Language Change- recipe analysis 

In the first recipe from 1747, there is grammatical differences compared to the recipe written in 1998. The "s" and "f" are used interchangeably, for example "fmall" instead they replaced the "s" with and "f". This could be due to the era the recipe was written in. The recipe was written before standardisation of the English language, this means that there was not a wrong or right way to spell or write particular words- before the printing press started producing dictionaries. This shows that society in the 18th century was not prescriptivist. 

In terms of Lexis and semantics, there are many words in the 1852 recipe that have now been broadened in the English language today. For example; "scum" in the 19th century it meant the juices from the food cooking, however, it has been broadened today to mean an unpleasant person. This shows that some words stays in our language throughout hundreds of years however, ,any have changed their meanings over this time. In the 1998 recipe the writer uses a lot more adjectives "gentle" and "fresh" this shows that food has become more "fashionable" and people take pride in their cooking as if it now more of an art and the method you use to cook. Furthermore, in the 1998 recipe they use more in-formalised imperatives "heat", "add" and "stir" this shows that the language used is more chatty and that recipes are not formal texts any more, the get straight to the point.

In terms of discourse structure, the 1998 recipe uses more minor sentences when listing the ingredients. "1 tablespoon sunflower" and "1 onion, thinly sliced" the context of this recipe is during a busy society, therefore, the simple sentences may represent being quick and simple as people are busy and rushing around they want quicker and easy meals to do as they have lots of other things to be doing. Compared to the 1852 recipe which uses compound sentences throughout the whole recipe "A thrifty housewife will not require that I should tell her to save the liquor in which the beef has been boiled; I will therefore take it for granted that the next day she carefully moves the grease." however, during this time women were seen to be the one who prepared all the meals, hence the reference "housewife", and therefore, she wasn't seen to be out working so she had more time to read recipes and make long meals compared to today's society.

Language Change

Lexis

anorak- Greenland
Barbecue- Arawakan(Haiti)
Barrack-French and Spanish
Blizzard- American
Bongo- Latin American Spanish
Bonsai- Japanese
Boomerang- Dharuk
Budgerigar- Aboringinal
Bungalow- Hindu
Chipmunk-Ojibwa
Chutney-Hindi
Dinghy-Hindi
Dungarees-Hindi
Gnu- Dutch
Haiku- Japanese
Hamburger- Germany
Igloo- Canada
Kangaroo- Aborignal 
Karaoke-Japanese
Ketchup- Chinese
llama-Spanish 
Mohair- Arabic
potato-Spanish
puma-Spanish
Pajamas- Hindu
Safari-Arabic
Sauna-Finnish
shampoo-Hindu
Sherbet-Turkish
Ski- Norwegian
Skyscraper- American
Taboo- Tongan
Tattoo-Dutch
Tea-Chinese
Toboggan- French 
Tortilla-American Spanish
totem- Ojibwa
Trek- South African
Tycoon- Japanese
yeti- Tibetan



Task two 
phonological

The article addresses the problem of accents being "flattened" for the sake of fitting in and when attending a job interview. A study carried out found that a third of people questioned were ashamed to "flatten" out their accent. The writer of the article has a friend that was Asian and has christened their children with English names to "make it easy" for them to fit in. Therefore, the writer of the article believes that accents should not matter anymore and we should not be ashamed to have an accent. If we change our accent then it is changing something that is vital to the person you are.


In my experiences of accents i have always been judged as i used to be very Bristolian, also, people view you to be less intelligent if you have a specific accent, for example, the Essex accent.



Grammar and Lexis


The diary entry is made up of minor and compound sentences. Also, the word order is very different to how we would order sentences today, for example "as ever i saw" the adverb " ever" is written before the subject " i", also, today we would shift the tense slightly for example we would tend to say "seen" not "saw." we now have standardised which order to put adjectives, nouns  and verbs into a sentence, for example " a good looking tall man" we would tend to say "tall" before "good looking" today.  Also, the length of the sentences are very long, the third paragraph is made up of two sentences. The use pf prepositions used in that time showed there wasn't a standard way of using them for example "opposite to my window" the use of two prepositions are not used today, this could be due to standardisation of the English Language when dictionaries where starting to get printed.

Language change

lean :  thin, especially healthily so; having no superfluous fat. 

• Broadened, Amelioration- this is because it has become a more positive definition of the word as before it was more associated with someone being thin due to starvation. However, now it is used for healthy and fit people.

Novice:  a person new to and inexperienced in a job or situation.

• Broadened- The meaning before was linked just to people part of a religious group, however now it is associated with people in any job or situation.

Revolutionary:  A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually                             more complex or better form.

• Amelioration- The meaning has become more positive as before it was meant someone who favours overthrowing the government.

Lewd: Crude or offensive in a sexual way 

• pejoration- this is because the word has taken on a more negative meaning as before it meant someone who didn't have an official position in church.

comparative systematic analysis of the menus

Menu B uses a lot of verbs to build up noun phrases "Smoked" this could reflect the target audience, which is upper class people; they have more knowledge of particular foods as they can afford a more expensive cuisine and have been educated more of foods from all over the world.

The text also has many prepositions "on a " this helps build up a descriptive image of the food. This could link with the context, that the menu  is more for the "food experience" and having a sit-down meal, compared to text A which is more of a fast menu.

In menu B there is a lot of French words used, "melange" this reflects the target audience, which is upper class people, as they are educated more in areas such as different languages, therefore, they will have experienced these types of words before and will know what they mean. Also, the menu uses asterisks, the pragmatical meaning behind this links with the target audience because they are more upper class and can afford more expensive dining then they will have come across these before and will understand what they mean.

 In contrast, menu A uses ellipsis "pot tea" the writer of the menu has deliberately eliminated the word "of" to make it a quicker read for customers. This links in with the context of menu A, that it has to be read quickly because the customers are constantly travelling and will not particularly have time for a sit-down meal, this links with the idea that the menu only uses the key nouns in the menu "steak + kidney" this makes it easier to read and save a lot of time for the target audience.

The graphology of menu A uses capitalisation, "INC POT TEA" again, this helps the customer read the menu quickly as the idea of the menu is for it to be simplistic as the target audience is always on the move and has little time to read a lot in the menu.

Thoughts and ideas about Sophie homework

When Sophie was aged 2 years and 4 months she used the pronoun "me" incorrectly. This supports Ursula Bellugi's research on the development of pronouns in child language acquisition, She said stage two in the research is when the child uses the pronouns "I" and "me" but interchanges them, therefore the child does not completely understand the appropriate context in which to use these pronouns but the have some sense of understanding because she uses these pronouns when she is referring to herself.

Sophie shows that at the age of 2 years and 4 months she is in stage one of negation. She uses the word "no" at the front of the phrase. This shows that she has limited understanding of making a phrase negative. When adults who have developed language states a negative phrase; they add an auxilary and then "not" to show negation. However, this is very difficult for Sophie's level of understanding of language, therefore, she just uses "no" at the beginning to indicate she doesn't want something.

Sophie uses deletion of unstressed syllables "nother" this shows that her pronunciation is basic and is harder to develop as she hasn't pronounced the syllable correctly. This supports halliday's  research on the heuristic stage. This stage involves the child asking questions to gain information about it's environment. 

When Sophie was 3 years 5 months she uses time expressions. "Tomorrow" this shows that Sophie understands the concept of time and context in which to use these expressions. This supports Piaget's theory that language improves with understanding, this is supported by the cognitive approach which believes pragmatics and context is vital when acquiring language, thus understanding of words and phrases helps you to create more complex sentences. 

Initial coursework ideas

My initial coursework idea is to investigate the language used by policemen to exert their power compared with how criminals use language towards authority.

I have initial theories that I expect to find in my investigation, for example, instrumental and influential power. I expect to see the policemen using more instrumental power as they will use this power to enforce law. Also, I will be looking for power in discourse and power behind discourse. Lastly I will investigate to see if the police force use personal power in the language they use.

The frameworks I expect to investigate are semantics and pragmatics, within these areas I expect to hear law terminology that the police and high authority figures of the law will understand. Also, I will investigate the grammar the policemen.

My methodology will involve watching police programmes from youtube and other sources and investigate the language they use to exert their power. I will look at the language used by different levels of authority within the police force. Also, whilst watching these programmes/ clips, I will note down the transcript of the language used by the policemen which will help me annotate the language used after.

However, ethical issues within my investigation are not applicable as the television programmes have already been given permission from the policemen and criminals to been shown on television.

How a baby might develop language

Katherine Nelson(1973) identified four categories that the first 50 words learnt by a child within the first year of their life could be grouped into . These categories are naming, actions/events,describing/ modifying and personal/ social words. The first 50 words learnt by a child are content words and not function words; content words have open word classes and function words have closed word classes.

A baby may develop naming words such as; "book" and "socks" because they are mainly everyday objects that the baby is associated with on a daily basis in a household, thus the semantics of the words are important for the child as they do come across these objects in everyday life. Also, within the first year of a child's life, their language is not very developed. The phonology of these words learnt is simplistic and each words only has one or two syllables.This suggests that these words are easier to learn for the child.

Moreover, the action words learnt in the first year of a baby's life are crucial, for example; "poo" and "cuddle"  these type of action words help the baby communicate with their parents to aware them on what it needs as it isn't independant at a young age.

The social words learnt are all words that help the child communicate in a basic conversation; "yes" or "no" these also help the child to communicate with it's parents to understand what it needs or wants. Also, the social words developed immediately help with their social skills for when they grow older; " bye-bye" and "hiya" this helps the child later in life in social situations. This could also be seen as politenes, "ta" and "please"; as society is a very polite, the child needs to learn how to adress people in a formal manner to help them converse with different people as they grow older.

I think a baby might develop describing and modifying words to help it understand what their preferences are; "hot"and "nice" this helps the child decide what they like and don't like, and may help their parents to understand too. Again, these words do not have many syllables, therefore, the phonology is simplistic for the child to pronounce and learn.