History of Language

Introduction

Compare how language differs between two reality TV Programmes set in different areas of the United Kingdom.

 

For my language investigation I will be exploring how the language from reality TV Programmes made in the UK differentiate depending on which area of the country they are based in. Predominantly, I will be focusing on semantics, lexis, phonology and pragmatics in order to establish similarities and differences in the way that they speak and converse with other people. I will conduct my experiment using the TV Programmes ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ and ‘Made In Chelsea’ as they are both the same kind of programme but set in different places and therefore will have both similarities and differences in their transcripts. It will be interesting for me to investigate the variation of the Standard English language in these two areas and to be able to compare them.

 

I would expect the language used by the people in ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ to be quite colloquial whereas in Chelsea I would expect it to be much more sophisticated, however this is based on stereotypes so it will be interesting to research this further to see if there is much truth behind it.

Production Diary

Our coursework this year is to come up with a language investigation that we can conduct ourselves and that we find interesting. I have decided to compare how language differs between two reality TV Programmes set in different areas of the United Kingdom. I think this will be interesting as I am going to conduct the investigation by using transcripts from popular TV reality programmes set in the United Kingdom but in different areas 'The Only Way Is Essex" and "Made In Chelsea". As i am a fan of these programmes, i will enjoy researching the topic and it will be an enjoyable investigation. I have written a draft introduction that states what my aims are and what frameworks i will adress.

Key Terms

Key Terms

 

Abstract Noun - a noun denoting an idea, quality, or state rather than a concrete object

 

Acronym - an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word

 

Adjacency Pair - An adjacency pair is a unit of conversation that contains an exchange of one turn each by two speakers. The turns are functionally related to each other in such a fashion that the first turn requires a certain type or range of types of second turn

 

Affixation - Affixation is the morphological process whereby an affix is attached to a root or stem.

 

Amelioration - the act of making something better; improvement.

 

Assimilation - The process by which a person or persons acquire the social and psychological characteristics of a group

 

Blending – a combination of two words together to make a neologism.

 

Borrowing – using terms from other cultures/countries and making them part of the English lexicon.

 

Cliché - a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.

 

Clipping - clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts (shortening)

 

Coining – to create a neologism or phrase that people begin to use

 

Colloquialism – using slang.