VCE English Language Question Thread

[exit]

Hey guys
I just have a question and was hoping if someone would help me.
I was wondering what type of sentence this is.
"Children who are never spoken to will not acquire language."
I thought it was simple but my teacher says because there are two verb that it is compound or complex with the sentence being ellipsed.
Thanks,

It should be complex due to the relative clause and the 'conjunction' here is who.

Don't quote me though. Wouldn't your teacher know?

[Mimosa]

How do you define lexical patterning? I'm a bit unsure of what it exactly means, any help would be really appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

[cookiedream]

How do you define lexical patterning? I'm a bit unsure of what it exactly means, any help would be really appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Well, patterning itself is always deliberate and serves the purpose of emphasis or other specific effects (they're pretty much stylistic features). As far as I know, the only lexical patterning defined in the study design is lexical repetition.

[Mimosa]

Well, patterning itself is always deliberate and serves the purpose of emphasis or other specific effects (they're pretty much stylistic features). As far as I know, the only lexical patterning defined in the study design is lexical repetition.

Thank you! That makes sense, I think I got it now.

[Caitae]

Not sure if relevant or not but here goes anyways:
I am currently undertaking Legal Studies 1/2, however, I have never planned on continuing it into 3/4 and had always planned on undertaking English Language 3/4 by distance instead (we don't have it as an option at my school and the distance education centre near me only offered it for units 3/4). I'm starting to reconsider my decision as many have said its a really hard subject... Would you recommend still doing the subject? Keep in mind I have not done units 1/2 and I would be doing the subject by distance. Am I just setting myself up for failure or is it possible??

[strawberry7898]

Not sure if relevant or not but here goes anyways:
I am currently undertaking Legal Studies 1/2, however, I have never planned on continuing it into 3/4 and had always planned on undertaking English Language 3/4 by distance instead (we don't have it as an option at my school and the distance education centre near me only offered it for units 3/4). I'm starting to reconsider my decision as many have said its a really hard subject... Would you recommend still doing the subject? Keep in mind I have not done units 1/2 and I would be doing the subject by distance. Am I just setting myself up for failure or is it possible??

I know someone who has not done 1/2 and is doing 3/4 by distance, and it definitely can be done. The only real relevant part of 1/2 for 3/4 is the grammar bit we did at the start (Just grab the study design, go to the "metalanguage" section for Units 1/2 and use the internet to make sure you understand all the terms that overlap with the metalanguage list for Units 3/4, get a book that covers grammar to help you out if you feel like you need a resource)- you can cover this on your own and will be covered in some detail in 3/4 anyways. As for the distance education bit, English Language involves a large amount of self study anyways imo. Look into the subject a bit more and see if you definitely want to do it. As long as you have an interest in the subject and are decent in essay writing I'd say you're set. Hope that makes your decision a little easier.

[Bri MT]

I am currently doing 3/4 EL by distance and didn't do units 1&2. I assure you it is definitely possible, and I do not regret my decision. You will need to be prepared for the fact that it may take you a long time to get feedback and you WILL need to self-motivate. I would wholly recommend reading some of the exemplar ACs and essays so you can get a feel for the writing style and type of content before making this decision. There are some people in my class who do regret making this decision so there is an element of risk involved, and you need to be aware of that. 
Over the summer holidays I studied and got to a stage where I knew the metalanguage better than most people who studied units 1&2 which was very useful, and I would recommend that you do the same if you decide to follow this path.

[Sine]

Not sure if relevant or not but here goes anyways:
I am currently undertaking Legal Studies 1/2, however, I have never planned on continuing it into 3/4 and had always planned on undertaking English Language 3/4 by distance instead (we don't have it as an option at my school and the distance education centre near me only offered it for units 3/4). I'm starting to reconsider my decision as many have said its a really hard subject... Would you recommend still doing the subject? Keep in mind I have not done units 1/2 and I would be doing the subject by distance. Am I just setting myself up for failure or is it possible??

Definitely possible to do well imo if you are focused and motivated enough anyone has the chance to succeed.

Some anecdotal evidence - one of my friends did english language (having not done 1/2) by distance and they did extremely well ending up getting a study score of 45+

[Caitae]

I know someone who has not done 1/2 and is doing 3/4 by distance, and it definitely can be done. The only real relevant part of 1/2 for 3/4 is the grammar bit we did at the start (Just grab the study design, go to the "metalanguage" section for Units 1/2 and use the internet to make sure you understand all the terms that overlap with the metalanguage list for Units 3/4, get a book that covers grammar to help you out if you feel like you need a resource)- you can cover this on your own and will be covered in some detail in 3/4 anyways. As for the distance education bit, English Language involves a large amount of self study anyways imo. Look into the subject a bit more and see if you definitely want to do it. As long as you have an interest in the subject and are decent in essay writing I'd say you're set. Hope that makes your decision a little easier.

Thanks for replying.... From the responses I've got I think I'm going to still pursue English Language. Its an interesting subject and will prepare me really well for what I want to do for my tertiary studies.  Plus, if I just study my butt off during the summer holidays I think I might get a good head start ; ) 

[-273.15]

Hello
Could someone please give some me names of some good websites/resources that outline the history of Australian English?
(have already seen sounds of Oz)

Thanks!

[koreaboo99]

Hey guys,
This is a very dumb question, but the more I study it, the more I get confused over the difference between morphology and lexicology, and lexicology and semantics.  So yeah, what is the difference between morphology and lexicology, and lexicology and semantics? 

Also, my book lists the metalang of morphology and lexicology under one heading basically, so I've tried to separate out the terms (I've sorted them out into categories, because there are like 1048567 individual terms) into each respective subsystem - am I correct?
Affixation - morphology
word classes - morphology
function and content words - lexicology
word formation processes - morphology
word loss -
(gosh now looking at it, where is all my metalang for lexicology?)

Thank you

[eru]

Hey guys,
This is a very dumb question, but the more I study it, the more I get confused over the difference between morphology and lexicology, and lexicology and semantics.  So yeah, what is the difference between morphology and lexicology, and lexicology and semantics? 

Also, my book lists the metalang of morphology and lexicology under one heading basically, so I've tried to separate out the terms (I've sorted them out into categories, because there are like 1048567 individual terms) into each respective subsystem - am I correct?
Affixation - morphology
word classes - morphology
function and content words - lexicology
word formation processes - morphology
word loss -
(gosh now looking at it, where is all my metalang for lexicology?)

Thank you

Hi there,
To put it simply, lexicology is the study of words (e.g. biology). Morphology is the study of morphemes, aka the components that make up a word. When studying morphology you’d look at ‘bio’ and ‘-logy’ as separate morphemes. Semantics is the study of meaning, so you’d be looking at things like what biology means in the dictionary, and the connotations of biology.
 
Another way you could think of it is:
Morphology - study of bricks
These bricks are put together to build a house (aka a word)
Lexicology – study of the house

In regards to your categorisation:
Word classes would be under lexicology. If you’re studying a word itself, such as ‘quick’, and categorizing it as an adjective, then it’d be lexicology. I’d say word loss goes under lexicology, because you’re focusing on words and not the meaning or the morphemes. Basically, what you are specifically analysing / focusing on determines the subsystem.

Looking at words? Lexicology. Looking at morphemes? Morphology. Looking at word meaning? Semantics.

Everything else looks right! 

[koreaboo99]

Hi there,
To put it simply, lexicology is the study of words (e.g. biology). Morphology is the study of morphemes, aka the components that make up a word. When studying morphology you’d look at ‘bio’ and ‘-logy’ as separate morphemes. Semantics is the study of meaning, so you’d be looking at things like what biology means in the dictionary, and the connotations of biology.
 
Another way you could think of it is:
Morphology - study of bricks
These bricks are put together to build a house (aka a word)
Lexicology – study of the house

In regards to your categorisation:
Word classes would be under lexicology. If you’re studying a word itself, such as ‘quick’, and categorizing it as an adjective, then it’d be lexicology. I’d say word loss goes under lexicology, because you’re focusing on words and not the meaning or the morphemes. Basically, what you are specifically analysing / focusing on determines the subsystem.

Looking at words? Lexicology. Looking at morphemes? Morphology. Looking at word meaning? Semantics.

Everything else looks right! 

YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER!!! Thank you so so so much.  Your explanations made so much sense, (why aren't you my teacher?).  Thanks so much ^__^

[mtDNA]

Given a prompt which requires reference to the ‘contemporary Australian context’, how would one go about discussing teenspeak (in an identity essay), particularly with respect to e-com? For instance, slang terms like ‘thicc’ aren’t really Australian, and neither would I identify it as being American; rather, 'a lexeme with no home’.

Thanks in advance 

[EulerFan102]

Given a prompt which requires reference to the ‘contemporary Australian context’, how would one go about discussing teenspeak (in an identity essay), particularly with respect to e-com? For instance, slang terms like ‘thicc’ aren’t really Australian, and neither would I identify it as being American; rather, 'a lexeme with no home’.

Yes, it is a difficult one. Terms of Internet-speak aren't tied to a particular country, instead existing on the globally shared Net. Perhaps that is a point that could be discussed in your essay: has the international nature of the Internet affected or dimished the abundance of Oz-centric slang? If so, has this had future effects on national pride and Australian identity amongst the youth of this country?

In terms of finding examples of Aussie teenspeak, there are a few different sources you could try. A good place to start would be listening to certain Aussie radio stations (particularly Triple J, as they're aiming for a 'young' 'cool' audience). For instance, a quick listen to the podcast of Ben and Liam's show from 24 August 2017 gives plenty of terms like "buck fiddy", "meme" and "rocking" (as in wearing), as well as a discussion of the phrase "sliding into someone's DMs".

If only fb meme pages were more widely accepted as evidence in exam essays... Perhaps Clive Palmer's page is a possible source, given he's got a fair profile, and now he's churning our some dank memes on a regular schedule (such as the one below, from 19 August 2017)