Live phone-in programmes A live phone-in programme happens in real time, and can create an impression of spontaneity and risk - one never knows what the caller is going to say. With the BBC’s national networks, there is an unseen selection process for many broadcasts. Callers contact a producer ahead of the programme, which leads to the creation of a list of contributors whom the broadcaster calls back at the point where they are to speak. Pragmatics: In the case of a phone-in programme, this is likely to be a most important area of language theory - since the object of the host or presenter, broadly speaking, is to help people who have little or no experience of broadcasting to make a contribution to the programme, in conjunction with the other callers. In looking at transcripts, always focus on the areas of pragmatics that are covered by: 1) taking and keeping turns; 2) conversational maxims and the cooperative principle; 3) politeness theory; 4) the use of phatic tokens. Lexis: In spontaneous speech it is not always easy for a speaker to sustain an even style, so you may find a mixture of the common register or “simple and undemanding vocabulary, typical of speech” with more learned or special lexis. The two transcripts in this guide challenge the suggestions that: 1) Look for simple or sophisticated lexis, or a combination of these; 2) Look out for accommodation - where a caller or presenter reflects the other’s lexical choices. Grammar: Simple / complex structures: 1) Elliptical forms; 2) Pronouns; 3) Consider all grammar areas and think whether the speaker’s grammar may differ when spoken and written. Discourse features: For the presenter there is a sense of the whole broadcast into which the various callers’ contributions fit. They may have a notional upper and lower time limit, which will allow them to vary the length of time for which each caller speaks. This may affect the structure of the call: 1) Question and answer formats; 2) Who leads the talk; 3) Overlapping Phonology: 1) Pauses; 2) Stresses (if given) ; 3) Elision, contraction, hesitation indicators.
Telephones - Landline and Mobile Spontaneous speech governs much of the language used on the telephone, including SMS texting on mobiles. (Spontaneous written speech?!) Non-verbal communication is lost because speakers cannot (usually) see each other. Theory: Schegloff’s ideas about usual telephone talk patterns: Summons-answer: the caller summons the called person, and the called person picks up the phone. Identification-recognition: each person identifies him/herself and recognises the other. Greetings-greetings: people exchange mutual greetings. Initial (how are you?) enquiries and move to first topic: there’s a certain amount of phatic language while people enquire in very general terms about each other’s health etc., before the caller initiates the first topic. When analysing telephone transcripts, consider: Pragmatics: do speakers do things differently from their practice in face to face conversations - do they observe the conversational maxims listed by Paul Grice, or do they employ face and politeness strategies to a greater degree than when the parties can see each other? In exploring how the technology may influence language as it mediates conversation, then pragmatic analysis is likely to be a fruitful area of study. You will need to make use of some pragmatic concepts, as in this example: "We know from the question that Text F is a sales script. The pragmatic consideration of this text makes us look for features, which are designed to reassure the potential customer rather than to inform them. Particularly, in this case, where the script is for a telephone conversation and one of the objects from the sales-person's viewpoint is to keep the other person talking. This means that the text will try to close off as many potential exits as possible and therefore be similar to some of the normal co-operative principles of spoken language." Grammar: Do people generally vary their grammatical usage in spoken English, when they speak on the telephone, as compared to face-to-face speaking? It is possible that use of the technology might alter one's sense of formality, and attentiveness to supposed "correct" forms. For most people there is considerable difference between the grammar of their writing and their speaking. Discourse Structure: Voice telephony has produced some conventions that help us construct a discourse, in terms of beginning, middle and end. (See Schegloff’s ideas above.) These often give information that is redundant for users of newer forms of telephony (such as answering a call by stating your phone number). But they may survive as a kind of traditional courtesy. Phonology: Do we use different speech sounds when we use certain technologies? Can we account for what we find in answering this question? (For example, does the general tendency towards accommodation become stronger when we use a telephone?) Are we more or less comfortable with pauses and silence than in face-to-face conversation? Do we try to fill silences or even ask the other person questions about them? ("Are you still there/all right?")
Two technologies meet: the language of phone-ins - a presenter hosts a discussion and invites members of the public to participate by phoning the station and putting their point ‘on air. They appear to offer the illusion of a democratic public-participation discussion, though always with the presenter in control. Before a caller goes on air, they may have followed these steps: ‘1. Presenter or host invites potential callers to ring a given number. 2. A ‘researcher’ will usually take their details, establish roughly what they wish to discuss, and either put them on hold or promise to ring them back when the host is ready. 3. A sequence of callers is thus lined up, with the host/presenter having the basic details gathered by the researcher displayed when they are connected; 4. Some stations employ an ‘instant delay’ device that enables them to cut off before they reach the air-waves. What happens next will usually follow a predictable pattern, though with · variations depending on the nature of the programme and the ‘character’ of the host presenter. In some cases, the host is generally courteous and friendly with callers, reassuring them and helping them to feel at ease. In others, the presenter may adopt a more deliberately confrontational and opinionated style appearing to flout basic ‘politeness principles’ in order to provoke callers and create a more shocking impact on listeners. Framework for investigating phone-ins: · How does the host initiate the conversation? · What phatic features, if any, are present? · What degrees of politeness and courtesy are extended to the caller? · How does the caller convey their opinions an d feelings? · In what ways is the professionalism of the presenter/host apparent by contrast with a caller unused to public broadcasting? · To what extent doers the host express agreement or disagreement with the caller, and how does s/he do so? · What closure routine (if any) does the host use before terminating each call? · In what ways does the host/presenter achieve control of the discourse? · Is there any evidence that the host is imposing a specific time constraint on each caller? · In what ways do you think the host’s awareness of the listening audience is influencing their conduct of the conversation?
Word Formations (SMS text-specific) Shortenings Contractions
G clippings
Other clippings
Acronyms Initialisms
Letter/number homophones ‘Misspellings’ and typos Non-conventional spellings Accent stylisation
Uni ‘University’ mon ‘Monday’ Gd ‘good’ nt ‘night’ bt ‘but’ goin ‘going’ jumpin ‘jumping’ thinkin ‘thinking’ hav ‘have’ wil ‘will’ til ‘till’ BFPO ‘British Forces Posted Overseas’ TTFN ‘Ta ta for now’ ASAP ‘As soon as Possible’ U ‘you’ evry1 ‘everyone’ 2morrw ‘tomorrow’ Esay ‘essay’ malet ‘mallet' excelent ‘excellent’ Sumtime ‘sometime’ tonite ‘tonight’ summat ‘something’ wivout ‘without’ da / de ‘the’
sis ‘sister’ morn ‘morning’ mesge ‘message’ txt ‘text’ cld ‘could’ leadin ‘leading’ singin ‘singing’ cardif ‘cardiff’ alrigh ‘alright’ couldn ‘couldn’t’ DI ‘Detective Inspector’ V ‘Very’ T ‘The’ TB ‘Text back’ 1td ‘wanted’ 2day ‘today’ 2morrow ‘tomorrow’ rember ‘remember’ adicted ‘addicted’ aniversary ‘anniversary’ skool ‘school’ lata ‘later’ yrself ‘yourself’ ello ‘hello’ dunno ‘don’t know’
The discourse structure of phone calls (revisited): Identification routines: usually the receiver speaks first, though it is the caller who as initiated the call. Call validation routines: As the caller, we will usually feel obliged to give a reason for our call, which may even be accompanied by an apology or a permissive enquiry; Phatic elements: exchange of pleasantries to maintain relationships. Main issue: the main point of the call. Closing sequences: likely to be some kind of “wind down” involving a repetition or summary of what has been discussed or agreed; Call termination routines: likely to include politeness markers and a restatement of any action or arrangement arising out of the call before at least one exchange of ‘bye’s’ and ‘see you later’s’ finally terminates the call.
Analysing Text Messages - Working Towards a Framework 1) Answer the following questions relating to the data in general: Who are the senders? Who are the recipients? Can you tell anything about the social context of the texts? Based on the senders, are there any issues of prestige involved? Covert or overt? What kind of communication is intended? Phatic? Transactional? Some messages might have a meaning 'between the lines' - can you sense what this might be in those cases? As there are no rules about text messaging, how are features recognised and understood? How much of the context do you need to know in order to understand? Are there some texts where understanding may be a problem? 2) Highlight / underline features which you think are interesting (typical features, unexpected features, and confusing features that you don't really understand) 3) Try to label these, if you can, using the terminology in the table of text language. Carefully note which features cannot be labelled - can you find a way of describing them? 4) Now, try to group all the features under framework headings which you already know from Module 1 lessons: graphology and spelling pragmatics
lexis discourse
grammar phonology
semantics
You'll notice that some of the features in the table can be easily matched up with frameworks, e.g. number homophones would come under 'graphology and spelling', but you may not need to use all the frameworks. Discourse may be interesting in terms of texts forming part of a larger conversation, question and answer structure, interactive written discourse, etc. Pragmatics – SMS is economic and efficient. 5) Finally, look over the data again, now that it is more familiar - have you missed anything? Can you comment on the features you have identified in terms of the context of the communication? This is the key part of exam success: linking AO3 to AO5. e.g. - informal lexis is used because the participants are very good friends - some spellings (dem, dat) are used because these are ways of identifying with the social group - very abbreviated words are used because this is suitable to the technology (small buttons) and it keeps costs down Assessment Objectives for ENB2: AO1 - communicate clearly the knowledge, understanding and insight appropriate to the study of language, using appropriate terminology and accurate and coherent written expression (5% AS) AO3i - use key features of frameworks for the systematic study of spoken and written English (10% AS) AO4 - understand, discuss and explore concepts and issues relating to language in use (10% AS) AO5i - distinguish, describe and interpret variation in the meanings and forms of spoken and written language according to context (10% AS).
The language of text messaging:
uses a medium which has been traditionally associated with spoken communication (does this affect the style of communication or not?)
uses quite distinctive spelling styles, as demonstrated by the table, although some users avoid this style or employ the predictive function on their phones
has some conventions regarding openings and closings (how does this affect the need for self-identification?)
can use punctuation but this is less likely to be standard (consider reasons for this)
uses grammar which may also be less likely to be standard
can use ‘smileys’ and other emoticons – how often are these used?
has many contexts of use (it can be impersonal e.g. dumping someone by text, flirtation, secrecy e.g. passing classroom notes, or general as in the case of texts from the service provider)
there may be covert prestige features in texts, especially between young people
can prompt or be a response to spoken phone calls – an intriguing text can lead to a call, or a text could follow a tense call, for example.
Commentaries on live events Sports commentaries are necessarily spontaneous or instantaneous in some respects. The challenge for the commentator is to tell the audience what is happening for all periods of live action, to invite the summarizer to make further comments and judgements during breaks in play and briefly during the play and to bring in reports and score flashes from other grounds.
Discourse structure
Pragmatics
Often constructed partly as a conversation between the commentator and summarizer, separated by the (often longer) passages of commentary The commentator may not address the audience directly after an introductory ‘Welcome’ Commentary may need continuous adjustment, as the action changes, so comments must be modified The commentator assumes shared knowledge with listeners, so will use specific lexis, and phrases which imply meaning rather than explain it. Register will be stylised, specialised, professional, colloquial
Will use the special lexis and jargon of the sport/event in question. Simple and undemanding vocabulary, typical of speech Make extensive use of the names of the participants, especially in team games, usually by last name only Sometimes, historical facts are given The use of the names also has relevance to pragmatics since the audience knows not only that, say, Philips is Kevin Philips but that in this match he is playing at his club ground (he was a Sunderland player in 1999) and also that he is a forward, so that mention of his name suggests where the action is happening on the pitch.
Grammar
Phonology
Lexis
May use elliptical forms and minor sentences - where the audience is expected to take some things as read. So "free kick given against Shearer" omits any articles ("a free kick") and auxiliaries ("is" or "has been" before "given"). A typical ellipsis occurs with "It's Philips" - we do not know from this what Kevin Philips is doing. "It's Philips" indicates either that this player has possession of the ball, or that he is running into a space where the commentator expects him to receive the ball imminently. This ellipsis is used for speed and pace. The commentator slips between present and past tense verb forms to create a distinction between what is happening now, and what has just happened. Adverbs may add detail to action
Where some kinds of discourse can vary in length, according to the authors' wishes, a sports commentary is quite clearly constrained by the event it shows to the audience. The relevance of this to the extract is that the commentator cannot determine exactly when to start and finish - he or she describes the live and recent action, while being ready for the arrival of half time and full time, as indicated by the timing of the match and the addition of extra time at the end of each half. Simple connectives may be used to connect action: ‘and’ Often, cohesion between clauses is lexical, rather than grammatical, with no connectives used. Pauses separate clauses, rather than connectives.
Transcripts often give an indication of the pace of the commentary, and the frequency and length of pauses. In this respect radio and TV broadcasts differ - in the latter case it is acceptable to let the pictures tell parts of the story, where the radio commentator cannot allow such long silences.
REDUCE-ing the AOs! Relevant - [Not an AO but likely to be a factor in AO3 and AO5 coverage] How relevant is this answer? To what extent does it address the question asked on its own terms? [Does it rehearse pre-prepared ideas which are not wholly relevant?] Expression - AO1: 5 marks To what extent does the candidate explain herself clearly? Does she follow the conventions of standard English? Are technical terms used accurately and appropriately? To what extent does the expression represent an effective linguistic register? Description of Language - AO3i: 10 marks To what extent is the candidate able to identify significant features and patterns of text? To what extent does the description of language reflect a multi-level model? Are structural aspects of the framework in focus (grammar and discourse)? Understanding of Ideas from Language Study - AO4: 10 marks To what extent is the candidate able to draw on concepts and theories from language study to enrich the analysis of data? What reference is made to fieldwork, theory and empirical studies including the candidate's own? Contextual Awareness - AO5i: 10 marks To what extent is the candidate able to relate language choices to the contextual factors which motivate these? To what extent has s/he appreciated how the text relates to its context
Properties of Electronic Text from The Language of ICT, by Tim Shortis
Plasticity: opposite of fixity; screen text is not permanent but subject to alteration, remodelling or combination
Links: texts can be combined with every other type of ICT text and image; allows the creation of infinitely malleable systems of information with multimedia animated combinations of visual, auditory, graphical and verbal information
Tagging: texts can be tagged so that particular sequences of information are associated with other types of information, e. g. a word in a computer language corpus can be tagged with its part of speech. This is the organisational basis of web pages and allows complex searches of linked information.
Searches: computers can be programmed to match up patterns of code, allowing very rapid searches of complex info, e. g. on CD-ROMs or web browsers. Different responses can be triggered e. g. unrecognised word in spellchecker brings up a dialog box.
Templates: many IT texts simulate human interaction by using a template simulating the norms of human-to-human interaction, e. g. word processing Wizard.
Footprints: many IT texts make electronic ‘footprints’ which can be traced and used later, e. g. ISP logs of customer use patterns
TURN-TAKING IN CMC – IRC or COMPUTER “CHAT” ‘Chat’ or IRC )Internet relay Chat) is the form of computer mediated conversation (CMC) that may be seen to have some of the properties of conversation, as it is generally an informal means of communication. Chat is so termed because it is a medium that allows for that type of conversation. Yet, chat in CMC has its own rules in addition to those of spoken conversation. Howell-Richardson (1995:122-123) explains that: “Turn-taking in CMC does not require the same social management skills as in face-to-face (FtF); there are no interruptions, no technical restrictions on the length of a message, and no social or technical impediments to contributing a string of messages in a sequence.”
There are numerous reasons that may account for some of the differences in CMC. People communicating in this way may not actually have met or ever get the chance to meet FTF, leading to feeling and acting in a less inhibited manner than normal. Hiltz and Turoff found that participating in computer conferencing brought about an equality between users. In Warschauer’s comparative study of FTF and CMC students felt: “that they could express themselves freely, comfortably, and creatively during electronic discussion, that participating in electronic discussion assisted their thinking ability, and that they did not feel stress during electronic discussion.”
Formation of New Words - NEOLOGISMS Crystal (1995): there are a number of common processes for word formation including the following, which have been illustrated by examples from new technology words: affixation: rebooting, resetting, debugging, Megadrive backformation: wordprocess (verb) from word processor compounding: cyberspace, hard disk drive, CD-ROM, desktop laptop conversion: floppy (noun), access (verb), video (verb) acronym: RAM (random access memory) initialism: SGML (standard general mark-up language) blending: netiquette, lnternaut clipping: disk, floppy, video (noun and verb) John Algeo (1999), in the Cambridge History of English Language, develops a classification system for word formation based on four factors: 1) Whether the word has an etymon (word element) based on earlier words 2) Whether the word omits any part of an etymon 3) Whether a word combines two etyma 4) Whether any of the etyma are from another language. He uses six groupings: Loans: words borrowed from other languages, may not follow usual patterns of sound and spelling in borrower language. Shifts: Shifts of meaning: amelioration, pejoration, widening, narrowing; Shifts of words class or “functional shifts, such as: noun to verb; noun to adjective Creations: no links with previous words Composites: words made from combinations of words or parts of other words: compounding, combining of words; affixation, combining of words and parts of words Shortenings: parts of word left out for economy, such as clippings, acronyms, initialisms, backformation Blends: combine both shortening and compounding Algeo gives a table showing the different percentages for types of word formation in a set of samples taken from different dictionaries. This is interesting for demonstrating the importance of composites, and especially compounds, over other types of word formation. Shifts and shortenings are also important, with very few creations, blends or loan words.
Murray (1989:326-331) found that participants in a CMC conversation do not comply with the turn-taking strategies that we have seen previously. Five ways that “interactants coordinate conversation” are outlined as thus: 1.
The sender may make a second move before receiving a response to the first.
2.
A recipient may not respond to an utterance.
3.
A message may interrupt a turn or move.
4.
A fourth characteristic is the absence of opening and closing adjacency pairs.
5.
Naming addressees does not operate as a turn allocation technique.
6.
Tag questions do not serve as exit devices as they do in face-to-face conversation.
Always link any of the observations above to the bigger A04 and A05 questions of: How are the style and tone appropriate to audience, purpose and context? How are the linguistic choices appropriate to audience / participants, purpose and context? What do these features reveal about speakers and the social or technological context?
SACKS, SCHEGLOFF AND JEFFERSON’S (1974) MODEL AND RULES FOR THE ORGANISATION OF TURN-TAKING IN CONVERSATION Sacks et al proposed a model based on observable properties of conversation. This model accounts for the organisation of turns at talk. 1.
Speaker-change recurs, or at least occurs.
2.
Overwhelmingly, one party talks at a time.
3.
Occurrences of more than one speaker at a time are common, but brief.
4.
Transitions (from one turn to a next) with no gap and no overlap are common. Together with
BREAKDOWN IN CONVERSATION Precisely because conversations are not governed by prescriptive rules, breakdown is a common feature of conversation. When two or more speakers are unsure of who has the next turn allocation, or when a convenient transition-relevance place occurs before the ‘current speaker selects next’ breakdown may occur. Overlap and interruption are the two most frequent forms of breakdown. When ‘breakdown’ or violation of the turn taking ‘mechanism’ happens, speakers revert to ‘repair’ strategies.
‘REPAIR’ IN CONVERSATION
transitions characterised by slight gap or slight overlap, they make up the vast majority of transitions. 5.
Turn order is not fixed, but varies.
6.
Turn size is not fixed, but varies.
7.
Length of conversation is not specified in advance.
8.
What parties say is not specified in advance.
9.
Relative distribution of turns is not specified in advance.
Hutchby and Wooffitt (1998:61) put forward four varieties of repair:
Self-initiated self-repair o
source.
10. Number of parties can vary.
Other-initiated self-repair o
11. Talk can be continuous or discontinuous. 12. Turn-allocation techniques are obviously used. A current speaker may select a next speaker (as when he addresses a question to another party); or parties may self select in starting to talk.
Self-initiated other-repair o
[Sacks et al (1974:700-701)]
The speaker of a trouble source may try and get the recipient to repair the trouble – for instance if a name is proving troublesome to
they can be sentential in length. themselves talking at the same time, one of them will stop prematurely, thus repairing the trouble.
Repair is carried out by the speaker of the trouble source but initiated by the recipient.
13. Various ‘turn-constructional units’ are employed; e.g. turns can be projectedly ‘one word long’, or 14. Repair mechanisms exist for dealing with turn-taking errors and violations; e.g.. if two parties find
Repair is both initiated and carried out by the speaker of the trouble
remember.
Other-initiated other-repair o
The recipient of a trouble-source turn both initiates and carries out the repair. This is closest to what is conventionally understood as ‘correction’.
Hutchby and Wooffitt comment that repair mechanisms are generally instigated immediately after the breakdown or ‘trouble source’. This allows for the conversation to continue and develop smoothly. Otherwise repair would place huge cognitive demands on conversation load by people needing to remember what was said a number of turns before, and ‘backtrack’ to the source of trouble, repair the breakdown and then continue from the point of digression. In cases where repair does not occur immediately or soon after trouble sources, serious communication problems may arise, such as disagreement and even hostility. The Sacks et al model and rules were intended to describe conversation in general. They point out that conversation is one of a number of speech exchange systems, on a linear scale of formality. Relevant Theories for Speech Grice’s Co-operative Theory: “Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose and direction of the exchange in which you are engaged.” Grice’s Maxims: Quality, Quantity, Manner, Relevance Giles’ Accommodation Theory: Giles suggested that we adjust our speech to ‘accommodate’ the person we are addressing. Convergence occurs when we move our speech closer to the other person. Divergence occurs when we move our speech style further away from the other person. TOP TIPS FOR EXAMS: Goffman’s face theory: Co-operation is vital to conversation, but without politeness, all is lost. 1) Bring 3 pens. One will break, one will run out, the third will Brown and Levinson: developed Goffman’s ideas into the concepts of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ face. finish your exam. Negative’ Face: The desire to feel unimpeded, i.e. the freedom from feeling imposed upon by the interaction. 2) Eat well during exams - a car won’t work on fumes, so why ‘Positive’ Face: The desire to feel approved of , i.e. to maintain a positive and consistent self-image during the interaction. should you? Lakoff’s politeness theory: much of conversational interaction is governed by the ‘politeness principle’ which has 3 rules: 3) If you feel nauseous, Canada Dry ginger ale is the best thing 1) Don’t impose for a queasy tummy. Trust me! I know…. 2) Give options 3) Make your receiver feel good
EMAILS: PRIVATE, NEWSGROUP, OR MESSAGE BOARD Introduction to Email Fifteen years ago, email (or ‘E-mail’) was uncommon, found only in universities and IT companies Difficult to discuss the “language of email” in general terms – used in very different contexts by different writers Conventions of email include technologically assisted features: e.g. to write to many people at once; to reply automatically; to write text into a previous mail; to be have previous emails below the current text; Expectations of email include a widespread belief that misspellings are more tolerated, informal spoken features are more likely to be found.
When analysing emails, consider the following points:
Analysis of Email Style: Some tips… Always link any of the observations below to the bigger A04 and A05 questions of: How are the style and tone appropriate to audience/participants, purpose and context? How are the linguistic choices appropriate to audience / participants, purpose and context? What do these features reveal about sender / recipient / social or technological context? Graphological features Parenthesis (brackets) Voice accentuation – caps, asterisks etc Trailers (…) Emoticons :-) Exclamations Punctuation (both standard and non-standard use) Spelling variation Salient (prominent) sounds (people – ppl) Grapheme/phoneme omission (all – al; going – goin) Colloquial phonetics (with – wiv) Phonetic spelling (should – shud) Lexis New compounds/blends (Are you alright - yalrite) Clipping/shortening (soz – sorry) Acronyms/initialisms (oh my god – omg) Alpha-numeric combinations (great – gr8) Specialised language Formal/informal language
Semantics Semantic fields, coinage Taboo Irony, euphemism, ambiguity, humour Facts vs. feeling Grammar Ellipsis Compounds/ sentence complexity Use of modals Use of adverbials/adjectives Verb/noun types Tenses Discourse Including relationship to other texts (i.e. the fact that this is an email influences the discourse because…) Openings & closings Modes of address Topic change Dyadic (between 2 people) or group postings
Pragmatics Context Relationship between participants Shared understanding/values Phonology Contractions Elision Prosody Influence of spoken language features (hesitation indicators, stress) Electronic / technological dimensions Constraints of text entry/speed of composition Electronic advantages (affordances) Editing options Expectations of time delays Intended and unintended consequences Conventions of the genre.
How does the medium of email affect the language of the participants? Consider: what email allows writers to do ‘bipartite’ structure Spontaneity of production – are we less likely to self edit in writing email? How do audience, purpose and context influence language choices? Consider: Purpose – goal directed or socially directed Level of formality/informality Sentence complexity Discourse structure Lexical choices Paralinguistic clues – emoticons, capitals, italics, underlining etc. How are they attempting to achieve parity with f2f communication? Osmosis as a studying technique does NOT work! Don’t think our little friend here will pass his exams! Get some rest the night before, not DURING!
The Language of web pages The Internet is now vast and varied, so be careful not to make generalisations about the language. You will need to look very carefully at the specific text you are given and analyse it in terms of what you see, not what you want to see because you’ve revised it! Web sites, like any other text, seek out target audiences. Once found, they will hope that they will be attracted to linger on the site, and be able to navigate their way to the information they require / find interesting. They may direct visitors to related pages via hypertext, but aim to return them to the home page. The blend of information / entertainment may vary, but the desire to attract ‘hits’ is constant. With this in mind, if you are faced with a website to analyse, look at how it speaks to and guides its target audience via its home page.
Computers/Internet David Crystal is one of the most renowned linguists around. The Internet is causing a linguistic revolution. This revolution can be seen in the terms of other major revolutions in the history of language, including the emergence of speech, of writing, and of printing. The Internet is a major technological development. The forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC) that are relevant for AS Language are web pages and emails. How similar is Internet language to speech? Most speech is dialogue rather than monologue. In such circumstances, speech is distinguished by 'simultaneous feedback'. This term refers to the responses made by the listener, often verbally or with body language, during the speaker's turn. Much internet language works with the idea that almost simultaneous feedback is possible: via emails, questionnaires, responding to text by clicking hyperlinks, etc. However, there is a time delay involved in all internet communication, so internet language differs from speech in that actual simultaneous feedback is absent. How similar is Internet language to writing? A key feature of written language is its permanence, whereas computer-mediated communication is impermanent (referring to its format of electronic copy, not paper ‘hard copy’; although most computer communication is saved on servers and hard drives). Internet language is also dynamic, mobile and nonlinear. Web pages are nonlinear because they can be read in any order, using hypertext links to jump from one page to another. The nonlinearity of web pages can be compared with the use of footnotes and cross-references in printed texts. Writing styles for users of the Internet are also different from the conventions of much written communication. This may be related to the age of the average user of the Internet. In the early 90s, the average age of users was around 18-25 whereas in 2005, the average age of users is late 30s. It is perhaps due to this 'youth' factor that the following features of Internet language can be identified: high frequency of typing errors misspellings casual attitude towards errors emergence of forms which are consciously used by small groups, e.g. 'computer' lack of punctuation and capitalisation With the increasing age of users, there comes a growing concern over intelligibility and a desire to preserve the conventional systems of punctuation, spelling and grammar. Prof. Crystal concludes that the Internet is currently becoming more diverse in this respect. What can we conclude from these comparisons with speech and writing? The Internet has caused an expansion in the stylistic range of language available to us, and mostly at the informal end of the scale. It is neither speech nor writing, but has features of both.
Neilsen’s Guidelines:
concise, scannable, objective
How do people read web pages? They don’t. People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In a recent study John Morkes and I found that 79% of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16% read word-byword. As a result, Web pages have to employ scannable text, using Highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others) Meaningful sub-headings (not ‘clever’ ones) Bulleted lists One idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph) The inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion Half the word count (or less) than conventional writing Credibility is important for Web users, since it is unclear who is behind the information on the Web and whether a page can be trusted. Credibility can be increased by high quality graphics, good writing, and use of outbound hypertext links. Links to other sites show that the authors have done their homework and are not afraid to let readers visit other sites. Users detested ‘marketese’; the promotional writing style with boastful subjective claims (‘hottest ever’) that currently is prevalent on the Web. Web users are busy: they want to get the straight facts. Also, credibility suffers when users clearly see that the site exaggerates.
Neilsen’s Guidelines: Concise, Scannable, Objective
You could apply his ideas to a webpage and explore how far, and in what ways, they live up to Nielsen’s guidelines, focusing closely on key language frameworks (e.g. graphology, lexis, semantics, pragmatics, discourse structure and grammar). This approach may be very useful to take in an exam question, if faced with a web page to analyse.
How to analyse a webpage: Remember the acronyms/mnemonics: WARTS and GASP W - written texts and data from topic in actual practice A - accounts of popular attitudes R - representation of Topic in Mediated texts T - transcription of speech from topic in actual practice S - studies by higher education academics and by A level students. These may include numerical data from AS English Language Sec B page 6 GASP
Framework Discourse
Genre Audience Subject Purpose
Look carefully for interesting features, grouping your ideas under the frameworks. There are likely to be a lot of interesting discourse and graphology features. Pragmatics are interesting in terms of the expectations the web designer and authors have of the reader. Lexis, semantics, grammar and phonology will depend upon the content as to how much there is to say about these. Look for norms and variations Norms: what features do web pages generally seem to have in common, and how far are these the product of the technology itself? What kind of variations do we find in these features, and what differences in purpose, audience and content account for these? Use Jakob Neilsen’s ideas of what makes a good website
Grammar
Lexis
Semantics Pragmatics
When faced with an exam question: 1. WARTS and GASP: what are we dealing with? 2. Annotate the text for interesting features 3. Groups these features into frameworks.
Graphology
4. Plan your essay around these frameworks. 5. When writing, please, please, please: 1) Identify a linguistic feature 2) Comment on the EFFECT this feature has, what it might suggest or reveal 3) Link this into any wider ideas about how the context here is affecting the language.
Phonology Ideas from language study
Feature Text is separated into sections which are interrelated Text may be read in either linear or non-linear direction Organisation of text is determined by the size and shape of the screen and the scrolling function Structure of text, although varied, follows several established norms of webpage construction. In the centre / at the top of webpage, the reader may be directly addressed. Text may work in an inverted pyramid style, with the conclusion at the top. One idea per paragraph Hypertext links allow access to other sections / areas Bulleted lists, with varying structures Variety of sentence construction May be frequent use of interrogatives and imperatives Entirely dependent on genre, but will be audience and/or subject-directed. So some kind of specific lexis is likely. Lexis in many sites may be educated but undemanding May be interesting, depending on the content of the webpage… Users are aware of how to navigate the structure of websites, so websites often assume knowledge of how to access information. Register will vary depending on subject, genre and audience and is likely to vary within the site. Style of English should be accessible to wide audience. variation in font style and size upper and lower case letters headings colour underlining horizontal and vertical lists dropdown menus images
Possible reason for feature Sections may allow access to other pages.
Many discourse features allow the text to be scannable. Since people tend to scan WebPages, rather than read them, these need to be central.
Because users can access extra information via hyperlinks, there is no need for lengthy paragraphs.
Lists are scannable. Varied sentence structures add clarity which is essential to a text with an international audience. Must involve the reader and encourage them to use the site Cater for very wide audience.
Assumption of shared knowledge.
Enhance the organisation of the text, so support the discourse structure. There will be lots of graphological items because the text itself depends on these for navigation. High quality graphics add authenticity to the webpage and make it seem reliable.
Need for credibility May be interesting depending on individual WebPages. WebPages often give concise bits of information about many issues on a single page. This fits in with Grice’s maxims of conversation: the webpage has information / entertainment to communicate, but because of the nature of technology, the information can be passed in different ways. A user can easily see the relevant heading / paragraph and access the exact area sought for. So, many websites are constructed to meet Grice’s maxims of relevance and quantity.