The UK Parliament

UK Parliament Language

The Parliament has a variety of roles in helping the UK to run efficiently as a country. The primary job of parliament is to make laws, debate topical issues and look at how our taxes are spent to help run the country.

Parliament consist of two parts:

The House of Lords – these are made up of people with inherited family titles and who have been given titles due to their outstanding work in one field or another. This consists of 675 members. The main job of the House of Lords is to double check new laws to make sure they are fair and will work.

The House of Commons – these have 659 members who have been elected by local residents in order to represent an area of the country in parliament; called MP’s. Each MP represents one of 659 constituencies (areas) in the UK and is a member of a political party. This is the most important place for discussing policies and making laws.

Parliamentary language

Here are examples of parliamentary language:

Act – a law made by Parliament

Cabinet – the group of senior ministers in a Government –the cabinet meets regularly to make important decisions

Constituency – the electorate or area, or the people n it represented by an MP

Deregulation order – an order to alter or cancel a provision in primary legislation that is considered to impose a burden on business or others.

Enfranchise – to give a person the right to vote

Hansard – a full report of what was said in parliament (including written questions and their answers) is published in the official report.

Judicial power – the power to interpret or apply the law in particular cases

Money bill – a bill setting a tax or proposing the spending of money for a particular purpose

Non-Partisan – not aligned to a political party; not biased or one sided; neutral

Parliamentary counsel – responsible for drafting government bills and amendments to bills, and advising government departments on all aspects of parliamentary procedure

Points of order – a method where members bring supposed breaches of the House's rules of order to the Speaker's attention. Members may seek to raise them at any time, but the Speaker has discretion as to when to hear them and will not normally do so during Question Time.

Select committee – a group of members from either House or both Houses, appointed to inquire into and report on a certain subject. A select committee ceases to exist when it has made its final report to the House or Houses

Unconstitutional – contrary to or inconsistent with the Constitution or the recognized principles of the constitutional law of a country

Writs – formal orders issued by the Governor, requiring that an election be held.

Unparliamentary language

Unparliamentary language breaks the rules of politeness in the House of Commons Chamber. Part of the speaker’s role is to make sure that MP's don’t use insulting or rude language, don’t accuse eachother of lying, being drunk or misrepresent each other’s words and suggest that another MP has false motives. If an MP uses Unparliamentary language during debates, the speaker will ask the concerned member to withdraw what has been said. An MP may be asked to leave the house and is suspended for five sitting days if they don’t withdraw a comment. The Speaker has objected words such as blackguard, coward, git, guttersnipe, hooligan, rat, swine, stoolpigeon and traitor. Sometimes MP's will use a large amount of resourcefulness to get around the rules – e.g. Winston Churchill used the phrase ‘terminological inexactitude’ to mean ‘lie’.

Criticism and accusations are allowed (often under the cover of parliamentary privilege) but certain types of language are considered too abusive.

Cyber article

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35765276

This article from The Voacabualrist is about how the word cyber is used and within this article there are a variety of opinions and theories expressed. The title implies that there are many ways and contexts in which the word cyber is used.

One of these views are that the Latin translation of the word 'kubertnetes' changes to 'cybernetes'. Kubernetika means skill in steering as was used by Plato, American mathematician Norbert Weiner (1940) believed that this word originated from 'cybernetics' which means control and communication theory. 

Another view/theory about the word cyber is that is has become associated with robots - for example cyber-men from Dr Who. This implies that the meaning of the word has changed dramatically over time. 

From ancient helmsman to robots, the word cyber has the modern meaning due to the term 'cyberspace' which is the virtual electronic word where we explore, play, learn and share information. A theorist of cyberspace Howard Rheingold believed that the word 'cyber' comes from William Gibson's science fiction writing especially Neuromancer novel 1984. 


From this article it is clear to see that the meaning of the word 'cyber' has changed throughout time from meaning skill in steering to meaning robots. It is common nowadays that the term 'cyber' is associated with bullying -  cyber-bulling which is a type of bulling which happens online through messaging, social media, this is a negative connotation which shows how the meanings of words have changed over and how it could have gone from positive to negative. 

Occupational Jargon - Dentistry

Jargon
Within dentistry, there is a variety of Jargon used by dentists in order to deliver care too patients. The dentist and dental nurse will communciate with eachother using this Jargon. People from other occupations and maybe even the patients won't know what this Jargon means as it is only used in the dentistry discourse community.  

Some examples of this Jargon are:

Alveolar Bone – the bone that surrounds and supports the tooth and associated structures

Cementum – calcified connective tissue that covers the outside surface of a tooth’s root.

Edema – swelling

Gingiva – that part of the oral masticatory mucosa that surrounds the necks of the teeth and is attached to the teeth and the alveolar bone (the gum)

Interdental Papilla – Gingiva (gum tissue) that fills the space between two adjacent teeth (the space is called interproximal). Papilla is usually pointed or pyramidal in anterior teeth and somewhat flatter between posterior teeth. If teeth overlap papilla, it may be tapered and narrow; if teeth do not touch, the papilla may be flat or saddle-shaped.

Maxilla – top jaw

Periodontal Ligament – the fibrous connective tissue that supports, surrounds, and attaches the roots of the teeth to alveolar bone.

Sulcus – the space or crevice between the surface of a tooth and the epithelium lining the unattached or free gingival.

Abbreviations

Many abbreviations for patient treatment records are used in dentistry in order to decrease the amount of time spent on paperwork. Records are legal documents meaning that the abbreviations and their meanings should be the same in every record. So that everyone uses the same abbreviations and understands what they mean, it’s good to have a key to the abbreviations so anyone reading or writing a record can understand exactly what is being said. Patients can also look over their medical records and understand the various notations if they have a key of the abbreviations available.

Some examples of these abbreviations are:

ant – Anterior

D – Distal

EIE – Extraoral intraoral examination

imp – Impression

LR – Lower right quadrant

PSA – Posterior superior alveolar

STAT – Immediately

WNL – Within normal limits

 

 

Root Words, Prefixes and Suffixes Used in Dental Terms

There are specific rules for combining words and for the order of the root words within a word, so it’s good to study further to really understand how dental/medical terms are put together and read. When words are combined, they often acquire an “o” to make the word flow better and be more pronounceable. A prefix is a word, letter, or number placed before another and a suffix is a morpheme added at the end of a word to form a derivative.

Examples of prefixes and suffixes used are:

Prefix/Suffix	Definition	Example
-algia	pain	odontALGIA = tooth pain
-emia	blood	hyperEMIA = above normal amount of blood in a tissue
-hyper	over, excessive, above	HYPERmobility = more mobility than normal
-inter	between	INTERcellular = between cells
-neo	new	NEOplasm = new growth
-peri	around	PERIoral = around the mouth
-supra	above	SUPRAgingival = above the margin of the gums

Colours

The list of word parts and the colour associated with the word:

alb, albin, leuk – white

chlor – green

cyan – blue

eryth – red

melan – black

Spoken/written interactions

Dentists would be constantly involved in spoken interactions as they have to communicate with the nurse to ask for equipment and get them to write down the patient’s problem and notes. The dentists would need to also communicate with the patients to tell them what treatment they will need etc. They would also use written interactions as they have to write letters to patients for appointments and referrals. They may also need to email across notes to the other members of staff. Other written texts include filling out forms and claims for patients.

Word meanings

 The first record of this word was 1297, first appearing in R. Gloucester’s Chron. This word comes from France and has been mainly associated with men as it includes the word knight which is usually a man. The primary meaning has changed over time as the word ‘bachelor’ first meant a young knight not old enough to display his own banner, however nowadays a bachelor is known as someone who has a degree in a certain course/subject – e.g. Bachelor of Arts. The meaning has become more positive. The spelling of the word has stayed the same and this word exists only as a noun. The dictionary definition does match my understanding of the word as I thought it was someone who has got a degree.

                                                                                     
The OED first recorded the appearance of this word in printed text in 1886 appearing in Sir Tristrem. This word comes from France and at first it was associated with women, however in time it has been associated with a man. So it hasn’t always been gender specific. The primary of this word has changed as at first it was known as a woman having control or authority and then over time it has meant an unmarried man, a size of roofing slate and the wife of a member of a community – as a farmer, minister etc. The spelling of the word hasn’t changed at all and this word exists as a noun, adjective and verb. This implies that it can be used in several ways – as an object, describing word and doing word. The dictionary definition matches my understanding of the word as I thought it was someone who is in control and head of a household.                                                         

 The OED first recorded the appearance of the word in 1134 in Gower Confessio Amantis. The word master comes from Latin and has always been associated with a male; however in the latter half of the 20^th century it extended to include women. The primary meaning of this word hasn’t really changed although it means different things. The main meaning of this word is that is a male who is in control or head of a household. The spelling of the word hasn’t changed at all and exists as an adjective noun and verb. So like the word mistress this word can be used in several ways – as an object, describing word and doing word. The dictionary definition does match my understanding of the word as I thought it was a male and someone incharge of the household. 

Ochs and Taylor 1992

Ochs and Taylor 1992:

Examines how the family is constituted as a political institution through conversational interaction. Families are political bodies in that certain members review, judge, formulate codes of conduct, make decisions and impose sanctions that evaluate and impact the actions, thoughts and feelings of other members.

Dinner-time narratives:

-Usually the first time the whole family can interact with each other

-We give stories and reports from the day

-These stories can draw in the participation of other members

Participant Roles:

Protagonist – hero/report

Introducer –someone who starts the conversation

Primary recipient –who is the story aimed at?

Problematizer –someone who creates a problem or challenge –being unfair, rude etc#

Problematizee –the recipient of the problem –they have to respond

According to Ochs and Taylor:

During family dinnertime stories, the most empowering roles are

1) Introducer

2) Problem identifier

3) Ratified recipient –which shows they are valued

Distribution of Roles:

-Children usually only introduce one third of all the reports/stories. Mothers introduce the most.

-Mothers are introducers for  children, mother selects father as primary recipient

-Fathers were often the problematizers and rarely problematizees.

-Mothers would often try to solve the problems set by the fathers.

For my primary research I recorded a conversation at the dinner and transcribed it. From this transcript I found out that my mum was the most dominant in the conversation as she was the introducer of the conversation. This proves Ochs and Taylors theory because they said that mother introduces the most and this happened. However, my research disproves their theory as they said that dinner time is where the whole family sit down and see each other and tell their stories. However, my primary research disproves this as my parents asked how my day was as soon as I got in from school so at dinner there wasn't really much to talk about. There was no problematizer in this conversation.  From my research, I can disprove Ochs and Taylor’s theory that usually the first time the whole family can interact with each other. We give stories and reports from the day because from my research this isnt the first time we interact with eachother as my parents asked how my day was as soon as I got home from school. We didn’t really have a long conversation at the table as they were only short conversation. My mum introduced all of the conversations, showing that she is the dominant one of the conversation; this subverts gender as it is usually the males who are more dominant in conversation. 

Fairlcough and Critical Discourse Analysis

Norman Fairclough – Language and Power Theory (discourse)

Norman Fairclough shows that many communications are ‘unequal encounters’. This means that language choice is created and controlled by certain social ‘power’ situations or ‘power type’ discourse of kinds accepted as ‘normal’ for that kind of encounter. Fairclough also shows how texts are persuasive due to the ideologies which they rely on to create an effect. For example, when the text makes ‘natural’ assumptions about its reader’s values and beliefs, about what is ‘normal’ or ‘common sense’.

SYNTHETIC PERSONALISATION (only in advertising)

Critical Discourse Analysis

Critical discourse analysis is a discourse analytical research that focuses on the way that social power abuse, dominance and inequality are portrayed, reproduced and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context.

Critical discourse analysis needs to please a number of requirements in order realize its aims to successfully:

-CDA research has to be ‘better’ than other research in order to be accepted.

-It focuses mainly on social problems and political issues, rather than on current models and fashions.

-Provisionally sufficient critical analysis of social problems is usually combining.

-Rather than just describing discourse structures, it tries to explain them in terms of properties of social interaction and especially social structure.

-More specifically, CDA focuses on the ways in which discourse structures portray, confirm, legitimate, reproduce or challenge relations of power and dominance in society.

Fairclough and Wodak (1997: 271-80) summarize the main views of CDA as the following:

1. CDA addresses social problems

2. Power relations are discursive

3. Discourse constitutes society and culture

4. Discourse does ideological work

5. Discourse is historical

6. The link between text and society is mediated

7. Discourse analysis is interpretative and explanatory

8. Discourse is a form of social action.

Critical discourse analysis is the use of a collection of techniques of the study of textual practice and language use as social and cultural practices (Fairclough 19992b). This is created from three broad theoretical orientations. First is poststructuralism which is that discourse progresses logical across local institutional sites and also texts have a beneficial function in forming and shaping human identities and actions. Then there is Bourdieu's sociology which is assuming that the real textual practices and interactions with texts become personified forms of cultural capital with substituted value in certain social fields. Finally, there is neomarxist cultural theory which assumes that these discourses are created and used within political economies and they create and articulate wider ideological interests, social stricture and movements within those fields. The practical techniques of CDA are copied from a variety of penalizing fields. Within pragmatics, narratology and speech act theory; this disputes that texts are forms of social action which arise in complex social contexts. 

Advert Analysis

Advert Analysis from Damita D