Different usages of languages variations in media

As media takes a very wide range of TV shows, programmes, ads, articles and so on, the language variation is also wide, as in each kind of media product the audience, the communicative purpose... are different and the producers have to find out the best way to transmit what they want.

            As far as I’m concerned, TV is the best media to analyse this fact, as there are different types of programmes and shows and the different languages are easier to be seen.

            The most common language is the formal one because it is used in the news, documentals, researches and so on, as the main objective is to give impersonal information to the audience.

            However, nowadays Tv is changing a lot as most of the shows now are humourous because of the audience they gain, and most of times, the beused language is more informal as it is more expressive than the formal one. So, it can be concluded that informal language humour shows attract more people because it seems more real.

            This can be the reason of the success of some new TV shows in Basque such as Finlandia and Wazemank, where they use dialects or the contrast between dialects and standard Basque to make humor and parodys about Basque lifestyle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdnRkquShGk

            As we can see on this video, the language they use is a dialect and they have chosen it to make a video where they laugh about some TV programmes where a guy climbes mountains or makes expeditions.

            There are lots of examples like this, also on films like Aupa Etxebeste or Kutsidazu bidea Isabel. Catalan has also lots of examples like this one on TV shows like apm?, where they show Spanish people’s videos and mix them with other video’s pieces in order to make comments and jokes.

           

            As a conclusion, in my point of view the informal language is used to make humour because daily things are funny and the language we use every day is the informal one.

Minority languages and media

Last week in class we talked about the minority languages in media. In the Basque Country the media in basque is limited because there aren’t so many speakers, tso for example on TV there are only two channels in basque and the programmation isn’t very wide. Most of the shows are sports and a few quizes. In my point of view, the problem is that the standarization of the language started only a couple of decads and people who speak basque commonly speak dialects so they don’t feel used to watch shows in standard basque. A good example for this is the success of huomour TV shows like Wazemank and Finlandia, which don’t use standard basque. In the writting press, there is only one newspaper in basque, Berria, the others have some articles or suplements in basque. Taking into account the number of basque speakers and the potential consumers of this media, the stadistis are favourable, but there is a long way to achieve a “normal” media.

In the case of calatan, the standarization started earlier, so the servide that media gives is better. The TV  programmation is wider and the written press variety is greater as the readers and TV consumers are more (catalan speakers are over 800.000 people). Besides, the offer they give in the internet is really good.

As the internet is the new media, this gives minority languages the possibility to take part in the communication world in an active way.