English speech


Speech on language –

A-Level students

Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms

Hello, my name is Lily. First and foremost I would like to thank you all for taking the time out of your busy timetables to hear my speech. Today I am going to deliver a speech to you about the use of nouns that are used every day in language, and the underlying meaning that can be associated with them. Now, when you are writing to someone who has is for example a professional of some sort, we would use the formal address of Mr or Miss, sir or madam etc. However if we knew them on a personal level or if a company knew the marital status of the person they were addressing, they would use either Mr, Mrs or the perhaps the undistinguished ‘Ms’. Are you noticing a pattern with the male noun? It never changes; it is sophisticated and doesn’t reveal any information about the man in question. Whereas the Female noun uses are very intrusive and can carry both positive and negative connotations. Each of the nouns has an ‘unspoken’ ideology of who the noun should be associated with, ‘Miss’ we would assume is used for a young unmarried girl or women. This carries connotations of being single, pure and desirable. If the context of this assumption was changed then the way in which this particular women was viewed and look upon. If this woman was a 40 year old woman, who had never been married before she would be considered ‘unwanted’. This is more than apparent in many Chinese cultures, where if the daughter is not married by the time she is 30 then she is branded a ‘leftover’. A great level of shame is forced upon the parents of the young women. Finally the use of the ‘Ms’ noun when addressing a woman which disguises the marital status of the individual, again providing a transparent identity for women who may not want to give any information about themselves. Providing plenty of assumptions as to why they have chosen to use this address, for example the may have been a widowed, not be married but have reached the age where they can be so don’t want to draw attention to themselves. Whatever forms of address a woman chooses to give herself, she will always be fazed by the underlying assumption and connotations that are associated with the address. Why should Men not have the option to distinguish themselves? Why should Women have to explain themselves to others and why they are conforming to the social norms of today’s society and ancient cultures?
Throughout history women have repeatedly been treated diversely, in terms of power, authority, wage and many more. If there is going to be change in our world, which is changing every day, it needs to be suggested and enforced.

Comments

  1. Unknown18 April 2016 at 07:42

    Some good arguments with persuasive devices and examples. This content is language-related but doesn't include any theory or rely on linguistic knowledge (it's more a gender idea than a linguistic one - if you related it to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis or marked terms or deficit language, you'd be on a better track for AO2 marks).

    Paragraphing needed, even for a speech. Sir and Madam need capitals for modes of address and Female and Men don't. Check woman/women.

    You almost rounded it off at the end but if you read it out loud, it doesn't quite end - you used a personal introduction so could you end more personally?

    Good use of discourse markers throughout.

    ReplyDelete

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