50 1st Words

Words such as 'Laa-Laa' and 'hiya' are representative of Skinner's theory. This is because they are likely to be imitations; the first is from a TV show the child probably watches on a regular basis and so they will imitate it. The parent may laugh or smile at this, which is a means of positive reinforcement, and so the child is likely to use it again to get the same result. The word 'hiya' is probably used by a parent or carer, and so the child will repeat it. Whoever this is directed to may then repeat the word back to them, which is another form of positive reinforcement.
    The word 'wassat' disputes Skinner's theories. It is a word the child has made up on their own; an abbreviation of 'what is that'. The child will find out for themselves if this is an effective means of communication (either because it is easier to say or people understand them despite the created word) and so is likely to use it again because of their own findings.

CLA Answer

From the evidence gathered, it seems that this particular child has been prioritising naming things or people. This is probably because children will point to things when using 'proto-words' so that they can establish an understanding more clearly. This makes it easier for the parent or carer to try and repeat the name after them. This also makes it easier for the child to convey needs such as thirst through single words, i.e. 'juice. The parent would probably encourage these attempts to convey needs, as it means that they can fulfill the child's requirements more efficiently.
  Language can then be built around these proper nouns to establish further meaning. The child could still be thirsty and ask for 'more juice'. The parent may then wish to take this development a step further, and encourage the child to say 'please' or 'ta' when asking for or accepting this juice. As this is probably a daily interaction, the parent may feel these social words are important, and the child may pick up on the fact that politeness is important. These content words, which are usually children's first words, are especially important because of the fact that the child can, to an extent, modify them and still convey meaning. An example of this would be if a child modifies the word 'please' to 'peas'. In the right context (can I have some juice peas) the child can still effectively convey meaning as well as incorporating their own modified content word.

How language changes depending on the situation.

   How language changes depending on the situation.


The nature of the emergency can dictate certain lexical choices or the pace of speech. Here, you can see how Liam's real emergency situation contasted against the false emergency of the anonymous caller determines how they use language.

Repetition

      Both speakers repeat at least one sentence. Liam, however, seems to be able to articulate himself with increasing competence as the call progresses. His repetitions are mainly at the beginning of the call, where he tells the ambulance worker "she's not - she's not doing anything". This is likely to be because Liam was hoping that his mum would wake up after the service's instructions, and the fact that she hasn't is starting to worry him.
      The slightly older gentleman calling about the 'mystery object' repeats the phrase "I don't know what the hell it is" several times during the course of the call. This is likely due to the fact that, although it turned out to be the moon, the man was probably panicking about what the object was and what it will do to him.
      The man is not the only person in this call that repeats himself, however; the woman recieving the call also repeats herself. When the caller is telling her that he has made a mistake, she repeats the phrase "do you know". This is most likely to be because she is confused - the man was being very elusive at the beginning of the second call as to what the object actually was, and so the reciever is probably speculating as to what could have scared him to the point of calling the emergency services.

Pauses

      The length of pauses in the calls can determine how confident a speaker is in their answer, or if their attention is divided elsewhere. The pauses is Liam's conversation range from brief to eight seconds. The pauses are usually due to the fact that Liam is doing as the worker asks, such as shaking his mum's shoulders to try and wake her up. The worker does try to keep Liam talking for as long as possible, however. After a pause of four seconds she calls "Hello:::::::" down the phone, in order to make sure that Liam is still there. This is because she needs to ensure his safety, as well as try to revive his mother as quickly as possible. Unlike the repetitions, the pauses are dispersed through-out the entire conversation because of the fact that she has different tasks for Liam.
      

The Guardian Analysis

The Guardian Analysis

The Guardian is one of the most popular UK news sites, with the target audience being predominately adults at an estimated age of 18 plus. This is evident from the use of colours; when they use colours it is more evident because of the fact the background is a plain white. This also gives us a clear indication of what articles they want us to look at the most. Although there is a separate tab for 'Dating' as well as an advert for The Guardian's personal dating site, there is a severe lack of colours for both of these. The tab is one of the only 4 which is coloured grey as opposed to pink or blue, and the advert has the standard blue hyperlinks with a rather dull image.
  However, the placement of this advert can reveal more than the advert itself; it is placed next to their most prominent headline of the 'Vagina Stadium'. A certain theme is carried on around this area, but not to an extent that the company could be sued for 'misconduct' if a person under 16 was to be viewing their website. The advert above the Guardian Dating is one for Guardian Jobs. This is a topical issue, as there is a job crisis surrounding the UK. They have made this one of the most eye-catching adverts on the page as well as being the first one on there; this shows they feel it will be a priority to their viewers, and will therefore give them more hits.
  This feeling of a priority is a motif carried through out the web page. As people will not typically want to spend a lot of time on websites such as these, instead opting to view them on-the-go via their tablets and mobile phones, they want to make sure the articles they spend the most time on are the ones people are most likely to view. Red is used first to highlight the news section, and is then used again for the Breaking News section, and then again for the latest news. Putting this on the opposite side of the screen to the pink advert means your attention is divided between the two, but as we read from left to right, we are likely to first pay more attention to the News section.
  The type of articles they are providing us with in the first section of the page are varied. There are slightly more serious articles, such as the woman admitting to murdering the three men, but not as bold as one would suspect. This could indicate a lack of priority, perhaps because they have briefly covered it on a previous day and it is now considered to be 'older' news. Slightly more controversial points, such as the Catherine Deveny article, are put closer to their main headline, as well as next to Sport, which is obviously another priority for them. This means The Guardian feels viewers will want to hear about these opinions in order to discuss them, and that is also why they have finished the sentence on this bar. With the Dennis MacShane article, they probably feel the reader is not enticed enough, and so they use ellipsis at the end of their last sentence in order to entice people to follow up with the article. The Denvey article will cause enough controversy and discussion without the need for enticement.
  In the second row of tabs at the top of the page, there is a separate tab for women, yet there is a severe lack of the same for men. Maybe The Guardian are assuming that men are their predominant viewers, and so any woman who wants to view the page should be rewarded by having a whole tab of her own. However, it is not at the front of the queue, and so it is obviously not a priority issue they feel the need to address. Some might classify this as sexism, or at least segregation, as it is separating women's issues from the issues surrounding everything else.