Edinburgh Article Commentary

My coursework is a piece of persuasive writing about Edinburgh, Scotland. The aim of the article s to attract young people, the target audience of which is 16-30, ABC1 income and of all races and genders. I did this by the style of the article. Although fairly formal, I fashioned my article in the form of a story, and encouraged the connotations of this through imagery and pacing to make it seem adventurous and alluring, thus encouraging people to visit.

My aim was to portray the trip from a narrative perspective, as I perceived  my experience there as almost a story, and I believe the style of writing is effective in attracting the reader to the location and so encouraging them to go, which is the point of this style of article. The flowing, rhythmic pattern of my writing adds to the fantasy/medieval themes of my article which I added through metaphors and similes ('swords and armour battling with Sainsbury’s and Tesco for attention'). I did this because it relates to everyone's love of stories, regardless of the medium they're portrayed (film, books, radio etc.).
In order to encourage the connotations of a story, I wrote from my perspective. Although using words such as 'you', directly addressing the reader, is effective in engaging them and so making them more interested in the article, seeing the city and experiencing it from someone else's perspective is a common convention of a story, and as this was the style it's effective in reinforcing the ideas behind the article and the mode of address, making the place seem story-like, fantasy, bringing to light the history of the city that it's popular for, and using the contrast of the vibrant, modern industry to appeal to a different but similar audience.
However, relating to the audience is important in making the article appealing and creating interest. So to achieve this desired effect, I implemented common and relatable occurrences ('the classic Scottish weather rolled in. No umbrella and no hood might be a questionable choice') which were aimed to entertain the audience to make them warm to me (the author) and the article, making them more interested and invested in the story as well as giving the story a personal aspect. Using a combination of short and longer sentences helped create an almost song or poetry-like theme, which was important in giving the story a fantasy vibe that I encouraged through literary devices.
I used many short paragraphs in the structure of my Edinburgh article, this was for a number of reasons. Firstly, articles typically have paragraphs only one or two sentences long, while a narrative convention is to feature much larger ones, settling into a middle ground between both gave denotations of both forms, which is important as my article was equally article and story. In addition, poetry and songs often form into similarly long verses and stanzas, again creating a link between my article and the connotations of these mediums - fantasy etc.

Edinburgh Article

·         Setting scene with connotations of what’s to come – sunny day for good visit etc.

·         Build on the focus of contrast – old vs new, quiet vs loud etc.

Edinburgh

Where worlds meet

Bright sun and a clear sky welcomed me to Edinburgh. Stepping off of the train and right into the city centre, I couldn’t help rooting to the spot and just… looking.

If there’s one thing you need to know about Edinburgh, dear readers, its’s that it’s a city of contrast. Gazing up at the skyline that greeted me, gothic cathedral spires and sky-scraping (or let’s say sky-tickling, they’re not that tall) flats and offices mingled with each other like some sort of time-defying ballet. At ground level it’s no difference, with bookshops and family owned pubs dating back to the time of swords and armour battling with Sainsbury’s and Tesco for attention. And while to some it may appear sad, living evidence of a time forgotten too soon, I couldn’t help but think that it worked.

But I didn’t come here to admire the battle of the buildings, so after a moment I was on my way, traversing the cobbled streets as fast as my luggage-riddled body would allow. How horses and carts got around the uneven labyrinth I’ll never know. Bustling crowds of tourists, mostly Americans with a healthy smattering of Japanese and Germans, barricaded almost every available path with the flashes of cameras and excited yammering, forcing me to flee to the side streets. My pace slowed considerably, who would’ve thought back alleys were less maintained than the high street? I didn’t mind though, it gave me enough of a break to once again dive into the army of tourists soon after, before finally making it to my B&B.

Edinburgh tourist attractions are like pieces of art. While they may look grand and even intimidating from a distance, it’s only up close that you really appreciate the intricate and delicate details that make them so iconic. Take Edinburgh Castle. It overshadows the city with its jagged, unforgiving cliffs, sitting aloft on the shell of an extinct volcano (no wonder Edinburgh had the world’s first city fire service). But walking through its hallways and admiring its lavish interior gives you a whole other perspective – of home and warmth. If there was ever a building that epitomises not only my experience in the city, but the city as a whole, it would be this building.

Stately home meets a supervillain’s lair

And at the height of my attraction-delving afternoon the inevitable happened, the classic Scottish weather rolled in. No umbrella and no hood might be a questionable choice for a day out in a city more northerly than Edmonton, Canada, and my folly was beaten into me by the heavy drops of rain that was coming down like a waterfall.

Settling in at a back alley pub saved me from the rain, and while I wasn’t planning on staying long the unexpected music and brotherly atmosphere forced me to hang my coat up and park myself at a booth in a particularly dark corner, observing the goings on of typical Scotland Friday night. Tradition is a big thing in Britain, with monarchy and manners and marmite all being big parts of our cultural identity, and nothing showed me that like that night in the pub. Grown men belting their lungs out for songs their ancestors sang, cheering and hugging and drinking into the wee hours of the morning. ‘This is what I came to Scotland for’ I thought, and it was.

Attitudes to Accents Links

http://www.aston.ac.uk/research/research-impact/case-studies/you-are-what-you-speak/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/14/do-accent-matter-modern-britain

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/02/britain-accent-sound-foreign-snobs

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9052562/Neutral-accents-the-best-if-you-want-to-get-ahead.html

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/may/13/birmingham-bristol-accents-advertising-government

References

Butler (1999) - Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis (p.25) (featured), Gender Trouble (1990)

Hall (1995) - Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Caldas-Coulthard (1996) - Text and Practices

Machin and Van Leeuwen (2004) - Global Media: Generic Homogeneity and Discursive Diversity

Benwell - The Handbook of Language, Gender and Masculinity

Johnson and Meinhof (1997) - Language and Masculinity

Fishman (1990) - Conversational Insecurities

Coates - Gossip

Zimmerman and West and Beattie - Interruptions

Tannen - Male and Female Differences

O'Barr and Atkins (1980) - Social Status

Lakoff (1975) - Hedgers and Fillers

Cheshire (1982) - Grammar Conformity

Trudgill (1983/1979) - RP

RP

Trudgill (1983)

In 1974, he investigated the use of the -ng at the end of words, and found that the lower class you were, the less likely you were to use the -ng, preferring -n', and concluded that it wasn't unique to Norwich, and extended to the whole English speaking world.

Found:

1. In all social classes, the more careful the speech, the more likely people were to say walking rather than walkin'.
2. The proportion of walkin' type forms was higher in lower social classes.
3. The nonstandard -in' forms occurred much more often in men's speech than in women's, and this was true for all social classes.
4. When women were questioned about what they thought they were saying, they tended to say they used the standard -ing forms more often than they really did.
5. When men were questioned about what they thought they were saying, they tended to say they used the nonstandard -in' forms more often than they really did.

He found that the use of -ing in Norwich were as follows:

	Male	Female
middle middle class	96	100
lower middle class	73	97
upper working class	19	32
middle working class	9	19
lower working class	0	3

as So men used informal language more often than women in every scenario. And in addition, women thought they were using the -ing more than they really did, and men thought they used -ng more tan they really did.

Grammar

Cheshire (1982)

Observed groups of boys and girls in Reading, investigating the relationship between grammatical variables and adherence to peer group culture. Recorded the frequency that they used each of 11 variables:

1. non-standard -s	They calls me all the names under the sun
2. non-standard has	You just has to do what the teachers tell you.
3. non-standard was	You was with me, wasn't you?
4. negative concord	It ain't got no pedigree or nothing.
5. non-standard never	I never went to school today.
6. non-standard what	Are you the little bastards what hit my son over the head?
7. non-standard do	She cadges, she do.
8. non-standard come	I come down here yesterday.
9. ain't = auxiliary have	I ain't seen my Nan for nearly seven years.
10. ain't = auxiliary be	Course I ain't going to the Avenue.
11. ain't = copula	You ain't no boss.

Found that those who conformed to the conventions of a social group used the linguistic standards of the group - people change their grammar to fit in.

Hedgers, Fillers etc

Lakoff (1975)

Published the book Language and Woman's Place, and in a related article, Woman's Language, she listed a set of basic assumptions about what marks out the language of women:

Hedge: using phrases like “sort of”, “kind of”, “it seems like”,and so on.

Use (super)polite forms: “Would you mind...”,“I'd appreciate it if...”, “...if you don't mind”. 

Use tag questions: “You're going to dinner, aren't you?” 

Speak in italics: intonational emphasis equal to underlining words - so, very, quite. 

Use empty adjectives: divine, lovely, adorable, and so on 

Use hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation: English prestige grammar and clear enunciation.

Use direct quotation: men paraphrase more often.

Have a special lexicon: women use more words for things like colours, men for sports. 

Use question intonation in declarative statements: women make declarative statements into questions by raising the pitch of their voice at the end of a statement, expressing uncertainty. For example, “What school do you attend? Eton College?”

Use “wh-” imperatives: (such as, “Why don't you open the door?”)

Speak less frequently

Overuse qualifiers: (for example, “I Think that...”)

Apologise more: (for instance, “I'm sorry, but I think that...”)

Use modal constructions: (such as can, would, should, ought - “Should we turn up the heat?”)

Avoid coarse language or expletives

Use indirect commands and requests: (for example, “My, isn't it cold in here?” - really a request to turn the heat on or close a window)

Use more intensifiers: especially so and very (for instance, “I am so glad you came!”)

Lack a sense of humour: women do not tell jokes well and often don't understand the punch line of jokes.

So overall, women take longer to get to the point than men, and prefer to offer rather than tell, and generally be more polite than men.