Ways of classifying varieties of English

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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 words 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
• Speakers/writers 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 wouldnt
  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
  Hallidays definition of register
• Text type
• Genre
• Style

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Text type

• Mainly modes, but also incorporating some aspects
  of tenor
• Distinctions such as

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

• tenor
• Lay reader
• Child
• Humorous or not
• Revealing authors opinion or neutral

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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)