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What is a Register?
Ø describes the various levels of language
available for writing or speaking in a social
context
Language Registers

How do you decide which language

Language Registers register is appropriate to use?
Ø Every Language has 5 language registers Ø Deciding which o Audience (who)
language
o Topic (what)
register is
appropriate o Situation:
depends on the location
rhetorical (where)&
situation purpose (why)—
the rhetorical
situation

The Universal Rule Five Language Registers

Ø Frozen
ØA person can go from
one register to the next Ø Formal

register without any Ø Consultative

conflicts Ø Casual

Ø Non-adjacent registers Ø Intimate

create problems

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Public Voice Frozen (Static) Register

Ø This style of communications RARELY or
Ø Frozen NEVER changes. It is “frozen” in time and
content.
Ø Formal
Ø They are cultural, usually
Ø Consultative related to the religions,
laws, or customs of the
community.
Ø They are usually
unidirectional (one
direction)

Frozen Register Examples of Frozen Register

Ø Pledge of Allegiance
Ø Learning them helps you to become a Ø Words to a song
member of a cultural group or community. Ø Poetry
Ø They are often passed down from Ø Prayer
generation to generation, or preserved in Ø Preamble to the US
books which are important to a group. Constitution
Ø Each one usually has a specific audience, Ø The Alma Mater
purpose, and context.
Ø They’re akin to a social/cultural script

Formal Register
Examples of Formal Register
Ø This language is used in formal settings and
is one-way in nature. Ø Presentations
Ø This use of language usually follows a
Ø Academic Paper
commonly accepted format.
Ø Essays in school
Ø It is usually impersonal,
formal & unidirectional Ø Sermons

Ø A common format for Ø Speeches

this register are speeches. Ø Announcements
Ø Mostly intellectual & Ø Interviews
informational, NOT emotional (but
sometimes emotions are used to persuade).

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Formal Register Rules Formal Register Rules

Ø Do not use contractions Ø Do not start sentences with words like and,
so, but, also
Ø Spell out numbers less than one hundred
Ø Always write in complete sentences.
Ø Write in third person point of view
Ø Write longer, more complex sentences.
Ø Avoid using too much passive voice
Ø Avoid using slang, idioms, exaggeration
(hyperboles) and clichés

Consultative Register
Ø This is a standard form of
communications. Users engage in a
mutually accepted structure of
communications.
Ø Two way (bidirectional) communication
used in conversation
Ø No past experience with that person
Ø It is professional discourse.
Examples of Consultative
Register
Ø Strangers who interact
Ø Adults at work
Ø Teachers with students
Ø Talking with lawyer or doctor
Ø Counselor and client

Consultative Private Voice

Register Rules
Ø They follow most of the same rules as Ø Casual
formal-regulated speech and writing Ø Intimate
Ø They have a different general purpose:
to get help.
Ø The audience is small and specific (the
helpers and the helpees).
Ø The context is also specific (at a hospital
after an injury, or at an information desk),
so some informalities may exist.

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Casual Register Examples of Casual Register

Ø This is informal language used by peers
and friends. Ø Talking with friends
Ø Past experience with that person Ø Personal letter to a friend

Ø This is “group” language. Ø Talk with teammates,

Ø One must be member to engage in this Ø chats and emails

register. Ø Personal blogs
Ø They have various purposes and are multi-
directional.

Casual Register Rules Intimate Register

Ø They don’t follow standard societal rules,
but follow the specific rules and "norms" of
the group.
Ø Slang, vulgarities and colloquialisms are
normal.
Ø This communications is private.
Ø Language shared between couples, twins,
very close friends
Ø Language of sexual harassment.
Ø It is reserved for close family members or
intimate people.
Ø Usually bidirectional

Examples of Intimate Register Intimate Register Rules

Ø Finish each other’s sentences
Ø Spouses Ø Slang
Ø Boyfriend and Girlfriend Ø Vulgarities
Ø Parent and Children Ø Pet names
Ø Very good friends Ø Informal diction
Ø Siblings Ø First & second person pronouns

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Shifts in Language Shifts in Language

Organization Vocabulary
Formal/Impersonal Casual/Personal
Formal/Impersonal Casual/Personal Ø Complete forms Ø Contracted forms
Ø more structured Ø less structured Ø Academic/exact Ø Common/general
Ø tighter Ø Looser Ø jargon Ø No jargon
Ø more logical Ø less logical Ø Latinate verbs Ø Compound verbs
Ø more repetitive Ø less repetitive Ø No slang/swearing Ø Slang/swearing
Ø more details Ø fewer details Ø Few personal pronouns Ø More personal pronouns
Ø more support Ø less support Ø more explanation Ø less explanation
Ø more explanation Ø less explanation Ø No nicknames Ø Nicknames
Ø No private words Ø Private words

Shifts in Language Shifts in Language

Vocabulary Grammar
Formal/Impersonal Casual/Personal
Ø More complex Ø More simple sentences
Formal/Impersonal Casual/Personal sentences
Ø Less descriptive Ø Richer descriptive Ø Longer sentences Ø Shorter sentences
Ø More transitions Ø More conjunctions Ø More conditionals Ø Fewer conditionals
Ø Uses negative forms Ø Uses “not” + word Ø More passive verbs Ø More active verbs
Ø Fewer emotional words Ø More emotional words Ø More exact Ø More vague
Ø Correctness more Ø Correctness less
important important
Ø More qualifiers/hedges Ø Fewer qualifiers/hedges

Shifts in Language Shifts in Language

Tone-Pronunciation Expectations

Formal/Impersonal Casual/Personal Formal/Impersonal Casual/Personal

Ø Careful enunciation Ø Slurred enunciation Ø More transactional Ø More aligning
Ø louder Ø softer Ø More explicit Ø More implicit
Ø Assertive tone Ø Inquisitive tone