Personal Language Paper

Describe for your readers what a personal language is and tell us how your personal language developed over your lifetime. The paper is 2-3 pages long, word-processed; and proofread. Remember to send it through the assignment function and in either word or rich text format (rtf).

Suggested format for Paper

 

  1. Introduction Paragraph: Start with some kind of attention-getter for your readers: perhaps a question or a dramatic statement. Let your readers know what the topic of your paper is. Be sure to define the term personal language for your readers and explain to them the important role that the symbolic nature of language and fields of experience plays in the existence and development of a personal language  (Do not use the Wikipedia definition—it isn’t what we are talking about). Preview the paper for your reader (that you will be discussing your personal language—or even better how jargon, slang, regionalisms, and connotations make up your personal language).
  2. Body: Then have a series of paragraphs, each one addressing one of the categories of personal language. Remember to define (the definitions are right here on the assignment page) the category for your readers and to give specific examples from your personal experience of those categories.
  3. Conclusion: Summarize your main points and then conclude in a memorable way.

Language Category Definitions to be included in paper:

 

  • Jargon: Special words peculiar to the members of a profession or a group (usually technical language)
  • Slang: Words and phrases used in casual speech often invented and spread by close-knit social or age groups.
  • Dialect: A language variety used by a particular group of speakers; dialects are the mutually intelligible forms of a language that differ in systematic way from each other (Cajun, Ebonics).
  • Connotative: The evocative or affective (emotional) meaning of a word.
  • Regionalism: Where the same thing has different signifying words in different regions where the same language is spoken.
  • Accent: The relative prominence of a particular syllable of a word by greater intensity or by variation or modulation of pitch or tone.
  • Idioms: Words or phrases that can not be translated literally
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