English Language InvestigationInvestigating the language in children’s annuals, 1972-2006

HYPOTHESESIn a contemporary piece:Lexis - less polysyllabic and more basic

(DIFFERENCE)Pragmatics - Similar representation of masculinity

(SIMILARITY) Graphology - More sophisticated in terms of colour

and design (DIFFERENCE)Grammar - Similar techniques used to create

suspense (SIMILARITY)

METHODOLOGY

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TEXT A: The Hotspur Book for Boys, 1972

TEXT B: Power Rangers Dino-Thunder Annual 2006

2 pages analysed 4 pages analysed

OUR CHOICES

Appropriate length Similar target audienceRelatively easy to obtain

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WHY THESE ANNUALS?

OUR REJECTIONSThe Jolly Book Annual, 1923The School Friend Annual, 1960Go Diego Go! Annual, 2010Project Gutenberg archives‘The Children’s Bookshop’ website (http://antiqbook.co.uk/boox/thechi/)

RESULTS

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LEXIS AND SEMANTICSThe contemporary annual uses neologisms; none

are present in the 1972 annual

Mesogog Tyranodrone

LEXIS AND SEMANTICSText A uses certain words that we considered to

be less common nowadays

LEXIS AND SEMANTICSAlliteration is a phonological device shared

between the texts in the titles

GRAMMARBoth texts use a similar number of dynamic

verbs, however Text A clearly uses more

TEXT A: 47.5% of verbs (19/40)

TEXT B: 33.96% of verbs (18/53)

COMPLEXITY OF LANGUAGEAverage syllable length

Average number of words per sentence

Flesch-Kincaid Reading Age

Flesch ease test

TEXT A: 1.35 TEXT B: 1.46

TEXT A: 14.42 TEXT B: 13.97

TEXT A: 10-11 TEXT B: 12-13

TEXT A: 78.35% TEXT B: 68.89%

GRAPHOLOGYBoth texts utilise pictures of the protagonist in

action

GRAPHOLOGYThe style of the images in both texts is very

different

Hand-drawn

MonochromaticPhotographic images

multi-coloured

Computerised graphics

DISCOURSE STRUCTUREBoth texts adopt the same narrative structure:

equilibrium, disequilibrium new equilibrium

Text A Text B

Equilibrium/abstract

“The boy's muscles rippled in the golden rays of the early morning sun. The wind off the Pacific Ocean ruffled his hair, rattling the palm leaves in front of his hillside cave house near the middle of the island”

“On a wooded island, in a maze of dark underground tunnels”

Disequilibrium/ complicating action

“Rounding the headland were three big war canoes full of grotesquely - decorated warriors whose spears flashed in the sun.”

“When the beasts finally caught up with Tommy, they surrounded him, then attacked…Things were looking bad”

New equilibrium/resolution

“They tried again next morning, then they gave up. By noon the three canoes were drawing away from Larry’s island.”

“Tommy smiled a grim smile of satisfaction. He had escaped, and it was the Tyranodrones who had met their fate.”

DISCOURSE STRUCTUREText A is much denser than text B

TEXT A has 1,032 words over 2 pages

TEXT B has an average of 214 words over 2 pages

PRAGMATICSMasculinity is represented in a similar way in

both texts Text A Text B

Isolated from other humans/alone in plight

Living as a "castaway" No other human is mentioned; only Tommy

Strong and heroic; successful in the face of diversity

Larry survived when his “ship sank” and is “lifting weights most athletes would have hesitated to tackle”

“Tommy…leapt off the edge of the cliff…he had escaped”

CONCLUSIONS

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LANGUAGE CHANGE OVER TIME: OUR OVERALL FINDINGS

What has changed? What has not changed?• Lexis has become more

complex over time• Texts have become less

dense• Graphology has become more

sophisticated• More neologisms are used

today

• Words that seem uncommon may not have gone out of use today

• Representation of masculinity• Phonological and grammatical

techniques • The narrative discourse

structure

DID WE PROVE OUR HYPOTHESES?In a contemporary piece:Lexis - less polysyllabic and more basic

(DIFFERENCE)Pragmatics - Similar representation of masculinity

(SIMILARITY) Graphology - More sophisticated in terms of colour

and design (DIFFERENCE)Grammar - Similar techniques used to create

suspense (SIMILARITY)

FURTHER CONCLUSIONSDifferent style of language in Text B

Both texts adopt the same discourse structure

EVALUATION

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SUCCESSES Searching for texts in charity shopsUsing a range of different quantitative analytical methodsConsistency between texts usedWe researched a large number of different potential texts

FAILINGS AND IMPROVEMENTSSearching for text sources onlineShould have analysed a larger range of textsShould have had more consistency between the texts

analysedShould have ensured we investigated every one of our

hypotheses

SHOULD YOU INVESTIGATE THIS?

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Power Rangers Dino-Thunder Annual 2006 (Publisher, etc.)The Hotspur Book for Boys 1972 (Publisher, etc.)https://books.google.com/ngrams (Ngrams)http://www.online-utility.org/english/

readability_test_and_improve.jsp (Online Utility)https://www.gutenberg.org (Project Gutenberg)http://countwordsworth.com/blog/average-sentence-lengths-

of-famous-novels-and-authors/