Paper 4 – Language Topics (Cambridge A‑Level English Language 9093)
Objective
Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the linguistic issues, concepts, methods and approaches required for the Cambridge A‑Level English Language (9093) examination, and apply this knowledge to analyse data in the four mandated topic areas.
Syllabus Overview – Four Required Topic Areas
The specification (Paper 4) links each topic to Assessment Objective 4 (knowledge of linguistic concepts) and Assessment Objective 5 (analysis of language data).
- Language Change
- Child Language Acquisition
- English in the World
- Language and the Self
1. Language Change
Knowledge points (AO4)
- Types of change: lexical, grammatical, phonological, semantic.
- Mechanisms: borrowing, analogy, grammaticalisation, semantic shift, lexicalisation, reanalysis.
- Historical periods relevant to English: Old English, Middle English, Early‑Modern English, Contemporary English.
- Social factors: prestige, gender, age, socioeconomic status, language attitudes.
- Technological factors: printing press, mass media, internet, social‑media platforms.
- Corpus‑based evidence: n‑gram graphs, frequency tables, concordance lines, type‑token ratios.
- Methodological note: selecting n‑gram slices (e.g., 10‑year bins, genre‑balanced corpora) and interpreting trends (rising, falling, stable).
Skills (AO5)
- Interpret n‑gram graphs to identify lexical trends and relate them to social/technological change.
- Construct and read corpus tables (frequency, % frequency, range, collocation strength).
- Analyse a diachronic excerpt for lexical, grammatical and phonological change, using appropriate terminology.
- Critically evaluate the reliability of corpus data (sample size, genre bias, representativeness).
Key terminology (quick‑glossary)
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| n‑gram graph | Visual representation of the frequency of a word or phrase across chronological slices of a corpus. | Graph showing “thou” declining from 1600‑1800 while “you” rises. |
| Corpus table | Tabular display of quantitative data (frequency, % frequency, range) extracted from a corpus. | “computer” – 1 200 occurrences, 0.15 % frequency, range = 45 texts. |
| Grammaticalisation | Process by which lexical items develop grammatical functions. | “going to” → future marker “gonna”. |
| Semantic shift | Change in meaning of a word over time. | “awful” from “full of awe” to “very bad”. |
| Borrowing | Adoption of words from another language. | “kindergarten” (German) into English. |
| Analogy | Extension of a pattern from one part of the language to another. | “steal‑ed” → “steal‑ing” (regularising the past participle). |
Illustrative example
Analyse the Early‑Modern excerpt (c. 1620):
“Thee shall find the yeoman in his grove of cattle.”
- Lexical items no longer common today: yeoman, grove (of cattle).
- Use a contemporary corpus (e.g., COCA) to show frequency decline (provide a mini‑table).
- Discuss possible reasons: agricultural mechanisation, social restructuring, reduced use of feudal terminology.
- Link the change to social factors (prestige of “yeoman” in a hierarchical society) and technological factors (printing standardisation of “you”).
2. Child Language Acquisition
Knowledge points (AO4)
- Developmental stages: pre‑babbling, canonical babbling, holophrastic, telegraphic, morphosyntactic stage.
- Key concepts: phonological development, lexical spurt, over‑regularisation, caretaker speech (motherese), functions of children’s language (instrumental, regulatory, interactional, expressive).
- Transcription conventions (IPA‑based):
[ ] – phonetic detail. – micro‑pause.. – longer pause/ – overlapˈ – primary stressˌ – secondary stress
- Theoretical perspectives: innatist (Chomsky), behaviourist (Skinner), interactionist (Vygotsky), emergentist.
- Ethical considerations: informed consent, right to withdraw, privacy, data protection, researcher‑child power dynamics.
Skills (AO5)
- Transcribe a short child‑speech sample using the standard conventions.
- Identify the developmental stage from lexical and grammatical features.
- Analyse the role of caretaker input (repetition, expansion, recasting) in the child’s utterances.
- Evaluate methodological strengths and limitations of a child‑language study (sample size, elicitation method, longitudinal vs. cross‑sectional).
Key terminology (quick‑glossary)
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Holophrastic stage | ≈12‑18 months; a single word conveys an entire proposition. | “Milk!” = “I want milk.” |
| Telegraphic speech | ≈18‑30 months; content words without function words. | “Dog big run.” |
| Over‑regularisation | Applying regular rules to irregular forms. | “goed” for “went”. |
| Motherese / caretaker speech | Simplified, exaggerated speech used by adults with infants. | High pitch, short sentences, repetition. |
| Instrumental function | Language used to obtain something. | “Want cookie.” |
| Regulatory function | Language used to control behaviour. | “No! Stop!” |
| Interactional function | Language used to maintain social contact. | “Hi‑hi!” |
| Expressive function | Language used to express feelings. | “Happy!” |
Illustrative transcript (excerpt)
[Child] 1: I want [milk] .
[Child] 2: Dog big run .
[Child] 3: I goed to park .
[Adult] 1: You want milk, yes? .
[Adult] 2: The dog is big, isn’t it? .
- Stage identification: utterance 2 = telegraphic; utterance 3 shows over‑regularisation (morphosyntactic stage).
- Adult expansions (utterance 1 & 2) illustrate caretaker speech strategies.
- Functions: utterance 1 (instrumental), utterance 2 (interactional), utterance 3 (expressive).
3. English in the World
Knowledge points (AO4)
- Kachru’s model: Inner Circle, Outer Circle, Expanding Circle.
- World‑English varieties: British, American, Indian, Nigerian, Singaporean, etc.
- Processes: creolisation, pidginisation, language shift, linguistic imperialism, code‑mixing.
- Features of World‑Englishes: lexical borrowing, phonological variation, syntactic convergence, discourse‑marker usage.
- Implications: identity, education policy, language planning.
- Ethical considerations: cultural imperialism, language‑shift impact on minority languages, researcher responsibility in post‑colonial contexts.
Skills (AO5)
- Compare two World‑English varieties using a set of linguistic variables (vowel quality, lexical items, discourse markers).
- Use corpus data (e.g., GloWbE) to illustrate frequency differences and collocational patterns.
- Critically discuss the role of English in post‑colonial societies (language‑shift, code‑mixing, identity).
- Evaluate arguments for and against “English‑only” policies in education, referencing ethical considerations.
Key terminology (quick‑glossary)
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Inner Circle | Countries where English is the primary native language. | UK, USA, Australia. |
| Outer Circle | Countries where English has historical institutional status. | India, Nigeria, Singapore. |
| Expanding Circle | Countries where English is learned as a foreign language. | Japan, Brazil, Russia. |
| Creolisation | Development of a stable, fully‑functional language from a pidgin. | Haitian Creole from French pidgin. |
| Language shift | Community transition from using one language to another over generations. | Gaelic → English in parts of Scotland. |
| Linguistic imperialism | Dominance of one language that marginalises others for political/economic reasons. | Spread of English through colonial education. |
| Code‑mixing | Alternating lexical items from two languages within a single clause. | “I’ll call you mañana.” |
Illustrative comparison (British vs. Indian English)
| Feature | British English | Indian English |
|---|
| Lexical item for “apartment” | Flat | Flat / Apartment (both used) |
| Use of present perfect | “I have just eaten.” | “I just ate.” (simple past) |
| Tag question | “It’s cold, isn’t it?” | “It’s cold, no?” |
| Vowel in “bath” | /bɑːθ/ (broad a) | /bæθ/ (short a) |
| Discourse marker | “actually” | “you know” |
Policy‑debate prompt (for AO5)
“Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of implementing an English‑only policy in primary schools in an Outer‑Circle country, taking into account linguistic imperialism, language‑shift, and multilingual identity.”
4. Language and the Self
Knowledge points (AO4)
- Theories of language acquisition: innatist (Universal Grammar), behaviourist, interactionist, emergentist.
- Language and identity: social identity theory, linguistic relativity (Sapir‑Whorf), performativity, stance.
- Registers and style‑shifting as self‑presentation.
- Speech‑community concepts: in‑group vs. out‑group, code‑switching, code‑mixing, linguistic accommodation.
- Ethical issues in research on personal identity: anonymity, power dynamics, informed consent, cultural sensitivity.
Skills (AO5)
- Analyse a media excerpt for how language constructs gender, ethnicity or age identity.
- Identify and explain instances of style‑shifting or code‑switching.
- Apply a theoretical framework (e.g., Social Identity Theory) to interpret linguistic choices.
- Discuss ethical considerations when researching personal narratives or identity‑related discourse.
Key terminology (quick‑glossary)
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|
| Social identity theory | Explains how individuals define themselves through group membership, reflected in language. | Use of “we” to signal in‑group affiliation. |
| Language relativity (Sapir‑Whorf) | Idea that language influences thought and perception. | Different colour vocabularies affecting colour discrimination. |
| Performative language | Speech acts that constitute an identity (e.g., “I promise”). | “I’m a gamer” as an identity claim. |
| Code‑switching | Alternating between two language varieties within a discourse. | “I was like, ‘¡Vamos!’ and then we left.” |
| In‑group marker | Lexical or phonological feature signalling belonging. | Use of “innit” among UK youth. |
| Style‑shifting | Changing register or linguistic style to suit a social context. | Switching from formal “Dear Sir” to informal “Hey mate”. |
Illustrative analysis (teenage vlog transcript)
Speaker: So, like, I was chillin’ at the mall, right? And then my bestie said, “Yo, let’s grab some bubble tea!” I was like, “Yasss, srsly!” 😂
- Register: informal, youth‑oriented, multimodal (emoji).
- Identity markers: “chillin’”, “bestie”, “Yasss”, “srsly” – signal affiliation with contemporary UK/Global youth culture.
- Performative stance: “I was like” introduces reported speech, positioning the speaker as an active participant.
- Style‑shifting: rapid movement between lexical slang and quoted speech.
- Theoretical lens: Social Identity Theory – lexical choices delineate in‑group (peers) vs. out‑group (adults).
Core Linguistic Issues (Applicable Across All Topics)
- Language variation – regional, social, stylistic.
- Register and genre.
- Discourse structure – cohesion, coherence, discourse markers.
- Diachronic change – mechanisms and evidence.
- Power, ideology and identity.
- Multimodality and digital communication.
Key Concepts (AO4)
- Phonology – sound systems, phonemic inventories, allophony.
- Morphology – word formation, inflection, derivation.
- Syntax – clause structure, phrase‑structure rules, dependency relations.
- Semantics – lexical meaning, polysemy, semantic fields.
- Pragmatics – speech acts, implicature, deixis.
- Corpus Linguistics – quantitative analysis, collocation, frequency.
- Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) – power, ideology, representation.
Methodological Approaches (AO5)
| Approach |
Focus |
Typical data sources |
Strengths |
| Descriptive linguistics |
Structure of language (phonology, morphology, syntax) |
Recorded speech, written texts, corpora |
Systematic description; provides baseline for comparison. |
| Corpus linguistics |
Quantitative patterns, frequency, collocation |
Large electronic corpora (COCA, BNC, GloWbE) |
Empirical, replicable, handles large data sets. |
| Conversation analysis |
Turn‑taking, repair, interactional organization |
Transcribed spoken interaction |
Fine‑grained insight into spoken discourse. |
| Ethnographic observation |
Language use in natural social contexts |
Field notes, video recordings |
Rich contextual detail; captures social meaning. |
| Critical discourse analysis |
Power, ideology, representation in text/talk |
Media texts, policy documents, online forums |
Links language to broader sociopolitical processes. |
| Experimental psycholinguistics |
Cognitive processing of language |
Reaction‑time tasks, eye‑tracking, EEG |
Controlled investigation of mental mechanisms. |