Transcript Analysis

English Transcript Analysis

The conversation between my Mum, Dad and Sister starts with a female speaking. This goes against the typical stereotype of men having more control and power than women and that older woman have more dominance. This also depends on when you started recording the conversation. In this conversation the man only speaks four times illustrating that he has less power and control over the situation. The first speaker uses a declarative sentence in order to inform by mum about what Apple had said to her. An interrogative sentence is used in order to state that someone is asking a question. The use of compound complex sentences implies that there is a detailed amount of information or that there is more than one clause and conjunction. The sentences such as ‘oh no so’, ‘oh right’ are simple as they only two or three words and it shows someone answering quickly. It then goes onto having an adjacency pairs when my mum asks questions and my sister answers them. This displays that my mum wants to get as much information as possible. A variety of pauses are used to show that the person is talking for a long time so this means that they need to breath or this could mean that they went to say one thing and say something else. Further on in the transcript an overlap is used which implies the person is eager to say something. Throughout the whole transcript my mum has the most utterances (11) this shows she is dominating the conversation as she wants to know lots of information and she is telling my dad what has happened aswell. My mum has relational power as she is the older person. Women usually make the conversation flow and men usually interrupt eachother. The use of elision is used by the words ‘gotta, tryna and cos’, this creates a sense of informality. This shows that they are just shortening the words to make it easier to understand and how they talk naturally. No swearing is used in this transcript; this could be because the conversation needs no swearing as it is the wrong concept and not an argument. The whole conversation is of a low register as it is a general conversation and its shows their family relationship so they don't need to use formal language. 

Grammar Notes

Grammar Notes

Grammar is a set of structural rules that controls the way language works.

Word classes define the roles that each word can play in a sentence.

Eight main word classes:

Word class	What it does/is?	Examples
Nouns	A noun names a person, place, thing or idea.	Table, book, Paris
Adjectives	Adjectives are words that describe nouns and sometimes pronouns.	Big, extreme, wide, sunny
Verbs	Verbs are doing words and they can express a physical action, a mental action, or a state of being.	Walk, read, think, appear
Adverbs	Adverbs describe verbs and sometimes adverbs and adjectives aswell. They tell us when, where, how, in what manner or to what extent an action is performed.	Slowly, quietly, incredibly, extremely
Pronouns	Pronouns replace nouns. They are usually short words.	You, they, him, me, it, she
Conjunctions	Conjunctions join words or groups of words together.	and, but, or, because
Prepositions	A preposition sits before a noun or pronoun to show the noun's relationship to another word in the sentence.	before, underneath, for, above
Determiners	These give specific kinds of information about a noun.	a, the, his, those, two, few

Word classes can be in different positions in a sentence but there are grammatical rules about how they work with each other.

She (pronoun) saw (verb) the (determiner) new (adjective) manager (noun) and (conjunction) his (determiner) assistant (noun) at (preposition) the (determiner) store (noun) yesterday (adverb).

Some sentences mean the same thing wherever a word is placed, particularly with adverbs. Sometimes the meaning of a sentence changes depending on the position of a word:

He quickly told me leave or he told me to leave quickly.

Grammar affects morphology because extra bits have to be added to words to change things such as tense or number. These are called inflections.

The letter s is added to the word cup in order to change a singular noun into a plural (cups)

The letters ed are added to the word remember in order to change the present tense verb into the past tense (remembered)

By changing the grammar of a word/sentence you can influence your audience.

Tense

Events that have happened in the past are described as the past tense. In both written and spoken discourse, past events are described using present tense forms.

-So she went up to the customer and gave him a good telling offàPast tense

(Some time has passed since the event happened.)

-So she goes up to the customer and gives him a good telling offà Present tense

(The present tense creates a more immediate and dramatic impact.)

Plurals

Plurals increase the scale of a scene.

-There was a mass of fans outside the hotelàsingular

(The singular form mass creates the impression of a specific body of people.

-There were masses of fans outside the hotelàplural

(The –es inflection to dorm the plural masses creates the image of a big crowd of people across a wider area.)

Adjectives

Adjectives influence your audience.

-If you’re looking for the holiday of a lifetime, simply treat yourself to a great resort in Sri Lanka. Relax in fine accommodationàsimple adjectives

-Looking for the holiday of a lifetime? Simply treat yourself to a greatest resort in Sri Lanka. Relax in finest accommodationà superlative adjectives

(This example is more persuasive than the first)

Other grammatical features used:

-First example uses the indefinite article a before the great but the second uses the definite article the before great.

-Second example begins with a question. It makes the reader immediately feel involved.

Essay - Mrs Luis

The purpose of this text is to inform the perspective students about all of the rules and expectations of the college and to make sure they stick to them. The target audience of this text is students looking to join the college.

In this agreement there is a variety of language techniques such as verbs, nouns/noun phrases etc. There are some repetitive pronouns used such as you. This implies a sense of personality and individuality and is repeated because it emphasises the importance of being independent in this college. Other pronouns used are your which means speaking directly to someone and it also gives a sense of community so in this context it isn’t just about you as individuals it is the staff aswell so we can work together. The pronoun us also gives a sense of community where everyone works together to achieve the best possible and finally the pronoun used is we describe the college so this tells us what they do as the college for the students. The nouns that are used are college, this tells us what it is specifically about and the noun facilities is used to provide the students with information about what is available for them. Also in this text there are adjectives, for example the word genuine demonstrates a sense of care for the students-if they need help they will be there. The adjective appropriate means suitable and relevant-the teachers will teach them the correct things in order for them to get good grades at the end and they will also make sure that they teach them the correct manners. The modal auxiliary verb used in this text is will which creates a sense of certaincy-it will definitely happen no matter what the circumstances are. Finally the noun phrases used are appropriate teaching, careful and comprehensive advice and regular reports. The word appropriate is the determiner, comprehensive is also a determiner and so is the word regular.

Graphological features are used in this agreement. It has black text on a white background because it makes the writing stand out and shows it is the most important part. The title AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE COLLEGE AND STUDENTS is in capital letters because it is the most important part as it actually tells the student what the document is and about. It is laid out in bullet points which make it easy for the reader to read, it looks tidy and professional-emphasises what the college is. The phrase PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY is also in capital letters and underlined because it is also very important and it is something that has to be done. Furthermore the phrase holidays should not be taken during term time. ALL absences to be reported to the Student Service Office is in bold letters because it is vital, it is something that shouldn’t be done and it also emphasises the college’s strict policy. This makes sure the students know that this is not acceptable and there will be consequences.

This text also includes Lexis. The writer has chosen to use the words appropriate, genuine, respect and regular. The word appropriate means suitable and relevant, genuine means care and honesty, respect means consideration and politeness and regular means often and routine. The writer has chosen to use these words because they are formal and professional and they emphasise what the college is going to do for the students. By seeing these words used the audience will want to go to the college as they imply what the college is about.

The discourse structure in the text is that the bullet points are in order of importance. This is because the students need to know what is the most important part of going to that college is and need to make sure that they follow the rules.

Finally, at the bottom part of the first section the phrase ‘Director of Sixth Form. September 2010’ is used; this creates a sense of formality which also emphasises what the college is as a whole.

The whole of the text is formal.