English 350
MW 7:00-8:15am
Essay #3 Final Draft
13 October 2014Communicating through Diction
The English language is a complex system that includes different manners of speech to communicate in the three phrases of life: infant, adolescent, and adult. These three phases can be further divided into other categories of expression; Baby-Talk is used in the infant stage, Valleyspeak for the teenager, and some adults use Military Linguistics. The difference is to communicate effectively in order to be understood in the correct phase.
Baby-Talk is a type of language that throws all manner of grammatical rules out the window. Baby-Talk is a non-standard version of English. The reason it fits into this category is that …show more content…
Military Linguistics is a non-standard form of English because the terminology uses acronyms and idioms only understood by military personnel and not regular civilians. An example of this English can be found from the film Full Metal Jacket with Gunnery Sergeant Hartman waking up the recruits on Sunday morning in Military-Talk: “Reveille! Reveille! Reveille! Drop your cocks and grab your socks! Today is Sunday! Divine worship is at 0800. Get your bunks made and get your uniforms on! Police call will commence in two minutes!” CITATION Erm87 \l 1033 (Ermey) The translation is, “Good Morning Gentleman, Sunday services begin at 8am, make your beds and get dressed. Inspection will begin in two minutes.” Another example of communicating with acronyms would be, “Sergeant Shirley, have Airman Trulley report to Command ASAP. He has been AWOL for forty-eight hours.” The two examples of acronyms used are “A-SAP” for “as soon as possible” and “A-WOL” for “absent without leave.” An example of idiom use is in this statement, “It’s time to get sloshed, the green beans are here and we must take out the brown beans.” The definition of a “green bean” is a fresh arrival compared to a “brown bean” which is a member departing a temporary assignment. Military Linguistics is a traditional language among adults in the armed forces and used with an attitude of …show more content…
The infant would not be able to comprehend either the Valleyspeak or military lingo. The Valleyspeak is not understood by the infant because at this stage the infant only recognizes sounds and not sarcasm. In addition, the infant would probably start to cry if a drill sergeant were to start yelling commands in Military-Talk. The adolescent practicing in the art of Valleyspeak would probably ignore both Baby-Talk and military lingo, as these two are not in their social sphere. Both Baby-Talk and Valleyspeak are expressive languages compared to military terminology where there is only room for conciseness. The military person must speak only to convey a message. Each type has a unique creative aspect to them to convey a message; the gargling cooing of Baby-Talk to test-out sounds, to the articulation of Valleyspeak to dramatize a thought out loud and the art of shortening and quickly conveying a message through acronyms in the military. These three examples just barely skim the surface of the different dialects used to convey the English