AS English Language AQA spec A Linguistics Question.

Can someone explain the difference between level tones and contour tones in the Linguistics unit of AQA A at AS?

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Reply 2

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by Thomith

Can someone explain the difference between level tones and contour tones in the Linguistics unit of AQA A at AS?

Did your teacher go through this with you? Unless they go by any other name, you don't need to learn about tones... It is not required to be learned as it's not on the specification nor did I see it on the Examination Reports from each series.

Reply 3

Thomith

Original post by The Empire Odyssey

It is part of the linguistic pack our teacher gave us and said that we need to learn everything in there to be able to talk about linguistics effectively in the exam/coursework. It is the only part of the pack that i don't understand so if its not on the spec i might just ignore it. Where did you find the spec btw? i was searching for it and couldn't find the AQA A spec :z.

Reply 4

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by Thomith

Oh right, nope you honestly don't need to know it for the exam. You won't get extra marks because it's not required to be learnt for students. Students can't get access to them as it's on the secure website. Only exam officers and teachers can access it.

Reply 5

Thomith

Original post by The Empire Odyssey

Ok thanks, one final question that i want to ask if that's ok but do i need to talk about Linguistics at all for the exam? Because one teacher is saying that i need to talk about grammar (but not linguistics) in the exam to get an A while the other is saying exactly the opposite. I personally prefer talking about Grammar because it is easier to talk about in detail than Linguistics is (other than the child language development part i guess), but want to know if i do need to talk about Linguistics in order to get the A grade i want at AS.

Reply 6

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by Thomith

She is right. Remember, you are not studying Linguistics (the scientific study of Language). You are studying English Language, the study of how we use language. Linguistics is just a fancier way and a complicated route deriving from Language. For example you have Etymology, etc, etc. You can't just focus on grammar. You need to focus on grammar, syntax, semantic and lexical fields and I think there's two more. All these fall under linguistics. I would suggest you forget the "I'm studying Linguistics" cause you're not. You're studying the English Language. You need to talk about everything. Don't focus on one element because when you do, you are neglecting the other elements. So make sure you talk about syntax (word order) like pre-modifyerrs, grammar such as clauses and etc.

Hope this helps!

Reply 7

Thomith

Original post by The Empire Odyssey

What i meant and what i posted seemed to be different. I know i have to talk about everything but my questions was how in detail do i have to go into it - i was told by both teachers that i have to go into alot of detail about grammar and not linguistics and vise versa (was told the opposite by both teachers) but i know i have to cover everything at least a bit.

What they have said that agrees though was to make a few points for the E-C grade analysis, then move onto the B grade analysis then finally the A grade analysis to get an A overall in the exam - would this work, or should i just cover each part of the "table" we are told to cover by the advice given to students by AQA seperately in as much detail as possible?

Reply 8

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by Thomith

Yeah , it would work. You have to work at a hierarchical system. So you have one point you want to make. You pick out the adjectives; premodifyers, nouns like abstract or concrete. That's like an E grade. D grade will be sentence fucntions like interrogatives, imperatives. Then sentence types like simple, compound etc. Then you get onto the C grade analysis such as verb types, tense aspect. Finally B-A grades will be answers that includes clauses, semantic relations and etc. You have to pretty much work every point in the order to get the A grade. If you just mention sentence clauses, you will still get a D-C. If you just mention adjectives you'll get an E. You have to mention a lot of things as all of them is what makes up the point you are trying to make.