AS English Language Coursework (grade A)

AS English Language coursework
Outnumbered Transcript
By Victoria Munro
Characters: (S) Sue and (P) Pete Brockman, (K) Karen, (B) Ben and (J) Jake Brockman
Karen leaves home
1 K: you were nagging me and you wouldn’t stop, you just ignored me and you carried on nagging me, so (.) You, I said this time and time again, that I’m going to leave home and now I really am.
2 S:  excellent. Where are you going?
3 K: I’m going (.h) to Spain in a beach, or maybe Greenland (.) or, or (.h) Dorking
4 S: Dorking (.)
5 S:  how will you be getting there?
6 K: train
7 S: right, have you got enough money?
8 K: Hippo’s got the money
9 S: [Hippo’s got the money]
10 S: and, err, got your tickets all sorted?
11 K:  Pusscat has.
12 S: excellent, well that seems to be all in order then, I hope you have a lovely time
13 P: come on Ben, you’re not losing by many let’s play
14 B: no I’m not playing
15 P: Ben (.) it is very important in sport not just to walk off when you start losing. What does Wayne Rooney do when he’s losing?
16 B: he kicks people
17 P: not always (.), and he never just walks off [not of his own volition].
18 P: Ben
19 S: look, I’ve packed you some food and your favourite jumper so (.)I hope you have a lovely time
20 K: I’m really really really not coming back and I’m serious
21 S: I know
22 K: I’m definitely not coming back
23 S: I know (.) bye
24 J: Mum what’s going on?
25 S: don’t worry she’s left home before (.) what she does is she goes round the corner, she waits a bit and then she comes back
26 J: right (.) so then
27 S: no no no she’ll only go ten yards cause’ she’s afraid of the main road its fine
28 J: she’s emptied her money box
29 S: yeah (.) I know, that’s all part of it you see (.) she’ll be just round this corner (.) look come on look come on (muttering) over here
30 S: come away from the road
My Family
Ben tries to be cool
Characters: Kenzo (K), Susan (S), Janey (J), Ben (B), Michael (M).
1 K: Mummy, can I go outside and play?
2 J: absolutely not
3 K: is it because I’ve been bad?
4 J: no it’s because you’re so good
5 K: I’m not following you
6 S: that makes two of us
7 J: just trying to keep him safe Mum (.) people are speeding through this neighbourhood (.) I tell you what this street needs (.) speed bumps
8 S: that’s a good idea (.) you should petition the council for that
9 J: you know I should (.) yeah I’ll petition the council and demand that they put in speed bumps for the safety of our children (1.0) oh god, listen to me (.) when did I become responsible?
10 S: Janey it goes with the territory of being a good mother
11 J: I’m a good mother now
12 S: don’t worry it stops when you get the white wine out of the fridge
13 J: I used to be cool and hip (.)oh god I just said hip, what’s happened to me? I’m turning into a sad old suburban housewife like
14 S: like who dear?
15 J: it was just my trail of thought
16 M: shield your eyes everyone
17 J: Why?
18 B: oh Hey baby
19 M: ladies and gentlemen (.) Bono
20 B: ha ha just thought I’d youthen up the old image a bit you know (.) gotta stay hip hey Mikey (.) gotta stay cool (.) what do you think of your granddad hey Kenzo? Ha ha (.) what? oh what’s the matter with him?
21 J: he’s scared of clowns
22 M: he’s too young to appreciate style
23 S: alright Ben (.)what’s going on?
24 B: you’re never too old to be with it and trendy Susan
25 S: does this have anything to do with last night’s little crisis?
26 B: I’m sorry (.) I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about (1.0) hey Mikey (.) why don’t you and I go out tonight and celebrate your birthday?
27 M: My birthday was four months ago
28 B: Perfect (.) come on (.) why we don’t go to that bar you like so much?
29 M: The gay one
30 B: it’s not (.) is it? okay as a father Mikey it’s very important that I support you in all your endeavours
31 S: you’re so unselfish
32 B: mock all you like Susan but I will support my son no matter how uncomfortable it may be (.) think I’ll just go and change Mikey
33 M: do (.) Mum (1.0), if you’d had an affair (.) and he isn’t my real dad then now would be a great time to tell me
Analysis of my transcript of ‘Outnumbered’ and ‘My Family’.
I am going to compare the ways in which ‘Outnumbered’ and ‘My Family’ use dialogue in the parent and child relationship. In the episode of ‘Outnumbered’ Karen has decided she is going to leave home. The storyline of the ‘My Family’ episode is of Ben deciding he is going to be cool and Janey deciding to petition the council for speed bumps.
The focus in my analysis is to find the similarities and differences in both episodes of the ways families speak to each other.
The genre of writing is mostly scripted spoken language. However, the children in ‘Outnumbered’ are given an outline of what they should say and they are encouraged to be as spontaneous as possible.
The audience of my transcript would be families; both ‘Outnumbered’ and ‘My Family’ have family audiences.  There would be a male and female audience, of different ages, but mainly family ages, so 30-40 aged parents and 10-16 aged children.
The subject of my transcript is family situations. In ‘Outnumbered’ Karen has decided she wants to leave home and her mum is telling her to be careful. Karen has higher status for a lot of this episode as she is telling her mum what she is going to do, and her mum isn’t doing anything about it.
In ‘My Family’ various situations arise. Kenzo is asking his mum if he can go outside and play, then Ben comes into the room showing off his new ‘style’.
In ‘My Family’ the status changes frequently with the topic of conversation.
The purpose of my transcript is to entertain the audience as the story in the episode is fiction and humorous.
Grice’s maxims might apply to my spoken extracts because they conform to the general rules of speech for the majority of the episodes, both in ‘Outnumbered’ and ‘My Family’.
However in ‘Outnumbered’ the children so sometimes interrupt their parents and change the topic of conversation and this is humorous because the children are taking control over the parents.
Page word count: 333
The lexis used in the ‘Outnumbered’ episode varies a great deal. Karen uses the place names ‘Spain’, ‘Greenland’ and ‘Dorking’ to explain where she wants to go, this is humorous because they are so random places that are situated so far apart.
In ‘Outnumbered’ some of Grice’s maxims are broken, for example the maxim of quantity is broken because the children sometimes gabble and rush their sentences and do not allow the standard amount of silence in between words and sentences. The maxim of manner is broken sometimes in this episode because the children interrupt and speak over the parents throughout the episode.
The maxim of relevance is also broken as the discussions and topics of conversation change frequently throughout the episodes of both ‘My Family’ and ‘Outnumbered’.
The prosodic features in the episodes are different with the various characters. Karen Brockman in ‘Outnumbered’ speaks in a high pitch voice when she is manipulating and blackmailing her mother. Pete’s tone of voice is low, this is not only to do with his gender but also the topic of conversation he is contributing to. When he is telling Ben off, I noticed that his tone of voice lowers. The opposite effect happens with Sue Brockman when she is scalding Karen, her pitch and tone of voice gets higher and to a certain degree squeakier.
Karen talks at a fast pace when she is babbling to her mother; however Karen talks at a slower, calmer and softer pace.
In ‘My Family’ the characters all speak at a fairly similar tone, I believe the reason why the tone is different in ‘Outnumbered’ and ‘My Family’ is because the children in ‘Outnumbered’ are very young children, however the children in ‘Outnumbered’ are teenagers and young adults.
Kenzo says to Janey “Can I go outside and play”? And she says “Absolutely not”, he asks “Is it because I’ve been bad”? And she says “No it’s because you’re so good” and Kenzo states “I’m not following you”. Then in the background we hear Susan mutter “That makes two of us”. These little comments and puns are used throughout the episode to add sarcastic and almost hidden humour.
There is no taboo lexis in either of the episodes as the content is for family audiences and this would be inappropriate.
Specific words that the characters use include ‘Wayne Rooney’. Pete is talking to Ben and suggests that Rooney does not walk away when he is losing. Using real life celebrity examples helps to connect with the audience. Karen quotes ‘hippo’ and ‘pusscat’ when she is quoting the names of her stuffed toys, she says the names in a humorous manner, and this entertains the audience because she is trying to make the stuffed animals sound like real people to persuade her mother that she has company when she leaves.
Page word count: 427
Non fluency features used in the episodes include Karen stuttering and not always finishing her sentences, this links with the maxim of relevance which she breaks by starting a new conversation with a different topic to distract her mother’s attention from her current subject. Karen pauses and stutters when trying to think up the words for her sentence, because she is trying to win an argument with her mum she has to choose the words more carefully. Sue pauses sometimes when talking to Karen and her conversation does not flow very smoothly, this is humorous because she is the adult and is meant to be the in control one in the conversation. This conveys the relationship between Karen and Sue.
The ways the parents and children communicate to each other varies in both episodes. In ‘My Family’ Kenzo is quite controlling over his mother, this is the same for ‘Outnumbered’ when Karen is almost interrogating Sue. The parents in ‘My Family’ are weak compared to the children, but this is where the humour lies in the comedy. The children can control, manipulate and blackmail the parents effectively; this adds humour to the episodes.
Different types of sentences are used. In ‘My Family’ when Kenzo runs in the room and starts talking to Janey he is speaking in first person and at the end of his mini speech makes a declarative sentence “I’m not following you”. This also adds humour to the storyline because Kenzo is a young child and it is uncommon for young children to use declarative sentences when addressing their mother.
Imperative sentences are used in ‘My Family’ when Ben says “shield your eyes everyone” as he walks into the room. This is humorous because it is not a strict and formal imperative and the subject (Ben wearing outrageous clothes, dressed as Bono) is humorous and intends to entertain the audience.
Sue is interrogating Karen when she is asking her where, how and when she is going, however she is interrogating in a soft and calm manner. The word ‘interrogation’ has connotations of danger, evil and abuse but Sue is using it for the opposite, for humour.
Sue asks Karen questions such as “How will you be getting there”?, “Have you got any money”?. Karen replies in a very calm and collected manner considering she is small child. This is humorous because most young children would panic if they were being interrogated by their mother; however Karen appears to have her escape all planned out. Contractions are used in both episodes as the storyline is informal, Karen says “I’m definitely not coming back” rather than “I am not coming back”. Using longer words rather than cutting them down and using contractions would sound peculiar for a young child when speaking to her mother, and make the storyline less believable. From both episodes I have discovered that the parent and child relationship is fairly similar, there is humour in the way that children control the adults, more so in ‘Outnumbered’ than ‘My Family’, each character has a very different tone, pitch and volume when speaking and this varies depending on the mood, emotions and topic of conversation the character is currently experiencing. Both episodes are both portraying family situations in humorous and entertaining ways.