Abby Buckingham's English Language Blog

Language Change theories + stuff worth mentioning: Reflectionism - Sapir-Whorf - Language reflects the way you think Determinism - Sapir-Whof - Language determines the way you think Lingua Franca + globalisation - French language centre OFCOM + instrumental power - Prescriptivism Crumbling castle - Language should be preserved and protected like a castle, even if it is crumbling Damp spoon - language change is as revolting as leaving a dmap spoon in a sugar bowl Beautiful building - language is a beautiful old building that must be upheld by rigid systems Slang - young girls are movers + shakers - Vera Regan Descriptivism  Impact of technology, science, Shakespeare, empire, Amercanisation

Evaluate the view that language change can be controlled and diversified (30) Language change can be controlled and diversified by prescriptivist institutions of power, but only to a small extent. It can be applied to areas of spoken discourse like taboo lexis, lexis used in high-profile situations (e.g. politics or BBC News) etc. but cannot be controlled in all situations. This is due to the increasing use of English as a lingua franca (globalisation), the use of reclamation in today’s politically correct society and many other factors that mean language is too significant and used in too many situations to completely control. The reflectionism theory (strongly linked to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) is the idea that language simply reflects the needs and ideas of the people who use it, meaning the way we think controls our language. This suggests that language can be controlled, but only if you change the attitude of those who use it. In today’s politically correct society, a l...

Question: https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77011-77021-A-TEXT.PDF Answer: Section A – Question 1 Text A is an online fan blog written for ‘shekicks.net’, a website presumably aimed at young, female footballers. This particular blog is about a women’s football game between England and Germany in 2014, and so the purpose of the text is to inform and entertain. The headline of the blogpost is in big, blue font which is most likely a repertoire of the website, this highlights how the post is a ‘Fan’s Blog’. Using the noun ‘Fan’ with a capital letter suggests that the fact the writer is a fan is more important than who the writer actually is. This suggests that the writer themselves is not significant, implying that their first-person account of the game is unbiased and therefore trustworthy for the reader. The writer’s name is then revealed in the subline in capital letters that are bolder than the rest of the text, this means that it stands out but not so muc...

Mock Paper 1 Feedback: • Terminology and quotes in every paragraph • Syntax  • Guaranteed paragraph about semantic field in both Qu1 and Qu2 • Consistently refer to audience/reader (even better if it relates to the specific target audience) • What is the topic? How is it represented? How does the writer represent themselves? How are the audience represented? TENSE