http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1872715,00.html
On the 20th of January, 2009, citizens gathered at the capitol building for the inaugural ceremony where Barack Obama addressed them all. The purpose of this piece is to inform the people of America that their nation has the power to expand and become greater. The function of this oiece is informative as well as persuasive. It is of a consultative register as Obama attempts to persuade his nation.
The lexical choice in Barrack Obama's inaugural address contributes to the level of formality through the persuasion of the American public and the careful planning used to back up his purpose with evidence; "These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics". This means that Obama is speaking the truth about what his intentions are and supporting them with statistical evidence. Repetition is also present around words such as "on this day", "generation", "all", "god bless" and "we". This contributes to the level of formality through emphasising the purpose about why he should be president.
The syntactic structure of this piece contributes to the persuasion of the audience. Obama tends to use a lot of simple sentences to not bore the audience with a complex unnecessary utterance. He also uses many declarative sentence types; for example when making a statement about George Bush, "I thank George Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout his transition.
The discourse of this piece uses both cohesion and coherence to help the flow and structure. Obama beings the flow with history, present and future of America, following with the history of the nation and moving on to the present that America is facing extreme crisis; "Our economy is badly weakened". This causes the audience to realise how major the crisis of the American economy has become. The following paragraphs discuss the future through statistical data; "Today I say to you the challenges we face are real". The coherence in this piece is identified through implicature where language is indirect and what is meant is not exactly what is read; for example "We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things". This achieves formality through the reader once inferring what is meant, realises the importance and is persuaded.
Making use of lexical choice, syntactic structure and the flow of discourse, cohesion and coherence, a formal piece is created to inform and persuade the nation of America of the importance of the economic crisis that is being faced.
Thursday, 30 May 2013
TS Eliot - The Wasteland
http://unit3englishlanguageaos2.wikispaces.com/file/detail/The+Waste+Land+What+the+Thunder+said.docx
The wasteland poem which is written by TS Eliot and is a formal written poem, with the purpose of informing the audience of shifts between satire and prophecy. The function of this poem is informative, the register in this poem is consultative due to the way the poem uses words such as "mud-cracked", readers will be attracted to this unique and different poem.
The lexical choice contributes to the level of formality in the text. In the poem there is a lot of repetition of verbs, there are examples of this is the first three lines following the opening of the word "the". An oxymoron is also taking place in the first few lines of the poem, "living is now dead". Onomatopoeia is present in the final paragraph of the first page, "drip drop drip drop". All of these factors contribute to the formality of this piece because they display clear English and standard English without any slang. There are high amounts of lexical repetition with lots of words such as "the", "and", "water", "rock", "a", "stop", "no", "of". This shows the text has a high amount of lexical repetition.
The context of the text contributes to the level of formality. The domain of the text is religion and education. The topic that is being discussed is people suffering. The audience would be any middle aged person who has an interest in reading poems or it could be VCE or University students because this is a famous poem studied many times. The context contributes to the poem's formality through the absence of slang.
In terms of syntactic structure, parallelism is present in the text; "Stand nor lie nor sit", which occurs half way down the first page. As well as "Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded." The poem is dominated with a simple sentence structure as well as a few declaratives as they are single clause statements such as "A spring."
TS Eliot combines the use of lexical choice, context and syntactic structure to create a cohesive and formal piece of poetry.
The wasteland poem which is written by TS Eliot and is a formal written poem, with the purpose of informing the audience of shifts between satire and prophecy. The function of this poem is informative, the register in this poem is consultative due to the way the poem uses words such as "mud-cracked", readers will be attracted to this unique and different poem.
The lexical choice contributes to the level of formality in the text. In the poem there is a lot of repetition of verbs, there are examples of this is the first three lines following the opening of the word "the". An oxymoron is also taking place in the first few lines of the poem, "living is now dead". Onomatopoeia is present in the final paragraph of the first page, "drip drop drip drop". All of these factors contribute to the formality of this piece because they display clear English and standard English without any slang. There are high amounts of lexical repetition with lots of words such as "the", "and", "water", "rock", "a", "stop", "no", "of". This shows the text has a high amount of lexical repetition.
The context of the text contributes to the level of formality. The domain of the text is religion and education. The topic that is being discussed is people suffering. The audience would be any middle aged person who has an interest in reading poems or it could be VCE or University students because this is a famous poem studied many times. The context contributes to the poem's formality through the absence of slang.
In terms of syntactic structure, parallelism is present in the text; "Stand nor lie nor sit", which occurs half way down the first page. As well as "Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded." The poem is dominated with a simple sentence structure as well as a few declaratives as they are single clause statements such as "A spring."
TS Eliot combines the use of lexical choice, context and syntactic structure to create a cohesive and formal piece of poetry.
John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address
http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html
On the 20th of January, 1961 an inaugural ceremony was held in Washington D.C where John F. Kennedy addressed America explaining what he will do in role of president. . Through use of semantics and lexical choice, Kennedy delivers his intentions for the duration of his running as leader.
Kennedy uses a metaphor to emphasise his opinion by stating “But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom, and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”. This causes the audience to infer that they are not so obliged to follow but rather to support and fight for their own. Another metaphor is seen when Kennedy discusses rising for power when it is needed most. He states that “The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavour will light our country and all who serve it.” implying that the country must work together to be successful. He follows this with the metaphor “The glow from that fire (The fire meaning the country's support) showing how great an effect the audience have on him. This achieves formality through making the audience have a clearer idea of their president and what his intentions are, persuading them to take his side.
Kennedy constant repetition of words throughout his speech when discussing pledges, which includes “the survival and success of liberty.”, the pledge of “loyalty to faithful friends.”, the pledge of “struggling to break the bonds of mass misery” and pledge to “convert our good words into good deeds.”. The repetition of the word “pledge” grabs the audience mind of its importance.
Repetition is seen again when Kennedy discusses 'both sides', “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belabouring those problems which divide us.”, “Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors" and "Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah - to 'undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the oppressed go free.". Kennedy utilises repetition to emphasise his point and bring focus to the importance of making peace.
Repetition is seen again when Kennedy discusses 'both sides', “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belabouring those problems which divide us.”, “Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors" and "Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah - to 'undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the oppressed go free.". Kennedy utilises repetition to emphasise his point and bring focus to the importance of making peace.
The use of semantics together with the use of lexical choice combine to form a cohesive text by allowing for Kennedy to explain his 'future' actions as president.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Glossary of Terms
Cohesion: A
relationship between sentences or parts of a piece of writing that is shown by
particular words or phrases ‘The glue that holds a piece together’
Coherence: The
logical and natural consistency in a piece that brings meaning
Clause: A group
of words that includes a verb and a subject and is a sentence or a main part of
a sentence.
Ellipsis: The
process of leaving a word, or words, out of a sentence when they are not
necessary for understanding it.
Verb: A type of
word or phrase that shows an action, e.g. “run”.
Noun: A word or a
group of words referring to a person thing or place.
Adjective: A word
used for describing a noun or pronoun.
Pronoun: A word
used instead of a noun for referring to a person thing or place mentioned earlier
such as ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘that’ and ‘they’.
Slang: Words or
expressions that are very informal and are not considered suitable for more
formal situations.
Jargon: Special
words and phrases that are only understood by people who do the same kind of
work.
Intonation: The
sound pattern of phrases and sentences produced by pitch variation in the
voice.
Assimilation: The
processing changing a consonant into another under the influence of one
adjacent to it.
Consonant: A
speech sound or letter of the alphabet other than a vowel; a stop, fricative,
or continuant.
Semantics: The
study of meaning.
Metaphor: A
figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action
that it does not literally denote in order to imply a resemblance.
Alliteration: The
repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of nearby words. E.g. “Fame and
fortune”
Affixes:
Morphemes that can be added to a root or stem to form a more complex word
(Suffixes follow the root; e.g –ed, -es, -ing and Prefixes preced the root; e,g
in-, non-, un-)
Conjunction: Joining
words
Connotations: The emotional
associations that a word may carry, these arise from experiences.
Deictic Expressions: Pointing words
such as here and these.
Domain: A sphere of activity, concern,
interest or field.
Euphemism: Avoidance language to
provide a verbal escape for speaking confronting taboo.
Acronyms: Words formed from the
initials of other words, e.g. QANTAS, SCUBA, ANZAC
Hyperbole: Exaggeration
Pun: A type of word play that uses the
different meanings of a word.
Syntax: Study of sentence structure.
Paralinguistics: Features such as
gesture and eye contact.
Prosodics: Features such as pitch,
intonation, stress, tempo and volume.
Assonance: The repetition of identical or similar stressed vowel sounds for a special effect.
Collocation: The tendency for some words to combine with each other.
Implicature: What is suggested in an utterance.
Inference: The act of deriving logical conclusions from knowledge assu
Assonance: The repetition of identical or similar stressed vowel sounds for a special effect.
Collocation: The tendency for some words to combine with each other.
Implicature: What is suggested in an utterance.
Inference: The act of deriving logical conclusions from knowledge assu
Lewis Carroll - How Doth The Little Crocodile Poem
How Doth The Little Crocodile
Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!
How doth the little crocodile is a poem describing a crafty crocodile which lures fish into its mouth with a welcoming smile. The author expresses himself through the use of stylistic features, phonetics and syntactic structure to create a formal poem.
Stylistic features such as affixation are present in the poem, focusing on suffixation such as 'waters' (-s being the morpheme) and smiling (-ing being the morpheme), this impacts on formality through creating more complex words using derivational affixes.
Phonetic features are used in this poem such as assonance, (a special effect involving the repetition of sounds - the same or similar vowel sounds). This is shown in lines 5 & 6: "How cheerfully he seems to grin" and "How neatly spread his claws", This acts as an inner rhyme, supporting the poem's rhythm. Another feature of the poem is rhythm, found in lines 3 & 4: "And pour the waters of the Nile on every golden scale!". This shows the regular recurrence of repeated stresses followed by unstressed syllables creating a lively rhythm. Rhyme is found in the text as it is a common feature of poetry and involves the recurrent use of syllables of similar sounds at the end of poetic lines;
Stylistic features such as affixation are present in the poem, focusing on suffixation such as 'waters' (-s being the morpheme) and smiling (-ing being the morpheme), this impacts on formality through creating more complex words using derivational affixes.
Phonetic features are used in this poem such as assonance, (a special effect involving the repetition of sounds - the same or similar vowel sounds). This is shown in lines 5 & 6: "How cheerfully he seems to grin" and "How neatly spread his claws", This acts as an inner rhyme, supporting the poem's rhythm. Another feature of the poem is rhythm, found in lines 3 & 4: "And pour the waters of the Nile on every golden scale!". This shows the regular recurrence of repeated stresses followed by unstressed syllables creating a lively rhythm. Rhyme is found in the text as it is a common feature of poetry and involves the recurrent use of syllables of similar sounds at the end of poetic lines;
“How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!”
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!”
The rhyme pattern uses the word at the end of a line to rhyme with the following second line, contributing to the cohesion of the text.
Syntactic structure such as simple sentences are used to create the poem, for example: "How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail" [subject verb object], this is a simple sentence as it only contains a single clause. Interrogative sentence types are shown in the poem; "How doth the little crocodile
improve his shining tail?". How being the interrogative verb posing the question. However the poem is dominated by declarative sentence types simple making a statement such as "How neatly spread his claws". This adds to the formality of the poem through variation in sentence type and structure.
A cohesive piece of formal poetry is created by Lewis Carroll through the use of distinct syntactic patterning, stylistic features as well as a variety of phonetic features affecting the sound of the poem.
House For Sale Ad
http://www.domain.com.au/Property/For-Sale/Apartment-Unit-Flat/VIC/Geelong/?adid=2009777579
The function of this advertisement is to persuade house buyers to consider and purchasing this apartment as a home. The audience targeted would be families who would have a higher income than an average family as it is of a higher ‘quality’ with ‘superior finishes’ and far too spacious to suit a single person, (‘extensive indoor and outdoor living’,'dining room is spacious’,’ the main bedroom is superb and very large’ and ‘plenty of storage’). The information is formally conveyed through the use of syntactical features, lexical choice and cohesion.
The lexical choice of this advertisement belong to the domain of sales and field of real estate. Whitford has made use of a variety of real estate jargon such as ‘superb bay views’, ‘indoor and outdoor living’, ‘bedrooms', 'kitchen, 'terrace' and 'ceiling'. A selection of synonyms are also used to describe the property such as 'superb', 'quality', 'superior' and 'amazing' as well as collocations (a combination of morphemes that 'naturally' fit together) such as 'dining room', 'double garage' and 'stainless steel'. These are both factors contributing to the cohesion of the text.
Syntactical structure present here includes simple sentences which are combined with the use of the conjunctions ‘and’ and ‘or’. Sentences do not show complexity in sentence structure and are mainly declarative by informing the audience with general statements of the house.
The speech brings together lexical choice, cohesion and syntax to create a formal register in order to create the purpose of a persuasive piece to persuade buyers.
Kevin Rudd - Apology to the Stolen Generation
Kevin Rudd addresses the stolen generation to make an apology from Parliament House, Canberra, on the 12th of February 2008. His aim was to apologise to the indigenous peoples of Australia. Using prosodic features and lexical choice, Rudd informs the audience of plans to put in place to equalise the differences between non indigenous and indigenous, in doing so forming a formal, cohesive speech.
Rudd uses prosodic features such as emphatic stress, when he is speaking about the future of Australians, “A future where we can harness the determination of all Australians, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.”, emphasising the “all” so that the indigenous feel equal to all. Rudd also constantly uses repetition when addressing apologies, “We apologise for the laws of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted grief, suffering or loss on these our fellow Australians, we apologise for the removal of aboriginal and Torres straight islander children from their families, communities and country and we apologise for the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations.” This repetition of “We apologise for,” forces the apology into the audience's mind, persuading them to take it in thus contributing to formality.
Rudd's lexical choice gives the audience the idea that he understands what he is apologising for and that it is a serious matter, “The pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations.”. Using these adjectives, he shows his true intentions and emphasises the severity of the situation that is being addressed.
The use of prosodic features as well as lexical choice allows Rudd to get his apology across as meaningfully as possible to create a formal and cohesive speech.
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