Conversational Analysis

The conversation is set out as a statement, with person A clearly being a policeman and person B being an eye-witness. It is obvious that Person A is a policeman because of the use of interrogatives (this makes him appear authoritative) and Person B is responding to the tag questions. The policeman uses formal lexis (high register) which also contributes to his authoritative nature whereas the witness responds with everyday lexis. There is a standout use of taboo/colloquial language with his response too; there is an instance where he says ‘bloody great crash’. This low register juxtaposes with the high register used by the policeman and furthermore, the response to tag questions helps guide turn taking and emphasises the use of transactional language. The entire purpose of the conversation is based upon transactional language – the policeman needs to find out information and is doing so by using plenty of interrogatives.

Non-fluency features are common in the responses Person B is giving. There is evident use of pauses, where the witness may be thinking and/or nervous and there is use of an ‘er.’ It interrupts the flow of talk as Speaker B is considering what he is saying before he speaks. The use of adjacency pairs (question and answer) also helps with the structure of the conversation; the policeman asks the questions and this sets up the witness to respond. It is evident that the policeman has entire authority throughout the conversation because he has the ability to change the direction of the conversation. We may also get a sense that the witness isn’t particularly intelligent as he uses incorrect grammar: ‘them shops’ when it should be ‘those shops’. Something as subtle as this can allow the policeman to make assumptions of the eye witness. There is also a weakened force by the use of hedging: ‘he must have had it’; there is a sense of uncertainty which in turn alters his manner. It makes the reply seem vaguer and the policeman may doubt what he is saying. The interrogatives also have second person pronouns: ‘you’ which shows the importance of the transactional language – the policeman cannot find out what has gone on without the witness giving any information he knows.

Analysis for Student Report

The purpose of the text is to inform, specifically informing the students about an agreement between the college and themselves. Therefore, the audience is students, however parents would be considered as the secondary audience. There is a formal and serious tone throughout the entire text and this is presented in the form of an agreement/contract.

 

Graphology is shown by the use of bullet points. Not only does this make the points more concise, but it enables the points to be briefed and shortened. Pragmatically, this may have been done because it’s an assumption made that students may not want to read a huge amount of information, so the target audience is being considered. Secondly, there is underlining of one sentence and it’s also in capitals. Because the sentence is underlined and capitalised it shows that this has to be read, whereas perhaps the previous block of text had been overlooked. Bold text has also been used; it makes those parts of the text stand out but in addition to this, it could be signifying that the statements in bold are what the college previously had issues with. Also, at the bottom of the contract is a form that is required to be filled out. This makes the agreement seem formal, professional and emphasises the importance of the agreement.

 

There is a semantic field of education evident throughout the piece of text. Words such as ‘education’ ‘teaching’ ‘homework’ ‘students’ ‘staff’ ‘projects’ and ‘assignments’ all come under this semantic field. Without the use of this semantic field, the entire agreement would lose its meaning. The general lexis used in the agreement is formal; it has to be formal as the type of document is talking about a serious topic.  However having said this, there is not a great use of complex vocabulary as all students of all abilities have to understand the agreement.

 

Grammatically, there is an obvious use of pronouns, in particular second person pronouns such as ‘you’ and ‘your’. Despite the agreement being aimed at all of the students in the school, the use of these pronouns makes it seem as if it was written simply for you and you only. This in turn makes the college seem supportive and there for your every need. Furthermore, at the beginning of the second passage, there is use of a first person pronoun.  ‘I, the student’; the college are making sure you are fully aware that the following bullet points are your responsibility. There is a repetitive use of noun phrases too, one example being ‘a genuine concern’. The use of the noun ‘genuine’ shows again that the college is caring and the concern isn’t just a token gesture. Similarly, another noun phrase used is ‘careful and comprehensive advice’; this demonstrates that the advice is thought out and not rushed, and once again it’s not just something that the school do because they feel they have to. Respect is a noun that is also repeated throughout the second half of the agreement; it emphasises the importance of respect. Although respect has a meaning, people often define it in varying ways which makes it an effective word choice.

 

 

Connotations

Connotations

Girl

-          Innocence

-          Youth

-          Girly things (e.g. the colour pink)

Woman

-          Slightly older ‘girl’ – perhaps married and envision them working in the home

-          Generalised term, not as generalised as being female however as a woman is often associated with being of an age probably older than 18/19

-          Think of age

Lady

-          Posh, considered to receive and gain a lot of respect

-          Perhaps of a high class

-          Sophistication

-          Think of experience

 

Female

-          Very generalised term and can mean a female of any age

-          Can be seen as an equivalent to ‘woman’

Laddette

-           Informal term – think of disorderly behaviour, sense of irresponsibility

-          Don’t think about their actions, think they’re better than everyone else, perhaps seen as ‘cool’. 

 

 

House

-          Where people live, a place of residence

-          Think of families but perhaps even a place where people meet for a particular activity (e.g. house of prayer)

Home

-          Sense of belonging, cosiness, family

-          Permanent – the house is yours

-          Could perhaps be related to sport (i.e. a home game)

Property

-          Belongs to you – it is yours

-          Possessions – things you own

 

Place

-          Very broad term and could refer to a lot of things – particular position, point, location

-          A ‘portion’ of space – for example a place at the dinner table

-          A place can bring good and bad memories

Abode

-          Place where you stay

-          Simply where someone is living

 

Euphemisms

Euphemisms

 

1.      ‘To powder one’s nose’

-          Going to the toilet – mostly used by women

-          Sometimes means ‘to do drugs’

 

Using the first example, it’s quite an old-fashioned term however it is seen as a polite/humorous way of letting people know you’re going to the toilet. The women’s toilets often used to be called ‘the powder room’. Seen as ladylike

 

2.      ‘Vertically challenged’

-          Not tall in height

-          Short

 

This is a more polite way of saying someone is small in height – the intention is to not offend. If you heard someone say ‘oh they’re vertically challenged’ it is slightly less offensive than saying ‘oh they’re short.’

 

3.      ‘To let someone go’

-          They have been sacked/fired

 

Most people word ‘you are fired’ in a more polite and less harsh way such as ‘we have to let you go’. It sounds a lot nicer, despite the fact that the meaning is still the same.

 

Analysis

Once upon a time, in a land faraway, lived a Prince who wanted to seize the day.

Clip clop went the horse’s hooves on the ground and through the forest he galloped around.

On his head he wore a crown, and round his body was a red royal gown.

He just didn’t have the time to sort his hair, he could find a Princess but he thought this was rare

In true love he had never believed, but surely someday it would be achieved.

 

Sound symbolism: Lexical onomatopoeia: ‘clip clop’ – helps to create a more vivid image and it provides a lot of emphasis. It makes the paragraph seem more expressive

Foregrounding sounds: alliteration (consonance): ‘horse’s hooves’ – focuses the reader’s attention to this particular line. It helps with the rhythm of the poem and also creates mood.

Sibilance: ‘surely someday’ – creates a soft tone to the paragraph and as it’s towards the end of the passage, it concludes the sense of atmosphere and feeling.

Liaison: ‘he just’ becomes ‘he juss’ – it helps the words run together more smoothly and avoids a hiatus between the words.

Grammar Notes

Grammar

Nouns
‘A word used to identify any class of people, places or things’ (naming word)

Common: concrete and abstract. Preceded by the word ‘the’

Concrete: something we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch.

Abstract: concept or idea

Proper: unique individuals, events or places

Collective: group of things/people

Noun phrases

Whenever you modify a noun this becomes a noun phrase.

Plane crash

A horrific plane crash!

The most horrific plane crash!

How do nouns make a difference to a piece of writing?

-Lexical cohesion

-Paint a picture/describe

-Create an emotional response

Adjectives

Words or phrases that modify or describe nouns or pronouns.

-Describing words

-Function: evaluative, emotive, descriptive

-Comparative and superlative (exaggerate)

Verbs

Base form of verbs: (main and auxiliary)

Infinitive (to sing, to think)

Main: (action taking place: sing, jump, gave)

Auxiliary: primary and modal(give extra info about main verb – can affect meaning)

Primary: (do, have and be)

Modal: deontic and epistemic (can, could, will, would, must, may, might, shall, should)

Imperative: command

Verb phrases: built around a head word (main verb) and modal auxiliaries can be placed along a continuum to show degrees of strength towards commitment.

Present tense: base form and ‘s’ inflection (sings)

Past tense: base form and ‘ed’ inflection (jumped) (sing=sang)

Future tense: modal auxiliary: will or shall + base form (will sing)

‘ing’ can be used for all three.

Active and passive voice

‘Ahmed kicked the ball’ (focus is on Ahmed) = Active

‘The ball was kicked by Ahmed’ (focus has changed) = passive

Active:

-Actor/agency  responsible for carrying out the verb phrase is placed in subject position (usually at the start)

Passive:

- Don’t know the subject

-Don’t want to talk about the subject

-Subject not the focus

Clauses and Voice

If you modify a verb, you create a

verb phrase. = adverb/auxiliary verb

Clauses: words from phrases, phrases

form large structure called clauses.

Includes: subject, verb, object.

Coordinated clauses: two clauses

joined together by using a

conjunction (and, but, furthermore,

etc)

Must make sense on their own if you

remove the conjunction.

Subordinate clause: Main clause

followed by phrases that only make

sense when linked to the main clause