The Functions Of Discourse Particles English Language Essay

The Functions Of Discourse Particles English Language Essay According to Loraine K. Obler and Kris Gjerlow (Language and the Brain,1999, pp. 131-132), many bilinguals, in addition to speaking two or more languages fluently, have ability to employ elements of both languages when speaking with another bilingual and this is known as code-switching and it is governed by internalized rules. Code-switching is a very normal phenomenon in many parts of the world and one has always to take into account the distinction between, on the one hand, community (or national) and the other individual bilingualism and multilingualism and they are not necessary closely related. (Pride, The Social Meaning of Language, 1971, p. 26) There are many types of code-switching such as tag switching, intrasentential switching and intersentential switching. Kamisah Ariffin and Shameem Rafik Galea (Code Switching as a Communication Device in Conversation) found that their subjects employ code switching as a personal communication strategy. The strategies they employed are signalling social relationships and language preferences, obviating difficulties, framing discourse, contrasting personalisation and objectification, conveying cultural-expressive message, dramatising key words, lowering language barriers, maintaining appropriateness of context, showing membership and affiliation with others and reinterring messages. What is Malaysian English? Malaysian English or more commonly known as Manglish, is the colloquial version of English spoken in Malaysia and it is similar to Singlish, which is Singapore English. While Bahasa Malaysia is the national language, English is still widely used and is the second language in Malaysia. Many Malay words are being introduced into Manglish. The most common example is suffixing a sentence with the -lah particle which does not have any specific meaning on the sentence. Besides the influence of Bahasa Malaysia, there are also influence from other languages and dialects like Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese and Tamil in Malaysian English. Language as Social Semiotic Halliday (1973, 1985) proposed a systemic, functional view of language which sees it in the social function it serves. He believes that language is a systematic resource for expressing meaning in context, not the set of all possible grammatical sentences. (Jordan, Theory Construction in Second Language Acquisition, 2004, p.6) He believes that there are two main functions of language which are ideational function and the interpersonal function. Ideational function allows people to deal with their ideas, perspectives and feelings on a particular subject whereas interpersonal function allows people to deal with each other. He believes that the social function of the languages is more important than the grammatical aspects of the languages. For example, a person may not be able to construct a grammatically correct sentence but he/she is able to convey their idea effectively and is understandable by others. Communication Accommodation Theory According to Howard Giles and Peter F. Powesland, accommodation through speech can be regarded as an attempt on the part of a speaker to modify or disguise his persona in order to make it more acceptable to the person addressed. (Speech Style and Social Evaluation, 1975, p. 158) When we speak to people from different age, status, culture, etc, we tend to switch to a mode which the person we are speaking to is comfortable in. For example, when speaking to babies, we tend to use simpler words and shorter sentences and this is called baby talk. On the other hand, when speaking to a professor, we tend to switch to a formal language and use jargons in the field that we specialise in. Maya Khemlani David (Tolerance and Communication in Multi-ethnic Malaysia) found that the particles lah and meh are used in informal settings to signify emphasis on something or to soften a speech act like requests. The data collected from her research found that even though the Chinese students in that particular school are proficient in English, they tend to code switch for many reasons such as to emphasis, to quote someone else, for distancing or making a formal complaint and to signify solidarity with members of their group. Hence, she concluded that her findings show that people from other ethnic groups accommodate and switch to a language they are comfortable in when communicating with each other. It is very common for us to use the particles lah, ah, mah, etc in our daily life because we are so used to them and we often use them in our daily conversation. These particles only exist in Malaysian English and Singapore English. However, what are the functions of these particles? Hence, this paper is going to examine the functions of these particles in a conversation. Method A 15 minute conversation was recorded and transcribed. The conversation was among four ladies aged 24 and they are all university graduates. They are proficient in English and Bahasa Malaysia. Besides that, they are also proficient in their mother tongue. The reason this conversation is used is because it was a casual conversation among them. Casual conversation is chosen over formal interviews because we tend to switch to a formal language when we are in a formal setting. Hence, the result of the study will not be accurate because in standard English, we do not use the particles. These particles only exist in casual conversations because there is a need for the speakers to accommodate with each other. The transcription was analysed for the discourse particles used throughout the 15 minute conversation. Results and Discussion Particle Number of times Examples Ah 18 You apply where ah? Your father drive ah? Three or four ah. Aiyah 1 Aiyahà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Haiya 1 Haiya, just now we talked about Patricias video, we should record mah. Haiyo 2 Yea lah, haiyo. Haiyo, that one another big story lah. Hor 3 Just now he came horà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Then hor, he eat a lot you knowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Lah 37 Just say lah. I think is last minute work lah. Its always like that one lah. Leh 2 I dont know leh. The clutch is like, dont know lehà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Lor 4 Two lor got subtitle. The second day one ok lor, senyap lor. Mah 6 Lagi syok mah. Orang Teluk Intan mah ok lah. They should mention mah they give one weekà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Wei 1 What are you doing wei? Wor 4 Eh, so nice wor Pangkor. Cantik wor tempat tu. I forgotten already wor. From the transcription, 12 particles were identified, namely ah, aiyah, haiya, haiyo, hor, lah, leh, lor, mah, wei, and wor. Based on the result we can observe that the particle lah is the most frequently used particle followed by ah, mah, wor, loh, hor, leh, haiyo, aiyah, wei and haiya. Most of the particles derived from Chinese expressions like mah, wor, lor, hor, leh, haiyo, aiyah, wei and haiya. On the other hand, particle lah derived from Malay expression. The results show that the particles can be divided into five categories according to their functions which are; asking a question, affirming a statement, expressing disappointment, explaining something and expressing uncertainty. Function Particles Asking a question Ah, wei Affirming a statement Ah, lah, mah Expressing disappointment Aiyah, haiya, haiyo Explaining something Hor, wor Stress the obvious Lor Expressing uncertainty Leh Particle ah which is a common expression in Chinese, functions as filler or breaking points and it is used to bring out a question force like No point helping friends who are not interested, do you agree with that, ah? (Mohan K. Muniandy et al, 2010) The data collected shows that the subjects tend to attach the particle ah and wei in their questions like Your father drive ah? and What are you doing wei? Besides that, the data also shows that particle ah is used when the speaker affirms a statement like Three or four ah. Particle lah derived from colloquial Malay and they have various functions. For example, they are used in declarative sentences whose functions may be termed informational, which is to say the speakers purpose is to let the addressee know something like Aku ada appointment lah. (Goddard, 1994) This particle lah is now common feature of colloquial Malaysian or Singapore English and they are used widely in conversations. From the data collected, we can see that the speakers used the particle lah when they are affirming a statement like I think is last minute work lah. The speaker was trying to tell her addressee that she feels that the problem caused was due to last minute work. Particle mah derived from Chinese and it has similar function with lah that is to affirm a statement like They should mention mah they give one week which means that if the person addressed in the conversation is given one week to settle something, she should be informed earlier by the relevant authorities. Particles aiyah, haiya and haiyo have the same function, which is to express disappointment. For example, Haiya, just now we talked about Patricias video, we should record mah shows that the speaker is expressing disappointment because she did not record their conversation on her friends video clip. A browse into Urban Dictionary shows that the expression aiyah originates from the Cantonese expression of disappointment or displeasure when something bad or wrong happens. Wee (2002) noted that Cantonese has a particle lo which shows some similarities with Singapore English lor. Hence, particle lor might originate from Cantonese. There are numerous functions of particle lor but according to the examples from the transcription, particle lor was uttered when the speaker was trying to explaining something that is obvious to the other speakers. For example, Two lor got subtitle. Hence, lor in this example is to stress the obvious. (Wee, 2002) When explaining something, the subjects tend to use particles hor and wor like I forgotten already wor. The speaker is trying to explain that she has forgotten the important information when she was asked about something. Particle leh was used when the subjects was explaining uncertainty. It is also originate from Cantonese. For example, one of the subjects uttered I dont know leh when she was asked about something because she was uncertain on what is happening or how to answer the question asked. Conclusion We can observe that most of the sentences uttered by the subjects were not grammatically correct. However, according to Halliday, the meanings conveyed in the utterances were more important than the grammatical aspect of it. There are numerous reasons why the subjects code switch to the particles when conversing in an informal situation. The main reason lies in the Communication Accommodation Theory whereby the subjects accommodate with each other by using the particles in the sentences they utter and this is known as convergence accommodation. This is because, they are from different ethnicity and have different mother tongue, so they need a common language to communicate effectively and Malaysian English is chosen over Standard English because they are comfortable communicating in Malaysian English. From the data collected, we can observe that most of the particles derived from Chinese, specifically the Cantonese dialect and also from Bahasa Malaysia. Two of the subjects are Indians but they do not use any particles that originated from Tamil. One possible reason is that these particles are widely used in their community hence they picked up these particles and use them in their conversation to add a better feel towards the subject they are talking about. There are limited research studies regarding to the use of the particles in Malaysian English. Not much research has been done to identify the functions of the particles in our Malaysian context. There is a need to have research studies that can identify origins and functions of the particles correctly. There are also questions left unanswered in this topic like how does a person know what particle to use when conversing? As mentioned above, most of the particles originate from the Cantonese dialect, so, how does a person from a different ethnicity understand and know what particle to use when he/she communicates with other people?

Persuasive Speech on Buying Local

According to Ronnie Cummings of In Motion Magazine, after several dozen consumers in Colorado were poisoned by E-coli feces in their burgers, 25 million pounds of hamburger meat had to be recalled from the Hudson Foods Corporation. Much of the E. coli found in meat appears to be a product of feedlot life of cattle getting a feedlot diet and living in their own manure. The feedlot lifestyle is a common practice of corporate manufactured meat. With that point in mind, I hope to persuade you all to research and buy local. Most food found in the grocery store is highly processed.Not just the ramen noodles or fruit loops, but the actual produce. Corporations use hormones, pesticides and antibiotics and genetic modification, which refer to a crop that is created for consumption using molecular biology techniques. According to the Food and Agriculture of the United Nations, GMOs can make us more resistant to antibiotics, is related to our increased allergies and can even cause mutation with in our genes. Also, According to Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, when the average American sits down to eat each ingredient has travelled at least 1,500 miles from farm to plate.Global climate change and war over resources are a few of the things resulting from all this shipping. Also, this travel requires the food to be â€Å"gassed† which stimulates the ripening process because the produce has been picked so prematurely causing the nutrients and quality to disintegrate. Now that I’ve discussed just a few of the reasons mass produced food isn’t ideal, here are some of the reasons to buy local and some options to implement. First of all buying locally helps reduce the impact we have on the environment.According to sustainable connections. com, buying locally helps to reduce the environmental impact. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution. We also help to keep the local economy healthy and thriving. Matt Embrey of green upgrader reports that when you purchase at locally owned businesses rather than nationally owned, more money is kept in the community because locally-owned businesses often purchase from other local businesses, service providers and farms.Purchasing local helps grow other businesses as well as the local tax base. And as far as the health impact, buying your meat certified humane and local, ensures your purchasing meat that has a nutritious diet without antibiotics, or hormones, animals raised with shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors according to eat wild. com There are many websites you can look up with directories of local owned business that implement healthy practices and keep things local.You can also participate in local co-ops which grow their own produce and share within the group. So now you know some of the ways buying locally benefits us all, as well as some of the ways to implement the solutions. Now let’s talk about what to expect from carrying these out. If we all took the time to do the easy research to buy local and support our community, we can visualize a healthy community both economically and physically. Less traffic and allergies and more fresh produce! According to greenupgrader. om one of the top reasons to buy local is because small local businesses are the largest employers nationally. Plus the more jobs you have in your local community the less people are going to have to commute which means more time and less traffic and pollution. Another benefit of buying local is Competition and diversity leads to more consumer choices. A marketplace of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term According to Michael Shuman of the book, Going Local, â€Å"Going local does not mean walling off the outside world.It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local consumers. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations and back into the community where it belongs. † These are just a few of the reasons I encourage all of us to research and support our local community.

Cults Essay

The word cult is often thrown around in todays society as a derogatory term towards religions that are not well known or have aspects that are contrary to mainstream religions. According to mainstream media, cults have been responsible for massive pact suicides, and their followers are incestual and polygamous. The mass media shows the leader as a manipulative person who controls his/her believers as they blindly follow, not knowing the trouble that will certainly find them † . cult’ has become little more than a convenient, if largely inaccurate and always pejorative, horthand for a religious group that must be presented as odd or dangerous for the purpose of an emerging news story. â€Å"(3) Douglas Cowan and David Bromley show the harsh reality of the way the majority of the media likes to portray cults, probably for better ratings. There are several main cults that are often referenced when researching the topic. The first being The People’s Temple, the found er Jim Jones had a following of 912, that all died (including him) by cyanide laced drinks in 1978. This was known as the Jonestown Massacre, controversy surrounds it as it is debated hether or not it was a mass suicide or murder. Another commonly referenced cult is Heaven’s Gate, a UFO doomsday religion that ended in a 39 member suicide in 1997 when the group was attempting to leave earth because they believed it was about to be â€Å"recycled†. To learn and understand what a cult is, I will be define a cult, what features make a cult and who the people are that Join them, as well as discuss the founders of these religions. What is the definition of a cult? Depending on the intent of the author defining the word cult proves a difficult task. The scholars on the ubject of cults seem to have two different approaches when studying this topic. There are those who are a part of the anticult movement and often use the word â€Å"cult† in a negative fashion towards any religion that has formed in recent history. Those apart of the anticult seem to skirt around the subject of defining a cult or explaining what a cult exactly consists of. We are given the feeling as though they do not want to define it as they may cast an umbrella over other mainstream religions that have a similar form. It is even often used to describe popular trends that will upposedly not last, veganism is a term that has been described as a cult fad. You can see how it is almost always used negatively, or as something that has no real substance and will not stand the test of time like other religions have. In contrast, there are those who do not use the word cult but prefer the term â€Å"New Religious Movements†. These scholars have a more objective opinion, and use New Religious Movements to â€Å"†¦ represent fascinating glimpses into the way human beings construct religious meaning and organize their lives to give shape to religious experience. † (Cowan, Bromley, 3). It is important to be subjective when using the word cult and for purposes of this paper I will define cult in my own words and state that there is a difference between cults and New Religious Movements. A cult is a form of religion that is deceitful towards its own members with the leader abusing their powers. Although there have been many mainstream religions that have had a leader abuse their powers, it is necessary to point out the ditterence, which is that in a cult the head of the religion is the source of all their religious knowledge and do not have other ways of getting to know the religion without them. In comparison, mass religions have many leaders, many forms of knowledge and you can attain religious beliefs through many forms, not only the one source. Keeping in mind that using the word cult subjectively is imperative to this process, it is still easy to find movements that can be categorized under my own definition of the word cult. These would include the previously mentioned religions of The People’s Temple and Heaven’s Gate. When looking at these and other cults there are often many characteristics that they do have in common. It is typical for the cult to have only one leader, â€Å".. ho claims divinity or a special mission entrusted to him from Above. † (Harrison, 19) A lot of cult leaders use the money from the followers for personal profit. There is a major sense of belonging that comes along with being a part of a cult. There are many religions that also share this but cults often want their members to have this feeling with them alone, and discourage involvement with others who are not in their religion. One author that I found that was willing to at least describe a cult relationship for the purposes of her book was Singer. SHe says there are three actors to cultic relationships, using that term better describes his viewings of interactions that go on in cults. The three factors are as follows: 1. The origin of the group and role of the leader 2. The power structure, or relationship between the leader (or leaders) and the followers 3. The use of coordinated program of persuasion (which is called thought reform, or, more commonly, brainwashing)† (7) You can see from the quote that this cultic relationship isn’t Just solely related to religion alone, Singer includes cults that are formed around doctrines, theories and practices, but states that other esearchers may not identify this exactly as she does. According to the scholars of new religious movements, â€Å".. roups that are labeled â€Å"cults† often closely resemble a variety of conventional organizations in which these same characteristics are accepted as legitimate or necessary: communes and intentional communities, convents, monasteries, and other high-commitment religious societies, multilevel marketing organizations and armed forces training and combat units†¦ † (Bromley, Cowan, 5). There could be many reasons why a person would Join a cult, they could e the same reason’s one Joins any faith based group; a person is looking to belong, or meet others with similar morals. A prime reason why a person would Join a cult is that they are not doing this knowing that what they are becoming apart of is in fact a cult. Cults often are established off of a Christian based structure with similar values, and practices. A person may attend a cult thinking it is another sect of Christianity. Members of a cult learn ways to recruit new members, a typical form of recruiting is called â€Å"love-bombing†, where members seek out non-members and shower them ith many forms of attention and affection. Basically, being extremely nice to others with the intent on conversion. Anticult members are quick to let the public know that recruiting for cults can happen anywhere, on campus, on buses and trains, or on the street, letting us know that we can be recruited literally everywhere. In actuality it looks as though most â€Å"recruitment† for cults is done through family members or close friends. When seeing that it is family and friends who do the majority of converting it is easy to see now people would Join. It is not as though the trusted group are trying o harm others by recruiting, they are trying to help and see that others are also going to â€Å"find the truth† in a sense. It is similar to the common practice of missions trips that many Christian religions take part in where they travel to underdeveloped parts of the world, converting people to Christianity and also helping the community in some way. The difference being, hopefully no abuse of power or deceitfulness by the religion. It isn’t always understood why one does Join a cult but it is probable to say each individual has their own personal reasons why, and somehow in a way that eligion is giving them whatever it is they may be looking for. Friends? Belonging? Maybe they don’t agree with morals of other religions and this cult matches up with the lifestyle that they lead. There is a lot of information pertaining to the large numbers of youth attending cults and New Religious Movements, particularly between the ages of 18 and 22. Lorne L. Dawson describes the demographic of youth as the typical â€Å"All American boy or girl†. â€Å"A profile of the typical cult member reveals that he or she is white, middle or upper class, with at least some college education and nominally religious upbringing. 85) It might seem surprising that a lot of followers come from this kind of back round, but when looked at a little more in depth you see that often these young adults have either parental issues or have had some sort of middleclass failures. Those with problems in communicating with their parents often look to the leader of the cult for guidance and use them as a parental fgure. Those have failed according to middle class norms seem to be searching for validation. A lot of followers Join the cults in times of vulnerability and much needed support from others. While you can say that almost everyone has come from back ounds where they have felt vulnerable at points and needed the support of others, it seems imperative that cults cling on to those who have these types of issues going on as well as the added factor of age to convert potential members. The time of young adulthood is when most people are beginning the process of learning who they are and to have a supportive, flattering, group surround them can be very influential to their life. For most cults there is only one leader although this is not always true, using the examples from earlier, Heaven’s Gate had two leaders; Marshall Applewhite nd Bettie who liked to be called Ti and Do. Often the leader(s) starts this religion after some form of miraculous religious conversion where they may have had a near death experience or a vision, there are many different stories of leaders getting the â€Å"call to prophecy’. The leaders of cults are always charismatic, and seem to have all the answers. In a time in peoples lives when they are looking for affirmation it is easy to be drawn to someone who knows it all, and can give the yes and no answers. The leader forms very personal relationships with his followers, which sometimes turns sexual. As cults grow the leader is not always able to be so intimate with each member, and this can become problematic for the cult. In response when cults’ members become larger, the leader will start to segregate himself from the following, only allowing access to certain members who have earned that right. The leader becomes a sort of local celebrity in the eyes of the followers, and like celebrities, their fans stand by them even when arguments against their religious beliefs become even more valid. It is hard to say why a person may start a cult, money could be a huge contributing factor. Or the idea of a group of followers hanging onto every word d by the tounder may be exactly what a true narcissist is looking tor. Out ot all the New Age Religions it is hard to exactly pin point out which ones can be classified as a cult, in history, different Christian denominations have been labelled as cults and paid a price for it. In the nineteenth century The Salvation Army was labelled as a cult and its members were stoned, now it is viewed as a respected and legitimate faith base. So to stamp a religion that hasn’t been researched to its full extent can be harmful, and not fair to its members. To be close minded to the idea of new religious movements could erase the idea of religion altogether, as many religions are stuck in the past and not embracing the progressiveness of the times. If a religion is not abusing their powers or being harmful to its members who is to say that it cannot be fulfilling for someone who is looking for more in their life and doesn’t connect to mass religions? It is important to teach people to be able to question ideas and to critically think on new and old perspectives, hopefully by doing so people will not so easily be a part of such self-destructive religious groups. I work in the field of homeless and mental health and have met many clients who see themselves as closer to God than the rest of humankind so it is very plausible to me for cult leaders to truly believe that what they are doing is the right way to live, and the only way to live. All religions have outsiders who will say anything to bring that religion into a bad light, it is with great importance that we carefully and kindly dissect the true intent on all religions, not Just new age religions.

Asynchronous vs. Synchronous Learning Types

In the world of online education, or distance learning, classes can be asynchronous or synchronous. What does it mean? Synchronous When something is synchronous, two or more things are happening at the same time, in synchronicity. They are in sync. Synchronous learning takes place when two or more people are communicating in real time. Sitting in a classroom, talking on the telephone, chatting via instant messaging are examples of synchronous communication. So is sitting in a classroom a world away from where the teacher is speaking via teleconferencing. Think live. Pronunciation: sin-krÉ™-nÉ™s Also Known As: concurrent, parallel, at the same time Examples: I prefer synchronous learning because I need the human interaction of communicating with someone as if they were in front of me. Synchronous Resource: 5 Reasons You Should Sign Up for a Workshop Asynchronous When something is asynchronous, the meaning is opposite. Two or more things are not in sync and are happening at different times. Asynchronous learning is considered more flexible than synchronous learning. The teaching takes place at one time and is preserved for the learner to participate in at another time, whenever it is most convenient for the student. Technology such as email, e-courses, online forums, audio and video recordings make this possible. Even snail mail would be considered asynchronous. It means that learning is not taking place at the same time that a subject is being taught. Its a fancy word for convenience. Pronunciation: Ä -sin-krÉ™-nÉ™s Also Known As: non-concurrent, not parallel Examples: I prefer asynchronous learning because it allows me to sit down at my computer in the middle of the night if I want to and listen to a lecture, then do my homework. My life is hectic and I need that flexibility. Asynchronous Resources: Tips to Help You Rock Your Online Classes