Synthetic personalisation

Synthetic personalisation is the way in which advertising and other forms of communication use personalized language such as the second person to persuade and entice viewers. This advertisement uses words like "your" and "you" which are second person pronouns to involve the reader and make the product seem as if it's important to the reader. The use of the word "imagine" creates an image in your head and makes the reader begin to picture themselves holding the item and how the item would benefit their lifestyle. In the advertisement, the use of the words "At last" has the effect on the reader that they have been waiting for this new phone and that the phone is like no other therefore making it sound more desirable to the reader.

In my investigation I was looking at how my use of 'slang' varies for who I am talking to. I began by analyzing 5 texts between me and a member of my family and I began to notice how the register was kept formal. There were no abbreviations in words such as "Okay"or "Because" and I realized we had similarities in the way we typed. I then look at a 5 texts between me and my best friend and I found that we both used emoticons/emoji to liven up our texts and make jokes between us. I also found with my best friend that we sometimes wrote in capitals to express how we feel. It has become a natural instinct to shorten words and lengthen the sound of the word by adding more of the last letter on to the end for example: "helloooo" if i'm in a good mood. When I compared both of these examples I found that I use formal language when communicating with a relative rather than using slang as they would probably not understand it or not use it back. Where as, with my best friend I found that using slang language was an easier, more entertaining way to communicate seeing as I wouldn't verbally speak in that way. I concluded that I use different language styles for who I am communicating with to make the conversation easier between us. I vary the register for who I am talking to depending on the topic of the conversation and how close my relationship is with them.

Opening to a Technology blog

theguardian 

TECHNOLOGY BLOG

Is society being brainwashed by the simplicity of Twitter? 

As 50 percent of 100 million users log into Twitter every day, are we heading towards a society obsessed with pointless updates and virtual popularity?


Twitter's highly recognizable logo. Photo: Google Images.

Bethany Jefferies
theguardian.com, Monday 14th October 2013

140-character updates about your choice of breakfast cereal to your "followers" seems to be a norm to 100 million active Twitter users across the world. With millions having their own personal accounts, it's no wonder it's worth roughly £7.3 billion. There are many reasons people feel the need to tweet obsessively. These reasons can range from anything such as seeking celebrity acknowledgment to complaining about the weather which surprisingly not, can drive some people crazy. Thankfully you can choose who you follow and you are not forced to follow back anyone who follows you.

Twitter has become one of the leading social networking sites over the years and it's found it's way onto pretty much every website someway or another by allowing you to share whatever you are viewing on one page directly to your twitter account in one simple click. This begs the question: Is Twitter becoming a little bit too involved in our lives?  

Monologue Homework

LAURA: He didn't leave me, I promise. He still cares; I can assure you of that. I can tell he regrets his decision to abandon me by the way he never calls or writes... He's too embarrassed you see. Do you really think I'd be as happy as I am right now if he purposely left me? I've never been happier. He just left me because he felt sorry for her. She doesn't truly have his heart. He still loves me, and someday he'll travel all those miles back here to be with me. I bet it will be only a matter of months before we are reunited and he will regret ever leaving me in the first place. I could tell he didn't want to go and the only reason he left without a goodbye was because it would be too hurtful for him. I don't have any doubts - I mean, why should I? You may be convinced he's gone for good and that he wants to be with her, but you don't know him like I do. He'd said to me how close we were and how he'd always be by my side and I know he wouldn't lie to me. He doesn't have that with her. His smiles may seem real to everyone but I see straight through them. He can't be happy with anyone else. (Raises voice) He made promises to me! He made me feel secure and as if I was the only one he would ever love. (Pauses) He's coming back for me. I know he misses me. Wherever he is right now I have no doubt I'm on his mind. I know he's not the kind of person to just run off with someone else. He was always far too busy working overtime most days to be considering running away with someone else. You best believe me when I tell you how much he cared about me. He would always apologize for being late home and not having enough energy to stay awake and spend our evenings together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXGUNvIFTQw


Lord of The Rings, Return of the King: Aragorn's monologue at The Black Gate:

This extract from the film is from a scene before 'The Battle of the Black Gate' and Aragorn is addressing
the warriors before battle in an attempt to raise their spirits and boost their confidence to win.

Aragorn: Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

The author of the book J.R.R Tolkien uses some form of alliteration in his writing. For example, "Break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day" repeats the use of the letter 'b' which makes the sentence flow and entices the reader. His use of alliteration creates the effect of onomatopoeia which makes us imagine a violent scene as we picture people being broken down in scenes of war. The author uses repetition of the words "This day" 3 times in this monologue to create a powerful effect on the reader and to make Aragorn come across as a character of strength and knowledge. I noticed J.R.R Tolkien's word choice when he writes "An hour of wolves and shattered shields" I believe he is making Aragorn refer to the warriors as 'wolves' so they come across as fast and terrifying yet he changes the mood of the sentence as he says 'shattered shields' which makes us think of damage being dealt towards the warriors because of the word shattered which describes something to be broken.

Homework Task

Lyrics from "I Know You Care" By Ellie Goulding. 

"Clinging to me, Like a last breath you would breathe. You were like home to me. I don't recognize this street. Please don't close your eyes, don't know where to look without them. Outside the cars speed by, I never heard them until now. I know you care, I know it has always been there. But there's trouble ahead, I can feel it, you're just saving yourself when you hide it. Yeah i know you care. I see it in the way that you stare. As if there was trouble ahead and you knew it, I'll be saving myself from the ruin... I used to run down the stairs, to the door and I thought you were there, to shape to the comfort of us, two lovers loved out of love."

I feel like these song lyrics play with language by creating an emotional connection with the listener. I think Ellie Goulding does this by making us imagine the aftermath of a failed romantic relationship as she uses short, emotive sentences in her lyrics. Her use of repetition with the words "I know" make us imagine her creating this self belief that the relationship can be fixed and creates a overall mood of desperation and love. I think the lyrics are written in second person as she uses no names or any reference to anyone else except for saying 'you' to help us establish there is someone else connected with this song.

Armstrong and Miller RAF pilots 'D-Day'

The writer of this comedy scene has set the scene on D-Day which was a day of great importance in the war. They have made two characters seem completely different to the typical soldier by not only the way they are dressed, but how they talk. The characters are using slang words to shorten their sentences and using words that would not have been used in this certain period of time. The way the characters describe the war conflict they are supposed to be taking part in as a holiday and the viewer of this clip can tell they aren't taking it seriously by the way Armstrong says "I don't think I'll bother, it's really crowded" and Miller replies saying "Yeah man, it's rammed." The dialect being used by the characters tells us that they are conversing like teenagers from the post modern era when they are living in a time much before that. The writer has also made the characters politically incorrect as they begin to speak about diversity as they seem to take the officers comment about camouflage as a racist comment when back then there wasn't much diversity so being racist wasn't seen as an issue.

The way this script is presented to us shows a colloquial register as there is slang and nicknames being used in the text. There may be certain words used in the video that may be offensive to some viewers such as the use of the word "Gaylord" which is known as a use of taboo language which shows how the writer was playing with language and sociolect. The sociolect we recognize is men who have a polite and well spoken accents talking in the same way a teenager would now a days.