Theory

Chomsky- Innate

This is the theory that suggests the human brain is pre-wired. It understands that there are fixed principles for example verbs, questions and adjectives within the human brain. This is supported by the fact that they’re all present in the many languages spoken around the world because they are what we our brain produces.

Vygotsky- Social Interaction

This theory includes the zone of proximal development. It believes that there are stages where children learn best, they must be assisted and then are left at a key point to independently learn and then they will succeed. This zone of development is crucial and plays a large role in the child’s progress and learning.

BF Skinner – Operant Conditioning

Operant condition involves punishment and reward. It’s scheduled reinforcement in response to the child’s actions, or in the case of learning language the things they say and whether they’re incorrect or correct. This was tested on birds through teaching them to read. By changing the word from peck to turn they could get the bird to respond with the correct response by proving food if they responded correctly. 

Piaget – Stages

This theory is about how children develop and in which order at certain ages. The stages are:

Sensori-motor (Birth to 2 years)
Differentiates self from objects and recognises self as agent of action for example shaking a rattle to make a noise. They realise that things continue to exist when they’re removed from the situation.

Pre- operational (2-7 years)

They learn to use language and represent objects by images and words.  Have difficulty taking viewpoint of others. Classify objects by a single feature for example colour or shape.

Concrete operational (7-11 years) 

The child can think logically about objects or events. They achieve understanding of number age six, mass age 7 and weight age 9 and can classify objects according to several features and can order them in series along a single dimension such as size.

Formal operational (11 years and up)
Can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systematically. They become concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems 

Language Acquisition

"I can walk up to someone I don't know and I can make a sequence of noises that I've never made before by pushing air through my mouth. I will take a thought in my head and make it go into their head."

The parents simplified their language then as the boy's language developed they mirrored it and used more complex ones.

By the time a child is five they'll know as many as 5,000 words. As they grow up they'll learn 3000 every year. As adults they'll be speaking 15,000 words every day.

We're the only specie that can convey complex meaning and thought. No other animal has ever developed speech.

Not even our closest relatives the chimps can talk, psychologists spent nearly seven years trying to teach one, Vicky, to talk but failed.

Theory behind why we can talk: our unique anatomy
Our voice box is low in our throat so our vocal tracks are longer. For animals it's high in the throat.
This has been disproved though as they're capable of lowering and reconfiger the vocal track like a human. So that isn't the constraint, it must be in the brain.

The left part of the brain is for language, the front part is for speaking and the back is for understanding speech.

Front is associated with word retrieval.

A baby responds to the mothers voice over anyone else's, the only explanation for this is that they've been listening to her whilst in the womb.

"The forbidden experiment"
The only way to find out if language is fully innate is to leave a child to grow up on their own in a silent isolated room. Would they be able to develop language this way? No one will ever know because the study is way too cruel.
A way of getting around this is by using birds: they copy their parents sing just like we predict children copy their parents. They isolated male birds from their fathers, and their song developed to no more than a croak.

Oxana had an innate concept for language even though raised by dogs. However for her first three years she had lived in a domestic setting so this isn't fully reliable. 

Language Change

Language change:
Nag:

The word was first printed in 1336 in a novel.

 “1336–7 in C. M. Woolgar Househ. Accts. Medieval Eng. (1992) I. 182 Item in i ferro anteriore pro le nagg et i remocione pro morel ii d.”

The word was created in early modern English and was referring to a horse so not gender specific. It then turned into being used for slang as a penis and then a prostitute.

Was first used as a verb before a noun in 1728. An example “Nag, to gnaw at anything hard.”

The spelling of the word has changed; used to have variations of “nagg” “nage” “nyag” “naig” or “nagge” .
 

The dictionary definition is: “1. A small riding-horse or pony; (colloq.) a horse, now esp. an old or feeble one. Occas. also fig.”
This doesn’t match my definition, I would define nag as being “to complain”.

The word has gone through pejoration because is now a negative thing to be told you’re nagging. It has also narrowed because is no longer used for so many purposes.

Bird:

The word was first used in a800: “a800 Corpus Gl. (O.E. Texts) 1687 Pullus, brid.”

a.orig. The general name for the young of the feathered tribes; a young bird; a chicken, eaglet, etc.; a nestling. The only sense in Old English; found in literature down to 1600; still retained in north. dial. as ‘a hen and her birds’.

The use then broadened and was used to describe the young of other animals before then describing a young man or son. This suggests the word was then male specific contrasting todays use being gender specific to females. In a1400 it broadened to referring to females also as a maiden.

The definition does match mine. 

Language and gender

A surgeon's care is a fictional piece where the extract focus' on Penny's fantacy for her boss Professor Chadwick. The extract portrays gender by the professor being in authority and being stereotypically masculine and the woman being submissive. The first way this is shown is through Penny asking "Where do you want me?" to Professor Chadwick. This represents him being in authority however his could be due to their occupational positions as he is her boss not just due to their sex, although this could be deliberately done in the genre of the fiction.
A second way they've shown gender differences is through showing Professor Chadwick as being a masculine man. They did this by using the imperitive word "demanded" which makes him seem strong and in power. This constrasts Penny's actions and she is described to be "day-dreaming" which is something powerful people that are assertive don't do, such as Professor Chadwick.

Grouping Task

Texts that can be grouped together are A, E and F. They're all information because text A is a recipe that informs parents to help their children cook, text E is a boy informing his parents he's hope and text E is promoting a gallery so is informing people about it. As they all have this purpose they all use pictures to support there inrformation.

Power question: Bennet Boatyard

 

This text is an agreement which customers have to sign before hiring a boat from the company. The audience is people that want to hire a boat and the purpose is to get to them agree to the terms and conditions in order to let them take it out. The power exerted in this text is instrumental because they are authoritative due to the fact they can say whether the people take the boat or not. If they don’t sign then the company will keep the boat.
The first way power is exerted is through putting the terms and conditions in a chronological order with numbers rather than bullet points and then following it with the area to sign. By doing this the producer has exerted power because the receiver is forced to read it in that way and will in turn do so.  By following it with the place for the receiver to sign they’re also controlling the fact that they have to read the terms and conditions before signing, when they do this and eventually sign the producer will have exerted their power.
Another way they’re exerting power is through the form lexis used. The producer has used this because it is a legal document and they wanted to be taken seriously. The producer used words such as “negate” and “compliance” in order for the receiver to perceive the company as respectful and educated. You are more willing to obey someone who you respect and are more knowledgeable than you so in order for them to accept the terms and conditions they have done this. If the receiver reacts to this by understanding and agrees to comply then producer has exerted power.
The producer used the semantic field of not only boats but danger. The producer uses words such as ‘dark’ and ‘buoyancy aids’ in order for the receiver to be shocked and aware of how dangerous taking a boat out into the sea can be. By making them aware of this they’ll be more likely to understand that they need to follow the terms and conditions to ensure their safety. By signing the terms and conditions due to this the producer will have exerted its power.
The producer of this text has used imperative lexis. Words such as “must” have been used throughout the text to make the receiver of it understand that they’re not being asked to do something but being told they have to do so. By using these words the producer is more likely to get the receiver to sign and agree and if they do so then the power has been exerted.
Faulcalt’s theory that power is negotiable is supported by this text. The producer has the power because they’re presenting the terms and conditions to the receiver and if they don’t want to follow the producers rule then they will not be allowed to borrow the boat. The receiver however can retrieve the power back by not signing the form. This will change who has the power because they will not be doing what is asked of them and are fighting the power and as a result the power is therefore negotiable.
The producer has exerted power through graphiological features of the text, they have changed some words of their choice into bold whilst the body of the text is left normal. This has been done to put some emphasis on certain parts in order for the reader to pay more attention to them. One part they’ve done this to is “9am to 6pm” when informing the receiver of the hours they’re allowed to use the boat. By putting emphasis on this they’re also putting emphasis on the fact the boat must not be used outside of these hours. By doing this the power has been exerted to the receiver that this is not to be broken.
The producer has put a banner of information across the top of the text with their details on such as their name, phone number, address and email address. This has been done to make themselves seem more official and enables the receiver to contact them with any enquires or requesting more details. This exerts power because by making themselves seem more professional the receiver is more likely to sign because they will realise the terms and conditions are reasonable and necessary.