DESCR

IBIN

G

THE

ENGLI

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LANGUAG

E

LANGUAGE IN USE

- Number of rules, styles and constraints to rule the language

- Texting and emailing the shortest way to convey a message

- Emails contain greater tolerance for spelling errors and deviant punctuation

- Internet chatting and texting a lot like speaking

Form and meaning

Purpose

Appropriacy and register:

-Setting

-Participants

-Gender

-Channel

-Topic

-Tone

LANGUAGE AS TEXT AND DISCOURSE

Although grammar and vocabulary are vital components of the language, we must also look at the language at the level of text or discourse.

- Discourse organisation- Genre

GRAMMARarrivearrive + -d arrived (past)arrive + -ing arriving (continuity)

take (take, took, taken)

happy (adjective) happily (adverb) happines (noun) unhappy (opposite meaning)

CHOOSING WORDS

I will

arrive

at around eight o’clock.

They didn’t until last Tuesday.

She is arriving in exactly two hours.

Countable nouns – chair, chairsUncountable nouns – furnitures

e.g. The chairs /furnitures are very modern.

Transitive/Intransitive verb

To herd sheep (T) (herd)(open) The dentist says: Open your mouth. (T)The dentist’s surgery opens at eight o’clock. (I)

LEXIS

Language corpora-Large banks of language data stored on computers.-Users of computer corpora can get a concordance for words they are looking for.

CONCORDANCE – selection of lines from the various texts in the corpus showing the search word in use.

WORD MEANING

Table: write on table, eat off table, table a motion, summarise information in a table.

Book: read a book, book a table, booked for speeding.

The same collection of sounds and letters can have many different meanings.

EXTENDING WORD USE

• Black mood (very cross)• Green (naive)• E.g. The price of mangoes went up.

• She went up the stairs.

Metaphors: - She kicked the bucket.- He has bitten off more than he can chew.

WORD COMBINATION

• COLLOCATIONS- words which co-occur with each other and which language users have come to see as normal and acceptable.

• clenched fist, • clenched teeth,• clenched eyebrows

PARALINGUISTIC FEATURES OF LANGUAGE

• Take place outside the formal system language (grammar, sounds)

• Include other factors which influence on the process of language

• May be devided into two categories: vocal and physical paralinguistic features

VOCAL PARALINGUISTIC FEATURES

• e.g. whispering = secrecy shouting = anger breathiness = deep emotion nasal speaking = anxiety

PHYSICAL PARALINGUSTIC FEATURES

• Include the way we use our body to express our wishes, emotions, expectations, etc.

• Facial expressions: we can use our face for expressing out current mood.

smiling = pleasure raising eyebrows = interest or

surprise clenching of the teeth = anger

• Gesture: shrugging shoulders =

indifference crossing arms = relaxation scratching head = puzzlement • Proximity, posture and echoing,

include: - distance between the speaker and

listener, - posture of head, - eye contact, - similarity in posture and behaviour

(echoing)

SPEAKING AND WRITINGSpeaking

• simple verb forms and present forms are more common than past verb forms

-in speech passive verbs forms are used

rarely

• Will, would and can are more common

• In conversation we tend to take turns rather than speak in well-formed sentences

• A: BISCUIT?• B: YEAH.• A: HERE.• B: NICE (talking about biscuits)• A: They are my fav• B: -I like gingernuts best• A: -ourite, but I ... Thought, you

know,.....erm, when I was in town, to cut down.......

Writing • Is pre-organised and planned,• Can be formal or informal,• To indicate attitude, emotions, etc., we

use:- dashes,! exclamation marks new paragraphs, commas CAPITAL letters

, , ....

FIVE PRONUNCIATION ISSUES:

1. Pitch (a device by which we comunicate meanings)

2. Intonation (a much subtler ways of meanings)

3. Individual sounds

4. Sounds and spelling

5. Stress (the point in a word or phrase where pitch changes, vowels lengthen and volume increases )

INDIVIDUAL SOUNDS

VOCAL CORDS (CLOSED AND OPEN)

SOUNDS AND SPELLING

• /Λ/ e.g. won, young, funny, blood, flood etc.

• ou e.g. cloud (au), pour, enough, through, journey...

• was vs. I was robbed

• Connected speech: • Ellision (can’t vs. I can’t dance)• assimilation (that bad guy – /bæg gaı/ )

STRESS

- a term we use to describe the point in a word or phrase where pitch changes, vowels lengthen and volume increases

• ballet (/Hbæleı/ or /bæ΄leı/)• dance• EXport n.• exPORT v.

• PRIMARY stress and SECONDARY stress• e.g. ͵singul΄arity, ͵infor΄mation,

͵claustr΄phobia etc.

• stress and meaning

Brad wants to MARRY my daughter? (I can’t believe the relationship is that serious.)

BRAD wants to marry my daughter (I knew Steve was keen on her, but Brad?)

•THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!