...The poems in Frank Stanford’s Constant Stranger do not adhere to a fixed form or pattern, ebbing into big stanzas and switching abruptly to small stanzas as the tone and narrative of the poems change. I thoroughly enjoyed how Stanford used these arrangements to give the poems a certain rhythmic beat, pace quicker and almost staccato when the stanzas were long, and drawn out when the stanzas were short. I also noticed how he employed single-line stanzas to punctuate the tempo of the poem. This can be seen in the following lines: 1. “I wanted his legs.” in The Boathouse 2. “You cast your shadow like dice” and “I got sick on the voyage” in Blue Yodel Of The Desperado 3. “Death let a bid” and “Death can afford whatever he wants” in Death And The Arkansas River 4. “Your bed is a sad café” in Eyelids Noticed Only In The Seventh Minute Of Twilight There were many more, but these were the most striking lines to me. Stanford’s mildly chaotic arrangement of stanzas in Directions From A Madman was rather interesting – it seemed to display the disorderliness the title of the poem implied. I noticed how the 7th to 10th stanzas were couplets, lending the poem this degree to uniformity amid the commotion that was the general arrangement. It is also interesting to note how all the couplets’ first line focused on a single person: love, you, an old man and a young girl, while the last three couplets incorporated the word love into it. Almost half the poems in Constant Stranger were...
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...Chapter III The Social Context of English INTRODUCTION On july of 2005, John Roberts was nominated to be a justice on the supreme Court of the United States. Commenting in this description of Roberts, the noted literary and legal theorist Stanley Fish (2005) argued that Roberts was not really proponent of “strict contructionsm” but of “textualism”, the belief that interpretation involves “sticking to the meanings that are encoded in the texts and not going beyond them.” To illustrate the limitation of this view of interpretation, Fish notes that if a wife asks her husband why don’t we go to the movies tonight ? The answer to that question depends on the history of the marriage, the kind of relationship they have, the kind of person the husband thinks the wife is. The words themselves will not produce a fixed account of their meaning [emphasis added]. What Fish is arguing in this statement is that communication does not exist\ in a vacuum: to engage in a conversation, for instance, we do not simply decode the meanings of the words that people speak but draw upon the larger social context in which the conversation takes place. 1.GRAMMATICAL VS PRAGMATIC MEANING A.GRAMMATICAL The term 'grammar' covers the proper use of words and word-forms as well as thegrammatical structure of phrases, clauses, and sentences. While different wordforms of lexemes are created by the adding of inflectional morphemes, combinations of words into more complex units are the domain of...
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...PERSPECTIVE The logic of indirect speech Steven Pinker*†, Martin A. Nowak‡, and James J. Lee* *Department of Psychology, and ‡Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Departments of Mathematics and Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 Edited by Jeremy Nathans, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, and approved December 11, 2007 (received for review July 31, 2007) When people speak, they often insinuate their intent indirectly rather than stating it as a bald proposition. Examples include sexual come-ons, veiled threats, polite requests, and concealed bribes. We propose a three-part theory of indirect speech, based on the idea that human communication involves a mixture of cooperation and conflict. First, indirect requests allow for plausible deniability, in which a cooperative listener can accept the request, but an uncooperative one cannot react adversarially to it. This intuition is supported by a game-theoretic model that predicts the costs and benefits to a speaker of direct and indirect requests. Second, language has two functions: to convey information and to negotiate the type of relationship holding between speaker and hearer (in particular, dominance, communality, or reciprocity). The emotional costs of a mismatch in the assumed relationship type can create a need for plausible deniability and, thereby, select for indirectness even when there are no tangible costs. Third, people perceive language as a digital...
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...BIG SPLASH by Celeste de Clario Davis In the 2015 “bigsplash” Australian volunteer presentation Stephanie Bennett introduces the event as the Chief Executive Officer, saying the award “offers a $100,000 donation to further the aims of Australian volunteer organisations in any field” and announces the winner, being ‘tradespeople without borders’. Mathew Nguyen being the spokesperson of this organisation accepts the award with a improvised speech. Bennett’s contention is that Australian volunteers are “heroes” yet don’t receive the level of acknowledgment and appreciation that they deserve. Ngueyen fundamentally agrees with Bennetts philosophy, but also clarifies that he has a different perspective about the way volunteers are viewed in the community and executes his speech with gratitude towards the kindness he receives from communities. Both speakers are being viewed two audiences, the audience attending the event and those who are viewing it on television. Both Bennet and Ngueyen use a sympathising tone, of which, emotionally appeals to their audiences. Although both speakers use this appeal differently they both give off a inclusive quality. For Bennet this is seen when she uses phrases such as “we take it for granted”. This method of speaking reinforces the value of the volunteers work efforts while simultaneously encouraging the audience to collectively. Contrarily Nguyen states that “those of us who have been lucky enough to live in comfort.../shouldn’t ask for...
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...Speeches can lead to an audience with different opinions about the message. Some people might support the speaker’s main points, while others will not. A speech that exemplifies this is the speech “Consciousness is Power”. Kochiyama was a famous Asian-American civil rights activist. She gave the speech “Consciousness is Power” on November 3,1995 to an audience of primarily Asian Americans. Speeches commonly leave people with mixed feelings about the message of the speech. It is very rare that everyone will interpret a speech in the same way. The difference in feelings can be attributed to several things. For example, the type of language choices made by the author can lead to a disconnect in terms of how supporter and non-supporter interprets...
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...the gift of speech is the most miraculous. I believe that, if speech were to stop, all civilized living would suddenly vanish. I believe that the ability to articulate is essential to inner harmony, to emotional maturity, and to mental balance. If all people could be completely articulate at all times, human relations might improve to the point where there would be no more wars and no more jails, more stable homes and more happy people. I believe that speech is essential to the growth of the human personality and that it provides a way for self-discovery and self-renewal. For many, it is a way of self-expression without brush or pen. I believe that the act of speech is a total process, that when it reaches optimum effectiveness, the whole man communicates. What one is, is always part of what one says. I believe that there is no substitute for content in the speaking process. Material or intellectual worth provides the essence of eloquence. Speech skills have their importance, but they no more make speech than clothes make the man. The center of gravity in all speech communications is thought and idea. I believe that every student should develop a concern for truthful and responsible speech, exhibiting sense – not non-sense, sincerity – not cleverness, forthrightness – not superficiality, and should never be a party to plagiarized or dishonest work. I believe that speech has no absolutes, that a completely perfect speech has not yet been made. I believe that speech offers a...
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...Movie Review: The King’s Speech The King’s Speech relates to this course by showing someone who struggles with presenting speeches in front of large crowds of people, eventually gets over his fear and accomplishes his goal by giving an amazing speech. I’m almost for certain that more than half of my public speaking class is afraid to give a speech in front of people due to nerves. To me, giving a speech in front of people makes me nervous and scared. I feel like the King George VI because I tend to mumble and move around a lot when I give speeches. If I were in the King’s situation I would seek help just as he did. But instead of freaking out all the time, I would practice my speeches and try to find different tactics that would help me remain calm while I’m presenting. This movie makes me believe that public speaking is intimidating. But with a composed attitude and a straightforward speech I will be able to tackle the nerves and give a worthy speech. To form a good impression on the listeners I have to make eye contact with the audience members, speak slowly and loud, take pauses when needed, and show appropriate facial emotions when I’m sincere about what I have to say. When preparing my speech I have to create an introduction that gets the audience’s attention, so then they will become interested in what my speech is about. Seeing the King’s speeches fail made me realize that I should take appropriate actions when feeling apprehensive. I should act confident, know what I’m...
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...in the ERC is the speech gym. But, if you walk by the ERC in February it is a much smaller group of twelve students, working until the long hours of the night. These students are the state series representatives. Speech is a competitive activity in which student are able to participate in fourteen events, in the areas of public speaking, acting, or interpretation. In most tournaments there are generally three preliminary rounds of competition, and the top-ranking competitors in each event advance to the final round. In Dramatic Duet...
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...functions the gift of speech is the most miraculous. I believe that, if speech were to stop, all civilized living would suddenly vanish. I believe that the ability to articulate is essential to inner harmony, to emotional maturity, and to mental balance. If all people could be completely articulate at all times, human relations might improve to the point where there would be no more wars and no more jails, more stable homes and more happy people. I believe that speech is essential to the growth of the human personality and that it provides a way for self-discovery and self-renewal. For many, it is a way of self-expression without brush or pen. I believe that the act of speech is a total process, that when it reaches optimum effectiveness, the whole man communicates. What one is, is always part of what one says. I believe that there is no substitute for content in the speaking process. Material or intellectual worth provides the essence of eloquence. Speech skills have their importance, but they no more make speech than clothes make the man. The center of gravity in all speech communications is thought and idea. I believe that every student should develop a concern for truthful and responsible speech, exhibiting sense - not non-sense, sincerity - not cleverness, forthrightness - not superficiality, and should never be a party to plagiarized or dishonest work. I believe that speech has no absolutes, that a completely perfect speech has not yet been made...
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... PRAGMATICS APPLIED TO EVERYDAY LANGUAGE Introduction Chapter 1: Deixis and distance 1. Person deixis 2. Spatial deixis 3. Temporal deixis Chapter 2: Reference and inference 1. Referring expression 2. Inference 3. Co-text 4. Anaphoric reference Chapter 3: Presupposition and entailment 1. Types of presupposition 2. Entailments Chapter 4: Cooperation and implicature 1. The cooperative principle 2. Hedges 3. Conversational implicatures 4. Generalized conversational implicatures 5. Scalar implicatures 6. Particularized conversational implicatures 7. Conventional implicatures Chapter 5: Speech acts and events 1. Speech act classification 2. Felicity conditions 3. Speech events Chapter 6: Politeness and interaction 1. Politeness 2. Face wants 3. Say something: off and on record 4. Positive and negative politeness Chapter 7: Conversation and preference structure 1. Conversation analysis 2. Pauses, overlaps, and backchannels Chapter 8: Discourse and culture 1. Discourse analysis Chapter 9: Identification and application Conclusion Bibliography Appendix: Script Introduction: Pragmatics is concerned with the study of meaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader). As GeorgeYule (1996) says, ‘Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning’. This paper...
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...communicating in a way where your audience can hear you. In other words it is very important to know your audience. You could be talking about how to cure cancer but if your audience is not interested, or engaged in the conversation then they will not be listening at all. You must always remember to have good quality content and know who you are talking to. Understand what kind of crowd you are dealing with so that you have the best chance of giving your best performance and leave feeling that your audience understood and heard what you said. Out of all of the different practices discussed in the video, I found that the one that relates best to me is to act as if you are having a conversation with the audience. It is natural for most of us to hold a conversation as this is something we do on a daily basis. The conversation aspect of any speech will help the speaker to appear more natural and comfortable with the audience and invite better listening. As soon as a speaker steps in front of their audience the tone of the entire performance is set. If the speaker appears comfortable and confident at the start, more than likely they will be able to acceptance of the content being heard. The opposite works just the same. If the speaker is nervous and lacks confidence then the audience will pick up on that, and will not likely listen as well to what is being said. The best advice that I could give someone about public speaking would be to understand your audience and know exactly who you are...
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...The interactions between humans and the development of their social, mental, and physical well being intrigues me. When I was little I was always observing and listening to the different things that worked and didn’t work for people in conversations. Being in speech and debate and contemplating what I really want to get out of this class, it isn’t just something that will further my education, I want to gain something to further me as a person. This year in speech and debate I want to learn how to effectively win every argument I am involved in, change people's lives, and how to be an amazing speaker. To begin, this year I want to learn how to sedulously win every argument I am bound in. It may be inevitable for me to lose an argument, but...
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...didn’t provide any additional information. All of our non-linguistic communication was gone. I stared at the floor while asking him, “D-d-d-do you lllllllike it?” He told me it was on natural and organic aisle and left. I felt like an idiot, I just asked a man if he liked dog food, when I meant to say “do you recommend it.” It was evident that he didn’t want to interact with me. I felt self-conscious, ashamed, and judged. At that point, I wanted to leave the store because I didn’t know how to manage my emotions. I wanted to cry because I felt rejected. I wanted to let the worker know how I felt and that I didn’t stutter. I questioned myself and thought about a previous client. Is this how he is treated? How does he react? Why would people act like this? I left the store and without purchasing anything. On the car ride home, I thought about people who stutter, and how they suffer during daily social interactions. Thinking about my third interaction provoked feelings of fear, anxiety, and resentment. I went to Mama’s Empanada, a Colombian café with my mom. When I entered the café, there were three other customers on the line. I felt calm and rehearsed my order with my mom. I expressed to my mom that I couldn’t order her food because it would cause my production to be longer and I was afraid making an error. My confidence level diminished once a line started to gather behind me. I felt sick. As I approached the counter, I realized that the restaurant clerk was a monolingual Spanish...
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...impact without being hostile. Solnit said, “When bodily movement becomes a form of speech, then the distinctions between words and deeds, between representations and actions, begin to blur, and so marches can themselves be liminal, another form of walking into the realm of the representational and symbolic-and sometimes, into history”(217). When I read what Solnit had to say about walking in the form of a speech, I thought that this is exactly what King wanted to do. Especially with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington. King wanted to make a powerful stand, in the form of movement, and with the power of the number of...
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...Traditional On Campus Class Welcome to the Traditional On Campus version of Speech 103 Oral Communication! I look forward to getting to know each of you. Over the years, I have learned that many of you dread taking this class (don’t worry I felt the same way when I had to take this class) but I hope that you will find your worries to be unfounded. I work very hard to try to create a comfortable learning environment, primarily because I need you to participate in order for this class to work. This is a participatory-based class where we will all work together to help each other improve our communication skills. Consequently, you will play an active role in your own learning as well as active role in the learning of the other students in this class. Research has shown that when you are an active participant in a class you increase how much you remember as well as how much you can recall after the semester has ended. However, I have found that when you are an active participant in my class you will look forward to coming to each class session and your fears of public speaking will soon decrease. Since this class is participatory, you will find that you will put a lot of thought and effort into this class. Much learning will occur both in class and out side of class. However, while this class is demanding, I hope that you will both enjoy this experience and learn a great deal about communication, how you communicate, and how to be a better...
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