5 Language Style

For the term style, there are many definitions which are basically the same. The first
to be mentioned here is the definition given by Marjohan (1988:34) that style refers to
a variation in speech or writing from more formal to more casual. Some markers for
the formal style would be the use of may instead of might and can and also
constructions such as For whom did you get it? Instead of Who’d you get that for? in
more casual speech.

Bell’s (ed. Jaworski, 1997) statement about style is in line with the statement made by
Holmes (2001:223) above that style is related more with the situations than with the
speakers themselves. This can be seen in his statement that when we want to talk
about style, it means that we talk about the same speakers who talk in different ways
on different situations and not the different speakers who talk in different ways from
each other (Bell, ed. Jaworski, 1997:240).

According to Holmes (2001:246) the term style refers to language variation which
reflects changes in situational factors. She also mentions that styles are often analysed
according to the levels of formality (Holmes, 2001:246). According to Martin Joos
(1976:156) speech style here means the form of language that the speaker uses which
characterized by the degree of formality. He identified the styles in five classes such
as frozen style, formal style, consultative style, casual style, and intimate style. This is
in accordance with Martin Joos (1967) in his book The Five Clocks as quoted by
Nababan (1986:22) who divides the style of formality into five levels, frozen, formal,
consultative, casual and intimate styles. The description of these styles can be seen in
the following:
a. Frozen style
((According to Joss (1976:156) frozen style is a style, which is intended to be
remembered and used in very formal setting such as in palace, church ritual,speech
for state ceremony, and some other occasions. This style involves very large group of
people whose members are known to one another. However, this style is not only
addressed to strangers at that time but also toposterity as well.Nevertheless, the reader
or the hearers are not permitted giving question to the speakers. This is usually uses
long sentence with good grammatical and vocabulary. For example: “I should be glad
to be informed of the correct time.” Joos, (1976:154)))
------> It is the most formal style used in formal situations and ceremonies
(Nababan, 1986:22). It is called frozen because the pattern has been set up firmly and
can never be changed by anyone. In written form, we can see this style in historical
documents, ratification, and other formal documents.

b. Formal style.
((According to Joos (1976:156) formal style is generally used in formal situation,
where there is the least amount of shared background and the communication in this
style is largely one way with little or no feedback from the audience, for example, in
graduation ceremony which typically used in speaking to medium or large groups.
However, it may also use in speaking tosingle hearer, for example, between
strangers.In fact, formal style is designed to inform and the background information is
woven into text in complex sentences. Indeed, the sentence structures are more
complex and varied than consultative. That is why the speaker must ahead and frame
whole sentences before they delivered. Furthermore, the leading code-label of this
style is “may”. For example,” may I present Mr. Jimmy?” Joos (1976: 154)))
----> It is the style used in formal speech, formal meeting, office correspendence,
lesson books for school, etc (Chaer & Agustina, 1995:93). Formal style is basically
similar to the frozen style that is only used in formal situations and not in informal
situations. The example of formal style as quoted by Marjohan (1988:35) from
Nababan (1987) is the first paragraph of the opening of the 1945 constitution of the
Republic of Indonesia that was written in a formal or even in a frozen style,
“Bahwa sesungguhnya kemerdekaan itu ialah hak segala bangsa dan oleh sebab
itu maka penjajahan di atas dunia harus dihapuskan karena tidak sesuai dengan peri
kemanusiaan dan peri keadilan.”

c. Consultative style
((Consultative style is a style used in semi-formal communication. It must be
confessed that consultative is the central point in the system because it is chiefly
involved in speech style. It is one type of language, which is required from every
speaker. According to Martin Joos (1976:154) consultative style is that shown our
norm for coming to term with strangers who speak our language but whose personal
stock of information may be different. Consultative style happens in two-way
participation. It is the most operational among the other styles. It is used in
negotiating with the strangers or work colleagues. It is also used in small group
discussion, regular conversation at school, companies, trade conversation and etc. The
speaker has to deliver background information about a topic, and it does not presume
to be understood without it.))
----> This is the style used in ordinary conversation held at school, in meeting or
conversation that leads to result and production (Nababan, 1986:22). It can be said
that this style is the most operational one.

d. Casual style
It is the style used to speak with friends, family or relatives, during the leisure
time, while exercising, etc (Chaer & Agustina, 1995:93). The casual style markers in
English mentioned in Marjohan’s book (1988:35) are:
1. The absence of an article at the beginning of a sentence, for example:
- Friend of mine saw it.
- Coffee’s cold.
2. The absence of the subject at the beginning of a sentence, for example:
- Bought it yesterday?
- Makes no difference.
3. The absence of an auxiliary, for example:
- Leaving?
- Seen John lately?

e. Intimate style.
This is the style used with people who have close relationships with the speaker
(Nababan, 1986:22). By using this style those people do not need to use complete
sentences with clear articulation, they just simply use short words. It happens mainly
because there is an understanding among those people.
 A number of kinds of style can also be found in the study conducted by Labov in
1966 as mentioned by Bell (ed. Jaworski, 1997:241) in his writing. In gathering some
useful informations from his informants, Labov used a series of language tasks and
recorded his interviews with them. From this recordings, he found the casual speech
or the condition of paying the least attention to someone’s speech. This casual speech
was used when a speaker was speaking to someone else who was not the interviewer,
or discussing topics which got the speaker and that someone involved with each other.
He also found another style, the careful style or the condition of paying a bit more
attention to someone’s speech. This style especially revealed in the recordings when a
speaker was answering questions in a typical interview way and when a speaker paid
more attention to his pronunciation whenever he was asked to read aloud a brief
passage of a story. Labov also found that there was the maximum amount of attention
that was paid to a one’s speech whenever a speaker was asked to read out a list of
isolated words and a set of minimal pairs.

Peter Trudgill (ed. Jaworski, 1997:179) used four different styles that are related
to five social groups in his work on the standard ing pronunciation and the
non-standard in pronunciation in Norwich English. The four styles are Word List
Style (WLS), Reading Passage Style (RPS), Formal Speech (FS) and Casual Speech
(CS) while the five social groups are lower working-class (LWC), middle
working-class (MWC), upper working-class (UWC), lower middle-class (LMC) and
middle middle-class (MMC). According to Bell (ed. Jaworski, 1997:241) from the
style graph there are two things that can be revealed. The first is that when we go
from the middle-class groups to the working-class groups the use of the
non-standardin pronunciation increases and the use of the standarding pronunciation
decreases. The second is that when each group style have to do the tasks demanding
increasing attention, each group style moves from using less in to using more ing.
Therefore in casual speech the five groups use most in, in careful speech and reading
passage they use less in and in the word lists they use the least in.