Register

In linguistics, the register is defined as the way a speaker uses language differently in different
circumstances. Think about the words you choose, your tone of voice, even your body language. You
probably behave very differently chatting with a friend than you would at a formal dinner party or
during a job interview. These variations in formality, also called stylistic variation, are known as registers
in linguistics. They are determined by such factors as social occasion, context, purpose, and audience.

Registers are marked by a variety of specialized vocabulary and turns of phrases, colloquialisms and the
use of jargon, and a difference in intonation and pace; in "The Study of Language," linguist George Yule
describes the function of jargon as helping " to create and maintain connections among those who see
themselves as 'insiders' in some way and to exclude 'outsiders.'"

Registers are used in all forms of communication, including written, spoken, and signed. Depending on
grammar, syntax, and tone, the register may be extremely rigid or very intimate. You don't even need to
use an actual word to communicate effectively. A huff of exasperation during a debate or a grin while
signing "hello" speaks volumes.

Types of Linguistic Register

Some linguists say there are just two types of register: formal and informal. This isn't incorrect, but it is
an oversimplification. Instead, most who study language say there are five distinct registers.

Frozen: This form is sometimes called the static register because it refers to historic language or
communication that is intended to remain unchanged, like a constitution or prayer. Examples: The Bible,
the United States Constitution, the Bhagavad Gita, "Romeo and Juliet."

Formal: Less rigid but still constrained, the formal register is used in professional, academic, or legal
settings where communication is expected to be respectful, uninterrupted, and restrained. Slang is
never used, and contractions are rare. Examples: a TED talk, a business presentation, the Encyclopaedia
Brittanica, "Gray's Anatomy," by Henry Gray.

Consultative: People use this register often in conversation when they're speaking with someone who
has specialized knowledge or who is offering advice. Tone is often respectful (use of courtesy titles) but
may be more casual if the relationship is longstanding or friendly (a family doctor.) Slang is sometimes
used, people may pause or interrupt one another. Examples: the local TV news broadcast, an annual
physical, a service provider like a plumber.

Casual: This is the register people use when they're with friends, close acquaintances and co-workers,
and family. It's probably the one you think of when you consider how you talk with other people, often
in a group setting. Use of slang, contractions, and vernacular grammar is all common, and people may
also use expletives or off-color language in some settings. Examples: a birthday party, a backyard
barbecue.
Intimate: Linguists say this register is reserved for special occasions, usually between only two people
and often in private. Intimate language may be something as simple as an inside joke between two
college friends or a word whispered in a lover's ear.

Additional Resources and Tips

Knowing which register to use can be challenging for English students. Unlike Spanish and other
languages, there is no special form of a pronoun expressly for use in formal situations. Culture adds
another layer of complication, especially if you're not familiar with how people are expected to behave
in certain situations.

Teachers say there are two things you can do to improve your skills. Look for contextual clues such as
vocabulary, use of examples, and illustrations. Listen for tone of voice. Is the speaker whispering or
yelling? Are they using courtesy titles or addressing people by name? Look at how they're standing and
consider the words they choose.

n communication and composition, context refers to the words and sentences that surround any part of
a discourse and that helps to determine its meaning. Sometimes called linguistic context.

In a broader sense, context may refer to any aspects of an occasion in which a speech-act takes place,
including the social setting and the status of both the speaker and the person who's addressed.
Sometimes called social context.

"Our choice of words is constrained by the context in which we use the language. Our personal thoughts
are shaped by those of others," says author Claire Kramsch.

Observations

"In common use, almost every word has many shades of meaning, and therefore needs to be
interpreted by the context," says textbook writer Alfred Marshall.

"The mistake is to think of words as entities. They depend for their force, and also for their meaning, on
emotional associations and historical overtones, and derive much of their effect from the impact of the
whole passage in which they occur. Taken out of their context, they are falsified. I have suffered a great
deal from writers who have quoted this or that sentence of mine either out of its context or in
juxtaposition to some incongruous matter which quite distorted my meaning, or destroyed it
altogether," says Alfred North Whitehead, British mathematician, and philosopher.

Text and Context

"[British linguist M.A.K. Halliday] maintains that meaning should be analyzed not only within the
linguistic system but also taking into account the social system in which it occurs. In order to accomplish
this task, both text and context must be considered. Context is a crucial ingredient in Halliday's
framework: Based on the context, people make predictions about the meanings of utterances," says
Patricia Mayes, Ph.D., an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The Linguistic and Nonlinguistic Dimensions of Context

According to the book, "Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon," "Recent work in
a number of different fields has called into question the adequacy of earlier definitions of context in
favor of a more dynamic view of the relationship between linguistic and non-linguistic dimensions of
communicative events. Instead of viewing context as a set of variables that statically surround strips of
talk, context and talk are now argued to stand in a mutually reflexive relationship to each other, with
talk, and the interpretive work it generates, shaping context as much as context shapes talk."

"Language is not merely a set of unrelated sounds, clauses, rules, and meanings; it is a total coherent
system of these integrating with each other, and with behavior, context, universe of discourse, and
observer perspective," says American linguist and anthropologist Kenneth L. Pike.

Vygotsky's Influence on Studies of Context in Language Use

According to writer, Larry W. Smith, "Although [Belarusian psychologist Lev] Vygotsky did not write
extensively specifically about the concept of context, all of his work implies the importance of context
both at the level of individual speech acts (whether in inner speech or social dialogue) and at the level of
historical and cultural patterns of language use. Vygotsky's work (as well as that of others) has been an
impetus in the development of the recognition of the need to pay close attention to context in studies of
language use. For example, an interactionist approach following Vygotsky is readily compatible with
recent developments in such linguistics- and language-associated fields as sociolinguistics, discourse
analysis, pragmatics, and the ethnography of communication precisely because Vygotsky recognized the
importance of both immediate contextual constraints and the wider social, historical, and cultural
conditions of language use."