Thursday, 11 February 2016

Afro Caribbean influence on SE


The attitude towards the Afro Caribbean influence on standard English

 

Everyone who responded and took my survey where students aged 16-18 years old, they were a mix of male and female. The main language spoken by all the students was English and they considered themselves as British.

The results of the questionnaire turned out to be quite mixed. The opinion of some people was that the Afro Caribbean influences Standard English language, many of the people who said that mentioned the children cartoon “Rasta Mouse”. They said Rasta mouse breaks up the language of its viewers especially with them being of a young age. On the other hand, when asked if English Language is mixing with other cultures 60% answered yes. Their reasoning behind their answer was that many people are moving to this country and pick up the language and dialect.

What conclusions can you gather about the attitudes towards Standard English and Ethnicity?

From the results of my questionnaire, I can see that the attitudes towards Standard English are that majority of the people believe that the Afro Caribbean influence does not affect the English Language. They believe this because the queen has the power to correct English.

There was a mixed opinion on the attitudes towards ethnicity as 20% said the language used by black people is non standard.

Using secondary data I can come to the conclusion that the attitudes of adults who are middle class use Standard and the correct form of English. They believe that the media also uses formal and Standard English.

When asking in my questionnaire peoples beliefs of the word “ethnicity” many people could not explain it and just came to the conclusion that it is the Country you come from. Also when asking people what “Standard English” was many people couldn’t explain it and just said it is the right way to communicate?

Original Writing


The refugees of the world

 

Wars around the world impact millions of people. The current appeal for help is from Syria, Syria a country with IS (Islamic State) glooming over them. For many years now Syrians have been fleeing their homes in a desperate attempt to survive and to live a normal lifestyle. These people are known as refugees.

It all started in March of 2011, the many peaceful protests quickly escalated after the governments violent crackdown this caused many rebels to begin fighting back against the regime. By July defectors of the army had quickly organized the free Syrian army and many Syrians took up arms to join the opposition. Ethnic groups and Islamic Fighters begun to also complicate the politics of the conflict.

Refugees are people who have fled their country for a reason; this could be because of war or natural disasters. Over 2 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes in a desperate attempt to survive. These people have moved to neighbouring countries to seek refuge. Countries such as Turkey have had huge rallies and protests to stop allowing refugees into their country. In a report published earlier last month it states Turkey has now closed all borders to the refugees and are pushing them back to Syria. Turkey has every right to be concerned about the security issues and to screen all Syrians, but by not letting them through the borders makes them take a more dangerous route into the Country. All Syrians want to do is flee the constant air strikes and go to safety and claim protection.

Refugees from Syria are also trying to get into other countries in Europe and so far approximately 2,700 people have died trying to reach Europe whether it is on boat or in a vehicle on land. Dead bodies of youngsters not older than 10 years old have washed up on many of our shores. This should wake up to the reality of people’s lives especially innocent young children whose lives we can save. As a country we are slowly helping the cause by opening up our borders for these refugees. Last year Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK will resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees. More Countries should look at this and do the same thing to help and preserve humanity.

 But on the other hand Britain has done some un- questionable things to make things even worse in Syria. Recently the British Parliament were voting on whether or not to airstrike Syria, this vote was won and many airstrikes were sent the next hour on Syria. RAF Tornados launched their first air strikes on the Omar oil fields. Our Prime Minister claims that the airstrikes where aimed at areas which Islamic State were active in. With airstrikes comes innocent civilians being killed, little children ripped away from the arms of their mothers and Britain holding the blood of these refugees on our hands.

Recently 83% of lights in Syria have gone out. This is due to airstrikes and bombings. It is hard enough to survive in a warzone and having no light or source of heat will make matters worse. We have just came out of the month of December and now we are into January these months are the coldest of them all and without a good source of heat many families including little children will freeze to death. According to the U.N it will take $7.7 billion to meet all of the urgent needs of the most vulnerable Syrians in 2016. Many Syrians who have seeked refuge in other countries need to pay rent and without legally being able to work in those countries they struggle to find jobs and accept jobs with a basic low wage.

Studies show that more than 50% of Syrian refugees are children who have lost everything, their families, homes, schools and friends. The youngest of the children are scared and confused by the experiences, lacking the sense of home and safety they need. Whilst the older children are being forced to find jobs to support their families. As a country we believe that education is the key to every Childs life and should not be robbed of them. We as a country are robbing the education and lifestyle of Syrians, when we bomb Syria a school could be destroyed leaving hundreds of children without any education.

Sunday, 31 January 2016

Fairclough


Norman Fairclough

Fairclough was a professor of linguistics at Lancaster University. He is one of the founders of CDA (critical discourse analysis). CDA is concerned with the amount of power exercised through language.

Fairclough’s line of study, also called textually orientated discourse analysis, to distinguish it from philosophical enquiries not involving the use of linguistics methodology.

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance and inequality are enacted, reproduced and resisted by text and talk in social and political context.

Tenets of CDA
. Discourse does ideological work

. Discourse is historical

. The link between text and society is mediated

.Discourse analysis is interpretative and explanatory

. Discourse is a form of social action. Whereas some of these tenets have also been discussed


Sunday, 3 January 2016

Questionnaire analysis

The attitude towards the Afro Caribbean influence on standard English

Everyone who responded and took my survey where students aged 16-18 years old, they were a mix of male and female. The main language spoken by all the students was English and they considered themselves as British.

The results of the questionnaire turned out to be quite mixed. The opinion of some people was that the Afro Caribbean influences Standard English language, many of the people who said that mentioned the children cartoon “Rasta Mouse”. They said Rasta mouse breaks up the language of its viewers especially with them being of a young age. On the other hand, when asked if English Language is mixing with other cultures 60% answered yes. Their reasoning behind their answer was that many people are moving to this country and pick up the language and dialect.

What conclusions can you gather about the attitudes towards Standard English and Ethnicity?

From the results of my questionnaire, I can see that the attitudes towards Standard English are that majority of the people believe that the Afro Caribbean influence does not affect the English Language. They believe this because the queen has the power to correct English.
There was a mixed opinion on the attitudes towards ethnicity as 20% said the language used by black people is non standard.
Using secondary data I can come to the conclusion that the attitudes of adults who are middle class use Standard and the correct form of English. They believe that the media also uses formal and Standard English.


When asking in my questionnaire peoples beliefs of the word “ethnicity” many people could not explain it and just came to the conclusion that it is the Country you come from. Also when asking people what “Standard English” was many people couldn’t explain it and just said it is the right way to communicate.

Friday, 11 December 2015

Twitter Write up


Terrorism through Twitter

The unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.

Terrorism has been around for hundreds of years and only this last decade it has caused an uproar. The falling of the twin towers, the London bus bombing, the Boston marathon bombings and the attack on Paris are all very popular globally.

Terror groups such as ISIS are using a new form of propaganda to attract younger less knowledgeable people into joining their groups by going to countries that are involved in terrorism. Syria and Iraq are two of the main countries that ISIS are active in as the countries follow a strict law known as the Sharia law. Sharia law is a system of several laws, based on the Qur'an. The social media network Twitter is one of the biggest ways terrorist groups are recruiting new followers and members. Many Britons have been contacted by ISIS through online chat rooms this is a big problem for the Country as immigration has been stricter and the border force has been on high alert for anyone who has left the country with the suspicion of terror.

The hacktivist group Anonymous has taken down around 6,000 ISIS related twitter accounts with a promise and a threat that they will end ISIS. Anonymous has also leaked the addresses and information of 900 ISIS members to the public. This is ironic as Hacktivist groups are seen as a threat to the public but in this case they are helping Government officials tackle the problem of sprouting terror groups.

One of Twitters feature known as the “re-tweet” is being used by the public to spread news about ISIS and other terrorist groups. This could also have a negative effect as more ISIS propaganda could be spread around more.

The “re-tweet” is a feature that allows you to post someone else’s post into your wall which is shown to your followers. These little things that Twitter include with their Network allows for the laziness of people to instantly share someone else’s tweet without you having to write it at all meaning you could be posting something illegal without you knowing you have done that.

I also believe that Twitter language is damaging the English language for many reasons. 

Language at work



Language at work

Eakins and Eakins

Eakins and Eakins tested the gender linked language in a public speaking setting by having university students and non-students rate transcripts.

Edelsky

Edelsky proposal was that the floor in face to face conversation is constructed jointly over a series of turns.

Holmes and Marra
Having a laugh at the workplace. How humour contributes to workplace culture.
Humour 101 there are 2 types of humour, supportive and contestive.

 

Friday, 27 November 2015

Survey


I am an A Level student currently studying A Level English Language. I am conducting a survey to try and understand people’s opinion of English Language.
 
  1. What is your age?
     
    18-24 years old
     
    25-34 years old
     
    35-44 years old
     
    45-54 years old
     
    55-64 years old
     
    65+ years old
     
  2. Please specify your ethnicity?
 
  1. What is your highest level of education?
 
  1. What is your current occupation?
     
  2. What area do you live in?
     
  3. How would you define “ethnicity”
     
  4. What do you consider to be “proper English”
     
  5. Do you consider immigration to be a positive or negative effect on the English Language?
     
  6. Where were you born?
     
  7. Do you think the Afro Caribbean influence has ruined the English Language? Why?