Week 1, subsytems, functions, modes, and register, Rosie

As the first week of language came to a close Nayomi and I definetly realised how much work the class entails, I myself filled a good 6 pages of my exercise book and a page and a bit worth of glossary terms - though I do admit those include the terms added dring the holiday homework.
The first point made in the class was that there are 5 subsytems of the English language, meaning the way language is organised, the functions of language and the nature of language can be broken down into 5 parts. These are taken from my notes in my exercise book so I don't know how coherent they'll be, this blog is mainly for revision so it all makes sense to me.
These are:

1. Phonetics and Phonology
   -The study of the sounds of language.
   - Phonetics: Study of speech sounds that occur in all human languages. (the form).
   - Phonology: Functioning of sounds as a part of language system. (function)
2. Morphology and Lexicology
   - The study of the structure of forms of words.
   - Morphology: Patterns of word formation, including inflection (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inflection) and derivation (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inflection).- Lexicology: Formation, meaning and use if words and of idiomatic (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/idiomatic) combinations of words.
3. Syntax- Study of rules that govern the way in which words combine to form phrases, clauses and sentances.
   - Arrangement of words in a sentance.
4. Semantics (*arbitrary*)
   - The study of the meaning in language.
   - Relationship between sign and meaning.
   - Message of words sentances and symbols.
5. Discourse analysis
   - The study of the ways in which language is sed in text and context.
   - Incorporates method, nature of language and meaning etc.
   - Can include things like slips, hesitations, "non-standered" etc. Hypercorrection.
      

We went into quite a bit of meaning with each subsyetem during class but that is the main notes from each one.
Also during class we went through the functions of language, there are 6 main functions,
- Communicating information.
- Communicating more complex ideas.
- General communication: interogative (questions/getting info'), imparitve (telling someone to do something), declarative (making a statement).
- Socialism and socialising, e.g. phatic communication (small talk) is used to establish social rapor. Does not necessarily advance conversation but facilitates social cohesion.
- Expressing emotion, e.g. Interjection such as "wow," "ouch," and "oh god."
To summerise, inform, raport, instruction, persuasion, entertainment, play and ceremony.

There are 2 main modes of language, speech and written text.
Gesture and gestural communication is less commen, however, standered sign language are complex, using manual signs rather than writtin or vocal symbols.
Prosodic features: pitch, stress, volume, intonations (tone) and tempo.Paralinguistic features: body language, facial expressions, gesture and eye contact.


Register and the - as I have taken to calling it - Fifty Shades of Formality:

 In linguistics a register is a variety of language used for a particular social setting. For example, if an English Language speaker is speaking in a formal setting they may adhere to more formal words ("child" instead of "kid") and refrain from using contractions such as "ain't," than when speaking in an informal manor.

The language you choose to use depends on the situation you are in, and who you are talking to (audience). E.g. the way you speak to a young child when first meeting them will differ from the way you speak if you are caught doing something you're not supposed to by the principal.

We automatically change what we say and the way we say it according to the audience and context we also vary our language depending on whether we are speaking or writing (mode) and why we are communicating (function).

In this blog I use a lot of formal style text as aposed to my personal blog in which I use language in a more conversational style. Hopefully my communication is clear for my readers on either blog to understand what I mean. 

Ok, Nayomi will write about anything else we've learned during the week and most likely add the notes she has taken from the homework, I have done the notes from my reading in my book but I think Nayomi's will be a bit more coprehensive so hers will be on the blog.

Untill next time, Rosie.

Class 1 with Rosie.

Our first lesson of English Language - or as I've taken to calling it, Language - for the year was all house keeping, the basic hand-in-your-homwork-run-through-what-we'll-be-doing-this-year stuff, we got the results of the test we did in transition, I got a measly 5.5 out of 20 and looking back on it I got very confused as to why I answered so badly, it really showed how tired I must have been because I saw all my mistakes instantly - regardless of correction.
So as the official start of the year we will begin writing regular posts and keeping the blog updated as we shoot through year 11 English Language 2013.

 Rosie.

My English Language History

Hello Miss,

English isn't my first language. It is, in fact, my second language, my first one being Tamil (because my parents are both Sri Lankan) so that was my first exposure to language as a whole, not specifically English. I can speak and understand it, and I can read it a bit but it's harder than English since everything isn't a direct translation, and each "letter" conduces more of a sound.

From there, as soon as I hit school, I started learning English, proper English. Of course, I had been learning English along with Tamil, but it had never really hit me. How complex and diverse the language really was, and I fell in love with it immediately.

I think what I found so attractive about it in my early days was my ability to express myself and the way I was feeling through only a few short words, which is why I wrote a fair bit of (extremely childish) poetry. However I didn't read much, which I regret now because I love it. Language has always been an easy thing for me to pick up, and I think that's partly due to the fact that I already know (pretty much) two languages.

Later on in life, when I was about to hit primary school (so about year 5, perhaps) I started getting heavily into reading. The first full series I ever finished was the infamous Harry Potter series, which took me only about 2 weeks. I fell in love with all the characters and the idea of magic and it was just so beautifully well crafted writing.

Now I read at least 2 books a week, devouring books in the middle of the night (as most avid readers find themselves doing), and like Rosie I have this blog and my own personal blog, which I update daily with written posts.

English, for me, is such a beautiful language varying in depth and breadth and reach, and I love it to bits.

Nayomi.

My English language history, by Rosie

Alright, Hello internet and of course Miss, I have been set the homework task of writing about how language influences my life.

First off, I don't remember not being able to communicate, in one way or another  , using words, and sometimes along with them an elaborate interpretive dance when in a different country. Until I went to France and was put into a real world situation of not being able to order a meal at a café without really speaking I didn't realise how much I take English for granted, a small knowledge of a second language doesn't get you by.

I feel that language over the years of my life - from when I was three and called a "drink" a "goonk," up until now.  I have never realised how important it was until I was in that situation in France. I use language on a daily bases writing two blogs (this one and my personal blog), I read everyday and I talk to friends. I know how important English is to me.

I have always had trouble with spelling, I nearly always spell Guess Geuss because  it is just what happens when I go to write it. You could go through everything I've ever written and very easily find spelling errors. Being concise is another problem I have, when I write it does not come across as strongly as when I speak directly to someone, when I am asked a question I will blable on for a while making the same point multiple times in my answer.

I love performing in my schools production, so being able to remember a script and then say it to an audience is something in English that I find extremely important. I feel I am a strong performer and I really enjoy it.

Up until year six I was not an avid reader, I read all the time now, I love reading because it is a way to almost escape from my adventures in real life, no matter how wonderful my life is it is a good way to escape bordem and pass time.

Writing is another part of language  that I find interesting and enjoyable, I have written about five, extremely short, chapters of a short story that is purely an inner monologue of the main character. It is still a work in progress.

On a whole, the English language, being the only language I speak fluently (I speak a small amount of French also) I feel that I do take it for granted. I feel that language is not something should take for granted, you never know when you won't be able to rely on it.

Ok, so I may have been lying when I said my rambling doesn't come across in my writing.
Rosie

What to expect from this blog and link post 1

As another little intro, we will write these posts. They can be a fun little reference when needed. .

These are the first links (found by Rosie), enjoy:
Fun little poem - This is something I stumbled upon on Tumblr (and then had to find again) and I thought it was pretty cool.
Man challenges English -This one I have seen a couple of times now and I really enjoy it, it is an example of descriptive English and how a variation of a word still makes sense even when it is not spelled in the correct way.

We will have one of these posts (highlighting our favourite links that we've found) every two weeks in addition to weekly posts on what we have learned in class, these will include articles we annotate, descriptions of new terms and language that we learn through out any given week in the year to come.

These link posts will be written as a joint post instead of a single post per each writer, we will write who found the link (as shown). Nayomi has not been able to find any links today (understandable as this blog is for next year) which might be the case depending on how much time we have. 

For our weekly posts we will chose a topic (or a few) each week that we have learned in class and we will write about the one/s that we have chosen each week. It depends on who feels like writing about that topic and about how well each of us understand the weeks work and the topics as to who writes what.

We hope that you enjoy this blog and learn something, or in your case Miss, teach us something - as we will be writing here as we learn from you.

Rosie and Nayomi 

I feel that an introduction is in order.

Well hello, people of the strange and crazy World Wide Web, my name is Nayomi and I shall be your conductor for this text post.

Aside from my name, I have had 16 cakes in my lifetime to celebrate the wonderful occasion known to humans as "birthdays" and I live in a land in the back of a wardrobe. I'm fairly strange by nature, and I often have trouble expressing myself, which happens to be a lovely segue into my next topic!

What is the point of this beautiful blog? Well my co-writer (Rosie, give them a wave) and I plan to adventure through all the twists and turns of the lovey language of English with our teacher (who for all intents and purposes will be referred to as "Miss"), and (hopefully) we come out alive. This blog will be used to help us track progress and update you all on our adventures in Language-land, a wonderfully mysterious place filled with pidgins and creoles.

I guess my main goal is to be able to look at English in a new way; to be able to analyse and understand English to its very roots, and I hope this blog will help us do that.

Alas, my friends, until another day.

Nayomi.

My name is Rosie.

Hi, if you are reading this you are one or all of these things:

1. Realising that you've stumbled upon this somehow on Google while looking for the cat videos and are frantically clicking away as you notice this is - in a sense - an educational blog. For your sake the cats are here.
2. Noticing that your life is so boring that you feel you need to read a blog written by two 16 year old girls about a lesson they are doing next year (I must admit I am a victim of this as well).
3. Are our teacher and are assessing our homework (in which case, Hi Miss).
4. or, like me you are amazing.

So, if you have continued reading from there  I'm Rosie, co-writer of this blog, solo writer of another blog and a student of English Language in year 11 in 2013.
Things you need to know about me is that I tend to ramble, I promise Miss when/if you read this I will attempt not to. I am a year 11 student at a school somewhere in this universe - of which the location shall not be disclosed.  I am sixteen (at the time of this post).

 The point of this blog is to keep up to date with writing work that is given to us by our - Nayomi (my co-writer) and mine - teacher who, for privacy purposes will be referred to as Miss (as demonstrated above).

For those of you who don't know, English Language is a subject that looks into the in's and out's of, you guessed it, the English language. We are going to learn about all the different origins, the structure and the way people learn English.

I am excited for the year to come in English Language and hope that Nayomi and I keep this blog up to date with our newest work and our takes on the what we've been learning throughout the year.

Here we go I guess, Rosie