Functional Speech Varieties: Registers

Question 1

What are registers?

Answer 1

Registers are adjustments in the discourse made by the speaker to suit the relationship among the participants in a situation. Register has three dimensions: field, tenor and mode.

Question 2

Field

Answer 2

Broadly speaking, the field is the subject matter of the communication. It is related to the notion of lexical field and field-specific vocabulary. The vocabulary used in a certain field is specific to it (e.g. field of computer technology) and the words may have a specific meaning related to that field.

Question 3

Jargon

Answer 3

Jargon is the vocab specific to some field so that members of that field can communicate among themselves due to shared knowledge, while people not in that field cannot completely understand. Some jargon terms pass into the standard and lose their special status. The opposite may happen as well.

Question 4

Tenor

Answer 4

Tenor is the relationship between the participants in the communication, the social roles they play and the degree of formality they adopt. We often modify our “tone of voice” depending on where we are, who we are with etc. Degree of formality is a linguistic feature of tenor.

Question 5

Formality of tenor

Answer 5

Formal vocabulary is used in public discourse, in the written mode or in a monologue addressed by one person to a large audience. Formal words are characterized by explicitness, precision and personality.
Informal vocabulary is used in private discourse, in the spoken mode or dialogue, with small audiences and an intimate setting. Informal words are characterized by short and reduced forms, they are vague, casual and used for personal and emotional expression.

Question 6

Code-switching

Answer 6

The term code-switching is used where register differences are associated with a number of separate language varieties (e.g. In Wales, people switch from English to Welsh)

Question 7

Diglossia

Answer 7

In many bilingual communities, members use one language variety for more public or formal purposes (education, literature etc) and another for more informal, private purposes (private settings). This situation is known as diglossia.

Question 8

Mode

Answer 8

Mode is the channel or medium of communication, that is primarily spoken or written. Speech has always preceded writing, both in terms of the individual development of each language user and in terms of the history of each language.

Question 9

Consequences of the presence or absence of an addressee

Answer 9

1. If the addressee is present, speakers do not need to be as explicit and careful with their vocab because immediate feedback is available.
2. In face to face speech situations, speakers usually do not have time to prepare their speech carefully and must think on their feet. As a result, pauses, hesitations and fillers (um, er, sort of, like) are produced.
3. Conversations, which are dialogue, are characterized by turn-taking procedures
4. Speech between fewer addressees tends to be informal, while an increased audience is more formal.
5. Because speech is spontaneous, we organize it chronologically and expressions are joined by simple conjunctions, while written language can have long complex structures since it can be reread.
6. Speech is used in the phatic function that is oriented to establish and maintain an interpersonal contact, and it is also suitable for poetic devices such as alliteration. Writing is best suited for communication of complex, detailed material.

Question 10

Use of Nominalization

Answer 10

In written language, many verbs, adjectives and conjunctions are converted into nouns or nominalized. Texts with extensive nominalisation have higher lexical density, that is, they have a higher proportion of open-class words. Nominalisation enables an impersonal tone.