The Language of Radio Broadcast

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The Language of Radio Broadcast

 

-        Ella Hilton

 

The radio has many different purposes; it is there to provide music, news, documentaries, chat shows, campaigns and advertising to a wide range of audiences.  The BBC states it is there "to inform, educate and entertain" and each station is designed around the age range or interests of its listeners, for example Radio 1 offers new music, entertainment and tailored news aimed at 15-29 year olds. The first public radio broadcast was an experiment on January 13 1910, of a live opera house performance and since then radio has become one of the most popular ways of entertainment, as it is available at home, in the car, online and can be accessed on any tablet or phone.

When we listen to the radio we feel directly spoken to although the communication is primarily one-way as the listener has no means of questioning or responding back to the messages.  There is now use of telephoning and email which means there is delayed participation which can seem like informal chatter, although due to the audience being the public the tone tends to be formal.

In early broadcasting the language used on the radio was known as "BBC English" it used Received Pronunciation as it was thought to be widely accepted, universally understood and the least likely to be criticised.  Although from the 1990s there was use of a wider range of accents both regional and social as presenters tried to speak in the language we communicate in every day, but these changes did attract complaints that standards of spoken English were slipping.  Theorist Bell proposed in 1997 that "speakers design their style primarily for and in response to their audience" this is known as the 'audience design theory' a sociolinguistic theory that was formed from Giles' 'accommodation theory' where he stated that speakers change their linguistic style in order to appeal to their audience.

The broadcaster of a particular station designs the language with a chosen audience in mind, which determines what content and linguistic forms are used.  In 1991 Giles and Coupland stated that "communicators need the audience, whose approval must be won.  In order to do this they must 'accommodate' to their audience by becoming similar to them". This is more typical of recent broadcasts as there are hundreds of radio stations to choose from, each varying their target audience.

Broadcasters use codes to organise and convey meaning that the audience interpret in order to understand the programmes.  The radio can use no visual codes so relies only on linguistic codes such as sound effects and prosodic features.  The use of prosodic features; pitch, volume and rhythm draw attention to the key elements of the speech.  The use of intonation patterns reinforce the meanings of words and indicate attitudes such as stress patterns, pauses, pace and loudness of the speaker.  These language choices and grammatical structures depend on the kind of programmes, its purpose, the intended audience and the time of transmission.

Radio is both spoken and written.  Although it is delivered as spontaneous speech it is proofed and edited beforehand just like written language.  This is done so that the information is easily understandable as it can only be heard once and there is nothing to refer back to.  The speech is fluent and approachable with carefully organised utterances and occasional fillers so that it can be presented as if it is completely spontaneous.  Due to the mass media that radio is presented to, concrete verb choices are used instead of abstract to describe precisely so that the listener can imagine them.  Active forms are used instead of passive so that they relate directly to the listener and become more obvious.

There is also recent use of slang on radio broadcasts aimed at young people. Slang can reflect a person's age and is commonly the linguistic choice of young people; it has become an important clique marker and can be used as a signal for the specific group of "the young".  This means it is a way of excluding older generations and promoting exclusiveness, therefore it is consequently a strong signal of audience design as it implies the people on the radio are no different from the listeners.

 

 

Bibliography:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/whatwedo/radio/

 

Speaking on the Radio – by Antje Schwarzmeier Radio: introductory course in five langauges/ed.by Radio CORAX/www.interaudio.org

 

Sara Thorne, Mastering Advanced English Language, Second Edition 2008, Broadcasting Language

 

HOW THE LANGUAGE OF TELEVISION NEWS BROADCASTING IS SHAPED BY AUDIENCE DESIGN - Mary Anne ROBERTSON Pdf

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/courses/ling/ling201/res/diss/robertson.pdf