Discussion of Scott Morrison’s election announcement.

This article has been written by Liam McAlary, a Years 7 – 12, VCE Legal Studies and VCE English Language Tutor at Learnmate. If you’re interested in private tutoring from Liam then please check out his page here.

Hey guys, the federal election is on Saturday May 18, so I thought that my article for May should focus on a recent example of formal political discourse. For this article, I am using Scott Morrison’s press conference from April 11, where he announced the date for the federal election. This article is not a political commentary, it is simply a discussion of language.

The transcript from the press conference can be found here: https://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2019/04/11/press-conference-thursday-11-april-2019 (All ministers have their transcripts available on their departmentally run, non-partisan websites. However, transcripts during the campaign are on the party’s websites as government is in caretaker mode).

Although it is obvious and does not need a lot of attention, the use of Standard Australian English is worth mentioning at the start of a discussion related to a formal text. In this case, you would discuss how the Prime Minister’s use of the overtly prestigious Standard English is appropriate given the significance of his role in society (which he is also actively seeking to retain), and the importance of the announcement he is making. A brief discussion of Standard English enables you to tick off an example, some metalanguage and a key concept of formal language very quickly, so it is worth capitalising on the comparatively cheap marks on offer.

Two of the journalists commenced their questions by addressing Mr Morrison as, “Prime Minister.” This is done to help respect Mr Morrison’s negative face needs by acknowledging the social distance the journalist(s) and Mr Morrison, which arise out of their respective roles in society.

Mr Morrison also uses the modal verb, “will,” extensively throughout this press conference. He does this to express to the Australian voters that should the Liberal National Coalition he leads be re-elected, it is certain that they will keep Australians safe, and increase funding for essential services. These are seen as desirable, so Morrison wants to make people feel certain that they are going to happen, should the Coalition be returned to government. Similarly, he also uses, “will,” to state that should the ALP be elected, taxes are certain to increase and economically destructive polices introduced. These seen as less desirable and Morrison is seeking to highlight this to persuade the Australian voting public to vote for his Coalition.

Morrison also uses parallelisms extensively throughout this press conference. By starting consecutive sentences with, “keeping our economy strong, …” Morrison is seeking to place a heavy emphasis on one of the key platforms of his campaign, before explaining some of the benefits of it (such better wage and job security). Again, by placing an emphasis on this, Morrison is trying to show voters why he should receive their vote.

Parallelisms are very common in formal discourse, especially in politics. Generally, they help to link related ideas and draw attention to the key ideas of the discourse (such as maintaining a strong economy).

Anyway, I hope this has been helpful and I will have another article for you in June.

If you loved this article, you will LOVE all of our other articles, such as: What To Expect As A First-Year University Student, Social Purpose and How it Relates to Informal Language and The Summer Holidays and Formal Language Examples.

LearnMate is Australia’s leading tutoring agency offering private lessons in all primary & high school subjects including English, maths, science, humanities, foreign languages, and so much more. Our mission is simple: to provide professional, engaging and enthusiastic tutors to students, while also ensuring the student feels empowered and confident during their assessments! Ultimately, our goal is to empower students all over Australia to achieve amazing results and make their dreams come true!

An Overview of Formal Language

This article has been written by Liam McAlary, a Years 7 – 12, VCE Legal Studies and VCE English Language Tutor at Learnmate. If you’re interested in private tutoring from Liam then please check out his page here.

Hi everyone, here is my article for April, which focuses on Unit 3, Area of Study 2, (language). This article will briefly look at some social purposes, and features of formal language, as well as some tips on where to find additional texts.

Some of the key social purposes of formal language are listed on the study design. You need to be aware of these purposes of formal language, as well as others. The list on the study design is not exhaustive (note the word, “including”).

Study design: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/englishlanguage/englangindex.aspx

Additionally, it is important to be aware that many features will serve more than one purpose. A Kate Burridge quote that I stumbled across when doing some research for this article demonstrates this well. Burridge said in 2006 that, “taboo and euphemism are closely entwined with the concepts of politeness and face.” Essentially, Burridge is using euphemisms (which primarily serves to help negotiate social taboos) as an example to demonstrate how when we speak in more formal settings, participants need to consider how the language they use may reflect on them, but also the face needs of the people with whom you are conversing. Not only is this evidence of a feature having the ability to serve multiple purposes, it also is a good one to keep in your notes as it can be used in essays to support an argument about the purposes of a key formal language feature (features and purposes of formal language are a common essay topic).

Moreover, the key features of formal language are important to be aware of. One key feature of formal language is euphemisms. Euphemisms are sayings which serve to, “soften the blow,” of a statement that relates to a topic which is considered a taboo or difficult to talk about. Euphemisms can present a challenge when it comes to finding fresh examples, as they primarily relate to, “old taboos,” such as bodily functions and death. Furthermore, jargon, (technical language related to a specific domain, such as a workplace) is also a feature which pops up a lot in this outcome. Jargon can serve a myriad of social purposes, depending on the context surrounding its use. Jargon examples tend to be a bit easier to find. These two features are just two of several key formal language features, however this article would be very long if I were to go through them all.

Every English Language student knows examples are important. Formal language examples are all around you. However, politics tends to be a bit of a goldmine, especially in an election year (like 2019). All ministers have their transcripts from speeches and interviews publicly available on their websites, so make the most of them as they are usually littered with examples which are brilliant for essays. It is also common for these transcripts to be texts for your SACs (if they are short answer or commentaries).

Anyway, that’s all from me and I will have another article for you next month.

If you loved this article, you will LOVE all of our other articles, such as: What To Expect As A First-Year University Student, Social Purpose and How it Relates to Informal Language and The Summer Holidays and Formal Language Examples.

LearnMate is Australia’s leading tutoring agency offering private lessons in all primary & high school subjects including English, maths, science, humanities, foreign languages, and so much more. Our mission is simple: to provide professional, engaging and enthusiastic tutors to students, while also ensuring the student feels empowered and confident during their assessments! Ultimately, our goal is to empower students all over Australia to achieve amazing results and make their dreams come true!