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Variation
Variation is a topic in 3 areas of the A2 course:
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The first half of the exam asks you to choose change or variation.
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The coursework intervention must be on either a ‘change’ topic or a variation one.
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Variation is one of four possible topics in the second half of the exam.
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For the first section of the exam unit:
You have a choice of questions, one on variation and one on change. Each question will ask you to analyse two texts, probably to comment on their context. For variation, these are most likely to be texts produced in different varieties (e.g. dialect literature extracts; transcripts showing evidence of genderlect or occupational dialects) You will need to analyse using detailed frameworks, bearing in mind that grammar (esp. clause/sentence grammar) is the Great Differentiator, and that people who can talk about phonology in a detailed way have a distinct advantage in dealing with accent. You should also make theoretical and conceptual comments, e.g. about dialect levelling, research into varieties, or attitudes to variation.
You should be familiar with:
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Dialect
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Accent
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Attitudes to varieties (inc. RP)
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Age
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Class
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Ethnicity
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Occupational dialect (legalese etc)
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E-
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Variation within one speaker
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