VCE Stuff > VCE English Language
English Language essay submission and marking
lzxnl:
I'm not sure actually...could have been either.
Look at my second essay as well? I think this essay is worse; online language is something I'm even more unfamiliar with.
teletubbies_95:
Informal language has a variety of functions in Australian society. What do you see as some of the crucial roles of informal language in contemporary Australia?
In Australian society, informal language is a very important language variety that serves a diversity ( diversity ..just doesnt sound right. of useful social roles. Colloquial Australian English exhibits various aspects of Australian culture, promoting national identity, while informal language can also promote group identities and enhance expression. Good , clear outlining of arguments Therefore, the variety of functions displayed by informal Australian English makes it an indispensable tool of communication.Good
Colloquial Australian English promotes national identity through its close adherence to Australian cultural values. I think you should say something in here , just a general sentence. It seems like your jumping straight into discussing metalang. Diminutives, for example, reduce social distance and exhibit the nationally recognised Australian value of being laid-back. This is seen in the difference between “I’m having a barbeque at my house this afternoon” and “I’m havin’ a barbie at my house this arvo” in register and formality; the latter sounds distinctly friendlier and more relaxed, reduces social distance and creates covert prestige amongst the speakers, common features of informal language in general. Could reduce sentence length here Likewise, affectionate nicknames like “Richo” for football player Matthew Richardson, “Warnie” for Shane Warne in the media and names like “Jonno”, “Gordo” and “Stevo” between friends also help to reduce social distance and exemplify the laid-back character of Australian culture. Equally, Australian English has various lexical items that reflect Australian identity. Terms like “g’day” and “mate” have been ingrained in Australian as representing mateship, a cornerstone of Australian culture to the point that outrage has erupted over the replacement of these with the American “hey” and “buddy”.Good This is also reflected by Richard Castle’s comment that “through its culturally ingrained connotations of egalitarianism and mutual respect, ‘mate’ suggests an openness, at least a relationship of equal”, explaining the intrinsic importance of this lexeme. Another feature is swearing. According to Kate Burridge, the “Great Australian adjective” ‘bloody’ has “now become an important indicator of Australianness and of cultural values” like “friendliness, informality, laid-backness and mateship”. Evidently, swearing in Australia is not as strongly taboo as in other countries, reflected by the positive reception of the TAC “bloody idiot” and “don’t be a dickhead” campaigns and the Toyota “bugger” ad campaign. Such positive public reception demonstrates that Australians have accepted swearing as characterising Australian culture, showing how Australian informal English reflects national identity.
Informal language can also promote group identities. Clear, topic sentence! Slang, as an ephemeral, informal variety of language, allows the younger generation to separate themselves from the old by outdating older slang terms like “ace”, “rad” and “blood” with “sick”, “boss” and “bro”, immediately allowing the younger generation to create their own identity. It can also allow individual groups to separate themselves from each other. Ok , bit confused here. You talk about the young generation, but then you say something about individual groups, you have examples for language for young people. There are a vast number of slang synonyms for “good”, like “amaze-balls”, “sick”, “rock” and “boss” and numerous ones for “bad”, like “cruddy”, “crap”, “bogus” and “skank”. Maybe try to find more contemporary examples! A group can signal its identity by the common adoption of particular slang expressions for good and bad, which strengthens the cohesive ties within that group. This is also seen on a professional level. In Australian hospitals, hospital staff have been known to speak of “FLK” for “funny looking kid”, “cactus” for “death”, “vegetable” for “comatose patients” and “crumbles” for the frail and elderly. Such irreverence for human life allows the staff to cope with the reality of their jobs, identifies dealing with these patients on a daily basis as routine and identifies shared experiences and jobs, which strengthens group identity, reduces social distance and improves the friendliness of the work environment. Sentence is too long. Thus, informal language is important for signalling group identity. Try to use synonyms of “important” .
Furthermore, informal language has an additional function in enhancing expression. It allows people to communicate concepts and ideas much more concisely than in Standard English. This is done by the various creative word formation processes available to slang. Blends and compounding allow the resulting concoctions to possess semantic properties of the words used to create them. For instance, “bootylicious”, a combination of “booty” and “delicious” to suggest physical attractiveness; “vomatose” as a blend of comatose” and “vomit” to mean disgusting; “tree hugger” as a compound to describe environmentalists and “couch potato” as a compound to pejoratively describe a physically lazy person, all increase the expressive capability of the English language by creating new phrases with different semantic properties. I think this sentence is way too long. Also, swearing can provide a large variety of meanings as well. The word “f***” can be used as an expletive of frustration; as a verb describing coitus; to describe ruining like “f up”; to describe indifference like in “f that shit”; in the form “f-ing” as an intensifier like “f-ing awesome” or as a dysphemistic insult like “f-ing idiot”’; the actual meaning of f*** depends on context. This one too. But the ideas are great! Clearly, informal language broadens the available linguistic resources to speakers, allowing more complex situations to be described concisely.
Informal language has many uses, from creating national identity to acting as the “masonic mortar to stick members together” according to Burridge and broadening the language’s expressive capability. GoodThus, its varied uses make informal language a ubiquitous and essential tool of communication to maintain social harmony.
Overall.... This essay is really good! :) Well done ! Some really great ideas, and you discussed them really well!
Shall be putting some essays up soon!
Hope this helps!
Scooby:
Can someone have a look at this one? Thanks :)
SpoilerHow is Australian English changing to reflect the evolving identity of Australians in the twenty-first century? Discuss at least two of the subsystems in your response.
Australian English has undergone a number of changes in recent decades. Globalisation of language, which has resulted from the development of a wide range of technologies, has resulted in the incorporation into Australian English of a number of Americanisms. In addition, the linguistic diversity of Australia has been enhanced by the migration into the country of a large number of individuals, all of whom bring to the country a myriad of values and beliefs that have been instilled in their language. The Australian accent has also evolved dramatically since British colonisation, and this is reflective of the changing values of Australian society.
The globalisation of language has been facilitated by the development of a wide range of technologies within recent decades. This most markedly includes social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, which allow exchange of linguistic features to occur between different parts of the world very readily. It is believed by many Australians that, as a consequence of this rapid technological development, Americanisms have infiltrated the nation’s language. Many Australians are apprehensive about a loss of national identity that could result from this invasion of their lexicon. These individuals are perhaps concerned that American English may eventually become the most prevalent English spoken in Australia; concerned that the values instilled in Australian English may eventually be completely subsumed by those associated with American English. Despite these fears, very few Americanisms have integrated into Australian English, and those that have include only a select few lexical items, including “buddy”. The likelihood that a few lexical items from American English could completely destroy the Australian identity is very unlikely. The apprehension of Australian speakers towards Americanisms is unfounded, and even if dramatic changes were to occur in the future, this is not necessarily a bad thing. English, after all, is the result of the mixture of a number of different European languages. Incorporation of additional Americanisms into Australian English, perhaps including some syntactic features, would merely add an additional layer to the Australian identity. After all, these Americanisms were accepted by choice; they were not forced upon Australian speakers against their will.
According to Hugh Lunn, if you lose your language, “you lose your personality, your character and who you are.” Ethnolects allow those who migrate into Australia from non-English speaking backgrounds to preserve the cultural values of their previous country. This widespread presence of a variety of different ethnolects in Australia is indicative of the nation’s multiculturalism. In addition, migrants from foreign countries may also preserve their cultural heritage through the use of some unique paralinguistic features. Despite this, it often hinders assimilation into the Australian culture. Migrants from Asia tend to make minimal eye contact during conversations, given that in most Asian nations it is considered polite. However, the opposite is true in most Western nations. The use of such a paralinguistic feature by an Asian migrant may be affronting to an Australian, and may result in the perpetuation of unjust prejudices, such as that “Asian people cannot be trusted”. Therefore, while the use of ethnolects and other features derived from a migrant’s original language may allow the preservation of culture, it may also hinder assimilation into Australian society.
The Australian accent has undergone dramatic changes since colonisation of Australia by the British. Initially, Australian English was simply a mongrel of many different British dialects. Soon after, these Australians distinguished their identity from that of the British by constructing their own distinctive language. The cultivated accent was used by the socially elite to demonstrate their power in society and command respect from others. However, in modern Australia, there has been a trend away from the cultivated accent. The current attitudes and beliefs of Australian speakers do not meld with the arrogance exuded by the cultivated accent, and according to linguist Kate Burridge, “one often encounters hostile or amused reactions to the cultivated accent.” As a result, the prevalence of the general accent, which combines the egalitarianism and friendliness instilled in the broad accent with the high levels of education indicated by the cultivated accent, has increased. Nevertheless, Australia’s speakers remain linguistically diverse, with geographical location a main determinant of the accent used. Individuals living in rural areas are far more likely to adopt a broad accent, which is perhaps correlated with the lower levels of education received by most rurally-located individuals. In addition, there is continued borrowing of lexical items from Indigenous languages. “Hard yakka” is a distinctively Australian phrase originally derived in such a manner.
The Australian identity is represented in English used by its citizens. The introduction of Americanisms into Australian English, which has resulted from rapid technological development in recent decades, has elicited great apprehension from many of these citizens. Nevertheless, currently, the Americanisms evident in the language of Australians are purely lexical. The multiculturalism of Australia is enhanced by the presence of a wide range of different ethnolects. These ethnolects, among other linguistic features, allow migrants to maintain the cultural identity of their previous country, but at times may hinder their assimilation into Australian society. In addition, the accent of Australian speakers has undergone a number of changes since colonisation of the country by the British, and this is indicative of the predominating attitudes held by society. The Australian identity is powerfully reinforced by the language spoken by its citizens.
And yeah, be harsh (I feel at times I was just telling a story rather than analysing anything)
joey7:
Hey guys, very much appreciate any feedback on this essay, be as harsh as you like.
Spoiler
"'Your use of language sends out lots of little messages, not just about your level of education and where you come from, but about how you would like to be perceived"
Our language is the means through which we communicate with one another. However, above and beyond this communicational function, language shapes the way we are perceived. Through idiosyncrasies in the way that we use language aspects such as educational level, geographic location, socio-economic status and the groups to which we belong may be inferred. Therefore in order to create particular identities, people vary their language at different times and in different contexts to portray characteristics they see as desirable. This is evidenced through the broad to general continuum of Australian accents correlation with education, status and Australian qualities, the increased use of ethnolect’s in establishing a unique identity and the informal, ephemeral slang and jargon employed by our younger generations.
One of the most striking features of an individual’s speech is their accent. Many Australians, particularly from regional areas are clearly identifiable by striking phonological features such as drawn out vowels, long single vowels /a:/ and the use of diphthongs in place of monophthongs; resulting in words like “mate” sounding like “mite” . These Broad Australian features associated with low education and socio-economic status are employed as they portray salient Australian values such as informality and anti-intellectualism. No longer is a cultivated accent depicting high education and wealth desirable, with linguists suggesting that people deliberately choose low status accents in order to invoke prestige. This was evidenced in John Howard’s success throughout his terms as Prime Minster in using a Broad Australian accent to portray a down-to-earth identity, but interestingly however not reflected in Julia Gillard’s terms as Prime Minister with her Australian accent harshly criticised, suggesting care-free anti-intellectual qualities are not seen as acceptable coming from a female. As well as this a person will modify the severity of their accent according to the extent to which they wish to assert their identity. For example a person who speaks with a General Australian accent may use some broad features when conversing with Australians with this accent to signpost Australian identity in an attempt to fit in. As seen people are able to portray an identity highlighting low-education, anti-intellectualism and egalitarianism through phonological features of their speech.
In a similar way, the accent and lexis of multicultural Australia shows how language may be used to convey identity. As immigrants integrate into society and adopt English as a language, most look for ways in which they can accentuate their origins, with many of them doing this through language. One such example is the Italian/Greek/Lebanese communities accent/variety described as “wog-speak”. Characterised by pronunciations resulting in words such as “measure” rhyming with the word “bar” and borrowings from original language for instance “habib” “uleh” and repeated use of lexemes such as “brah” this variety clearly signposts the geographical origins of the speakers who use it. This ethnolect is seen in TV shows such as “Fat Pizza” and is particularly prevalent among youth, with evidence of spread even beyond people with a European background. Indeed through language variations Identity is demonstrated and maintained.
One of the most prominent linguistic talking points of contemporary Australia is the slang and jargon characterising the speech of younger generations. Influenced by technology and social media, the lexis of young Australian’s serve to identify its speakers and at the same time exclude speakers who do not use “correct” or “current” terminology. Examples of this jargon and slang is seen in the Australian TV series Summer Heights High where Chris Lilley effectively captures the language of a teenage boy using phrases such as “homo” “ranga” “shit” “motherfucker” and a teenage girl using expressions such as “oh my god” “povo” “random” “like”. The transient nature of this slang however, has even seen some of these terms become obsolete and it is for this very reason that the variety acts as such a successful group marker as older people who try to pick up the lingo are caught using old phrases and come across as daggy or lame. As such through slang and jargon our younger generations have a functioning system through which they are able to portray an identity as a young person.
The language we use is a main ingredient of the image which we project into the world around us. As seen through phonological and lexical features of our speech we are able to portray, our level of education, geographical origins and qualities we feel are most important and through the slang and jargon we use the generation to which we belong.
Wu:
Just a few quick suggestions:
- You quote people, mention their names but fail to explain why they're important.
"This is also reflected by Richard Castle’s comment that “through its culturally ingrained connotations of egalitarianism and mutual respect, ‘mate’ suggests an openness, at least a relationship of equal”"
"This is also reflected by Bobby McKFCmcdonaldshungryjacks’s comment that “through its culturally ingrained connotations of egalitarianism and mutual respect, ‘mate’ suggests an openness, at least a relationship of equal”"
There's not much point mentioning the name of your source of quote if you don't state whether they are a linguist, someone in the media, an author, a publisher or someone whose perceptions are even important in the literary world.
- Don't use colloquialisms and slang in your essay. Keep it in a highly formal register
- You list many examples yet they aren't effective if you don't explain them more -- try and link them back to attitudes and the functions of their existence
- Try and quickly slip in what word process is used in your examples (such as "the diminutive form of Robert, "Robbo")
[edit]
Righty-o. I have just finished reading your second essay and have a few things to add.
--- Quote from: nliu1995 on October 10, 2013, 07:44:32 pm ---incydk, or in case you didn’t know
--- End quote ---
You had me stumped for a few good minutes here. Please don't use such jokes in a formal essay-- if the examiner can't understand what you're writing then they'll just skip to the next comprehensible part. If you really want to integrate it in then I suggest you somehow formulate it in brackets or present it so that your joke is clearer. Something along the lines of "meaning “Thank God it’s Friday”, incydk, or "in case you didn’t know"". Eh.
Another thing I must suggest is that you place brackets after each of your examples to translate it. For example, ""u" (you), "thx" (thanks)" is much more clearer than your clunky "“u” for “you”, “thx” for “thanks”" while also saving words. No one wants to read half a paragraph of examples with no substance to back it up.
Sorry if I seem very critical of your work-- what you've done is great but there is never perfection in English. I'll put some of my stuff up after which you can point as many fingers at as you can.
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