Ochs and Taylor

Ochs and Taylor completed a study in 1992 in which they examined how the family is a political institution through conversational interactions. One argument they proposed is that families are political bodies in that certain members review, judge, formulate codes of conduct, make decisions that evaluate + impact the actions, conditions, thoughts and feelings of other members. 

Ochs and Taylor studied conversations at dinner times which they argue is the first time a whole family can interact with each other by giving stories about their day which draws in the participation of other members. Their findings state that mothers tended to be the introducers of the conversations the majority of the time and children only introduced 1/3 of the time. The class pattern was that the women would select fathers as primary recipients who would be the problematizes. The mother would usually be the person who would try to solve the problem.

In most western cultures, the language that parents use to address and interact with small children can be known as "parentese". 

Self evaluation

In the most recent class assessment I found that there are a few areas of improvement within my essay. Most attention is needed in my AO2 than AO1, however improvement is needed in both categories. In order to improve my grade I need to ensure that my essay is portraying a balanced argument throughout; not just displaying one side of the argument. I also need to ensure I am including my own opinion of the topic, in relation to the points being made. Another thing I need to ensure I do when writing this question, is include more language levels at  more than basic level; for example talking about lexis, syntax, grammar, phonology, pragmatics, semantics etc. and drawing context relevant to the question using the language levels.

Lexical Asymmetry

Is an imbalance of two matching words. An example of this is man and woman should have opposite but equivalent meanings. However, by dictionary meanings, being manly or womanly carry very different meanings.

Manliness is seen as strength, womanly as weakness. Expressions equating to being female such as "take it like a man", " cry like a little girl", " run like a girl",  suggest lexical asymmetry within the words man and woman.

Semantic derogation

Negative meanings associated with certain words and how they're used to 'put down' or denigrate particular groups of people. Examples would be "spastic", "cripple", "nigger", "gypo", "bitch", or "faggot".  Words that carry negative connotations that are used to degrade and insult people/ groups of people.

Semantic reclamation 

Process in which a word previously carrying negative connotations can be reclaimed by the group it was turned against to turn into something positive. The most obvious example is "nigger", by which the term has a long history associated with it. The use of it in hip-hop and street slang has helped it turn into a wholy negative meaning into a more positive one for some sections of society. The same process has happened with a lesser extent with the terms "paki", "queer", and "bitch".


Semantic over-representation, lexical gaps and negative semantic space 

An idea that means there are more words to describe a particular concept or group of people than their equivalent. There are many words used to describe sexually active females compared to males; for example, slut, slag, tart, whore, hoe, sket etc.

Many of these terms dehumanise women (treat them as objects rather than people) or associate women with a particular body part or sexual function rather than treat them as complete people (this can be termed as metonmy or synecdoche). The equivalent terms for men usually carry more positive connotations; e.g stud, player etc.

Lexical gaps are when no equivalent terms can be found. For example there's no male equivalent of "sweetie" or female equivalent of "stud". In the work of linguists Dale Spender, Julia Stanley and Muriel Schulz, their ideas suggest that terms used to label women are attached to a negative space. Even moving the term into a male "space", they bring negative connotations which can only be distanced by adding male prefixes, such as "male slut" or "man whore". Muriel Schulz's "semantic rule" proposes that all words associated with women are pejorate (negative).

Critical discourse analysis

CDA is a type of analytical discourse that studies the way that power, dominance and inequality are enacted and reproduced. Discourse in "language social practice determined by social structures". 

Social practice is that language is a part of society, and not external to it; language is a social process that is conditioned by other parts of society. For example, social historical context of the N word, conditioned to be racist. 

Beliefs of CDA:

• Power relations are discursive
• Discourse is ideological & constitutes society and culture. 
• Discourse is historical and a form of social action. 
• The analysis of discourse is interperitive and explanatory. 

Themes addressed in critical discourse analysis: 

- language + power 

- gender 

- advertisements 

- capitalism 

- politics 

- law 

- discrimination + racism 

CDA is allegedly used by historians, lawyers, business institutions- jobs involving analysis of a text. 

Fairclough

Power in and behind discourse

Fairclough's model 2001 - Fairclough suggested the theory of synthetic personalisation which is when the producers receive a manufactured relationship through words between them and the consumer. Fairclough says the adverts create a ‘product image’. This helps to position the receiver as a potential consumer. This is used as the producer doesn’t come into contact with the consumer. 

Power behind discourse – creates an instant desire to buy the product.

Power in discourse – exposition of advert leads to purchase product (more in the long run)

etymology of bachelor

Bachelor

In contrast with the term ‘spinster ‘.

When looking at the oxford dictionary, the earliest record of when bachelor was first used in 1297.In which was used to describe young knights, by which had positive connotations such as strong, courageous, brave. This term addresses no stigmatisation due to an unmarried status. The nature of the term spinster is used to shame and attach a negative label to whoever is described as one, however evidence of the late 13^th century suggests that the male equivalent term used to describe the exact same unmarried status, is one that has had connotations of strong and brave; something people would look up to.

The word then has been modified in 1883 in which whomever is labelled as bachelor is described as someone who has been knighted- a gentleman who has received the honour of knighthood. This adds weight to the connotations of bachelor being of a positive light – someone who has been knighted is known to be someone who is strong, courageous and brave. This again has no relevance to the negative label of not being married – or even touches focus on the issue if the man is unmarried. “1883 Whitaker's Almanack 108 Knights Bachelors: a list of those Gentlemen [in number 278] who have received the honour of knighthood.”

In my opinion, the term bachelor has changed its meaning and what it is addressing, however it has still carried positive connotations as in today’s context, if someone is described as a bachelor- it is not frowned upon and contains connotations of strong, wealth and independence. Especially in today’s society, you wouldn’t refer to an unmarried woman as bachelor as it is a strongly marked form. No ‘knights’ are referred to as a ‘her’ or ‘she’ in these definitions, suggesting that bachelor, in this context specifically, is potentially also a marked form and that women wouldn’t have been included in this definition even in the 19^th century. This has then had the effect of removing women from this definition of being strong, courageous and brave, therefore this has potentially removed women from being described as similar positive labels when being stated as unmarried. An example of today’s context this is that bachelor is often paired in the term with eligible; meaning if a man was described as this they are considered to be a particularly desirable potential husband, usually due to wealth, social status or other specific personal qualities. This is still describing an unmarried man, however the term ‘eligible spinster’ is not used and wouldn’t make sense if it was used due to the term ‘spinster’ creating negative connotations.

The word ‘ bachelor’ has changed from its primary meaning over time, in which it began to mean an unmarried man in the late 19^th century, meaning that the word has changed meaning to be a man worthy of the honour of being knighted, to man who simply isn’t married.

There is evidence that displays a wide use of this word, for example there are different spellings of the word such as bachiler, bachillier, baculere, Bachler. The extent of the phonology within one word suggests that there has been a wide use of the word from many different areas; displaying the popularity of it.