Example Analysis of Spoken Transcripts

Language Analysis Text A

Katamba
Francis Katamba’s findings were that parents most frequently use the definite article ‘a’, whereas children acquire this after ‘ing’ and ‘s’ endings.This is supported by the fact that in Text A the mother encourages the use of the definite article, ‘a’, by repeating it before every noun. The mother has to give the child the definite article:
• M: Its not a cot. It’s a ….
• A: bed
However there is one scenario where the child uses the definite article
• M: Not a chair (1.0) a
• A: a TABLE
But this is the only instance where the definite article is used by Anna because she has been prompted to use it. So as Katamba identified, the parent uses the definite article much more frequently than her child What is more, the child fails to use the possessive ‘s’ A: Post Pat Chair or any ‘ing’ endings

Skinner
Skinner said that language is acquired through operant conditioning. Those utterances that are rewarded/reinforced become stronger. Negative and positive reinforcements are used in this transcript:
• M: Good Girl -encourages a correct answer
• M: Not a chair –Highlights an incorrect answer
The operant conditioning provokes a correct answer from Anna on every occasion. This theory was supported also by Pavlov who believed that children learned through association.

Chomsky vs Bruner
The LAD cited by Chomsky refers to the predisposition of a child to language acquisition through a set of language learning capacities. Bruner argues that if this is the case there must also be a LASS (Language Acquisition Support System) such as parents or teachers that the child can learn from. It frames or structure the input of language and interaction in the child's LAD, in a manner to make system function. Bruner’s argument is supported in the text, following the use of questions by
• M: do you like beans
• A: I like beans
This was successful since later in the text the child announces unprompted: I like sausage. Without the mother asking, therefore the child has learnt from it’s experience of society’s support.

Vygotsky vs Piaget
Vygotsky’s ZPD ( Zone of Proximal Development) is similar to the LASS as it argues that a child can only perform language functions with the assistance of someone else. This person is the scaffolding process. He would argue that the child demonstrates the linguistic skill termed intermental learning. This is when a child can interact with the help of another person but cannot accomplish ‘decontextualisation’

Piaget argued that too much scaffolding/ teacher involvement hinders the child’s acquisition of language since it suppresses their cognitive functions. In relation to the text this is proved as the the topic management of M, prevents the child initiating or exploring her own ideas and language. M is testing the child on knowledge and recognition of nouns eg: M: Whats that? A: Post Pat chair. This is limiting the child from developing more complex syntactical structures. However, Brown and Fraser suggest that nouns are what children repeat most, as a test in 1963 demonstrated. So perhaps the mother is simply utilising this fact.

Brown - MLU
Brown uses MLU to judge the competence of a child’s use of language. Anna’s MLU is 1.6. Is this because scaffolding is hinder her expression or is Anna vocabulary simply limited by her age?

The Transcript
The child's language is very personal and egotistical ‘I like beans’. So the mother is important in teaching the child beyond this about other people in the wider world.
The child is in the telegraphic stage, and so the lack of complexity means certain parts of information are omitted. This makes the child's language very reliant upon pragmatics, that an adult caregiver is essential in interpreting, especially in the one-word utterance ‘Lunar’. If the adult was not present and perhaps, interaction was with another child, then language acquisition would be slower as the child may not understand the underlying context. The parent controls the topic management, therefore the child is grammatically only developing declarative sentences, not interrogatives.

The mother uses a similar method to teacher - scribe, but for the acquisition of spoken language. M asks what the object is and once identified, then reinforces this with the written text.

Although the child understands concepts of ‘he’ and ‘him’ when used by the mother, she does not use them herself. This suggests that the child understands the context and is likely to use pronouns in future situations, thus the adult caregiver is a source of information.

Pol and Pax in the Salty Red Sea - Children's Book Dissection

Pol and Pax in the Salty Red Sea
Nelson ‘New Way’ Series, Orange Level
How The Text Teaches
Syntax
LINEATION
 The sentences are in extended paragraphs on separate pages. There is not one line to a single page, this indicates that the children reading this type of text are at a higher reading level and place less dependence on the amount of visual contextualisation through pictures to understanding the meaning of the text.

SENTENCE TYPES
 There is a mixture of long and short sentences with varying complexity. As a child would now be familiar with short simple sentences there are examples of both compound and complex syntax.
 There is a mixture of both present and past sentences to familiarise children with grammatical structures and to introduce them to more complicated verbs.
 Future: We’ll have to look in our sea and river atlas.”

 Past: “He had caught a small shark.”
 Compound: “They eat a slice of brain food every day and this makes them as clever as they need to be”
 Complex: “They wanted to see which of them could catch the strangest fish”
 There are interrogatives: “Can you please tell me how I can get to the salty red seas”
 Declaratives: “We only east brain food.”
 and Imperatives: “Please go and get it.”


SUBJECT/VERB POSITION
“They wanted to see which of them could catch the strangest fish”
 In the sentence above the phrase ‘which of them’ is the object of the first clause and the subject of the second. This is a far more complicated order than younger texts and so develops their understanding.
 The text however still avoids passive sentences, as this ellipsis can confuse children at this age. (orange level is ages 5-6).

George Reading Transcript

George is being helped to learn reading but an array of techniques, including the mother’s use of feedback, correction and positive reinforcement. There is also evidence of the synthetics phonics teaching method which has bee used to teach the child. There has been much recent debate regarding the correct methods to teach young children to read. This is mainly due to a strong emphasis on synthetic phonics and there is evidence supporting this style of teaching showing children’ reading ability to be far greater than children taught reading by other methods.

Within the text it appears the child uses phonics. The method is also taught to George by his mother who, when he is unsure of a word, tells him to “sound it out” which George does based on the individual phonemes of the word “sandbag” (). George omits the phoneme (de) which is correct by his mother. This error, which is clearly virtuous as it will later aid his learning, occurs later in the text in which he reads “sandbags”. With his mother’s emphasis (through her intonation) on 2sand”, George corrects his error. However, it is arguable that through the use of “look and say” method this mistake may not have been made as he would have seen the letter “d”.

Another virtuous error occurs in line 17 in which George omits the plural for “houses” and merely says “house”. This is corrected by the mother saying “watch the endings”. This error could have been caused by two things, either that George is trying to read on from one line to the next too quickly and therefore misses the plural or that he is not yet fully aware pluralisation and needs to learn the rule. The speed he is reading seems likely as he make three further errors in this way such as “never” instead of “need”, “upstairs” rather than “upset” and “made” rather than “may”. This errors made by George are from seeing the first two letters of the word and pronouncing words he knows which begin with the same letters and fit into the sentence. This basis for predicting the words is shown by his mother’s statement “it looks like upstairs, doesn’t it”. However, this may be a reference to the look and say method in which George has registered that the word resembles “upstairs”. George’s error with “upstairs” may also suggest that George is reading for readings sake, rather than for meaning.

The mother’s role in the process is vital in aiding her child’s development. This is not just in form of correcting any mistakes but in the form of positive and negative reinforcement, a behaviourist approach from B. F. Skinner. George’s mother uses positive reinforcement in abundance through the use of praise word: “well done” and “good boy”. These statements encourage George to keep reading and to do so using the techniques he is already employing. Even corrections are done in a positive way shown by the elongated vowel cluster in “noooo”. It is likely her intonation would rise at this cluster, making it friendly and aiding development. Any corrections are followed by more positive reinforcement such as “that’s it” to avoid discouraging him. The mother also invites George to interact with the book by the use of interrogatives: “what do you think is happening?”. This enables her to check he understands the plot and what he has read.

Language Change List of Things to Look For

Discourse

• How is cohesion created?
• Is there evidence of contrasting registers?
• Is there evidence of dialogue or narrative structures? Are there any interpersonal features?
• Is there evidence of different discourse conventions?
• Is there one general viewpoint or several?
• Is the register formal or informal?
• Is there a difference in purpose between the texts or in an older text compared to your knowledge of modern texts?

Pragmatics

• Is the reader expected to recognise and identify with specific societal roles?
• Is the reader expected to share social codes and values?
• Is the reader expected to accept particular roles and responsibilities?
• Is the reader expected to accept particular social attitudes/ cultural assumptions?
• What attitude is expressed about language: prescriptive or descriptive?
• Are assumptions made about the readers’ knowledge and understanding?
• Is there evidence of changing values or ideologies?

Lexis

• Is there obsolete lexis or for old roles and practices?
• Is there archaic language or archaic slang?
• Is the lexis Latinate, or of classical derivation, or polysyllabic or formal? Are the collocations archaic or unfamiliar?
• Are there unusual allusions e.g. classical or religious?
• Are there any unexplained references?
• Are there differing specialist terms?
• Is there evidence of borrowing, clippings conversion, neologisms or coinages?
• Does lexis suggest technological development?
• Are there any emotive overtones to the lexis?
• Is there evidence of colloquial or slang lexis? Is the lexis of Old English origin or short words or informal? *Is it largely intelligible and familiar?
• What influence has technology had?

Semantics

• Identify the semantic fields
• Are there specific connotations, metaphors, innuendo or figurative language?
• Is there evidence of semantic shifts or changes
• Is there any pejoration or amelioration?
• Is there anything significant in the terms of address, are there politeness markers?
• Is there any difference between the texts in the degree of implicitness?
• Is the text accessible and easy to understand?
• Is there any relevance in how much authority the text has?
• Are there examples of special collocations or metaphors?

Grammar

• Are grammar choices formal or informal?
• Does syntax seem outdated? Does it suggest a classical style? Are there any complex or Latinate grammatical structures? Is there any unfamiliar syntax?
• Comment on the verb forms, adverbs, pre-modification.
• Are prepositions used differently?
• Are there differences in conjunctions/punctuation?
• Do the texts use modal auxiliaries? What do they convey?
• Does the text use pronouns for immediacy of address
• Are any questions used without auxiliary verbs?
• Are minor sentences used?
• Are there any variations in sentence length and complexity?
• Is there use of syntactic parallelism or repeated sentence structures?
• Do the texts use the forms of informal speech?
• Does the text use a lot of imperative, declarative, exclamative or interrogative sentences?
• Orthography
• Are capital letters used differently?
• Do texts use different letter forms e.g. the long s
• Are words abbreviated in a familiar way?
• Are there any differences in spelling or punctuation?
• Are there competing or unusual spellings?
• Are spellings similar to modern English?
• Are there approximations of foreign spellings or unusual letter strings for English spelling?
• Are plurals formed differently?
• Does the spelling in the texts relate to your knowledge of standardization?
• Are conventions related to technology?

Graphology

• How are fonts used, for example - to assist discourse structure/for emphasis?
• How are illustrations used?
• Are there different design or layout conventions, for example - bar code, price and logo slogans?
• Is there a greater use of graphological devices to signal text structure, for example - space-shifting, textboxes, bullet points; or systematic, colour coded layout, headings.

Context

• What sort of societal roles are implied?
• How does the text position the reader?
• What are the shared social values?
• What attitudes to the text are assumed?
• Is there an authoritative tone?
• Is there a religious context assumed?
• Is there an assumption about the reader’s education?
• Is there evidence of a prescriptivist attitude?
• What principles are assumed to be self evident, true or desirable?
• What stage of language development is exemplified in the text?
• Is the use of language very specific to this type of text or can you generalise?

Other Issues

• Situational as well as temporal variation.
• What can be assumed about the audience and how the text is read e.g. is the text intended to be read aloud?
• What is the social and linguistic context?
• Can you find any relationship to key/landmark texts you are aware of? (e.g. Lowth’s grammar; Johnson’s dictionary)
• What evidence does it supply about attitudes to language change?
• What evidence is there of attitudes to gender, class and ethnicity?
• What evidence is there of the society’s different technologies and priorities?
• What sort of situation produced this text? What are the genre conventions of this text?
• What sort of priorities is does the author/audience seem to have?
• Can you make connections with other texts you have seen?
• Does it reflect specific economic or scientific priorities of the time?
• What comparisons can you make to modern texts/use of language?
• Does the text represent the views of a particular section of society?

Research coverage

• Stronger answers will place the text within a sociolinguistic and socio-cultural perspective.
• Some students will be able to make connections between this text and other texts they have encountered.
• There may be references to other developments relevant to language change including those in education, economic development and popular culture.
• Can you show differences in situational as well as temporal variation- you are aware of how the situation in which this text is produced influences the language as well as when it was produced.

Temporal variation

• Technological context e.g. relatively unsophisticated print methods of older texts.
• The more Informal and conversation style of modern texts.
• Change in attitudes towards language: grammatical preoccupations of previous years, compared with communicative competence model of modern texts.

Language Change Guide

Flowchart demonstrating language change

SEMANTIC GAP

SEMANTIC SHIFT

MAINSTREAM STANDARD

GRAMMATIC TRANSFORMANCE

As society change, so does language. We are living in a world that has become technical (language and technology). Are we becoming lazier with language? Lifestyles have changed and the pace of life is quicker; we expect instant communication (text messaging, e-mails). Features language change include controversy, resistance and social values.

Changes in accent and dialect

• William Labov study (Martha’s vineyard)
• Urban accents (Estuary English)
• Prestige (BBC English, RP)
• 15th Century – The Great Vowel Shift

  Tochter – dochter – daughter

  Nacht – night – nite?

  Leisure – ‘zh’ pronunciation, also applies to measure, pleasure and treasure

  Swan and man; obey and tea (word that used to rhyme and few centuries ago but not today.

  Interest, every, factory, nursery, cursory, desultory – ‘uh’ sound (ə = schwa)

Phonology

1. Outlaw – he was an outlaw (noun); outlawed (verb)
2. Record – that was a good re'cord (noun); I was going to record a song (verb)
3. Rebel – he was a rebel (noun); he rebelled (verb)

Emphasis on vowel if the word is a noun.

Emphasis on vowel if the word is a verb.

Grammatical Multifunctioning

Using a word in more than one grammatical function.

Noun to verb

1. Garage – put the car in the garage; I will garage the car
2. Party – that was a good party; let’s party

This is becoming more common with prepositions, for example, I’ve been outed as a homosexual or to down a pint. This is multifunctional but very recent. Preposition to verb is a big move in language change.

Attitudes to language change

• Standard English – right and wrong (National Curriculum, for example). Should it remain constant or should it change? People start making judgements about language change.
• Prescriptive – laying down rules which are very exact, for example, compu’er (the ‘t’ must be added). In other words, what English language SHOULD be like.
• Descriptive – language change is inevitable, for example, Sainsbury’s (some add the apostrophe, others do not). In other words, what English language IS like.
• Golden Age - when did people, speak the same, write in the same handwriting and spell coherently?
• It is almost impossible to stop language changing (evolution)
• What is proper English? Issues of race, class, gender and location.

Issue	‘Good’ English	‘Bad’ English
Race	White people’s language	Other ethnic backgrounds
Class	Middle and upper classes	Working class
Gender	Male language is dominant	Female language is deviant
Location	South East England – RP, BBC English	Any other accent/dialect

The beginnings of global English

• Significant period in English: Middle English – Early Modern English (15th, 16 and 17th centuries).

• There should not have been any reason for language change because people never travelled far (within three miles) and only talked about predictable things (weather, money, work, family, food etc).

• Over the past thousand years, language change was very slow, until invaders visited the country.

• The Renaissance – rediscovery of learning occurred during the 15th century. More people were educated and breaking away form the repressive authority from the church, which controlled learning. People were travelling frequently, more medical discoveries and freedom of thought.

• Many borrowings from Latin, Greek (languages of education and thought), French (language of luxury and style) and Italian (language of the arts – growth of theatre encouraged new words). Words became naturalised in English language. This is still very consistent in the 21st century.

• Shakespeare invented over 3000 words such as lovely, skim milk and mountaineer. He mainly extended words or put two words together.

• 16th and 17th centuries were the age of travel. There were borrowings from Spanish and Portuguese languages (words tended to end with vowel sounds such as banana, tobacco and canoe) and settlement from America, which was already settled by the Spanish. Many cigarette companies are named after American towns, for example, Marlboro (a town in West Virginia).

• English was looked down upon and then became as good as Latin when expressing love, due to Shakespeare’s work. It is beginning to become a global language.

• Lexis was borrowed from explorations, nowadays the main influence is media and technology.

• 1610 – The Authorised Version of the Bible was published for the masses. Full of phrases such as eat sour grapes, the skin of my teeth and the salt of the earth.

• The main five world languages originate from Indo-European languages, but have evolved sounds which cannot be understood in English language, for example, China, Japan and India.

Review of language change

The earliest known languages spoken I the British Isles were Celtic, whose descendants survive today in the form of Welsh, Scots and Irish Gaelic and Cornish.

First the Romans (55BC onwards) and then the Anglo-Saxons (up to AD1000) helped shape what became known as English.

Until the emergence of an accepted form of Standard English from the fifteenth century, different dialects were spoken. This important development was partly due to technological (the invention of the printing press) and social factors. The power and prestige of those who spoke the East Midlands dialect ensured that this was the dialect that became accepted as ‘correct’ English.

The pre-eminence enjoyed by English in the world today is a result of political and economic factors – first, the extension of the British Empire, and in the twentieth century, the power of the USA.

Observable changes in accent can take place over a relatively short period of time, and are closely related to questions of social class and identity.

Linguistic change is constant and inevitable, but can also be the subject of complaint and controversy.

Table of Language Change

TIME	SOCIAL, POLITICAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC INFLUENCES	MAJOR LINGUISITC DEVELOPMENTS	EXAMPLES
Pre-1st century AD	Britain inhabited by Celts, or Britons	People spoke varieties of Celtic languages, the roots of Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Manx and Cornish.	Partly as a result of what happened to the Celts later (they were displaced by the Anglo-Saxons), relatively few Celtic words survive in modern English. However, numerous place-names (Penrith, Leeds, York, Thames and Avon) remind us of our ancient roots.
1st – 5th centuries	The Romans occupied mainly England	There was some limited influence from Latin on the native language during this period. Some Latin words have survived, but the major Latin influence of English was to come much later.	Many place names, such as Manchester, Lancaster, Chester and Worcester derive from this period. A few other words of Latin origin which survive, such as street, port, wine and wall may also date from this period.
5th – 8th centuries	Invasions of the Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons and Jutes) Christianity adopted (587)	The Celtic language was displaced except in Wales, Scotland, Cornwall and Ireland. Old English developed from the Germanic dialects of the invaders, which varied according to where the different tribes were settled. This was the true beginning of English; many of the basic grammatical words (the, in was, etc.) and many everyday nouns and verbs derive from this period. The Latin alphabet was adopted and Latin was used by the educated elite and in church.	Old English – a considerable body of literature from this period survives. It is very foreign to modern eyes, and requires special study to understand it, as in this example from the poem Beowulf: Hwaet we Gar-Dena in geardagum, Peodcyninga pryn gefrunon Hu da aepelingas ellen fremedon (So by the Spear-Danes in days gone by, And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness. We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.)
8th – 11th centuries	Viking invasions	The Vikings’ language (Norse) was close enough to the Anglo-Saxon of the inhabitants to allow communication between the peoples. The Vikings took over many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, particularly I the north and east of the county.	Many Norse words have passed into Standard English – get, take, angry, awkward, they, she – and even more have survived in the dialects of the north where some pronunciations and grammatical forms of dialects are also Scandinavian in origin.
11th – 14th centuries	1066:the Normans invaded, led by William the Conqueror Norman French and English co-existed	Following the Norman invasion, there was a French-speaking power bas – the court, the church and major landowners were mainly French-speaking, while the populace spoke English. During the twelfth century English was more widely used by the upper classes and in 1362 was used for the first time at the state opening of parliament. By 1425 English was used universally in speech and writing.	This was the beginning of the Middle English period; there was an inevitable flow of vocabulary from Norman French (itself heavily based on Latin) into English. English not only survived but was enriched by the language of the invaders. This period also saw the loss of many Old English word endings (inflections), many of which were replaced with the prepositions by, with, from etc. Much Middle English literature survives and is reasonably accessible to patient modern readers. This period also saw the beginnings of a major change in English pronunciation: the Great Vowel Shift.
15th- 17th centuries	Printing invented (William Caxton set up his press in 1746) Many Greek and Latin texts were translated into English	There was a gradual acceptance of a standard form of English, made necessary by the increasing dissemination of printed materials.	Early modern English: In the period 1500 – 1700 many more words entered the language than at any other period. New words were needed for new concepts and an influx of Latin and French words resulted. This period of world exploration also brought words from the language of Africa, Asia and the New World. The Great Vowel Shift was completed – and the pronunciation of English began to stabilise. This was also the age of Shakespeare, himself a great coiner of words.
18th – 19th centuries	The search for a standard, pure form of English	Attempts to define the vocabulary and grammar of English led to the establishment of the prescriptive ideas about correctness. Non-standard varieties were viewed as inferior; Latin was upheld as an ideal language and a model for English dictionary writers and grammarians tried to lay down rules for correct usage.	This was the age of the dictionary, when writers tried to ‘fix’ spellings and meanings. 1721 – Nathaniel’s Bailey’s Universal Etymological Dictionary 1755 – Samuel Johnson’s English Dictionary 1762 – Robert Lowth’s Short Introduction to English Grammar 1762 – Lindley Murray’s English Grammar
19th century - present	The Expansion of British and American English	In the nineteenth century, rail travel colonial expansion, the spread of literacy and education and the printed word extended access to standard and written forms of English. Electronic media extended this process in the twentieth century; meanwhile, American economic and political power succeeded that of the British empire to ensure the spread of English as a world language.	American English was starting to become noticeably different from British English. English continues to absorb loan words from language across the world. Grammar and pronunciation see few major changes, but in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, a drift towards more colloquial and casual styles of language in many contexts reflect major social changes. American English increasingly influence British English and English worldwide.

Timeline of English

Before English began - up to ca. 450 AD

British (Celtic) tribes - language related to modern Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Irish (Erse) · Only real connection with Modern English is in lexis (mostly in place names).


Origins of English - ca. 450 AD to 1066

Angles, Saxons and Jutes arrive from north Germany · Language (Old English) is at first spoken · only writing is runes · Written form comes from Latin-speaking monks, who use Roman alphabet, with new letters (æ, ð and þ - spoken as "ash", "eth" and "thorn") · About half of common vocabulary of modern English comes from Old English · Word forms vary according to syntax (inflection, case endings and declension) and grammatical gender · Vikings establish Danelaw · some erosion of grammar and addition of new vocabulary.


Middle English Period - 1066 to 1485

Lexis - terms for law and politics from Norman French · General expansion of lexis, esp. abstract terms · Case-endings, declension and gender disappear · Inflection goes except in pronouns and related forms · Writers concerned about change · want to stabilize language · 1458 - Gutenberg invents printing (1475 - Caxton introduces it to England) · the press enables some standardizing.


Tudor Period - 1485 to 1603

Rise of nationalism linked to desire for more expressive language · Flowering of literature and experiments in style · idea of elevated diction · Vocabulary enlarged by new learning Renaissance) · imports from Greek and Latin · Lexis expanded by travel to New World, and ideas in maths and science · English settlers begin to found colonies in North America. In 1582 Richard Mulcaster publishes a list of 7,000 words with spelling forms, but this does not become a universal standard


The 17th Century

Influences of Puritanism and Catholicism (Roundhead and Cavalier) and of science · Puritan ideas of clarity and simplicity influence writing of prose· reasonableness and less verbose language · English preferred to Dutch as official tongue of American colonies.


The 18th Century

Age of reason · Ideas of order and priority · Standardizing of spelling (Johnson' s Dictionary of the English Language in 1755) and grammar (Robert Lowth's Short Introduction to English Grammar in 1762 and Lindley Murray's English Grammar in 1794)· Classical languages are seen as paradigms (ideal models) for English · Romantic Movement begins · interest in regional and social class varieties of English.


The 19th Century

Interest in past · use of archaic words · Noan Webster publishes American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828 · British Empire causes huge lexical growth · English travels to other countries and imports many loanwords · Modern language science begins with Jakob Grimm and others · James Murray begins to compile the New English Dictionary (which later becomes the Oxford English Dictionary) in 1879


The 20th Century and beyond

Modern language science developed · descriptive not prescriptive · Non-standard varieties have raised status · Ideas of formal and informal change · Modern recording technology allows study of spoken English · Influence of overseas forms grows · US and International English dominant · English becomes global language (e.g. in computing, communications, entertainment).