Half Term Homework Text I Exam Question

Language and Power Exam Question

How is power asserted through language?
The first type of that this text asserts power, is the occupation of the person speaking. As this is a school talking to their new year sevens, the headteacher will address them. This means that the headteacher has instrumental power because this is held by individuals or groups that enforce authority.

The second way that the headteacher asserts her power is through the concept on Brown and Levinson's politeness theory. As the headteacher is trying to make a good impression on her new students, she is trying to come across as nice approachable person. The headteacher does this by using a positive face by using phrases such as “we are delighted at that because that means we can retain our quality staff increase our resources further to provide the very best education and experience for your son or daughter”. The phrase “provide the very best education and experience for your son or daughter”,shows us that the headteacher has used positive words such as “best” to try to persuade the parents and students that this is the best choice for them.

The headteacher also uses all of Grice's maxims. Grice's maxim of quantity is used when the headteacher says “it's all about making sure they're happy here and er feel safe and secure”. This shows us that this is one of the main points that the headteacher would like to get across to those in the presentation. This is also a persuasive technique as these two things are reassuring to new students' parents. Grice's maxim of quality is used when the headteacher says “two hundred and eighty five people applied to as their first choice”. This shows us that the headteacher is giving us approximate figures to how many students applied which once again is also persuasive as no student would want to reapply for another school. Grice's maxim of relevance is used when the headteacher says “we're all about students making the progression from key stage two to key stage four”. This shows us that the headteacher is keeping to the relevant topics that need to be discussed at this presentation and is not going off topic just to fill time. Grice's maxim of manner is used when the headteacher says “ I'd like to welcome you all this evening”. This shows us that the headteacher is being polite and is avoiding using obscurity and ambiguity in order to give a good first impression to the people arriving at the presentation.

Half Term Homework

Task 1
The Theories:
Brown and Levinson's Face Theory-Politeness theory is the theory that accounts for the redressing of the affronts to face posed by face-threatening acts to addressees. These include positive and negative faces and face threatening acts (FTA).
Grice's Maxims-This looks at the principles that are used during conversation to keep the conversation from ending or going off topic. These maxims include the maxim of quality, whatever is said is seen to be accurate, maxim of quantity, whatever is said is not too informative, maxim of relation, whatever is said is relevant to the conversation and the maxim of manner, whatever is said avoids obscurity of expression.
Task 2
The Newsroom Analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16K6m3Ua2nw
The Newsroom Analysis begins with agenda setting. Will, one of the candidate leaders, sets the agenda as he has complete control of the debate right from the very start. For framing the student who initially asks the question opens the discourse while Will closes the discourse after his rant. For turn taking, Will has the most turns and also has the longest turn as his turn lasts around a minute and a half. For interruptions, Will interrupts the opposing candidate to continue his rant about America. For politeness, there is none as Will uses an FTA within his rant and is moaning about society as a whole. Will's only hesitation is when he has reached the climax of his rant and is becoming more reflective about America's society. One of Will's prosidic  features that he uses is that he shouts the word "Belgium" when destroying his opponents opinion in America, and he uses all of Grice's maxims apart from manner.

For lexis he uses taboo language when swearing, factual support when he is ranting about America and he uses Unity and bonding when he says "we stood up for what we believed in".

For syntax Will uses lots of juxtaposition by contrasting his opinion of America to those of the opposing candidates, and he uses lots of rhetorical questions because he wants to be more persuasive and he knows that deep down the other candidates and the students may agree with him on some points.

For pragmatics Will uses assertion as his opinion is backed up by facts and statistics.

Task 3
Class Notes on Language and Power:
Two types of power Instrumental and Influential
Instrumental-When it is used by individuals or groups to maintain and enforce authority
Influential- When it is used to influence and persuade others.

Three types of power political, personal and social group
Examples
Political-Held by politicians, the police and those working in law courts
Personal-Those who hold a position of power as a result of their occupation or role such as teachers
Social Group-Those who hold power as a result of social variables such as class, gender and age. Typically (but not exclusively) white, middle-class men hold positions of power.

What does it mean to be powerful?
Respect
Assertive-to be "in charge"
Authority
Encouragement
Knowledge
Being a role model
Confidence
Leadership
Intimidating (in some cases)
Responsibility
Narcissism(in some cases)
Being decisive
Depending on context age, class and gender

Interviews
The interviewer has instrumental power
The interviewee has influential power
Expected to use formal language and lexis
Complete unfamiliarity in terms of discourse
Put on the spot
Use Maxim of manner, relevance
We project or try to project confidence in our body language-maintain eye contact
We try to control the way we speak (volume/tone/etc.)
Interviewer uses interrogative
We use declarative and model verbs
They have the power to give us the
-Assertive
-Decisive
-Higher position of power