It's been a while - back with scousers, gypsies and front row skullduggery

Three years, one baby and a new school later, I'm coming back and going to try and blog weekly about things that we've covered in class, plus any other things I notice along the way that you might find helpful. First of all - anyone studying language change seriously needs to read this book here, or at least get involved in the free first chapter. Read the first chapter with two highlighters - the first for things that you've recognised from class / things that make sense, and another highlighter for things you don't understand and want me to clarify.

 Although this was a few weeks ago, I'm still interested in this argument that blew up in a rugby match between England and Wales. England prop Joe Marler called his opposite number Samson Lee "Gypsy boy" during some handbags, and was subsequently charged with misconduct. A lot of old rugby boys have been wheeled out to say the usual: it was nothing, back in the day it would have been settled with fists, the apology was accepted etc etc. But would this be any different if Lee had been black, and Marler referred to that? I've played some ropey amateur level rugby, and nearly lost an eye because of some front row cheating (yeah, thanks, Ilkeston RFC), so verbals really do pale into comparison to what goes on in the front row and in that sense it is easy to see it as nothing.

Context is everything here - 'gypsy' on its own can function as a fair enough adjective, but combine it with the insult 'boy' and it's definitely marking him out as 'other', in the same way racist insults work. I've got no problem with being described as scouse ("that scouse fella over there"), but I get pretty unhappy pretty quickly if it's combined with an insult to mark me out as different to everyone else.

All in all, I'm still not too sure what I make of it all, but it is very interesting to see the speed in which people came out to give PC a time honoured beating - the Telegraph article on its own will make a useful example of the hard time PC gets in the press.

I've had it.

In a fantastic example of being at least three years behind the average year 10 pupil, check this discussion out about how the everyday full stop has acquired a negative tone. I don't know if this counts as semantic change, more a kind of gaining semantic significance when once there was none. It leads into a neat discussion of how all sorts of punctuation is acquiring or changing meaning, and is worth a look simply for how quickly the comments section descends into rowing, with people threatening icepicks in eyes within a few lines. Remarkable.

Summer Jobs

Afternoon all! I've had a few emails from people telling me they won't be in a particular lesson for a particular reason and so forth, so I though it would be a lot easier to simply post here the jobs that I want you to get on with; if you get them done in lesson time then fantastic, if not, then complete them over the summer. First of all, you need to watch the remainder of the episodes of 'The Adventure of English'. Most of you will have done the first two, so the others over 6 weeks isn't too much of a hardship. If you look to the right, you'll see I've listed the episodes in order.

After that, have a listen to this - Professor Jean Aitcheson delivered a few lectures a while ago that explain some of the attitudes to language change much better than I ever could. Make notes on the 'Web of Worries', and have a listen to some of the others if you can't face any more Jeremy Kyle / Cash in the Attic etc etc.
Any problems or questions, drop me a line.
Have a good summer!

EDIT - The link to the coursebook is here - I personally recommend the second hand option - whoever gets the cheapest option (and can prove it) wins a bag of Minstrels.

New 13s? Step this way...

It was lovely to meet you all this week, and I'm sure we'll have a riot over the next academic year. This blog is a way for me to sum up what we've done weekly, along with provide electronic copies of handouts, slides, and links to people who know far more about English then I ever could.

So, to sum up this week: We've looked at two of the fundamental principles that I think underpin this course. Firstly, the idea of hierarchies: society is obsessed with putting people into hierarchies, and we see this pattern everywhere in the course. In the extract we looked at it was easy to classify various concepts into either good or bad. Things get a little more nuanced later on, but this is a simple enough place to start.

Secondly, we looked at the model that suggests pressures along the continuum.. Any use of language will be somewhere along the line, and if you can identify and comment on the pressures that act upon that level of formality, then you'll find this course a breeze.

In terms of language variation, we had a brief look at Rastamouse, as it provides us with a neat snapshot into just how angry some people can get about 'other' varieties of English, particularly where children are involved. We'll develop this a lot more later on, but for now, it's worthwhile understanding that there are lots of different attitudes to language change and variation, not all of them good.

Finally, I introduced you to Melvyn Bragg's 'The Adventure of English'. I know it's a tiny bit dry at times, but it does provide a really useful foundation for some of the stuff that we'll see later on. We'll aim to have the first two episodes done and dusted by the end of the week. Click here for episode 1, and here for episode 2.

In the meantime, if you've any problems or questions, then drop me a line at my school account. Don't bother with the Gmail one as that one never gets checked.

Cheers!

I am a sad case hexagon addict

Here's a nice homework for you - cut out all of the hexagons that I have emailed you and bring them to the lesson on Wednesday (13D) or Thursday (13C).

Feel free to change (colour code it according to the different subheadings) as much as you like. If you aren't sure what the subheadings are, then simply check out the terminology list that I posted a few weeks ago - the subheadings are in column B.

Next lesson, you'll be given a text and then asked which ideas are applicable. Once you've got all those, then we'll organise them into logical sequences that we can then turn in to an essay. Honestly, it'll be amazing; like teaching off of Waterloo Road.

Once you've done all that, feel free to sort out your summer viewing, and talk to me not of Lost or someother somesuch nonsense - the only thing you should be watching is this - and here's Charlie Brooker to tell you all I'm right.

Any probs, etc etc, send them my way.

Overly prescriptive prescriptivists who are dead inside

When the only answer you've got to someone who argues with you is to point out the flaws in their grammar, then you've lost the argument. This piece in the Guardian looks at the winner of the inaugural 'Bad Grammar' award; a letter written to Michael Gove disagreeing with his plans for curriculum reform.
Check out what sentence parsing superhero Nevile Gwynne had to say on the phrase 'too much too young':

"Presumably they mean something like 'demands too much when children are too young to be ready for so much', but, as worded, it simply is not English," he said. "In that sentence as worded, 'too young' can only be two adverbs, 'too' qualifying the adverb 'young', and 'young' qualifying the verb 'demands', as would, for instance, 'soon' or 'early'. But 'young' is an adjective, and cannot ever be an adverb. And it certainly is not doing the work of an adjective in that sentence, because there is no noun that could be 'understood' and which would turn that sentence into English."

Not English? Please. This is nothing more than petulant error spotting, and tells us more about the people doing the spotting than the quality of the original argument. 

Shared answer 13D

Click here - and get going! I'm going to lock this for editing in a few hours - after that, I'd like you to take the work that you've completed together, and use it for the basis of your own essay. Obviously there'll be bits that you don't like, bits that you want to add, bits that you want to re-order... you get the picture. Also, while  I've got your attention, I'd like you to have a look at all these ideas / concepts / keywords that I've lifted (in order) from this book. Over the next week, it'll be up to you to make sure that you identify anything that you aren't too sure about, and make sure this is taken care of. (I'm not saying buy the book, by the way - but be aware that there are one or two copies floating about).

Edit - the 13C collaborative answer can be found here

Any problems, questions, Bell & Ross watches - send them my way.

Welcome to all my Arnold bros

Just a quick post to say hello to all the Arnold language boffins who could well be looking at this for the first time. I thought I'd take a minute to recap what we covered in class this week, and point you in the direction of some interesting sites that will be of benefit to you in the coming weeks.

First up, we've looked at some of the ways to boost some of your AO2 understanding in your answers; we looked at the ideas of hierarchies within texts or attitudes, and how to spot them, and some of the pressures that push or pull language along the standard / non standard continuum. We finally looked at Cameron's ideas about prescriptivism, which are worthwhile keeping in mind as I'd hate you to fall into the trap that some 13s do (not ones I've taught, obvs) where prescriptivist views = bad, and descriptivist = good; it's often a little more complicated than that...

Just in case you've lost them already, here is the first story we looked at (all about the Twitterbot), and here is the second - Matthew Engel's hilarious, defeatist, whingey racist nonsense. You should know the jobs I've given you - get in touch if you aren't sure. (Oh, and if you're on the Mail website, you really ought to check out the comments section. Makes my day, every day).

Talking about getting in touch, whilst I'm a big fan of the email, if you have a question that is subject based, ask it in the comments section; often someone else has a similar question or misunderstanding, and it'll save me a bit of time to answer it just the once.

Finally, if you fancy some swotting up before the exam, head off to Dan Clayton's infinitely superior blog, where you'll find all sorts of useful material. Don't worry if it seems a little daunting at first; a good place to start for you monkeys would be the ENGA3 tag, but I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Any problems, questions, issues or Bell & Ross watches, send them along to the usual address.

It's back!

Since starting my new job, I've neglected this site a little, but from Easter I'll be back in the KS5 fold, and so I'll be posting as regularly as I can manage.

I've noticed that I've had a heap of pageviews recently, particularly on the model answer posts. If you want me to rummage around for any more, just let me know which year and month (either June or January) in the comments section below, and I'll see what I can find. Obviously I'll let Mrs Cox know, so you don't all take 'inspiration' from the same source!

Terry, Ferdinand and language change

"When someone calls you a c***, that's fine," Ferdinand said. "When someone brings your colour into it, it takes it to another level."


From following the John Terry trial, you'll find, summed up in one sentence, a fantastic example of how language (and associated attitudes) change, often within a generation. I remember watching 'Only Fools and Horses' when I was a nipper, and being a little surprised to watch both Del and Rodney describing a shop (and its owner) as a "paki" shop. What is interesting to see is how societal offence at racial insults has shot up in the last twenty years, whilst offence at the dreaded C word seems to be reducing - among professional footballers at least. 


While considering this increased aversion to racism, it might be worthwhile looking at what contemporary society does find acceptable to have a pop at. We looked at people with lower social economic status (when we looked at the Urban Dictionary definition of 'Meff', which I can't link to here), and you can find a great discussion of the word 'Chav' here, along with a lot more links that I'd like you to read through.


Just so you can use your brains - start looking at the 'Gypsy' series of programs on Channel 4. What might some people find offensive about these programs? What counter arguments might be made?

Get going with Bragg - I'm not joshing, either...

Here you go kids - a quick update of things to be getting on with, plus a few useful links. 

First up, you'll need to watch and take notes on the documentaries from Melvyn Bragg about the history of the English language - they can get a little dry at times but it's really important that you understand the process of how English became English. Your homework for this week is to watch the first two (about and hour and a half all in) and take notes, which I'll ask to see on Tuesday 10th July.

Secondly, if you've got time, then have a look at this that I wrote a while back - it describes how a word starts off as edgy and cool and hip, and eventually works its way inwards (think of the circle model) until it is part of the mainstream, at which point young hipsters go off searching for other words that mark them out as being different from the uncool, un hip language of 'the man'. Man.  After you've done this, head over to the superior SFX blog and check out the article on development of the word 'Swag', which provides another model which we'll look at before the end of term.

As ever - any questions, comments etc etc, send them to the usual address.

Revision / Round up

Like a harassed DJ responding to requests, I've been seeing people and speaking to them about areas they want to brush up on before the exam. I thought I'd post some links here that might be useful to everyone, as I've noticed that a few requests are overlapping.
First up - Jean Aitchison's Reith Lectures - you can download them all here. The first one, 'A Web of Worries' will give you much more detail on her ideas about damp spoons, crumbling castles and the like, but the other ones are really useful, too. (I search for a lot of podcasts in iTunes, and download them directly there).
Whilst we're on podcasts, if you've got an hour or two to spare, head over to the British Library website and check out some of the podcasts from their Evolving English exhibition. David Crystal's is really good, but also is Steven Pinker's, where he dicusses the evolutionary process of words.
Still on podcasts, you can also check out two interviews with Henry Hitchings from the Blackwell site (or better yet, search for Henry Hitchings in the iTunes store - there are two really good podcasts there; one 19 mins long, the other 11). Again, really useful, but no substitute at all for reading the book, which I still recommend you do before the big day.
And finally, you can still find more stuff then I could ever dig up by wandering over to the Eng Lang SFX site - I've been banging on about this for 2 years now, so I'm certainly not going to stop now.
As ever, any questions, comments, Bell & Ross watches, send them over to the usual address

Concordance software

Not all of you will need to look at this, but for those of you who are crunching a lot of words for your investigation, then you can use this extremely useful tool that you can download here. Once you've downloaded it to your computer (don't bother trying it with school computers - if you need to use it in school you can use my laptop), if you need some pointers on how to get started with it, then you can look at the first couple of tutorials that are available on Youtube - here, here and here.

As ever, keep looking at the excellent SFX blog - there's been a load of really useful stuff on there recently. Any problems - give me a shout.

Language and sport

Given we're a sports college (or are we still?), I'm outraged at myself that we haven't covered the link between language and sport in too much detail. If you are thinking of completing any sport related work for your coursework (either for AS or A2) then I strongly recommend visiting the ever excellent Macmilan Dictionary blog, then scrolling down and clicking the 'Sporting English' tab on the right hand side. Alternatively, you can save yourself a calorie or two, and simply click here.

Shamelessly re-blogged from the SFX site - this is quality

The blog formerly known as ...English Language @ SFX: Unfriended for grammar fails: There's a good article here on ZDNet by Charlie Osborne about grammar, spelling and punctuation on social networking sites. She takes a loo...

Euphemism

You can find a fantastic article all about euphemism here, from The Economist site. Y13 kids, if you can see how the choice of words involved in constructing euphemism reveal something about the society that uses them (in terms of ideologies or beliefs), then trust me, you're onto a winner. Enjoy!

New Year Resolutions

Right then, I know I've been neglecting this of late (even though my hit counter keeps going up; I can see you all there thinking 'Does he ever do anything?'), but from here on in, I'm making a solemn promise to post at least once a week, either something I've written, or a re-post from some of the many (regularly updated) jobs that you can see to the right of this post.

If I don't, then (and this is cast in the stone of the internet, for you to screengrab at will) I'll bring biscuits to the following lesson. Fact. Double stamped. If you like, you can vote on the type of biscuits, but be aware; if you're the kind of freak that likes Custard Creams, then a long, lonely life awaits.

General updates, nothing special...

Right then - to start at the start...
First up is a link that Lauren found, that neatly sums up a lot of the revision for ENGB3. Obviously, because it is helpful, it is quite securely behind the firewall, so you'll have to access it from home. You can find that beast here.
Also helpfully provided is an answer to your most recent homework; don't get me wrong, we could definitely wring a few more marks out of it (in all AOs), but it's a good place to start.

FHM - Not a model answer, but a good enough place to start...

Here you go kids - have a go at it here

A2 Conference

I'm going to try my hardest to make this happen - a conference in London on the 6th March. You can have a look at the flyer for it here, and I'll speak to you about it more when I've spoken to them in charge.