What is Professor Crystal discussing?

What are the structural elements of an email?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=qqr7cEB2bj0

Note all the different types of email you receive

What makes them different?What is the problem with emails?

Websites / Blogs / Chatrooms

Complete the three-way Venn diagram, thinking about features of language /

audience / context / purpose

Computer-mediated communication

• Multiple recipients• Immediate transmission• Synchronous (real time discourse) / asynchronous

(delays in turn taking) discourse• Permanent record• Informal lexis / orthography / grammar• Medium specific lexis / jargon• Standard greetings / farewells / dialogic structures• Ability to attach files• Work based / social

Investigating Norms of Websites / Chatrooms / Blogs

1. Who is the audience?2. What purpose (s) are there?3. What is the probable context of reception?4. What linguistic norms are there?

1. Discourse – structures. Openings and closings? Who dominates and how? Topic loops / shifts etc?

2. Lexis – informal, fields, clippings etc.3. Pragmatics – politeness + face strategies, co-

operation, phatic, functional.4. Grammar – sentence types, functions, elision, non-

standard grammar etc.

Envoys

1. Send one person from your group to each of the other groups. They should take notebooks and pens. One person stay as resident expert.

2. Resident experts now explain your key findings to your visitors.

3. Return to your original group and take it in turns to feedback your findings.

To Sum Up…

• The question will ask you how the language of the text has been influenced by technology.

• What do you think are the key contextual features you should be aware of?

• What key questions should you ask about the text?

• Pragmatics• What is the context? Are the participants friends/ colleagues/distant

relatives? Are they of the same gender and age? • What is the purpose of the conversation? How is this reflected in

language? (E.g. deictic expression, phatic communication, turn-taking, politeness strategies).

• Lexis• Can you apply any of the following terms?• Jargon• Neologisms• Acronyms • Clippings• Shortenings• Elision• Letter/number homophones• Do you notice anything about dialect/slang/sociolect?• Discourse• Comment on the structure of the text, are there openings and closings?• Is there a dominant speaker and how can you tell?• Do you notice any adjacency pairs, topic shifts/loops or non-fluency

features?

• What is the purpose of websites?

• What makes a good website?

• How have websites affected communication?

How does Technology Impact Language?

• Discussion on audience, purpose and context.• Graphological features, formality, politeness,

lexis etc.• Layout, use of font/colour etc.

20 mins

The Maxim of Quantity

In a conversation you should not say too little or too much.

Giving too much information can be confusing and time-consuming. Giving too little information can

also prove difficult for the other person in the conversation.

For example, if someone asked you to direct them to the nearest toilet and you gave them five options then this might prove less helpful than intended.

The Maxim of Relevance

In a conversation you should make sure that you talk about what is relevant to the other

speakers and the context that you are in.

If you change the topic and no-one can respond to it or you keep referring back to a topic

already discussed then this could have a very disruptive impact upon the conversation.

The Maxim of Manner

In conversations you cannot be obscure or ambiguous. If so, other speakers could be

confused.

For example, if you were very vague when giving directions to a motorist then you might confuse them and this would be seen to

violating the maxim of manner.

The Maxim of Quality

In a conversation you are always expected to tell the truth and not say anything that you know

to be false.

Design Your Own Website

• For either:• Students coming to sixth form at WBHS

• A guide to Whitley Bay for the over 50s.