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When we speak, we do not speak just in single words but in groups of words. These groups are continuous, and they may or may not have pauses between them. Because we speak quickly, this can cause changes to the shapes of the words.
These devices help our speech to sound fluent. Because of the way we have been conditioned by spelling, it is usually a surprise to people when these features of spoken English are first drawn to their attention. Many respond with disbelief or consternation. It needs to be stressed that they occur in fast fluent speech. If you speak slowly, your speech will show fewer of these features. It is a good idea to try to forget the written form and concentrate on listening carefully to the way other people speak.
It was the best car for us to buy.
In this sentence, some words carry a stress: we can say those words are strong. These are the lexical words.
The remaining words are the grammatical words, and they are unstressed or weak. (See page 46-7 for the distinction between lexical and grammatical words.) However, if each grammatical word is said in isolation, it has a different sound.
Word in isolation Word in company
(strong/stressed) (weak/unstressed)
In all the weak or unstressed forms, the vowel // is used. The technical name for this vowel is the Hebrew word schwa. This sound is often difficult to hear exactly, and it is always unstressed. If you think there is a vowel in a word but you cannot hear exactly what it is, it is probably schwa.
Some people believe that this is a careless way of speaking and that we should pronounce all our syllables equally clearly, as if they were all strong forms. However, English spoken with only strong forms sounds most unnatural and does not help the listener to distinguish emphasis or meaning.
ESOL students need to understand about weak and strong syllables if they want their English to sound like English.
Words that are usually stressed (strong) are the lexical words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Words that are usually unstressed (weak) are the grammatical words, such as determiners, conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, and auxiliary verbs.
However, if the meaning demands it, any word can be stressed (strong).
She was married. i wz mærid
She was married. (But she isn't now.) i wz mærid
Because our spelling does not show whether a word is weak or strong, we are often unaware of the changes we make every time we speak. In spelling, some weak forms are shown as contracted forms.
Both have and of become /v/ in the weak form.
This is why the weak form of have /v/ is sometimes mistaken for of /v/ when this word is made emphatic.
This is now commonly heard in the spoken language, but it is not acceptable in written English.
Note that the "of" form of "have" occurs only after modal auxiliaries.
In rapid speech, some sounds can be left out, or elided, without damaging the shape of the words. The technical term for this is elision. It often occurs with clusters of consonants.
Elided form
Some English words are quite hard to pronounce without any elision, such as asthma, facts, twelfths.
In some words, the weak vowels can also be elided.
Elided form:
English spelling provides evidence of historical elision - sounds that were once pronounced but are no longer.
With these examples there is no longer a choice. With examples like next week or library, it is possible to use the elided or the unelided form.
Elision in speech provides a challenge for children learning to spell. Their attempts at approximations include only the sounds they hear. In words where elisions occur, learners will need help to make the transition to a greater reliance on the visual representation of the words.
Sounds can also be inserted between words to make speech more fluent.
When the following words are said in isolation, the final /r/ is not pronounced.
When they are followed by a word beginning with a vowel, the /r/ is pronounced.
This is known as a linking r. When a linking r is added when one is not represented in the spelling, some people describe it as careless.
Because of the spelling, people are happy at the pronunciation of the /r/ in the star of Persia, but unhappy when it appears in the Shah of Persia, where it is sometimes called the intrusive r. They are often really dismayed by an /r/ in law and order. Such responses are based on the spelling. When we listen to the sounds and ignore the spelling, the /r/ in all of these examples can be heard as a linking device between vowels. It is a common way of making our speech more fluent.
When sounds are in the company of other sounds in the stream of speech, certain adjacent sounds can change to become more alike. This process is called assimilation.
Assimilation occurs in rapid casual speech, not when we speak slowly. Because assimilation is not represented in the spelling, many people react to it at first with disbelief and sometimes with dismay, interpreting it as carelessness. As with other features of spoken English, it is useful to listen to the way people actually speak and try to forget about spelling.
When these words are said in isolation, they are pronounced like this:
When they are followed by some other words, the pronunciation can change:
Sometimes more than one sound might change:
There are examples of historical assimilation that can be seen in our spelling.
Unpleasant can be pronounced with un or um.
An ancient curiosity that illustrates this assimilation is:
All these features of rapid spoken English - strong and weak forms, elision, liaison, and assimilation - help to make English sound fluent and smooth. They are all characteristic of normal spoken English, but because they are not represented in spelling, they usually pass unnoticed. If they are noticed, they are sometimes described as lazy or slovenly. Yet it does not lead to any confusion if you say histry or govment, and these are the most common everyday pronunciations of these words.
When the first attempts were made to design machines that could produce speech, each word was taken from a vocabulary of prerecorded words. The results were so peculiar and unnatural that the speech could hardly be understood. This was because each word had been recorded in isolation, and consequently the speech had none of the features of connected speech described here - weak and strong syllables, elisions, liaisons, assimilations.
To summarise, features of connected speech are:
grammatical words, which usually have unstressed forms, also called weak forms - these usually have the vowel sound schwa //;
We have examined a difference between lexical words, which are stressed (strong), and grammatical words, which are unstressed (weak).
When an English word has more than one syllable, one of the syllables must be stressed.
In English the position of the stress is almost invariably fixed for each word. Foreign students must learn the position of the stress when they learn English words.
The stressed syllable is marked by placing the symbol ` in front of it:
If the stress is placed on the wrong syllable, the word will be very hard to understand.
Try saying these words with the stress as it is marked:
There are a very few words in English where there is a choice of stressed syllable. Commonly used examples are
These few examples cause considerable concern to some people, who seek to establish the one single "correct" position for the stress in every case.
In some languages, the stress is always in the same place in each word.
In Czech, it is always on the first syllable.
In French, it is always on the last syllable.
In Polish, it is always on the second to last syllable.
In English, the main stress is not fixed to a single position:
It is usually on the first syllable:
It is sometimes on the second syllable:
It is occasionally on the third syllable:
And very rarely it can even be on the fourth syllable or later: articul`ation, interde`pendence, interconti`nental.
There are some two-syllable words where the stress is on the first syllable for the noun and the second syllable for the verb.
Noun Verb
Originally, both the noun and the verb in the lists above were the same: both were stressed on the second syllable. During the past three centuries, there has been a gradual change throughout the vocabulary, whereby stress has been moving to the first syllable for the nouns. In the noun address, the Americans have made the change, but British and New Zealand speakers still use the original form.
There is considerable variation of stress patterns on these words, which reflects the fact that changes are taking place. Some of these changes are quite rapid. Examples where changes have recently occurred are the words research and protest.
When New Zealanders are asked to read out the sentence: "I noticed a recess in the wall", almost all of them pronounce the noun `recess with the stress on the first syllable. This is a fairly recent change. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1996) gives the pronunciation of recess as re`cess.
English is a very rhythmical language. Rhythm is not only found in poetry.
The rhythm can be heard when we count aloud:
The stressed syllables are lengthened in five and ten, and shortened in fifteen and twenty, so that the words with two syllables are about the same length as those with only one.
The rhythm of English speech is produced through the combination of the stressed and unstressed syllables. This is like a beat and is especially easy to distinguish in rap.
Nursery rhymes sound especially rhythmical.
The rhythm produced by this combination of stressed and unstressed syllables is very characteristic of spoken English. It makes English a stress-timed language. Examples of other stress-timed languages are Russian and Portuguese.
In some languages, by contrast, the syllables are produced in a steady flow, which is unaffected by the stress differences. These are known as syllable-timed languages.
French, Mâori, and Samoan are some examples of syllable-timed languages.
Mâori-accented English, which is frequently heard in parts of New Zealand, has a distinctive rhythm which is syllable timed rather than stress timed. The grammatical words are heard more distinctly than in Pâkehâ New Zealand English, where they are very weak and indistinct.
Syllable timing is a feature of other varieties of ethnically marked English, such as West Indian English, and Aboriginal English in Australia.
Students of English literature traditionally studied the rhythm of poetry, analysing the poetic lines according to their combinations of stressed (/ ) and unstressed () syllables, which were called feet. These sound patterns are known as metre (from Latin metrum, meaning a measure), and the study of them, along with the study of rhyme and stanza forms, is called prosody.
The best known patterns of rhythm in English poetry are as follows:
Example: Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. (Tennyson)
This is the most common metre and is often heard in natural speech.
Example: Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple. (Longfellow)
Example: Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace. (Browning)
Example: Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me. (Hardy)
This kind of analysis works quite well with traditional verse in regular rhythm, but where the rhythm is irregular, these patterns are hard to apply. They are of little use in describing a lot of modern poetry, especially free verse. We have included this information here both because it is useful when studying poetry written in traditional styles and because it demonstrates one of the few ways in which spoken language was explored in school in the past.
Exploring language content page
Exploring Language is reproduced by permission of the publishers Learning Media Limited on behalf of Ministry of Education, P O Box 3293, Wellington, New Zealand, © Crown, 1996.
It's Not What You Said, It's How You Said It
So far, we have looked mainly at the segmental aspects of speech: vowels and consonants, how these are combined into syllables, how syllables are combined into words, and how words are put together in sentences.
There are other aspects of speech which are called suprasegmental features. These involve pitch and loudness and result in what is sometimes called "tone of voice".
As far as we know, no language is spoken in a monotone. All languages have variations in pitch, which we hear as the voice going up and down. These variations in pitch are sometimes called the "tunes" of a language, but they should not be confused with singing. You cannot speak out of tune. It is more accurate to refer to pitch patterns or intonation patterns.
In more than half the languages in the world, the meaning of a word can be completely changed just by changing the pitch in which it is said. Such languages are called tone languages: they include such African languages as Zulu, Yoruba, and Hausa and such Asian languages as Mandarin, Cantonese, and Thai.
For example, pitch movement on the word ma in Mandarin can result in four distinctive meanings.
Pitch movement Word Meaning
A five-year-old boy came with his mother to be enrolled at school in Auckland. He had a two-syllable Chinese name with a rising pitch movement on the second syllable. The mother insisted that the teacher practise this name many times with the correct rising tone, and eventually she said, "Good, now you say it right." Carefully pronouncing the name again, the teacher then said that she would introduce the child to the class, whereupon the mother said, "No, no. For school, we call him Vincent."
An example of how pitch movement can affect a single word in English is as follows:
We convey these two different meanings by a change of pitch on anyone. However, in English, it is unusual for this effect to be achieved with pitch movement on only one word.
Students should explore the structure of texts, sometimes called discourse structure.
English in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 17
The most common kind of spoken language is conversation, when one person communicates through speaking to another person or to other people. Just as there are patterns in sounds, words, and sentences, so also there are patterns in conversation. In even in the most unpredictable conversations, there are certain devices that we use time and time again. If a person wants to tell a joke or some bad news or to ask for a special favour, there are recognised ways of introducing these subjects. Without these cues, listeners would be very disconcerted.
Conversations are orderly and proceed in an organised way, but all the participants have to work at the conversation, making sense of things, supporting each other, checking for meaning, and so on. A conversation, unlike a piece of written work, is very much the work of at least two people.
One defining characteristic of a conversation is that it does not involve only what is said but also how it is said.
A simple pattern of conversation can be seen when people join a group and when they leave it. As far as we know, all languages have particular forms that they use as greetings and forms that they use as farewells.
In English, we can use simple formulae which do not involve any creativity.
Or we can be more creative.
The greeting and the farewell take care of establishing the relationship between the speakers.
Once the greeting has been given, the speakers can get on with their business. Even on a long distance toll call when time costs money, it is still necessary to spend time on the greeting.
The greeting and the farewell are necessary for social relations. If you fail to greet someone, the omission could be interpreted as indicating that you are angry with them for some reason.
A conversation has a very simple structure:
If you have no established relationship with someone and no wish to have one, you are likely to begin, not with a greeting, but rather with, 'Excuse me.'
This opening indicates that you are not trying to establish a relationship and that you are apologising for invading someone's privacy.
The foreigner who begins, "Good morning, can you tell me the way to the post office?" is likely to be readily identified as unfamiliar with English conversational conventions.
This kind of speech also performs a social function, bringing people together and establishing relationships.
It was given the technical name of phatic communion by the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski, who lived for a period in the Trobriand Islands in the Western Pacific. He thought that people, both there and in other societies, found silence threatening and so would talk about supremely obvious things in order to break the ice and show friendliness. In New Zealand and Britain, we talk about the weather. In China, the topic among friends and family members is food. The content is not as important as the social function.
Sometimes, this function can be misinterpreted. If you are asked, "Hi, how are you?" the expected response will be, "Fine thanks," and not an account of your flu and your chilblains.
When Māori and Samoan people set out to get to know people individually, they do not bother with neutral topics but ask the questions they think are important: "When did you arrive?" "Where did you come from?" and "Where do you come from originally?" For they identify people with reference to place and kinship connections (which can usually be deduced from place) rather than occupations or interests.
Metge and Kinloch: Talking Past Each Other
Getting a Response
One way in which conversation is organised is through utterances of a certain type that go together.
A greeting is usually followed by another greeting.
These utterances are called adjacency pairs. Some examples of these pairs are:
These structures help to keep the conversation going and enable other people to participate. Questions are especially useful in supporting conversation.
When these devices are violated, this can cause anxiety, distress, annoyance, or confusion. These reactions demonstrate the importance of observing the rules of conversation.
Mothers use questions with very young babies.
Any noise, gesture, facial expression from the baby is likely to be taken as a response. This can be seen as very early experience of turn-taking. When a baby brings up wind, the person patting its back will nearly always say something like "That's better." The burp is interpreted as a turn in conversation which requires a reply.
In his 1975 Report, A Language for Life, Lord Bullock said, "Not enough account is taken of the fundamental differences that exist between speech and writing."
Spoken and written language are obviously different, with different purposes. Written language is permanent: the reader can go back over it again and again if the meaning is not immediately clear. This is not possible with speech, which is fleeting and ephemeral. Writing does not usually involve direct interaction, except for personal letters and perhaps some computer based communication such as e-mail.
Children learn to speak before they learn to read and write. Learning to speak appears to happen naturally within the home, whereas learning to read and write is usually associated with the beginning of formal schooling. Thus, we often assume that written language is more difficult to learn, and we perceive speech as less complex than written language. This is not the case: oral language is just as linguistically complex as written language, but the complexity is of a different kind. The inevitable differences in the structures and use of speech and writing come about because they are produced in very different communicative situations.
The greatest differences between speaking and writing are those between formal written texts and very informal conversation. Because it is permanent, writing provides opportunities for more careful organisation and more complex structures.
Formal spoken language is often preplanned, but most spoken language is spontaneous and rapid and usually involves thinking on the spot. It has simpler constructions and fillers such as um and er. It has repetitions and rephrasing. It has intonation patterns and pauses that convey meaning and also attitudes.
All these oral characteristics help the listener to understand the speech. It is usually much more difficult for listeners to interpret language that is read aloud from a written text, where the language is more dense and lacks the pauses and fillers that give us time to absorb the spoken message. Lectures or talks that are read from a script are usually more difficult to follow than those that are delivered with the speaker looking at the audience and improvising from outline notes.
Some constructions probably occur only in writing.
Henry supposed Sylvia to be unwell.
Likewise, some words and constructions are likely to occur only in spoken English: words like thingamajig and whatchamecallit, and phrases like bla bla bla.
"Our teacher just said - told us there was nouns and verbs and adverbs and bla bla bla - you know ..."
Conversations also contain small words which do not appear in writing. In analysing conversations, we are often surprised to realise how many times words like well or just or oh appear.
The following transcript is of the talk of teenagers playing the board game "Scruples".
C: Do you put them face down - hang on
H: Oh - ha
C: Then we get one ballot card each and you put them aside until the vote is called
V: Oh - sorry
C: Did we decide you were the dealer - yes - we did
V: Oh - that was right
C: Oh it's just that the player to the left of the dealer starts play by becoming the first - asking the player to pose a dilemma
H: Oh - what do I do - oh I take one of these
V: Oh
C: Oh - hang on hang on
Words like oh and well have been assigned a number of names. They can be called discourse markers or conversation markers.
They do not fit into the word classes in The Grammar Toolbox.
She is not well. (well = adjective)
She is well qualified. (well = adverb)
In conversation, "well" appears frequently but not as an adjective or an adverb.
Well what do you think? Well I'm not really sure.
These conversational markers are very hard to translate into another language, and they are difficult to define consistently or analyse structurally. Yet they occur constantly in speech. When second language learners begin to use these markers in speaking English, the fluency of their conversation improves.
Comparing Speaking and Writing
Speaking and writing are different, and each should be seen in its own terms.
In the past, writing was often regarded as the primary medium, and casual speech was seen as a sloppy or incorrect version of the written form. Speech was evaluated as if it were writing.
The basic unit of written language is the sentence.
The basic unit of spoken language is the tone group.
The following two text samples are from the same person and tell about the same incident.
Transcript of a recording:
um, well it was something that happened |
when I was living in Western Samoa |
um, I rented a house |
and, er, my bedroom |
my bedroom was actually separate |
separate from the rest of the house |
and, one night |
um, it was quite late |
I was lying in bed |
I was awake |
and, er, my flatmate |
was away at the airport |
meeting some relatives |
and so I was all alone |
and I started hearing noises |
on the roof |
of my bedroom |
it was a tin roof |
and um, I heard footsteps |
and creaking sounds |
on the the tin |
you know |
and an, another noise |
I couldn’t quite |
tell what it was |
but it but it was something strange |
and I was scared |
really scared |
um, and my problem was |
that I |
I couldn’t |
get to a phone |
without |
unlocking my bedroom door |
walking across the lawn |
unlocking the front door |
and going into the house |
the thought of doing this |
while there was somebody on the roof |
[laughs] er, w-was not very, er |
possible so |
there I am |
lying there |
thinking |
what on earth will I do |
and I finally |
figured that |
probably the person there |
thought there was no one home |
and was just trying to break in |
trying to rob the place |
so I had a brainwave |
[laughs] and immediately the person ran |
across the roof |
and jumped off |
er, and landed on the lawn |
I heard a thud |
um, so then I unlocked the door |
and went across to the house |
and phoned the police |
well they were |
they were there |
really quickly |
I'd say within a couple of minutes |
A written account of the incident by the same person:
When I lived in Western Samoa I shared a rented house with a flatmate.
Late one night when he was away meeting some relatives at the airport, I heard strange noises like footsteps on the tin roof of my bedroom, which was separate from the rest of the house.
In order to get to a phone, I would have had to walk over to the main part of the house and unlock the front door.
I decided against this course of action, switching the light on instead, and this had the desired effect of driving away the intruder, who obviously had been thinking there was no one home.
Whoever it was ran across the roof and jumped off, landing with an audible thud on the lawn before running away.
The police arrived very soon after I had called them.
These two examples clearly illustrate the following differences between speech and writing:
Speech uses tone groups, and a tone group can convey only one idea. Writing uses sentences, and a sentence can contain several ideas.
A fundamental difference between casual speech and writing is that speech is spontaneous whereas writing is planned.
Repetition is usually found in speech. Writing avoids repetition.
Repetition of words and phrases:
27 and 28: scared
34 and 36: unlocking
Repetition of syntactic frames:
34: unlocking my bedroom door
35: walking across the lawn
Written language avoids repetition. Writers try to find synonyms rather than repeating the same words and phrases.
The spoken text gives us an insight into the speaker's thoughts.
24 and 25: I couldn't quite tell what it was.
27: I was scared.
46 and 47: and I finally figured that
In spoken language, we use intensifiers.
27 and 28: and I was scared | really scared
Because spoken language is interactive, direct address is used - "I" and "you".
22: you know
Spoken narrative can use the timeless present, which would be unusual in a written text. It adds to the immediacy of the story.
42, 43, 44: there I am | lying there | thinking
A spoken version usually gives an account of events in the order in which they occurred because this is easier to do.
59 to 64: then I unlocked the door | went across to the house | and phoned the police | and they were there | really quickly |
In the written form, the order of events can be changed.
Sentence (f): The police arrived very soon after I had called them.
The spoken and written versions differ in syntax.
The tone groups in the spoken version are sometimes complete clauses but almost always very simple ones.
2: SVA; 5: SVC; 15: SVO
Often, the tone groups are a mixture of clauses and clause fragments that add more information to the clause.
5: my bedroom was actually separate
6: separate from the rest of the house
In the written form, the information is not presented one idea at a time but in a much more condensed way, incorporating several ideas.
3: I rented a house.
Sentence (a): When I lived in Western Samoa I shared a rented house with a flatmate.
The information in sentence (b) is conveyed by 21 tone groups in the spoken account (7-28).
In the spoken text, there is the possibility of direct speech that would be unusual in a written text.
there I am | lying there | thinking | what on earth will I do. (42-45)
This enables the speaker to gain a powerful effect by using the full possibilities of intonation.
The ability to use complex clauses and embedded phrases and clauses is acquired much later in life. We can use these structures because we have time to plan when we write. When we speak, we do not have time to plan: we structure our discourse as we go along, repeating words and phrases and using the simpler constructions that we learn early in life. In the transcript above, we can see this clearly with the subjects of the clauses. In almost all cases, these are simple: by far the majority are I or it. More complex are my bedroom (4) and my problem (29). The most complicated is: the thought of doing this while there was somebody on the roof. It is interesting that after this, the speaker needs to pause; she laughs and gets in something of a muddle: w-was not very er possible (40, 41).
The two texts illustrate sharp differences between speaking and writing. This narrative may not have been entirely spontaneous because the story had been told before, and this rehearsal could explain some of the complexities in the spoken version. Even so, it is much more fragmented and oriented towards a listener than the written version. The written version is planned, integrated, and primarily oriented towards conveying a message.
Spoken and written language can be seen as the ends of a continuum. Above, we have described features of spontaneous speech and planned writing. Often, however, the distinctions between spoken and written language are not so clear cut. A university lecture, a prepared speech, a sermon might be examples of spoken English, in so far as they are delivered verbally. But because they usually began in a written form, they are likely to be closer to written language than to casual spoken language. Personal letters, diaries, and e-mail correspondences are in the written form but are very likely to contain features of spoken language.
In this section, we have deliberately concentrated on the language of conversation rather than the language of oratory, prepared speeches, debates, or other formal forms. We made this decision for two reasons. One was that some teachers appear to think of the classroom study of oral language almost exclusively in terms of prepared and planned speaking but do not consider spontaneous speech. The second was that teachers probably know very little about the structure of conversation. It is important that conversation be understood, not only because it is the most common use of spoken language in our lives but also so that teachers recognise the important distinctions between speaking and writing. Neither form of language is better than the other: the two forms are different and should each be seen in their own terms.
What do these differences mean for speakers and writers?
From Speakers to Writers
When children are learning to write, their starting points are their understanding of the syntax and structure of oral language. The ability to write begins from a sound foundation in oral language. The interrelationships of speech and writing can be seen in writers' acquisition of written language at the "emergent" and "early" stages. Initially, children's oral language greatly outstrips their ability in written language. As children master the mechanics of writing and develop a method of approximating spelling, they are able to put down on paper what they can already say. At the "early" stage of writing, children's writing catches up with their spoken language, and their writing has many of the personal, context-bound qualities of their speech. Students' writing and speech diverge as they become fluent writers. Their writing takes on its own distinctive structures and patterns of organisation. Often, too, fluent writers' speech incorporates some features of their writing.
The popular belief that written language is speech plus the conventions of print underestimates the demonstrable differences between oral and written language. Although oral work is undeniably of great value in students' learning in general, it does not specifically help them acquire the grammatical patterns they need in their writing. The models of written language patterns come from children's reading, and having read to them, good models of written language.
Natural language is often referred to as being important in texts for young learner readers. "Natural language" does not mean writing that reflects the oral language patterns of children: rather, it refers to the use of authentic "book" or written language that uses natural rhythms and conveys real meaning, in contrast to the artificial and meaningless structures that were used in many early reading texts in the past. Compare:
Mrs Delicious got a truck full of flour for the biggest cake in the world. (natural language)
Joy Cowley: The Biggest Cake in the World
(Wellington: Department of Education, 1983)
Go up to my ox. Is she on an ox?
An early reading text
The oral language patterns that are natural to young children are extremely difficult to read, and teachers should not oversimplify the links between written and spoken language. It is essential that students' early reading provides good models of written language. Although the topics and vocabulary reflect children's experiences and interests, the structure of these texts is those of written language and may be unfamiliar to some students. If teachers have an explicit awareness of these differences, they are better able to help students move from the familiarity of spoken language to the unknown forms and functions of written language. The two forms then enrich each other in a two-way process.
It is not only the nature of the spoken and written texts themselves that differs but also the understanding of the relationship between speakers and listeners on the one hand and readers and writers on the other. In discussing the co-operative principle of conversation, we outlined the understandings that listeners and speakers have of conversation. Young children's early writings show that they understand the nature of conversation and that their expectations of readers are similar to those they have of listeners.
We can help children bridge the gap between spoken and written language by keeping in mind the new understandings about texts and audiences that children are developing.
If we look again at Grice's Maxims from the point of view of writers, we can see the shifts in understanding that students need to make.
Maxim of quality
Speakers are expected to tell the truth. They should not say things they know to be false or for which they lack adequate evidence. However, the first written texts we introduce young children to are most likely to be fiction, and we expect children to write fiction. To be imaginative and creative in writing is often highly valued, whereas in conversation it is frowned upon.
Maxim of quantity
Speakers are expected to be brief, giving sufficient but not too much information. In writing, however, young children need to elaborate to make their meaning clear. One of the first things a teacher encourages a beginning writer to do is to add information to their text. This is done in much the same way as in conversation, through questioning the writer and asking for more detail.
Maxim of relation
Speakers' responses are expected to be appropriate and relevant. Much of students' spoken language is in response to something someone else has said.
It is not difficult to see why students, especially beginner writers, have difficulty generating text on their own. Thinking of new topics to talk about, and new and exciting ways of expressing ideas, are not things speakers in conversation need to consider.
Maxim of manner
Speakers' responses are expected to be clear and avoid ambiguities. Information in speech is usually given in a linear or chronological order. Young children do not use complex grammatical constructions in their talk, and therefore these are not present in their writing. It takes time to learn that, in writing, information can be organised in many different ways.
It would be extremely frustrating to hold a conversation with someone who used the strategies often used in writing to build suspense. In spoken language, we encourage speakers to "get to the point", whereas in written narrative, we encourage young children to take time setting the scene.
Challenges for the Learner
Students need to be helped to "think through" what they want to write.
When speaking, children produce oral language in interactive settings. However, when writing, they are learning to produce a text without prompts and responses from the reader.
Students need to be helped to understand that writing is more explicit than speech.
The absence of the reader poses a problem for children, who often have difficulty imagining their audience. Their writing often has the implicitness of speech with much left unsaid, because learner writers assume that their readers bring a shared understanding to the text.
Students need to be helped to become familiar with the structures of written language.
When learning to write, children are faced with learning a new syntactic, semantic, and textual unit - the sentence. Sentences are a feature of writing rather than of speech. In speech, clauses tend to follow each other in a linear way without necessarily having a known end-point. The sentence, on the other hand, needs to be capable of standing alone. It requires planning, and a decision has to be made as to which is to be the main clause and what will be its supporting structures. Understanding and using the concept of a sentence requires more than the ability to use capital letters and full stops.
Learning to write involves learning new ways of thinking. As Gunther Kress has written in Learning to Write, it involves "learning new forms of syntactical and textural structure, new genre, and new ways of relating to unknown addressees".
Students should, using appropriate terminology, describe, discuss, analyse, and evaluate the way language features, structures, and conventions of a wide range of texts suit the topic, purpose, and audience, and apply these understandings.
English in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 36
There are many kinds of writing, but there is no single variety that directly compares to conversation in spoken language. Conversation, the most common kind of spoken language, is usually spontaneous, informal, and interactive. Any other uses of speech can be said to be adaptations of this basic category.
Most written language has some distinctive characteristics. It is usually planned, organised, and durable. It is not bound by any physical setting, and it is often read by people unknown to the writer. Some kinds of more informal writing, such as diaries, letters, notes, and shopping lists, are not extensively planned and are usually written for the writers themselves or for someone they know well. These types of writing often have characteristics of both spoken and written language.
We vary our written language, like our oral language, in numerous ways, yet we often take for granted our implicit understanding of how we achieve these variations. Underlying the way we write are the learned conventions of written language that enable us to communicate successfully. The Exploring Language threads of the English curriculum emphasise the need for students to explore the choices writers make and to discuss these in terms of language features.
The question framework outlined later in this section suggests one way of looking at writers' choices and the impact of these decisions on the reader. When teachers understand how and why texts vary, they can guide students towards making explicit their unconscious, implicit understandings of how texts work.
The Grammar Toolbox has described the grammar within the sentence. However, written texts have linguistic and structural patterns that go beyond these features and that are also important in our knowledge of grammar. The structure, grammar, and vocabulary of written texts vary depending on why we are writing, who we are writing for, and what we are writing about. We refer to these predictable patterns in written language as genres. Becoming a writer and reader involves understanding the patterns and being able to use them flexibly.
In this book, the term "genre" is not used to define a set of rigid text structures but rather to describe the range of processes (such as explaining, instructing, recounting, describing, arguing, and narrating) used to produce texts that reflect the purpose and the intended audience. Genre is different from forms or types of writing, such as letters, plays, sonnets, formal debates, and so on. A letter, for example, can be written for a whole range of reasons: to thank someone, to explain why an assignment is late, to argue the case for not enforcing a parking fine. These purposes help to determine the genre.
Most texts produced and read by students combine a range of genres. The basic grammatical features tend to remain the same across genres, but distinct genres do have recognisable linguistic characteristics and structures. A skilled writer has a core of linguistic knowledge to draw on when making decisions on how to apply these characteristics and structures for different social and communicative functions.
Collerson, in Writing for Life, summed up genre well:
We can think of genre as a social process, i.e. as a particular set of activities or a way of doing something [...] these activities are carried out for some purpose. This is true of any genre; it is a social process which has a purpose - some goal that people are working towards. It also has a recognisable structure or pattern. Finally, a genre is something that arises within a particular culture; it is a product of the culture.
The purpose of the writing, the intended audience, and the topic together influence the choice of genre.
Writers have a range of choices they can make about the way they organise the text, develop the topic or theme, use particular grammatical structures, and choose the vocabulary. All these decisions influence how the message is read by the reader. For example, in reading about grammar teaching in New Zealand schools, readers would have very different expectations of texts that began:
"Once upon a time ..."
and
"A return to teaching formal grammar in New Zealand classrooms is long overdue ..."
Readers would expect the first beginning to lead into an anecdote or narrative of some sort, whereas the second is likely to set out an argument. Readers would anticipate quite different structures in the texts, depending upon the writers' intentions.
Texts are structured in different ways to achieve their purposes. The purpose of a recount is to tell about a past experience - to tell the reader what happened. The focus is on a sequence of episodes, all usually related to one particular event. The time sequence of the episodes structures the text. A recount usually begins with an orientation, giving the reader sufficient background information to understand the text. The reader is told who is involved and where and when the event took place. A series of episodes unfolding in a chronological sequence then follows. Linguistically, this type of text can be identified by the use of verbs that describe actions or events and sentences that are joined by connectives such as after, then, next, and that.
The purpose of an argument, on the other hand, is to persuade the reader to agree with a point of view. Arguments often begin with a statement of position and some background information about the issue. There is usually a logical sequence to an argument, with points being raised and supported by evidence and finishing with a summing up of the position. The resulting text can often be linguistically identified by the use of emotive words, verbs in the timeless present tense, and connectives associated with reason such as so, because of, first, therefore.
The structure of texts is so much part of the whole that it usually goes unnoticed by the reader. Sometimes this inherent internal structure is referred to as "global coherence", and it is only when it breaks down, or changes in some way, that we become aware of the structure itself. In the following extract from Julius: the Baby of the World, by Kevin Henkes, the language patterns change when Lilly tells her story to the baby.
One morning, while Lilly was busy playing opera, her mother said, "Why don't you put some of that verbal exuberance to good use? Why don't you tell Julius a nice story?"
"He's too little to understand a story," said Lilly.
"He can understand it in his own way," said Lilly's mother.
"Okay," said Lilly, smiling.
"JULIUS, THE GERM OF THE WORLD. BY ME," said Lilly.
"Once upon a time," said Lilly, "there was a baby.
His name was Julius.
Julius was really a germ.
Julius was like dust under your bed.
If he was a number, he would be zero.
If he was a food, he would be a raisin.
Zero is nothing.
A raisin tastes like dirt.
The End," said Lilly.
The story earned her ten minutes in the uncooperative chair.
The author changes the physical layout of the text at the same time as it changes from conversation into the narrative tale. Repetition of sentence beginnings is used, along with more emphatic statements and simplified vocabulary. These changes help make Lilly's story stand out from the rest of the text.
The purpose of the writing influences the overall structure of texts; however, writers also use different language, depending upon the situation in which the texts are to be used. Writing can range from "close" personal writing (expressive) at one end of a continuum, to "distant" impersonal (often transactional) writing at the other. The type of language used depends on several factors.
One factor is the writer's relationship to the subject matter, sometimes referred to as the "field".
At the most personal end of the continuum, writers write about themselves and people they know. This type of writing is characterised by the extensive use of personal pronouns, in particular "I", "he", "she", "we", and "they", as the following extract shows.
I see her come up the street all ready for school, and as soon as her hand moves upwards to wave my whole composure changes. It's time to start pretending for another six hours that I am a carefree girl only interested in getting out of school quick. The third year of hiding my feelings, shielding them away from everyone else. Just so I can fit nicely into place like a well-rounded jigsaw piece.
Rebecca Spratt (Maidstone Intermediate School)
At the impersonal end of the continuum, the writer writes about objects, ideas, and processes rather than people. Personal pronouns can occur, but they tend to be restricted to "it" and "they". In the following extract, Jamie uses noun phrases rather than pronouns.
Early forms of tennis are thought to have been played in Egypt, Persia, and Arabia. A form of the game where the players used their fists instead of a racket, was introduced into France in the 14th century.
Jamie (11 years)
There is a whole range of writing between the two extremes described above. This indeterminate area of writing is personal in that it is about people, but people who are not personally known to the writer. The focus may be on ideas, but written from the point of view of someone involved. The predominant pronouns used are "he", "she", and "they".
Another factor is the relationship between the writer and the reader, sometimes referred to as the "tenor".
How well the writer knows the reader, the age of the audience, their relative status, and how a writer feels about the reader(s) all influence the language used by the writer. When writers write for themselves or for someone they know, they frequently use the pronouns "I" and "you". Such writing is most often found in memos, personal letters, diaries, and stories written by students for the teacher, themselves, their friends, or close family. Personal writing often uses language that expresses emotion, feelings, or opinions.
In impersonal writing, the writers are writing for an audience that is distant and unknown. The writers do not appear in the text, nor do they acknowledge the reader. Impersonal writing is characterised by no expression of personal feelings, no use of personal pronouns, and a formality arising from the choice of vocabulary and the use of the passive voice. This is the type of writing often found in academic texts. The extract from Jamie's writing shows an example, especially the use of the passive verb in the first sentence:
Early forms of tennis are thought to have been played in Egypt, Persia, and Arabia.
A third factor is the means of communication, sometimes referred to as the "mode".
In this chapter, we are looking at the written mode. New modes of communication often develop new sets of appropriate language behaviours. With electronic mail, it is considered rude to type in upper case letters because this is seen to be the equivalent to shouting.
These three factors: the writer's relationship to the subject, the writer's relationship with the audience, and the means of communication, together determine the style of the text. There is no hard and fast rule for the sort of language typically used in each situation, but we can generally predict the patterns of language most likely to be used for each purpose and audience.
In some older texts, the term register was used to classify language and style used in different situations. In this book, we have used a narrower meaning of register to describe specialised vocabulary associated with specific situations.
To summarise, texts vary in a number of ways according to their purpose (genre) and their situation (style). The genre determines the structure of the text, whereas the style and register determine the language patterns and vocabulary used within the text.
Teachers do not normally have any reason to classify their students' writing in terms of text structure and the language features used, and we are not suggesting they should do so. The above information is designed to assist in the teaching of reading and writing. Teachers who understand how purpose affects the choice of genre, and how situation affects the choice of language features, are better able to respond to their students' writing in terms of the kind of writing that will meet the writer's intentions. There is no such thing as good writing in a vacuum. Teachers need to think about the situations students are asked to write in, the purposes given for writing, and the audience the students are writing for, because all these factors influence the kind of writing produced.
The following questions may be a useful framework for looking at students' writing in terms of their choices (both conscious and unconscious) about the structure and language that suit their purpose and intended meaning.
When thinking about these questions, consider the range of choices that writers can make about the presentation and layout, the structuring of the text, the language features, and the vocabulary.
The following text was written by an eight-year-old girl. Amy wanted to persuade her father to buy her a dog, and she chose to do so in the written mode in the form of a letter. The way she has set this out shows that Amy is aware of the conventional layout of letters. That this is a personal letter to her father is reflected in her choice of personal pronouns. The main body of the text is structured as an argument, and Amy addresses her intended audience directly as "you".
Dear Dad,
I feel very disappointed and sad. Ricky and I want a dog to have as a friend. A dog can be trained not to dig up the garden - cats can't. Dogs can come with me walking to keep me safe - people with dogs don't usually get attacked. Do you want me to get attacked? I have no sisters or brothers around my age to play with and I get lonely. A dog could be my friend and play with me. Sophie and Ripley don't play with me. All the playing is done by me. I have $600 in my bank. That would pay for food and stuff for our dog for ages.
Love from
your lonely daughter
Amy
P.S. I will give you time to think about it.
The next extract is taken from a seventeen-year-old student's science report about the impact of haemophilia on the lives of sufferers. The assignment was an independent research project, and no instructions were given as to how the findings were to be presented. Tim presented his work as a booklet and structured his text as an information report. In doing so, he showed his understanding of the text structure of this genre.
His major focus was on a thing (Haemophilia B), which meant Tim had to find a way of grouping his information into a sequence that was not chronological. He began with an opening general statement that defined his topic, and he used paragraphs to help organise his information effectively. The language choices Tim made also demonstrated his understanding of this way of writing. His writing was at the impersonal end of the continuum, so he made use of noun phrases rather than personal pronouns. He was writing for an unknown audience, so no reference was made to the reader or writer in the text. Tim wrote the report in the timeless present tense and used linking verbs to give coherence. He used specific technical terminology related to the topic.
Haemophilia B is an inherited disease that affects eight people in Dunedin, and one in every ten thousand New Zealanders. While the disease has been around for a long time (members of both the Russian and British royal families suffered from the disease last century) it is receiving a great deal of public attention. Haemophilia is caused by a deficiency of part of the protein in blood plasma called antihaemophiliac globulin (factor VIII). The lack of clotting factors in the blood causes spontaneous bleeding in sufferers. In the past having haemophilia meant years of suffering and an early death. Quality of life has improved since the late sixties, when methods of treatment became available, thus increasing the life expectancy of sufferers. The treatment itself is causing the most disastrous side effects, the threat of contracting the HIV virus through contaminated blood products. While the treatment and quality of life of haemophiliac sufferers is improving, their treatment by the community is worsening. Many people see haemophiliacs in the same way they see drug addicts and homosexuals, that is, as potential carriers of Aids.
Students should explore various forms of verbal and visual communication and analyse the interaction between words and images, thinking critically about the meanings and effects produced.
English in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 39
In the past, education concentrated on reading and writing: until quite recently, even book illustrations were often seen only as embellishments or helpful accompaniments. In English in the New Zealand Curriculum, the study of visual language is included as an integral part of the study of the English language.
Although visual language as a subject for study might seem new, and some terminology used in this strand may be unfamiliar, teachers have long been aware of visual language, even if they did not think of it in those terms. Young children have always read pictures before they could read words and drawn pictures before they could write. We all read visual language, wherever it appears, whether accompanied by written or spoken words or not.
English in the New Zealand Curriculum recognises that the three strands of language - oral, written, and visual - are interrelated and integrated and that all are important in understanding and communicating meaning.
This interrelationship is clearly demonstrated in everyday face-to-face communication, where the spoken language cannot be separated from the visual language of gestures, eye contact, and facial expression. In the case of drama, the visual and the oral are combined for an audience. In a cartoon or comic strip, the visuals convey meanings that are not necessarily in the written text itself. In picture books, both with and without words, the visual images can reinforce or augment the narrative, provide a commentary or subtext, help create humour or irony, hold the story together, or deliver a message.
Drama, film, television, print advertising, and computer games are all strongly visual, and new technology has brought these more and more into the daily lives of students. Therefore, just as they are helped to explore and think critically about written language, students should also learn to explore and think critically about the visual language that surrounds them.
Some teachers may feel more knowledgeable about some areas of visual language than others. The Exploring Language strand of the English curriculum obliges teachers to teach about visual language in a broader sense than previously, and as with oral and written language, it is important for teachers to be well informed and confident so that they teach effectively and enjoy exploring visual language.
Why Explore Visual Language?
Children learn to use spoken and written language without learning about the structure of language and without knowing the terminology to describe it. They know what a cat is without knowing that the word "cat" is a noun. Likewise, they are able to understand visual language without being able to analyse or name the particular elements that enable it to communicate meaning.
However, by learning how visual language works, by making our implicit knowledge explicit, and by acquiring terminology, we gain the means of identifying, describing, discussing, analysing, and evaluating visual language, and we thereby gain a better understanding of visual language texts. Just as close reading of written texts promotes understanding in depth, so close study of visual texts provides important insights.
An understanding of visual language features can also assist students who are using visual language themselves to create and convey particular effects and meanings. Creating visual effects is a useful way of learning about visual language. Also, for many students, learning through visual language is an effective method or style; many people can acquire knowledge and understanding more readily from information and ideas presented visually.
Acquiring the terminology of visual language should not be an end in itself but occur as the need for it arises. As with the terms in The Grammar Toolbox, some of the appropriate terminology can be used without detailed explanation to young students, who will learn the meanings of the terms by hearing them used in context. With this knowledge and understanding, students will be able to notice features of visual language that they might not have noticed and have the terminology to usefully discuss these features and to identify the specific ways in which visual language communicates meaning.
The study of visual language, which draws on semiotics, provides an understanding of the ways in which visual and verbal elements are combined to produce particular meanings and effects. It involves the interpretation of dramatic conventions, signs, symbols and symbolic elements of visual language.
Underlying the study of visual language is the study of semiotics. The glossary of English in the New Zealand Curriculum defines semiotics as:
The study of signs and symbols and their use in human communication, referring not only to language, but also to cultural and social elements such as clothing.
In other words, semiotics extends the concept of language to include not only words but many systems of communication. This concept can involve different ways of communicating - sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch - and it can cover all contexts, including clothing, politics, eating, or housing. Semiotics is a vast area of enquiry covering the ways we create and interpret patterns in all aspects of social and cultural behaviour. This is obviously far too big an area to investigate in a curriculum where the "language"to be explored is restricted to the three strands of oral, written, and visual language. The term "semiotics"is introduced here, though, because it is an especially useful concept when looking at visual language.
The basic unit in semiotics is the sign. In English in the New Zealand Curriculum, a sign is defined as:
... any symbol or form that has a conventional meaning within a particular community. "Sign"is a broad term that includes visual symbols, conventional gestures, and other types of non-verbal communication, as well as words. When we recognise a sign - by eye or ear - we recognise both its pattern and its meaning.
The term "sign"was introduced around 1900 by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, who is sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics". Using a word as an example of a sign, De Saussure showed that a word had two parts - a concept and a sound image. For instance, in the human mind, the word "tree" is connected to a concept of a tree.
The two must go together: we cannot talk about the concept without the word, and the word without the concept would just be a sound without meaning. De Saussure referred to the concept part of the meaning as the signified and called the sound image part the signifier. The two together make up the sign, and like two sides of a coin, the concept and word cannot be separated. These terms - sign, signified, and signifier - are important in semiotics.
The notion of the sign is particularly useful for visual language. Obvious examples of signs other than words are road signs, signs at airports, or signs on car dashboards. These can all be understood by people who do not share a common language but who do share an agreed understanding of what these visual signs or signifiers mean.
A sign may be a word, like "tree". It can be a gesture, like a nod or a shake of the head or a handshake. It can be a pattern of sound, like booing or cheering. The important thing is that there is an agreed understanding of the meaning of the sign within a certain social group.
Visual signs can have denotations and connotations of meaning in the same ways as words do. See The Grammar Toolbox on pages 40-1. For example, the Air New Zealand koru sign, in combination with the airline's name, makes up the distinctive brand signature used by Air New Zealand. This koru has a definable denotation, signifying a well known airline. But it also has other connotations. It has come to symbolise not only the airline but also the region within which Air New Zealand is based, the Pacific. As used by Air New Zealand as a marketing tool, this koru sign has further connotations of travel, relaxation, discovery, and freedom. In wider terms, Maori view genetic koru designs as symbolising energy. Some iwi also view koru designs as a frond of manaia that refers to the ancestral homeland. It is clear then that the connotations attached to the koru are extensive and profound for many people.
The red logo carrying the words "Coca Cola"may simply denote a beverage, but in its advertising, the lettering style and the related visual images of young people at a sunlit beach provide connotations of youth, freedom, vitality, happiness, and the United States of America. The television advertisement, which adds a lively soundtrack and moving images, not only denotes the product, Coca-Cola, but also extends the positive connotations of energy and pleasure, "signified"by specific "signifiers."
The meanings of signs can vary from culture to culture. Several examples of the significance of different gestures in New Zealand and Samoa are described in the Oral Language section of this book. The meaning of signs can also change over time. Dungarees, denim shirts, and working men’s boots once signalled a working-class labourer, but today these clothes have become trendy and expensive, worn by well-to-do young people.
Summary of Terms
Visual genres include pictures, picture books, photographs, book jackets, posters, advertising, newspapers, maps, cartoons, comics, plays, computer games, feature films, and television programmes.
These genres can be grouped into more specific genres. For example, feature films can be westerns, thrillers, comedies, or musicals. A play in which the hero and/or heroine dies at the end is usually called a tragedy, whereas a funny play (or television programme or feature film) that has a happy ending is called a comedy. Tragedies and comedies are different kinds, or genres, within the broader genre of plays, and they can be usefully considered in this more specific way.
Such specific genres or subgenres derive from the purpose or purposes of their makers, who have made choices just as writers or speakers make choices. Genre categorisation is based on the experiences and perceptions of audiences, who in the case of visual language are more likely to be viewers than creators of visual language. In fact, most of us, including our students, are much more likely to be experienced writers and speakers than film or television directors. However, it is important that students have as many opportunities as possible to produce visual language, in the same way that they have opportunities to speak and write. The experience of production will in turn help them to understand and "read" visual language in an informed way.
What is the basis of the experiences and perceptions that influence our categorisation of visual genres?
Different genres are not fixed or discrete categories. Rather, what distinguishes them from each other is the distinctive pattern of what we call conventions.
Conventions can be based on what is presented, drawing on the agreed expectations that have already been established within a certain genre. For example, if you open a kitchen drawer, you expect to find kitchen utensils, not underwear. Breaking the expected conventions creates surprise and humour or shock. Monty Python's The Holy Grail is based on the well known search by King Arthur. If a strange creature were to appear, we would expect a dragon or a knight with the strength of ten men, but not a killer rabbit. The arrival of a vicious rabbit instead breaks the expected conventions of the historical film genre and creates the humour.
Feature films such as westerns, thrillers, or musicals, and tragedies and comedies for stage, television, or film - all have their own conventions. So, too, do television news programmes, documentaries, soap operas, and quiz programmes. And so do cartoons, comics, and weather information in our daily newspapers. Although all the conventions of what is presented in one genre may not be exclusive to that genre, the pattern or combination of conventions is what distinguishes examples of one genre from another.
Other conventions are based on how something is presented. Such conventions influence our expectations, how we interpret what we view and read, and what we and our students in turn recreate and present. For example, in a mime or drama, the performer is able to suggest, and we are able to understand, that he or she has come to a wall or is eating or drinking, even though there is no wall or food, knife and fork, or glass. We know this because of our knowledge and understanding of the conventions of mime, which enable us to read, make, and share meaning. We explore, read, and interpret visual language in terms of our understanding of conventions.
Some Conventions Common to Books, Film, and Television
Conventions of narrative
Many teachers and students view and study the feature film in much the same way as they do a novel because the conventions of narrative in the novel and the feature film are similar. Our youngest students come to school with prior knowledge of many of the conventions of narrative, based on considerable experience of books, film, and television.
Both books (especially novels) and films often have a plot and narrative structure shaped into three main movements, similar to a three-act play. The work typically opens with one or more characters in a situation where an incident incites a conflict. This catalyst then sets off complications, often developing through two or three crises or particularly tense moments. The situation reaches a climax and is then resolved.
However, the structure of narratives in books and feature films differs from that in programmes made for television. Television programmes are scripted, made, and shown in segments, the length of the segments being determined by how frequent and how long the advertising breaks are. Feature films made for continuous screening but shown on television with ad breaks inserted are consequently often interrupted at inappropriate times.
Makers of films or television programmes use in-points and out-points to start and end a sequence or narrative in much the same way as writers do. In-points grab our interest, introduce the situation, reveal character conflict, or start the action. Out-points end a sequence of narrative in such a way that the sequence can either be returned to if it is left unresolved or be concluded. If it is concluded, the narrative can be either resolved or left open.
Subplot
As in written narrative, a subplot is common in feature films and television. A secondary story, connected to the main narrative in some way, keeps viewers interested and may reinforce or provide contrast to important ideas in the main story.
Journeys
Many films, such as Watership Down, Once Were Warriors, and An Angel at My Table, are journeys of experience for both their characters and their viewing audiences. So, too, are television programmes like The Simpsons or Friends. As in fiction, the structure of a film narrative can be based on a physical as well as a mental and emotional journey: one well known example is Apocalypse Now, which is closely related to Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
Symbols and motifs
Narratives can be unified by symbols. Visual symbols, such as bright sunny weather, might suggest happiness, enjoyment, and hope. Narratives can also be unified by the repetition of symbols, called motifs, as in the sea, rain, mud, bush, and trees in The Piano: motifs that reinforce the sense of isolation and entrapment. The same film has several other recurring symbols or motifs: the fingers and hands and, of course, the piano itself. Sound can also unify narrative, providing recurring motifs. The regular, rhythmic, and sinister musical beat in Jaws, signalling that another crisis or attack is imminent, is a good example. Comedy often has a motif of a particular recurring character or action, such as the mice who appear in the corner of the screen singing to introduce each new adventure in Babe.
Themes
The structured narratives of feature films and television programmes have central ideas or themes. Our interpretation of the theme is related to the expectations we have, which in turn revolve around the external and internal conflicts of the characters.
Forms
The form is the essential structure of the visual language text, including its organisation, style, and sequence. A picture book might be in the form of a series of collages. A film might be structured in flashback or contrasting sequences from plot and subplot.
Settings
The setting, including the period in which the action takes place, is important, too. For example, in science fiction, the setting is usually in the future. Other science fiction conventions might include some scientific development or phenomenon that is central to the narrative; there may be extraterrestrial beings, and the world of good characters may be under threat from evil "baddies" trying to gain power. Again, the conflict may be between the good and evil uses of a discovery or a new world. The expectation, or convention, is that at the climax, usually against the odds, the "goodies" win.
The settings of The Piano in the past and Once Were Warriors in the present are significant in the comments they make about the societies they are set in. Sometimes, however, a production will be located in a period or setting different from its original script - Hamlet probably holds the record for different settings. The setting for a particular film will have been chosen to relate the emphasis of the script to the audience, breaking conventions and their usual expectations or demonstrating the timelessness of a theme.
Rites of passage
The conventions of feature films that deal with rites of passage typically include unsympathetic adults who don't understand or sympathetic adults who do but find themselves in conflict with other adults who don't. The teenagers usually rebel, but in the end, they either conform or find some way of accommodating themselves. This is often as a result of some change by some of the initially unsympathetic adults or authorities as well as of the increased understanding the teenagers may have gained.
Codes
When we are about to read a book or to view a film or a television programme in any particular genre, we have expectations about what it will contain. In a Western, we expect a gun-slinging hero in the American West, probably in a saloon with a barmaid somewhere and a duel at high noon. In a thriller, we expect a female victim, a male killer or would-be killer, and a male rescuer. But such conventions may also be very effectively broken.
The common characteristics or conventions of any genre, including film, are sometimes called codes. These can include structural codes, which are such features as particular kinds of plot, character, or setting. Stylistic codes include such features as particular lighting, shooting style, or music.
For example, take the romance genre. Structurally, it commonly includes two people who fall in and out of love two or three times during the course of the film. Their difficulties often seem huge, though sometimes simple misunderstandings are the cause. Against seemingly insurmountable odds, they are nevertheless usually completely in love at the end. Stylistically, this genre includes low lighting, soft focus, sometimes beautiful settings, and music that might at times be raunchy and at times soft and romantic.
The different genres, or patterns of various conventions and codes, influence our expectations and help us to read closely and to make and present meanings.
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