Prescriptivists are against language change and believe that standard English is the only way we should speak, it aims to teach what is percieved as 'correct language' and that punctuation is important in society for communication. Whereas a descriptivist would be more accepting of language and understanding of language change, and has the opposite views to prescriptivists.
Ultimately descripitvists see how language is used and prescriptivists have views on how language should be used.
Lynn Truss is a prescriptivist and she uses her views to remind people that punctuation is important. She has said that people are putting important things like apostrophes in the wrong places or dropping them all together so the English language is beginning to make little sense and soon grammar will be completely gone. She also believes that without the use of punctuation, there is no reliable way of communicating meaning.
On the other hand Frank Palmer said that what is correct is ultimately what's accepted in society , because language is a matter of conventions within society. His opinion is that language is not set and can be changed, as there is no absolute correctness of language.
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
Rastamouse
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/feb/15/rastamouse-cbeebies
We see the issue immediately from the headline, which has a bold question. The use of a powerful adjective 'rank' makes the issue known to the audience. Initially it is an rhetorical question, however the author puts their opinion across in the majority of the text as Rastamouse being a positive show. To do this, we do see the use of a first person plural possessive noun where the author refers to rastamouse as 'Our furry hero'. By doing this the author is assuming the audience had a position of agreeing with what they're saying, making everyone who reads the article a collective and with the same opinion. This therefore portrays their thoughts on Rastamouse as it being heroic and also shapes the audiences response and opinions without them having a choice.
Also a sense if irony could be seen by the author. After making the point of complaints about cheese being a code for marijuana the author says '"cheese" oft-featured in a show about mice' which could give off the impression that the author is mocking the complaints, almost saying there would be an obvious reference to cheese where there's mice. It could also be seen as a try at humour, therefore giving a more familiar tone for the audience which can persuade their opinions to match that of the writer.
The text concludes with another question, again the author refers to Rastamouse as a hero; 'our red, gold and green hero' also uses the collective noun 'our' for a second time, as an audience it is assumed that we are grouped with the same opinion, as well as the author, which shapes opinions of the readers.
We see the issue immediately from the headline, which has a bold question. The use of a powerful adjective 'rank' makes the issue known to the audience. Initially it is an rhetorical question, however the author puts their opinion across in the majority of the text as Rastamouse being a positive show. To do this, we do see the use of a first person plural possessive noun where the author refers to rastamouse as 'Our furry hero'. By doing this the author is assuming the audience had a position of agreeing with what they're saying, making everyone who reads the article a collective and with the same opinion. This therefore portrays their thoughts on Rastamouse as it being heroic and also shapes the audiences response and opinions without them having a choice.
Also a sense if irony could be seen by the author. After making the point of complaints about cheese being a code for marijuana the author says '"cheese" oft-featured in a show about mice' which could give off the impression that the author is mocking the complaints, almost saying there would be an obvious reference to cheese where there's mice. It could also be seen as a try at humour, therefore giving a more familiar tone for the audience which can persuade their opinions to match that of the writer.
The text concludes with another question, again the author refers to Rastamouse as a hero; 'our red, gold and green hero' also uses the collective noun 'our' for a second time, as an audience it is assumed that we are grouped with the same opinion, as well as the author, which shapes opinions of the readers.
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