What do you understand by Pidgins and Creoles? Discuss with examples why these languages are not corrupt or ungrammatical.
Holmes (2001) states that, ‘a pidgin is a language which has no native speakers’ and that ‘pidgins develop as a means of communication between people who do not have a common language.’ (Holmes, J. 2001:81) The main endeavour for speakers of a pidgin language is to enable effective communication, rather than to gain knowledge of additional languages. Pidgins are contact vernaculars and are used for specific purpose; each having its own ‘describable and distinctive linguistic structure.’ (Holmes, J. 2001:81) On Caribbean slave plantations throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, West African people were purposely separated from those who spoke the same language as themselves, so as to condense the possibility of their plotting escape or a revolt against authority. As a means of communicating with one another, they developed pidgins based on the language of their superiors as well as their own languages. (Holmes, J. 2001:81) In terms of structure, pidgins do not share any similitude to any of the languages in contact; however they do draw vocabulary items from these languages. Therefore, the term ‘pidgin’ accordingly indicates ‘a simple form of language showing signs of language mixing, which no one speaks as their first language.’ (Mesthrie et al, 2000:280) Creolist Peter Mühlhausler (1986:5) puts forward the following definition: ‘Pidgins
Bruner and Wittgenstein: Language Learning
Bruner and Wittgenstein: Language Learning A crucial phase in the child's development comes with its acquisition of language, but before we can engage in any pedagogical efforts to further infant development or to aid atypical cases, we need to understand methodologically what occurs during language learning. Jerome Bruner, in a methodological adaptation of Ludwig Wittgenstein's middle and later work in an extension of Noam Chomsky's LAD, has put forth one influential proposal (Bruner 1983). Ludwig Wittgenstein's own remarks on the topic also furnish an interesting story independent of Bruner's selective use of his corpus, especially insofar as his approach results in an irreducible riddle and a hypothesis by his own account (Wittgenstein 1953 and 1958). The two views are explored, contrasted and critiqued. In the end, neither will do to resolve problems in our methodological understanding of language acquisition, for which the most important reasons are given. Most children learn language with remarkable ease, but how are we to account for this extraordinary fact? The problem plaguing our understanding of language and language acquisition can be described as. How can one learn anything genuinely new and become linguistically creative and how this learning is possible at all, unless one already has some path into language, for example, a suitable framework in which
Breaking Language
Nistorica Bogdan Cotiso 1st year MA British Cutural Studies Breaking language in broadsheets and tabloids Language is one of the most important features when it comes to the media, or to analyzing life in general. Besides painting, there is no other written way of expressing one's belief or point of view on a certain subject. After a brief introduction on British press I shall speak throughout the essay about the two approaches on the same subject of a broadsheet and of a tabloid. The articles are taken from The Guardian and the Daily Mirror and tackle the issue of child of 14 who commits suicide while in custody. To start with, it should be noted that Britain's first newspapers appeared over 300 years ago. Now, as then, newspapers receive no government subsidy, unlike in some other European countries today. Hence, the survival of newspapers is very much dependent on advertising, which constitutes a vital source of income. Surprisingly enough, this small island boasts approximately 130 daily and Sunday papers, 1,400 weekly papers and over 6,500 periodical publications. More newspapers, proportionately, are sold in Britain than in almost any other country. According to David McDowall "national newspapers have a circulation of about 13 million on weekdays and 17 million on Sundays, but the readership is twice this figure". The national newspapers, both on weekdays and on
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both the Prescriptive and Descriptive approaches to language. How has the recent arrival of the Corpus affected this debate.
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both the Prescriptive and Descriptive approaches to language. How has the recent arrival of the Corpus affected this debate. Introduction Language is a tool of communication and communication gives people an opportunity to understand each other. However, language constantly changes. At some moments it is difficult to understand someone who uses words, terms or phrases that you have never heard before. Especially difficult it becomes if that person comes from other from yours region or country and uses lexical units that are not common at your region. Changes of the language are rapid and dynamic. They occur constantly and in great numbers and variations. That is why dictionaries and language manuals need periodical updates. This is supposed to help in classifying and reflecting all the changes that have occurred in a certain period of time. Nowadays this necessity of updating is becoming even more significant. This happens because new technologies, concepts, ideas, and, consequently, new words and styles of communication shape themselves within the society and replace older ones. Sciences and industries develop new technologies and concepts daily. Hence, they need to be and are being reflected in our everyday language, accepted in our everyday life. Some words change their meaning, some get out of use, some get new meanings which
The Influence of Anne Fisher
Ann Fisher was the first female English grammarian (van Ostade, 2000). Her dissatisfaction towards the levels of education permitted to women led her to write A New Grammar (1745), in which she proposes some refreshing grammatical reforms which diverge from the traditional attempts to 'Latinise' English grammar. Her work contains "a practical method of teaching English grammatically" (1754: vii), which she, as a teacher, used "with uncommon Success, for some Years past" (1754: vi). She advises a progression from learning the simplest elements of the language, and gradually working towards the more complex structures. Thus, her grammar is divided into four sections: orthography, prosody, etymology and syntax. In the Preface, Fisher reinforces the Johnsonian view that language is bound by rules and it is the grammarian or lexicographer's purpose to prescribe these rules. This is seen when she states, "The Method of... expressing the Ideas of one Person to another... is universally called LANGUAGE - And the Art of doing the same by Rule, or in the Manner the best speakers and Writers express their Sentiments, is every where called GRAMMAR... (Fisher 1753: i). Fisher associates grammatical rules with "the best speakers and Writers", and such an attitude is also seen by Priestley, who provides examples of composition "from the most celebrated writers" (1761: 65), perhaps
The Lexicogaphy of "Extraordinary Rendition"
rendition, n. /rndn/ . The surrender of a person or possession. 2. Law. The transfer of (a person) from one jurisdiction to another, or an instance of this; esp. the extradition of a fugitive criminal. COMPOUNDS (chiefly in Law). C1. extraordinary rendition, n. The illegal capture and transportation of a criminal suspect (esp. a terrorist suspect) from one jurisdiction to another, or an instance of this; esp. when they are subjected to torture during interrogation. Euphem. 983 M. C. BASSIOUNI Internat. Extradition 11 The United States increasingly resorts to extraordinary rendition devices, including abduction, thus circumventing traditional extradition processes. 2000 R. SIEVERT Cases and Materials on U.S. Law and Nat. Security 469 The court in Toscanino was setting a standard for evaluating "extraordinary rendition" (abduction) by US officials that was somewhat consistent with the worldview of... government officials in 1974. 2002 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 26 Dec., These extraordinary renditions are done without resort to legal process and usually involve countries with security services known for using brutal means. 2008 Guardian (Electronic ed.) 6 May., The last British resident left in Guantánamo Bay is suing the UK government for refusing to produce evidence that he was a victim of extraordinary rendition and torture. 2009 Mirror (Electronic ed.) 27
Critically Assess The Argument That Pornography Is Harmful To Women.
Critically Assess The Argument That Pornography Is Harmful To Women. Pornography, unlike any other media representation of sex and sexuality, has become within postmodern society a cultural category of significance (McNair1996: 1) The traditional imagery of seediness has been lost somewhat and replaced by a society that uses highly sexual imagery within the advertising industry, the music industry and also as a theme for many late night mainstream TV shows. This shift in attitudes towards the use of sexual and erotic images in today's society raises certain questions that need to be answered. What is pornography and how is pornography defined? If pornography is harmful then who does it harm and in what way? In order to fully explore the question is pornography harmful to women it is important to first define what pornography is and look closely at the different arguments around defining it. Pornography is in the main understood as being photographs or video images of explicit sexual acts. So despite the fact that there are some differences of opinion on the definition of pornography most people would appear to agree that its content is sex. Although it has been claimed that 'what pornography is really about, ultimately, isn't sex but death. (Sontag 1982: 105) that said, to most commentators images to be defined, as pornographic not are
Analysis of creativity in an English language text
E301THE ART OF ENGLISH: TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT 05 The inspiration for the material used in this assignment arose from a service of thanksgiving for the local hospice that I attended a few weeks ago. The speaker used a passage from Mark's Gospel to illustrate one of the healing miracles of Jesus, and to draw out aspects of plot and character from the text. This gave me the idea that it would be suitable for this assignment, so my purpose is to examine the characterisation and plot which are revealed in the text and how this might provide evidence of creativity. The passage is from Mark chapter 5, verses 24 to 34, taken from the New International Version of the bible, and I have retained the verse numbering for reference. The text is included at appendix 1. There are three different approaches that can be taken to creativity in language: an inherency model, a socio-cultural model and a cognitive model. (Carter, 1999, cited by Swann, 2006, p10.) In an inherency model of creativity, the concern is how the text is constructed, with the emphasis on the language used. A socio-cultural approach takes into consideration the background of the speaker and the writer, and the social, cultural and even historic contexts of the text. It is concerned with the effect that the effect that the language produces on the receiver. A cognitive approach to language examines links between
The Past, Present And Future of American English
Seminar Leader: Khanh Duc Kuttig Graham Buchanan gb219 9th April 2009 School of European Culture and Language Studies English Language Unit LZ325 Global communication: English as a World Language The Past Present and Future of American English Table of Contents Section One p1 -4 Section Two p4-8 Interview Transcript Appendix 1 Television Listings Appendix 2 Sample Questionnaire + Results Appendix 3 Section One The first section of the essay will focus on how American English (AE) has developed, the differences between American English and British English, including lexis, grammar, style and spelling and to suggest reasons as to why this divergence happened. The second section is attempting to show how British English (BE) has been influenced by American English (AE) including some of my own research. According to author Bill Bryson, when the British pilgrims arrived in America, firstly in 1607, founding the first English settlement of Jamestown, and secondly in 1620 on board the Mayflower, both bringing with them the language of an Elizabethan England (Bryson, 1998). For the next 200 hundred years the immigrants were predominantly British, 90% of the first 4 million settlers were of British origin, hence why the English language has prevailed (Bryson, 1998). It is worth noting however that America still to this day has no official
Comparing the pesentation of a political story in two British newspapers.
Oksana Markova (A2153126) E303 TMA05 Step 1 At first sight the first Article (broadsheet Daily Telegraph) is delivering the news in a positive way, so that Mr Osborne’s introduced changes come across like good news, with only some side effects of possible changes introduced in the end of the article. The second article however (tabloid Morning Star) openly positions the reader in a negative way towards Mr Osborne and criticises him and the budget changes he announced with strong negative evaluation. The Daily Telegraph is generally a Conservative publication and Morning Star is social democratic (Wiki, 2012) , and I think, politically ideological views are reflected in these publications and shared ideology of readership for a particular newspaper is assumed. As the news links differently with each side of political ideologies it reflects in the language it’s being delivered. The first Article reflects a positive point of view on Mr Osborne’s presented changes and the news being delivered in a relatively formal way, focusing on positives first (some evaluative language) then mentions some side effects of the planned changes in a relatively neutral way (no evaluation). The second article also delivers the news however focused more on passing a negative judgement of the Chancellor and his introduced changes. Article being delivered in a relatively