Catherine Tate and David Tennant spoken laguage free essay sample

In this essay an analysis will be made to show how both power and authority play an important role in speech. The clip I am using takes place in an English classroom, with a battle of power and authority taking place between a student, Lauren Cooper, and a teacher, Mr Logan. In this clip Mr Logan begins with the most authority because he is a teacher, but from the first question Lauren asks, â€Å"Are you English, Sir? † it is clear that she is trying to stir him from his position of authority. She asks these pointless questions to determine the fact that she doesn’t care for anything that he is saying. This is a very common stereotype within teenagers because we are often portrayed as being unconcerned by what people say to us. We also use a lot of paralinguistic features to get our emotions across, Lauren does this by slouching, kissing her teeth and sighing, this again shows how uninterested she is by what Mr Logan has to say. We will write a custom essay sample on Catherine Tate and David Tennant spoken laguage or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Teenagers use these techniques to gain authority by staying calm when the teacher is losing their nerve. Lauren also uses timing and turn taking to interject in with her pointless questions while Mr Logan is in the middle of his sentences, to antagonize Mr Logan so that he loses his temper, also causing him to have lost his authority. Mr Logan walks in with the most power and authority; he stays calm when answering Lauren’s questions, and gives her no satisfaction within how he answers. He says to her â€Å"okay whatever you want. † This shows her that he is unfazed by what she says. Within doing this it helps him to retain his power. It is shown within this first conversation that Mr Logan is very confident and at the top of the hierarchy, this is because even when Lauren mocks him about where he is from and how he speaks, â€Å"but I can’t understand what you’re saying sir†, he uses no fillers when speaking to show that he isn’t weak or anxious. Throughout the clip Mr Logan shows most of his emotions through his facial expressions. As Lauren begins to get more confrontational and show more ignorance, by saying â€Å"Ammist I bovvered? † to try and provoke a response, Mr Logan prompts to become more impatient and annoyed. His facial expression changes from smiling to frustrated as Lauren interrupts him more often. This causes him to lose his power and authority against Lauren. Power and authority is used a lot through the techniques and language that both Mr Logan and Lauren use. For example a lot of paralinguistic features are used to show aggression by both Lauren and Mr Logan, such as pointing, slamming the desk, standing up, constant eye contact, head movements and hand gestures. A lot of the time these paralinguistic features are used to explicate aggravation and gain them some authority. But contradictory to that there are also a lot of hedgers used within the clip, like â€Å"I fink† and â€Å"I’m sure†. A hedger shows weakness because it takes the aggression out of what they’re saying. Another common technique used within this clip is jargon. When Lauren says â€Å"My liege† and â€Å"nine hundred and forty five year old time lord† it shows that she has a wide understanding of Shakespearean language and Doctor Who. The fact that she uses jargon is gaining her power and authority because she has knowledge and a lot of information on these topics. A lot of sociolect and idiolect is used within this clip. Teenagers are portrayed as using a lot of sociolect, such as ‘ain’t’, ‘won’it’ and ‘innit’. All of these also fall under vague language because they don’t mean anything, using this sort of language causes people to think that you are uneducated or poorly educated. Lauren uses these words when she speaks on numerous accounts. Her accent and dialect also cause her spoken language to vary from that of the teachers, who is very well spoken, for example Lauren says â€Å"can I aks you a question though? † and Mr Logan says â€Å"you are the most insolent child I have ever had the misfortune to teach! † Mr Logan’s language is much more intelligent and grown up whereas Lauren’s quote is very unintellectual and badly pronounced. She has a very distinctive way of speaking and her tone doesn’t seem to vary from one state. Her pronunciations of words are very lazy and she doesn’t pronounce her words fully, such as â€Å"fink† and â€Å"aks†. Lauren also speaks very fast so that Mr Logan can’t get a word in edge ways. And to infuriate him even more she puts words in his mouth like â€Å"Are thou calling my father a goodly rotten apple? † Lauren gets her authority across at the end by the fact that she raises her tone to be heard, and she slams her desk and shouts â€Å"bite me alien boy† as an insult. And she also sits forward in her chair and raises her voice which implies that she is getting a bit aggressive. And although Mr Logan uses the sonic screwdriver on Lauren, she quotes sonnet 130 precisely, keeps her cool throughout the entire clip, and has the last word.