Registers

REGISTER IS A VARIETY OF LANGUAGE

USED FOR A PARTICULAR
COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION.

IT REFERS TO THE PERCEIVED ATTITUDE

AND LEVEL OF FORMALITY ASSOCIATED
WITH A VARIETY OF LANGUAGE.

IT’S LIKE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

THE SPEAKER OR WRITER’S ATTITUDE AND
THE VARIETY CHOSEN.
 EXAMPLE

 Let’s say an English speaking woman named

Myreen is speaking officially or in a public setting,
since she is an English speaker, she maybe more
likely to follow prescriptive norms for formal usage
than in a casual setting; it may include
pronouncing words in –ing with velar nasal
instead of alveolar nasal (for Ex. “walking”, not
“walkin”), choosing more “formal”( such as father
than dad, or child than kid), and refraining from
using words considered nonstandard such as
“ain’t”.
 Meanings

 Non- standard dialect is type of dialect or language variety

that has not historically benefited from the institutional support
or sanction that a standard dialect has. It is not intrinsically
incorrect, less logical, or otherwise inferior, only that it is not the
socially perceived norm or mainstream for public speech.

 Variation is a characteristics of language which states that

there is more than one way of saying the same thing. Speakers
may vary pronunciation (accent), word choice (lexicon), or
morphology and syntax.

 Language Registers range on a scale from most formal to

most informal.
 LANGUAGE REGISTER FORMALITY LEVELS

1. FROZEN: This is where the use of language is fixed and

relatively static. The national pledge, anthem, school creeds
and The Lord's Prayer are examples of a frozen register. In
essence it is language that does not require any feedback.
Example: "All visitors are invited to proceed upstairs
immediately.“

2. Formal: This describes language used in official and

ceremonial settings. The language used in these settings is
comparatively rigid and has a set, agreed upon vocabulary that
is well documented. In other words, the language used is often
of a standard variety.
Example: "Would everyone please proceed upstairs at once?"
 LANGUAGE REGISTER FORMALITY LEVELS

3. CONSULTATIVE: This describes language used for the

purpose of seeking assistance as is suggested by the word
'consult'. It also describes the language used between a superior
and subordinate. The language dynamism between lawyer/client,
doctor/patient, employer/employee and teacher/student are
examples of this type of register.
Example: "Would you all please go upstairs right away?“

4. CASUAL/INFORMAL: This describes language used

between friends. It is often very relaxed and focused on just
getting the information out. Slangs are quite often used in these
instances.
Example: "Come on upstairs now."
 LANGUAGE REGISTER FORMALITY LEVELS

5. INTIMATE: This is used to describe language used between

persons who share a close relationship or bond. This register
would take into account certain terms of endearment, slangs or
expressions whose meaning is shared with a small subset of
persons.
Example: Lovers having special terms of endearment, mothers
giving pet names to their children based on some character trait
and best friends formulating slangs based on some shared past
experience.
 THREE DIMENSIONS OF REGISTER

 FIELD: it is defined as “the total event, in which the text

is functioning, together with the purposive activity of the
speaker or writer; it thus includes the subject-matter as one
element in it”. The field describes activities and processes
that are happening at the time of speech. The analysis of
this parameter focuses on the entire situation, e.g. when a
mother talks to her child.
 LANGUAGE REGISTER FORMALITY LEVELS

 MODE: it refers to “the function of the text in the event,

including therefore both the channel taken by the language
– spoken or written, extempore or prepared, and its genre
or rhetorical mode, as narrative, didactic, persuasive,
‘Phatic communion’ and so on”. This variable determines
the role and function of language in a particular situation.
Example: a fairy tale (in written form) may have a narrative
or entertaining function. A spoken conversation can be
argumentative (in a discussion) or phatic.
 LANGUAGE REGISTER FORMALITY LEVELS

 TENOR: It describes the people that take part in an event

as well as their relationships and statuses. “The tenor refers
to the type of role interaction, the set of relevant social
relations, permanent and temporary, among the
participants involved” (Halliday 1994, 22.).
There might be a specific hierarchy between the
interlocutors, e.g. when the head of a business talks to an
employee, or they may have only a temporary relationship,
e.g. when a person asks an unknown pedestrian for the
time.