NATURAL LANGUAGE Norris Hanna

Introduction: Whatcha got ain't nothin new. This country's hard on people, you can't stop what's coming, it ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity. Why does this author use misspellings and slang in this piece?

Demonstration Model: Ed Tom Bell: I was sheriff of this county when I was twenty-five years old. Hard to believe. My grandfather was a lawman; father too. Me and him was sheriffs at the same time; him up in Plano and me out here. I think he's pretty proud of that. I know I was. Some of the old time sheriffs never even wore a gun. A lotta folks find that hard to believe. Jim Scarborough'd never carried one; that's the younger Jim. Gaston Boykins wouldn't wear one up in Comanche County. I always liked to hear about the oldtimers. Never missed a chance to do so. You can't help but compare yourself against the oldtimers. Can't help but wonder how they would have operated these times. There was this boy I sent to the 'lectric chair at Huntsville Hill here a while back. My arrest and my testimony. He killt a fourteen-year-old girl. Papers said it was a crime of passion but he told me there wasn't any passion to it. Told me that he'd been planning to kill somebody for about as long as he could remember. Said that if they turned him out he'd do it again. Said he knew he was going to hell. "Be there in about fifteen minutes". I don't know what to make of that. I sure don't. The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to say, "O.K., I'll be part of this world." - Cormac McCarthy “No Country for Old Men

Guided Lesson: Now lets think of ways together that we can use Natural Language in our own novel, screenplay, or passage. Were going to create a passage as a group and add our own Natural Language to give the piece a unique voice. We will all need a sheet of notebook paper and a pen or pencil. Things to consider… Setting? Time period / era? Characters? Style or writing?

Guided Practice: Now that we have learned what Natural Language is, and how it is used let’s create our own example to demonstrate our knowledge of it. Work in small groups (4 -5) Select a piece from some fort of literary media such as a book, magazine, newspaper, screenplay, poem, blog, etc. and re-write it using Natural Language to replace existing language. Example: Find an article in a magazine and replace common language found in the piece and replace it with examples of Natural Language that gives the piece more, voice, flare, and character.

Share and Review: Lets review what we have learned today: An author can use different language to paint a vivid picture in the readers mind of what they are trying to portray in the piece. We do not always have to conform to traditional, or “proper” English styles when writing; by using Natural Language or adding voice to our work we can make it more interesting and paint a more vivid picture for the reader. Sometimes slang, misspellings, and idioms are the only way to make a piece come alive and express what the author is truly trying to portray.