"...every day we vandalise the language, which is the foundation, the frame, and the joinery of culture, if not its greatest glory, and there is no penalty and no way to impose one (Don Watson, Death Sentence)
Refering to current language trends, examine the issue of 'language decay' and discuss some common attitudes towards the decline of the English Language.
Don't know the best way to organise my ideas, also looking to see if anyone has anything else they could add:
Language decay - when it becomes vague, ambigious, no longer precise or exact
It is not declining:
- it is changing and evolving
- We must allow it to change otherwise we would still be speaking Shakespearean
- People see it as declining now as they are fearful, anything new is often resisted
Trends people dislike:
Americanisation
- We have been in contact for a while, but we have not changed
Teenspeak
- Informal and sloppy
- Possibily a sublanguage
NetSpeak / TextSpeak
- Not causing decline, it is just another form of the language
- We still know when to use it and when not to
New words
- such as 'gay' 'wicked' 'like' 'but' 'whatever'
Trends that are contributing to the decay:
- PC language, it makes things 'fuzzy' and unclear
Thanks in advance
Well evidently we both go to the same EL tuition
I'll probably be writing an essay on this topic over the weekend. Two possible ways I can see this being structured are:
- Based around the subsystems
- Based around specific examples
For the first method I'd base the paragraphs of how language change/decay (depending on what you are arguing) has affected the various subsystems.
For example:
Lexis: - Words dropping out of use.
- Codification of new lexis.
- Adoption of new lexis from extraneous sources (Americanisation etc.)
Morphology: - The development of new morphological compounds and constructions (netspeak, sms talk)
- American vs British spelling
Syntax: - The decline in grammar standards.
- Changing perceptions on correct grammar (splitting infinitives etc.)
Semantics: - Word definitions narrowing
- Word definitions expanding
- Semantic shifts (eg. Semantic shift on the word 'gay' from meaning 'happy' to 'homosexual' and now also used to describe something as 'bad' or 'stupid')
This structure guarantees mention of the subsystems and done well should have clearly distinctive paragraphs, however it's somewhat more cumbersome to work examples in as it's tempting to want to expand outside the one subsystem for a specific example (Americanisation has a lot of discussion points in regards to both lexis and morphology).
The other method is simply an example based approach.
Devote a paragraph to a specific trend or influence on language change/decay and discuss that in regards to the subsystems.
If going by this method I'd be structuring my essay similar to how you've set out your points:
Americanisation
Teenspeak
NetSpeak / TextSpeak
New words
Trends that are contributing to the decay
Just from looking at these points I'm starting to also draw links between each example. Americanisation has heavily influenced Australian teenspeak. The teen generation has been at the forefront of developing NetSpeak/Text Speak. These new developments have begun to be codified due to their habitual use creating new words. However some argue that the acceptance of such developments has had an adverse effect on today's grammar standards.
I'll post another reply once I've finished my essay to see if there's anything else to bring up.
Just a quick run through of your essay in my extremely unqualified opinion:
Age, race/ethnicity and gender are the three key determinants of language use. Do you agree?
The way people use language is determined and influenced by various factors. Although age and race/ethnicity play a vital role in language use, they are also accompanied by other crucial elements such as social class and level of education.
It's good that you jump straight into the question and immediately set out your contention that age, race/ethnicity and gender are key determiners of language use. I would be very cautious about bringing up education because it is extremely tempting to make value judgements with such a point. Other influences could include geographic location (compare the language of rural Australians to those living in an urban environment).
Unlike other determinants, gender varies in its level of influence depending on other factors such as differences in lifestyle. Though there are countless factors, it is these few that have the largest impact on how people interpret and speak the language.
Reaffirming contention in the last sentence of your introductory paragraph is good.
Age is one of the main causes of language differences amongst people. An individual who is older would have been exposed to a larger variety of Englishes compared to someone of younger age. This is a general statement though, as there will always be certain people that may have not been exposed to a range of dialects; however, the fact that only one or two varieties are influencing a person’s speech still affects language use. There is a clear distinction that an individual in their sixties speaks differently to a seventeen year old teenager. This is due to their age differences; the society the sixty year old grew up in is alien compared to the society today. Age plays an even bigger role in language usage during the earlier years of life. A four year old who is still only just consolidating information regarding language will definitely choose words and structure sentences differently to an eight year old. Age and language ability can almost be paired together, one increases alongside the other and therefore age is a key factor of language use.
This paragraph is missing two crucial elements to any English Language essay: Examples and Metalanguage.
You make a number of claims but don't provide any examples to back them up. Expand on language variations between teenagers and older generations by discussing how idiomatic phrases such as "to shoot through like a Bondi tram", "beyond the black stump", "full up to dolly's wax" and "I heard it from the man outside Hoyts" have slowly been phased out of the current generation of teens as they referred to things that have changed since their creation.
Similarly, its interesting you talk about teenagers but make no reference of teenspeak. Teenspeak is ephemeral - the teenspeak of someone from the 80s is different to current teenspeak. Consider how phrases like "cowabunga" and "grouse" reflect generational differences when compared to "sup" and "sick".
I'd also throw some metalanguage terms in there. Examiners will notice if you don't make any mention of the subsystems (their should be a reference to at least one subsystem in every paragraph). Using metalanguage is what is going to differentiate your essay from someone who has not studied English Language.
Race/ethnicity is also attributed to the usage of language. A person’s ethnic background can alter the sound and grammatical structure of sentences, as well as adding words to the individual’s lexicon which have originated from the original culture. For example, someone with an Italian background may pronounce words ending in a consonant with a vowel sound.
I would probably explain why this first-language interference occurs by looking at the Italian language and how many of their words end in a vowel sound.
‘Mushroom’ could become ‘mushroomo’ and ‘football’ as ‘footaballa’.
Try to use IPA over trying to replicate the sound. Using the IPA makes your essay appear more sophisticated and researched.
In this particular case, the first language, which is Italian, is affecting language use in a phonological sense; the pronunciation of words is altered to make it easier for articulation. A different scenario is a person of Chinese ethnicity, where it is a combination of both syntactical and phonological features that are influenced by Chinese.
If your going to bring up Chinese first language interference you need to provide examples of how that will affect language use. Consider the ubiquitous "lah" ending in many Chinese dialects and how this has been imported into Chinese-Australian English by Chinese migrants. Also consider syntactic differences between the two languages and how this has influences these 'ethnolects'.
In short, for race/ethnicity to produce obvious differences in people’s language means it is undoubtedly a fundamental factor of language use.
I don't think you have really provided enough evidence to show you have proven this. (That race/ethnicity produces obvious differences in language)
Gender may be deemed as a key determinant of language use but its impact can vary - other factors also need to be considered. The distinction between a male and female speaker can be obvious at times, but this is due to context differences. For instance, females have a higher tendency to shop for clothing and hence, use more terms relating specific to clothes. In areas where these activities are absent, such as rural parts of Australia, the differences are little. The culture and lifestyle an individual goes through determines how significant their gender is in terms of language.
Again lack of specific examples. Contrast the different semantic fields commonly associated with the genders. You briefly talk about fashion for females but you need to bring up specific examples. You also could contrast this with semantic fields commonly associated with males, such as certain sports. Just ensure you don't talk in absolutes here as a 'fashion' jargon may find itself in the discourse of a male and 'sports' in that of a females.
Where people are situated on the social ladder and how educated they are can dramatically alter how they use language. Both are associated with one another as higher qualifications can lead to a higher salary, and therefore increase exposure to other individuals ‘at the top’. Someone that has completed school to a year 10 level will only have a basic level of competency of the language compared to a university student studying linguistics. A person exposed to educated individuals higher up in society on a constant basis will become aware of subtleties in sentence structure, grammar and also use more sophisticated words. This in turn will mean how they speak will be affected as they are able to adapt these concepts into their own language. Change a person’s social and educational background, and change how they perceive and interpret language.
Be
very careful with this argument. Just because someone has had a poor educational background does not necessitate their language will be any worse than someone who has completed secondary education. Make it clear that these are social perceptions and not necessarily correct.
Overall the structure and fluency is fine. It just needs more depth which would have understandably been difficult to demonstrate so early in the year.
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