Evaluate the idea that a persons occupational group influences their languages (30 marks)

 An occupational group, which are categories of people's jobs, has impacts on language used, especially in and around the workplace. There are a variety of things that socially impact the language used within occupation such as that used between colleagues or between working and client. As well as this, occupational groups have helped evolve the language as a whole too.

Dependant on the occupational group one is in workers use more informal language and conversation topics which allow them to form stronger relationships and to work better together. Within the medical field, a certain jargon is used between the doctors, of which the majority is dark humour such as 'code red', meaning blood and 'ash-cash'. These terns are used to keep conversations light and to avoid the more morbid reality of working in a hospital. Fox found that using this kind of language allowed doctors to communicate better with each other as well as creating humour and found it helped with morale. This idea is further supported by Koester who suggests that workers should be encouraged to have conversations unrelated to work, known as phatic talk, in order to form better relationships vital for effective working, especially in team situations. However, despite this, using certain language can be confusing and, in some cases, detrimental as it can prevent people from being able to do their job properly. Kim and Elder's study of Korean pilots proved this as the American's changed their language in an attempt to be more clear and in fact complicated matters due to the language barrier. It shows that casual language isn't always effective. Another theorist, Wilson, found that businesses tended not to have lexicon such as 'Saturday' or emotional words as conversations were strictly work-related and he found this to have a positive effect on the company with more efficiency.

Occupational groups have huge influences on language, especially on language they use to communicate with others outside their own colleagues which they use to create a clear separation between worker and client. Theorist Bernstein studied teachers' language and found that a large majority used the elaborated code, language that is considered Standard English and is found in textbooks within school. However, some students have the restricted code which they achieved from being culturally deprived, being from working-class areas or certain peer groups (e.g. 'she was proper peng' vs 'she is very pretty'). Berstein found that those without the ability to code-switch students could not understand the teacher, creating a divide in class and making a sense of hierarchy between teacher and student. Occupational therapists were also found to be in a higher position of power through their language and theorist Wilding found that therapists feel empowered through their language which they purposefully altered to achieve this. It creates a sense of power imbalance between the client and therapist and, as suggested by Fairclough, the therapist should have more power in order to establish their hierarchal relationship and to keep conversations stable. However, Cameron argues that this power held over clients is unethical. After studying call-centres, she found that calls are monitored and recorded, without the client being aware and a script is written so that callers know what to say. Cameron calls it 'surveillance' and scripts allowed callers to have certain responses depending on the client, therefore stereotyping and approximately creating a sense of imbalance that doesn't benefit the client, unlike with therapists.

Occupational groups have had an influence on the English Language as a whole and their own lexicon has helped evolve the English Language. Jackspeak language used by people in the Navy has had an influence on the language especially introducing idioms such as 'who let the cat out of the bag' originally from the 'cat o' nice tails', a whip used to punish sailors. Language that is still used today was coined from Jackspeak. More modern language introduction to the English Language came from Leet, a language used by Hackers. Words such as 'noob', to describe someone who doesn't understand, and 'w00t', to express excitement, have been introduced to the English Language, especially within the gaming community. Although language had been influenced the substraction theory that language has been influenced more by coining language from other languages and dialects such as from France for 'castle'. It suggests that, although occupational groups play a role in evolving the language, other influences play a larger role.

Through these theories, it is clear that occupational groups play a huge role in the influence of language, especially through the language used within the workplace. However, more recent theory should be done to help create a more conclusive understanding of how occupational groups influence language.

Teacher Comments: A well-rounded essay. (22/30)

A01: Clear linguistic elements throughout - contextual examples. Your conclusion helps with creating the idea of an argument (10)

A02: Theorist knowledge is strong throughout and your ability to weave the theorists into each other is exceptional. You begin to have both critical and evaluative comment by you could improve this (12)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evaluate the idea that changes in communication technology have had a damaging effect on the English Language

  Although the advancement of technology has been extremely important in our society and, as a society, people have benefitted from th is development, the changes in communication due to technology have had everlasting effects on the English language. The way we speak and the way we write have both been impacted by this sociological change and will greatly impact on society for years to come.   Language, by its nature, isn’t static and, like how Latin was split into French, Italian and Spanish, English is now breaking up into different English’s’ with the advancement of technology.  The language has never been entirely ‘one’ as many seem to believe because from as early as the 1400s, the discovery of America, English has been breaking up and forming its own form of the language. Other examples such as Singlish and Hinglish, of which came from Singapore and India, are their own versions of the English language,  mixed  to allow ease in conversation. However, with...
Read more

Evaluate the idea that some accents and dialects are viewed more favourably than others

  Accent, the distinctive way of speaking in a language, and dialect, the actual words in the language that people speak, is influential in certain situations in society with some being viewed as more favourable than others. These differ from different regions across the UK and are influenced by the media, social groups and gender which correlate to create a certain favourability of the way people speak.   The media plays a vital role in society which can result in certain characteristics in people’s identities and the whole idea of being more favourable can be influenced by the media. The idea of celebrities being celebrated for their accents isn’t a new concept and Susanne Williams says that this celebrity impact has shaped our taste in accents. She says that celebrities like Cheryl Cole, Ant and Dec and Ozzy Osbourne, who all have accents that aren’t viewed as particularly prestigious, have are famous and a lot of it is down to their accent and the way they speak. Both Cher...
Read more

How Conservative newspapers use language to describe homosexual people in the 1950s, the 1980s and in recent years.

  Introduction   “That’s so gay” has been   an insult for years,  being  yelled  spitefully  in the playground at primary school to describing an outfit in later years. Bein g homosexual is  considered  insulting and an affront to the heteronormality of our world.  The implication that homosexuality is wrong, immoral and  imprisonable  still rings true in some countries and many hold the opinion that being part of the LGBT community makes you a lesser person.  Despite the offensive  language that has plagued  people's  personal  language , the media, the epitome of standard and precise  English ,  is  a major  part of the problem .   Although the purpose of the media is to inform and educate people, misinformation,  slander,  and all-around upsetting  coverage has  perpetuated newspapers through time.   Newspapers  are commended, approved with high...
Read more