Millie's Language Blog

- School of psychology in Liverpool - Studies on how children learn to talk - Asking parents to fill in checklist of gestures and words their children use - Fastest children have a couple of hundred words in their vocab - Family dialect, language and words used within the family - Having conversations with their children is the best way to improve their vocabulary - and talk is good talk. - Children prefer to listen to their local dialect, picks up on it well before they can talk - Some accents depend on who you're talking to and what situation you're in - People have a negative view on Liverpool and its accent - The more we like someone, the more out accents will shift towards theirs. - People change their accents because of the city they live in because they want to be apart of that society, but if they don't like where they live they are less likely to change their accent to fit in with that city - Accents are preventing children from learning Standard English...

It's Every Man for Him or Himself   Within the past few years, society has really stepped out of it's comfort zone in terms of making men and women more equal, but will this ever completely change? Deborah Tannen argues that the difference between the two genders, in terms of language, will always be segregated if parents teach their children strict gender roles from an early age. The difference in which men and women communicate is quite astonishing, as males are taught by their peers to use language as a means of asserting dominance over women, while women use communication as a way of confirming and supporting ideas. Deborah Tannen's book 'You Just Don't Understand' supports the idea that there is a huge gap between the genders and their means of communication. She believes that there are six main differences between the ways males and females use language: Status vs. Support, Independence vs. Intimacy, Advice vs. Understanding, Information vs. Fe...

Debora Cameron - The Pronoun is Political This article written by Debora Cameron explains the origins of feminism and the LGBT movement. It begins with an explanation of the 19th century landowner Ann Lister. She was regarded as an influential figure in the 

Shower Gel for Women This text on the side of the bottle of 'Anatomicals' is a passage aimed directly at women. It depicts women to all have similar characteristics; analytical, easily annoyed and clean freaks. By using a repetition of 'blooming' and also rhetorical questions, it demonstrates that the writer of this text believes that women should feel irritated by men leaving a mess and being overall untidy. It creates a division between men and women, as women are presented to be the more organised and tidy gender, while men are demonstrated as a nuisance and hassle, by creating all of this mess, shown in the lines 'he' also squeezed the blooming toothpaste from the top again.' and 'he's blooming well dropped his dirty towels on the floor.' The anonymity of describing the man as 'the blooming man in your life' sets up an idea that the man is insignificant compared to the woman, as the writer is speaking directly to the reader, who ...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/16/hating-men-crime-eldely-women-sajid-david-misandry This is an opinion article from the 'Guardian' which discuses the topic of gender issues, and focuses specifically on the subject of misandry- the act of hating men. The article begins with the rhetorical question 'Are men the real victims now?' which evokes a controversial idea that the writer may want to bring attention to. The writer brings in other issues such as racism and homophobia in the line ' Sajid Javid has just announced a review of hate crime, to consider whether ageism as well as misogyny should be treated the same way as racism and homophobia where they lead to criminal offences.' implying that misandry is just as bad. This sparks a controversial topic due to the context of this concept, as woman are the gender that has been mainly discriminated against, and so people who disagree with the idea that hatred against men should be punished...

Comparative Essay: Mumsnet and Mirror Money Both Mumsnet and Mirror Money share the same target audience of middle aged parents whose children are approaching prom season. However, both are separated by their genre, as Mumsnet is an advice forum while Mirror Money is an opinionated article. This leads to a difference in the result of both texts. for example what the purpose is and how is impacts the audience. Text A, Mumsnet, has the purpose of giving advice to parents with teenagers, with users responding to each other using computer-mediated-communication, for example 'Yes, Kayano' which clearly shows a form of communication between the users of this forum. Text B, Mirror Money, has the intention of informing its audience as an article, using statistics such as 'spending 24% more on their outfits than a year ago'. Language is used as a shock factor on money being spent at prom. For example, in Text A, woolyideas says 'the very idea of them having a Prom ...

Mirror Money Essay This article from 'Mirror' discusses the topic of proms, in particular the amount of money that boys are spending at prom. It begins with the metaphorical verb 'sales of tuxedoes rocketing'. This hyperbole sets off the article with the impression that the author thinks that the whole idea of prom and the amount of money being spent on it is ridiculous, by using exaggerated statements such as this. Statistics are also used, for example '24% more on their outfit than a year ago.' The statistic is also included within the summary of the article, implying that this is what the author wants the reader to focus on. By using this repetition, it makes the statistic sound a lot more exaggerated than it actually is. In the fourth paragraph, the author uses famous celebrities such as 'James Bond' and 'David Beckham' who are described as 'fashion icons' and 'screen hero'. This portrays an unrealistic standard for t...