Grammar Test Answers Language LevelsLinguistic Frameworks Lexis Aims

Grammar Test - Answers

Language Levels/Linguistic Frameworks Lexis

Aims and Objectives Aim: for you to be able to analyse texts for lexical choices Objectives: • Recognise different types of lexis • Note down formal and informal lexis quickly • Analyse texts using appropriate terminology

Lexis simply means vocabulary.

We have looked at synonyms, but what is the opposite of a synonym? Antonym – words that have opposite meanings

When analysing texts using this framework, look out for: Informal/speaking lexis Formal/writing lexis slang, colloquialisms, swearing, taboo terms, clichés, everyday, monosyllabic words, dialect elevated, literate, sophisticated, Latinate, archaisms, unusual, polysyllabic,

What do you notice about the lexis in this clip? https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=BCkl. KO 1_j. Ps

Figurative/ metaphor, simile, personification, rhetorical lexis Metonymy = figurative way of conveying the body of people behind something e. g. the Whitehouse issued a statement / Buckingham Palace made an apology / the Crown (the Royal Family) Hyperbole = rhetorical exaggeration I’ve told you a million times! Oh I nearly died when he saw me without make up on! Oxymoron – it was a bitter sweet pill to

Figurative/rhetorical language puns

Anthropomorphism-when animals or non-human characters are given human characteristics. Anthropomorphism is slightly different from personification, which is describing an object using human characteristics. Anthropomorphism is actually having the animal or object behave as if it is human In the Disney film, Beauty and the Beast, the clock (Cogsworth), candlestick (Lumier), and the teapot (Mrs. Pots) all act and behave as if they are human beings. In the novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, the characters are all animals. For example, old Major, a pig, has a dream where all animals are free from the tyranny of the farmer. Many classic Disney characters are anthropomorphised: • • Mickey and Minnie Mouse Donald and Daisy Duck

Other lexical Euphemisms = soften the impact / polite / prudish choices The Bobbies / I’m going to the Ladies’ room to powder my nose dysphemisms = insulting / hard hitting impact / rude The Pigs / snuffed it / I’m going to the shitter for a crap compound = two separate words with different meanings brought together to make a whole new meaning motherboard / megabyte / clipping – bus = autobus / pram = perambulator / plane = aeroplane / flu = influenza neologisms = new words formed from existing ones = inter & net (like a web ) = internet blends = mankini / motel/ smog/spork Collocations … coming soon in SEMANTICS …

Field specific lexis Jargon e. g. computer jargon (motherboard, hard drive etc). Sporting jargon (offside etc). F S Lexis doesn’t have to be jargon – it can just be relevant to the topic, so mothers talking about babies could have the F S lexis of parenting: nappies, milk, solids inoculation, sleeping Lexis recurring in e. g. looks that kill, to die for, I could murder a the same steak – the semantic field of death/killing (can semantic field sometimes be linked to puns or genre such as horror/comedy writing/advertising) In linguistics, a semantic field is a set of words grouped semantically (that is, by meaning), referring to a specific subject

Synthetic Personalisation Introduced by Norman Fairclough, this is the way the text producers use personalised language to construct a relationship between them and the text receiver. For example, using pronouns we, you, us. It is the way in which text producers make their audience feel as if they are being personally addressed.

Alright, mucker! (means ‘Hello mate’ in Widnesian – not used so much any more) Vesperal salutations to you all! (means ‘Hello everyone’ – never uttered by Widnesians!) I’m afraid she passed away yesterday Quick! Run! Here’s the filth! One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. (Martin Luther King) The LA needs to get in touch with the Ho. S about the Of. STED inspection I’m running round like a chicken with no head! (often linked to Of. STED inspections!) Put the coffee cup on the table top, you knobhead!

Alright, mucker! (means ‘Hello mate’ in Widnesian – not used so much any more) colloquialism / a little archaic now Vesperal salutations to you all! (means ‘Hello everyone’ – never uttered by Widnesians!) I’m afraid she passed away yesterday elevated, Latinate lexis / polysyllablic euphemism dysphemism metaphor – King suggests a black person in the US is living in poverty when there is wealth around – also suggests lack of opportunity for black people to prosper – isolated. Quick! Run! Here’s the filth! One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. (Martin Luther King) The CTL needs to get in touch with the Ho. S about the Of. STED inspection jargon via initialisms and acronyms Of. STED: Office for Standards in Education I’m running round like a chicken with no head! (often linked to Of. STED inspections!) cliché / metaphor Put the coffee cup on the table top, you knobhead! compounds / dysphemism

Plenary Task Individually, work through each of the texts you have been given, focussing on lexis and semantics. Annotate each text, commenting on: What is the text’s mode? GAP the text Register – formal or informal? Lexical choices – this includes all of the features we have gone through this week • Pick out one word from each text and be prepared to tell us the significance of this word within the text • • We will share our ideas as a class at the end of the activity.

Recap – quiz! • What is metonymy and what is its effect? • Body of people behind a building/concept • What’s the difference between initialisms and acronyms? • Sound initials as letters of alphabet / pronounce initials as a new word • When one uses more insulting lexis this is a … • dysphemism • When the lexis is three or more syllables long • Polysyllabic lexis • A new word formed from already existing ones … • neologism • Two words put together to form a new meaning • compound