VCE ESSENTIALS 2018Unit 3 English Language

FORMAL AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE

Sunday 30th September, 2018Penny Tully

To revise some of the more challenging aspects of the Unit 3 English Language course

To have the opportunity to ask questions and clarify understanding prior to the exam on November 16th

To get some study and exam tips

To network with other English Language students from other schools

GOALS FOR TODAY

A little bit about me

AOS 1: Informal language

- Some of the key features and aspects to be clear about

- Some contemporary examples and where to find them

AOS 2: Formal language

- Some of the key features and aspects to be clear about

- Some contemporary examples and where to find them

Discourse analysis hints and suggestions (Short answer and Analytical Commentaries)

Essay writing hints and suggestions

Helpful resources

BASIC OUTLINE OF THE DAY

INFORMAL LANGUAGE

Uses of informal language (Page 3 of booklet)

• Encourages intimacy, solidarity and equality Nicknames, diminutives, slang• Maintains and challenges positive and negative face needsTurn-taking, in-group markers, politeness markers• Promotes linguistic innovationTeenspeak, emoticons, neologisms • Supports in-group membershipSlang, jargon, diminutives, nicknames

Register - formality continuum

‘Frozen’ texts, e.g. the Bible;

textbooks

Snapchat captions

(Page 3 of booklet)

Standard English is the dialect that carries the most overt prestige within the community and represents language norms: the language we see codified in dictionaries and grammar books; the way language is taught in schools and often used in more formal contexts, etc.

Non-Standard English refers to language that does not adhere to these norms. In some cases, such as informal social gatherings, the use of non-Standard forms may carry more covert prestige.

Be careful not to over-generalise: it is not the case that Standard Australian English (SAE) is always used in formal contexts and non-Standard English is always used in informal contexts. There are Standard English features with reduced formality, such as contractions (do + not = don’t – Standard contraction form).

Standard English (SE) and non-Standard English

Standard English Non-Standard English

They weren’t happy. They wasn’t happy.

He brought it over. He brang it over.

(Page 3 of booklet)

INFORMAL LANGUAGE Uses of informal language (Pages 4-5 of booklet)

Politeness: Negative and positive face needs

Positive face needs:Desire to be liked,

appreciated, valued, approved of, included as a

member of a group, respected

In a conversation: listened to, valued, appreciated

Adhering to positive face needs:

Politeness strategies – “Thank you for your input”

Turn-taking - indicating to the speaker that you are

listeningBody language - nodding Compliments - hyperbole In-group dialogue- “Hey,

brother”Diminutives – “Jonno”

Threatening positive face needs:

CriticismDisapproval

RidiculeBreaching principle of appropriateness (our expectations of how a

conversation should run)

INFORMAL LANGUAGE Uses of informal language (Pages 4-5 of booklet)

Politeness: Negative and positive face needs

Negative face needs:

Need to feel free from imposition, freedom of action, personal space,

freedom from imposition

Adhering to negative face needs:

Minimising imposition - “You know more about this than I

do”Express desire not to impinge

Be inclusive - ‘We need to address this’

Politeness markers –please/thank you

Give listener space/time to listen/make decisions

Indirectness/hedging – “Is there any chance that…?”

Threatening negative face needs:

Direct ordersThreats

WarningsLack of politeness markers

when giving instruction

Word Formation Processes

Blends - jeggings

Shortenings - relos

Acronyms - QANTAS

Initialisms - NQR

Compounding – girlfriend / carpool

Collocations – fully aware / vaguely

remembered / rotten eggs

Neologisms – a newly-coined word

Slang terms

Colloquialisms

Contractions

Ellipsis

Swearing/colourful language

Discourse particles - like, you know

INFORMAL LANGUAGE Informal metalanguage explanations (Pages 6-10 of booklet)

Make sure you know the difference between similar terms like acronyms/initialisms and

slang/colloquial language – these are not interchangeable!

Interrogative tags

Diminutives

Simple and compound sentence

structure – lack of

complex/compound-complex

sentences

Inference - shared content

knowledge

Interrogative sentence types

Exclamation marks

Features of spoken discourse

The use of personal pronouns (e.g.

‘I’, ‘We’)

Emoticons/emoji

Idioms

Assimilation

Elision

Word Formation ProcessesINFORMAL LANGUAGE

Social Media Texts

FEATURES OF SOCIAL MEDIA TEXTS:abbreviations, spellings which reflect pronunciation and prosodic patterns, emoticons/emoji and context-specific graphemes.

Both written and spoken informal texts may contain non-fluency features, ellipses, shortened lexical forms and syntactic complexity.

INFORMAL LANGUAGE

Examples of informal language in 2018 Australian context

Possible examples for essays:

“In 2018, it is not acceptable for a minister to have a sexual relationship is with somebody who works for them,” was how he actually announced that. “It is a very bad workplace practice”. Social media, meanwhile, has immediately christened the new rule the Bonk Ban, because of course it has.

(These examples are also transferable for UNIT 4 AOS 1 –

Language Variation in Australian Society)

Examples of informal language in 2018 Australian context

Examples of informal in 2018 Australian context

Possible examples for essays:Gucci: Good, cool (broadened from the fashion label)Shook: “We are shook that this happened” (conversion of verb adjective)Thirsty: Eager for something (broadened the meaning)Yeet: Several meanings, including a violent motion and an expression of excitementWoke: Enlightened on social issues “He is so woke” (conversion of verb adjective)Fam: Shortening - broadening Stan: Idolising, looking up to someone (broadened from the Eminem song)Cancelled: Dismissing or rejecting someone/thing (broadened)

When discussing these, make sure you use appropriate metalanguage.

FORMAL LANGUAGE Uses of formal language (Page 15 of booklet)

• Maintains and challenges positive and negative face needsTurn-taking, in-group markers, politeness markers• Reinforces social distance and authority Complex/elevated lexicon, jargon, imperatives, nominalisation• Establishes expertise Jargon, complex syntax, passive constructions, archaic/formal lexicon• Promotes social harmony, negotiating social taboos and

building rapportJargon, euphemism, it-construction • Clarifying, manipulating or obfuscating Agentless passive, nominalisation, coherence, jargon, archaic lexicon, double-speak/‘weasel-words’

FEATURES OF FORMAL LANGUAGE

Less ambiguous

More cohesive

More explicit about content

Considerate of audience’s interpretation

Packaging of a message

Edited

Rehearsed

Planned

More ‘distant’

COHERENCE AND COHESION

COHERENCE

The semantic connections that exist within a text to make it meaningful. If a text is coherent, it makes sense.

When the elements of a text all fit together and there is no confusion in meaning, then it is coherent. This is created through cohesion, but also through the relationship between the text and the audience.

COHESION

The linguistic connections and ties that exist between the words and sentences to give structure to a text.

Links between words. Syntax, lexis and phonology may all be used to create cohesion within and between sentences. Another term meaning the same thing is ‘cohesive ties’.

(Pages 25-30 of booklet)

Factors that contribute to a text’s coherence: cohesion, inference, logical ordering, formatting, consistency, conventions

Factors that contribute to a text’s cohesion: lexical choice including synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy and collocation; information flow including clefting, front focus and end focus; anaphoric and cataphoric reference; repetition; ellipses; substitution; conjunctions and adverbials

COHERENCE AND COHESION

WHAT IS NOMINALISATION?

The process of changing verbs, (and adjectives and adverbs) into nouns.

It can change the focus so that the BIG IDEA is prominent at the start of the sentence.

It creates more social distance

It can be more logical

Adds economy of expression

Adds a more abstract tone

WHERE DO WE SEE NOMINALISATION BEING USED?Academic writing, speeches, political debate, text books, the media

(Page 23 of booklet)

NOMINALISATIONNominalisation will help increase ‘technicality’ and ‘abstraction’ (something that cannot be touched): FORMAL REGISTER

What is a ‘NOUN’? A person, place or thing. This includes more abstract notions: such as an idea,

quality or action

EXAMPLES:

THE injustice (idea)

THE innocence/naivety (quality)

THE need for moral conviction (action)

Watson’s view of justice in an insular town (idea)

THE entrenched racism and segregation (quality)

THE RULE:

ADD ‘THE’ at the beginning of a verb, adjective or adverb.

Often end in: -tion, -ment, -isation, -ness, -al, -ic, -ity

EXAMPLE:

Abbott is passive (adjective) and refuses to … because of ….

BECOMES: Abbott’s passivity and initial refusal to…. stems from….

The right are not curious. This shows how complacent they are.

BECOMES: The right’s lack of curiosity reveals their complacency.

NOMINALISATION cont.

Examples of formal language in 2018 Australian context

Possible examples for essays:

Penny Wong - “..it is impugning of the character of various staff”

Penny Wong – “We saw a speech that did not reflect the strong, independent, multicultural, tolerant, accepting nation who we are…” (response to Fraser Anning’s maiden speech)

(These examples are also transferable for UNIT 4 AOS 1 –

Language Variation in Australian Society)

Examples of formal language in 2018 Australian context

“Shitholes and figleaves: how Donald Trump is making racist language OK again”

“Once upon a time, not too long ago, it was taboo for top level politicians to openly express racist sentiments. That’s why they tended to use code words, talking about “inner city crime” or “welfare dependency”. These are dogwhistle terms, which have been shown to appeal to voters’ latent racism without their full awareness. If politicians were too obvious in their racial appeals, political psychologists predicted, they would fail. So how have we come to be where we are now, in a world where the president of the US speaks of “shithole countries” and calls Mexicans rapists.

How did this happen? Have all the prohibitions on racism evaporated? Is it now perfectly acceptable to be openly racist? It isn’t.”

(THE CONVERSATION) - RELATE TO AUSTRALIAN CONTEXT

Examples of formal language in 2018 Australian context

Possible examples for essays:

Fraser Anning:“In the days of Menzies, immigrants arriving here were not allowed to apply for welfare and that attracted exactly the right sort of hard-working people this country needed. We should go back to that and ban all immigrants receiving welfare for the first five years after they arrive. The final solution to the immigration problem is, of course, a popular vote. We don’t need a plebiscite to cut immigration numbers; we just need a government that is willing to institute a sustainable population policy, end Australian-job-stealing 457 visas and make student visas conditional on foreign students returning to the country they came from. What we do need a plebiscite for is to decide who comes here.”

Examples of formal language in 2018 Australian context

(Pages 33-46 of booklet)

Expected qualities/criteria and how to achieve this

Instructions for each section of the exam, plus mark breakdown and suggested time allowance

Section-specific hints and tricks

ABOUT THE EXAM

The following primarily relates to ANALYTICAL COMMENTARIES, but elements of this will be required in your SHORT ANSWER questions.

When looking at analysing discourse, ask any of the following questions:

What elements are present in the discourse? Function, audience (relationships between participants), field, setting and mode.

What is the register? Is it appropriate? Tense, formal/informal?

Given that there are many ways to express the same idea, why has the author or speaker chosen those particular words?

Why are certain word structures used? How do they affect the function of the text?

What effect do certain syntactical structures have on the message, audience and function?

What does it tell us about the context - the social and/or cultural situation surrounding the author and audience?

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

What does the text tell us about the author? Personality, background and thinking.

Has the author or speaker altered their lexical choices according for a particular audience?

How is the text structured overall and why?

Why has the author chosen to organise or structure the text this way?

Does the text fit together?

Does the author or speaker use language with a specific function in mind? (or specific purpose of the text)

What is the overall meaning of the text? How has that been made?

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS cont.

1. You MUST know your metalanguage and know which metalinguistic term comes under which subsystem. The reason for this is that without knowledge of subsystems, you will incorrectly categorise these metalinguistic terms and therefore your analysis may be inappropriate.

2. Secondly, you must also follow a clear structure within each paragraph. Clarity of expression will help you achieve this. There is no SPECIFIC structure specified by VCAA, however you must be coherent and cohesive.

3. Finally, you MUST, where appropriate, link back to the social purpose/register/context etc. MAKE IT RELEVANT TO A KEY DRIVER.

For example, it wouldn't be enough to say that a swear term, under the subsystem of lexicology, has been used in this Facebook conversation, which is informal.

Instead, you must state HOW this is informal (e.g. does it build solidarity with group members? does it decrease social distance?), and then link that back to the social purpose of the text (e.g. how does it help serve the phatic function or the entertainment function?).

HOW DO I DO WELL?

ELEPHANTS, NOT ANTS!

Turn to Page 57 of booklet: [UNIT 3- OUTCOME 1- SECTION B (ANALYTICAL COMMENTARY) Writing practice]

TASK

Highlight - pertinent lexical items

Identify - 2 sentence structures.

IS THIS TEXT FORMAL OR INFORMAL?

PRACTICE TASKS

LEXICAL FEATURES:

Informal lexicon, colloquial language, pronouns

HOW TO WRITE ABOUT THIS IN A MEANINGFUL MANNER:

Avoid – ‘The writer uses an informal lexicon massive, totally, lots and lots which creates closeness with the reader.’

WHAT IS MISSING?

ANSWERS

The writer uses an informal lexicon massive, totally, lots and lots which creates closeness with the reader.

Elzner employs an informal lexicon, consistently using intensifierssuch as ‘massive’ (13), ‘lots and lots’ (13) and ‘totally’ (13).

This adds to the informal register and serves to decrease social

distance from the reader, as the utterance reads like a casual

conversation, due to the speech-like qualities of the terms, and

repetition used.

ANSWERS

I have included WHAT/HOW/WHY about the text feature - THIS IS VITAL

WHAT

HOW

WHY

Sentence types: Declarative - informative, entertainment function

Exclamative – expresses excitement, encourages interest and

enthusiasm – informative, persuasive and entertainment functions

Expect to spend some money here to purchase some traditional candy or other beautifully packed souvenirs.

Compound sentence - How do you make this meaningful in an Analytical Commentary?

“The author uses a variety of compound sentences such as ‘Expect to spend some money here to purchase some traditional candy or other beautifully packed souvenirs’ (17) and compound-complex sentence structures such as ‘Just take a self-guided tour through many tour shops along the main street-all of them open for business where you can look at the pharmacy’s inventory or check out what the sweet shops have on offer’ (14). This assists the informative purpose by providing economy of expression, allowing the author to provide succinct and detailed knowledge about the subject matter (Sovereign Hill).”

SYNTAX

FANBOY Conjunction

(Coordinating)

What is the ‘semantic field’ – does it require prior knowledge?

What cohesive ties are present?

SEMANTICS

Remember that you will be given a choice of THREE essay questions based on the seven OVERARCHING THEMES you have studied:

Australian English

Individual and group identities

The concept of register (level of formality)

Social purpose of language

Attitudes to varieties of English

Modes of language

Language change

OVERARCHING THEMES

‘Formal language is a necessary tool for establishing power and authority of its users.’

To what extent is this the case in contemporary Australian society?

Refer to at least TWO subsystems in your response.

ESSAY QUESTION

‘Formal language is a necessary tool for establishing power and authority of its users.’

To what extent is this the case in contemporary Australian society?

Refer to at least TWO subsystems in your response.

Whilst formal language is a necessary and utilised tool for establishing authority and power in the Australian context, the power of informal language, when used in the right context, can be equally effective in communication and the garnering of power and authority.

ULTIMATELY CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING!!!!

ESSAY QUESTION

Para 1: The role of formal language in the Australian context:

Malcolm Turnbull - Standard Australian English (Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux)

Para 2: Establishment of power/authority:

Politics – Penny Wong, Fraser Anning

Para 3: HOWEVER: the role of non-Standard English and informality to try and garner support: can be equally as effective:

News websites, use of teenspeak, Honey Badger (Nick Cummins) on The Bachelor,‘ScoMo’ – including when he called the strawberry saboteur/s “a coward and a grub” to create solidarity with ordinary Australians

Para 4: Any language used out of context can reduce the power and authority of its users

ScoMo’s use of Australian colloquialisms to Donald Trump, Bob Katter, Shannon Noll’s rant, ScoMo’s use of Fatman Scoop’s ‘Be Faithful’, Bert Newton’s Logie’sspeech

Whilst formal language is a necessary and utilised tool for establishing authority and power in the Australian context, the power of informal language, when used in the right context, can be equally effective in communication and the garnering of power and authority.

There are many online resources that can be useful to help you collect examples and quotes for your essays or revise metalanguage.

These include:

o Google News

o The Conversation

o Online newspapers

o Satirical/informal websites (Punkee, Junkee, Pedestrian TV etc)

o Flipboard – search ‘Dr Amanda Samson’

o Language-related Facebook and Twitter accounts

o Online tools like ‘Quizlet’ for revision (there’s also a handy phone app)

HELPFUL RESOURCES

Revise your metalanguage! In particular, areas you struggle but also similar terms. Commonly confused terms are: coherence/cohesion; ellipsis/elision; slang/colloquial language/jargon; non-Standard/informal and Standard/formal (not always this clear cut); sentence TYPES and sentence STRUCTURES and others

Read the questions CAREFULLY – especially for terms like those above where a misreading could result in your whole answer not making sense. Pay attention to MARK ALLOCATION/LINES PROVIDED and exactly what the question is asking

Be SELECTIVE and focus on most SALIENT features because you can’t write about everything! Remember: ELEPHANTS, not ANTS!

Remember to connect everything in Section B to something ‘bigger’ – a key driver (register/context/social purpose etc)

Do NOT try to use prepared essays – the examiners can always tell and it doesn’t work

Ensure you have a good range of CURRENT examples

Use the stimulus material in Section C (Page 43 of booklet for more info)

A FEW FINAL TIPS

I hope you found today helpful!

Please feel free to stick around and ask me any other questions you may have.

Enjoy this afternoon’s session on Unit 4!

GOOD LUCK!