WORD OF MOUTH BBC 4 - UNDER THE INFLUENCE:

THE AFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON LANGUAGE:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p9l1x
NOTES: *brain organises words semantically. EG: easier to name animals than letters beginning with a certain letter. - with alcohol in system there's repetition and longer pauses between the words, repeating the letter sound to trigger memory of words.
*structural priming - copying structure, linked to effort as copying is easier and facilitates conversation as speaker thinks they are being paid attention to. Drunk people can carry on a conversation as this is heightened although this might not be up to standard if sober.
*students are drinking more - ''it makes you more at ease when speaking to people'', ''bonding process''. ''It's acceptable and you can justify anything with alcohol'', ''whatever you don't say sober you will say drunk.''
*we are driven to coin new phrases for being drunk and to explain how it felt, link to being killed 'slaughtered', 'wasted' - element of self-destruction/binge, the word 'binge' rarely featured in the news until this skyrocketed and features approx 300 times a year. 
*conversation is what defines a pub and the thing that makes a pub popular is the buzzing atmosphere, not necessarily volume but the bubbly vibe. Singing in pubs is very popular if the song has a strong male lead with a high chest voice w high energy EG: Freddie Mercury. > becoming a folk tradition
*how is the quality of our voice affected by alcohol? singers don't avoid alcohol although they are cautious of it's influence on the vocal chords. 

SUMMARY:
It's a well known fact that alcohol impairs us and slows our reactions and this isn't only true for physical activities such as driving but also for our mental processes and recall. Studies have found that we struggle to perform well in recall tests of words beginning with particular letters and when this was tested the participants often found themselves stuttering and repeating the sound they were told to recall. However alcohol doesn't always have a negative or slow impact on speech as many student have said it improves their confidence and allows them to keep a conversation flowing; structural priming (the copying of the sentence structure someone just used) is a perfect example of how drunk people are able to sustain a conversation for longer than they may have been able to do sober. 

HALLIDAY AND DORE

Michael Halliday stated that there are 7 categories to which child language falls into and they each serve different functions:

(https://quizlet.com/20734975/hallidays-functions-of-speech-flash-cards/)

Featuring examples from the Zachy 2;4 drawing and healing robot transcripts:

INSTRUMENTAL - To satisfy a certain need or requirement. Eg: 'can you do it Mummy?' [handing H cellotape]

REGULATORY - To control or influence other people's behaviour and actions. Eg: 'lease can you pick it up'.

INTERACTIONAL - Used to maintain relationships and develop them. Eg: 'you are a star (.) little man'.

PERSONAL - Used for expression of unique opinions, ideas and to portray personal identity. Eg: 'I don't like bolognay'.

REPRESENTATIONAL - To relay information or facts to others. Eg: 'blown away dose papers'.

IMAGINATIVE - Taking on certain imaginative characters or making a new world up using the imagination. This is mainly exhibited during play. Eg: 'then I had to put the deep buttons on, and then I had to go in'.

HEURISTIC - Used to widen understanding of the environment surrounding them. Eg: 'where's my little pad gone?'.

John Dore also said that there were categories for which CLA falls into, however, his 8 sections were different:

(https://quizlet.com/12074480/john-dores-infant-language-functions-flash-cards/)

LABELLING - The naming of or identification of an object, person or experience. Eg: 'my little pad', 'Mummy'.

REPEATING - echoing something just spoken by an adult. 

ANSWERING - in response to an utterance from another speaker they give a direct answer. Eg: replying to H asking if they have to wait 'yeah (.) it's gonna be a long time though'.

REQUESTING ACTION - A demand for something like food, a drink or a toy etc. Eg: 'please can you pick it up', 'can you do it Mummy?'

CALLING - Attempting to gain attention via shouting. 

GREETING - Saying hello. 

PROTESTING - Denying requests. Eg: when H says 'how about yooou pick it up' Z says ' but (.) I want you to pick it up (.) for special'.

PRACTISING - Repeating and using language when no adult is present.

ZACH AND THE HEALING ROBOT TRANSCRIPT

1. His speech often seems less fluent - can you suggest some contextual reasons why? (WRITTEN IN BLUE) 
2. Who sets the agenda in the first and second conversations? How does this affect the amount and quality of talk? (WRITTEN IN GREEN)
3. Look at the vocabulary, sentence types and MLUs in the two transcripts - what development can you see over the course of the 13 months? (WRITTEN IN PURPLE)
4. What non-standard uses appear? What alternative interpretations could you offer as to why? (WRITTEN IN PINK)
5. How reliable is the data when drawing any kind of conclusions? (WRITTEN IN RED)

(http://hallaslanguageblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/work-in-my-absence-27916.html)

MY LANGUAGE INVESTIGATION IDEA

For my 2,000 word investigation, I am planning on testing an aspect of Robin Lakoff's deficit theory into language and gender. I'm going to look at her idea that women to not use as much taboo language or as many expletives as men. I will be testing this by conducting a survey with both male and female participants and will ask them how many times a day they think they swear and then I'll record some conversations to see if there are any noticeable differences in female language use that contradicts Lakoff's theory.

FIRST STAGES OF CLA

Stage	Description
Babbling 24-36 weeks	Repetitive CV patterns
Holophrastic   36 - 72 weeks	Single open-class words or word stems
Two-word-stage   72 - 96 weeks	Mini-sentences with simple semantic relations
Telegraphic     96 - 120 weeks	Telegraphic sentence structures rather than functional
Post-telegraphic    120+ weeks	Grammatical or functional structures

(From: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Fall_2015/ling001/acquisition.html)

Stage 1: variations of crying soumds, coughing rhythmically, spluttering etc.

(0-8 weeks)

Stage 2: cooing and laughing, musical noises, often diphthongs that are syllable equivalents

(8-20 weeks)

Stage 3: vocal play consisting of longer sounds

(20-30 weeks)

Stage 4: babbling, mamamamama, babababababa, replicating monosyllables

(25-50 weeks)

Stage 5: melodic utterances, more rhythm and tone

(9-18 months)

(From: https://aggslanguage.wordpress.com/child-language-acquisition-revision/)

WHAT KIND OF ENGLISH STUDENT AM I?

As English Language is my favourite subject, I find myself analysing almost every text I read. And I'm not kidding. Whether I stumble across an intriguing Guardian article or my Dad shows me a text he came across about a band he likes, I tend to end up rambling on about why the text is structured that way and who the intended audience is, without even realising! This is the reason why my goal is to do an English Language and Linguistics degree; so I can ramble on about language to people who will ramble back to me.

As a frequent sufferer from 'writer's block', I take my time when writing and consider myself to be a bit of a perfectionist. But this means when I do eventually finish a piece I treat it like I would my first child, showing my family and asking what they think etc. Even if it's just a blog post I want it to reflect what I can do so I can be proud to call it mine.

In terms of college, I also study Psychology and Use of Maths and I recently dropped Biology (phew!). Learning about the inner workings of the mind is very interesting and I also like to link this back to English and (fingers crossed) if I end up doing my degree I will be studying Psycholinguistics which is a combination of the two. And well, Maths is Maths.

HER: FILM REVIEW

Likely to tug on your heart strings, Spike Jonze's sci-fi, rom-com love child 'Her' is a visual masterpiece following the love life of Theodore Twombly (played by Joaquin Phoenix).

 An intensely edited Los Angeles is the setting for this futuristic love tale, creating a juxtaposition from the outset. The electric 'buzz' from the city is typically considered hectic or exhausting but thanks to cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema the illusion of chaos is overshadowed by a landscape of glowing lights from the streets all the way up to the highest skyscrapers; almost like an image you'd find in the 'wallpapers' section of your iPhone. The city is lit by phone screens and laptops and everyone is plugged in talking to the latest OS, which is where it all begins.