LESSON 1: Language Varieties

All languages exhibit a great deal of internal variation. That is to say each language exists in a
number of varieties Nevertheless, what is meant by a variety of a language? Wardhaugh (1986, p.22)
defined it as "a specific set of linguistic items" or "human speech patterns (sounds, words, grammatical
features) which can be associated with some external factor (geographical area or a social group). A
language itself can be viewed as a variety of the human languages.

Different Kinds of Language Varieties

1. Pidgin

Pidgin is a new language which develops in situations where speakers of different languages
need to communicate but don't share a common language. The vocabulary of a pidgin comes mainly
from one particular language (called the "lexifier").

2. Creole

When children start learning a pidgin as their first language and it becomes the mother tongue
of a community, it is called a creole. Like a pidgin, a creole is a distinct language which has taken most of
its vocabulary from another language, the lexifier, but has its own unique grammatical rules. Unlike a
pidgin, however, a creole is not restricted in use, and is like any other language in its full range of
functions.

Examples are Gullah, Jamaican Creole and Hawai'i Creole English.

"Note that the words 'pidgin' dad 'creole' are technical terms used by linguists, and not
necessarily by speakers of the language. For example, speakers of Jamaican Creole call their language
'Patwa' (from patois) and speakers of Hawai'i Creole English call theirs 'Pidgin."

3. Regional Dialect

A regional dialect is not a distinct language but a variety of a language spoken in a particular area
of a country. Some regional dialects have been given traditional names which mark them out as being
significantly different from standard varieties spoken in the same place.

4. Minority Dialect

Sometimes members of a particular minority ethnic group have their own variety which they use
as a marker of identity, usually alongside a standard variety. This is called a minority dialect.

Examples are African American vernacular English in the USA, London Jamaican in Britain, and
Aboriginal English in Australia.

5. Indigenized Variety
 Indigenized varieties are spoken mainly as second languages in ex-colonies with multilingual
populations. The differences from the standard variety may be linked to English proficiency, or may be
part of a range of varieties used to express identity.

For example, 'Sing ish (spoken in Singapore) is a variety very different from standard English, and
there are many other varieties of English used in India.

LESSON 2: Language Registers

In every situation you encounter, you use speech appropriate to the person to whom you are
speaking and his or her context. The language you use when talking to your friends is not the same
language you would use when meeting someone as important as the president, boss or professor. This
difference in language formality is called register.

Register is one complicating factor in any study of language varieties. Registers are sets of
vocabulary items associated with discrete occupational or social groups. Surgeons, airline pilots, bank
managers, sales clerk, jazz fans, and pimps use different vocabularies. One person may control a number
of registers.

There are five language registers or styles. Each level has an appropriate use that is determined
by different situations. It would certainly be inappropriate to use language and vocabulary reserve for a
boyfriend or girlfriend when speaking in the classroom.

Thus, the appropriate language register depends upon the audience (who?), the topic (what?),
purpose (why?) and ation (where?).

The Five Language Registers

1. Static Register / Frozen Register

This style of communications rarely or never changes and does not require feedbacks. It is "frozen in
time and content.

Eg the Pledge of Allegiance, The Lord's Prayer, the Wedding vows, and the Philippine Constitution.

2. Formal Register

This language is used in formal settings. This use of language usually follows a commonly accepted
format. It is used in impersonal and formal settings.

Eg sermons, speeches, oration, and pronouncements made by judges.

3. Consultative Register
 The users engage in a mutually accepted structure of communications. It is formal and societal
expectations accompany the users of this speech. It is a professional discourse.

Eg communications between a superior and a subordinate, doctor and patient, lawyer and
client., teacher and a student, parent and child.

4. Casual Register

This is informal language used by peers and friends. Slang, vulgarities and colloquialisms are normal. This
is "group" language. One must be member to engage in this register.

Eg chats, blogs, letters to friends.

5. Intimate Register

This communication is private. It is reserved for close family members or intimate people and taking into
the accounts of endearment in a certain relationship or bond.

Eg husband and wife, siblings, and parent.

These five registers can be classified into two types: Formal and Informal. The formal registers include
frozen/static and consultative while informal registers include casual and intimate

Categories of Language Register

There are formal and Informal registers in spoken and written language. Formal registers can
include everything from an academic essay to wedding vows. The academic essay is formal because it
includes polished speech, complex sentences, and precise vocabulary. The wedding vows are an example
of extremely formal language that must be said the same way each time as part of a ritual.

There are also varieties of informal registers. Informal language occurs between people who
know each other well and who speak without trying to be 'proper'. Sometimes this includes speaking in
slang and other times it's simply a more casual delivery.

For example, you might say, 'Could you bring us more coffee, please? to a walter at a fancy
restaurant, but at your favorite hangout you might say. Can I get a little more coffee here? when you've
reached the bottom.

5 CHAPTER

EVALUATING MESSAGES AND/OR IMAGES OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS REFLECTING

DIFFERENT CULTURES

This chapter focuses on evaluating messages and/or images of different types of texts reflecting different
cultures. The lessons include multimodal text and cultural sensitivity in multimodal text.
 LESSON 1: Multimodal Txt

Multimodal is a dynamic convergence of two or more communication modes within the same text. All
modes are attended to as part of meaning-making (The New London Group, 1996),

Examples: image, gesture, music, spoken language, and written language

What is a multimodal text?

A multimodal text combines two or more semiotic systems like picture book, in which the textual
and visual elements are arranged on individual pages that contribute to an overall set of bound pages,
webpage, in which elements such as sound effects, oral language, written language, music and still, or
moving images are combined; and live performance, in which gesture, music, and space are the main
elements.

It can be delivered via different media or technologies like paper (books, comics, posters),
digital (slide presentations, e-books, blogs, e-posters, web pages, and social media, through to
animation, film and video games), live (a performance or an event) and transmedia (story that is told
using multiple delivery channels through a combination of media platforms, for example: book, comic,
magazine, film, web series, and video game).According to The New London Group (1996), there are five
semiotic systems to make meanings in a multimodal text.

Written or Linguistic meaning: for spoken and written language through the use of vocabulary, generic
structure and grammar.

Audio meaning: for music, sound effects, noises, ambient noise, and silence, through use of volume,
pitch and rhythm.

Visual meaning: for still and moving images through the use of color, saliency, page layouts, vectors,
viewpoint, screen formats, visual symbols; shot framing, subject distance and angle:camera movement,
subject movement.

Gestural meaning: for movement of body, hands and eyes; facial expression, demeanors, and body
language, and use of rhythm, speed, stillness and angles.

Spatial meaning: for environmental and architectural spaces and use of proximity, direction, layout,
position of and organization of objects in space.

Multimodality is substantial in constructing activities that go beyond print-based literacies

(Harste, 2010). It recognizes that the digital media affordances make modes other than text increasingly
valuable (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009). It also provides opportunities for students to bring existing literacies
into the classroom (Mills, 2010; Curwood & Cowell, 2011

LESSON 2: Cultural Sensitivity in a Multimodal Text

Culture

Culture comes in many shapes and sizes. It includes areas such as politics, history, faith, mentality,
behavior and lifestyle. The following examples demonstrate how a lack of cultural sensitivity led to
failure:

PlayStation

1. Sony Corporation promoted a Black-against-white ad in their multi-vignette PlayStation

Portable campaign in 2006. The ad featured a strong-looking white woman, dressed in all
white, clawing and dominating a subordinate Black woman. The ad was constructed to
promote their new ceramic white PSP. It depicted racism for the black.
2. When colouring in 800,000 pixel on a map of India, Microsoft coloured eight of them in
different hades of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in green,
meani Kashmir was shown as non-indian, and the product was promptly banned in India
3. 200,000 copies of the offending Windows 95 operating system software to try and heal the
diplomatic wounds. It cost them millions.
4. -The fast food gant McDonald's spent thousands on a new TV ad to target the Chinese
consumer. The ad showed a Chinese man kneeling before a McDonald's vendor and begging
him to accept his expired discount coupon. The ad was pulled due to a lack of cultural
sensitivity an McDonald's behalf. The ad caused uproar over the fact that begging is
considered a shameful act in Chinese culture.
5. A nice example of how pictures don't translate well across cultures is the time staff at the
African port of Stevadores saw the internationally recognised symbol for "fragile" (ie. broken
wine glass) and presumed it was a box of broken glass. Rather than waste space they threw all
the boxes into the sea.
6. -When the US firm Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as
in the US, i.e. with a picture of a baby on the label. Sales flopped and they span realised that in
Africa, companies typically place pictures of contents on their labels. OLFÜ
7. -Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in South East Asia by emphasizing that it whitens your
teeth." They found out that the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth which they
find attractive.
8. - The film "Hollywood Buddha showed a complete lack of cultural sensitivity by causing
outrage and ofprotest on the streets of Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Burma when the designer of
the firm's paster decided to show the lead actor sitting on the Budara's head, an act of clear
degradation against something holy
 9. The concept of Big Brother was somehow taken to the Middle East. The show was pulled of the
air after its first few episodes due to public protests and pressure from religious bodies stating
the show's mixed sex format was against Islamic principles. Property
10. A golf ball manufacturing company packaged golf balls in packs of four for convenient
purchase in Japan. Unfortunately, the number 4 is equivalent to the number 13 due it sounding
like the word "death". The company had to repackage the product.

Language

-The business world is littered with poor translations that have caused great embarrassment their
perpetrators due to their lack of cultural sensitivity. The following are some of the choicest

Examples: IKEA once tried to sell a work berish called FARTFULL-hot a hugely popular product für 6bvious
reason.

6 CHAPTER

COMMUNICATION AIDS AND STRATEGIES USING TOOLS OF TECHNOLOGY

LESSON 1: TECHNOLOGY-BASED COMMUNICATION TOOLS

Communication combined with technology is called as backbone of social interaction. Here are some of
the technology-based communication tools:

Email

Email has become a standard form of business communication, particularly for short messages that
require action. This allows you to take care of a lot of customers, as well as partners and other
stakeholders without lengthy conversations. Modern software allows you to send the same email to all
interested parties so that you can keep your message, name and products in the forefront of their minds.

Texting

Texting has become the most personal form of business communication. The personal text number is
reserved for a few close associates. Your communications by text tend to be more urgent than email. If a
business is moving too slowly, you should examine whether you are taking full advantage of texting.

Instant Messaging
Instant messaging tends to be for longer discussions than texting. You can engage someone in another
city, state or country in a conversation that can lead to a lucrative business deal. The advantage of this
electronic conversation is that you can take time to think before you respond. Moreover, it is an
application that can contribute to the success of a negotiation. In face-to-face conversations, it can be
difficult to pause long enough to gather your thoughts.

Social Networking

Social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace can be essential to getting your message out. You
will have to adjust your communication style to a more informal approach. Friends can be gathered on
these sites. These can also be a place to do relationship marketing. Instead of sales pitches, place
messages on these sites that sound like you have a good deal for your friends.

Tweeting

The website Twitter allows you to broadcast very short messages called "tweets" to people who have
elected to follow your posts. This is not the place for a long treatise. Instead, briefly refer to a new
product, message or development a company is excited about. This may not result in immediate sales,
but it will result in awareness of a company in the marketplace.

Blogs

The word "blog" is short for "web log." These sites are often written by amateurs, but getting a blogger
to review a product or service can be a good way to spread the word about small business. Contact
bloggers by email, usually listed on their blogs, and ask them to take a look at your product or service.
You can spread the word informally and quickly through this technology-based communication. Many
companies, from sole proprietorships to large corporations, have established their own blogs as a
primary communication channel to the public

Video Conferencing

When you want to convey your message with physical gestures and facial expressions, this form of
technology can be an effective communication tool. Using video-conferencing can help save travel
money. If you and another person both have cameras and the right software, you can see each other and
talk to each other on your computers. This gives you the face-to- face meeting you need without having
to be in the same location.

LESON 2: MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION--Multimedia uses a combination of different content forms such

as text, audio, images, animations, video and interactive content. Multimedia is distinguished from
mixed media in fine art; by including audio, for example, it has a broader scope.
A presentation program is a software package used to display information in the form of a slide show. It
has three major functions: an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted, a method for
inserting and manipulating graphic images, and a slide-show system to display the content.

A multimedia presentation differs from a normal presentation in that it contains some form of animation
or media. Typically a multimedia presentation contains at least one of the following elements: Video or
movie clip. Animation Sound (this could be a voice-over, background music or sound clips)

Twelve Tips for Creating Effective Presentations

PowerPoint has become the de facto presentation tool for most of us. However, when used improperly,
PowerPoint slides can actually interfere with communication, rather than pro mote it. Communications
researchers have identified concepts that have subtancial implication for how we can create the most
effective presentations (Harrington and Car, 2010).

Harrington and Car (2010) suggested some tips with good and bad visual examples to help presenters
identify and avoid bad PowerPoint habits, and to promote awareness of how nest to use Powerpoint to
create effective and meaningful presentations.

1. Design a template that is free from distracting items.

Strive for simplicity and readability.

When creating your template, keep in mind the advice of French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery:

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is
nothing left to take away.

2. Ensure your template promotes readability.

Choose color combinations that make it easy for the audience to read your slides

3. Select a sans serif font.

Limit your fonts to two, at most. Sans serif fonts (translated as "without serifs"), such as Calibri, Arial and
Trebuchet, produce a cleaner, less cluttered, easier to read look.

4. Always use fonts that are 24 point or larger.

Displaying text that is too small to read compromises your message and frustrates your audience.

If you have more text than can reasonably fit on a screen using at least 24 point fonts, then either: (a)
create another slide or (b) shorten your text. As noted in tip #11, let your handout contain the detailed
information and use your presentation to highlight your most significant points.

5. Incorporate high quality photos, images or diagrams that reinforce your verbal message.

Avoid clip art, since it can make your presentation look dated and unprofessional. Incorporating your text
into the photo presents a more unified and visually pleasing message than having them completely
separate.

6. Use phrases or abbreviated sentences, rather than full sentences.

With the possible exception of short direct quotes, keep full sentences in your oral presentation and off
the screen.

THumans are incapable of reading and comprehending text on a screen and listening to a speaker at the
same time. Therefore, lots of text (almost any text!), and long, complete sentences are bad, Bad, BAD"
(Reynolds, 2010, p. 57).

7. Use bullet points sparingly, if using bullet points, be sure they are less than six words long. The most
effective sliders are often with the least text.

if you want to use and outline organizer your talk, keep it on paper rather that putting it on as bullets.

8. Eliminate the use of headings or titles unless they communicate the main message. Headings should
not be used to introduce or identify the topic of the slide, though they may be useful to call attention
to the main finding in a chart or graph.

Otherwise, headings tend to be redundant and should be eliminated.

9. Use animation, slide transitions, audio, and video sparingly The audience's attention is immediately
drawn to the movement on the screen, thus breaking their concentration on the presentation content.

10. Highlight the most important information in tables and graphs. If needed, use builds to present
data in a series of bite-sizes pieces. Consider the pace when presenting tables/graphs on screen.

11. Create a handout to accompany your presentation.

Slides should be designed to visually enhance (not summarize) your presentation. Handouts should be
well-written comprehensive reports, containing detailed information such as complex charts, data,
analyses, and references.

12. Be passionate about your topic.

The slides should serve to enhance your oral presentation Bullet points are not passionate, not even
when they are highly decorated.