12/26/2019 0 Comments Features of Spoken LanguageThere are many aspects of spoken language that I have used in my home. When I am speaking to a person with a higher position is society, I will greatly vary my speech in terms of my vocabulary and even reduce or abolish the use of less formal features such as fillers and acronyms. However whilst I am conversing with a person of my age or a similar position in society, I will greatly use informal features such as tag questions and ellipsis.In my informal conversation with the plumber, I have used an array of spoken language features such as acronyms, hedge words and even ellipsis however on the other hand, whilst conversing with my father, I have employed covert prestige so that he understands me better. In addition I believe that spoken language is different from written language because most written language is intended to be read by someone who is separated from the writer in space and time. Therefore to communicate successfully, it has to be a lot more explicit than spoken language used in a face to face conversation.Although some written genres such as texts and e-mails are very similar to spoken language, in general written language is more dense in the sense that bigger words are used in smaller spaces and it also uses more subordinate clauses and has less redundancy words like â€sort ofâ€, â€likeâ€, â€you knowâ€, â€yeah? †which are dominantly found in spoken language. Spoken language tends to be full of repetitions, incomplete sentences, corrections and interruptions, with the exception of formal speeches etc.Also, Writers receive no immediate feedback from their readers, except in computer-based communication. Therefore they cannot rely on context to clarify things so there is more need to explain things clearly and unambiguously than in speech, except in written correspondence between people who know one another well. On the other hand, speech is usually a dynamic interaction between two or more people. Context and shared knowledge play a major role, so it is possible to leave much unsaid or indirectly implied. There are many factors that affect the way I speak or my idiolect.I think that I speak in a slightly informal way and use a lot of slang vocabulary in my speech. This might be related to my family background and also because I come from an under-privileged position in the society where people tend to place a greater emphasis on delivering the message than focusing on the presentation. In addition, my background and lifestyle also affects my idiolect because, I come from an ordinary working class background where, people are not formally educated, so they tend to used words that are not complicated because a person’s speech usually reflects upon their education.My personal experiences also affect my idiolect in the sense that I am a very sporty person and love games by heart. This tends to affect my vocabulary because I use a lot of technical terms which an uneducated person might not understand straightaway furthermore, I have only been attending school since year 5, this places me in a very difficult position because I sometimes cannot find words that match my emotions because I have not been educated up to a high standard. My friends also influence my idiolect because I tend to socialise with people that have a similar intellect and interests as me.This greatly affects my vocabulary because we use similar terminology that a different person might not understand. In addition, my vocabulary is greatly affected by my interests too, for example when I read a book; I will try to incorporate the words into my speech so that I will have more breadth of words and lingo. I have recorded myself conversing with two different people that have different positions in society and are also educated to different levels. This greatly affected the topics that we spoke about and also affected the vocabulary I used.In the informal transcript with the plumber we are discussing about the replacement of a pipe and a tap, on the other hand the formal conversation with my dad was about going to a football match. Both of the conversations follow Grice’s maxims in the sense that the replies are short and have a good manner. However, the structure of the conversation is very different because in one I am more comfortable and open up and in the other, I need to persuade my father so I need to use my best vocabulary in order to be manipulative.Whilst looking at the transcript with the plumber in an informal situation, I immediately realise that I have a tendency to talk and give suggestions whilst the other person is still speaking, this is evident in the transcript because the topic of discussion was very mundane and did not contain anything educational so I felt that there was nothing for me to learn so why not present a quick reaction and agree with what the other person is saying. This adds emphasis to the point that peers do not mind if they are cut in between because of the informality of the situation.It also suggests that the two peers share a bond in the sense that they do not mind and will forgive the other person who has intruded in what they were saying. This might suggest that the people who usually employ such methods come from a background where this is seen as acceptable whereas formally educated people or people with a higher position in society will usually wait for their turn until the other person has finished speaking and follow the feature of turn taking which is evident in the formal transcript because it is seen as impolite to interrupt.People usually look down upon a person who employs this tactic because the person assumes a higher intellect than the person they interrupt because they don’t wait for them to finish their sentence, people who employ this technique might also come off as over-confident or over-smart. As the situation was very informal and relaxed, we could relate and form a bond of compassion where I do not need to be overly formal or employ formal features such as Standard English because we can relate in terms of background etc.This proves the point that I was able to successfully manipulate my speech depending on the situation and the person who I am speaking with. In addition to having lots of interruptions, the informal conversation contains lots of acronyms and initialisations such as “I gotta leave ASAP†and “LOL, that’s funny cos’ my friend goes to Coplandâ€. This suggests that the situation is very hasty and I have employed this feature in my speech to reduce the time it takes to deliver a message.By, using “ASAP†in my speech, I was able to emphasise the hastiness of the situation and was also able to show wariness of the change in language over time. I have employed this feature because I would like to fit in with the way my peers speak to avoid social exclusion where no-one understands what I am trying to imply. This feature is extensively used in my and the plumber’s idiolect for convenience because we would like to deliver a longer message in a shorter amount of time without losing the importance of the message.In formal situations, people will usually keep acronyms as their last resort because it shows that a person is too lazy to finish their sentence which might be perceived as not being confident enough. However, it shows that a person is aware and embraces change in the English language, for example people who use Received Pronunciation, can be seen as ignorant or unaware of the changes that English has had to suit convenience.
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Benjamin Franklin will always be one of America’s greatest influential leaders. He’s known for his tremendous contributions in the world of politics, science, philosophy, among others. His discoveries and theories in electricy made him a significant figure in physics. During the American revolution, Franklin was able to secure the French alliance making independence a reality. Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706. According to Houston (2004), Franklin took his knowledge in printing from his older brother and became a newspaper editor, printer and merchant in Philadelphia.He published Poor Richard's Almanac and the Pennsylvania Gazette during his stint in England (Houston, 2004). When in the united States, he is behind the establishment of the first public lending library and fire department. Benjamin went to Boston Latin School but was not able to graduate instead, he continued his education through tremendous reading. When he was 17 years old, Franklin went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to seek a new start in a new city. There he worked in several printer shops.After several months, Franklin was persuaded by Pennsylvania Governor Sir William Keith to go to London, purposely to achieve the necessary equipment for establishing another newspaper in Philadelphia. He returned to Philadelphia in 1726 with the help of a merchant named Thomas Denham, who gave Franklin a position as clerk, shopkeeper, and bookkeeper in Denham's merchant business. The Author, Inventor, Philosopher, National Hero, etc. A person’s character was so important to Franklin. To cultivate his own character, he developed thirteen virtues at the age of 20 which became his guiding principles all throughout his life.These virtues, as mentioned in Houston’s book (2004) as well as other references on the life and works of Franklin, are lested below with their corresponding meanings: 1. Temperance which he meant as to eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation. 2. Silence is the next virtue which goes to mean that speak not but what may benefit others or yourself, avoid trifling conversation. 3. The virtue of Order directly means, let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution.Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself. What he wanted everyone to understand was to waste nothing. 6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. †9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation. 11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation. 13. And the last virtue is Humility wherein he emphasized that we should imitate jesus and Socrates who according to him were the greatest examples of people who practiced humility. These virtues are indeed powerful and may be adopted by anyone.They were purposely created by franklin to make a person’s character stronger. Among other things, Franklin was so fascinated in science and technology. Famous from his line of inventions attached to his name are the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, catheter, swimfins, glass harmonica and bifocals. His contributions in electricity earned him recognitions such as the one from the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1753 and in 1756 he became one of the few eighteenth century Americans to be elected as a Fellow of the Society.The cgs unit of electric charge has been named after him: one franklin (Fr) is equal to one statcoulomb. Steven M. Gillon and Cathy D. Matson (2003) illustrated that franklin also played a major role with the establishment of the University of Pennsylvania and Franklin and Marshall College. In fact, in 1769 he was elected the first president of the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge. Perhaps, the most lasting legacy of Benjamin Franklin is the appearance of his image in the American $100 bill.These days, $100 bills are often referred to as “Benjamins†or “Franklins†as mentioned by authors Gillon and Matson (2003). The city of Philadelphia is a living tribute to Franklin with about 5,000 likenesses of Benjamin Franklin in the city’s various areas. When he returned to the United States in 1762 after his stay in London, Franklin became actively involved in the Paxton Boys' affair, writing a sarcastic attack on their massacre of Christian American Indians and eventually asking them to break up.A lot of the Paxton Boys' supporters were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and German Reformed or Lutherans from the rural west of Pennsylvania, leading to allegations that Franklin was biased in favor of the urban Quaker elite of the East (Gillon and Matson 2003). These attacks led to Franklin losing a seat in the 1764 Assembly elections. This occasion became an opportunity for him to return to London earning the reputation of being a pro-American radical. Houston (2004) noted that Franklin was dispatched to England as an agent for the colony in 1764 to petition the King to take over the government from the hands of the proprietors.This visit would also become instrumental in becoming the colonial agent for Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. While he was living in London in 1768, he improved a phonetic alphabet in A Scheme for a new Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling. This new format discarded six letters which he believed were redundant and substituted six new letters for sounds he felt lacked letters of their own; however, his new alphabet never caught on and he eventually lost interest. When Franklin arrived in Philadelphia on May 5, the American Revolution has been going on with battles at Lexington and Concord.With this development, he was chosen by the Pennsylvania Assembly as their official delegate to the Second Continental Congress (Gillon and Matson 2003). Then In 1776 he became a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence and was part of the group responsible in making several small changes to Thomas Jefferson's draft. In 1787 he served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia where he played an dignified role, but seldom participated in debate.Franklin, according to Houston (2004) is the only Founding Father who is a signatory of all four of the major documents of the founding of the United States which include the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, the Treaty of Alliance with France, and the United States Constitution. Benjamin Franklin died at the age of 84 in April 17, 1790. His funeral was historically graced by about 20,000 people (Gillon and Matson 2003). He was laid to his final resting place at the Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.This is actually the same church which is also the home of Benjamin Rush. One of the houses he lived in Craven Street was previously marked with a blue plaque, and has since been opened to the public as the Benjamin Franklin House which has attracted tourists from across the globe. In 1728, according to Gillon and Matson (2003) when he was just a young man, Franklin wrote the following words to be his own epitaph: “The Body of B. Franklin Printer; Like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms.But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author. He was born on January 17, 1706. Died 17. †But in his will, Franklin's actual grave simply reads “Benjamin and Deborah Franklin. †Works Cited: Alan Houston, ed. Franklin: The Autobiography and other Writings on Politics, Economics, and Virtue. Cambridge U. Press, 2004. 371 pp. Steven M. Gillon and Cathy D. Matson. The American Experiment: A History of the United States, Volume II: Since 1865 (Boston: Houghton Mif
12/5/2019 0 Comments Critically evaluate the contribution that music can make to health and Literature reviewCritically evaluate the contribution that music can make to health and wellbeing - Literature review Example
People with mental health issues can benefit from music because it takes them away from thinking of themselves as patients by promoting their self-esteem, social recognition, confidence and status especially when they participate in singing (Bradt & Dileo, 2009:2, Music for stress and anxiety reduction in coronary heart disease patients). The relationship between arts and health has been a topical issue for a long time. The linkage between arts participation and health has been developed for instance the influence of sports on physical health and the influence of music on mental health. It is indeed true that arts participation has an effect on key health indicators. Music, health, and well-being: A review by Raymond and Macdonald (2013) asserts that musical participation as part of arts participation has a direct influence on the mental health and well being in people. Research has indicated that music contributes to mental health and wellbeing of people in different stages of life for instance children and the elderly. Rose Perkins and Aaron Williamon (2013) in their article Learning to make music in older adulthood: A mixed-methods exploration of impacts on wellbeing explore the links between older adulthood, wellbeing lifelong learning and music and posit that music has an important aspect for healthy ageing (Unkefer & Thaut, Eds. 2009:23). By healthy ageing, Unkefer & Thaut, Eds. (2009) refer to the absence of illnesses in old age in terms of social, physical and mental health. In this respect Unkefer & Thaut, Eds. (2009) acknowledge the fact that, “There is a growing body of literature exploring the relationships between music and wellbeing in the ageing population, and we know that music is a powerful part of many older adults’ lives†(Perkins & Williamon, 2013:551). While citing other sources, Downey, et.al, (2013) |