Things You Need To Study (A Review of CAPE Communication Studies)

Yet another important topic! You really need to know this because you WILL get it in an exam. The register refers to the kinds of English appropriate to a particular purpose or situation. It refers to the level of formality or informality and tone that are correct for a specific context.  A few things affect register, so when doing a question about suitability of register (it will come - probably)  please keep in mind the following: The audience - that is who the communication is intended for. Who are you speaking or writing to? How old are they? What's their level of education or social status?  The subject matter - what are you really speaking or writing about? Are you speaking about poverty in India, nuclear proliferation, building a highway through someone's house or leprechaun rights?  The medium - how are you getting the message across? Is it a public speech? Are you on television, are you writing a letter to the president, are you te...

Arguments  For Creole as a Language: Over here they basically ask you for the characteristics of a language. You're supposed to say that Creole is dynamic/human/systematic etc. so therefore it is a language and equal to Standard English. What language are you writing this exam in again? Standard English? Oh the hypocrisy CAPE! Arguments  Against Creole as a Language: Throw all that bullshit about national pride and heritage out the window now. Who gives a shit if we're independent nations? Europe is the shit! We should be more like them. Creole is the language of the lower class, uneducated, powerless, country folk and persons whose ancestors were slaves and indentured workers in the Caribbean! It has no prestige and it is sub-standard and inferior! (word of advice, I don't think examiners appreciate this much sarcasm in answers, so tone it down a little)  Creole cannot be written as there is no consensus on an official written form Creole la...

Okay this is important. This comes phrased in all sorts of strange ways but basically every year it comes. So know this shit.  Language is  Human  - It is only spoken/written/used by humans for communication. The parrot doesn't know what he's talking about. Don't listen to him.  Language is  verbal  - it doesn't matter whether it's written or oral...words are still involved.  Arbitrary  - there is no fixed association between the words in a language and the objects or ideas it signifies or represents. Objects have different words in different languages. (book, libre, livre all mean well...book, they all mean the same thing but they are different words.) Similarly the same word can have different meanings in different languages (fag in American slang is a derogatory term for a homosexual, in British slang it means a cigarette.)    Systematic  - language is rule...

Communication Studies requires us to differentiate between  language  and  a language . This is an extremely important lesson, without which will will DIE! Okay maybe not but the difference is more than a simple  'a'.  Just learn it to be on the safe side, it'll come for Paper 01A (maybe). A language  refers to one recognizable, identifiable or acceptable entity used by one or more community/ies of speakers. (definition right there bitches!) Language  is an ability which every human being has and allows him or her to communicate not only with other human beings but also with him/herself. So basically language is the  general  term that refers to all language systems (definition for 'a language') as a general phenomenon.