Linguistic Levels

Linguistic Levels

Graphology

Graphology is the features which contribute to the appearance of a text on a page. The graphological features of a text determine subtle and important aspects –e.g. genre and ideology.  

Graphological features include

-font (type, size etc)

-headings

-layout (bullet points, paragraphs, columns etc)

-captions

-pictures

Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist who found the field of structural linguistics. Saussure is called the father of modern linguistics. Structural linguistics is contrast and equivalents. He came up with sign and signified. Sign is the sounds or letters used to indicate what we are talking about and signified is the actual concept. He said the relationship between sign and signified is arbitrary which means no natural reason why we call a cat a cat.  He also talks about synchrony which is the complete language system at one point in time and diachrony which is how that language has developed over time.

Iconic sign

An iconic sign is a direct picture of the thing it represents, although this is often simplified.

Symbolic signs

These draw on an association or connotation and are usually defined by cultural convention, based on existing cultural models. 

Discourse Structure

Discourse structure is the way texts are organised ad sequenced.  Discourse structure is one of the elements of style: those choices a language user makes to suit context, genre, audience and purpose.

William Labov

William Labov is a sociolinguist who studied at Harvard University. Labov and Waletzky’s introduced a narrative theory based on the study Labov conducted in Harlem. They say that narrative means consisting of two temporally clauses so that reversing the order of the clauses would change the story. 

They introduced six narrative categories:

1-Abstract-indication that a narrative is about to start and the speaker wants a listener’s attention.

2-Orientation-who, what, where and why of the narrative. Set the scene by providing contextual information.

3-Complicating action-the main body providing a range of narrative detail

4-Resolution-final events to give narrative closure

5-Evaluation-additions to the basic story a highlight attitudes the listener’s attention at important moments

6-Coda-a sign the narrative is complete

Examples of Discourse Structure:

Non-sequenced lists-notes, to do list

Sequenced lists-recipes, terms and conditions, instruction manual and script

Logical arguments-persuasive article and debate

Problem-adverts may establish a problem

Desire-fulfilment-advertisers may make us feel desire before offering to provide us with fulfilment

Analysis&explanation-school essays

Narrative accounts-news reports and shorts stories

Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the study of the intended meaning of a text.

Paul Grice-Grice's Maxims

Paul Grice was born on the 13^th March 1913 in Birmingham, England. He says when we communicate we assume that we and the people we are talking to will cooperate to achieve shared conversational ends. 

The four maxims which Grice says we all try to adhere to in conversation are:

Quantity-use an appropriate amount of detail

Quality-speak the truth and do not knowingly mislead

Relevance-keep what is being discussed relevant to the topic

Manner-avoid vagueness and ambiguity

Politeness is known as a super maxim, in that people are mindful of others personal or face needs in conversation.

Goffman:

Positive face-associated with feeling valued and appreciated

Negative face-desire to feel independent and not be imposed

The four aspects of context can all affect pragmatics:

Physical context-the setting of a conversation-library, football field etc

Epistemic context-the background knowledge shared by a speaker and his/her audience-the basic rules of basketball

The information that has already been shared in the discussion is known as linguistic context-all background, topics of conversation and intonations

A sarcastic, sad or joking tone of voice can easily change the meaning of a sentence

Lexis

Lexis means the individual word choice. It is also the collective term for the word stock or vocabulary system of a text.

Lexis might also be used to create imagery or to create a mood. Emotive lexis-words used to evoke emotions in the reader or exaggeration might be used mostly in a piece of persuasive writing. For a newspaper article there might be a lack of emotive lexis, in an attempt to be detached.

This is a transcript of a conversation between three boys playing a video game. Louis is playing and James and Greg are watching.

Louis: and now (.) just watch (1) watch me kill him

James: [laughs]

Greg: throw your | light saver

Louis: | No (.) death by force grip is way better (.) slower

In the transcript, a semantic field of fighting is created through the lexical choices such as: kill, throw, saver, death, grip. It is affected by the context.

Other Lexical Terms:

-Monosyllabic (one syllable)
-Disyllabic (two syllables)
-Polysyllabic (more than two syllables)

-Low/high register (higher=posher/more formal)

-Low/high frequency (higher=more commonly used)

-Slang; colloquialism; cliché; taboo; jargon

Antonym-opposite in meaning

Hyponym-used to designate a member of a class

Semantics

Semantics is the study of word and phrase meaning. Semantics can be applied to different kinds of symbol systems, such as computer languages and similar coding systems. 

It is important to recognize the generally accepted meaning of a word or term rather than the literal meaning. The term “water pill” is an accepted term for a kind of diuretic. These pills are often taken by people who are retaining too much water in their bodies. If we were to look at the literal meaning of the word “water pill,” the term would seem to indicate a pill filled with water. It is quite the opposite; when the pill is ingested it causes a person to lose water.

Writers often play with semantics to create interesting stylistic effects or to create a style suited to a particular context or audience.

Other Examples of semantics:

-Crash can mean auto accident, a drop in the Stock Market, to attend a party without being invited, ocean waves hitting the shore or the sound of a cymbals being struck together.

-A human can be referred to as a male, female, child, adult, baby, bachelor, father or mother.

-The word motion can mean walk, run, fall, plod, hurry or fly.

-The word create can mean build, make, construct, erect, compose or imagine.

-The word on can have many meanings, such as - on call, on the roof, on cloud nine, on edge, on fire, on purpose or on the phone. 

Phonology
Phonology is the study of the sound system of a langauge. E.g. onomatopoeia, rhyme etc.

Phonetics - the actual sounds of speech considering how sounds are physically articulated and language phonomea (accents).

Phonemes - an individual sound studied without all its complexities and possible variations.

Why is phonetics useful?
-Helps understanding of differences between speech and writing - mode.
-Insight into public attitudes toward langauge variation (accent variation and stereotyping)

 Orthography - technical word for spelling
     
Consonant groups:
Plosives - b,p,d,k,g
Fricatives - f,vs,z,sh (vibration)
Africates - ch (church), dj (judge)
Nasals - m,n,ng
Approximates - r,j,w


Phonetic Representation
Saussaure and semiotics - claim there is no relationship between the sounds we make or the written symbols we produce and the thing being described.

Lexical onomatopoeia - works on our ability to draw similarities between the sounds of the words and the real words - e.g. crash

Non-lexical onomatopoeia - equally draws on similarities between a sound and the real word - e.g. grr

Ellision - when sounds are left out - e.g. library - libry

Assimialtion - when sounds that are next to eachother become more alike - e.g. handbag - hambag

Liaison - a sound is inserted between words or syllables to help them run together more smoothly - e.g. motherate - mother rate  

Phones - general term for speech sounds

Allophones - the different speech sounds of a phoneme