Ways of classifying varieties of English

Style, register, genre, …

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Varieties of English

• Already seen accent, dialect

• Talked about geographic and sociological aspects of language variety

• Want to focus today on aspects of “style”

• In particular “register”

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Register

• Subset of language as defined by purpose and setting

• Term first used by Reid (1956), but popularised by Halliday (et al.) (1964) to distinguish– Variety due to user (accent, dialect)– Variety due to use

• Halliday (1964) defines register in terms of field, tenor and mode.

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Field, tenor and mode

• All of these can determine or be defined, to greater or lesser extent, in terms of– Vocabulary– Syntax– Phonology– Morphology– Pragmatics– Paralinguistic features– (Non-linguistic correlates)

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Field

• Relates to the subject matter

• Idea that what you are talking about determines vocabulary in particular– Specialised meanings of words, especially if a

technical field (maybe narrower or broader than the word’s meaning in another field)

– Preferred interpretations of ambiguous words– Words that are not used outside the field

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Field

• Can also determine syntax– certain grammatical constructions may be favoured,

or disfavoured– Some constructions may deviate from the “norm”

• Less likely to have an impact on other levels• Related topics:

– Sublanguage, LSP– Terminology

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Tenor

• Relates to the participants and their relationship– Speaker/writer– Intended audience

• In spoken language– Speaker, hearer(s)

• In written language– Author, intended readership

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Tenor relates to …

• Formality– Appropriateness of more or less formal phonology, lexis, syntax

• Intimacy– Use of private, shared meanings– Including intonation, syntax, pragmatic and paralinguistic

elements

• Impression– Speaker’s/writer’s intention to portray themselves in a certain

way: speaker can control what they say/write– Less control over how audience interpret this

• Non-linguistic elements particularly relate to tenor– Dress code, stance, gestures, …

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Tenor determines …• Vocabulary

– Choice of synonyms according to level of formality – Private slang, “local” clichés, colloquialisms

• Syntax / orthography– Use of contractions, ellipses– Certain constructions may be more or less formal

• Phonology– Accent [is this changing?]

• Pragmatics– Precision more or less tolerated– Use of pronouns and deictic reference

• Paralinguistic features– Intonation– Pitch and volume

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Formality scale

• Quirk et al. (1965) suggest a scale of “Attitudes”:– Very formal, Frozen, Rigid – FORMAL– Neutral– INFORMAL– Very informal, Casual, Familiar

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Mode

• Channel of communication, broadly written vs spoken, but …

• Written to be read aloud or not• Written as if it were spoken

– Transcripts of genuine dialogues– Dialogue in plays

• Spoken from written– Speeches, announcements

• Spoken spontaneously

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Mode relates to …

• Lexis and grammar– There are things that you say but you wouldn’t

write down and vice versa

• Phonology– Euphony, alliteration are aspects of mode– Written representation of dialect

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Some other terms

• Several concepts found which cut across Halliday’s definition of register:– Text type– Genre– Style

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Text type

• Modes – Detailed report– Brief report– Summary– Abstract

• tenor– Lay reader– Child– Humorous or not– Revealing author’s

opinion or neutral

• Mainly modes, but also incorporating some aspects of tenor

• Distinctions such as

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Genre

• Term used in many other fields (eg literary, musical, painting)

• In stylistics, term used to capture all of mode, tenor and field, so possibly a synonym of register

• Possible distinction?????

• Register = the set of linguistic features

• Genre = the set of determinants

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Register is a fuzzy concept

• No discrete boundaries in registers

• We cannot easily define and name specific registers

• Rather “register” refers to a set of tendencies determining language at all levels

• The tendencies being related principally to field, mode and tenor

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Joos (1961) styles

• Frozen: Printed unchanging language such as bible quotations; often contains archaisms.

• Formal: One-way participation, no interruption. Technical vocabulary; "Fussy semantics" or exact definitions are important. Includes introductions between strangers.

• Consultative: Two-way participation. Background information is provided — prior knowledge is not assumed. "Backchannel behaviour" such as "uh huh", "I see", etc. is common. Interruptions allowed.

• Casual: In-group friends and acquaintances. No background information provided. Ellipsis and slang common. Interruptions common.

• Intimate: Non-public. Intonation more important than wording or grammar. Private vocabulary.

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Style and stylistics

• Even if “style” is a somewhat nebulous concept, there is some interest in trying to characterise style

• Next time: stylometrics– how do you measure style?– Can you characterise registers in terms of

numerical measurements? (Biber)