Module 1: Topic 3
Distinguish differences in the lexical density and grammatical intricacy of texts in the oral
and written mode.
Foundational tools for analysing oral language:
- Mode Continuum
- Building Metalanguage
Word Classes: Lexical: (content words)
- Words that give much more content meaning or specificity of
meaning.
- Often common nouns (doctor), verbs (running, saw, standing),
adjectives (blue, spotted, coloured), and adverbs (surprisingly),
proper nouns (Yaegan)
Lexical words are largely responsible for giving the content meanings of texts,
and so when there are more of them, the text tends to be denser.
A text that is relatively lexically dense would have more vocabulary words in
each sentence.
Grammatical:
- Often determiners (the, a), conjunctions (and, but), prepositions
(at, to, up, down), pronouns (me, it), numerals (one, seven)
Studying the grammar of English includes lexical and grammatical word
patterns.
Spoken vs Spoken-like: language accompanying action.
Written Like:
- Dialogic
- Spontaneous, lexically spare
- Embedded in a context
- ‘process-like’ for exploring ideas, clarifying thinking, and
suggesting alternatives.
- Oral features such as intonation (pausing, rhythm, stress), volume
and pitch
Written-like: language in reflection.
- Monologic
- Planned, edited
- Independent of context
- ‘product-like’ for consolidating knowledge, making deeper
connections, pulling together thread
- Graphic features such as layout, punctuation, font, image
Speech Function: One of the key features of spoken language is that it is often dialogic. It
occurs with two or more people talking.
- Questions and offers occur more commonly in dialogue, along
with statements and commands.
Clauses and Analysing grammatical intricacy: need to be able to distinguish between the
Sentences: two:
Clause: a full idea with a main verb, called a process
Sentence: either a single clause or multiple clauses (each with their
own process)
- Linked by conjunctions and that ends in a full stop
- Clause boundary shown by double line | |
Types of Sentences: Simple sentence:
- A sentence with only one clause that stands on its own
Compound sentence:
- A sentence with more than one clause, where each clause could
stand on its own. These are often links by conjunctions (and, or,
but)
Complex sentence:
- A sentence with more than one clause, where at least one of the
clauses could not stand on their own. This clause often gives
information (where, when, why, how)
