NaFoL2 Website: Student’s Handbook

© Howard Jackson and Peter StockwellJackson, H. and Stockwell, P. (2011) An Introduction to the Nature and Functions of Language.

London: Continuum.

NaFoL2 Website: Student’s Handbook

On this website, you will find:

a full table of contents with all the section headings

the glossary, reproduced from the textbook, for online reference

further activities for each chapter, together with answers and comments

For access to the Online Resources page, with links to useful websites, click here.

Table of Contents(setting out the sections of each chapter for easy reference)

1. Describing Language1.1 What is language?

1.1.1 Speech and writing1.1.2 Words and sentences1.1.3 Language is . . .

1.2 Language is contextualized1.2.1 Psychological factors1.2.2 Geographical factors1.2.3 Social factors1.2.4 Purpose factors

1.3 Describing language: the linguistic disciplines1.3.1 Describing sounds1.3.2 Describing words1.3.3 Describing sentences1.3.4 Describing discourses and texts1.3.5 Describing meaning1.3.6 Describing language and the individual1.3.7 Describing language and social variation1.3.8 Describing language in use1.3.9 Summarizing . . .

1.4 Language data1.4.1 Introspection1.4.2 Elicitation1.4.3 Corpora

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2. A Toolkit for Language Analysis2.1 Sounds and letters

2.1.1 Vowels2.1.2 Consonants2.1.3 Syllables2.1.4 Variation2.1.5 Letter-sound correspondence2.1.6 Stress and intonation2.1.7 Punctuation2.1.8 Accent and handwriting

2.2 Words2.2.1 Words and homonyms2.2.2 Word classes and inflections2.2.3 Prefixes and suffixes2.2.4 Compound words2.2.5 Word meaning2.2.6 Synonyms and antonyms2.2.7 Collocations and idioms

2.3 Sentences2.3.1 Subject, Object and Complement2.3.2 Noun phrase2.3.3 Verb phrase2.3.4 Adverbials2.3.5 Clauses2.3.6 Sentences2.3.7 Sentence rearrangements

2.4 Variability and correctness2.4.1 Idiolect and dialect2.4.2 Changing language2.4.3 Creative language

3. Analysing Texts and Discourses3.1 Discourse and text3.2 Register

3.2.1 Field3.2.2 Tenor3.2.3 Mode

3.3 Function3.3.1 Narrative3.3.2 Descriptive3.3.3 Expository3.3.4 Persuasive3.3.5 Instructional


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3.4 Conversation3.4.1 Turn-taking and floor-holding3.4.2 Adjacency pairs3.4.3 Topic shift

3.5 Multimodal Texts3.5.1 Reading multimodal texts3.5.2 Analysing a multimodal text

3.6 Textuality3.6.1 Coherence3.6.2 Text structuring3.6.3 Cohesion

4. Language Change4.1 Pre-history of English

4.1.1 The earliest language4.1.2 Early Celtic languages in the British Isles4.1.3 The effect of the Romans4.1.4 The Germanic influence

4.2 Old English/Anglo-Saxon4.2.1 Case system4.2.2 Surviving remnants of the case system4.2.3 Word formation in Old English4.2.4 The loss of inflections and Danish influence

4.3 Middle English4.3.1 The re-establishment of English4.3.2 Middle English grammar4.3.3 Middle English dialects

4.4 Modern English4.4.1 Pronunciation change in the Renaissance4.4.2 The standardization of written English

4.5 Types of language change4.5.1 Grammatical change4.5.2 Lexical change4.5.3 Semantic change4.5.4 Pronunciation change4.5.5 Reasons for language change

5. Language Acquisition and Development5.1 Growth of language structures

5.1.1 Sounds5.1.2 Inflections5.1.3 Grammatical structures5.1.4 Vocabulary


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5.2 Development of language functions5.3 Language in thinking and conceptualizing5.4 Language and the development of communication5.5 School years: reading and writing5.6 Finding out about language acquisition5.7 Acquiring a second language: bilingualism

6. Language Variation6.1 Sociolinguistics6.2 Accent and dialect

6.2.1 Regional geography6.2.2 The linguistic variable6.2.3 Age and language loyalty6.2.4 Social class6.2.5 Gender

6.3 English as a world language6.3.1 American English6.3.2 Artificial varieties of English6.3.3 Pidgins and creoles

6.4 Multilingualism6.4.1 Code-switching

6.5 Language and disadvantage6.6 Attitudes and correctness

7. Language in Use7.1 Pragmatics

7.1.1 Speech acts and conversational maxims7.1.2 The supermaxim of relevance7.1.3 Politeness

7.2 The analysis of discourse7.2.1 Oracy and literacy7.2.2 Conversation analysis7.2.3 Coherence and framing

7.3 Language and ideology7.3.1 Lexical choice7.3.2 Agency7.3.3 Modality7.3.4 Point of view

7.4 Stylistics7.4.1 Analysing types of text


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Glossary (the section numbers refer to the chapters/sections in the book where the concept is introduced and explained further)

accent: characteristic pronunciation of a geographical area or a social group (1.2.2,

2.1.8, 6.2)

acronym: a word formed from the initial letters of a phrase, sometimes spelt out letter by

letter (also called an initialism, e.g. BBC), sometimes pronounced as a word (e.g. NATO)

(4.5.2)

adjacency pair: a pair of utterances in a dialogue that form a predictable sequence, e.g.

greeting-greeting, question-answer, complaint-apology (3.4.2)

adjectival clause: a clause that functions like an adjective to modify a noun, e.g. a relative

clause (2.3.5)

adjective: a class of words used to modify nouns, e.g. tall, round, pretty (2.2.2)

adverb: a class of words used to specify the circumstances of an action or event, e.g. the

manner (slowly), the time (soon), the place (here); it also includes conjunctive adverbs

(however) and adverb particles (up, out) (2.2.2)

adverbial: a type of element in sentence structure, referring to the circumstances of the

sentence, often expressed by an adverb, prepositional phrase, or adverbial clause (2.3.4)

adverbial clause: a clause, often introduced by a subordinating conjunction (if, because,

although) that functions as an adverbial in sentence structure (2.3.5)

affix: a part of a word that is added to a root, either in front (prefix) or behind (suffix)

(2.2.3)

allophone: a variant pronunciation of a phoneme, e.g. the ‘clear’ [l] of lip and the ‘dark’ [l~] of

pill (2.1.4)

Anglo-Saxon: the group of dialects spoken by the fifth-century invaders of England, which

developed into the English language (4.1.4)

antonym: a word that is opposite in meaning to another word, e.g. dark and light (2.2.6)

approximant: a type of consonant that is articulated without restriction to the airflow,

/w r j/ in English (2.1.2)

article: a subclass of the determiner word class, including the definite article ‘the’ and the

indefinite article ‘a’ (2.2.2)


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articulation, manner of: the way in which the airflow is modified in the pronunciation of a

consonant, e.g. stop/plosive, fricative (2.1.2)

articulation, place of: the articulators in the mouth involved in the pronunciation of a

consonant, e.g. bilabial, velar (2.1.2)

aspiration: the puff of air that accompanies the articulation of voicless stops in English,

especially when they occur initially in a word, e.g. pot [phot], can [khan] (2.1.4)

assimilation: the alteration in the articulation of a sound in the direction of a neighbouring,

usually following, sound, e.g. fun park - /f∧m pa:k/ (2.1.4)

auxiliary verb: a small set of verbs, including the modal verbs, be, have and do, which

accompany lexical verbs and indicate modality, progressive and perfect aspects, and passive

voice (2.3.3)

babbling period: the time, from around three months old, when babies seem to be trying out

the articulation of speech sounds (5.1.1)

backformation: the derivation of a new word by removing a supposed affix from an exisiting

one, as edit from editor, babysit from babysitter (4.5.2)

bilingual: being able to speak two languages with reasonable fluency; an infant bilingual

acquires two languages from birth; a child bilingual begins acquiring the second language a

little later in childhood (5.7)

blending: a word-formation process in which a word is created from the blending together

of two exisitng words, usually taking the start of one and the end of the other, e.g. motel from

motor and hotel (4.5.2)

case: a grammatical category that applies to nouns and pronouns and that signals the syntactic

function (as subject, object, possessor) of the noun/pronoun; cases in English nouns are:

genitive and common; in pronouns: subjecive, objective, genitive (2.2.2, 4.2.1)

Celtic: the group of languages spoken in the British Isles before AD 400, of which Welsh and

Gaelic are survivors (4.1.2)

class stratification: the division of society into a hierarchy of classes (usually from the

Registrar General’s classification) for the purpose of sociolinguistic investigation (6.2.4)

classical compound: a word formed from two elements (called combining forms) that were

roots in Latin or Greek, combined to make a modern English word, e.g. bibliography,

xenophobia (2.2.4)

clause: a syntactic unit having the essential structure of a sentence but embedded in

(functioning as part of) a sentence or sentence element (2.3.5)


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code-switching: the use of words or phrases from more than one language in your speech

(6.4.1)

codification: when a language is written down, standardized and recorded in language

descriptions, i.e. grammars and dictionaries (6.3.3)

cognate: cognate words are words in different languages that are related by having a common

origin (4.1)

coherence: textuality achieved through the content of what is said or written so that the

whole discourse or text makes sense (3.6.1, 7.2.3)

cohesion: the grammatical and lexical devices that serve to make a text hold together, e.g.

pronouns, conjunctive adverbs, lexical repetition (3.6.3; 7.2.3)

collocation: a lexical feature relating to the mutual attraction of words; if two words are

collocates, then there is a greater than chance likelihood of them both occurring, e.g. dark

and night (2.2.7)

combining form: an element in a classical compound, either as initial combining form (e.g.

astro-, biblio-, xeno-) or as final combining form (e.g. -cide, -naut, -graphy) (2.2.4)

comparative: a form of an adjective, indicated by the -er suffix (taller) or by the adverb more

(more surprising), used for making comparisons between things (2.2.2)

complement: an element of sentence structure, usually an adjective or a noun phrase, which

describes a subject (in SVC structures), typically after the verb be, or an object (in SVOC

structures), typically after verbs such as consider, regard (2.3.1)

compound: a word made up of the combination of two independent words, e.g. rainfall, see-

through (2.2.4, 4.5.2)

conjunction: a class of words used for joining sentences/clauses; coordinating conjunctions

(and, but, or) provide coordination; subordinating conjunctions (e.g. because, if, when,

although) join subordinate (embedded) adverbial clauses to a sentence (2.2.2)

consonant: a speech sound articulated with some restriction to the airflow through the

mouth, occurring at the periphery of syllables; not a vowel (2.1.2)

conversation analysis: a particular approach to the analysis and description of ordinary

conversation (7.2.2)

conversational maxim: see maxim

coordination: the joining together of sentences, phrases or words by means of and, but, or

(2.3.5)


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corpus: a collection of texts/discourses, providing the raw data of linguistic analysis, usually

held on a computer (1.4.3)

covert prestige: emphasizing low status features of speech in order to emphasize solidarity

(6.2.5)

creole: when a pidgin develops into a fully functional language and becomes the native

language of a community (6.3.3)

declension: the inflectional forms of a noun, showing gender, case and number (4.2.1)

demonstrative: a subclass of determiners and pronouns, comprising the words this/these,

that/those (2.2.2)

derivation: the creation of new words by means of prefixes and suffixes, e.g. re-try, entertain-

ment (2.2.3)

determiner: a class of words that accompany nouns in noun phrases, including identifiers

and quantifiers (2.2.2)

dialect: the regional and social variations of a language, especially in respect of grammar and

vocabulary (1.2.2, 6.2)

digraph: two letters in writing, used to represent a single sound, e.g. ea in lead /li:d/ or /led/

(2.1.5)

diphthong: a type of vowel sound that involves movement towards /i/, /ә/ or /u/ (2.1.1)

discourse: a sequence of spoken utterances making up a coherent dialogue or monologue

(1.1.2, 1.3.4, 3.1)

elicitation: the use of an experiment or questionnaire to obtain information about language

use from a sample of subjects (1.4.2, 5.6)

elision: the omission of a sound in connected speech, e.g. /t/ when preceded and followed by

a consonant, as in las(t)night (2.1.4)

ellipsis: a device of cohesion in discourse in which items are omitted, e.g. from replies to

questions, so that a structural gap appears, which can be filled by referring back in the

discourse (3.6.3)

entailment: a proposition that logically follows on from an utterance (7.1.2)

ESP: English for Special Purposes, e.g. English for Engineers or English for Academic Purposes

(6.3.2)

face: the sense a speaker has of their own linguistic identity and role, which can be threatened

by another speaker in a face-threatening act (7.1.3)


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field: the subject matter of a text or discourse, evidenced mainly through the choice of

vocabulary (3.2.1)

finite/non-finite: forms of verbs (and clauses containing them); non-finite forms include the

infinitive and present and past participles; finite forms are marked for tense (present/past)

and include the two present tense forms and the past tense form (2.2.2)

floor-holding: the attempts by a speaker in a dialogue to continue speaking rather than

relinquish the floor to another participant (3.4.1)

formality: a scale from informal or colloquial to formal, describing the stylistic level of

language use appropriate to different situational contexts (1.2.3)

frame: a mental construct of a typical real-life scenario, which a hearer can use in the

interpretation of utterances (7.2.3)

fricative: a type of consonant sound, made by a narrow constriction in the mouth through

which the air can pass, and causing friction as it does so (2.1.2)

fronting: the promotion of a sentence element to the initial position for the purposes of

information structuring in texts; compare ‘postponement’ (2.3.7)

gender: a grammatical category applying only to 3rd person singular pronouns and signalling

the distinction between masculine, feminine and neuter (2.2.2)

genitive: a type of case, typically signalling possession, marked in nouns by ‘s (2.2.2)

Great Vowel Shift: a significant and systematic change in the pronunciation of English that

occurred during the Renaissance (4.4.1)

homograph: two words that are spelt the same, even though pronounced differently, are

homographs, e.g. wind (air movement) and wind (turn a handle) (2.2.1)

homonym: two words that are spelt and pronounced the same, but have a different etymology,

are homonyms, e.g. skate (on ice) and skate (fish) (2.2.1)

homophone: two words that are pronounced the same but spelt differently are homophones,

e.g. scent and sent (2.2.1)

hypercorrection: the tendency to exaggerate what are perceived to be the correct forms of

speech in order to sound correct or posh (4.4.1, 6.2.5)

hyponymy: a semantic relation between words, in which the meaning of the hyponym is

included in the meaning of the superordinate word, e.g. knife, fork, spoon are hyponyms of

cutlery (2.2.6)

identifier: a subclass of determiners, including the articles, possessive identifiers (my, etc.)

and demonstrative identifiers (this, etc.) (2.2.2)


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idiolect: the characteristic speech of an individual person, including their idiosyncratic

features of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary (1.2, 2.4.1, 6.2.2)

idiom: a fixed expression in which the meaning of the sum is other than the meaning of the

parts, e.g. pull someone’s leg, a storm in a teacup (2.2.7)

illocution: the aspect of a speech-act that relates to the purpose or the function of the

act (7.1.1)

implicature: what a hearer infers from an utterance (7.1.1)

inference: interpretation derived from an utterance by the application of cultural and

contextual knowledge about the world (7.1.2)

infinitive: a non-finite form of a verb, typically marked by to, e.g. to swim; a bare infinitive

omits the to (2.2.2)

inflection: a suffix added to a noun, verb or adjective to signal a grammatical category, such

as plural, past tense, comparative (1.3.2, 2.2.3, 4.2.1)

interactional: a type of spoken discourse in which the focus is not on the content of what is

said, but rather than on the social relationships between the participants, cf. transactional

(1.2.4, 3.3)

interrogative: a word that is used for asking a question, e.g. why? who? where?, or a type of

sentence typically used for asking a question or making a request (2.2.2)

intonation: variations in pitch and rhythm that accompany speech and convey a speaker’s

attitude, as well as structuring a discourse (1.1.1, 2.1.6)

intransitive: a type of verb that is not followed by an object in sentence structure; also used

of such a sentence; compare ‘transitive’ (2.3.1)

kenning: a noun compound formed in Old English (4.2.3)

language acquisition: the spontaneous development of language in a child from birth, in

contrast to the learning of a second or subsequent language later in life (5)

lateral: a type of consonant sound, made with a complete restriction in the mouth, but with

the air escaping over the sides of the tongue, so laterally; in English, /l/ (2.1.2)

lexeme: a word viewed as a dictionary entry, as a unit of grammar and meaning (2.2.1)

lexicology: the study of words, their formation, meaning, structure and use (1.3.2)

lingua franca: a language used for communication between speakers who do not share a

common language (6.3)


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linguistic variable: a feature of language, often a sound, chosen to investigate the relationship

between language and social factors (6.2.2)

maxim: a convention of spoken discourse relating to the quality, quantity, manner and

relevance of what is said (7.1.1)

medium of language: the means by which language is expressed, either speech or writing

(1.1.1)

metalinguistic: about language - metalinguistic statements are descriptions of language,

metalinguistic knowledge is knowledge about language (1.2.1, 6.2.2)

Middle English: the English language during the period from the Norman conquest (1066)

through to around 1500 (4.3)

modal auxiliary verb: a subclass of auxiliary verbs, including may/might, can/could, shall/

should, will/would, must, used to signal possibility, certainty, permission, obligation, ability,

etc. (2.3.3, 7.3.3)

mode: the features of a discourse or text reflecting its transmission; fundamentally the

distinction between speech and writing (3.2.3)

monosyllabic: a word having a single syllable, e.g. bring, plinth, straight (2.1.3)

morpheme: a meaningful part of a word; including roots and affixes (prefix, suffix) (2.2.3)

morphology: the study of the forms of words, including inflections, derivations and

compounds (1.3.2)

motherese: see parentese

multilingualism: where an individual or a community speak more than one language (6.4)

multimodal texts: texts that include a combination of writing and image (still or moving) in

order to convey their message (3.5)

nasal: a type of consonant sound, formed by a complete constriction in the mouth, but with

air allowed to escape through the nose (2.1.2)

neologism: a newly coined word (4.5.2)

nominal clause: a clause that functions in place of a noun phrase, e.g. as subject, object or

complement of a sentence (2.3.5)

noun: the largest class of words, referring to ‘things’ and typically having plural and genitive

inflections (2.2.2)


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noun phrase: a group of words consisting of a noun as head, with accompanying modifiers,

such as determiners, adjectives, prepositional phrases (2.3.2)

number: a grammatical category associated with nouns and pronouns, having the terms

singular (referring to one person/thing) and plural (referring to more than one person/thing)

(2.2.2)

numeral: a subclass of quantifiers, including the cardinal numerals (one, two, three, etc.) and

the ordinal numerals (first, second, third, etc.) (2.2.2)

object: an element of sentence structure, usually a noun phrase or nominal clause, occurring

with a transitive verb and representing the thing affected by the action of the verb (2.3.1)

Old English: the English language during the period from the Anglo-Saxon invasions (from

AD 410) to the Norman conquest (1066) (4.2)

parentese: (formerly motherese) the form of language that parents use when talking to babies

and very young children (5.4)

part of speech: see word class

participle: one of two non-finite forms of a verb, either present participle, with -ing suffix

(e.g. laughing), or past participle, usually with -ed suffix (e.g. laughed) (2.2.2)

particle: a subclass of adverbs, eg.. up, off, out, used to form phrasal verbs, e.g. give up, take

off, turn out (2.2.2)

passive voice: the counterpart to active voice, where an active sentence is rearranged by

making the verb passive (with be + past participle), bringing the object of the active sentence

to subject position in the passive sentence, and optionally putting the subject of the active

sentence into a by-phrase in the passive; e.g. active The judge sentenced the prisoner to life

imprisonment – passive The prisoner was sentence to life imprisonment (by the judge)

(2.3.3)

perfect aspect: in the verb phrase, formed with have + past participle (e.g. they have arrived),

used to express happenings immediately prior to the present moment (present perfect) or a

past moment (past perfect) (2.3.3)

performative: a type of illocutionary act that performs an action, such as naming a ship or

baptizing a baby (7.1.1)

person: a grammatical category associated with pronouns, having the terms first person

(referring to the speaker/writer), second person (referring to the addressee), third person

(referring to people or things talked about) (2.2.2)

phatic utterance: a contribution to interaction whose main purpose is to establish and

maintain social relationships rather than convey information (7.1.3)


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phoneme: a speech sound, which when substituted for another phoneme, alters the word,

e.g. /sit/ - /sil/ - /mil/ (2.1.4)

phonetics: the study of speech sounds, their articulation, acoustics and auditory perception

(1.3.1)

phonology: the study of speech sounds with reference to a particular language, e.g. English

(1.3.1)

phrasal verb: a verb consisting of a verb word and an adverb particle, e.g. give up, make out,

take off (2.2.2)

phrase: a group of words that form a unit in the structure of sentences, clauses or other

phrases, usually with a head word and accompanying modifying words, e.g. noun phrase,

verb phrase (2.3.2)

pidgin: a restricted language that develops in language contact situations, usually based on a

colonial language (English, French, Portuguese) (6.3.3)

plosive: see stop

plural: a term in the grammatical category of number, counterpart to singular, signalling

‘more than one’, especially of nouns, usually marked with the suffix -(e)s (2.2.2)

point of view: the perspective from which a narrative may be told, which may be that of the

author, a narrator or a character in the story (7.3.4)

politeness theory: investigates the norms of interaction and the linguistic features associated

with being cooperative (7.1.3)

polysyllabic: in reference to the phonological structure of a word, having more than one

syllable, e.g. packet /pa-kit/ (2.1.3)

possessive: relating to possession, marked by the genitive case in nouns and pronouns

(2.2.2)

postponement: the delaying of an element of sentence structure to final position in the

interests of information structure in a text; compare ‘fronting’ (2.3.7)

pragmatics: the study of language in use (1.3.8, 7.1)

prefix: a bound morpheme that is attached to the front of a root, used to derive new words,

e.g. re-apply, anti-nuclear (1.3.2, 2.2.3)

preposition: a small class of words, including along, from, in, of, on, used for joining nouns

phrases to other elements of sentence structure (2.2.2)

presupposition: a proposition that is taken for granted in what is said (7.1.2)


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progressive aspect: in the verb phrase formed with be + present participle, used to express an

action/event that is in progress or of limited duration (2.3.3)

pronoun: a class of words that function in place of nouns, including the personal pronouns

(I, you, he, she, etc.) (2.2.2)

psycholinguistics: the study of language in the individual, including how we acquire

language, the relation between language and personal identity, and language and mind (1.3.6,

Chapter 5)

punctuation: the system of marks in writing used to indicate the structure of sentences,

including comma, semi-colon, full-stop, question mark (1.1.1, 2.1.7)

quantifier: a subclass of determiners, including the numerals and indefinite quantifiers such

as many, few, several, etc. (2.2.2)

Received Pronunciation: a prestige accent for speaking British English which is not regionally

based (6.2.1)

reference: the semantic relation between a word and the entity it relates to in the world of

our experience (2.2.5)

reflexive: a type of pronoun, including myself, yourself, themselves, used for emphasis (She

did it herself) or for self-reference (She has cut herself) (2.2.2)

register: a variety of a language described according to who is using it and the uses to which

it is being put (3.1, 3.2)

relative: used of relative pronouns (e.g. who, which, whose), which introduce relative clauses,

which function as postmodifiers in noun phrases (2.2.2)

relevance theory: a view of language processing that considers the principle of relevance to

the crucial in how hearers interpret utterances (7.1.2)

restricted/elaborated codes: terms used by the sociologist Basil Bernstein to characterize the

perceived differences in the speech of working-class and middle-class children (6.5)

root: in morphology, the part of a word when all affixes have been removed, usually itself an

independent word in English, e.g. state in re-state-ment-s (2.2.3)

script: an expected sequence of events associated with a particular frame (7.2.3)

semantics: the study of meaning in all its aspects, especially in relation to words and sentences

(1.3.5, 2.2.5)

sense relation: relations of meaning between lexemes, such as synonymy, antonymy,

hyponymy (2.2.6)


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sentence: a syntactic structure, consisting minimally of a Subject and a Verb, but also possibly

containing a Complement, Objects and Adverbials (1.1.2, 2.3, 2.3.6)

sociolinguistics: the study of language in relation to society, especially of the ways in which

language varies according to social factors (1.3.7, 6.1)

speech-act theory: an approach to language, initiated by the philosopher J .L. Austin, which

sees language as doing not just saying (7.1.1)

standardization: a process to render a language more uniform and to set a prescriptive

standard to be followed, especially in writing (4.4.2)

stop (consonant): also called ‘plosive’, a consonant articulated with complete constriction of

the airflow in the mouth, which is subsequently released with plosion (2.1.2)

stress: the relative prominence given to syllables in speech, e.g. in certain the first syllable is

stressed while the second is unstressed (2.1.6)

stylistics: the study of the style of a text, particularly associated with the study of literary texts

(7.4)

subject: an obligatory element of sentence structure, which precedes the verb in the neutral

form of declarative sentences (2.3.1)

subordination: when a clause is introduced by a subordinating conjunction (e.g. because, if,

since, when), usually an adverbial clause, but also used of all kinds of embedded clause

(2.3.5)

suffix: a bound morpheme that is added to the end of roots, either to derive a new word (e.g.

pur-ify, fair-ness) or as an inflection (e.g. paper-s, wait-ing) (1.3.2, 2.2.3)

superlative: a form of a gradable adjective, expressing the highest degree, formed with the

-est inflection or the adverb most (2.2.2)

syllable: a phonological structure consisting of a vowel as nucelus and consonants as

peripheral sounds; words may consist of one or more syllables, e.g. can /kan/, canteen

/kan-ti:n/ (2.1.3)

synonym: two words that mean substantially the same are synonyms, e.g. owner and possessor

(2.2.6, 4.5.3)

syntax: (the study of) the structure of sentences (1.3.3)

tenor: the features of a discourse or text reflecting the relationship between the speaker/

writer and the hearer/reader (3.2.2)


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tense: the grammatical category that relates to real-world time; in English only past and

present tense are marked by inflections (2.2.2)

text: a sequence of written sentences marked by cohesion and coherence; compare ‘discourse’

(1.1.2, 1.3.4, 3.1)

text type: texts classified according to purpose and structural features, e.g. narrative,

descriptive, expository (3.3)

textuality: the features that make a text a text, rather than a random collections of sentences

(3.6)

theme/rheme: a division of a sentence into an initial theme (what the sentence is about) and

the rheme (what is said about the theme); also called topic and comment (7.3.2)

topic shift: the change from one topic to the next in a conversation and the ways in which

this is managed by the speakers (3.4.3)

transactional: a type of spoken discourse in which the focus is on the content of what is said,

the business that the discourse transacts, cf. interactional (1.2.4, 3.3)

transitive: a type of verb that takes an object in sentence structure, also used of the sentence

structure itself; compare ‘intransitive’ (2.3.1)

turn-taking: the alternation of participants as speakers in a dialogue (3.4.1)

verb: a class of words that refer to actions, events and states; subdivided into auxiliary verbs

(see above) and lexical or main verbs (2.2.2)

verb phrase: a group of words with a lexical verb as head and optionally preceded by auxiliary

verbs and the negative not (2.3.3)

voice: a grammatical category, with the terms active and passive, e.g. The opposition proposed

an amendment to the bill (active) - An amendment to the bill was proposed by the opposition

(passive) (2.3.3)

voicing: in the articulation of a speech sound, whether the vocal cords are vibrating (voiced

sound) or not vibrating (unvoiced sound) (2.1.2)

vowel: a type of speech sound, articulated without any restriction to the airflow in the mouth

and formed by modifications to the shape of the mouth, composing the nucleus of syllables;

compare ‘consonant’ (2.1.1)

word: a basic unit of syntax, entering into the structure of phrases and sentences, composed

of morphemes (1.1.2, 2.2)

word class: a grouping of words according to shared features of reference, morphology and

syntax; such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions (2.2.2)


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Additional ActivitiesLanguage data is all around you and you can easily collect it. An Introduction to the Nature and Functions of Language gives you the tools to make sense of the data and to analyse it from a number of perspectives. Some data is collected together for you, in online corpora such as the British National Corpus (see Online Resources page), and you can search these corpora. It is worth your while familiarizing yourself with one or more corpora, so that you can exploit their resources as you are learning the techniques of linguistic analysis.

The book contains a wealth of activities, exercises and suggestions for projects. This part of the website provides some additional exercises and questions for selected sections of the book, where it would enhance your learning.

Chapter 1The first chapter of NaFoL aims to introduce you briefly to three aspects of the study of lan-guage and the associated terminology:

what is meant by ‘language’

what linguistics does in describing language

what the sources of data are for the linguist.

This chapter sets the agenda for the rest of the book. There is enough material in the activities to get you thinking through the issues.

Chapter 2The second, rather long, chapter of NaFoL aims to explain how the sound system, morphol-ogy and sentence syntax of English work. It explains these fundamental areas of the linguistic description of English, and it gives practice in phonetic transcription, morphological analysis and syntactic analysis. Most of the activities in this chapter are provided with solutions, so that you can check your answers. Here are some additional exercises to help you practise the analysis and description of these fundamental aspects of language.

2.1 Give a phonetic transcription of the following words, and mark the main stress (2.1):

bothered, conciliation, feudalism, genocide, justify, lunchtime, miniature, officious, rhetorical, thoroughly, vengeance, withering

2.2 Describe what is happening (assimilation, etc.) at the boundaries between the following pairs of words (2.1.4):

cabin crew, miss you, born blind, burnt cakes, wear out, suit yours, packed lunch, secret cave, bread pudding, space shuttle


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2.3 Give a word-class label (noun, verb, determiner, etc.) to each word in the following sentence (2.2.2):

Although we had electric lights in the workshop, we were not allowed to have them in the caravan.

2.4 Identify the roots, prefixes and suffixes in the following words (2.2.3):

breathtakingly, dampener, generalizability, immaturity, long-sightedness, oversimplification, revitalized, solidify, unconventionally, wide-eyed

2.5 List the noun phrases and verb phrases in the following sentences. For each noun phrase, say whether it functions as Subject or Object in the sentence (2.3):

a) The waiter is collecting all the glasses from the tables.b) The Welsh actor playing Romeo has forgotten his lines.c) Once, the scenery at the back of the stage fell down.d) When the band had finished their last number, the enthralled audience clapped their hands vigorously.e) How can anyone with any intelligence believe the nonsense that he has been spouting?

Click here for solutions to these exercises.

Chapter 3This chapter proposes a number of approaches to the analysis of spoken discourse and writ-ten texts, including so-called multimodal texts (those that combine text and image). The focus is on the language of discourses and texts and on how the language reflects features of the discourse or text and indicates how the text or discourse is structured. A number of activities ask you either to engage with and analyse a given discourse/text, or to collect your own data for analysis. Here are some further examples for you to apply some of the analytical approaches to that are discussed in the chapter.

3.1 Comment on the ‘field’, ‘tenor’ and ‘mode’ of the following text (3.2). It is taken from the website of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (http://www.chilternsaonb.org/introduction.html) [accessed 18/05/10]

where are the chilterns?

The Chiltern Hills are a beautiful, unspoilt corner of England. They lie only a few miles to the north-

west of London and yet have a very rural character. The Chilterns begin in Oxfordshire in the Thames

Valley and stretch north-east through Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire to Hitchin in Hertfordshire.

For more information view our area maps.

woodland, wildlife and villages

The gently rolling hills are swathed in beech woodland and chalk downland, providing a haven for

wildlife. Wildflowers found on the downland in summer include abundant orchids and the rare


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Chilterns gentian. In the southern Chilterns the spectacular red kite, a reintroduced bird of prey, is

very visible for most of the year.

woodland web

The Chilterns is famous for its woodlands and you can now experience one online. Visit our innova-

tive woodland web section where you can see and hear woodland wildlife throughout the seasons

and journey back in time to meet the characters that lived and worked in the woods of old. From

bluebells to bodgers – immerse yourself in a Chilterns wood!

3.2 What function (or functions), e.g. narrative, descriptive, does the following text have? What are its linguistic features that you would use to justify your analysis? The text is taken from George Head’s ‘A Home Tour through the Manufacturing Districts of England in the Summer of 1835’ (http://vision.port.ac.uk/text/contents_page.jsp?t_id=Head) [accessed 18/05/10]

I ATTENDED the Old Church at Manchester one Monday morning, in order to behold the solemniza-

tion of several marriages I had reason to suppose were then and there to take place. I had heard on

the preceding Sunday the bans proclaimed as follows: For the first time of asking, sixty-five. For the

second time, seventy-two. For the third time, sixty. Total, one hundred and ninety-seven.

Having been informed that it would be expedient to be on the spot at eight in the morning, I

repaired thither at that hour. Operations, however, did not commence before ten. The latter is the

usual time of proceeding to business, although in cases of persons married by license, eight o’clock

is the hour.

A full quarter of an hour before the striking of the clock, two beadles in their parish liveries had

taken ground opposite the church door, and a sufficient number of persons (chiefly young women)

had assembled, whose curious and anxious looks testified that something extraordinary was about

to take place. By this time also, suspicious-looking persons in pairs had begun to arrive on foot,

whose countenances were scrutinized without mercy by the loiterers. As the church door was not

open, everybody waited to be let in. The couples were all poor people, and as to the brides and

bridegrooms, as few were dressed in special costume, and all were very generally attended by friends

and relatives, it was not easy to say which was which. One party arrived at the church door belonging

evidently (as everything in this world goes by comparison) to the higher classes, and though dragged

by one solitary horse, they made an effort to outshine. The carriage was a narrow vis-a-vis fly,

intended for two persons, though it now contained four, besides a fat man with bushy whiskers

(probably the bride’s brother) on the box with the coachman. Within, packed as close as they could

possibly sit, on one side were the two bride-maids. Opposite sat the bride and bridegroom; the latter

a spruce, sandy-haired young man, looking flushed and eager. One of his arms was round the waist

of the young lady, on whom he bestowed glances of the very tenderest description.

3.3 Examine the turn-taking and topic maintenance strategies in the following conversation, taken from the ‘Watergate Tapes’ (for 23 June 1972) (3.4) – http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/trial/transcripts.php [accessed 18/05/10]

HALDEMAN: . . . . the only way to solve this, and we’re set up beautifully to do it, ah, in that and

that . . . the only network that paid any attention to it last night was NBC . . . they

did a massive story on the Cuban . . .


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PRESIDENT: That’s right.

HALDEMAN: thing.

PRESIDENT: Right.

HALDEMAN: That the way to handle this now is for us to have Walters call Pat Gray and just say,

‘Stay the hell out of this . . . this is ah, business here we don’t want you to go any

further on it.’ That’s not an unusual development, . . .

PRESIDENT: Um huh.

HALDEMAN: . . . and, uh, that would take care of it.

PRESIDENT: What about Pat Gray, ah, you mean he doesn’t want to?

HALDEMAN: Pat does want to. He doesn’t know how to, and he doesn’t have, he doesn’t have

any basis for doing it. Given this, he will then have the basis. He’ll call Mark Felt in,

and the two of them . . . and Mark Felt wants to cooperate because . . . .

PRESIDENT: Yeah.

HALDEMAN: he’s ambitious . . .

PRESIDENT: Yeah.

HALDEMAN: Ah, he’ll call him in and say, ‘We’ve got the signal from across the river to, to put the

hold on this.’ And that will fit rather well because the FBI agents who are working

the case, at this point, feel that’s what it is. This is CIA.

PRESIDENT: But they’ve traced the money to ‘em.

HALDEMAN: Well they have, they’ve traced to a name, but they haven’t gotten to the guy yet.

PRESIDENT: Would it be somebody here?

HALDEMAN: Ken Dahlberg.

PRESIDENT: Who the hell is Ken Dahlberg?

HALDEMAN: He’s ah, he gave $25,000 in Minnesota and ah, the check went directly in to this, to

this guy Barker.

3.4 Propose an analysis and interpretation of the following series of multimodal texts (adverts on a website). How do text and image interact to convey the message of the texts? (3.5)


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3.5 Explain how coherence and cohesion are maintained in the following text (3.6), taken from The Fairtrade Foundation website (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/) [accessed 18/05/10]:

[1] Britons overwhelmingly expect fair pay and fair treatment for workers in developing countries,

and the vast majority, 86%, say they feel a personal responsibility to ensure workers are fairly com-

pensated. [2] Within the committed consumer sector, almost nine in ten people believe they can

make a difference through their own shopping choices. [3] Making a personal difference to sustain-

able development and fairness makes shoppers feel good, with one in five respondents saying they

want to do their part. [4] Women are slightly more motivated by the feeling of doing good than

men. [5] The in-depth GlobeScan poll of 1,500 people was commissioned by the Fairtrade Founda-

tion to mark World Fair Trade Day (8 May), the international campaign to improve the lives of small

producers, farmers and artisans around the world. [6] The public have especially high expectations


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of companies’ social practice when dealing with poor countries, and one in five Britons say they

punish socially irresponsible brands. [7] The British public continue to show strong support for third

party certification to verify product claims and the majority of people (64%), link Fairtrade to fair pay

for producers and workers. [8] The FAIRTRADE Mark came top as the most trusted certification label

in the survey.

Click here for comments on these activities

Chapter 4This chapter traces the development of the English language from its pre-history to modern times, discussing some of the changes to pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and meaning. It also reflects on the nature of linguistic change and the types of change that occur. You are presented with a number of texts to analyse from different periods of English. Here is a further series of texts illustrating English’s development.

4.1 Middle English: the opening of John Gower’s ‘Prologue to Confessio Amantis’, written in 1386–90:

Of hem that writen ous tofore (Of those who wrote before us)

The bokes duelle, and we therfore (remain)

Ben tawht of that was write tho: (Are instructed from what; then)

Forthi good is that we also (Therefore)

[5] In oure tyme among ous hiere (us here)

Do wryte of newe som matiere, (Cause to be written anew)

Essampled of these olde wyse, (Exemplified by; wise [men/books])

So that it myhte in such a wyse, (manner)

Whan we ben dede and elleswhere, (are dead)

[10] Beleve to the worldes eere (Be left behind for; ear)

In tyme comende after this. (coming)

Bot for men sein, and soth it is, (But since men say; true)

That who that al of wisdom writ (whoever writes only sententiously)

It dulleth ofte a mannes wit

[15] To him that schal it aldai rede, (Of the one who reads it all day)

For thilke cause, if that ye rede, (that same; if you agree)

I wolde go the middel weie And wryte a bok betwen the tweie, (two)

Somwhat of lust, somewhat of lore, (pleasure; learning (wisdom))

[20] That of the lasse or of the more (less)

Som man mai lyke of that I wryte. (be pleased with what)

And for that fewe men endite (since; compose)

In oure Englissh, I thenke make (plan to make)

A bok for Engelondes sake,

The yer sextenthe of Kyng Richard.


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4.2 Late Middle English: the opening of the morality play ‘Everyman’ (early 16th century):

Here begynneth a treatyse how the hye

Fader of heuen sendeth Dethe to

somon euery creature to come and

gyue a-counte of theyr lyues in

[5] this worlde / and is in maner

of a morall playe.

I pray you all gyue your audyence,

And here this mater with reuerence,

By fygure a morall playe.

[10] The Somonynge of Eueryman called it is,

That of our lyues and endynge shewes

How transytory we be all daye.

This mater is wonders precyous;

But the entent of it is more gracyous,

[15] And swete to bere awaye.

The story sayth: Man, in the begynnynge

Loke well, and take good heed to the endynge,

Be you neuer so gay!

Ye thynke synne in the begynnynge full swete,

[20] Whiche in the ende causeth the soule to wepe,

Whan the body lyeth in claye.

Here shall you se how Felawshyp / and Iolyte,

Bothe / Strengthe / Pleasure / and Beaute,

Wyll fade from the as floure in Maye;

[25] For ye shall here how our Heuen Kynge

Calleth Eueryman to a generall rekenynge.

Gyue audyence, and here what he doth saye.

4.3 Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury’s prologue to the ‘Great Bible’ of 1539:

FOR two sundry sorts of people, it seemeth much necessary that something be said in the entry of

this book by the way of a preface or prologue, whereby hereafter it may be both the better accepted

of them which hitherto could not well bear it, and also the better used of them which heretofore

have misused it. For truly some there are that be too slow and need the spur, some other seem too

quick, and need more of the bridle; some lose their game by short shooting, some by overshooting;

some walk too much on the left hand, some too much on the right. In the former sort be all they

that refuse to read or to hear read the scripture in the vulgar tongue; much worse, they that also let

or discourage the other from the reading or hearing thereof. In the latter sort be they which by their

inordinate reading, indiscrete speaking, contentious disputing, or otherwise by their licentious liv-

ing, slander and hinder the word of God most of all other, whereof they would seem to be greatest

furtherers. These two sorts, albeit they be most far unlike the one to the other, yet they both deserve

in effect like reproach. Neither can I well tell whether of them I may judge the more offender: him


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that doth obstinately refuse so godly and goodly knowledge, or him that so ungodly and so

ungoodly doth abuse the same. And as touching the former, I would marvel much that any man

should be so mad, as to refuse in darkness, light; in hunger, food; in cold, fire. For the word of God

is light . . .

4.4 Part of a letter by Dorothy Osborne (1627–95), written in 1652:

I came down hither not half so well pleased as I went up, with an engagement upon me that I had

little hope of shaking off, for I had made use of all the liberty my friends would allow me to preserve

my own, and ‘twould not do; he was so weary of his, that he would part with it upon any terms. As

my last refuge I got my brother to go down with him to see his house, who, when he came back,

made the relation I wished. He said the seat was as ill as so good a country would permit, and the

house so ruined for want of living in’t, as it would ask a good proportion of time and money to

make it fit for a woman to confine herself to. This (though it were not much) I was willing to take

hold of, and made it considerable enough to break the engagement. I had no quarrel to his person

or his fortune, but was in love with neither, and much out of love with a thing called marriage; and

have since thanked God I was so, for ‘tis not long since one of my brothers writ me word of him

that he was killed in a duel, though since I have heard that ‘twas the other that was killed, and he

is fled upon ‘t, which does not mend the matter much. Both made me glad I had ‘scaped him, and

sorry for his misfortune, which in earnest was the least return his many civilities to me could

deserve.

4.5 Part of William Cowper’s essay on ‘Keeping a Secret’ (May 1756):

As the talent of secrecy is of so great importance to society, and the necessary commerce between

individuals cannot be securely carried on without it, that this deplorable weakness should be so

general is much to be lamented. You may as well pour water into a funnel or a sieve, and expect it

to be retained there, as commit any of your concerns to so slippery a companion. It is remarkable,

that in those men who have thus lost the faculty of retention, the desire of being communicative is

always most prevalent where it is least to be justified. If they are intrusted with a matter of no great

moment, affairs of more consequence will perhaps in a few hours shuffle it entirely out of their

thoughts: but if any thing be delivered to them with an air of earnestness, a low voice, and the

gesture of a man in terror for the consequence of its being known; if the door is bolted, and every

precaution taken to prevent a surprise; however they may promise secrecy, and however they may

intend it, the weight upon their minds will be so extremely oppressive, that it will certainly put their

tongues in motion.

4.6 Article from The Penny Illustrated Paper of 19 October 1861 (from: http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/start.do [accessed 19/05/10])


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Click here for comments on these activities.

Chapter 5This chapter outlines some of the steps through which children acquire their first language, including its pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. It also discusses the learning ofreading and writing, as well as looking at the acquisition of a second language. Many of the activities invite you to collect data from children for analysis. You should be mindful of the ethical considerations for data collection (see the guidelines on student projects of The


London: Continuum.

British Association for Applied Linguistics at http://baal.org.uk/about_goodpractice_stud.pdf), and you should make sure that you obtain permission from parents or other carers. Here are some further sets of child language data for you to analyse.

5.1 Here are some further examples of the mother–child interaction given in Activity 5.4 in the book (from Fletcher 1985). Comment on the development of the child’s grammar and communicative functions. (Note: ‘M’ = mother, ‘C’ = child)

a) 2 years, 4 months

M: where did you put it

C: over there; no

M: would you like to tidy up the doll’s house

C: where go; where’s the doll house

M: here, on the floor; shall we put this away

C: no; no; I play that; I want play [ә] snakes and ladders

M: you want to go on playing the snakes and ladders, do you

C: look; me – me play that; me want to read that

M: okay; let’s read that

C: read that; wrong side

M: I think you’ve got it upside down

C: look; look her toe

b) 3 years

C: where are you mummy

M: what

C: where are you mummy; where are you

M: where’s G gone to

C: don’t know; mummy; why did you put that in my room

M: what

C: that --- dress; that blue dress

M: well I think it’s yours now, isn’t it; I think it’s too small for H now

C: yeah; that her; mum is this my . . .; is this mine; is this mine

M: what

C: this

M: I don’t know; I’ve never seen it before; where does it come from

C: don’t know; me found it

M: where

C: once – once our came back from somewhere – once our came back from somewhere, and me

found it there, mummy

M: where did we come back from

C: don’t know; just found it

M: oh

C: why are you dusting it


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c) 3 years, 5 months

C: you – you can get – my tights, and I can get sweets

M: (laughs)

C: yes; is it – when is it going to be my dancing

M: your [dә] – on Thursday love

C: I thought it going to be today; I’ll miss it all

M: no you won’t; today’s Wednesday, isn’t it

C: yes

M: or is it Tuesday; I don’t know

C: shall we go down to - Barnett’s

M: no; ‘cause we’re waiting for H to come back

C: while H at’s ‘corder, I’ll buy some sweets; and while H at dancing, you’ll get some tights

M: mhm

C: that’s a good idea

d) 3 years 11 months

C: an you see; you know the new person

M: the new person

C: not at playgroup

M: no

C: on television

M: what; just now

C: yes

M: mm

C: [әm] – [әm] – he – he had his own room; and – he – he had a pointy thing; and a machine,

you see

M: a machine

C: and – and he heard he say, if you push that button again, and the man did, and you see; and

– әm] – he – and he – and all the paper flied out inside, and flied through all the . . . and all

of it flied off

M: all of it

C: yes

M: oh, ‘cos it was a wind machine

C: yes

M: didn’t they manage to save any of the paper

C: no

M: really

C: no; it was all gone

M: where to

C: it all went over to this bird; and it was on there; and it all went down there


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5.2 Suzanne Romaine, in Bilingualism (Second edition, Blackwell, 1995), pages 183–5, suggests that there are six types of childhood bilingualism, which are explained below. Which types do you or any of your bilingual acquaintances belong to?

Type 1: One Person – One Language. The parents have different native languages with each having

some degree of competence in the other’s language. The language of one of the parents is the

dominant language of the community. The parents each speak their own language to the child from

birth.

Type 2: Non-dominant Home Language / One Language – One Environment. The parents have

different native languages. The language of one of the parents is the dominant language of the

community. Both parents speak the non-dominant language to the child, who is fully exposed to the

dominant language only when outside the home, and in particular in nursery school.

Type 3: Non-dominant Home Language without Community Support. The parents share the same

native language. The dominant language is not that of the parents. The parents speak their own

language to the child.

Type 4: Double Non-dominant Home Language without Community Support. The parents have dif-

ferent native languages. The dominant language is different from either of the parents’ languages.

The parents each speak their own language to the child from birth.

Type 5: Non-native Parents. The parents share the same native language. The dominant language is

the same as that of the parents. One of the parents always addresses the child in a language which

is not his/her native language.

Type 6: Mixed Languages. The parents are bilingual. Sectors of the community may also be bilingual.

Parents code-switch and mix languages.

5.3 Look at the following text, which was written by a 10-year-old American boy. It is part of the introduction to a story, which can be read in full at http://www.stonesoup.com/love-a-cursed-blessing/. Make an analysis of the syntactic structures used, especially from the perspective of their complexity (coordination and subordination of clauses, elaboration of noun phrases, etc.).

First of all, you must know that my story is not unique. It’s merely the same tale as millions, maybe

even billions of human beings; a few thousand hearts broken every day the same way as my life was

shattered. Shattered but able to be put back together, piece by piece.

But keeping that in mind, this narration is not a happy one. It was the worst thing in my short life,

and that life was in a ruin for a while. They say that for every good thing that happens, a bad, awful,

miserable thing appears in the same story. Same story, same life.

That’s the way they say it. But I take it the other way. I say the opposite; for every bad thing a good

thing appears. I am not responsible for my life, my story, but no doubt I have changed it—after all,

a writer is the owner, and the changer of his book, is he not? Change. A meaningful word, and

rarely used correctly.

Change makes things what they are; change creates, preserves and destroys everything. Every-

thing except change itself. I have made up a phrase, and it is one of the few things to say and not


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be heard, only understood. ‘In every darkness shines a light within it.’ That simple sentence is so

complex because of its truth.

I believe that in every life it is prominent. It is there, and in the light in the darkness there is

another darkness, a smaller but darker one, in which there is a tiny but dazzling light, in which

another even smaller darkness . . . and so on.

But my story is not just light and darkness. It is also love and the breaking of love. It is, to name

the affliction that blessed my life, my parents’ love that broke, and when the love broke, the people

broke apart from each other, and that led to the creation of many things, including a small baby

who is now almost fifteen months, a love between five people that could never be broken, even if

the previous time my mother had a love that could not be broken it broke. I am sure, with every

atom in my being, that the love we have now will be whole forever.


Chapter 6This chapter discusses language variation that is influenced by social factors, such as a per-son’s origin, age, education, gender, etc., as well as how English varies across the world. Here are some further activities that provide you with opportunities to examine ways in which English varies.

6.1 Look at the following extract from the transcript of an interview with a Nottingham woman who was born in 1918 (the full transcript is at http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/england/nottingham/). Identify any dialect or non-standard English features and check your observations with the commentary on the website.

Our house? Well, we’d got two bedrooms and an attic up top. The attic had one of them push-up

win, skylights they used to call them, skylights. And the two bed, and the stairs was so narrow, both

g, in depth and in width. I remember struggling with furniture, beds and things, trying to get them

up them stairs. And, uh, and the, we’d just have a little scullery, a kitchen and a front room. I

remember my mam letting the front room off – I was thinking about it the other day – to a Liberal

candidate. It was, uhm, oh I was only very young. My dad died when I was seven. I remember I’d

got measles: I couldn’t go to the funeral. Lucky enough [inaudible]3. And, uh, she used, she used to

let the front room off, but we used to have to all sleep in one bedroom. We didn’t very often go up

the top stairs and walls was done in this here red ochre stuff or yellow or whitewashed,

whichever.

And walls, and it was, the kitchen sculleries was just black, them black ovens, black ovens, the

fireplace was the black ovens with a oven one side and a, where you put water, boiler-water we

used to call it, the water-boiler. And you get water out with a, with a ladle. And you could cook in

them ovens, cause you got coal, you see, when you, your dad was a miner. My, and, all the miners,

I remember them: a lot of miners. And they all, all nice good, hard-working people and my dad. And

they, and they, the few, about four on them and, tell you what, uh, come on, what’s that, uhm, uh,

green bus, it’s Lunn, Lunn’s, Lunns, uh, what name is it?


London: Continuum.

6.2 Look at the following extract from the transcript of an interview with a man from Coventry born in 1952 (the full transcript can be found at http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/minority-ethnic/coventry/). What non-standard features can you identify? Check your observations with the commentary on the website.

And, uh, I remember the one inc, incident, when, uh, I went, I turned up at this pub to do a relief

and this manager must’ve had a letter saying, ‘Mister Baines is coming to do your relief while you’re

on holiday.’ And, uh, when I turned up and he, he had one look at me, he probably expected an,

uh, Englishman and seed Mister Baines and there’s a Asian chap turned up, you know, he looked up

and down. And but he didn’t say anything, you could see his reaction, but I did so good job for him

and he, when he went on holiday again and he asked them, the brewery, ‘I want Mister Baines to

do my relief.’ Uh, after doing few reliefs I actually got a pub; they give me a f, my first pub. Uh, I

was quite young: I was about twenty-two and them days you didn’t get many young Asian people

in pubs or running that sort of a, a business. And even for the customers and the staff it was very

difficulty to take: a young Indian lad running their local pub. Uh, but I’m, I came through all right,

uh, and I, I got, it’s only once I’ve got, ever got hit in, you know, in the twenty-three years I’ve been

running the pub. And that, that was my first, in nineteen-seventy-five, my first pub and, uhm, l, I

was barring this chap who was causing problem; unluckily he caught me, you know – whack! – and

with that, you, you, I mean, I, I didn’t think he’ll do it. From that day and I really took extra precau-

tion: I stood back when I talked to people and all that and I always had my hands out of pocket to

be ready. And, you know, I was quite young that day and I could handle myself and, but then, but,

uh, that’s how I started.

6.3 As an example of a creole, look at the following proverbs in the Krio language of Sierra Leone, with their standard English translations. Make some observations on the grammar and vocabulary of Krio. (Further examples of Krio can be found at: http://www.sierra-leone.org/proverbs.html).

[1] We dεn se man lεf na faya, nɔ aks if in biabia ros. When they say a person burned to death, don’t

ask if his beard burnt.

[2] Yu fεn fɔl, i bɔn faiv pikin, nɔ grɔmbul se di fɔl nɔ bɔn bεtε. You find a chicken, and it has five

chicks, don’t complain about it not having enough chicks.

[3] Big man nɔ fɔ sidɔn wach te-te pijin pɔt trowe na faya, we i no se na-in gεt fɔ it de. An adult

should not sit and watch the pot cooking pigeon spill into the fire when he knows that he will share

in the food.

[4] Dat bitul we de rɔl kaka, i nɔ no se fɔ kaka, i trangga. The dung beetle doesn’t know that it’s not

easy to defecate.

[5] We yu εn hɔntin-man nɔ gri na tɔn, nɔ go wit am na bush. When you don’t get along with a

hunter in town, don’t follow him to the bush.

[6] Wedin go mek pus sidɔn tu blaksmit te faya go fɔdɔn na in yai. What would make a cat sit near

a blacksmith until a spark goes into its eye?


London: Continuum.

6.4 Read the following news report from the Pakistan Observer (http://www.pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=31886). What differences are there between the language used in this report and what you would expect to find in a British newspaper?

Multan—A contractor who had left the sewerage project incomplete has been replaced by another

construction company and officials hope the work would be completed by August to end miseries

of the people annoyed with the accumulation of stinky water on roads and streets.

Wasa’s succour machines will keep working to drain out water from roads and streets till the

completion of the project, MD Wasa Chaudhry Shamim told Director General MDA Syed Tasaduq

Hussain Bukhari during visits to different parts of the city including Hafiz Jamal Road, Kati Mar Road,

Delhi Gate and Manzoorbad.

MD Wasa said that people had to face inconvenience after the previous contractor abandoned

the project, however, the new contractor Irshad and Co. will start laying 54 inch diameter pipeline

from Saturday next and the process would complete till August that will benefit residents of Hafiz

Jamal, Delhi Gate, Manzoorabad, Kati Mar Road, Ghanta Ghar, Qadeerabad, and localities around

Abdali road.

DG MDA ordered that Wasa staff should keep the sewerage system operational round the clock

particularly on Sundays and Fridays when families’ water consumption surges.

6.5 Read the following article, which appeared in the New York Times (www.nytimes.com) on 13 January 2008. What attitude does the author, William Safire, have towards those whom he accuses of misusing the word ‘of ’? And how does he express that attitude?

ON LANGUAGE; Of the Migrating Of

By WILLIAM SAFIRE

I could of avoided this subject because it’s not too big of a deal, but to observe these mistakes a

couple times a day – and to see one as the headline of a full-page ad accepted by at least two major

newspapers – makes me want to fall off of my chair.

Four mistakes, no waiting, in today’s opening sentence. Readers are noticing: ‘‘A strange usage

seems to be invading the language like a virus,’’ writes Edward Getlein. ‘‘It is the use of of, as in

“New York is too big of a town for me.” ’ And from Stephan Wilkinson: ‘I’m probably the 10,000th

person to send you this, but the stunning, two-inch headline of a full-page ad in The Wall Street

Journal reads “How long of a retirement should you plan for?” Long enough to allow time to

restudy grammar, perhaps?’’

You may be in good hands with the insurance advertiser, but its copywriters are on two left feet.

Not since ‘‘Winston Tastes Good Like a Cigarette Should’ – which delivered a near-fatal blow to the

innocent – has an ad so agitated the usage-battered cognoscenti.

Early perception of the viral of was in a 1992 ‘Topics of the Times.’ From editorial anonymity, Mary

Cantwell wrote: ‘Lunch was “not that big of a meal”; a dress had not “that short of a skirt.” . . .

Last week, the driver of the Eighth Avenue bus announced that it was not “that good of a day.”

Clearly, of is now something more than a mere preposition. It’s a virus.’’

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, published two years later, reported that ‘our

evidence shows the idiom to be almost entirely oral; it is rare in print except in reported speech . . .


London: Continuum.

you will not want to use it much in writing except of the personal kind.’ True, you can find Mark

Twain in 1875 writing ‘considerable of a jolt,’ but he enjoyed playing with idioms.

Idioms is idioms. Mind-to-mouth is quicker than the old combination of brain-to-eye-to-fingers,

but quick speech is not the same as quality English. Of late, the natural sloppiness of the spoken

tongue has more than ever been spilling into print. Oral usage is all over the Web, but that’s not

what we think of as ‘print’ because it is essentially transcribed speech, paying little attention to the

rules that mark the precision, clarity and originality of carefully written and edited language. What

may belong on the tongue doesn’t necessarily belong on the page.

This is a big deal, and not that big of a deal. So lose the inserted of, which adds no meaning or

emphasis and clutters up the page (and while you’re at it, drop the oralistic so at the beginning of

this sentence; if you want to drive home a conclusion, write therefore or thus or in desperation

here’s my point. Save so for so what? and is that so? And it’s so second millennium).

Let’s say you take my prescriptive advice on deleting the viral of from your writing. (Use it in

speech, wear a T-shirt to work, drink soup from the bowl – that’s your affair.) What do you do with

all those saved ofs that you have stuck in your wallet?

Here are a couple thoughts: note that the of, which for eons has followed the couple, has just

disappeared from its normal place after the couple. Why has the of been decoupled from couple?

For a reason that baffles amateur linguistic virologists, the language’s immune system -- while failing

to kill the inserted ‘bad’ ofs -- seems to be attacking the ‘good’ ofs.

The linguistics professor Jason Merchant at the University of Chicago has a theory of constrained

reduction: ‘a couple of can mean “two,” but it can also be true of small groups larger than two.’

Example 1: ‘A couple of friends came over last night.’ 2: ‘A couplea friends came over. . . .‘ 3: ‘A

couple friends came over. . . .‘ The professor finds that last comparable to ‘a few friends.’ The couple

of in the second example merges into couplea (which I would spell coupluh). As I get it, the of

dribbles down to a schwa (uh) and then to nothing. Presto – ‘a couple friends.’

Put a saved of after a couple. And every time you use a couple couples, stick in another of.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda means ‘too late now – no excuses.’ It sounds like a shortening of ‘should

of, would of, could of’ – just as kinda, sorta squeezes together kind of and sort of. But of course

it is a shortening of ‘should have, would have, could have.’ It’s called ‘eye dialect,’ the spelling

expressing the sound of the sloppy, deliberately slurred pronunciation.

That’s fine for reporting, or recording, the sound of speech in dialogue. It’s not fine for spelling

words when writing understandable prose. Just as words have meanings, contractions have

meanings. The contraction should’ve is short for ‘should have’; it’s not short for ‘should of.’ No

doubt the clipped verb ‘ve looks as if it expresses the sound of the preposition of, but it neither

has the meaning of of nor represents the grammatical function of of. (Treat of with respect; where

would that last sentence have been without those half-dozen?)

Here’s my point and proposition: I won’t complain about those confusing contractions in speak-

ing if you refrain from these infractions in writing. Blur and slur to your tongue’s content, but

when your fingers hit the keys, keep faith with clarity. In The Times 10 days ago: ‘Senator John

McCain . . . is off of the defensive. . . .’ No; never write ‘off of’ or its contraction offa. But you can

clearly write ‘of off,’ as in: just get of off ‘too big of a deal.’



London: Continuum.

Chapter 7This chapter discusses some topics concerned with the investigation of language in use, an area of linguistic study called ‘pragmatics’. It deals with subjects such as how we communicate effectively in speech and writing, how our language reflects our communicative intentions, and how we adapt our speech and writing for particular purposes and audiences. Here are some additional activities to help you engage with the topics in this chapter.

7.1 Look at the following transcript of a job interview (from Cheepen and Monaghan, 1990: 178–9) and analyse it from the perspective of the speech acts being performed and the politeness strategies being used (C = interviewee, others = interviewers).

I: this is Mrs C, let me introduce you to these (inaudible) this is Mrs S. the ә personnel assistant

C: how do you do

S: how do you do. pleased to meet you

K: how do you do

C: how do you do

I: (inaud.) principal officer and Mr D who is senior admin officer

D: hello. how do you do

C: how do you do

I: please have a seat Mrs C

C: thank you

K: did you have a good trip

C: yes very nice . beautiful day . lovely bus journey

I: (inaud.)

K: oh you came on the bus, did you

C: yes

K: oh – әm – so have you been to County Hall before

C: a long time ago

K: mm

C: very long time ago it’s years since I’ve been out here

K: mhm

C: it’s very nice this time of year with all the trees

K: yes . yes . well we like it here

S: (laugh)

C: yes . (inaud.)

K: you’ve been in the offices . years ago . yes

C: not in the offices .

K: no . no

C: at County Hall

K: no (inaud.) – right well ә . әm . ә the the panel here have got various things to ә ask you

obviously about this job . and әm – Mrs ә . S here will . әm take . you know . descr әm . y talk

to you about the . a . the job . itself

C: mhm


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K: and what’s involved . so I’ll I’ll hand over to her to

C: right

K: to . to move onto this area

S: well . have you got a copy of the job description with you

7.2 The following is the opening of a telephone conversation, taken from Crystal, D. and Davy, D. (1969) Investigating English Style, Longman, pp. 116–7. Examine how the conversation opens and note how turn taking takes place – and what kinds of interrup-tion occur.

A: highview double three four five

B: good morning

A: hello Arthur

B: Valerie

A: yes, good morning

B: thi this is Arthur speaking

A: hello

B: ә sorry I’ve been so long in getting in touch with you. I rang a couple of times yesterday and

you weren’t in

A: no, I was in college yesterday

B: you were

A: yes and I

B: aha

A: thought that might happen, but not to worry. What I wanted to say to you really was әm –

I didn’t know whether you were going to say that you could come or you couldn’t, but I was

going to say could you make it the following Saturday

B: ә:m yes, well – one I was going to say that I, that we were coming

A: yes, splendid

B: and two, we can make it the following Saturday

A: can you, only әm it’s it’s a minor complication but әm

B: sorry, didn’t get that

A: the point is that my children are going away for the weekend

B: yes

A: and it was going to be this weekend and now it’s going to be next, and

B: oh

A: it’s really more convenient for me if they’re not here because otherwise I have to keep flapping

around and

B: mhm

A: dealing with them, you know

B: yep

A: so әm . we’ll make it the following Saturday then

B: that’s fine, yes, same time

A: same time, yes

B: good


London: Continuum.

7.3 Examine the following text, from Michael Burleigh’s Sacred Causes (Harper Perennial, 2007), from the perspective of the ‘ideology’ that it reflects. Look in particular at the kinds of evaluation that are used, e.g. ‘squalid’, ‘grovelling’.

Although the GDR liked to tout its economic successes, claiming to be the world’s tenth strongest

economy, in reality, after the oil crisis of the early 1970s, it depended on economic subventions from

its richer neighbour, some of which involved buying people freedom from the worker-peasants’

paradise, a squalid trade vaguely reminiscent of human trafficking. The GDR was also fatefully and

slavishly reliant on the Soviet Union, whose armies had ultimately created it. The Nazi experience

largely accounted for the grovelling of East Germany’s leaders towards the Russian big brother.

By the mid-1980s, however, in order to embarrass the East German regime, its domestic opponents

merely needed to invoke Gorbachev, who, ironically enough, became an object of uncritical venera-

tion among East Germans just as Stalin had been before him. The SED regime found itself in the

novel position of censoring what appeared legally in Russia, as when a Berlin newspaper called Die

Kirche was forbidden to republish an article on religion from Moscow News. In 1988 the paper was

censored fifteen times. The media were prohibited from reporting on deliberations at synods, while

Stasi personnel set upon a march by two hundred people led by a pastor who were protesting

against government repression . . .

The Evangelical Church demanded urgent reforms and the introduction of a multi-party system. The

GDR’s fortieth-anniversary celebrations turned into a public relations disaster as the Evangelical

Church organised prayers for peace and vigils in Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden, which were attended

by hundreds of thousands of people. An uncomfortable Gorbachev regarded an even less happy

Honecker as if he were the spectre at his own feast. What could the regime do about crowds chant-

ing ‘Gorby, Gorby’? The rest of the East German Politburo got the message from the Russian leader-

ship. Although Honecker briefly contemplated Deng Xiaoping’s Square of Heavenly Peace option –

in which thousands of protesting Chinese were shot down and crushed by tanks – and so took a

sudden interest in Sino-German friendship, a fronde among his colleagues forced his resignation

and flight to the Soviet Union. His Marxist comrades in Chile granted him asylum.

7.4 Look at the following text, taken from website of Liberty (http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk). From whose point of view is it written? Try and rewrite it from the point of view of the police who have to enforce the law.

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 has received most publicity for its ban on unau-

thorised protests within 1 km of Parliament - widely accepted to have been devised to end the peace

protest of Brian Haw.

Brian Haw has maintained a protest against the war on Iraq opposite the Houses of Parliament for

years, despite attempts to move him.

Peaceful protestors Maya Evans and Milan Rai were arrested at the Cenotaph on Whitehall for read-

ing out the names of UK soldiers and civilians killed in the war in Iraq.


London: Continuum.

It is unacceptable that security laws should be used to protect Parliamentarians from legitimate

protest. This is a significant attack on our traditional rights to free expression and assembly.

SOCPA also makes all offences arrestable, meaning that protesters who might previously have

received a warning could now be arrested.

It widens ASBOs, by allowing unaccountable bodies to seek them against individuals, and creates a

new criminal offence of trespass on a ‘designated site’ on grounds of national security. ‘National

security’ is not defined, which risks the new offence being used against protesters.

Specific provisions were also brought in against animal rights protesters. The crime of ‘economic

sabotage’ not only extended the criminalisation of violent and unlawful protesters, but was so

broadly drafted as to make criminals of many peaceful protestors who were simply calling for

boycotts.

7.5 The following text, from Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl (Puffin Books, 1977), is told from the point of view of a 9-year-old boy. Does the style of the passage reflect the age of its narrator?

Here I am at the age of nine. This picture was made just before all the excitement started and I didn’t

have a worry in the world.

You will learn as you get older, just as I learned that autumn, that no father is perfect. Grown-ups

are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets. Some have quirkier quirks and deeper secrets

than others, but all of them, including one’s own parents, have two or three private habits hidden

up their sleeves that would probably make you gasp if you knew about them.

The rest of this book is about a most private and secret habit my father had, and about the

strange adventures it led us both into.

It all started on a Saturday evening. It was the first Saturday of September. Around six o’clock my

father and I had supper together in the caravan as usual. Then I went to bed. My father told me a

fine story and kissed me good night. I fell asleep.

For some reason I woke up again during the night. I lay still, listening for the sound of my father’s

breathing in the bunk above mine. I could hear nothing. He wasn’t there, I was certain of that. This

meant that he had gone back to the workshop to finish a job. He often did that after he had tucked

me in.

I listened for the usual workshop sounds, the little clinking noises of metal against metal or the

tap of a hammer. They always comforted me tremendously, those noises in the night, because they

told me my father was close at hand.

But on this night, no sound came from the workshop. The filling-station was silent.

I got out of my bunk and found a box of matches by the sink. I struck one and held it up to the

funny old clock that hung on the wall above the kettle. It said ten past eleven.

I went to the door of the caravan. ‘Dad,’ I said softly. ‘Dad, are you there?’

No answer.



London: Continuum.

Answers to and comments on questions and activitiesThe comments are not intended to be comprehensive; you may have observed other relevant points in the data that I have not mentioned.

Chapter 22.1 bothered /�bɒðәd/, conciliation /kәnsIlI�eIʃәn/, feudalism /�fju�dәlIzm/, genocide /�d�enәsaId/,

justify /�d�∧stIfaI/, lunchtime/�l∧ntʃtam/, miniature /�mnәtʃә/, officious /ә�fIʃәs/, rhetorical /rI�tɒrIkәl/, thoroughly /�Ѳ∧rәli/, vengeance /�vend�әns/, withering /�wIðәrŋ/

2.2 cabin crew: the /n/ of ‘cabin’ assimilates to the initial velar /k/ of ‘crew’, so /kabIŋ kru:/miss you: the final /s/ of ‘miss’ assimilates to the initial palatal /j/ of ‘you’, so /mIʃ ju/born blind: the final /n/ of ‘born’ assimilates to the initial bilabial /b/ of blind, so /bɔ:m bland/burnt cakes: the final /t/ of ‘burnt’ elides, then the /n/ assimilates to the initial velar /k/ of ‘cakes’, so /bз:ŋ keks/wear out: liaison takes place by inserting /r/ between the final vowel of ‘wear’ and the initial vowel of ‘out’, so /weәraυt/suit yours: the final/t/ of ‘suit’ coalesces with the initial /j/ of /yours’ to give /su:tʃɔ:z/packed lunch: the final /t/ of ‘packed’ elides to give /pæk l∧ntʃ/secret cave: the final /t/ of ‘secret’ assimilates to initial velar /k/ of ‘cave, so /si:krk kev/bread pudding: the final /d/ of ‘bread’ assimilates to the initial bilabial /p/ of ‘pudding’, so /breb pυdIŋ/space shuttle: the final /s/ of ‘space’ assimilates to the initial /ʃ/ of ‘shuttle’, so /speʃ ʃ∧tәl/

2.3 Although (conjunction) we (pronoun) had (verb) electric (adjective) lights (noun) in (preposition) the (determiner) workshop (noun), we (pronoun) were (auxiliary verb) not (negative adverb) allowed (verb) to have (verb) them (pronoun) in (preposition) the (determiner) caravan (noun).

2.4 breath (root) tak(e) (root) ing (suffix) ly (suffix),damp (root) en (suffix) er (suffix),general (root) iz(e) (suffix) abil(able) (suffix) ity (suffix),im (prefix) matur(e) (root) ity (suffix),long(root)-sight (root) ed (sufix) ness (suffix),over (prefix) simpl(e) (root) ifi(c) (suffix) ation (suffix),re (prefix) vital (root) is(e) (suffix) ed (suffix),solid (root) ify (suffix),un (prefix) convention (root) al (suffix) ly (suffix),wide(root)-eye (root) (e)d (suffix)

2.5 a) The waiter (Noun Phrase, Subject) is collecting (Verb Phrase) all the glasses (Noun Phrase, Object) from the tables (Prepositional Phrase).

b) The Welsh actor playing Romeo (Noun Phrase, Subject) has forgotten (Verb Phrase) his lines(Noun Phrase, Object).


London: Continuum.

c) Once (Adverb), the scenery at the back of the stage (Noun Phrase, Subject) fell down (Verb Phrase).

d) When (Conjunction) the band (Noun Phrase, Subject) had finished (Verb Phrase) their last number (Noun Phrase, Object), the enthralled audience (Noun Phrase, Subject) clapped (Verb Phrase) their hands (Noun Phrase, Object) vigorously (Adverb).

e) How (Interrogative) anyone with any intelligence (Noun Phrase, Subject) can believe (Verb Phrase) the nonsense that he has been spouting (Noun Phrase, Object)?

Chapter 33.1 Field: the natural world, with a lot of vocabulary concerned with nature, e.g. hills, rural, woodland,

wildlife.

Tenor: some parts are written in an impersonal style (e.g. the second paragraph), but there are points at which the reader/website-user are addressed, e.g. with the opening question, and in the last paragraph with the imperatives (‘immerse yourself in a Chilterns’ wood’).

Mode: website writing, with short paragraphs and hyperlinks to other pages on the website.

3.2 The text begins as a narrative, with expressions of time (one Monday morning, at eight in the morning) and past tense action verbs (attended, repaired, had taken ground). However, after the arival of the wedding parties, the text becomes descriptive of the assembled company (the couples were all poor people, the carriage was a narrow vis-à-vis fly).

3.3 Although Haldeman does most of the talking, the president is clearly in charge here: he initiates changes in topic (What about Pat Gray . . . ,But they’ve traced the money to ‘em); and he voices his understanding and approval at various points (that’s right, right, yeah). In fact the president has few real turns, as against these backchannelling utterances.

3.4 These three images, which appear one at a time on the website, are all constructed to make a con-nection between text and image, so that they mutually reinforce each other. In the first, the word ‘connect’ reflects the fitting of the two jigsaw pieces together. In the second, the figure and the word ‘job’ share a colour, and the jigsaw theme is continued. In the third, the figures represent employer and employee, and the jigsaw pieces are now fitted together.

3.5 The text is reporting the results of a poll of a sample of British citizens on fairtrade, although the poll itself is not mentioned until sentence [5] at the beginning of the second paragraph. The sample is variously referred to as: Britons [1], people [2], respondents [3], people [5], public, Britons [6], British public [7]. A number of links are made by reference to ‘shopping/shoppers’, trade/fairtrade’, companies, brands, etc. And another set of links relates to the producers: workers in developing countries [1], producers, farmers and artisans [5], producers and workers [7]. There is also a thread of ‘fair’, ‘fairly’ and ‘fairness’ through the text.

Chapter 44.1 You should rewrite this text in modern English, to appreciate some of the differences. Note in par-

ticular: the verb forms, which still betray some of their Old English forms and inflections (e.g. writen [1], write [3], wryte [6, 18], writ [13]; ben [3,9], sein [12], dulleth [14], thenke [23]); the


London: Continuum.

present participle form of ‘comende’ [11]; the recently borrowed French forms (e.g. matiere [6], essampled [7], cause [16], endite [22]); the forms of the pronouns (e.g. hem [1], [ous [1], oure [5], him [15], ye [16]).

4.2 As in the Gower passage, the letters ‘i’ and ‘y’ represent the same sound, and ‘u’ stands for both ‘u’ and ‘v’ in modern spelling. If you say the words out loud, you will be able to discern the modern equivalent more easily, e.g. ‘hye’ [1] = ‘high’, ‘heuen’ [2] = ‘heaven’, ‘lyues’ [4] = ‘lives’, ‘swete to bere’ [15] = ‘sweet to bear’.

Notice how, apart from the third person singular ‘-eth’ ending (begynneth [1], sendeth [2], sayth [16], doth [27]), verbs are largely in modern form (come [2], gyue [4], is [5], shewes [11], etc.). Note how the second person pronoun varies between ‘ye’ [19, 25], ‘you’ [7, 18, 22] and ‘the’ (i.e. ‘thee’) [24]. Note the modern plural ‘lyves’ [11] as against ‘floure’ (‘flowers’) [24].

4.3 Most striking for a modern reader is some archaic vocabulary, such as ‘sundry’, ‘hereafter’, ‘hith-erto’, ‘heretofore’, ‘vulgar (tongue)’, ‘thereof ’, ‘the same’, ‘as touching’. But some of the syntactic con-structions are also strange to modern ears, such as ‘it may be both the better accepted of them which hitherto could not well bear it, and also the better used of them which heretofore have mis-used it’ or ‘These two sorts, albeit they be most far unlike the one to the other, yet they both deserve in effect like reproach’. While most of the verbs have their modern form, not all do, e.g. ‘seemeth’, ‘doth’, and the use of ‘be’ where we would expect ‘are’ (as in ‘in the latter sort be they which . . .’).

4.4 We have little difficulty in understanding this letter, though some of its features may strike us as quaint. While we regularly miss letters out in informal writing and replace them with an apostro-phe (I’ll, we’ve, they’re, don’t), we would be unlikely to do as Dorothy Osborne does with: ‘twould, in’t, ‘tis, upon’t, ‘scaped. Some words are either archaic (hither) or used in a particular way (relation = connection, seat = country house, ill = bad, in earnest = seriously). Notice ‘writ’ as the past tense form of ‘write’ (and compare with the forms of ‘write’ in the Gower text at 4.1), and the auxiliary ‘is’ in ‘is fled’, instead of ‘have’. And there is some phraseology that sounds either formal or archaic: ‘twould not do, as my last refuge, for want of living in’t, no quarrel to, he is fled upon’t, mend the matter much.

4.5 Here is eighteenth-century writing influenced by the study of the classical languages, Latin and Greek. Note the complex sentences, the piling up of subordinate clauses, especially in the last sen-tence: ‘if they are intrusted . . ., if anything be delivered . . . , if the door is bolted . . ., however they may promise . . ., however they may intend it . . .’ And the main clause is left to the end: ‘that . . . is much to be lamented’ (first sentence), ‘it will certainly put their tongues in motion’ (last sentence).

4.6 Apart from the use of the term ‘Indian’ to refer to Native Americans, which was usual in the nineteenth century, what strikes the modern reader is the relatively formal tone that the writing has, even though the article appeared in what would have been a popular newspaper of its day. Take just the second sentence with its ‘a very commonplace and unprepossessing class of persons’ and ‘surround them with all sorts of picturesque enrichments’. The list at the end of his one defeat and three successes would these days most likely be given in a table.


London: Continuum.

Chapter 55.1 In a) C forms the question ‘where’s the doll house’ on the adult model (though the possessive is

missing from ‘doll’s’), but her other question, ‘where go’ does not follow the adult form ‘where does it go’. By b) this type of question, with the ‘do’ auxiliary, is being formed correctly: ‘why did you put that in my room’.

5.2 In a) C omits ‘to’ from one ‘want’ construction (I want play snakes and ladders) but includes it in another (me want to read that); in the latter the object form of the first-person pronoun is used (me) rather than the subject form (I). In b) she is still struggling with pronouns (that her; is this my; is this mine . . . ; our came back . . .), including ‘I’/’me’ (me found it); but by c) she has settled on ‘I’ for the first-person subject pronoun.

By c) C is producing competent co-ordination (you can get my tights and I can get sweets) and subordination (while H at dancing, you’ll get some tights); but some complex constructions still have omissions (I thought it going to be today), and note ‘while H at’s corder’, where the ‘s (for ‘is’) gets shifted to the following item.

By d) C is more fluent, initiating conversation and telling a story, though much of it is context-bound – we cannot tell who ‘he’ or ‘there’ refer to. Note ‘he heard he say’ instead of ‘he heard him say’, and the use of the regular past tense for ‘fly’ (flied) instead of ‘flew’.

5.3 This text contains some instances of fairly simple co-ordination (It was the worst thing in my short life, and that life was in a ruin for a while), and straightforward subordination, for example with communication or mental process verbs (I believe that in every life it is prominent). The last but one sentence (beginning ‘It is, to name the affliction . . .’), however, has a number of co-ordinations and subordinations, though in a rather rambling fashion, imitating speech. The text also has a number of minor sentences, without verbs, such as ‘Shattered but able to be put back together again, piece by piece’ or ‘Same story, same life’.

There is some elaboration of noun phrases, usually by attributive adjectives, as in ‘my short life’, ‘a bad, awful, miserable thing’; but also by postmodification by prepositional phrases (the worst thing in my short life, the breaking of love) and more especially by relative clauses (a smaller but darker one, in which there is a tiny but dazzling light; my parents’ love that broke).

It is a matter of judgement whether the writing reads like that of a 10-year-old boy, in any case quite a mature one.

Chapter 66.1 & 6.2 There are detailed commentaries on the transcripts from which these extracts are taken on

the British Library website, via the links in the activities.

6.3 [1] ‘lef na faya’ = burned to death, ‘left/departed/died in the fire’; ‘aks’ for ‘ask’ – common in English-based creoles; ‘ros’ = burnt, perhaps from ‘roast’.

[2] ‘fɔl’ = chicken, from ‘fowl’; ‘bɔn’ = give birth to’, from ‘born’; ‘pikin’ = chicks (here), but a common creole form for children; ‘grɔmbul’ = complain, from ‘grumble’

[3] ‘big man’ = adult; ‘no fɔ sidɔn’ = not for sit down; ‘trowe’ = spill, from ‘throw’; ‘no se’ = knows, from ‘know say’; ‘na-in’ = to him.


London: Continuum.

[4] ‘ we de rɔl kaka’ = who eats the dung?; trangga = ‘not easy’, from ‘try and go’?

[5] ‘nɔ gri’ = don’t get along with, from ‘don’t agree’.

[6] ‘te’ = until, from ‘till’?; ‘fɔdɔn’ = from ‘fall down’?, i.e. accidentally.

6.4 Omission of articles, e.g. ‘miseries’, ‘54 inch diameter pipeline’. Words such as ‘succour machine’ (presumably a pump), ‘annoyed’ (for ‘angry’?), and colloquial items such as ‘stinky’, ‘round the clock’, ‘surges’. Constructions such as ‘would be completed by August’ (instead of ‘will be . . .’), and ‘the process will complete till August’.

You can find further examples of regional varieties of English in English-language newspapers from around the world (see links in Online Resources).

6.5 Safire, who died in September 2009 at the age of 79, had a regular column in the New York Times, in which he pontificated on language. As this article shows, he used a combination of irony, gentle mockery, and direct instruction. His views are generally seen as being linguistically ‘conservative’, and he takes issue in this article largely with American usage that has not yet crossed the Atlantic to the UK, except in the case of ‘should of ’.

Chapter 77.1 C is about to have a job interview. She is first of all introduced to the members of the interview

panel, and they exchange the polite, mutual ‘how do you do’ with C; note also the use of Title + Last Name (Mrs C, etc.). C is then directed to take a seat; the verb is in the imperative (take), though the politeness marker ‘please’ is used, and C responds with ‘thank you’. Some inconsequential chat fol-lows about C’s journey and previous visit to the building, probably to put C at her ease before the business of the interview begins. Then K takes charge and informs C of what is going to happen; he passes the turn to S (the personnel assistant), who proceeds to ask a question of C. And we may assume that from there the business of the interview continues.

7.2 Let us establish first of all that A = Valerie and B = Arthur. In the opening sequence, they take a little time to work out that they are speaking to the right person, which can be a problem in a tel-ephone conversation. Similarly, in a telephone conversation there are no non-verbal clues for turn-taking, so the participants have to rely on intonational and syntactic clues. Arthur is obviously returning a call to Valerie, as she has something she needs to say to him about arrangements for his visit. There are essentially three contributions to this conversation: Valerie’s explanation of the rearrangement; Arthur’s acceptance of the revised arrangements; Valerie’s explanation of why the visit had to be rearranged. But each of these contributions is interrupted by the other participant. In a telephone conversation there is a need for the listening participant to indicate that they are paying attention and understanding; so some of the ‘interruptions’ are just backchannelling (aha, yes, oh, yep), but there is one point where Arthur didn’t hear what Valerie said (sorry, didn’t get that) and so he interrupts to ask for repetition. Even when Arthur indicates that he has more than one thing to say (. . . one, I was going to say . . .), he is interrupted after the first point (yes, splen-did). Valerie eventually attempts to bring the conversation to an end with ‘ so әm . we’ll make it the following Saturday then’, and a couple of exchanges do bring it to a close.


London: Continuum.

7.3 The author clearly has no sympathy for the communist East German (German Democratic Republic) regime. In the first paragraph, the use of ‘tout’’, ‘claim’ vs ‘reality’, ‘subvention’, the ironic ‘worker-peasants’ paradise’, ‘squalid’, ‘slavishly reliant’, ‘grovelling’, all indicate a negative attitude towards the regime.

In the second paragraph, notice the use of terms like ‘merely’, ‘ironically enough’, ‘in the novel position’; and in the third paragraph ‘public relations disaster’, ‘uncomfortable . . . even less happy’, ‘sudden interest’, ‘fronde’ – which all have evaluative overtones. Notice also the ironical use of ‘Square of Heavenly Peace option’ and ‘comrades’.

7.4 As its origin would suggest, this text takes a critical stance towards the provisions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005; it takes the viewpoint of the legitimate protestor and defender of civil liberties. It will take considerable rewriting to present the provisions of SOCA from the point of view of the police.

7.5 Apart from the rather long third sentence in the second paragraph, the sentences in this text are mostly quite short, some very short indeed (The filling-station was silent). There is some co-ordination, and where there is subordination it is usually quite straightforward (This meant that he had gone back to the workshop to finish a job). The expressions ‘quirkier quirks’ and ‘funnyold clock’ perhaps sound rather adult; but in general Dahl seems to have been very successful in capturing the voice of a young boy.

Documents

NaFoL2 Website: Student’s Handbook