Broken homes 'damage brains of infant children'

Broken homes 'damage brains of infant children'

After reading this article, I believe that it is a slightly extreme view on how broken homes affect language acquisition. To start with, the article has been very scarce in classifying what they view a broken family is, which has highlighted an issue for me. I agree to some extent that families who are neglectful, can have a negative impact on their children’s learning, however, if the government is classing divorced, single, or reconstituted families as ‘broken’ also, then this is a ludicrous idea.

 I believe that children learn language through imitation mostly, and also the social reactions that they get from when they say a word for the first time. For example, when a baby says ‘Mumma’ or ‘Dadda’ for the first time, they are greeted with smiles and positive reinforcement, likewise if they swear, they are likely to be condemned; therefore learning how to speak the English language ‘correctly’. However, in those families where the parents/caregivers are ignorant towards their children, problems begin to occur, as when the child speaks, they are not greeted with any reinforcement in order for them to learn. Additionally, the child may copy some words or phrases but not understand what they mean, or how to use them correctly. Furthermore, if a child is not spoken to at all, then they will not learn any words or phrases at all. Therefore, in the respect of family life influencing language acquisition, I agree with the article, but I disagree with the use of the term ‘broken home’, as this could happen in a home where the parents have a very happy life, but their child is not given their attention.

However, a study in the psychological field has shown that when a child suffers maternal deprivation in the critical period of their life (up to three years old), that they do lack in social skills, and that their physicality is smaller than other infants of their age. This means that in some cases, children are affected by their home life, and that their cognitive abilities may fall below average at the age that the enter nursery school or reception.

However, the thing that shocked me most in this article is the governments disregard for these children in school, simply stating that it is ‘‘expensive to rectify this’’ and that the children ‘‘simply bump along the back and at the bottom’’, leading them to become drug addicts, criminals, or alcoholics.  This particularly stood out to me because I believe that schools should put more effort into helping these children, rather than viewing them as an economic liability. Coming from an area that isn’t as affluent as some, my Mum working in the local primary school has solidified this for me, as she often comments on how hard she works with the children who start skills with little social and academic skills, but how the government funding within this area has reduced as the years go on, making it much more difficult to intervene and help these children to progress.

Therefore, I think that language acquisition does start in the home, however it should be enhanced in schools, when the family is unable to do this adequately.

Article on language change

http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/oct/30/power-grab-reclaiming-words-can-be-such-a-bitch

The history of Written Medium

The history of Written Medium

The earliest writing we know of dates back to around 3,000 BC and was invented by the Sumerians. Temple officials needed to keep records of the grain, sheep and cattle entering or leaving their stores and farms and it became impossible to rely on memory. So, an alternative method was required and the very earliest texts were pictures of the items scribes needed to record (known as pictographs).

These texts were drawn on damp clay tablets using a pointed tool. The scribes realised it was quicker and easier to produce representations of things as animals, rather than naturalistic impressions of them. They began to draw marks in the clay to make up signs, which were standardised so they could be recognised by many people. A wedge-shaped instrument (usually a cut reed) was used to press the signs into soft clay. This gave the writing system its name, 'cuneiform', meaning wedge-shaped. cuneiform signs were put together and developed to represent sounds, so they could be used to record spoken language.

Once this was achieved, ideas and concepts could be expressed and communicated in writing e.g. letters enclosed in clay envelopes, as well as works of literature.

Written mediums also developed in Egypt. The most well-known script used for writing the Egyptian language was in the form of a series of small signs, or hieroglyphs. Some signs are pictures of real-world objects, while others are representations of spoken sounds. Some signs write one letter, some more, while others write whole words.

Occupational Language

Language in Law-

The interactions between lawyers is typically through spoken language if within the same chambers, or email. In these interactions, much lexical jargon is used due to the shared knowledge within the discourse community.
One example of this is in criminal law the terms 'mens rea' and 'actus reus', legal terms meaning 'guilty mind' and 'guilty act'. These terms are used to distinguish between what an offender has done and their thoughts/motive behind it.
Another example is used by judges or legal advisors within the courts to interpret statutes and laws. One term is 'ejusdem generis', meaning to draw meaning of other words from what is already known, and 'expression unius est exlussio alterus' meaning that expressed meaning of one word excludes others.

 

Some other examples of legal jargon include:

 

• Jurisdiction - the power to sentence a criminal
• Perjury - deliberately making material false or misleading statements while under oath
• Res Ipsa Loquiter - 'the thing speaks for itself'
• Aquittal - when the defendant is found not guilty

 

Another interaction within the legal profession would take place between lawyers and clients, usually in the form of letters or emails. Within this discourse, the lawyers may use subject specific lexis rather than jargon, as the client doesn't have specialist knowledge.

 

Some examples of subject specific lexis are:

• Case
• Charge
• Plea
• Breach
• Witnesses
• Evidence
• Prosecution
• Jury
• Bail

 

 

 

 

 

 

Self valuation

In my language and dialect essay I achieved a high mark for my AO2, however my AO1 was lacking.

Therefore in order to improve I need to embed language levels into my essay and use examples to back this up. 

I also need to develop a line of argument throughout and form a solid opinion on the matter. I need to use this to contest other theories and ideas.

OED

Oxford English Dictionary

Bachelor-

• The first citation of the word bachelor was recorded in 1297 in 'The Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester '.
• It originally comes from France or Italy.
• The primary meaning of the word is 'A young knight, not old enough, or having too few vassals, to display his own banner, and who therefore followed the banner of another; a novice in arms', therefore, it has always been a gender specific word for a male.
• Overtime, the meaning of the word has widened and has now become known as 'an unmarried man (of marriageable age)'.
• The original spelling of the word has deviated from 'bacheler' and 'bachelere'.

Slut-

• The first citation of the word in 1402 in a novel.
• The etymology hasn't been confirmed but it is most likely Germanic.
• Its original meaning is 'A woman of dirty, slovenly, or untidy habits or appearance; a foul slattern.'
• It has now pejorated and has become a word to describe a woman who sleeps around.

• This shows that it has always been gender specific to women.
• There has been no spelling changes.

Stud-

• The first citation of this word was in c1000
• It originally meant, 'An establishment in which stallions and mares are kept for breeding'
• The etymology is Old English.
• It has no broadened in meaning, 'A man of (reputedly) great sexual potency or accomplishments; a womanizer, a habitual seducer of women'.
• The connotations of these words have ameliorated, as a man who is described as a stud has become admirable for having 'many women on the go', which is what men now aspire to rather than monogamy.

Witch-

• This word was originally used to describe a Man who practises witchcraft.
• The meaning has changed to represent a woman.
• The semantic meaning is the same, however, the connotations of a woman witch are negative. e.g. evil, old, ugly etc.

Wizard-

• This is the male equivalent to 'witch', it describes a 'magical' man.
• Although the semantic meaning is the same to witch, Wizard has more positive connotations e.g. powerful, wise etc.



BEV results

What are the attitudes towards the Afro-Caribbean influence on standard English?

Findings and analysis

Can any links be made between the respondents?

All of the respondents are part of Shenfield High School Sixth Form so are aged between 16-18. The participants are a mixture of boys and girls, (9 boys and 11 girls). 75% of the recipients were white British, 20% were black British, and 5% were of another ethnicity.

What was the overall opinion?

The overall opinion was that the language used by themselves has been changed by the people that are around them and depend on who they are around. These people said that the main ways that they change their language is to reduce/increase slang, taboo, and colloquialisms depending on who they are with, some also change the register of the language that they use. The main reasons for this was that from other generations you can pick up on the sociolect, and also that you can adapt you’re voice depending on the accent and dialect used by peers.

What does this tell us about the status of Standard English?

These results show that Standard English is still the most respected variation of the language with the highest respect. This shows that even though our society is culturally rich, people still have the perception that supports the sociolinguists Trudgill’s theory. He says that the majority opinion was that the ‘Queen’s English’ held prestige over other variations of English and that every other variation was improper and ‘bad English’.

In my questionnaire, the results for ‘what is bad English’ consisted of:

• ‘Broken English’
• ‘made up words’
• ‘lack of vocabulary’
• ‘not speaking clearly’
• ‘bad pronunciation’
• ‘adding ‘like’ a lot’
• ‘slang’
• ‘curse words and rudeness’
• ‘Essex language’
• ‘chavs’
• ‘road man talk’

This shows that people perceive anything that is not the ‘Queen’s English’ as bad.

What attitudes are there to Black English Vernacular and other variations of English?

The attitudes to BEV and other variations is that they are not as good as Standard English.  My results show that many opinions on ‘bad English’ derive from BEV. An example of this is ‘road man talk’, which is the general term for language used by black people. ‘Roadman’ refers to a person who is young, and delinquent. This means that the language used by them may be of a low register and they also used many words that are made up or they cause words to have a semantic shift. Typically, the language that ‘roadmen’ uses originates from Black English Vernacular.

 

Conclusions

In conclusion, the attitudes the Afro-Caribbean influence on Standard English is that it is not as good as proper English, which the Queen uses. Many people believe that bad English is the result of BEV integrating with the English language and creating ‘chavvy’ and ‘roadman’ speech. Many people have adopted their own sociolect in order to fit in with other groups also. Therefore, if a white British person is friends with somebody from another ethnicity, they will start to use the language that they use which typically originates from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds. This means that English has been influenced greatly by a multicultural society.