Grammatical Analysis of Spoken and Written Texts (Term Paper Sample)

Grammatical Analysis of Spoken and Written Texts
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u PART A PAGEREF _Toc409900554 \h 1Context of conversation PAGEREF _Toc409900555 \h 1Phonological Features Analysis PAGEREF _Toc409900556 \h 2Intonation PAGEREF _Toc409900557 \h 2Grammatical Features Analysis PAGEREF _Toc409900558 \h 4Vernacular forms PAGEREF _Toc409900559 \h 4Endearments PAGEREF _Toc409900560 \h 5Interjections PAGEREF _Toc409900561 \h 6PART B PAGEREF _Toc409900562 \h 7Context of editorial PAGEREF _Toc409900563 \h 7Key Grammatical Features PAGEREF _Toc409900564 \h 7Observations regarding grammatical choices PAGEREF _Toc409900565 \h 10Grammatical choices and what they say about the readers’ and writer’s position PAGEREF _Toc409900566 \h 11References PAGEREF _Toc409900567 \h 12Appendix: PART B Editorial ‒ The backlash against African women PAGEREF _Toc409900568 \h 13
Grammatical Analysis of Speech and Written Text
Grammatical analysis of speech and written text is a very useful aspect and source of knowledge within the field of linguistics and language learning. This document analyses both spoken and written speech with the aim of pointing out and identifying key phonological and grammatical features. The analysis is divided into two sections, Part A and Part B, which cover the analysis of spoken and written text respectively.
PART A
Context of conversation
The conversation under analysis is from a radio phone-in program. The radio program is a Kenyan relationship-based show that takes place every Monday morning between seven and eight am. The main participants involved in the phone-in program are the hosts and listeners who call the radio station to share their opinions and thoughts on the topic of conversation. Other participants include the viewers who get in touch with the radio show hosts via social media. The hosts encourage anyone listening to post their views on the social media sites so that they may read their comments to the listeners. The show is hosted by two male radio presenters who bring up the topics and get the conversation going, as listeners call in to give their opinions and comments on the topics under discussion. All the participants are non-native English speakers however; they are quite fluent in the English language.
The main objective of the relationship show is to try and tackle awkward relationship situations, and find solutions to some of the most commonly-asked relationship questions through public opinion. The act sequence is mainly conducted by the two radio hosts, and consists of one of them becoming the protagonist and choosing to side with the more widely accepted and morally upright opinion (with regard to the topic under discussion), while the other chooses to be the antagonist and defends the opinion that the majority are against. The two hosts back the different callers’ opinions, and encourage them to join their sides by making jokes that downplay the opposing view.
The key of the conversation, according to Hyme’s speaking grid, is casual. The nature of the conversation that occurs between the hosts and the callers is similar to one that may occur in a conversation between groups of friends. The hosts try to create a casual atmosphere through the use of jokes and by referring to the callers on a personal level, which encourages the listeners to play along. The instrumentality of the conversation is that of a phone-in; the spoken speech under analysis basically occurs through a phone conversation. The norm of the discussion is similar to one characteristic of a conversation occurring on a personal level. The participants address each other casually through the use of endearing terms and jokes and try to avoid the blatant use of expletive words, choosing to use slang instead. The genre of the conversation is that of an argument, where participants each state and support their views with the aim of wining over the opposing side. The topic under discussion for this particular context was whether Valentine’s Day should be celebrated in Kenya.
Phonological Features Analysis
This section of the analysis considers the most notable phonological features of the conversation.
Intonation
The aspect of intonation in phonological analysis is a rather crucial one, as it has the capability to even affect the overall meaning of an utterance. For the purposes of this analysis the aspect of intonation, with regards to the participants’ utterances, has been considered in the entirety of the conversation and not with respect to the constituent syllables of the conversation. The main prosodic features of intonation under consideration include: stress, pitch, tone, loudness of the speech (in comparison to normal speech) and emphasis.
The first extract illustrates the use of a rising and falling pitch and tone by the caller and host respectively.
Caller: These things called ↑↑birthdays and ↑↑anniversaries, they should also be/abolished.
Host: you don’t want to appreciate your lady in any /way?
Caller: ↑↑Honestly, I think appreciation should be a matter of saying thank you. ↑↑You don’t need all these events and gift giving opportunities.
The caller raises the pitch of their voice to place emphasis on the words ‘birthdays’ and ‘anniversaries’ in order to make them the key aspects of his statement to the host. The falling tone at the end of his statement simply signifies that end of his sentence. The rise in tone of the host on the other hand acts as a cue to the caller, illustrating that the host’s statement was a question. Lastly, the noticeable rise in pitch in the caller’s voice might be taken as an illustration of the manner in which the caller answers questions enthusiastically.
Another illustration of the use of tone in asking questions:
Host: What do you /think?
Caller: [You know, I think that we can do away with that day]
Host: [hahaha why /now?]
Caller: [Some things are simply unnecessary in life]
In the second extract, the very low pitch of the caller’s response may be attributed to mobile reception issues and not the caller choosing to whisper a response.
Some of the callers utilised the conventional methods of applying stress and emphasis, accompanied by a variation in pitch in order to emphasise their points.
Caller: Let me tell you, these men of ours should really learn to /appreciate us. They think being a lady is easy?
Host: And let me ask you, ↑↑DO YOU THINK BEING A MAN IS EASY? Men don’t need appreciation?
Caller: ↑↑Of course they do, and that’s why WE NEED DAYS LIKE VALENTINES, in order to appreciate each other.
From this extract we see the caller placing the weight and emphasis of her point on the fact that men should learn to appreciate women, and in inquiring as to whether the host thinks that being a lady is easy. The rising tone at the beginning of the word ‘appreciate’ simply serves to increase the level of emphasis that the caller is placing on the word. The host on the other hand utilises a rising pitch, in a louder than normal voice to bring in his opposing view with fervor. The caller responds with similar fervor, by choosing to raise their pitch and voice and place emphasis on the word ‘need’.
Grammatical Features Analysis
This section of the analysis considers the most notable grammatical features of the conversation.
Vernacular forms
The conversation had quite a number of vernacular forms of the Kenyan language. Most of these forms were utilised while the hosts were addressing the callers, and vice versa.
Host: Hello, hello
Caller: Hello
Host: Hello baba
Caller: Just calling to say that me and mama wanyumba really enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day every year.
Host: Hello
Caller: Sasa
Host: Fit sana my dear. What’s your comment on celebrating Valentine’s Day?
This being an informal and rather casual conversation between non-native English speakers, it is not surprising that the speakers choose to use some vernacular terms in the conversation. It was my opinion that the speakers opted to use vernacular terms in order to get into the casual mood of the conversation. Basically, they were trying to seem as though they were relaxed and ‘chill’ with the conversation.
Endearments
The host and the callers both addressed each other with terms of endearment.
Host: Hello
Caller: Hello my brother
Host: Hello
Caller: Hi
Host: Hi sweetie
Host: Hello
Caller: Hi, how are you?
Host: I’m very fine my dear, your comment?
The use of endearments between the host and the caller is as a result of the familiar atmosphere created by the context of the conversation, as well as the act sequence conducted by the hosts. The use of these endearments makes the hosts seem approachable, and this acts as an encouragement for callers and motivates them to want to join the conversation so that they may also ‘be a part of the fun’.
Interjections
The conversation also used a number of interjections
Host: My sister, what do you think of these men who want to abolish Valentine’s?
Caller: Waa…I have no words for them. I mean wow. Do they have girlfriends?
Caller: Valentine’s Day is a western culture thing, we don’t need it here.
Host: Oh my Goodness, you really hate Valentine’s Day don’t you?
Caller: Yes. I ...