The nature of health promotion work in midwifery

The nature of health promotion work in midwifery Health promotion is an essential part of a midwives responsibility; the nature of health promotion work in midwifery is geared toward promoting the health of the mother and ensuring an optimum environment for mother and baby (Dunkley, 2000:40). Breastfeeding can be a controversial topic. It can bring about mixed opinions and responses from mothers and midwives. In spite of the message breast is best bottle feeding has become part of the culture in Irelands society. Health promotion is predominately a proactive process. It is a process that is done with people not at people, either on an individual basis or within groups. Participation and partnership are key components of the process (Dunkley, 2000:42). This essay will discuss the unique ability of midwives in their contribution to the health promotion of breastfeeding in Ireland. A general role of midwives is to enthusiastically support and advise a breastfeeding woman. A midwife should help the woman recognise that breastfeeding is a normal life event in every culture. In order to do this a midwife should have a broad knowledge of the anatomy of the breast and sufficient clinical skills. This will ensure the woman receives adequate information and skills on the postnatal ward, or antenatally. Benefits of Breastfeeding Firstly the reason for the promotion in regard to breastfeeding is that apart from being economically friendly, it also holds many benefits for the baby and for the mother herself. Extensive research using improved epidemiological methods and modern laboratory techniques documents diverse and compelling advantages for infants, mothers, families and society from breastfeeding and the use of human milk. (Chalmers Kramer 2001). These advantages include health, nutritional, immunological development, psychological, social, economic and environmental factors (American Academy of Paediatrics, 1997) Human milk lessens the chances of an infants chance of infections and diseases including bacterial meningitis and respiratory tract infections. This is because breast milk contains anti-infective properties. Studies have demonstrated protection from pre-menopausal breast cancer (Buchanan and Sachs, 1998;Enger et al., 1997;Katsouyanni et al., 1996; Michels et al., 1996;UK National Case-Control Study Group, 1993) and pre-menopausal ovarian cancer (Siskind et al., 1997) and a possibility of protection against hip fractures in older age (Department of Health 1998). Breast feeding can also help the mother return to her pre birth weight. Breast milk has been shown to protect babies against gastrointestinal, urinary, respiratory and middle ear infection (Howie et al 1990) and atopic disease if there is a family history of atopy (Burr et al 1989, Oddy et al 1999). Breast milk also contains exactly the right proportion of nutrients a baby requires. From 16weeks gestation the breast will begin to produce a clear fluid known as colostrums. Colostrums is the first feed a breast fed baby will receive. It has higher levels of protein, fat-soluble vitamins and mineral percentages than normal breast milk. It is plentiful in immunoglobulins, macrophages, lymphocytes, neutrophils and mononuclear cells which gives it the high levels of protein. Traditional breast milk holds 90% water with 10% proteins, carbohydrate and fats with vitamins and minerals. The primary solid constituent is the fatty acid component that provides 50% of the calorific requirements of the newborn.(Henderson Macdonald, 2004:595). Role of the Midwife The role and responsibility of the midwife is to work with evidence based practice with good communication to provide advice, support, encouragement and education to facilitate the womans ability to breastfeed (preferably with a hands off approach from the midwife (Johnson Taylor 2006:346). Support throughout pregnancy can have a long lasting effect no matter the scale the task may be. A good example of this is the midwives role in health promotion and in supporting women in feeding their babies. (Crafter, 1997). When a woman needs more general sources of advice and social support than those provided through the maternity services, midwives may still play a key role in providing relevant information and advice and referring her to other professionals and organisations for support.(Cooper Fraser 2003:939). If the chosen method of feeding an infant is breastfeeding a mother should expect midwives to assist them in the latching on of the child and in the correct way so it is not painf ul or uncomfortable for the mother. The baby should be brought up to the breast quickly to ensure correct attachment, rather than the breast brought down to the baby which encourages bad maternal posture and poor attachment (RCM, 2002). They must also ensure the baby is obtaining sufficient feeds and that water and artificial baby milk is avoided unless medically necessary. If a mother decides to bottle feed she should, however, expect the same level of support and shown how to make up a bottle feed. Education for a breast feeding mother is essential. In order to prepare the mother for breast feeding, it is more favourable that she understands the process of breastfeeding. The midwife will have a dual role in the first few feeds. First and foremost, she must ensure that the baby is receiving and adequate feed. Secondly the midwife should ensure the mother herself acquires the ability to feed her baby alone. Emotional support by a midwife is important if it is the womans first time breast feeding. Along with physical and emotional support a woman will also require adequate support in the means of information such as leaflets, on a one to one basis, or support groups in the community. A popular support group is La Leche League International. They are non medical breastfeeding counsellors. During the last decade, the average length of hospital stay following birth has been cut almost in half as the health care industry strives to keep costs down; especially in the economic downturn our society is enduring. Women are sent home to grapple on their own and sometimes will not have gotten any advice on breastfeeding from a midwife on the postnatal wards as there is not enough staff and not enough time in the day. Additional support has a positive effect on the womans satisfaction of breastfeeding, demonstrated by a Cochrane database review (Anderson, 1999). La Leche League(LLL) has worked for 35 years offering information and support to women who want to breastfeed, as well as providing continuing education for health care professionals. LLL believes that breastfeeding, with its many important physical and psychological benefits, offers advantages for both mother and child and is the ideal way to initiate healthy family relationships. Midwives should work within The structure set out in the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (Saadeh and Akre, 1996: Woolridge, 1994: WHO, 1998) which are as follows: Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all the healthcare staff Train all healthcare staff in skills necessary to implement this policy. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding soon after birth. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from infants. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated. Practice rooming-in: allow mother and infants to remain together for 24hours a day. Encourage breastfeeding on demand. Give no artificial teats or dummies to breastfeeding infants. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from hospital or clinic. In 1991 the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative was set up by UNICEF and WHO, in order for hospitals to encourage and be supportive of breastfeeding women (Ten steps). Mothers should hope to get a high standard of care in all Baby Friendly Hospitals. Hospitals who wish to receive Baby Friendly status must adhere to (WHO 1989). In such a hospital a mother should expect a midwife to assist them in the breast feeding soon after birth. This may occur when skin to skin contact occurs. A baby should remain with his mother at all times. Help given with attaching the baby to the breast soon after birth often results in successful breastfeeding (Hytten,1954). Conclusion The way forward to the successful return of breastfeeding as a cultural normality lies in the roots of prenatal and postnatal education. Different approaches to this may be in hospitals, postnatal wards, schools and the community. The keen attitude and involvement of midwives is vital to the promotion and practice of breastfeeding to ensure the best possible development of infant and child health. Breastfeeding like, like childbirth, empowers women. This power is not societys masculine definition of power meaning authority, money, or material goods. It is the power of nurturance, intimacy and attachment.

Educating Rita Essay

Discuss the Success of this Introduction to the Play’s Characters and themes. Do you think Willy Russell has successfully made his opening Dramatic and Entertaining? I think that Willy Russell has made the introduction of the play, Educating Rita, dramatic and entertaining because he uses techniques such as: Just two characters Set in just one room Humour Similarities between Rita and Frank – both read books, and smoke etc. Similarities between Rita and Willy Russell – both from Liverpool, both hairdressers and from working class backgrounds. Educating Rita is a stage comedy written by Willy Russell which premià ¨red at The Warehouse, London, in 1980. The two characters are: Frank – an unsuccessful, upper class man who is in his fifties, writes poems and is a university lecturer. He is tired and jaded and has not looked out of his large bay window or looked at his nude, religious picture for about ten years. Frank is an alchoholic who pulls out a book at the beginning of the play and behind it appears a bottle of whisky. He then pours a large slug into a mug. He only works so he can buy more drink. Rita – A young 26 year old, working-class hairdresser, who is loud, inquisitive and uses lots of slang – â€Å"I’m comin’ in, aren’t I? It’s that stupid bleedin’ handle on the door. You wanna get it fixed!† This is the first time Rita speaks and she doesn’t appear to be very formal. Rita lives with her husband Denny but when he finds out that Rita is still on the pill he rips up all her papers and books and burns them and tells Rita that she either gives up her education or she will be forced out of her home and marriage. Rita wanted to get an education first and then look at her options so then she can decide whether or not she wants a baby so, therefore, she decides to have an education. The scene is a room on the first floor of a Victorian-built university in the north of England. Frank decides he needs to earn some extra money, so he agrees to tutor an Open University student who is Rita who has just decided to get an education. Rita’s entrance to the room is not a normal one; she struggles to get into the room and then the door swings open. As soon as the play starts, we find out that Frank is an alcoholic. He has a bottle of whisky hidden behind some books which he takes a large slug of and before Rita enters he is on the phone. Whilst he is on the phone he mentions the word ‘pub’ four times. Then Frank asks Rita who she is and instantly Frank knows how much work he is going to have to put in to get Rita an education Frank: â€Å"You are?† Rita: â€Å"What am I?† Frank: â€Å"Pardon?† Rita: â€Å"What?† Frank: â€Å"Now you are?† Rita: â€Å"I’m a what?† Later on Frank asks Rita what her name is. She says it is Rita even though her real name is Susan. Frank says that on her admission paper it says Mrs S White. Then Rita tells him that her real name is Susan but she changed it after reading the book ‘Rubyfruit Jungle’ which was written by Rita Mae Brown. Rita wanders around the room a lot noticing the large bay window and the nude picture. She shows that she is inquisitive by asking lots of questions about the nude, religious picture. In this bit Willy Russell adds a bit of humour: â€Å"Y’ don’t paint pictures like that just so that people can admire the brush strokes, do y’? â€Å" A bit later on Rita shows her slang language â€Å"He gets pissed an’ stands in the street shoutin’ an’ challengin’ death to come out an’ fight. It’s dead good. This is totally different from the way Frank speaks for example he says â€Å"It’s supposed to embrace a more comprehensive studentship, yes.† Before this Rita asks if she can smoke and then when Frank asks her if she wants a drink of Scotch she says: â€Å"Y’ wanna be careful with that stuff, it kills y’ brain cells.† Like if you smoke you won’t be killing your brain cells. Rita is not very optimistic. Whilst she is looking around the room inquisitively, she picks up a book called Howard’s End which she thinks is filthy so she borrows it off Frank and says that if she decides to pack the course in she will post it back to him. â€Å"If I pack the course in I’ll post it to y’.† Frank seems shocked when she says this and starts asking her why she had decided to enrol onto the course in the first place. She thinks the book is written by E.M. Foster when it is really written by E.M. Forster. This is because she sees the brand of lager Fosters so often she assumes that’s who the book is by. Rita appears to be very lively and confident but when Frank says that she is asking lots of questions she says that she does when she gets nervous. Rita shows her drink addiction and lack of knowledge again when Frank says: Frank: â€Å"Do you know Yeats? Rita: â€Å"The wine lodge?† As soon she hears Yeats mentioned, she immediately thinks of drink again. There is a clash of cultures when Rita was trying to think of someone Frank could have been named after, she says a name that Frank had never heard of – Elliot Ness the police man who caught Al Capone but Frank would not no anything him as he is totally oblivious to the world around him. Frank assumed she meant T.S. Eliot and Rita would not know anything about poets. Rita then shows that she is a quick thinker as she says that she try’s to sell her customers a wig when she messes up people’s hair. Rita presumes that Frank is the kind of man that would watch documentaries whereas Rita watches light-hearted programs such as ITV. However of course, Frank wouldn’t watch TV. Towards the end of the scene Rita seems to be very determined to keep Frank as her tutor. This is different to earlier in the play when she was saying that she would post the books back to Frank. In conclusion, I believe Willy Russell has made Act 1 Scene 1 dramatic and entertaining by the use of humour, comparisons and the similarities between himself and Rita.

Expressing Teen Identity by Using Slang: Attitudes and Opinions Towards the Slang of Teenagers

Expressing teen identity by using slang:attitudes and opinions towards the slang of teenagers Introduction One of the most significant elements which people notice while meeting with someone is the person’s language. As Trudge (2000:2) points out, the manner in which we use our language has a great importance while â€Å"establishing social relationship and while conveying information about the speaker†. Ethnic background, gender, education, social class, age and many other aspects may influence the way we talk.And the way we talk may influence other people’s perception about us. Language in the society also differs in the formality levels. When talking about any specific kind of a language we use the term language variety. The variety of the language which is used in a particular situation is called style. Styles are mainly characterized by the vocabulary differences, but also by syntactic ones. Styles range on the scale from very formal to extremely informal. V ocabulary which is at the extremely informal end of the continuum is known as slang. 1] Some people might think that slang is only a young people issue. However the truth is that all of us use some kind of slang, and this usage is influenced by many factors. It is obvious that slang creates barriers between people or groups of people. So if you do not want someone, who is not a member of your group, understand what are you saying, you may use a particular slang, which is inherent only for your group. Using slang may also be part of a person’s identity.Therefore the main task handled in this paper is to examine the use of slang among teenagers and the sources they are influenced by. This essay presents a view on teenage slang as a means of expressing their identity. It also includes society perspective and opinions on the adolescent use of slang. The teenage language was for a long period under-represented in language corpora. In order to repair this, a very comprehensive teen age language corpus, the Bergen Corpus of London Teenage Language (COLT, 2002), was created.This large material is focusing on the spoken language of teenagers between 13 to 17 years in London. It consists of five hundred thousand words and it is a part of the British National Corpus. [2] As a basis for my arguments I will be mainly using corpus compilation, analysis and findings named Trends in Teenage Talk published in 2002 by Anna-Brita Stenstrom, Gisle Andersen and Ingrid Kristine Hasund, because as it consider the teenage slang language, it is the most relevant corpus for this essay. Slang and teenage languageIt is hard to give a definition of slang, because there is a difficulty of distinguishing it from jargon (special vocabulary used by particular profession), colloquialisms (special use of vocabulary according to geographical region), usage of vague terms (statements with unclear message) or neologism (new coinages or senses of words or phrases). Definitions do, however, ex ist, and the online Oxford English dictionary (2012) classifies slang into the three types: The first type consider slang as the special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low or disreputable character; language of a low and vulgar type.Another definition is that it is the special vocabulary or phraseology of a particular calling or profession; the cant or jargon of a certain class or period. And finally the last one says that it is the language of a highly colloquial type, considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense. Slang is natural part of each language. It is the non-standard vocabulary usually connected with particular group of people. When discussing slang, we should consider its history and development.Slang has its origin in the middle of the 18th century. In that time slang was seen as a low level language, since it was used primarily by criminals, revelers and drunk en people in pubs. Later on slang became regarded as a specific vocabulary of certain professions, like printers, poets and even lawyers or doctors. During the beginning of the nineteen century slang begins to be seen as a highly colloquial part of almost any language. [3] Moreover as the online Oxford English dictionary demonstrates, the word slang appeared in the connection with the language of youngsters for the very first time in 1818, when Sir J. T.Coleridge was recorded to have stated the following: †Two of the best [students] come to me as a peculiar grinder (I must have a little slang)†. [4] This connection appeared as well in William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair: â€Å"He was too old to listen to the banter of the assistant-surgeon and the slang of the youngsters. †[5] This fact proves that the importance of the adolescent talk has been seen as an important variety of language for a relatively long period. As well as human language also slang is continuously changing its form and vocabulary and not all of the expressions have to disappear as its generation grew up.On the one hand there are new slang words springing up and on the other hand old ones are dying. This means that the slang expressions used by teenagers may sometimes overlap the barriers of a particular group and become more widely used. Some of the slang expressions may absorb into the English language and become part of Standard English. Types of slang As I stated previously it is hard to distinguish slang from other types of informal language. Linguists therefore tend to use different terms when describing types of slang.Slang is generally divided into general slang and specific slang. While general slang is used among all people without the need to be a member of an exact group, mainly to avoid conventions; specific slang is used with a purpose to show that a person belongs to a specific group and has a loyalty with other members of this group. It se ems obvious that teenager's slang belongs to the specific one. In the Norwegian study Trends in teenage talk Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002: 65) stated that adolescent talk do not include only general slang, but also vague (E. . â€Å"stuff like that†, â€Å"lots of†), vogue (words which already exists in the language, but become fashionable for a short period of time[6]), proxy (the usage of a verb â€Å"go† or â€Å"be like† instead of the quotation), small words (E. g. â€Å"you know†, â€Å"sort of†, â€Å"yeah†, â€Å"like†), taboo and swear words; which he described with a term â€Å"slanguage†. In the next section I will look at these features of â€Å"slanguage†. Teenage talk Before we start to talk about teenage language in depth, we must define the word teenager. The word teenager firstly appeared in 1941.Earlier on expressions like puber, adolescent, teen, farrow or teener were used to refer to a young person between the ages of 13 and 19. [7] The teenage years might be viewed by some as the most difficult period in a person’s life. It is typical that society views them as rebellious, sloppy, messy and imprecise. And this view is also reflected on their language. The rebellion might be seen in a use of slang words and new expressions in order to shock, the imprecision in the lack of grammar, sloppiness in amount of fillers like â€Å"like† or â€Å"um† and messiness in their handwriting.They are to some extent expected to act like adults, however, they might still be treated as children. Sometimes even parents may not understand their children language, so that their attitude towards their slang use might be negative. However, the present generation of teenagers is not the first to have these kinds of informal expressions. Each generation uses a language composed of informal words and phrases or a special own way of using a standard vocabulary. Everyone use different kind of language in different situations, so that adolescents will not use the same language while speaking with their parents as they do with their friends.The only reason of using this slang in front of their parents might be to keep them out of the loop. And this generally happens while they are talking about sex, drug or ethnic issues. Although many of these slang expressions are harmless and teenagers are using them just to be on the same boat as they peers, parents should be aware of this slang, so they can avoid some unpleasant situation. Teenage age is the part of life when most people do not yet know what to do with their life.That is one of the reasons why many teenagers are trying to find their place and identity by joining some social groups, which they can feel connected with. They usually feel a need to become members of some subcultures that relate to their own attitudes and interests. Some subcultures have their own private language code, which helps it s members to support their values, attitudes and uniqueness even more; in other words slang language. As already mentioned, apart from general slang, teenagers also use other characteristic linguistic features known as â€Å"slanguage†.One part of the teenage slanguage is vogue expressions. Vogue words are already existing words like â€Å"massive†, â€Å"paranoid† or â€Å"reckon†, which have become trendy in teenage talk, but they tend to lose their popularity in a short time. It might also be words like â€Å"wicked† or â€Å"sad† used in a different new way: a) Sad drinking habits = secret drinking in a boarding school[8], and b) A wicked pair of ragamuffin trousers, wicked rap, wicked music[9]. As Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002: 86-89) states another fashionable feature in teenage language is the usage of vague words.Some classic examples of vague words are: lots of, stuff like that, kind of, for ages, and so on, and whatever. Vag ue words are used instead of the adequate words in talk. The reason for using them is to take up the talk to a more colloquial level and fill the gaps in a sentence. These words occur in adults talk as well. The example of vagueness we can see in this conversation: Tommy: and they like wanna see like how we talk and all that. [You know] Regina: [Yeah] Tommy: rastafarian style and all[10] According to Chanell (1994: 197) vague words do not have a function of fillers without meaning.They are used for purpose to contribute the communicative message. Vague words are discussed with two interesting features in COLT (2012: 105;106): a) The research showed that usage of vague words is more frequent among adults than teenagers. However this finding might be quite inaccurate, because adults in COLT conversations mainly appear in the position of teachers and they might adopt the language means of their students to get more closed to them; and b) COLT study find that it is not possible to assoc iate the use of vague words with a specific gender or social background.Another trend in present teenage language is the usage of proxy phrases. It is the way of using verbs such as â€Å"go†, â€Å"say†, â€Å"be like† to substitute verbs of quotation. By using these verbs they can report to some situation or conversation and meaning can be also influenced by the tone or mimicry. In the corpus I have found following exmples: a) It was like sort of, she just went (banging noise), and just fell over and I just†¦ [11], and b) Well what I tried last weekend, not quite crying but I did a sort of moody sort of thing, I di= I was really quiet and I just gnored everyone and I was like really like, you know, didn't say a word. [12] According to Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002: 165) other typical feature of teenage talk are small words, which can be divided into hedges, empathizers and tags. The usage of invariant tags namely â€Å"yeah†, â€Å"eh†, â€Å"okay†, â€Å"right†, and â€Å"innit† is one of the most frequent feature in teenage slang. Empathizers are used to evoke sympathy between speaker and listener. An example of this is â€Å"you know†. By hedges are considered expressions like â€Å"just like† or â€Å"sort of†. Their purpose is to make speech sounds more or less unclear or fuzzier.Another feature of slanguage is a vocabulary which is considered as forbidden because of its offensive character known as taboo words. Taboo words are usually connected with sex, death, excretion or the human body. Slang taboos are used to replace the regular synonyms. Examples of these might be â€Å"take the piss out of† (make fun of), â€Å"screw up† (ruin), â€Å"to be pissed† (to be drunk). Teenage age is generally seen as an age of rebellion. Adolescents want to shock not only with their style of music, clothing, entertainment, but also with the talk style.That is the reason why they have favored the use of taboos. Just like taboos swear words are also considered as a part of forbidden language, which should not be spoken out loud. Although what sets them apart from taboos, might be their acceptance. If person use a swear word in some relevant situation, for example hurting oneself, as a relief, than it might be more acceptable. For example in the Czech republic is not forbidden to curse â€Å"kurva† if you hurt yourself. The purpose of swearing is quite obvious, it can come out of surprise, or anger or it may be used when people want to upset someone.Teenagers usually use some swear words when talking to their friends to look â€Å"cool†. In a recent study by Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002:64), it has been found that swearwords can be used as intensifiers to put more emphasis on adjective or adverb (extremely, fucking crap), abusives to refer to a person you are talking with (you dickhead/sod/motherfucker) or expletives expressing strong feelings, or serving as an oath or curse (for fuck’s sake, shit). Reasons for using slang British lexicographer Partridge (1993) pointed out a good deal of reasons for using slang.These were: to have fun by using playful expressions; to be different by using new expressions; to make your talk seems more witty, inventive and humorous; to be picturesque; to draw attention; to escape from cliches, or to be brief and concise; to enrich the language; to be solid, concrete or abstract; to strengthen or reduce your statement; to soften unpleasant situations; to reduce or disperse the seriousness of a conversation; to entertain the audience; for a social purposes to induce either friendliness or intimacy; to show that one belongs to a certain school, trade, profession or social class; to not be understood by others; to show someone that he or she is not a part of a group. For instance Stenstrom (2002:16) provides an example that shows how someone is not a part of a group. He gave a tape recorder to few teenagers, so they could record their daily conversations. The following is a transcription of one of these conversations: Johnny: We can’t have a squeak in this room. Get out. Brett: I’m not a fucking squeak, I’m just in a choir. Bradley: /laughing/ Yeah, precisely Rick: /laugh/ Ah that just shows your ignorance dunnit really? Yeah I’m a member of that one. Johnny: Shows my ignorance?Brett: Yeah if you weren’t ignorant you’d know there’s four parts to a choir and not just one castrate section. Johnny: And you’re in the Castro section? Brett: /laugh/ No I’m not. Johnny: With a laugh like that you’ve gotta be. Rick: Actually I tell you one good thing about being in this choir yeah, I’m in this little choir tonight, chamber choir yeah, which is only about, which is only about like eight or nine people yeah? Bradley: Oh so you’re the creme de la choir As we can see Johnny is using the slang word â€Å"squeak† when speaking about Brett and, who are members of the school choir. By this he means that they have mutating voice, while singing in the choir and he is also making a fun, that they are castrated.An important aspect of adolescence is to be perceived as â€Å"cool† or accepted by one’s peers. Because being â€Å"cool† also usually means being popular, and popularity is connected with higher social status. Teenager’s desire for being part of a group, and also being a popular member of a group, may by many be considered one of the most important matters in this point of their life. Teenagers have a tendency to favor unique styles of music or clothes. They choose own friends and places where they like to spend their free time. And they also tend to use specific language. So that the usage of particular phrases, words and slang expressions might be seen as an identity marker for them.The aims of young people are to be independent and free, so that they may use rather informal language than formal, to express their positive or negative attitudes towards other people or situations. Nevertheless at the same time they should be aware about choosing right language, while talking with different people. If they are not capable to choose right way to talk for example with older people, then there is no surprise they might be perceived cheeky, rude or less intelligent. Sources and factors influencing teenage speech Compared with the past days, when the society was not influenced by the mass media, the talk of teenagers is very different today. It is mainly affected by the pop-culture. Most teenagers have access to the same music, films, TV shows, and advertisements and especially they have the connection to the internet.Before the introduction of mass media such as internet, television or radio, slang varied mostly according to the regions you lived in. However in present days as there is a poss ibility to access the world via these electronic medias, adolescents share same or very similar culture. The reason why are these sources included to this essay is that they are influencing adolescent’s language and at the same time they help to spread this language quickly and easily. According to editor of the Oxford English Dictionary Jesse Shaidlower, technology has been one of the biggest drivers of new vocabulary for centuries. [13] There is no doubt that the internet is a great source of influence on the English language.In 2010 there were made an experiment by Salzburg academy about the addiction on media including internet. They asked students in ten universities around the world not to use internet, phone, email or any media for 24 hours. The results were comparable with withdrawal symptoms from drugs or alcohol. [14] We can see that most of the adolescents are addicted to the social pages like Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin, therefore their language is influenced by these social networks. Abbreviations like â€Å"LOL† (laughing out loud), â€Å"OMG† (Oh my God), â€Å"FB† (Facebook) or â€Å"BTW† (By the way) appear on internet pages every day and sometimes you can hear them in a normal spoken language as well.Also there is a grammar issue, because while chatting in the internet grammar is usually missing so the message like this can easily appear: â€Å"BTW hope u r F9 2day. † (By the way hope you are fine today. ) Teenagers tend to save time by reducing proper words to acronyms or symbols. We may say that Net Lingua is slang used among the internet at emails, social networks, online games, etc. We can also find many slang expressions which comes from TV shows, films or advertisements. For example according to Tagliamonte (2005) TV-show Friends popularized the usage of intensifiers such as â€Å"so† and â€Å"very as a means to emphasize some point of view. Another example is the popularization of th e greeting â€Å"Wassup? which is the colloquial pronunciation of the phrase â€Å"What's up? †. It became popular after the screening of the commercial campaign for Budweiser beer in 1999. [15] This phrase was also used in one of the episodes of a popular TV show How I Met Your Mother named Trilogy Time. Another element which influences the adolescent talk is the music they listen to. Most of them prefer main-stream music like pop, pop-rap or pop-rock or hip-hop music. And mainly hip-hop music is the one which has been influencing the English language already for some time. Hip hop renew and usurped already existing words like â€Å"cool†, â€Å"soul†, â€Å"chill†, â€Å"swing† and many other. ConclusionThis assignment has given the overview of lifestyle and speech among today's teenagers and it has find out why teenagers tend to use particular slang to express their identity. Moreover it served the main sources, which influences adolescentsâ₠¬â„¢ language like internet, television or music. It also mentioned the question if the use of slang may leave a bad impression on people they talk with. It was not easy to write about slang, because there are so many sources considering this topic. So that I chose to write about the group I thought uses slang the most, about teenagers. Firstly I tried to explain the term slang, show its origins and development.I have found that for the first time slang appeared in connection with teenagers in 1818. This work showed that above the general slang, adolescents’ talk also include vague, vogue, proxy, small words, taboo and swear words. According to Stenstrom, Andersen and Hasund (2002: 65) this typical vocabulary can be described with a term â€Å"slanguage†. This essay has shown teenagers use the slang to express positive or negative attitudes towards people or situations. On the one hand they use it to support their values, attitudes, and uniqueness and to show their sym pathy for someone. On the other hand they use it to draw the attention, shock, to show the rebellion or antipathy.Perhaps the most important aspect in the life of a teenager is to be perceived as cool. This essay showed that the way teenagers use their language can make them either popular for their peers or outsiders. References: ABC News (2011). OMG! The OED [Hearts] A Few New Words. [ONLINE] Available at: http://abcnews. go. com/US/omg-oed-words/story? id=13220816#. UIgSOsVrit8. [Last Accessed 24 October 12] Ayto, J. , Simpson, J. (1993), The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Battistella, E. L. (2005), Bad Language: Are Some Words Better than Others?. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Channel, J. (1994), Vague Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Eckert, P. (1989).Jocks and Burnouts: Social identity in the high school. New York: Teachers College Press. Green, J. (1988), The Slang Thesaurus. London: Penguin Books. Jelinkova, H. (2011), Slang Used among British and Czech Teenagers. Zlin: Tomas Bata University in Zlin. Oxford University Press (2012). slang, n. 3. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. oed. com/view/Entry/181318? isAdvanced=false&result=3&rskey=tyORJE&. [Last Accessed 16 October 12]. Oxford University Press (2012). teenager, n. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. oed. com/view/Entry/198559? redirectedFrom=teenage. [Last Accessed 17 October 12]. Partridge, E. (1933). Slang To-Day And Yesterday. London: William Press.Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change (2010). Unplugged: Living without the media. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. salzburg. umd. edu/salzburg/new/news/unplugged-study-goes-global. [Last Accessed 30 October 12] Stenstrom, A. B. , Andersen, G. , Hasund, I. K. (2002), Trends in Teenage Talk: Corpus Compilation, Analysis, and Findings Studies in Corpus Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. Tagliamonte, S. A. , Roberts, Ch. (2005), So weird; so cool; so innovative: The us e of intensifiers in the television series Friends. American Speech. 80. 3: 280-300 Thackeray, W. M. (1999), Vanity fair: A Novel Without Hero. New York: Modern library. The New York Times (2012).Young Women Often Trendsetters in Vocal Patterns. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2012/02/28/science/young-women-often-trendsetters-in-vocal-patterns. html? _r=2&emc=etal. [Last Accessed 24 October 12]. Thorne, T. (2005), Dictionary of Contemporary Slang. London: A & C Black Publishers Ltd. Trudge, P. (2000), Sociolinguistic: An Introduction to Language and Society. (4th ed. ). London: Penguin Books. ——————————— [ 1 ]. Trudgill (2000) 83. [ 2 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 2. [ 3 ]. Ayto, Simpson (1993) 5. [ 4 ]. OED (2012) http://www. oed. com/view/Entry/181318? rskey=ncdjjC&result=3#eid [ 5 ]. Thackeray (1848) 390. [ 6 ].Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 65. [ 7 ]. OED (2012) h ttp://www. oed. com/view/Entry/198559? redirectedFrom=teenager. [ 8 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 42. [ 9 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 45. [ 10 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 86. [ 11 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 128. [ 12 ]. Stenstrom, Andersen, Hasund (2002) 117. [ 13 ]. ABC NEWS (2011) http://abcnews. go. com/US/omg-oed-words/story? id=13220816#. UIgSOsVrit8 [ 14 ]. Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change (2010) http://www. salzburg. umd. edu/salzburg/new/news/unplugged-study-goes-global [ 15 ]. Winn (2008) http://www. trendhunter. com/trends/ultra-viral-political-videos-wassup-2008

Sex And Gender Are Not Equal - 947 Words

Sex and gender are not equal - contrary to common assumption. Sex, as defined by Rosman, is the â€Å"physical differences between male and female [based on] biological and anatomical composition of genitals and secondary sexual characteristics† (141). On the other hand, gender is defined as â€Å"the culture-specific set of behavioral, ideological, and social meanings constructed around the understandings of these biological and anatomical differences† (142). So what does this mean? Indeed, the assumption of sex equating to gender is not necessarily true because gender is culturally constructed. Different societies often have different perceptions of what gender is: for instance North American heteronormative culture in comparison with the gender relationships of people in Wogeo (minimal differences between men and women) or of the people in Samoa - specifically focusing on the fa afafine. The film, Paradise Bent, directed by Heather Croall explores part of the world of fa afafines. The fa afafine of Samoa are their own gender defying the gender binaries of strictly male or female. The word itself means â€Å"in the manner of a woman† and according to the film, fa afafines are men playing women s roles yet they are largely accepted by their communities. Mothers of fa afafines value and love their fa afafine son and appreciate their help around the house. 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