Investigation into Gender Differences in the Language of Personal Profiles on Dating Websites
Investigation into Gender Differences in the Language of Personal Profiles on Dating Websites Hypothesis: Are there differences in the language used in personal profiles on dating websites based on gender, and are the genders represented differently? Introduction For my language investigation I will be looking at gender differences in internet dating profiles. I will consider differences in lexical choices, in particular whether there is evidence of the gender differences in language use claimed by Robin Lakoff in her publication Language and a Woman's Place (1975). Also, whether there are greater or lesser differences in lexical choices between the genders depending on age. It was speculated at the time Lakoff's research was published that as women became more equal to men, gender differences would not be as noticeable in language, as they were the result of inequalities between the sexes in other areas. I will also consider what whether the content of the profiles in my sample show evidence of differences in what is desirable in men and women. Past studies into newspaper lonely hearts ads, which internet dating profiles could be considered a modern manifestation of in many ways, found men and women were more likely to request and advertise about themselves different things. I will investigate whether these same differences are evident today in internet dating profiles,
Creative writing and commentary. It was the year 2015 and Earth was exploring outer space when they discovered a new planet. The planet was very similar to Earth, the air was breathable, it had clear and clean running rivers and streams,
Language & Creative Writing .1a, 1.1d, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3. Andrew Barker 50128485 The Trip to Floggolopia It was the year 2015 and Earth was exploring outer space when they discovered a new planet. The planet was very similar to Earth, the air was breathable, it had clear and clean running rivers and streams, the seas and oceans were crystal clear where you could see right down to the bed where the sand was a beautiful white colour and had beautiful brightly coloured fish and other life swimming all around. They met people that lived on the planet and they were very much like humans from looking like them right down to eating like them. The planet and Earth took the next few years learning about each other, their languages, cultures to the way of everyday life and became really close friends; one of the first things learned was the name of the planet which was called Floggolopia. In the year 2020 the two planets were able to visit each other and started to build state of the art holiday resorts for each other to stay in, with the floggolopians running the hotels on Floggolopia and humans running the hotels on Earth which gave all visitors more of an insight to each other's planets. Thirteen years on in the year 2033 there was the Lisbon family in the Isle of White. Daniel the father who was 46 and owned a highly established multi-planeterial technology company selling
Investigating how language has changed in children's literature; in relation to interaction between children and characters of authority in a boarding school setting.
Contents Contents Page Number Introduction 3 Hypothesis 3 Methodology 3 Initial description of 'The Doctor' 4 Initial description of 'Miss Loy' 4 Initial description of 'Miss Potts' 4 Initial description of 'Albus Dumbledore' 4 Discourse 5 Grammar 5 Semantics 7 Phonology 8 Graphology 9 Speech extract from Tom Brown's School Days 0 Speech extract from School Girl Chums 1 Speech extract from Malory Towers 1 Speech extract from Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone 2 Comparison between extracts involving exchanges between lead characters, and characters of authority 2 Conclusion 5 References 6 List of Tables Table Number Name of Table Page Number Books chosen for comparison 3 2 Acknowledged frameworks 3 List of Figures Figure Number Name of Figure Page Number Comparison of sentence type in initial description of character 5 2 Number of adjectives in the initial description of character 7 3 Word count demonstrating conversation dominance 3 4 Number of adjectives in the speech exchange 4 Introduction Stories of children at boarding schools have always been a popular genre choice amongst both young and young adult readers. They emulate scenarios that children can identify with, more specifically the relationships between the students and their teachers/head teachers. As a result the language used
How do Politicians gain support through language? AQA English coursework
How do Politicians gain support through language? Word Count: 6262 INTRODUCTION Politics is concerned with power, and the language that politicians use reflects their craving for it. Through language politicians hope to make decisions that will influence other people's behaviour and even their values. Power can be gained in many ways, in a dictatorship by force, in a democracy through law, or often a much more successful technique; through the power of persuasion. This method is often found in political speeches, and is used to coerce people into embracing a politician's goals. Much background reading was done into politics and the English language, including "The Language of Politics" by Adrian Beard and George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language", in order to gain a deeper insight into this distinct style of language. "The Language of Politics" highlights the different stances that political parties may take e.g. left or right wing, and this is often reflected in the politician's speeches. Left wing parties such as Labour are often socialist or radical groups, and right wing parties, such as the Conservatives are often conservative or nationalist. Both types of party have very different values. Beard also points out some of the techniques that politicians use in speeches in order to be persuasive. For example: metaphors, contrastive pairs and tripartite
Semantic Processing in Advertising
Semantic Processing in Advertising Introduction Having learnt about levels of processing in Psychology it has made me think more about the meaning of words and how we decipher that meaning. Levels of Processing suggests that stimuli can be encoded and processed at varying levels/depths from shallow to deep. It shows that the long term memory store is not just a simple storage unit but a complex processing system. There are at least three levels of processing, visual, acoustic and semantic. Visual processing involves analysing the visual appearance (orthography components) of a word. Acoustic processing is about the sound (based on the phonemic components) of the word for example 'does it rhyme'? And semantic processing analyses the meaning of the word. I am particularly interested in semantic processing and how it links with memory. I am interested to find out what features make words stand out and make a word/sentence memorable and to see how these techniques are used in advertising in that they have a lasting affect on the person reading the advert. To avoid transgressing which limits boundaries and to achieve more significant results, this experiment will focus on two levels, visual and semantic as these are the extremes (shallowest and deepest level of processing). Does semantically processing a word increase recall? What other features increase recall? To
Language Aquisition Notes
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Theorists * Cognitive - Jean Piaget - can only understand lang when you understand concept (e.g. can talk in past tense when you know about time) * Behaviourist - Skinner learn through imitation - doesn't explain where new sentences come from * Nativist - Chomsky - Language Acquisition Device (LAD) - works out what is/isn't acceptable lang use using innate programmed patterns (which are general). exact rules learnt through trial and error. His theory supports the fact that children around the world seem to develop at a similar pace, irrespective of race/culture/mother tongue. (This also 'defies' Skinner's model) Also, the fact that there is a universal grammar amongst all languages of the world. & the fact that children consistently create new forms of language that they would not have heard before. * Conversely, John Macnamara - said that rather than having an in-built language device, children have an innate capacity to read meaning into social situations. It is this capacity that makes them capable of understanding and learning language, not the LAD. * Interactive - caretaker, motherese etc - slower pace than adult convo, simplified, repetition, short sentences, often caretaker asking 'where is___?', 'that's a___', tag questions to involve child ('isn't it?') * Example for importance of social interaction: Bard and Sachs. Studied a boy
The topic of religious language has many facets for exploration. The area of research for this coursework revolves around a recording taken in the due course of an evangelical church service. This section is known as the sermon.
Introduction The topic of religious language has many facets for exploration. The area of research for this coursework revolves around a recording taken in the due course of an evangelical church service. This section is known as the sermon. The recording was drawn from the first part of the sermon. In this, the pastor, the leader of the service, set up the ideas of what the talk would involve and made reference to various texts from the Christian religion's book of authority, the Bible. Parts of the transcription are spoken from notes, others from memory or improvisation, while other parts are read aloud from a written text. The differences between these are of interest as they incur changes and variations in tone, emphasis, speed, volume and other areas of prosodics. Factors inherent to the type of language, audience and purpose will be the focus of the study. It will also be necessary to include comments on persuasion, inference and the overall aim of the sermon. All these will be able to be identified from the various grammatical, lexical and phonological markers. I decided to use this topic as the basis of my work as I am interested both in the content of religious language and the transmission of such. I have spent several years hearing sermons by varying speakers and have found that the styles and techniques, although different, primarily result in comparable
The Influence of English Mass Culture on Estonia
My paper considers the influence of 'Western' mass culture on Estonia. While each culture draws from its own roots, I believe that it may fail to blossom without contact with other cultures. A better understanding of how cultural systems are shaped, reproduced, and changed gives me more power to participate in that process of negotiation - between the impact and the impacted. I feel that writing about these processes is one of the best ways to work toward that enhanced understanding. My search for answers is taking me to study the essence of my own faith, culture and civilization, and the faiths, cultures and civilizations of my fellow human beings in a world that I see is becoming increasingly inter-dependent. When you contribute your own voice to the discussion, you should be aware of the implications that follow from your position. When you listen to the voices of others, you should listen with awareness, deciding for yourself what is at stake and how their positions relate to your own. For many people, the 'what is at stake' is the character of Estonian national identity. Some argue that this identity needs to become less culturally fragmented; others argue that the national character gets its strength from cultural diversity, from the freedom at home and in schools to celebrate, honor, and reproduce different cultural traditions. In any discussion of Western ideas of
Language Investigation: Barack Obama Inaugural Address
Language Investigation Introduction The inauguration speech itself is one that comes after the oath that swears a President into office, which has been undertaken by any person elected into office. In his speech, Obama intended to raise the morale of the American people in times of the economic crisis, and he did not feel threatened to ignore it in his speech. On the contrary, he acknowledged the crisis they were in, but remained positive in order to keep the country strong. The main objective of the speech was to get confidence from the public that he would be a successful president, who would do all he could to restore the country to the stature it should be. What interests me about this speech in particular was the background. Barack Obama had just been elected to be the first black president of the United States, and the Democrat leader took over from George Bush - former leader of the Republican Party. It would be interesting to see how Obama referenced this, as Bush was one of the most unpopular US presidents in history. Furthermore, it came at a time when the economy was left in its biggest crisis since the Great Depression, while America was still locked in several conflicts with countries in the Middle-East. For this reason, I decided to choose this text to analyse to see how Obama would still be able to set out his purpose of restoring confidence to the US people,
An investigation into the similarities and differences between written social interactions through the new technological media and traditional spoken English
An investigation into the similarities and differences between written social interactions through the new technological media and traditional spoken English The written English used in E-mails and internet chat-room conversations interests me because of its pragmatic nature and its current proliferation. My curiosity for this aspect of language use led me to consider analysing my own linguistic behaviour and that of some of my contemporaries. This aspect of the English language interests me simply because I believe the internet is the 'new' medium for communication; a place where people can efficiently indulge in social interaction, send messages across the world in seconds and receive up to the minute news bulletins. This information can take many linguistic shapes and forms. Much of the language on the internet emulates the kind found in; newspapers, magazines etc. Nevertheless, I think the internet also gives an opportunity for new non-standard language forms to arise particularly through social intercourse, thus producing an amalgamating effect on the English language by fusing the language of the new technology with existing spoken English forms. The English language has developed over many centuries into the form which we now recognise, and are acquainted with today. One area of major development and change of language - in this day and age - can be attributed to
