Language Articles

How new words are born? - Andy Bodle
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2016/feb/04/english-neologisms-new-words
'English speakers already have over a million words at our disposal – so why are we adding 1,000 new ones a year to the lexicon? And how?'


Form: An article written for the language section for the Guardian Broadsheet Newspaper
Purpose: To entertain as well as inform readers about how and why so many new words are created and printed into the dictionary each year
Audience: The older generations - perhaps around 40+


This article is one in which discusses reasons why we (the English) continuously seem to create new words and it also explains how we create these 'new' words - which is by one of the 13 mechanisms; Derivation, Back formation, Compounding, Repurposing, Conversion, Eponyms, Abbreviations, Loanwords, Onomatopeia, Reduplication, Nonce words, Error or Portmanteaus. The article then goes on to explain briefly that how in the past, some now English words have actually come from other languages such as French and Dutch.





It's what you have to say, not how you say it - Gary Nunn
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/nov/27/its-what-you-have-to-say-not-how-you-say-it
'In an age of linguistic equality, you don’t need to betray your origins or change your accent to be eloquent'



How speech and language determine success in the workplace - Judith Baxter
http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/jun/03/speech-language-determine-success-workplace
'Do you alter your speech patterns depending on the company you keep? Research shows that women who can speak like men in the boardroom will be more successful at work'


We deride them as ‘migrants’. Why not call them people? - David Marsh
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/28/migrants-people-refugees-humanity
'The term is badly tarnished after years of abuse by those who seek to strip refugees of their humanity'

Terminology

http://www.slideshare.net/BCALevels/alevel-english-glossary

Language and Gender Revision

Robin Lakoff (1975) and the deficit model
The influence of Robin Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place on the study of language and gender is undeniable. In Twenty Years After Language and Woman's Place, the original text's editor Mary Bucholtz offers a reminder that the work was, at the time of publication, ‘met with widespread criticism’. In the introduction to the book, Lakoff admits: ‘It is my impression, though I do not have precise statistical evidence’. This is evidenced in her use of language in the book; there are no statistics but phrases such as ‘many men’, ‘men tend to’. Despite this, Bucholtz argues that ‘it launched a far reaching program of research on language and gender whose effects we still feel today’. What is very clear is that Lakoff's work is still often quoted today and its list of the main features of female speech remains an integral part of language and gender discussion:

1. 1Hedges: Phrases like ‘sort of’, ‘kind of’, ‘it seems like’
2. 2Empty adjectives: ‘divine’, ‘adorable’, ‘gorgeous’
3. 3Super-polite forms: ‘Would you mind …’, ‘Is it Ok if …?’
4. 4Apologise more: ‘I'm sorry, but I think that …’
5. 5Speak less frequently
6. 6Avoid coarse language or expletives
7. 7Tag questions: ‘You don't mind eating this, do you?’
8. 8Hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation: Use of prestige grammar and clear articulation
9. 9Indirect requests: ‘I'm so thirsty.’ – really asking for a drink
10. 10Speak in italics: Use tone to emphasis certain words, e.g., ‘so’, ‘very’, ‘quite’.

Lakoff's research can be seen as representative of the ‘deficit approach’ or ‘deficit model’ to language and gender. The deficit approach is attributed to Otto Jespersen who, in 1922, argued that male language forms were the ‘norm’ and the language of others (including women) were ‘deficient’. Looking at the list of main female features, it is perhaps apparent why Lakoff sees the language of women to be weaker – indirect requests and the use of apologetic forms do suggest women's language to be less powerful than that of males. Perhaps the use of tag questions or intensifiers may not necessarily be seen as a weaker form. However, Lakoff did see female language to be deficient.

Deborah Tannen and the difference model 
Deborah Tannen was originally a student of Robin Lakoff and her book You Just Don't Understandwas published in 1990. She is an advocate of the difference model (the theory that men and women do speak differently): ‘The desire to affirm that women are equal has made some scholars reluctant to show that they are different. There are gender differences in ways of speaking, and we need to identify and understand them.’ Tannen represents male and female language use in a series of six contrasts to show this difference:

• Status vs Support: Men use language to show power and dominance in conversations; women are more likely to use language choices that support and agree with others.
• Independence vs Intimacy: Men will use language to show they do not need to rely on others; women will prefer to use language as a way of connecting with others and maintaining closeness.
• Advice vs Understanding: Men are more likely to offer solutions to a problem through their language choices; women will show empathy and understanding to a given situation.
• Information vs Feelings: Similar to Tannen's Advice vs Understanding concept, men are far more likely to be factual in their language choices; women, in contrast, will use language choices that are less factual and stem from a more emotional viewpoint.
• Orders vs Proposals: In conversations, men are far more likely to be direct in their language using imperatives to command others; women will avoid such a commanding tone and be more suggestive in their language choices (for example, a man may say ‘Close that window it's cold’ whereas the woman is more likely to say ‘Isn't it cold in here?’ suggesting the window needs to be closed).
• Conflict vs Compromise: Men are more likely to use language to argue a point; women will use language to avoid such conflict and are far more likely to negotiate with others to try and find a solution or compromise.

The difference model certainly offers an alternative view to the deficit model discussed earlier. Tannen is not the only advocate of this theory. Others have also researched how men and women use different strategies and language features in their speech. It is different from the dominance approach – language is not used by men to be dominant although it is different (see Table 15G).

Table 15G

The difference model research
Jennifer Coates (1989)	Coates argues that girls and boys tend to belong to same-sex friendship groups when growing up and subsequently develop different styles of speaking. Coates theorises that female language is cooperative in single-sex conversations. She views tag questions and modality as characteristics that help to make women's talk supportive and cooperative.
Jane Pilkington (1992)	Pilkington found that women in same sex conversations were collaborative and used positive politeness strategies. She found that men in same sex talk were a lot less collaborative, less complimentary and less supportive than women.

New exclamation mark rules – proof that The Man wants to penalise enthusiasm!

http://www.theguardian.com/education/shortcuts/2016/mar/07/new-exclamation-mark-rules-proof-the-government-wants-to-penalise-enthusiasm
New guidelines from the Department for Education suggest that primary school children should only use ‘!’ in sentences starting with ‘what’ or ‘how’. How strange!

Ikea Article and Forum (One Paragraph Analysis)

Ikea Guardian Article-Throughout this article, it is clear to see that the writer uses a huge range of hyperboles. For example in the title, 'Come on, Ikea, stop trying to put the hell in healthy'. The hyperbole here is shown through the noun phrase 'hell in healthy', which he is clearly over exaggerating to create a sense of humour. The abstract noun 'hell' has many bad connotations such as fire, death and evil; which people wouldn't hear together with 'healthy' very often. As well as this at the beginning of this utterance, the writer uses the phrase 'come on', this is an example of hybrid language and creates a sense of chattiness to the article, which makes it more entertaining for the readers.

Ikea Review Forum-

Furthermore, in this article the user 'Nicholas H' says 'The wife coaxed me shopping with the promise of the breakfast at IKEA'. The fact that he uses the determiner 'the' in front of the noun suggests that his wife is an object. The noun 'wife', people would often link to many positive connotations such as loving and caring. However here, it almost sounds like she means nothing to the user - it isn't at all personal. If the man was being personal he would have said 'my wife'; which sounds more polite and respectful. The determiner 'my' in front of the noun perhaps sounds like he is proud to call her that and he is proud that she is his, the determiner 'the' however, which is what the user used to describe her, almost suggests that she belongs to him, which can come across as quite rude and arrogant. Despite all this however, the fact that the user uses this type of language may just highlight the fact that the website is quite informal and it is just there for people to give advice to one another - as some might say, it is just a little bit of banter; which creates a friendly and humorous vibe to the forum.

Most Muslim Coverage is 'Negative'?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7495384.stm
Dr Paul Mason, a member of the team, said the team looked at three areas. They carried out a statistical analysis looking at types of stories and the way Muslims were described and the language used, the photographs used alongside the stories and they analysed the types of case studies used.

He said: "We looked at both nouns and adjectives and he way in which British Muslims were described.
"And we found the highest proportion of nouns used were about things like extremism, suicide bombers, militancy, radicalism - which accounted for over 35% of the adjectives used about British Muslims - fanatic, fundamentalist - those kinds of languages were used.

I’m proud to be young, British and Muslim. Why should I change my name? - Iman Amrani

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/11/young-british-muslim-change-name-discrimination
The relentless assaults from popular broadsheets and tabloids are echoed by political leaders too. David Cameron’s language around refugees – “swarms”, “bunch of migrants” – contributes to the idea that they are a homogenous, threatening group. In January, he said that the “traditional submissiveness of Muslim women” was leaving young men vulnerable to radicalisation – reinforcing the stereotypes that Muslim women have to deal with daily. Cameron upset not only the mothers, but also their children – people of my generation, who have come through the British education system, and have navigated the path of being young, British and Muslim.

Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations. (25 marks)

Text A is written for the online version of the broadsheet newspaper ‘The Guardian’. This is clear to see as the logo is presented in the top right hand corner and the hyperlink is shown at the top of the page. The article is about how Muslims are represented in the media and it includes some of the writer’s personal experiences and opinions. By writing this article she hopes that it will open people’s minds to the true issue that is the misrepresentation of Muslims as a religious group. As the newspaper is a broadsheet, the article is just as we expect – quite a heavy and sophisticated read. This therefore suggests that the article is written for the older generations who would be able to comprehend the seriousness of the topic, and as the newspaper it is written for is the Guardian; perhaps the audience are more of an upper-middle class.

Firstly, in the title the writer uses a rule of three; ‘young, British and Muslim’. This is very interesting as the adjectives all have different positive and negative connotations and also as well as this their meanings slightly change when they are put together as one. The adjective ‘British’ for example has many positive connotations – people associate the Royal Family, a fry up and a good cup of English tea with this, however for the adjective ‘Muslim’, it is a completely different story. When people think of ‘Muslim’, it seems because of the portrayal that the media have given them, people automatically think ‘terrorist’ or ‘suicide-bomber’, and as expressed by the writer, this is upsetting for many Muslims as this is not what they truly believe in – yet they are judged for it and discriminated upon. When you hear ‘British and Muslim’, it is quite odd, as the collocation is not one that is used often, although this is strange as Muslims are a huge ‘part in British history’ and continue to be ‘a part of Britain’ today.

Furthermore, also in the title, the writer uses the interrogative ‘Why should I change my name?’. The use of the auxiliary verb ‘should’ suggests to the readers that the article they are about to read could create some debate. The fact that the writer also uses first person here and says ‘Why should I’ suggests that she is going to talk about some of her personal experiences and also suggests that the article will feature some of her own opinions on the subject – highlighting that it is one in which she is very passionate about. Further on in the text, it is highlighted that she is talking about her experiences as she uses the phrase ‘The other day’. She explains after this that she wasn’t allowed to stay somewhere for a short holiday break as the host wasn’t ‘comfortable’ with her staying there and she didn’t ‘trust’ her; all the host knew about the writer was her name – ‘Iman Amrani’. The adjective ‘comfortable’ suggests that the women wouldn’t have been relaxed with the writer staying there, highlighting how Muslims are attacked by the media and as a result people assume the worst from them. The abstract noun ‘trust’ also suggests the same thing and highlights how discrimination is happening to this misrepresented religious group, still in the 21^st century.

Throughout the article, the writer uses complex and declarative syntax, which may suggest that she is well-educated. An example of this is ‘studies have shown that applicants with Muslim names are significantly less likely to be called in for a job interview’. This highlights the fact that the writer does really know what she is talking about and this suggests to the readers that it is a reliable source to read on the subject as it uses facts to back up points made. As well as using complex syntax, the writer uses standard grammar throughout and as well as declarative syntax, the writer also uses some exclamatory syntax to help express her opinions and personal feelings towards the subject, for example ‘none of us want to be defined solely by our religion’.

Further on in the article, the writer says ‘What it means to be Muslim for us isn’t the same as what it means for a lot of other people. Our generation have grown up in the shadow of 9/11’. The noun ‘shadow’ suggests that people try to put what happened behind them, however still, to this day, it is where the many negative stereotypes of Muslims began.  The writer carries on to say ‘We have no recollection of the time before, when barely any non-Muslims cared what religion we were’. The phrase ‘the time before’ highlights the fact that the media weren’t always this negative about Muslims and this shows that it has had a real impact on the writer’s life and many others just like her because of one single tragic event.

Furthermore, the writer writes in the present tense, for example ‘Everyday’ and ‘weekly reports’ – this suggests that the issue with the misrepresentation of Muslims is ongoing and is still happening in the media almost constantly.  Not only do the media have an impact however, it is also echoed by the government and the prime minister also. The writer states that David Cameron’s language regarding refugees just encourages the media to continue creating these negative stereotypes. Cameron used the words and phrases “swarms” and “bunch of migrants” to describe the refugees. The plural noun ‘swarm’ usually describes (stated in its denotation) the large group of flying insects – this highlights the complete lack of respect that not only people of the UK have, but the Prime Minister has towards migrants currently fleeing their countries. This highlights that if the Prime Minister speaks in such a way, it will be hard to change the way people think of the Muslim religion and its followers.

To conclude, following on from this idea, the writer says ‘the future is going to be more and more uncomfortable for all of us, with more division, more suspicion and more hate’. The abstract noun ‘hate’ used here really just highlights what the media are technically doing and it suggests that in the future, awful things could be sprung from these negative stereotypes that have been and are still being created by the media surrounding Muslims. Like what the writer previously said ‘views are shaped by what we read or hear in the media’.