2004 MODULE 2 ESSAY

General Notes for Communication Studies

Look at the questions and make a comment that connects all or as many of the questions as possible. When answering each question specifically the tip is that you want to make a GENERAL statement that’s acts as the Intro to the paragraph…to frame this Intro you ask yourself what do I know generally about what the questions is asking for.

Using Module 2 from 2004 from Paper 2

There are many factors that influence a writer’s language choice; some of these are the context, the audience and the message content. In Alicia Mc Kenzie’s Pinkie this is certainly the case as we see as the choice of language is Creole in the Basilect variation.
a. The relation between language choice (Creole) and context/setting/situation (the beauty parlour) : context influence language choice. The context in Communication refers to the place (a hairdressing salon) and the grouping of people (interpersonal conversation). The term language choice implies that there are other languages that could have been used but this was specifically chosen. In this excerpt the language choice was creole in the Basilect and Mesolect variation. Because the context is casual the language is casual. The persons in the conversation are friends/acquaintances and as such they are comfortable to speak to each other in their mother tongue. Creole is appropriate as Pinkie and Ms Daisy obviously are West Indians and as such when the Creole is spoken by either of them it is understood. Examples are:

b. As with question (a) there are factors such as audience, content and nationality which when taken into consideration lend to the appropriateness of a narrator’s choice of language. In this case the narrator uses the Basilect variation as seen in “ I start to tell her bout a whole heap of strikes in England ...”. Who are the people who’d read this? Most likely it will be West Indians. Pinkie was complaining about her birth country in creole and so one expects the narrator to respond likewise in creole. Also there is a perception that creole will get the true meaning and feelings across. For example in the opening sentence Pinkie says “that is why this country will nevah get ahead, nevah get ahead.” A reader immediately knows that she is angry and in a complaining mode. So it is appropriate because of these main reasons: they are West Indians friends, the topic lends itself to complaint, and they are in a casual/informal setting.

c. Is Pinkie’s language linguistically or non-linguistically motivated? How do we identify linguistic motivation? When we are asked for non linguistic factors you should write about such factors as
• Phonetics – how the speaker articulates their speech sounds e.g. Guyanese roll their ‘r’
And Trinidadians do not
• Phonology - how the speaker systematically uses sounds in language / the sounds of words
• Morphology – how words are structured or formed e.g. dog, yes, swing or un-happi-ness
• Syntax – how the speaker constructs sentences or how words are organized e.g. phrases, clauses, sentences
• Semantics – how the speaker makes meaning of the words in the sentence e.g In the US most people refer to death as ‘passed’ whereas in Trinidad we say ‘died’ or in the US they say ‘pop’
for “soda” and in Trinidad we say “soft drink’ or “sweet drink” and sometimes you may even hear “seet drink”

Non linguistic factors can persons believing:
• that Americans and British speak the same way
• that learning to speak in a foreign language by just listening to the television or being in that country for a short holiday or from being around foreigners regularly e.g. a Hotel worker, tour guide
• that an accent is all that is needed to learn a language

d. A video presentation of any piece will enhance it especially in the area of clearing up ‘fuzziness’ of words, phrases and situation. (give examples from the excerpt here)


2009 MODULE 2 PAPER 1
QUESTION 4 b. State two non- linguistic reasons why the students are NOT speaking Std English
N.B It is widely perceived that most speakers use Std Eng in formal situations or when they are speaking to a stranger ...so in this scenario we are asking ourselves ...” Why did they choose to speak Creole? Why would one person be comfortable or be proud speak to Creole in any context and another will not do such? And on the other hand why the others choose the Standard and are just as comfortable or proud with it?
Possible answers...They were not in a formal setting/ the situation was a casual one
Creole is their first language and they are comfortable with speaking it / they are in an English speaking country etc.

STUDENTS FEEDBACK NEEDED...If in anyway this has helped you please take the timeout to share a cooment with the author. Thank you.

CAPE 2009 Communication Studies Paper 2 Module 1

CAPE 2009 Communication Studies Paper 2 Module 1 was a tricky passage as it required students to think harder than usual. I predict this is the new path of Communication Studies, no longer are students going to just read the extract once and see the language techniques and strategies jumping out at them but now they will have to read and read again.
Fear not students, as usual a writer always uses strategies and language techniques/devices to achieve the purpose or to make the main point...always. A writer cannot write without these three things re. Strategies/techniques, a specific purpose and a main point!Back to 2009 Module 1, many students were caught looking only for language devices and techniques and when they did not uncover any they became desperate and wrote the first things that came to their mind. They were right in believing that there must be some tools in the extract but they were wrong in believing that this tool was only language techniques. In this case there were mainly strategies hardly any of the former.
Rule No. 1 when there are none or few language or literary devices or techniques look for strategies as it was in this essay.
Rule No 2. A writer always uses the techniques and strategies to make and emphasise the main point and secondly a writer always use techniques and strategies to achieve the purpose. Identify the purpose and main point correctly and more than ever you will be able to identify the techniques and strategies used to help achieve the purpose.
Your main idea should mention that the only way women can break away from the vicious cycle of illiteracy, poverty, repeated childbearing is by becoming educated. The important thing here is to realize that there is a strong correlation between education and illiteracy.
Remember that the main idea and the writer’s purpose are connected; so if the main idea is that education is the key to breaking the stranglehold of that illiteracy, poverty, lack of a political voice and a voice on the hold then the purpose of this piece is to make readers aware/ to sensitize them/ to persuade them of the main idea. So anything that says something like the purpose of this piece is to sensitize readers to the fact that education is the only means for women to escape/break away from the clutches of poverty, illiteracy, repeated childbearing/unplanned pregnancy etc.
So CAPE always asks for you to discuss strategies and language techniques and most times the language techniques are easy to find but in CAPE 2009 you looked and looked and some of you only saw ...repetition of “education” and “illiteracy” and if you looked really hard you would have seen contrast of the effects of illiteracy and then you saw nothing else...and you were stuck.
Listen in a case like this CAPE is not mad...they won’t ask you for something if it wasn’t there but you need to be smart...go back to the question. If you look you will see what are always there...strategies and language techniques...never language techniques alone! So if there are no more language techniques then you need to identify and discuss strategies...it’s as simple as that!
And so in this particular question students needed to identify and discuss strategies such as the way the information was laid out. It was done as a list providing the benefits of education; there were examples of the effects of illiteracy from around the world, statistical information/data, use of non emotive/academic language, the use of a reputable institution as UNESCO, and the presentation of factual information.
Another BIG CLUE can be as it was in this case... if there is a lot of statistical data from a serious institution such as UNESCO believe this it most likely will not contain such things as hyperbole (if the organization is as reputable as this one is then the organization will not exaggerate the information!), it hardly will have emotive word (the language is academic..can you imagine those staid, serious statisticians writing in emotive words?), hardly likely to have all those easy devices as simile, personification and metaphor.
Seriously though don’t panic in the first essay, to panic in module one essay is most likely going to set off a negative reaction in the next two essays. So keep your cool, use your head and think!