"Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo (1862)

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/135/pg135-images.html

View: Social and Political - focuses on the lives of the poor during early 19th century France, presents the city as place of great social struggle and political upheaval. presents a more corrupt worldview of the city during a previous time period in the city's history, intended as a social commentary. underlying themes of social injustice.

https://sites.uwm.edu/carlin/extracts-from-a-parisian-journal-2/

https://www.worldpackers.com/articles/reasons-to-visit-paris

not sure if this is the right sort of thing to look for, but it's intended to encourage the reader to visit the location, and therefore would provide and idealistic and often romanticised version of the city in its modern state. it mostly focuses on cultural aspects such as architecture, famous landmarks, food, art, etc.

TASK

·       Start with one text from the AQA Anthology: Paris and focus carefully on the ‘version of reality’ it tries to promote.

·       Explain why the text producer might have chosen to select and present aspects if the city in this way.

(Lexical-grammatical refers to the intersection of lexical and grammatical features in language. It encompasses the study of how words (lexical items) function within the grammatical structure of a sentence.

Key Components:

• Lexical items: These are individual words or phrases that carry meaning, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

• Grammatical structure: This refers to the rules and patterns that govern how words are combined to form sentences, including syntax, morphology, and semantics.

Examples of Lexical-Grammatical Features:

• Word classes: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

• Inflection: The process of changing the form of a word to indicate grammatical features like number, tense, or case (e.g., "walk" becomes "walks" to indicate the third person singular present tense).

• Syntax: The arrangement of words in a sentence to convey meaning (e.g., subject-verb-object order in English).

• Collocations: The habitual pairing of words (e.g., "heavy rain," "make a mistake").

• Idioms: Phrases with a figurative meaning that cannot be understood from the individual words (e.g., "kick the bucket").

In essence, lexical-grammatical analysis involves examining how words are used in context to create meaning and convey information.)

2. Think critically (and carefully) about contextual factors such as age and gender and how these might affect writing: are these nothing more than crude stereotypes? Or can you see differences in how different groups of writers represent the same kinds of places and events.

AO2: Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in texts

AO3: Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which texts are produced and received

AO4: Explore connections across texts, informed by linguistic and literary concepts and methods

AO5: Demonstrate expertise and creativity in the use of English to communicate in different ways.

Definition: Lexis refers to the vocabulary of a language, including words and phrases. It encompasses all the lexical items in a language, such as words, idioms, and collocations, and how they are used in different contexts.

- Lexicographical: Pertaining to the compilation, writing, or editing of dictionaries. Lexicographers study and document the lexis of a language, providing definitions, usage examples, etymologies, and other relevant information about words.

Syntax

Definition: Syntax is the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a language. It involves the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences, focusing on aspects like word order, agreement, and the relationship between different parts of a sentence.

- Syntactical (or Syntactic): Relating to syntax or the arrangement of words and phrases in sentences. Syntactical analysis examines how different elements within a sentence relate to each other and contribute to the overall meaning and grammaticality of the sentence.

- Lexis in English Language and Literature:

- Involves studying the vocabulary used by authors and how their choice of words reflects themes, character development, and stylistic preferences.

- Lexical analysis can reveal insights into an author's intentions, the historical and cultural context of a text, and the evolution of language over time.

- Syntax in English Language and Literature:

- Examines how authors construct sentences to convey meaning, create emphasis, and develop their unique narrative voice.

- Syntactic analysis can uncover deeper layers of meaning in literary works, such as the use of complex sentence structures to reflect a character’s thought process or the use of short, simple sentences to create tension and urgency.