LANGUAGE REGISTER - PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY OF ENGLISH



COURSE TITLE: USE OF ENGLISH
COURSE CODE: GSE 107
LANGUAGE REGISTER
MEANING OF REGISTERS
            Registers refers to words or vocabulary associated with certain fields of human endeavours. The language registers of particular field or discipline are their trade marks. They are the specialized words or expression used in discourses in those fields or professions. For instance, a member of the discipline of medicine is expected not only to be well acquainted with the language of medicine, but also to use those specialized words properly in communication, especially with his colleagues in the medical profession.

            Further more, register is the appropriate word or vocabulary used in or associated with particular human activity or edneavour. Any other word used instead of the appropriate word will not be suitable. For instance in education sector we talk about ‘classroom’ as a place where ‘students’ assemble to receive instruction. Therefore any other word used in place of classroom is not appropriate register or word or vocabulary.

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY OF ENGLISH                 
The study of speech sounds is divided into tow closely related and overlapping sub-disciplines phonetics and phonology.
Phonetics is the study of language sound production, the quality of sound produced in terms of phonetic environment in which they occur and the perception of such sounds. Here are three branches of phonetics.
(1)              Articulatory phonetics: This is the study of language sound production.
(2)              Auditory phonetics, this branch is concerned with the perception of language sounds.
(3)              Acoustic phonetics these deals with the qualities language sounds acquire in the process of production.
Meanwhile, phonology is the study of the pattering of language sounds. In other words, it is primarily concerned with the acceptable sequence or arrangement of the speech sounds of a particular language.

CLASSIFICATION OF ENGLISH SOUNDS     
            There are forty-four sound units in English alphabet and some conventional symbols are used to represent the sound units. These sound units are also called phonemes.
            In transcription, letters of the English alphabet and some conventional symbols are used to represent the sound units. These symbols are union as phonetic symbols. The forty-four sounds of English have been classified into vowels and consonants.
            English vowels sounds: A vowel is a speech sound produced when a speech airflows through the oral cavity without obstruction.
            Short vowel sounds: The short vowel sounds are so called because their production is usually brief.
            Long vowel sounds: The pronunciation of the long vowel sounds is usually a little longer and louder than that of short vowel sounds.
            The diphthong: the difference between a diphthong and a pure vowel sound is that a diphthong is a union of two vowel sounds.
            English consonant sounds: There are twenty four English consonants
NB: Study the symbols and practice their pronunciation

COMPREHENSION AND INTERPRETATION
            Comprehension is the skill of extracting meaning from print. This entails getting meaning or information from reading a print. Comprehension proceeds from three levels, namely: the literal or factual level, the inferential level and critical level.
            The literal or factual level: this means the understanding we get by reading words or sentence as they are stated directly in texts.
            The inferential level: these deals with the relationships or ideas implied rather than explicitly stated.
            The critical level: this is where the writer’s ideas are used in projecting new ideas. At this level facts are established, opinions are adequately investigated and proved as either real or unreal with evidences.
            Meanwhile, interpretation is the proof of comprehension. It is obvious therefore, that we cannot talk about comprehension without touching the issue of reading as the end product of reading is comprehension. See the diagram below:
            Reading               -       comprehension             -        interpretation            
          
FACTORS THAT DIRECTLY AND INDIRECT COMPREHENSION
There are some obstacles that may directly or indirectly affects comprehension. These include the followings.
Poor academic foundation: learning is gradual process and knowledge is built from know to unknown. If for any reason an educational experience is skipped, it invariably shows at the long run. The problem of not having enough vocabulary leads to inability to comprehend words used in a passage.
Psychological situation such as bereavement, sickness can affect comprehension as the body has to be sound-physically, spiritually and socially before it gives its best in any field.
      Environmental factor: this is another factor that can obstruct proper comprehension. This follows that the environment one finds himself when reading will to a large extent determine the level of comprehension.

Cautious Writing        
            Outline is a process of planning and organizing the points or ideas to be developed in an essay, in a letter, in a report, in a story, or any other form of writing. It involves thinking through the thesis of the essay and arranging the ideas bit by bit so as to have a clear focus while writing.
            Outlining does not just mean writing down the points it involves logic-good reasoning. The writer thinks, critically, analyses the prints and puts down the basic framework of the essay and its details, which he develops one after another as he writes.
Types of outline: There are three ways an outline of the essay statement can be done. Main ideas outline, topic outline and sentence outline.
1.                  Main idea outline: Main idea outline consists in simply thinking and writing down the main ideas to be use in developing an essay statement.
2.                  Topic outline: This is different from main ideas outline because apart form giving the main ideas, the writer forms subordinate ideas from the main ideas.
3.                  Sentence outline: in this type of outline, complete sentence are used to write the main ideas, the subordinate ideas, and the subdivisions of the subordinate ideas.

PARAGRAPHING
            A paragraphing is a group of sentences that develops single main ideas. Therefore, a main idea expressed on a sentence often requires other sentences to fully develop the idea. This is why a paragraph is a larger unit of expression than the sentence. A paragraph can serve as a formal introduction to the ideas expressed as means of transition from one idea to another as a summary.
Essay Writing    
            Essay writing is the art f composing ideas, thoughts, knowledge and facts in an orderly and logical manner on a specific topic.
Types of Essays: Essay writing can be generally classified under four broad types: narrative essay, descriptive essay, argumentative/ persuasive essay and expository.
1.         Narrative Essay: This is the art of recounting or giving an account of a story, event, incident or happening in a sequence. The order of occurrence is very important in this type of essay. It is necessary to understand that events do not occur in a haphazard manner.

Point of view in a narrative Essay
            This refers to the angle from which a story or narration is made. This is whether the narrator is an outsider or an insider to the events in the narrative. There are two types of point of view:
(a)              Omniscient point of view: In this type, the narrator is every where and knows everything. He is an outsider and tells his story in the story in the third person. He is very familiar with characters and knows their thought and ideas. It is this type of point of view that is most commonly used by fictional writers.
(b)              Limited point of view: Here, the narrator is one of the characters in the story or narration. He is usually the chief character. The narration is limited as he narrates only what he sees and hears. He does not know the other characters thoughts or ideas and cannot predict effectively what their next action will be. He narrates his story mostly in the first person using “I” or “We”
2.         The Descriptive Essay: This entails saying what somebody is or something looks like. In doing so, we furnish details of characteristics features, peculiarities, identifying marks, strength, weakness etc.
3.         The expository Essay: This is the type of essay that seeks to explain new ideas, facts, knowledge, discoveries, findings etc. it does so by experimenting and expounding the information in such a way that it becomes fairly comprehensible and intelligible to the reader. Exposition describes how something is done. It defines an idea or tangible object, compares and contrast two objects.
4.         The argumentative Essay: Here the writer tries to win his reader to his own point of view. This type of writing makes use of a lot of persuasion, convincing and logical presentation of facts. A writer can make an effort to convince his readers appeal to their sense of reason.

LETTER WRITING                   
Correspondence is the act of writing and receiving letters. It is a kind of communication through which information, instruction, message or request is disseminated through writing. Letter writing like any other write-up or composition is individualistic in nature.
            Types of letter writing: letter writing is divided into three, namely: Informal letter, formal letter and semi-formal letter.
1.         Informal letter: This can be called personal or friendly letter. It is a letter written to people who are very familiar to us such as members of our family, father, mother, sister, brother uncle, nephew cousin or close friends and acquaintances. Informal letter takes the following format:
a.         the writer’s address and date
b.         the opening greeting or salutation
c.         the body of the letter
d.         the closing greetings or subscription
2.         The formal letter: This is equally called business or official letter. It includes letter of complaint, official request, letter of enquires, letter of order and delivery written for an order of goods and services. There is no element of familiarity in this type of letter.
Features
a.         Two addresses: the address of the writer and the address of the recipient.
b.         salutation no intimacy here
c.         title or headline
d.         the body of the letter
e.         closing
3.         Semi-formal: As the name implies is neither an informal letter nor formal letter. It gets its format and style from both formal and informal letter. This type of letter  can be written to people whom we are familiar with, but not so intimately.
Features
a.                  The writers address compulsory
b.                  The address of the recipient optional
c.                  There may or may not be a subject matter or heading
d.                  Salutation the surname of the recipient is usually used the body of letter contains both the style of both formal or informal letter.
e.                  The complimentary close: This usually bears yours sincerely, signature, and the full of name of the writer.
Research Reports         
            A research is an investigation that is discovery orientated. According to Otagburuagu and Ogbonna (1990) say that a research may focus on:
i.          finding out the answer or solutions to intriguing questions
ii.         upholding a certain point of view
iii.               refuting a hypothesis or a contention
iv.               demonstrating an alternative point view
v.                  finding out new facts.
Then the findings of such academic investigation according to them, may be embodied in specialized forms of writing such as:
a.      Dissertation
b.      Thesis
c.      Term paper
The thesis and the dissertation are highly specialized in content, form and methodology. These are projects written for the award of degrees. Students are gradually introduced to the thesis and dissertation through the writing of term papers or long essay.       
The term paper is therefore a training in organization, information sifting and precision and finally in research reporting.
The process of writing research, report is included in the following steps:
1.              Select a topic that you can really research on
2.              Limit your topic and make purpose of the paper clear.
3.              Gather information on your limited topic
4.              Plan your paper and take note in your topic
5.              Write the paper
Format for writing term paper or long essay.
Term paper
1.         Preliminary pages
            a.         blank page
            b.         title page
            c.         the dedication page
            d.         table of content
            e          preface
            f           acknowledgment
2.         The Text 
            a.         introduction
            b.         body of the paper with well defined division and          subdivisions such as chapters division and subdivision.    
3.         The supplementary pages
            a.         references
            b.         glossary
            c.         appendices
Use of an acceptable format and method of documentation
(a)              Format: in research two referencing styles are acceptable depending on your disciplines. Discipline in the arts make use of the modern language association (MLA) format. While education and social sciences accept the American psychological association (APA) format.
What is a memo (memorandum)?         
            A memo is an official note form one person to another within the same organization, establishment, Institution Company etc. it is a form of written communication, just like the letter.
Types of Memos   
            There are two types, depending on area of circulation
(i)                            Interdepartmental Memo: This is the type of memo that sent from one department to another within the same organization. It is usually printed on a sheet within the same organization’s or company’s letter head.
(ii)                         Intra-departmental Memo: It is intra-departmental when it circulates within the same department in an organization
Format for Memo or features
i.                    a letter head 
ii.                 to line
iii.               subject line
iv.               date line
v.                  ref line
vi.               body
vii.             signature
viii.          cc
ix.               enclosure/attached

What is Speech Writing? 
Speech writing is the graphic representation of a formal talk given to an audience.   
The occasion for a speech making could be the inauguration of a students association, a formal welcome address to an important visitor. It could be leaders addressing members of club or a town union, a politician making a formal speech to an electorate before elections or even after.
Planning a Speech:    
            The ultimate aim of every speech maker is to communicate some ideas, some messages to the audience to accept his ideas, beliefs or personality etc. For the speaker to succeed he must plan his speech very well, along some important points. Then in his planning he must consider the following points.
(a)       The purpose of the speech
(b)       His audience      
(c)       The occasion or context of speech
(d)       The topic or content of the speech
Then in choosing the audience the followings should be considered.
i.          Educational level of the audience
ii.         Size of the audience
iii.       Occupation of the audience
iv.        Age of the audience
vi.        Sex of the audience
vii.      The religious background of the audience
Format of a Speech                
The following features of every speech include the following:
i.          Title
ii.         Mark of identification
iii.       Salutation
iv.        Body
v.         Name and signature of writer or speaker
Public Speech 
            Public speech or speaking is a specialized form of communication which requires skill. Like essay writing, public speech has topic and a targeted audience, but unlike essay writing, public speech is open, practical and some what complex exercise, it reveals the personality of the speaker, his knowledge of the subject matter and his alertness and enthusiasm. Every public speech must be candid, concise, clear, correct, concrete and courteous.
Types of Public Speech      
i.          The impromptu public speech: This is the type of speech delivered without prior knowledge and preparations. The speaker is usually called up to present a speech without any form of preparation.
ii.         Prepared public speech: As the name implies, the public speech is the one the speaker has had a fore or knowledge. In this type of speech presentation, the speaker is normally given the topic before hand or asked to choose one himself.

Introduction of Literature   
            Literature can be defined as any work or writing that has an enduring value and of universal interest touching on themes such as religion, government romance, politics and science.
Distinction between English literature and literature in English        
            English literature: This is the literature written in English by writes who are English in origin or adoption. It deals with mode of life of the English people including their origin, customs, beliefs and experience.
Literature in English: This is the literature in English by writers who are not English by birth.
            Types of literature are oral literature and written literature
Branches of Literature          
            Literature is divided into three branches the three divisions are referred to as the genres of literature. They are drama, poetry and prose.
Drama refers to plays acted on the stage. It is the reenactment of action by actors/ actresses impersonating fictional or historical personage.
Characteristics of Drama    
1.         It is written in acts and scenes
2.         It makes use of dialogue
3.         It is action centered
4.         it makes use of dramatic personae
5.         It is best appreciated when acted in the stage.
6.         It takes place in a theatre, on a stage or platform

Prose: This is a short or long story that is not written in verse
Characteristics of Prose    
1.         It is written in chapters and paragraphs
2.         It deals with intellect
3.         Not always musical and may not contain a rhyme scheme
4.         Written to inform and instruct
5.         Uses only denotation of words
6.         It may be factual or fiction
Poetry: Poetry as an imaginative work of art expressed in strong emotions. Usually contains rhyme and rhythm it is also said to be the beautiful arrangement of words in lines. Forms of poetry include poems, songs, recitations, hymns etc    

Characteristics of Poetry  
1.         Written in stanzas
2.         Deals with imagination and emotion
3.         Usually musical and in rhyme pattern
4.         It is technical
5.         It is written principally to express emotion
6.         Uses words both connotation and denotation
7.         Uses poetic licence with the application of incorrect forms of words and expression.  
Share on Google Plus

Declaimer - MARTINS LIBRARY

The publications and/or documents on this website are provided for general information purposes only. Your use of any of these sample documents is subjected to your own decision NB: Join our Social Media Network on Google Plus | Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin

READ RECENT UPDATES HERE