In Relation to texts Text J and Text K

Both of these texts are aimed at women and how a women should then behave and why. Text J shows us how society can affect how women’s roles affects the way language is directed about women. However text K shows how modern pieces of writing show this topic and due to informalisation, pejoration and taboo topics, it highlights how each text is appropriate at the time it was written but not in another time period.

                In 1861, society was quite different as the role of women was more restricted as things such as the vote and the Pill were not around, which is why these major landmarks in history were mentioned in text K. Therefore the audience at this time would be likely women who wanted to improve their skills so they could keep the man happy, or it could have been newlywed women who want to learn these skills. The language in text J is portraying women as purely to look as the house and look after the children hence the chapter called ‘Management of Children’ and the reference to ‘Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine’. Equally but hinting that a man could leave you because of these skills and how they expect it also but pressure on the reader to have these skills.By putting the pressure on the reader it also panics them into following your tips more closely and potentially buying more of your books, so this could be a form of influential power and it is using guilt or insecurities to entice you. These are types of texts were expected to be read by women. On the other hand if this text was to be publish in modern times this would be considered offensive to women as both genders now shares these typical female roles. Text J goes as far to as to use abstract nouns and verbs such as ‘ discontent’ and ‘untidy’ to help convey the shame of not being able to use these skills.

 The can also be said for Text K and over time women’s roles have changed so speech directed at women has become more friendly and informal. Informalisation has had a big impact on the suitability for the audience as women are more open about talking about often taboo aspects such as ‘ abortion’ or more intimate topics such as ‘Brazilians’. These slang terms show the audience would have this pragmatic knowledge already of what this and perhaps sympathise with the pressures that are mentioned in the rhetorical questions such as “Should we use Botox?”  By using Auxiliary verbs such as “should” it makes the audience question whether it is right and slightly hints that there is pressure at this time. If this text were to be published in 1861, this would be not suitable to women as this would be seen as obscure and embarrassing because of things such as taboo subjects being so openly referred to. 

I havent been able to finish it :)

Women as Breadwinners Clip

  A meaning that is strongly portrayed in this clip is that women are of a lesser social status and this is shown through the language which is based on folk linguistics, or stereotypical assumptions. One such example of this is in the phrase ‘something is going terribly wrong in American Society, it’s hurting our children’ This phrase implies that women should be at home looking after the children whilst the men are the ones who should be the ones out at work earning the money. Juan is the main person who uses these stereotypes or at least emphasises them the most. He does this by combining this with the use of emotive language and using negative verbs such as ‘hurting’ so persuade and create emotion the viewers. Especially as children have been used as they are considered to be a vulnerable group in society it creates an image of women abandoning this group. However there are not any women on the panel to be able to defend themselves or present the benefits of women being in the work place. This is very much a one sided debate with an all-male panel which is bias. This is showing that males have, or should have, the power and important roles in society and the fact that they didn't invite women on the show shows that they didn't want people to understand both sides of this argument.

            Juan is also very aware of the audience and knows that it is these people that he needs to convince and therefore he has thought about what he is going to say and used certain techniques to include them in is argument. One way he has done this is by using inclusive pronouns such as ‘our’ in the previous quote ‘our children’. This makes the audience feel included and that what they think is a problem affects anyone’s children so they all should do something about this. Similarly, Eric feels that each gender has it’s certain roles but he uses nature back up his thoughts, but he also is aware of the audience and uses flattery to influence the audience of his opinion. ‘We as people in a smart society’. This quote again uses the inclusive pronoun ‘we’ but it combines this with the adjective ‘smart’ which means he is saying the he and he viewer are smart people, therefore should share the same opinion.

            Lastly, Juan tries to appeal to the audience and create sympathy for men. ‘Disintegration of marriage, men who were hard hit by the economic recession’. This quote implies that men can’t find work as women are the ones who are hit most as women are taking up jobs men should have.  The use of ‘hard hit’ tries to show that all men were hard hit and it was specifically this group. By making this sympathy it’s trying to show this group as a group you should help and therefore agree with what he is saying. However a man wanting sympathy goes against the theory that is presented by Deborah Tanning as she argues that typically it’s the women who wants sympathy. He also uses the facts of how many abortions are in America to help show his points. However this statistic could be due to many more event rather than just women wanting to be in jobs than have a family, he doesn't mention this but uses this quote to persuade the audience.

                These men are trying to use their influential power of being on television to show their views on what is going on, and their opinions. But they are telling people that this is a problem instead of debating whether it is a good or bad thing.

The diachronic change of the word ‘Bank’

Origin

The origin of the word bank is originally a Germanic word that refers to a Bench. This word was then borrowed around 1150-1200 in the Middle English era and written as ‘banke’. This meaning was then adapted to mean the area around an area of water such as rivers. This could be because the original meaning was bench which is thought to be translated as ‘things in a row’ The river banks would be the row next to the sea so perhaps this is where this connotation had come from.. Hence the term ‘Riverbank’ we hear today. Gradually the word banke was becoming a word that could help describe a raised waterbed hence the name, ‘sandbank’ or ‘mudbank’.

 

However in 1425-75 benches were being used as table that people who were lending money or exchanging items. As the original Germanic translation meant bench, the word ‘banke’ in use in English at that time, had broadened its meaning as this was becoming a common word related to a place where money would be taken or given.  This then has developed into the bank that we now know today that give out loans and where we can deposit money. Equally this could be the reason why in board games, such as monopoly, why there is one person who looks after the money or tokens and they are called the banker.

NGram

This shows the pecentage of times the word ‘bank’ was used in books at certain times.

 

This graph helps show this broadening over time as the pecentage and line are getting higher  as the time goes one. As you can see there are small spikes from 1500 to 1700 but its after 1700 that the word gets used drastically more.  One reason why this may of happpened is because it was toward the end of the 1700s that the industrial revolution happened so there would be more people in work and having an income. This could mean that keeping money in a bank could have become more popoular at this time. But equally the spike may have occurred as the printing press and books genrerally were getting easily published.  These could have been part of the reasons combined with the wide range of meanings that this word has.

Phrases

‘Break the bank’-  This term was first used in the 1600s and this was used when someone who was gambling had won more than the banker could pay. This phrase has been used since this time however this it is now commonly used as a way of persuading someone that something wont cost much. ‘It wont break the bank to buy this’. Its used in the way that means that you would still have money if you did something.

‘laugh all the way to the bank’-  This is used to describe someone who has earnt money from something that orginally is thought less of or worthless. One example that is ‘ I don’t like that comedian but he will laugh all the way to the bank’.  It describes when someone thinks an idea or thing is worthless but someone will be making money from it. Hence the laughing to the bank. This phrases can also be used as ‘ cried all the way to the bank’ to mean the opposite.

-        1   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bank&year_start=1200&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cbank%3B%2Cc0

-      2     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank

-      3     https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=word+%27bank%27+over+time&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb&gws_rd=cr&ei=IR8fU6O4DcPA7Aae9IGADA#channel=sb&q=bank+definition&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official

-     4      http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bank