June 10 48 Marker
Compare the two texts, commenting on they ways in which they reflect differences and similarities in Talk in Life and Talk in Literature. In your answer you must explore the relationship between context, audience and purpose and the ways in which speakers’ attitudes and values are conveyed.
Text A is an extract from Educating Rita, a play by Willy Russell, which immediately highlights the fact that this text is crafted speech, meaning it will show a lack of spontaneous utterances, as Russell will have used specific lexis to add to the emotive aspect of his play. The piece is set in a northern university, which conveys there is sociolect, such a ‘y’’ in the play. With the participants both being educated, as we know Frank is a middle-aged lecturer while Rita is his Open University Student, we understand that elevated lexis and field-specific words will be used – ‘unashamedly emotional statement’. Russell’s purpose in this extract is to display these two characters in alternative situations. Rita’s internal purpose is transactional as she aims to find out the quality of her Macbeth essay, whereas Frank’s purpose is interactive and expressive while attempting to be supporting of Rita regardless of failing to acknowledge her plea for help – ‘If I do somethin’ that’s crap, I don’t want pity, you just tell me, that’s crap’ – this quote highlights Rita’s lexis as she uses colloquialisms, such as ‘crap’ while accent is evident with the use of ‘somethin’’.
Text B is part of transcript of a University tutorial where the tutor is discussing Julie’s essay with her. Instantly we can infer that there will be elements of spontaneous speech in this extract with the purpose of the conversation being primarily transactional and informative but there is social talk nonetheless between the two. As it is a transcript there is no audience to the conversation, which highlights there will be lack of emotive language that connects the audience to the participants that is evident in many
Text A is an extract from Educating Rita, a play by Willy Russell, which immediately highlights the fact that this text is crafted speech, meaning it will show a lack of spontaneous utterances, as Russell will have used specific lexis to add to the emotive aspect of his play. The piece is set in a northern university, which conveys there is sociolect, such a ‘y’’ in the play. With the participants both being educated, as we know Frank is a middle-aged lecturer while Rita is his Open University Student, we understand that elevated lexis and field-specific words will be used – ‘unashamedly emotional statement’. Russell’s purpose in this extract is to display these two characters in alternative situations. Rita’s internal purpose is transactional as she aims to find out the quality of her Macbeth essay, whereas Frank’s purpose is interactive and expressive while attempting to be supporting of Rita regardless of failing to acknowledge her plea for help – ‘If I do somethin’ that’s crap, I don’t want pity, you just tell me, that’s crap’ – this quote highlights Rita’s lexis as she uses colloquialisms, such as ‘crap’ while accent is evident with the use of ‘somethin’’.
Text B is part of transcript of a University tutorial where the tutor is discussing Julie’s essay with her. Instantly we can infer that there will be elements of spontaneous speech in this extract with the purpose of the conversation being primarily transactional and informative but there is social talk nonetheless between the two. As it is a transcript there is no audience to the conversation, which highlights there will be lack of emotive language that connects the audience to the participants that is evident in many