font than the rest of the headline. This made it stand out. The writer clearly did this to inform the reader of how shocking it actually is, that someone who doesn't work can earn more than someone who does.

Overview
Towards the end I noticed the difference between the two papers. For example the daily mail included more statistics than The Guardian. And the fact that the Guardian used proper nouns in all of their headlines whereas the daily mail did not. And of-course The Guardian was the only paper i found to use a pre-modifier in its headline. I link these differences to the fact that the daily mail is a tabloid newspaper whereas the guardian is broadsheet. The daily mail explains it's stories thoroughly in the headline perhaps because the target audience are not so intellectual as the guardian readers.

By Alex Hampson and Dan Hunt