Steven Pinker: What our language habits reveal

https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_language_and_thought/transcript?language=en

"that language, rather, emerges from human minds interacting from one another. And this is visible in the unstoppable change in language --the fact that by the time the Academy finishes their dictionary, it will already be well out of date."

"We see it in the constant appearance of slang and jargon, of the historical change in languages, in divergence of dialects and the formation of new languages. So language is not so much a creator or shaper of human nature, so much as a window onto human nature."

"Second conclusion is that the ability to conceive of a given event in two different ways, such as "cause something to go to someone" and "causing someone to have something,"...Just to give you a few examples: "ending a pregnancy" versus "killing a fetus;" "a ball of cells" versus "an unborn child;" "invading Iraq" versus "liberating Iraq;"

Text 5-Instructions

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1997/classic-victoria-sandwich
Form- Recipe/instructions
Purpose- To inform people how to make a cake
Audience- Anyone that bakes

Text 4-Transcript

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33646542
Form-Transcript of an interview (including video)
Purpose- To entertain/inform
Audience- Everyone

Text 3-Tabloid article

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Angry-unions-claim-South-Gloucestershire-school/story-27795236-detail/story.html
Form- Tabloid article
Purpose- To inform about recent strikes
Audience- Everyone

Text 2-Review

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_age_of_adaline/
Form- Review
Purpose- To critique the film so people know whether they should watch it or not
Audience- Film audience (PG-13)

Text 1-Broadsheet article

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/16/first-trailer-for-disney-live-action-jungle-book-remake-mowgli
Form- Broadsheet Article (and video)
Purpose-To inform people about the new film
Audience- Film lovers/educated readers

'8 pronunciation errors that made the English language what it is today' - The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/11/pronunciation-errors-english-language

'English language is changing faster than ever' - The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/01/icymi-english-language-is-changing-faster-than-ever-says-expert

Frameworks

 Phonology, phonetics and prosodic

Speech sounds and effects

Graphology

Visual aspects of textual design including form, purpose, and audience

Semantics

word meaning.

Grammar, including morphology

Structural patterns and shapes of English language. Phrase and word level.

Pragmatics

Contextual aspects of language use/meaning.

Discourse

Extended stretches of communication occurring in different genres, modes and contexts. Writing authoritatively about a topic.
Lexis
Word-choice. Meaning at word and phrase level
Register
How language varies in reaction to audience, purpose and context
Mode
How language may vary according of the channel of communication (speech, writing, and mixed modes)
Idiolect
The unique way one person expresses themselves due to their personality, belief systems, social experience etc.
Sociolect
The way of expressing themselves that a social group have in common
Dialect
The variation in word choice and grammatical structure due to where someone lives.

 

'All raait! it's a new black-white lingo' article summary

Summary

The article identifies that people, irrelevant of their ethnic backgrounds are creating 'a new kind of English' that they all understand based around 'slang'. This language allows people from all over England to interact with each other and not feel like outsiders purely based on their background. An interesting point that the article picks up on is that the main reason this language becoming so popular is because teenagers see it as 'fashionable' and 'cool' possibly because it is being used by people they look up to such as Dizzie Rascal and is use in the media. Despite the fact that this new multi-ethnic-dialect has many positive feedback, some concerns have arisen over whether this language will affect their school grades particularly in essay and debate based subjects as it is not seen as acceptable in these circumstances.

'Why we swear' - Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625581/Swearing-emotional-creative-language-say-researchers-claim-GOOD-you.html

Grammar and punctuation test

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/quiz/2013/feb/04/grammar-punctuation-quiz-test

English Language specification

http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-language-b-2705/spec-at-a-glance

'From the mouths of teens' - Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/from-the-mouths-of-teens-422688.html

Summary

This news article is trying to comprehend what some inner city slang means and highlighting its increased use today. The use of Gus, a 13 year old boy who "wastes no time in decoding it" just emphasises how these words have become so commonly used in everyday English that is becoming normal to know what they mean. Similarly to the 'All raait! It's a new black-white lingo' article it picks up on the fact or reducing social divide by bringing people of different ethnic backgrounds and allowing them to communicate but also that there is a time and a place for this kind of language.

-"English is one of the most dynamically protean(versatile) of all languages."