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English Language essay submission and marking
brothanathan:
Is this thread still alive?
gary_from_mornington:
Our use of language and the expression of our ideas, attitudes and beliefs is dictated by what society deems is and isn't acceptable. This is demonstrated by the use of language in public, the effect of speaking style and accent on our language, the use of political correctness and euphemisms.
In general, language used in public tends to be more formal and contains less profanity. We try to avoid using profanity in order to maintain positive face needs by avoiding offending our audience. For example, Daniel Andrews, the Premier of Victoria, has recently been giving daily updates regarding the coronavirus. Mr. Andrews speaks very formally and uses no profane language. This is because he is in a high position of power and the sociolinguistic-variables require him to avoid offending anyone.
The use of profanity is very dependent on the situation and context. Recently, Lana Murphy, a reporter for Nine News, accidentally said "fuck my life" on TV. This was welcomed by the audience as it helped build solidarity and reduce social distance by being relatable to the audience. However, when Tony Abbott said "shit happens" about a veteran's death, he was faced with some backlash as it was inappropriate for the context.
Speaking style and accent influence how we perceive people. Society generally has a stereotype that the cultivated accent is used by the upper class or maybe snobbish, and the broad accent is used by those of a low socio-economic status and perhaps are uneducated. This is why many people has a negative bias towards Pauline Hanson, who speaks with a broad accent. This gives people the impression that she is uneducated and shouldn't be making decisions in politics.
The societal change towards an egalitarian society has led to the use of politically correct language. This is to avoid damaging people's face needs. Many derogatory terms that used to be acceptable are now becoming frowned upon by society, such as 'wog' or 'Abo' which are now deemed offensive.
Other ways that people avoid harming face needs include the use of euphemisms and doublespeak. This deliberately misleading language is used as a politeness strategy. Doublespeak has become a cornerstone of military communication, where terms like "collateral damage" are used to cover up the true meaning of the phrase and avoid offense.
Language is a reflection of the morals of society. The way we communicate with each other is heavily influenced by what society deems is acceptable.
Would greatly appreciate feedback :)
Bri MT:
--- Quote from: gary_from_mornington on August 12, 2020, 11:42:56 am ---
--- End quote ---
Hey,
I think you could really improve your essay by adding a bit of nuance. For example, Dan Andrews often speaks formally at the press conferences but not always & formality exists on a spectrum as well. Phrases let "get on the beers" are informal and colloquial which help him build rapport, however to communicate to a large audience with clarity and authority he often does use more formal language. Additionally, "socio-linguistic variables" is quite general and non-specific so I would encourage you to be more precise with what you mean here.
In your 2nd paragraph as well it would be good to explain why Abbott's and Murphy's statements received such different reactions rather than just quickly stating that the context was different. What about the context mattered here? Then continuing onto your 3rd one there are likely to be other reasons for people to view Pauline Hanson as uneducated and there are also some people who like Hanson's use of a broad accent - again it would be good to show more nuance.
In order to have a more nuanced and deep analysis I recommend trying to rewrite your essay but with less paragraphs and making the existing ones larger.
I hope this helps!
dylan.kumar21:
'While Australians pride themselves of giving everyone "fair go" , they don't always approve of the use of non-standard varieties'
Spoiler'Despite our current era equal opportunity for all many are still discriminated against for speaking a non-standard dialect' -Kate Burridge. In the public domain some non-standard varieties are used such as Aborignal english (to some extent) and colloquial English. However many other non-standard variteis are left in the dark such as ethnolects and some aspects of aboriginal English (AE). The public domain is dominated by standard English showing the inequality affecting non-standard varieties in Australia.
Very Few times does colloquial phrases appear in the mouth of politicians, but when it does it is hilarious. Former Labour Leader Bill Shortern had called Scott Morrison a 'simp' for the United States, 'simp' being a noun in teenspeak used to downplay each other. Bill''s choice of words shows that he is comfortable using teen speak publicly. Similarly Scott Morrison wielded colloquial English in a tweet where he refereed to his home made samosas as 'scomosas' very punny indeed. The pun is a feature of informal language and the fact he had used it in a tweet shows again that Australia fruitfully uses colloquial language. These examples of teen speak and puns used by powerful entities show that Australians approve the use of colloquium English in the public domain.
Indigenous History is core to our culture and it is unsurprising that some language features appear in our lingo. In our school preceding any announcement the greeting 'womindjeka' is used, translating to welcome from the wurudenji people. The use of this greeting shows that we acknowledge and honor the tongue of native Australians. Aboriginal languages also finds itself in flora and fauna, our national animal the kangaroo and the cuddly koala are both borrowing from the continuum of indigenous languages. Once again our honoring of native tongue in present in the domain of flora and fauna . This representation of Indigenous languages through the use of greetings and naming shows that it is welcome in SAE, however this is not entirely the case.
The ridicule of AE for its 'incorrectness' is present in Australian society. AE has constantly been downplayed for 'broken English' due to their unique conventions. 'Like it or not the language we use has implications for how we are judged (Stimulus A)'. This is the case of AE as many are judged for using the non standard language. In AE the overcompensation of the sound 'h' is present, a phrase such as 'uncle henry' might be hyper corrected to 'huncle henry' differing AE from SAE phonologically. Additionally the absence of auxiliary verbs sets up AE for ridicule, for example the phrase 'we eating dinner now' omits the auxiliary verb 'are'. This creates the false image that speakers of AE are 'simple minded' . These distinct syntactic and phonological features of AE are seen as 'substandard' and broken when compared to SAE. Because of this stigma of AE it is very rarely seen in the Public domain shwoing our lack of acceptance for non standard variety that is AE.
Despite the multicultural nature of Australia the voices of ehtnolects are unheard in the Australian context. The portrayal of Lebanese culture in Australia is often downplayed and mocked for the use of lebspeak. Phrases of lebspeak include 'yallah' translating to lets go or 'habib' translating to mate and the overuse of vocatives such as bro, cuz and more. 'Here come the Habibs' and 'Fat Pizza' are crude representations of lebspeak with many of these phrases being the runt of the joke due to their lack of 'proficiency' in language. 'A persistent theme in linguistic diversity..... seen as laziness, stupidness... migrant speakers are often denigrated this way' (Stimulus B). The themes of 'stupidity' paint the image that ethnolect speakers are unintelligent and are just materials for humor. Therese portrayals of ehtnolects show that Australian society does not give immigrant varaties a 'fair go'.
As Bruce Moore stated 'Language is the most important indicator of identity', maybe this lack of acceptance for new variteis reflects a change in our 'fair go' egalitarian nature we once held
Any feedback is appreciated ;)
Corey King:
Hey guys,
Just did my first AC. I'm attempting to do one a day for the rest of this week (AC SAC next week, have been sick the last few weeks so haven't prepared!)
Any constructive feedback would be much appreciated :)
PS: I didn't have time to do the paragraph on context for this one in my time slot.
AC:
https://pasteboard.co/JXhc0NW.png
https://pasteboard.co/JXhcqA9.png
Text:
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