Paper 3 Language Analysis: applying frameworks systematically
Paper 3 Language Analysis asks you to apply linguistic frameworks systematically to texts - frequently comparing two texts on a related topic and explaining how each constructs audience, purpose and stance. It rewards precise metalanguage and consistent reference to evidence, not impressions.
The frameworks
- Phonology: phonemes, stress, intonation, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, sibilance, onomatopoeia - relevant to slogans, poetry and transcript data.
- Lexis: denotation and connotation, semantic fields, register, jargon, archaisms, neologisms, euphemism.
- Grammar and syntax: word classes, phrase types, clause elements, sentence functions (declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory), clause complexity, modification, active and passive voice, modality, person and deixis.
- Semantics: figurative language, idiom, lexical relations (synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy), implicature, ambiguity.
- Discourse: cohesion (reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, lexical chains), discourse markers, paragraph structure; for speech, turn-taking, adjacency pairs, overlapping, hedges and politeness.
Analyse with a purpose
For each feature, state what it does for this reader in this text. Modality is a favourite target: 'must', 'should' and 'may' carry different force, and a hedged 'may' protects a claim from challenge.
Worked example
Headline: 'Revealed: the £4 coffee that costs 20p to make.' Model: 'The colon-delimited 'Revealed' is a verbless, news-fronted structure signalling investigative exposure before the reader meets the claim. The numeral phrases '£4' and '20p' set up a stark contrast, and the premodified noun phrase 'the £4 coffee' makes the price the object of criticism; the relative clause 'that costs 20p' supplies the evidence. These grammatical choices position the reader to feel cheated before any argument is offered.' Reasoning: it names structures (verbless structure, premodification, relative clause), quotes minimally, and ties each to reader positioning and the newspaper's purpose.
Traps
- Feature-spotting with no effect ('there is alliteration').
- Wrong word classes: '-ly' does not guarantee an adverb, and 'to' may be a preposition or an infinitive marker.
- Confusing lexis with semantics, or phonology with graphology (layout, punctuation, typography).
- Ignoring mode: spoken transcripts need prosodic and interactional comment, not lexis alone.
- Two separate analyses instead of a sustained comparison of stance, audience and purpose.