Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the argument that children have an innate capacity for language. What other explanations of language acquisition by children have been offered?
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the argument that children have an innate capacity for language. What other explanations of language acquisition by children have been offered? Language acquisition in children is undoubtedly a complex process and has fascinated people all over the world since languages fully developed. Most early endeavours to investigate language were mainly attempting to find the "original" language, such as the experiment by Pharaoh Psammeticus in the 7th century BC. The Pharaoh believed language was inborn and to prove his point, isolated two children to see if they developed the language they had been born with. This experiment was repeated in the 15th century by King James V of Scotland and by Emperor Akhbar of 16th-centiry India. While most of these were phylogenetic as opposed to ontogenetic, the focus is clear- are babies born with the capacity for language development? The nativist theory, which does indeed argue that language is part of our evolutionary inheritance, is challenged by other key schools of thought. These include behaviourism, which follows the theory of behaviour and reinforcement, social interactionism, which states that babies are influenced by, but do not solely learn from, adults, and cognitivism, in which babies' language is said to develop as understanding of the world grows. Although all of these theories have immense
The Presentation consists of the history of both Anim and Cartoons, the way they have developed and the differences and similarities between them. The Presentation met the objective of explaining the main aspects of the two, which were t
LO4 - PROJECT REVIEW My stakeholder, the Project Co-ordinator, from the EDEXCEL board, had asked me to create a project, of my own choice, that will get a point across to an audience that has very little knowledge on the subject of the project. It was also discussed that my teacher would keep track of my progress by attending to meetings with her as she was also my stakeholder for this project. I had decided to do the project on a topic that could be argued to make it easier for me to get my point across. First I decided to do the project on the topic of "MARVEL VS CAPCOM VS DC UNIVERSE" but my teacher thought this to be too confusing for the audience to understand as there was too much write about, most of which I didn't know about as I was new to the topic as well. As an alternative option, my teacher thought it would be best to do the project on a topic that I knew a lot about and something that would motivate me to learn more about. She also thought it should be in the form of a question to make it easier for both the audience and me to understand. My new title was "What are DIFFERENCES between Animé and Cartoons?" OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT The main objective that I wanted to complete was which side was right; whether or not they are different. The main objective that the EDEXCEL board wanted was to change the view of people on a topic of someone else's choice. In
Investigation into representation of gender through speech
Investigation into representation of gender through speech Chiara Giovanni Introduction: The aim of the investigation is to find out whether gender affects speech features according to research carried out by theorists Lokoff, Holmes, Tannen and Fishman. Methodology: Primary research was undertaken. Three groups of Year 10 students were used: a control group consisting of three boys and three girls, a group with six girls, and a group with six boys. The students came from the top set single-sex English groups, which could be considered to be helpful, as not only have they had extensive experience of debating and discussion, but being in single-sex classes should have supposedly amplified the speech features affected by gender. Each group was asked to discuss the issue of which gender were more likely to choose looks over personality, a discussion topic which would theoretically be more relevant and approachable than a controversial issue like abortion or euthanasia, and more interesting and original than school uniform or smoking. Hypotheses: * Girls are more likely to seek approval from others in a group and "keep face"; boys are more likely to be confrontational and attempt to establish their individual identities rather than staying in a group * Girls are therefore more likely to use hedgers and fillers to soften their arguments and sound more hesitant and less
Creative writing commentry
Creative writing commentry The kite runner presents a tale of intertwined personal conflicts and tragedies, it's a compelling novel set in 1970s Afghanistan, revolving around a tragic incident that allows Hosseini to examine themes of loyalty and betrayal, revealing its significant flaws in 1970s Afghan society. This capturing plot is what attracted me to use The Kite Runner as my stimulus text as it presented me with an opportunity to explore the themes of loyalty and betrayal whilst adding a modern twist to it. For my creative piece I decided to compose a short monologue of a friend witnessing his life long companion being a victim of knife crime, this short monologue mirrors that of Amir's thoughts during the scene in the kite runner whilst his half-brother Hassan is being raped by another boy from the neighbourhood. From this monologue it is clear I have specifically formed it by taking certain aspects from the rape scene of the kite runner and also empowered another aspect from the kite runner by utilising the theme of betrayal and also considering the historical context of the novel as it was set at a time of conflict in Afghan community during the 1970s therefore by modernising it so it relates to the social context of today, as knife crime is almost a daily, fashionable occurrence in modern society, just like conflicts between the Pashtuns and Hazaras were during
Scandinavian influence on the English Language
LNG 2100 The History of the English Language Assignment 2 SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE- Compare and contrast with French influence. Look at the nature of Scandinavian loans. The English language is a member of the Indo-European family of languages; this broad group includes most of the European languages spoken today such as German Arabic and Latin. English has been shaped by a number of these other languages over the centuries, mainly French, Latin, German and Scandinavian. These languages have had a major impact on the Present Day English vocabulary we hear and see today. This essay will mainly focus on the French and Scandinavian language, and the impact these had on the English language, infiltrating its vocabulary and grammar, and discuss, as a whole, which made the biggest impact to form modern day English. As a result of the Vikings invading during the Old English Period (600 - 1100) the English spoken and written language was impacted significantly by the Scandinavian influence. The Scandinavian or Viking invaders of the 8th century were intimately related to the original Germanic settlers of England, the Angles, Jutes and Saxons, and similarly so was their language, and so this combined influence of Germanic dialects and Scandinavian helped erode the inflectional endings of Old English, and also made additions to the English glossary. Between the years 750 and 1016,
Rumpelstiltskin Analysis
Psychoanalysis of Rumpelstiltskin In Rumpelstiltskin there are 2 main themes. These are power and greed. Rumpelstiltskin starts with a conversation between a poor miller and a king. The miller wants to make an impression on the king, and appear more powerful in the king's eyes. He boasts to the king in order to attract attention that he has "a daughter who can spin straw into gold." The king, who understands the link between wealth and power, invites the daughter to the castle to put this skill to the test. This shows us that the miller wants to impress the king, as the king is more powerful and the best way to do this is to show a power the king does not possess. The first two nights, the king establishes his power over the girl by threatening to kill her if she fails to spin all the straw into gold. On the third night, he informs her that if she again succeeds in spinning the straw to gold, she shall become his wife. He does not ask her opinion; she has no power to refuse his decision. This shows power as the rich dominate the poor. Secondly is the theme of greed. The king is so desperate for gold he keeps the miller's daughter in the castle for three nights under threat of death. When he takes her as a wife, he thinks to himself, "Even if she is only a miller's daughter, I will not find a richer wife in all the world." This shows that greed equals power in his mind
Is it good to have English as global language?
Is it good to have English as global language? What is a global language? Does it mean that everyone in the world speaks English? This is certainly not true. Does it mean, then, that every country in the world recognizes Englis has an official language? This is not true either. So what? A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country. There are two main ways in which this can be done. Firstly, a language can be made the official language of a country, to be used as a medium of communication in such domains as government, the law courts, the media, and the educational system. Secondly, a language can be made a priority in a country's foreign-language teaching, even though this language has no official status. It becomes the language which children are most likely to be taught when they arrive in school. Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it. It is much more to do with who those speakers are. Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous. They were simply more powerful. And later, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power - the ecclesiastical power of Roman Catholicism.
Twelfth Night: Essay response to Act IV Scene 3
Twelfth Night: Essay response to Act IV Scene 3 Arranged marriages, common during the times of William Shakespeare, are marriages that are premeditated by people other than the bride or groom. The parents of the wedded couple usually arrange this type of marriage, but third parties may also arrange the marriages. In William Shakespeare's play, Twelfth Night, A countess named Olivia marries Sebastian, a victim of a shipwreck, because of her inability to distinguish Sebastian from Cesario, Sebastian's twin sister Viola who disguised herself as man. With the aim of comparing the marriage of Olivia and Sebastian to an arranged marriage, an example of an arranged marriage will be provided, followed by analyzing the motive for an arranged marriage. During the year of 1770, an arranged marriage occurred between Marie Antoinette of the Austrian House of Habsburg and Louis XVI of France. Maria Theresa, the empress of the Holy Roman Empire, arranged this marriage in order to preserve the alliance between France and Austria. The marriage did not contain any significant romance which was demonstrated by the lack of consummation during the wedding night and the many satires that portrayed Marie Antoinette's perfidy towards Louis XVI. The marriage resulted in the execution of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI during the French revolution which was partially caused by Louis XVI's incompetence
How is the ideal male represented through physical description in modern Mills and Boon literature?
How is the "ideal male" represented through physical description in modern Mills and Boon literature? Mills and Boon, the renowned publisher of romantic fiction for over 100 years, primarily targets a female readership. As societal attitudes have altered due to the rise of feminism and the success of equality for women, the portrayal of the female characters in these novels has also changed; the heroines now develop careers and are shown to eschew more traditional roles. However, the representation of the male characters is remarkably constant. In three Mills and Boon novels, published in the last two years, each hero is almost identical, tall, dark and handsome, with similarly guarded natures. As the novels progress, it is clear that a key characteristic identifying the "ideal male" is that of power and dominance, especially over the female protagonist. Each author employs similar linguistic techniques to establish the males as superior in relation to the females. In "Memoirs of a Millionaire's Mistress", the protagonists are property developer Cameron Black and waitress/artist Didi O'Flanagan. Cameron is presented, from Didi's perspective, through the clichéd hyphenated phrase "man-to-die-for" using the third person voice which complements the narrative conventions of the genre. This novel in particular falls into an erotic subgenre, which is demonstrated through
Grouping texts on the basis of shared linguistic features. Text A like text B is a transcript however, it is a Radio Five weather forecast which means that it is spoken but pre-planned. It is a factual and precise transcript rather than
Grouping texts on the basis of shared linguistic features Text B is a transcript of a conversation between a hairdresser and her client. The speech includes frequent pauses and hesitations such as, "um" which - along with the fact it is a transcript of a real life conversation - show the speech is spontaneous. The speakers take turn with the client initiating the conversation to gain information through the use of interrogatives for example; she asks "have you got any ideas". Text D also uses interrogatives. However, this text varies in context because is not a transcript instead it is a copy of an advertising card that is aimed at teenagers and sent to schools by the BBC. The use of interrogatives in this text is to create an interaction with the reader. This text directly addresses the reader through its interrogatives for example; "could you tell the rest of the world about your passion?" the personal pronoun "you" also helps to create synthetic personalisation with the reader. Text A - like text B - is a transcript however, it is a Radio Five weather forecast which means that it is spoken but pre-planned. It is a factual and precise transcript rather than emotive, this is because its aim is to inform the listeners. Declarative sentences such as, "more cloud in the west of Scotland", are used because it is a weather forecast with the purpose to inform and these type
