Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Horizon Documentary ~ Why Do We Talk
- Language defines us as humans
- Speech distinguishes us from other animals
- Children learn with minimal effort
- How we learn to talk is a mystery
- Is it something we are born with or learn?
- We know little about where our language comes from
- Deb Roy~ turn his home into language laboratory called 'Speech home project', he filmed his son from aged 0-3 capturing how we learn to talk
- Parents unconsciously simplified speech ~ when parents language develop so does the childs ~ care givers language
- Children at 5 know 5000 words ~ adults speech 150000 words a day
- Humans speech with a voice box low in the throat, animals have a higher voice box ~ but animals can lower their voice box so must be related to the brain to the reason we speak
- Dr Kathy Price ~ highlighting key areas of the brain related to speech
- Baby's react to mothers voice in different ways to other voices
- Innate ability for language ~ born with it
- Noam Chompsky ~ language is innate and we all have L.A.D ~ we have the blue print of language but we need to be exposed to it early on ~ nature Vs nurture
- The forbidden experiment would give an answer ~ Child raised by wolves would give the answer ~ found the child was raised in a domestic environment
- Family who had speech issue (KE family), the issue wa.s found in chromosome 7 but no one knows where ~ named speech 1
- New unrelated child found a broken chromosome 7 ~ Fox-P-2 ~ shows language is innate
Stephen Fry ~ Planet Word Origins Of Language
- 2 years old is the key stage children start speaking
- 'Mummy' and 'Daddy' are the first words everywhere
- Chimps have learned signed language and to talk through pushing buttons but they do not create conversation like humans
- Humans needed language to collaborate e.g. hunting to feed a tribe
- Fox-P-2 ~ part of DNA ~ IF there is a problem with the gene it could cause a problem with our speech
- We know more about the universe than about how our language began and works
- There's a window for language development which closes around early puberty
- Dr Deb Roy ~ Cameras in house filming his son growing up learning language 'Speech home project'
- At 2 years old you'll learn 10 new words per day
- Steven Pinker ~ children say things they've never heard so must be born with it
- Jean Berko Gleason ~ developed the 'wug test' 1955 ~ Parents need to provide context, opportunities to speak
- Deb Roy tracked the pronunciation of noun 'water' for 7 months e.g. the childs semantic awareness outstrips their phonological ability - highlighted by Dr Deb Roy
Thursday, 8 September 2016
Style Model ~ Newspaper Article
Style model: investigative journalism
Form: This is an online newspaper article expressing The
Sun’s view on the EU referendum and their opinion on it too. It also has others
opinions from online platforms such as twitter.
Purpose: To inform people about how the front page of one
newspaper could affect how some people vote in the EU referendum.
Audience: This article would be aimed towards people 18 and
over mainly as they are the people who are going to vote, yet it will affect
the younger generation more so they may read this too. “A the YouGov poll for
The Times shows Leave on 46% compared with 39% for Remain.”
- o The text itself is formal with phrases such as “reported to be aggressively anti-EU.”
- o Sub heading is simple yet effective with only has 12 lexis which means the point of the article gets across quickly: "The Sun has backed the winning side in every poll since 1974.”
- o Many Subject specific lexis which would only make sense in this context “ EU referendum” and “Brexit”- which is also a blended lexis of ‘Britain’ and ‘Exit’, shown in the media a lot so younger audience would relate more.
- o Written in third person with first person quotes “When I go into Downing street”
- o Low frequency lexis such as “corporate establishment” supports the idea that it is formal
- o Has aspects of different types of mode with Tweets used to show people’s opinions.
- o Statistics are used to suggest the article is reliable “46% compared with 39% for Remain.”
- o Paragraphs only 1 syntax long, maybe to keep hold of reader’s attention “The Sun sells close to two million copies a day and has long been critical of the EU.”
- o There is repletion of this quote "‘When I go into Downing Street they do what I say; when I go to Brussels they take no notice’” to show exactly how Murdoch stands.
- o Range of syntax structures mostly simple to keep the information straight and to the point. Complex sentences are not used at all.
- o “The Sun sells close to two million copies a day and has long been critical of the EU.” Declarative syntax, simple syntax sticks to the facts with no other information needed to get the point across.
- o “political” low frequency and subject specific lexis, supports the idea it is a formal piece of text
- o Images are used to leave less to the imagination and keep to the facts of the article e.g. image of Murdoch and Front page of The Sun
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