Miss Kelly notes

THE LANGUAGE LEVELS

Graphology:

Graphology is the features which contribute to the appearance of a text on a page. All the visual aspects of textual design and appearance, both verbal and non-verbal, including colour, typeface, layout, image and logos.

Some texts may rely on graphology features to help generate their intended effect.

Others may rely on more subtle features as a way of contributing to meaning.

Points to consider when analysing graphological structures:

• The organisation of the text - is it arranged in columns, does it have headings, paragraphs, blocks or continuous text?
• Consider also the use of bullet points, numeration, borders, boxes, line spacing and use of white space.
• Does it feature lines, diagrams or other visual elements.
• What type faces, type sizes and styles does it use?
• The nature of the characters - are they hand written or printed, upper case of lower case.
• Mentioning the style of the font (comic sans is bubbly and childish.
• State what effects the characters have and impressions these features create.
• How does the context of the text (what, where, when and why the piece was produced) help explain these distinctive features?

Semiotics:

Sometimes you will see graphological features described as semiotics, a system developed by Ferdinand de Saussure, which studies how 'signs' of different kinds are interpreted, and how they relate to each other. Semiotics examines how symbolic, written and technical signs construct meaning and considers how meaning is made and understood.

At the most basic level, the idea of a sign can be a logo or and image, however is can achieve a larger meaning.

Types of signs:

• ICONIC SIGNS: a direct picture of something it represents
• SYMBOLIC SIGNS: draw on cultural associations (twitter for example)

Phonology:

Phonology = The study of the sound system of a language. What effect do different sounds have on                           language usage?

Phonetics = The deals with the actual sounds of speech, considering how sounds are physically                                articulated and language phenomena such as accents.

Prosodics = The study of how speakers can shape meanings through emphasising certain aspects of                        intonation, speed and volume.

Phoneme = The basic units of sound from which language is constructed.

Orthography = The technical term for spelling.

Consonant groups:

Consonant groups are usually used by a text producer for a particular effect e.g. plosive sounds have a harsh or abrupt feel when they are foregrounded in a text.

Plosives = b, p, t, d, k, g

Fricatives = f, v, s, z, sh

Apricates = ch, dj

Nasals = m, n, ng

Approximates = r, j, w

Saussure and semiotics

Linguists claim there is no relationship between the sounds we make of the written symbols we produce and the thing we describe. This is encapsulated in Saussure's theory, known as semiotics, which argues that language is arbitrary - the relationships between signs and signifier's, or any word or its referent, is only created by social convention. Despite this, we have a whole array of terms we seem to believe echo the noises they describe e.g. bang, crash, thud.

Terms such as these, and deliberate grouping together of sounds to create certain ideas, show the operation of sound symbolism. SOUND SYMBOLISM is the way in which sounds are used to represent ideas, however there is no logical connection between the sound and the idea.

Lexical onomatopoeia = Real words to create a sound (bang)

Non-lexical onomatopoeia = Made up words to create the idea of sound (grrr)

Foregrounding sounds

Some other common phonological patterns can be achieved by structurally foregrounding particular groups of sound. This is often done using the techniques of:

• Alliteration
• Assonance (repeat vowel sounds)
• Consonance (repeat consonant sounds)
• Sibilance 

Elision = When a sound is left out (library = libry)

Assimilation = When sounds that are next to each other kind of merge together (hand bag = hambag)

Liaison = When sound is inserted between words of syllables to help them run together more                                smoothly. This avoids a gap or hiatus between the words. 

Phonology and humour

One of the most novel use of sound is create humour via phonological manipulation - the way in which text producers play with sounds and their effects.

This is dependent on homophones - a word which sounds the same as another word but has different meanings - and phonemic substitutes - the replacing of one phoneme with another.

Lexis and Semantics

Lexis simply means 'words'. It is also the collective term for the word stock or vocabulary system of text. Semantics is the different words, phrases and expressions that shape 'word meanings'.

Semantic fields

Words origins are also sometimes connected with register - a form of specialist language e.g. the language of science. This refers to language use involving semantic fields - a group of terms from the same domain, used by particular groups and in specific contexts.

Informal Lexis = Relaxed, familiar and conversational, colloquial and often non-standard, will                                       contain dialect words and slang. Tends to contain more monosyllabic words and                                 abbreviations.

Formal Lexis = Serious, impersonal, made up of standard English, more complex and contains                                     more polysyllable words, often has Latinate roots.

Antonyms = Words with opposite meanings.

Morphemes = Elements of meaning smaller than a word e.g. micro (small) and scope (focusing on a                           target).
Neologisms = New words.