Communication Studies

Name: Nathaniel Dakin

Topic: Pros and Cons of undertaking a Medical Course.

Analysis
The reflective piece was third person narrative of a story title “Promise” which recounts the
challenges faced by a young autistic student named Mordecia perusing a career in medicine.
The story describes the struggles his poverty ridden family faced with having to send him to
school and provide for the family financially whilst providing mental and emotional support
for him in times of need. The exposition of the story captures Mordecia’s passion for
medicine from an early age and his unorthodox behaviour as a young child. The exposition
further dives into the mental pressure he faced throughout high school as a result of his
autism and of how his parents helped him to cope and even deter from suicidal thoughts
which plagued his mind frequently. The rising action described how he was able to overcome
some of the financial struggles by gaining a scholarship and the climax covers problems
faced when he entered college. The story proceeds to narrate how he was able eventually
resolve some of his issues and complete his tertiary education. Finally the falling action
discusses how he was able to help his family. The write adeptly implemented language
registers, dialect variation, attitudes to language and communicative behaviours.

Notwithstanding the fact that all four feature where effectively represented in the reflective
piece, only two were selected for this exercise namely language registers and dialectal
variation. Firstly language registers, through the entire Reflective piece the intimate register
was portrayed many time, specifically at the start and the end of the piece. Mordecai’s
parents commonly refer to him as “mi bwoy “, “mi child” and “sonny bwoy” which show the
intimacy of a parent. Evidence is also shown when Mordecia speaks highly of his mother in
his speech and the times he frequently tells his mother how much he loves her. A formal
register was used to some extent when he was giving the speech as he didn’t use a Jamaican
patio which was a part of his linguistic nature and a causal register was also seen when he
speaks to his parents sometimes. A private register was used when Gloria was uncertain
about the future of her family after her husband lost his job at an untimely moment: as she
said “Please god, work out something for my family. “ Secondly, Language Variation or
Dialectal Variation was used to show changes in language due to various influences. The
main type of language used was Jamaican creole which is a English- based creole and a
pidgin developed from standard English and West African influences. Acrolect is the most
prestigious dialect or variety of a particular language. This is the variety of speech which is
also consider the most suitable for formal settings, hence the reason it was used by Mordecia
in his speech. For example when he said , “I’d also like to thank the friends I was able to
make in college for accepting me for who I was even though others would teased me and
discriminated against me for my skin tone and autistic nature “ which is pure standard
English. Mesolect is a variety of speech that is midway between the acrolect and the basilect.
This was commonly used by Mordecia in his natural language to capture the fact he was
influenced by his parents and what he learnt at school, an example of this was when he said
“Do you have a minute to talk to mi mummy .“ Finally basilect which is the least prestigious
dialect was used commonly by Mordecia parents which indicates they were mostly
influenced by their parents and ancestors and speak generally in a informal context , for
example when Gloria said , “Mi puppa jesus! ..... Are you feeling suicidal mi bwoy? “These
variations of language were very important as it depicted the social and educational status of
these individuals. Basilect was used by Mordecia’s parents to show a lower educational and
social status whereas mesolect and acrolect was used by Mordecia to show a higher
educational and social status.

A wider range of language techniques were effectively used by the speaker to clearly get
across the message to the reader in a manner where there is mutual understanding of the
story.