VCE English Language Question Thread

[MissSmiley]

Hi. First time posting here. After reviewing syntactical patterning in terms of formal language, I'm kinda stumped on how parallelism, antithesis, and listing relate to formality, because all I'm getting at is that it usually relates to coherence and cohesion. Not to mention it's properties feel the same for informal language. My teacher says that it depends on the social purpose, to which affects the register, but I'm still lost.

Hi! Welcome to AtarNotes

I don't really see a strong connection between listing, parallelism and antithesis and coherence and cohesion. But like your teacher said, these are syntactical features, and you can definitely use them in a social purpose/ register para.

I just thought to give you examples of these things, and so I found Paul Keating's speech in the 1990s talking about injustices to Aboriginal Australians.
So here are the examples I found, and hopefully you'll see the connection between them and social purpose:

1. Parallelism: "how well we know the land we live in. How well we know our history. How well we recognise the fact that, complex as our contemporary identity is, it cannot be separated from Aboriginal Australia. How well we know what Aboriginal Australians know about Australia."
So this can be linked to social purpose, in that Keating was trying to promote social harmony and encouraging equality between the natives and non-Aboriginals.
You'd lose the opportunity to talk about social purpose here, if you tried to somehow link this to coherence and cohesion.

2. Listing: "That is perhaps the point of this Year of the World's Indigenous People: to bring the dispossessed out of the shadows, to recognise that they are part of us, and that we cannot give indigenous Australians up without giving up many of our own most deeply held values, much of our own identity - and our own humanity."
So this is listing because after the colon, one phrase and two clauses are written.
The list implies that non-Aboriginals need to do a lot now, to ensure they are respectful of Indigenous people --> links with social purpose of encouraging equality and promoting social harmony.

3. Antithesis: "Nowhere in the world, I would venture, is the message more stark than it is in Australia."
So this is antithesis because 'world' and 'Australia.'
Because this sentence gives end focus to Australia, it means that we have a national responsibility. (link to social purpose) And also that this inequality matter is focussed in Australia --> so it sort of gives us that guilt (again, link to social purpose)

I hope these examples help you in some way

Thanks!

[WON0173]

Hi! Welcome to AtarNotes

I don't really see a strong connection between listing, parallelism and antithesis and coherence and cohesion. But like your teacher said, these are syntactical features, and you can definitely use them in a social purpose/ register para.

I just thought to give you examples of these things, and so I found Paul Keating's speech in the 1990s talking about injustices to Aboriginal Australians.
So here are the examples I found, and hopefully you'll see the connection between them and social purpose:

1. Parallelism: "how well we know the land we live in. How well we know our history. How well we recognise the fact that, complex as our contemporary identity is, it cannot be separated from Aboriginal Australia. How well we know what Aboriginal Australians know about Australia."
So this can be linked to social purpose, in that Keating was trying to promote social harmony and encouraging equality between the natives and non-Aboriginals.
You'd lose the opportunity to talk about social purpose here, if you tried to somehow link this to coherence and cohesion.

2. Listing: "That is perhaps the point of this Year of the World's Indigenous People: to bring the dispossessed out of the shadows, to recognise that they are part of us, and that we cannot give indigenous Australians up without giving up many of our own most deeply held values, much of our own identity - and our own humanity."
So this is listing because after the colon, one phrase and two clauses are written.
The list implies that non-Aboriginals need to do a lot now, to ensure they are respectful of Indigenous people --> links with social purpose of encouraging equality and promoting social harmony.

3. Antithesis: "Nowhere in the world, I would venture, is the message more stark than it is in Australia."
So this is antithesis because 'world' and 'Australia.'
Because this sentence gives end focus to Australia, it means that we have a national responsibility. (link to social purpose) And also that this inequality matter is focussed in Australia --> so it sort of gives us that guilt (again, link to social purpose)

I hope these examples help you in some way

Thanks!

Ah thank you for the reply. I guess I always associated these with coherence and cohesion because parallelism and listing involves emphasis towards specific information, clear information flow, and the way listing affects formatting. And like you said antithesis because it gives front/end focus which is a part of information flow.

While I can understand how they can relate to social purpose, I was also wondering how they would directly relate to formal register for a paragraph on register if possible. If you have to link it to social purpose how would you?

[MissSmiley]

Ah thank you for the reply. I guess I always associated these with coherence and cohesion because parallelism and listing involves emphasis towards specific information, clear information flow, and the way listing affects formatting. And like you said antithesis because it gives front/end focus which is a part of information flow.

While I can understand how they can relate to social purpose, I was also wondering how they would directly relate to formal register for a paragraph on register if possible. If you have to link it to social purpose how would you?

Yeah I agree, you could link this to coherence and cohesion the way that you've said
As long as you justify things, it shouldn't be a problem

So with the register para, I'd say because parallelisms, listing and antithesis are often pre-planned, that's how they contribute to formality. Also, having a disciplined rhythm, for e.g. in parallelisms, is also reflective of formality.

[jesseprior]

Does anyone know of evidence of Language Acquisition through the subsystems of language? I have a essay on it and we have to refer to the subsystems to support or contradict the theories of Language Acquisition (Innatism, Behaviourism, Interactionism).

I only know two, being that children use Morphology to apply past tense rules onto irregular verbs ("lose" -> "losed") when they could never have heard someone say that around them (Behaviourism) and that children innately understand the Syntax of a basic sentence structure being (subject - verb - object) without somebody specifically telling them that's how sentences are structured.

[sarangiya]

I only know two, being that children use Morphology to apply past tense rules onto irregular verbs ("lose" -> "losed") when they could never have heard someone say that around them (Behaviourism) and that children innately understand the Syntax of a basic sentence structure being (subject - verb - object) without somebody specifically telling them that's how sentences are structured.

I would actually say morphological overgeneralisation (what you describe as "losed") is an example of innatism, not behaviourism. It is as you say - the child has unlikely heard that non-standard construction before, hence implying they knew it without any learning or interaction with others. It is innate knowledge, somehow known by children who otherwise shouldn't know. It might be considered an example of Chomsky's theory of universal grammar.

I also think knowing SVO structure is not innate and not something a child demonstrates knowledge of on its own. It is true that the rules aren't explained explicity, but they don't have to be. Children will have heard SVO structure already, and just parrot off the same order from pure imitation (behaviourism). I guess children knowing which part of speech the word is could be considered another example of universal grammar and innatism, though.

Innatism
- morphological/semantic overgeneralisation and umdergeneralisation
- universal grammar
- the fact babies have the ability to learn a language at all - innate brain and muscle structures that make language possible

Behaviourism/interactionism
- vocabulary
- greetings
- pronunciation
- anything that is improved through correction/feedback is interactionism (e.g. correction of 'losed' to 'lost' by parents)
- the fact babies can learn any language to a native standard, dependent solely upon what is taught

It's been a long, long time since I was thinking about units 1/2 so if anyone has any revisions or additions do feel free haha

Good luck

[davie18]

Can i ask does anyone have like a summary of features of Australian English classified into each of the subsystems, i'm needing to do an analysis of someone speaking and i'm struggling

[MathsQuestIsBad]

When looking at coherence, in particular conventions, does grammatical conventions count? For example, the use of Standard Australian English or correct use of punctuation, do these all support conventions and in turn, coherence? Thanks

[davie18]

Can Someone help me plan an essay with the topic Australian English embodies the ideals that Australians Cherish: Egalitarianism and anti-authoritarianism, sympathy for the battler and desire for a fair go. These characteristics are being eroded by the spread of American English, especially among the young, and the increasing cultural complexity of Australian society.

[Bri MT]

Can Someone help me plan an essay with the topic Australian English embodies the ideals that Australians Cherish: Egalitarianism and anti-authoritarianism, sympathy for the battler and desire for a fair go. These characteristics are being eroded by the spread of American English, especially among the young, and the increasing cultural complexity of Australian society.

Wow,  that's a long topic. 
Let's break it down into components
Eg.
> Aus Eng embodies the listed values. (How/how not)
> these are being eroded by the spread of Amr Eng, esp in young (why/ why not)
> these are being eroded by Aus becoming more culturally complex (why/ why not)


What are your initial thoughts? 

[livlaskaridis]

Do our quotes and examples need to be from 2018? or can we source them from previous years

[mtDNA]

Do our quotes and examples need to be from 2018? or can we source them from previous years

For contemporary examples, they should be no older than 18 months from the end of year exam (i.e. June 2017).
In terms of linguist quotes, they can be sourced from any time period (you can even site writers like Orwell from the 1950s haha).

Hope this helps!

[paranoidchair]

Hey guys!
Essays are my weak point, so I've been going through high-scoring essays and I've noticed they have A LOT of examples/quotes. To do well, how many examples should I aim for per paragraph? Also, what is a good ratio of quotes to examples? Thanks in advance! 

[forbiddensoulxx]

Just wondering what are some ways individual identity is built? I'm confused as to how, since the textbook talks about slang and jargon, but I view that more as building social identity rather than individual identity.

[tinkerbell101]

I know this may sound kinda silly but does anyone have any predictions for the text for Sections A or B or the broader essay topic themes for this year's exam? VCAA 2016 and 2017 had a newspaper article for Section B so I wouldn't be surprised if we did (or even didn't) have another newspaper segment/column. I am hoping there will be a spoken text for Section B

[Ashking]

I know this may sound kinda silly but does anyone have any predictions for the text for Sections A or B or the broader essay topic themes for this year's exam? VCAA 2016 and 2017 had a newspaper article for Section B so I wouldn't be surprised if we did (or even didn't) have another newspaper segment/column. I am hoping there will be a spoken text for Section B

My teacher thinks there may be some sort of literature, like a poem or short story, as there hasn't been in quite a while... which would mean brushing up on figurative language. Just a guess though.