English Language InvestigationInvestigating the language in children’s annuals, 1972-2006
HYPOTHESESIn a contemporary piece:Lexis - less polysyllabic and more basic
(DIFFERENCE)Pragmatics - Similar representation of masculinity
(SIMILARITY) Graphology - More sophisticated in terms of colour
and design (DIFFERENCE)Grammar - Similar techniques used to create
suspense (SIMILARITY)
METHODOLOGY
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TEXT A: The Hotspur Book for Boys, 1972
TEXT B: Power Rangers Dino-Thunder Annual 2006
2 pages analysed 4 pages analysed
OUR CHOICES
Appropriate length Similar target audienceRelatively easy to obtain
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WHY THESE ANNUALS?
OUR REJECTIONSThe Jolly Book Annual, 1923The School Friend Annual, 1960Go Diego Go! Annual, 2010Project Gutenberg archives‘The Children’s Bookshop’ website (http://antiqbook.co.uk/boox/thechi/)
RESULTS
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LEXIS AND SEMANTICSThe contemporary annual uses neologisms; none
are present in the 1972 annual
Mesogog Tyranodrone
LEXIS AND SEMANTICSText A uses certain words that we considered to
be less common nowadays
LEXIS AND SEMANTICSAlliteration is a phonological device shared
between the texts in the titles
GRAMMARBoth texts use a similar number of dynamic
verbs, however Text A clearly uses more
TEXT A: 47.5% of verbs (19/40)
TEXT B: 33.96% of verbs (18/53)
COMPLEXITY OF LANGUAGEAverage syllable length
Average number of words per sentence
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Age
Flesch ease test
TEXT A: 1.35 TEXT B: 1.46
TEXT A: 14.42 TEXT B: 13.97
TEXT A: 10-11 TEXT B: 12-13
TEXT A: 78.35% TEXT B: 68.89%
GRAPHOLOGYBoth texts utilise pictures of the protagonist in
action
GRAPHOLOGYThe style of the images in both texts is very
different
Hand-drawn
MonochromaticPhotographic images
multi-coloured
Computerised graphics
DISCOURSE STRUCTUREBoth texts adopt the same narrative structure:
equilibrium, disequilibrium new equilibrium
Text A Text B
Equilibrium/abstract
“The boy's muscles rippled in the golden rays of the early morning sun. The wind off the Pacific Ocean ruffled his hair, rattling the palm leaves in front of his hillside cave house near the middle of the island”
“On a wooded island, in a maze of dark underground tunnels”
Disequilibrium/ complicating action
“Rounding the headland were three big war canoes full of grotesquely - decorated warriors whose spears flashed in the sun.”
“When the beasts finally caught up with Tommy, they surrounded him, then attacked…Things were looking bad”
New equilibrium/resolution
“They tried again next morning, then they gave up. By noon the three canoes were drawing away from Larry’s island.”
“Tommy smiled a grim smile of satisfaction. He had escaped, and it was the Tyranodrones who had met their fate.”
DISCOURSE STRUCTUREText A is much denser than text B
TEXT A has 1,032 words over 2 pages
TEXT B has an average of 214 words over 2 pages
PRAGMATICSMasculinity is represented in a similar way in
both texts Text A Text B
Isolated from other humans/alone in plight
Living as a "castaway" No other human is mentioned; only Tommy
Strong and heroic; successful in the face of diversity
Larry survived when his “ship sank” and is “lifting weights most athletes would have hesitated to tackle”
“Tommy…leapt off the edge of the cliff…he had escaped”
CONCLUSIONS
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LANGUAGE CHANGE OVER TIME: OUR OVERALL FINDINGS
What has changed? What has not changed?• Lexis has become more
complex over time• Texts have become less
dense• Graphology has become more
sophisticated• More neologisms are used
today
• Words that seem uncommon may not have gone out of use today
• Representation of masculinity• Phonological and grammatical
techniques • The narrative discourse
structure
DID WE PROVE OUR HYPOTHESES?In a contemporary piece:Lexis - less polysyllabic and more basic
(DIFFERENCE)Pragmatics - Similar representation of masculinity
(SIMILARITY) Graphology - More sophisticated in terms of colour
and design (DIFFERENCE)Grammar - Similar techniques used to create
suspense (SIMILARITY)
FURTHER CONCLUSIONSDifferent style of language in Text B
Both texts adopt the same discourse structure
EVALUATION
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SUCCESSES Searching for texts in charity shopsUsing a range of different quantitative analytical methodsConsistency between texts usedWe researched a large number of different potential texts
FAILINGS AND IMPROVEMENTSSearching for text sources onlineShould have analysed a larger range of textsShould have had more consistency between the texts
analysedShould have ensured we investigated every one of our
hypotheses
SHOULD YOU INVESTIGATE THIS?
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Power Rangers Dino-Thunder Annual 2006 (Publisher, etc.)The Hotspur Book for Boys 1972 (Publisher, etc.)https://books.google.com/ngrams (Ngrams)http://www.online-utility.org/english/
readability_test_and_improve.jsp (Online Utility)https://www.gutenberg.org (Project Gutenberg)http://countwordsworth.com/blog/average-sentence-lengths-
of-famous-novels-and-authors/
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