DO YOU APPRECIATE EVERYONE'S LANGUAGE?
But do you appreciate how a range of different cultures and sex speak? "Yo man!" is this socially correct for the workplace or is "sir" to formal? We have so many ways to speak and communicate with others but is anyway seen as wrong?
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Should a relaxed environment mean a diverse range of speech or should we use Standard English. Picture: (SOURCE)https://personnel.ky.gov/Pages/Mediation-Information.aspx
The workplace has changed over such a short time period. With a life based around social networking and technology, do you actually know how to speak in a work situation and how to appreciate how people speak? There are many sub-cultures that you need to learn the different speech and how it varies but we all speak the same language and this is interesting that we have diverse speech.
Does this even matter?
We know that women can sometimes use weaker adjectives, sometimes, than men as Robin Lakoff says and men are more dominant and "macho" in all men speak. Does this even matter? We all accommodate our language for each other to understand. This should be appreciated within the workplace we all have our own variety of language.
However, language that we use though should have some structure in a workplace. Isn't a "Standard English" needed so that we can communicate and understand what is going on? The language we use is important and because of the diversity that we now have in language, it means that we could get the "wrong end of the stick."
Tips for you in the workplace
Commentary
Within my media article, I have used the structure so that it can be seen by the reader as being a magazine article. I used a image with a caption. This means that it shows the reader of a person in a workplace what the perfect environment for working should be and mean that they can identify that verbal communication and diversity that there will be in their speech. The picture allows them to put themselves in the situation. They can see that this is a magazine article with the image as it shows the main focus of the article and means that the reader is able to be focused on it.
Also, I used a pull quote of "Does this even matter?" which is then used in the following paragraph of text. This emphasises to the reader the main subject of the text. Due to the use of the interrogative, it emphasised the opinion of the reader needed to be taken into account. It allows the reader to think about what they are reading and therefore take in the articles subject on using diverse language.
The article is written using the second person pronoun "you" and the third person pronoun "we." This makes the magazine article feel inclusive and allow the reader to feel involved in the article. This has created a 'Synthetic Personalisation' with the reader and allows the article creates a bond with the reader to make them want to continue reading the article. By creating the false relationship, it means that they understand the information to a better extent and feel as they are wanted. This makes the reader understand the topic and abide by the information they are being told as the writer is persuading them to be able to speak "properly" but appreciate diverse language that we have.
Additionally, I have used bullet points to create a less formal tone which a magazine will have. This will make the reader feel as if they can take the "tips" and do as the magazine instruct them to do with the use of imperatives "Speak...." which emphasises the persuasion that the article is trying to do in a work situation.
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You have really thought about this and it is a thorough piece of work (although it could use more proofreading). Have you considered where this would appear. The idea I gave you was for an HR magazine for employers to value diverse speech but you seem to be aiming this at employees, which has given it a spin of 'try to be more standard so you can communicate effectively', which is a perfectly good idea for a media text bu its a markedly different issue and not what is'hot' in linguistics right now, which is that diversity has value, so don't be put off ideas by the way in which they are communicated. Read up on how prescriptivists think people who speak a different way are ruining the language - they won't listen to the content of what is said if they are pre-judging the person on how they speak. Also read up on how women's ideas, when they are less forcefully stated, can be ignored until a male says the same thing - I have experienced this myself in group discussions. I thought your analysis of your use of the rhetorical question was really good. Think about its effectiveness as a pull quote for getting readers interested in the article if they haven't read it yet. I also liked the examples in the strapline - they really bring the issue to life.
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