Tutorial task

    Make notes on the following questions and prepare the task below: 1. How does Halliday define the term “semiotic”?2. What are some of the semiotic systems Halliday refers to?3. What does he use the term “social-semiotic”?4. What concepts from the anthropologist Malinowski does Halliday refer to? Why did Malinowski develop these ideas?5. Who was Firth? How does he describe the elements of the context of situation?6. Who is Dell Hymes? How does he describe the elements of the context of situation?7. How does Halliday describe the concept of “text”?8. How does Halliday describe the elements of the context of situation? How is Halliday’s description similar to, or different from, that of Firth and Hymes?     1. Identify a ‘register’ of language that you are familiar with (buying and selling; casual conversation; texts of persuasive, news reports; the language of church services or of particular religious or state institutions like weddings; the texts of music reviews; the talk of the computer aficianados; the language that marks a service industry, or a particular sport). 2. Collect 3-4 samples of the situational talk and action that underlies the register you choose, and describe what makes them similar. Write a brief description of this register of language by first laying out the steps the participants take in the event; then, show key words and phrases, or whole discourse chinks which are typical or required in the social interaction. Ostler’s book was published in 2005. Search the web to see what you can find out about the current top twenty list. Is it much the same? Are there any new languages on this list? Has the order of the top ten changed? What factors account for the change? How widespread are the top 10 languages – i.e. in how many countries are these languages spoken?