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 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 writers language choice; some of these are the
context, the audience and the message content. In Alicia Mc Kenzies Pinkie this is certainly
the case as we see as thechoice 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 narrators 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 Pinkies 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)

2009MODULE 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 speakingto a stranger ...so in this scenario we are asking
ourselves ... Why did they choose to speak Creole? Whywould 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 proudwith 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 speakingcountry etc.